The Diceman Cometh

not sure.
there's about 25 games left, so it might be a bit early to talking magic numbers...

I missed today's game, driving home from Canadia all day. But luckily was walking by a bar last night(in Ontario) that had the Sox on, so got to see most of the game. Unreal. I hate playing armchair manager, but I'd like to see them keep him in the rotation. Only two starts, but with last night's game, he's looking better than Lester. Word still they're sending him down?

Matzusaka gets pounded (again) with 7 runs in 5 innings and is winning the game. That's what I call offensive support.


(magic number for Boston: 18, maybe 17 after today's game; good luck)

yeah, its not often you give up 8 runs in an inning and still win.
dice was awful, but he's 14-11 and going to the playoffs.

the lead is 7, and clemens will miss at least one start with a balky elbow.

they have to re-sign lowell for next year... have to!
he's their best all-around player this year.

the AAA season is over, so buchholz will prolly stay... but may or may not get another start, depending on how wake's back responds...

cy beckett won his 17th, young jacoby hit another dinger -- he has 2, which equals his minor league output for the season, pap pitched the 9th for the 3rd game in a row (1st time this year), the lead is still 7, and the magic number (according to the building manager here) is 17...

a shut out of the O's 4-zip reduces the magic number to 15.
the lead is 6.5 games.

lester looooooo-keeng good (7 innings, 4 hits, no runs, 2 walks, 4 K's).

didn't know cabrera was such a punk...

cy beckett won his 18th in fine fashion (7 innings IP, 7 hits, 2 solo homeruns, no walks, 8 K's).
pap mowed 'em down in the 9th for his 35th save.
the lead remains 5.5; magic number = 14...

the offense has been clicking lately, carrying the pitching more often than not.

2 comebacks against tampa bay (one they were down 8-1 they won 16-10!... the other courtesy of a vintage big papi walk off dinger).

they split the first 2 against the spankees --
dice-K was better than he's been in a while (5.2 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 5 walks, 7 K's), but the bullpen was really bad, blowing a 6 run lead in the 8th.
cy (19-6) beckett brought his A-Game today (7 innings, 3 hits, 1 solo homer 2 walks, 7 K's), and the bats gave wang + co fits...



how the hell did posada hold onto the ball after hinske clocked him?


the lead is 5.5.
tonight: schilling vs clemens
won't be seeing much of the pates-chargers game...

shoulda stuck with the football game.
jeter ruined a classic pitcher's duel with a 3-run dinger in the 8th.

sawx made it interesting in the 9th, thanks to a near-implosion by rivera.
one of the spankee players implied he did it for the ratings.

the lead is 4.5, magic numeral is 9...

Do I see a meltdown?
I hope not. But...

If you get to the Mystic River Bridge early, you can get a good jump-off spot.

I thought the Sagamore would be good, seeing as it's past the season, the Cape traffic should be relatively light.

I like to have a decent commute to my jumping off point.

Now now. I always wait until the playoffs to start selecting appropriate high places.

Joe(For right now I am just hitting myself in the head with a hammer)Nation

But if you choose now, you'll avoid the crowds.

It's only the young people who get nervous about all this. Why, in my father's day, it was just a yearly tradition to be on the top on Labor Day and know that by Halloween them boys would be in FLA playing eighteen holes.

Joe(The rhythmn of life has been disturbed)Nation

the team is hurtin' for certain.
seems like no one wants to step up and lead the charge.

it's a damn good thing they won all those games in april and may.

R(i walk over the fort point channel bridge everyday to get to work)P

i'll stay on the safe side of the rail for the time-being.

Cy Beckett did his job as Ace (bandage?), stopping the bleeding by winning his 20th (6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 8 K's).

manny-D (2 clean innings) & gagne (1 clean inning -- his first since the trade?) made sure tampa bay didn't put up any crooked numbers.

toronto seems to be relishing the role as spoiler.

sawx can clinch a playoff berth tonight with a win and a tiger loss (something they've gotten very good at this month)...

Clinch-o-rama!

{runs around looking for someone to clinch}

Sorry if this a bore. JN

I saw an article that reminded me,
it's been forty years since I was sent for by the Commandant's Office at the Defense Language Institute at Monterey, California. I raced across the campus straightening my uniform tie and looking at the shine, or lack thereof, of my shoes, wondering what it could be? Surely they hadn't received a complaint from the Institute's chaplin? I did not know that girl was his daughter, well, anyway, it couldn't be that.

Had our room failed inspection again? Goddamned that slob of a roommate!, I said as I trotted up the stairs.

"Who?" the sargent asked.
"Nation, Joe, Airman First Class, sir!"
"Oh yeah, your father called. Call him back. Phones're in the hall."

Have you ever seen frostbite? It's really interesting. The skin and the flesh under it get crystallized and they turn, in the parlance of 1967, a whiter shade of pale, but even whiter than that. I saw my face as I exited the office in one of those "Look Sharp!" mirrors,... it looked frostbitten.

I dropped two dimes in the slot.

My father had never called me before. Never. Not ever. I didn't remember him even using the phone, what could he be calling about??What was it?
Mom was sick. Oh my. Oh my God.
No, there'd been a horrible accident and she was on the edge of doom. No, HE was sick and wanted to tell me himself.
No, all my brothers and sisters were upset that I had left without saying goodbye and they never wanted to speak to me again.
No. It had to be something really bad about Mom.

The phone rang twice. The operator came on.
"Uh, Joe Nation calling person to person collect to Ben."
"ThinkQ" she said and we waited.
The phone rang five more times.
There was a click and my father's voice said "Halo."
"You have a collect call from Joe Nation to Ben. Do you accept the charges?"
"Oh yeah. Sure." my father said, "Hello?"
"Hello," I said, "What wrong? Why did you call me?"
"There's nothing wrong."
"There's nothing wrong with Mom?"
"No! There's nothing wrong with anybody. I just had some news for you."
"What?"
(Oh, no, did that girl from Emerson call about carrying something of mine?)
"The Sox won the pennant."
"Wha?"
"The Red Sox are in the World Series. People are going crazy around here about it."
"...um..Wow! That's great!"
"I thought you'd like to know. Been a long time coming."
"Yeah."
"Yaz hit like over .500 for the past two three weeks. It's been nuts."
"Wow, the Sox in the Series. I'll have to find a way to watch."
"Well, okay. It will be a good one." he said and then the line went dead.
"Dad,?" I said into the dead phone, "Thanks for calling me."

===
You never know what your children are going to remember, remember that. Twenty years later I was telling this story to my brother and my father said he didn't even remember making the call.
"You said 'everybody was going crazy', maybe you got a little crazy?"

It was a crazy time, 1967, crazy and going to get crazier, but as I walked back to my language class on the edge of the war I felt a little connected to the real world.

Joe(On to the playoffs, boyos)Nation

no sirree, not a bore

they had a sub-dude (one toast?) celebration after the game last night.

get the feeling they'd rather make sure everyone's healthy and rested than try to win the div.

those yam dankees refuse to go away...