Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Games 42 through 44 - Red Sox
Sweep Emotion

Red Sox 11, Blue Jays 5
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 2
Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 2
Record: 27-17

Now that I've got a very active 2 year-old (is there any other kind?), weekends are never terribly conducive to following the Sox closely. In light of that, and of the fact that I've always been extremely lazy, I'm instituting a new Monday policy of Larry King-style weekend roundups.

1. Looks like I've figured out - at least for the moment - the proper mixture of optimism and pessimism to inspire the Sox to victory. Friday's lukewarm endorsement of the Sox' chances against the Jays seemed to be just the right measure of hopefulness and cynical detachment.

2. The Sox bullpen posted 8 more scoreless innings against the Jays, only allowing 1 hit over the weekend. The starters have to be immensely confident knowing that all they need to do is get to the 7th with a lead and the game's all but in the bag.

3. Which is a stronger possibility: the Sox will significantly pick up the pace when Nomar and Trot return to the lineup, or the Yankees are certain to rip off a 40-10 stretch when all their hitters start performing to their capabilities? My personal belief on the topic doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy.

4. Sox face Oakland, Seattle, and California 8 times over the next 9 days, with a single makeup game against Baltimore thrown in for good measure. 5-4 over that time will be a positive result.

5. Sox signed David Ortiz to a 2-year, $12.5 million contract extension with a team option for the third year. I think we'll look back at that deal as a lead-pipe steal when it's all said and done. Love the Tizzle.

6. Something's wrong with the schedule when the Sox have faced Roy Halladay 4 times before the end of June. Something's right with the Sox when they've won three of those four.

7. Newest D.C. baseball stadium plan calls for a ballpark as the centerpiece of a huge retail, commercial, and residential complex near Dulles Airport. To which I say, where do I sign up? The proposed site is 10 minutes from my house, well-supported with infrastructure, and in the middle of the nation's fastest-growing county. All of which conspires to mean that there's no chance in hell that Bud Lite and his cronies will pull the trigger on it.

8. Derek Lowe's given up 81 baserunners in 40 1/3 innings. I'm not a good enough writer to adequately describe that kind of putrescence.

9. It's early, but Kevin Youkilis has acquitted himself pretty well in his first week in the bigs. .850 OPS in 25 plate appearances, with a .300 average and his first major league homer. Plus, it's fun to type and say, "Youks!".

10. Can't wait to see Whitney compare and contract Tom Glavine and David Weathers.

11. And finally, the good people over at East Coast Agony seem to be putting out the same product as Whit and I. Near as I can tell, they're college guys with a lot more time on their hands than us - which led to a debate over whether we'd have been able to pull off a blog of this nature during our time in college. I said we would, as we found time to play marathon games of Risk, complete entire Strat-o-matic seasons, and develop elaborate new sporting events in the living room of our fraternity house during those hours not dedicated to drunken idiocy - all before the advent of the internet. Whit said no chance, which I found interesting coming from the king of doing anything but academic work in his 6+ years in Williamsburg.