If I were Mike Lowell...

It seems unlikely that I would be Mike Lowell, but if I were, I would totally choose 'Back in Black' as my song when I went up to the plate.  After all, who could have guessed that we would have kept him around for three-quarters of the season, only to need him when Youk went down with a fluke injury?  Most Red Sox fans have been screaming to trade him and give him the chance to go somewhere so that he can play for real, yet have been hesitant to argue for him having a starting spot on the team.  And yet, here we are.

I think that his actual song is 'Rock the Casbah.'  Not bad, but 'Back in Black' would be so much cooler.  Plus that would just kind of be fun to walk to the plate to, in a kind of swaggery-AC/DC way.

And then there was today

I decided to spend the afternoon partaking leisurely in watching the Red Sox game.  My plan was going perfectly well right up until the 7th inning, when Bard took the mound.  At that point, the Sox were up 2-1.

My question at that very second was, 'Why Bard?  Isn't he more of an 8th inning kind of guy?'  He did just fine in the 7th and they brought him out for one batter in the 8th.  Said batter got a hit.  Bard was done.

Then they brought in Okajima.

Now, it might have been okay if Okajima had had an off-day.  But this was more of an off-day.  This was an off-day when he couldn't even pick up a bunt and throw someone out at first.  Youkilis got so jumpy that he was running across the entire diamond trying to get plays in case Okajima missed them (including one that Okajima blew because he cut Youk off).  Youk will get hurt if he keeps doing this and that we do not need.

Okajima gave up three runs in the 8th and the Mariners went on to win 4-2.

Good grief, Charlie Brown.  It was a pretty sad effort.

Time to bring out the 'Red Sox Annual Collapse' label.  And I was so optimistic yesterday!

PR People should maybe liase with Front Office People more often

The Cleveland Indians traded Victor Martinez to the Red Sox yesterday in a last-minute deal. While this fact in and of itself is noteworthy (particularly because now we have another Youk-type player who can play virtually anywhere at any time), there is now a headache in Cleveland since they had planned for not one but two Martinez give-aways this week.

Oops.

As for how this affects the Red Sox: Martinez can play either 1st base or catcher. I see an eventual replacement for Varitek here, although probably not immediately (at least the club says that is not the plan). Supposedly, he will take over sometimes at first when Lowell needs a break so that Youkilis can move over. Also, he can serve as a DH in case our DH is not producing. However, Papi seems to be doing just fine in that department these days.

We traded three pitchers including Justin Masterson, who was one of those up-and-coming talents. I guess that the management figured there were sufficient up-and-comers, although with the pitching I have seen of late from Penny and Smoltz, I am not so sure about that. I do see the logic, though, since Masterson was primarily coming out of the bullpen and for once we seem to actually have a decent bullpen.

Bearing in mind that it is still August, of course. Naturally the bullpen can still fall completely apart. Ah, the mid-summer skepticism of a Red Sox fan, can't be beat.

Youk ties the knot

Sad that I learned this from a Yankee blog, I know...however, as this blog is founded on the premise that I spend far too much time surfing the Net, this is a testament to that.

I love the idea of a bunch of fans standing around chanting, 'Yooooooouk.' Priceless.

Also, I love random Jets fan who has to talk smack. Yet another reason I hope we can win tonight.