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Red Sox
Sunday night's Red Sox victory against the Yankees, a three game sweep by Boston, included a successful steal home by Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury in the fifth inning against lefty Andy Pettitte. You don't see that play too often. Exciting stuff. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LyIU9LaXEc&fmt=18]
Longer version of the play. Man, the crowd understandably went nuts!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q_dI4BSe_E&fmt=18]
Great fake tilt-shift photo of Fenway, the site of a thrilling and historic come from behind win last night by the Boston Red Sox.
[Via]
Neil Diamond is scheduled to perform at Fenway Park, home of the great Boston Red Sox, next Saturday. His song Sweet Caroline plays in the middle of the eight inning at every Red Sox home game and "has become the team's unofficial anthem and more: a rousing eighth-inning singalong-turned-musical totem whose propitious properties remain a mystery - even to the songwriter who the folks at Fenway have been trying to lure to the park for years."
"I'm not sure I understand it, but it's fun to sing along with and for me it's always been a good-luck song," Diamond says of his 1969 hit, whose popularity has hardly ebbed in four decades. "It's been around for so long, and I think that anybody who adopts it has some of that good luck. The fact that the Red Sox have adopted it proves the point."
Uh, really?
"I put home runs and good pitching in front of the song," he concedes. "But the song does capture the spirit of the team."
It's an odd association considering the song has nothing to do with baseball or the Red Sox. And no one seems to know the connection between their favorite team and this song by Neil Diamond. Turns out the person responsible for starting this entire tradition is Amy Tobey whose job from 1998 to 2004 was to create the playlist of songs to play during each game (SWEET GIG!). She noticed that Sweet Caroline was playing at other sporting events and decided to include it at Fenway. At some point playing the song became a superstition thing to her: Something that Red Sox fans are no strangers to. We can be a little edgy.
In 2002, when new management took over at the park, they requested that Tobey play the song during the eighth inning of every game. ''They liked it and they just loved the crowd reaction with it and stuff," she says. Though Tobey says she was nervous the change would be bad luck for the team, its appeal to fans ultimately ruled. And under the song's spell, the Red Sox last season won their first World Series in 86 years.
If in 1999 I stated that by the end of the first decade of the New Millennium the Boston Red Sox would not only win the World Series, but win it twice, and in addition the Patriots would collect three Super Bowl rings while the Boston Celtics would round all this off with a Finals champions, I think everyone would have called me nuts and most likely try to get me committed.
Who woulda thunk it?
Manny Ramirez is a pretty eccentric baseball player whose various antics and baseball mannerisms are described as "Manny Being Manny." He's one of my favorite players period and this latest "Manny being Manny" incident is a perfectly hilarious example of his unique personality as well as his impressive skills on the field. Against the Orioles recently, Manny makes a terrific leaping catch (saving a run scoring double at the least) where his momentum causes him to run up the outfield wall. There, he HIGH FIVES a lone Red Sox fan before firing off a perfect throw back to the infield to Dustin Pedroia, the relay man who tosses it to Youkalis at first for the double play. So recap: 1) Fantastic catch, 2) High five fan, 3) Throw perfect throw for a double play to end what could have been a big inning for the Orioles.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=dBWsyqne9JE]
I can't embed this video, but watch this one for better sound of the play as well as his teammates reaction in the dugout after the play. Funny stuff.
And here's an interview later on with the fan on the receiving end Manny's high five:
The crowd didn’t seem to notice the high-five so much as the great play. The only one that made note of it to me was the husband and wife next to me. He was listening to the radio broadcast and told me that they’d been talking about that play for the last 10 minutes. I still couldn’t believe it happened. It was so fast. The heckling fans behind me who were yelling at him the whole game suddenly went quiet, and didn’t say much afterwards.
And lastly, here's a good collection of Manny Being Manny moments from ESPN:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=R_SkEkXcHbc]
Apple is constructing a new Apple store in Boston and rather than the typical facade during this phase, they've erected a nice little homage to this Red Sox crazed town. I think it's brilliant and adds a bit of humor to the cityscape. I wonder who brainstormed this nice homage to the city and the team.
- Willie Stargell
Will current Red Sox fans' great great grandchildren even know Bill Buckner's name or know of the now defunct Curse of the Bambino? I hope not, especially Bill Buckner's and I doubt they will after today's celebration at Fenway.
Still, the warmest scene involved Buckner, a long-lost member of the Red Sox family. When he slowly strode from left field to the mound, he received a lengthy standing ovation. Buckner wiped his eyes.Fairly or unfairly, Buckner, who had 2,715 career hits, is best known for a play he did not make. Buckner let Mookie Wilson’s grounder to first base roll between his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. That error enabled the Mets to complete a two-out, three-run rally and win.“It was hard for me to do,” a teary-eyed Buckner said about returning to Fenway.
Rest of article here.
I admit the headline makes no sense; I just wanted to channel Coolio for a moment. This past weekend the Red Sox hosted the Wankees, and I'm sure most of you have all heard or seen it by now, but during the Sunday game, the Sox slammed four home runs off one Yankee pitcher. Correction: Four consecutive home runs off one pitcher. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGTfFJFsfA]
What a thing to see and experience for those people at the game who'd never been to a baseball game before. Now they're going to expect that at every game henceforth.
Oh yea, and here's some Coolio. You know you want it. 1,2,3,4 get yo woman on the floor ya'll:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNj3IFkKCOw]
Update: ESPN's Bill Simmons made a funny about ARod:
A-Rod is like pollen -- you can always count on him to make an impact in April and May.
