Balls Up

Despite the loss today, that 9th inning was about as intense and joy-inducing as baseball can be. And for things to be so intense and even devastating this early in the season bodes well for the season. Cecil had a rough start, and clearly felt obligated to follow the outstanding performances of Romero and Drabek. His velocity is down, but it would be less of an issue if he kept his pitches down.

“I shouldn’t be thinking about it while I’m pitching,” he said. “But in the fifth inning, I was like, ‘All right, you gotta get the ball down, you gotta get it down.’ And it’s waist-high. I guess I can’t really explain it.”

Well, Brett, let me explain. You ruined the whole weekend. It could have been magic and you shat on it, what with all those pitches you left up. You clearly have contempt for this team, for this city and for life in general. Just think about that next time you want to get the ball down. He was a poor sad bastard.

I know Encarnacion's errors were annoying, but so was the booing. The dude hauled ass out of the batter's box every time he made contact, even got an infield hit. A man who last year had what Jeff Blair referred to as "gooey goodness," got an infield hit. The only thing that deserves booing is lack of effort and if anything, Encarnacion is trying too hard. So piss off and desist, "fans".

Keith Law caused a minor stir among idiots this afternoon with this

People questioned that as a compliment. And I let out a withering sigh. This was an example of a story that cannot be told by numbers alone. Ted Lilly, at his best, was pure filth. A sneaky lefty with devastating curve. I particularly remember his complete and utter dominance over potent Red Sox lineups. And not just once, but all the time. He used to put them into fits. The dominance was so complete the Boston press used to hilariously whisper "Koufax" when describing the performances just to placate the frothing hoard. Lilly owned. Lilly pwned.

The Red Sox were well aware. One instance, I'm going to say in 2006, Manny Ramirez took Ted Lilly deep. And Manny stared him down, puffed his chest out and more or less said "Yeah, bitch." This was not the typical Ramirez homer pimp. This was a "Today, cabron, your ass is mine."


Finally, what is up with this? FIX THE DAMN TURF.