Saturday afternoon baseball
So, today I was treated to the Red Sox-White Sox battle on the Fox Network. Before I comment on the game (which we won!), allow me a little anti-Fox rant.
OMG - I had forgotten how unlistenable those idiots on Fox are. We had to listen to the non-stop talk of two of the biggest blowhards in baseball - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Okay, sometimes they are somewhat tolerable - meaning, I don't feel compelled to access the gameday audio of the game via WEEI (the official Boston station). But today, those buffoons went totally over the top. They spent at least 10 minutes reporting on Manny Ramirez' withdrawal from the All-Star game due to some lingering issues with his knee. These idiot pontificated on how Manny's withdrawal signified total disrespect for the game, an insult to all the people who voted for him, and finished by saying that since Manny hasn't actually missed any games, he must be lying - and the Sox are in collusion.
What they failed to report his how many times he's left the game in later innings, to rest that knee. No credit given to him for playing through his pain, to help his team. Instead of hurting his team - handicapping them when they might need him - he's elected to take time away from an EXHIBITION GAME to recover and get ready for the second half of the season. Fox instead chose to belittle the "Manny being Manny" attitude - inferring that he gets away with alot because of that excuse.
My question: where was all this righteous idignation a few weeks ago, when the Phillies allowed their starting pitching to pitch, despite having been arrested the night before for punching his wife in the face in public?? Isn't (alleged) physical abuse much more serious than missing an exhibition game? Apparently, not if you're Buck & McCarver. Preserve the integrity of the game? Don't remover known steroid users (**cough**Giambi**cough) or castigate wife abusers - but abuse future Hall of Famers who need a few days of rest....
/Rant over/
I choose to be positive. After losing 3 of 4 to those Devil Rays, the Sox have bounced back and won the first two games vs. the White Sox. I'd say that they won handily. Lots of offense - Oritiz has had 3 homers in the two games - and explosive offense. I wouldn't say that our starters looked all that great - Lester and Beckett got themselves into several jams. But both persisted, and were able to stay in long enough to be able to productively use our bullpen. And our young guns looked awesome!! Del Carmen, Hanson (or Handsome!), Lopez and Papelbon gave us all reason to hope for the future. Thank you Theo for not trading away these incredible young talents, and thank you Tito for giving them the chance to step up in high-stress situations, allowing them room to grow and mature right before our eyes.
To say I'm cautiously optimistic about the second half -- well, it's true!
OMG - I had forgotten how unlistenable those idiots on Fox are. We had to listen to the non-stop talk of two of the biggest blowhards in baseball - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Okay, sometimes they are somewhat tolerable - meaning, I don't feel compelled to access the gameday audio of the game via WEEI (the official Boston station). But today, those buffoons went totally over the top. They spent at least 10 minutes reporting on Manny Ramirez' withdrawal from the All-Star game due to some lingering issues with his knee. These idiot pontificated on how Manny's withdrawal signified total disrespect for the game, an insult to all the people who voted for him, and finished by saying that since Manny hasn't actually missed any games, he must be lying - and the Sox are in collusion.
What they failed to report his how many times he's left the game in later innings, to rest that knee. No credit given to him for playing through his pain, to help his team. Instead of hurting his team - handicapping them when they might need him - he's elected to take time away from an EXHIBITION GAME to recover and get ready for the second half of the season. Fox instead chose to belittle the "Manny being Manny" attitude - inferring that he gets away with alot because of that excuse.
My question: where was all this righteous idignation a few weeks ago, when the Phillies allowed their starting pitching to pitch, despite having been arrested the night before for punching his wife in the face in public?? Isn't (alleged) physical abuse much more serious than missing an exhibition game? Apparently, not if you're Buck & McCarver. Preserve the integrity of the game? Don't remover known steroid users (**cough**Giambi**cough) or castigate wife abusers - but abuse future Hall of Famers who need a few days of rest....
/Rant over/
I choose to be positive. After losing 3 of 4 to those Devil Rays, the Sox have bounced back and won the first two games vs. the White Sox. I'd say that they won handily. Lots of offense - Oritiz has had 3 homers in the two games - and explosive offense. I wouldn't say that our starters looked all that great - Lester and Beckett got themselves into several jams. But both persisted, and were able to stay in long enough to be able to productively use our bullpen. And our young guns looked awesome!! Del Carmen, Hanson (or Handsome!), Lopez and Papelbon gave us all reason to hope for the future. Thank you Theo for not trading away these incredible young talents, and thank you Tito for giving them the chance to step up in high-stress situations, allowing them room to grow and mature right before our eyes.
To say I'm cautiously optimistic about the second half -- well, it's true!
posted by Beth at 8:37 PM
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