Red Sox / Yankees Game 7 Diary

Staying in tonight to watch the game with the family. Normally bedtime would be 9:00 for the oldest but we're letting all four stay up (or try and stay up) for the game. I'll let them sleep in and then drive them into school (after a stop at Dunkin' Donuts).

I'm sipping Kahlua mudslides tonight because I think it will be good for my nervous stomach. Hmmm mudslides.....

There is a certain irony in the fates of both teams being in the hands of the biggest head cases on either pitching staffs. Derek Lowe is known for making the "Derek Lowe face" and for allowing mistakes to really throw himself off his game. Meanwhile Kevin Brown is just a psycho redneck (and hey let's be honest - probable steroids abuser).

I'm hoping that Doug Mientkiewicz starts at first tonight. That should help Lowe's psyche and I have a feeling that Mientkiewicz will come up big.

I meant to give a tip of the hat to Steve the bartender at Mahoney's last night. The second the last out was made - Dirty Water was blaring on the house speakers. That was followed by Journey's Don't Stop Believing and then Van Halen's Right Here, Right Now. Good job on the tunes.

Captain Caveman starts the game off with a single and a stolen base (but then gets thrown out at home). Let me say up front that I really don't like Kevin Brown. I think he's a total jerk.

Who's your Papi! Home run Ortiz! Red Sox up 2-0. Just as important - it took Kevin "Jerk" Brown 23 pitches to get through the first inning.

My oldest announces that there's a girl in her school named Alex Rodriguez. I resist the temptation to ask if she is a whiny bitch like her namesake. Derek Lowe gets out of the first with just 13 pitches.

Two quick asides - Bucky F'n Dent threw out the first pitch tonight. I have a soft spot for Dent because my wife can trace back the night of the conception of our oldest to the night he was fired as manager of the Yankees. We had gone into Fenway for the game, had too much to drink and then weren't as careful as we should have been (oops - was that too much information?). The second aside - did you know that if you did a Google search for "Kevin Brown jerk" that you would come back with 23,600 matches?

Jim Morrison lights my fire! Johnny Damon grand slam! Red Sox go up 6-0. My son actually called for the grand slam. What can I say about the Yankees right now? BTW - the over / under for this game was 10 runs.

Is that Johnny Damon or Johnny Storm? I ask because Damon is on fire! Second HR of the night - 8-1 Red Sox! Kevin Brown was bad but Vazquez has turned into the matador of shame. I hate to say it but this is almost anti-climatic.

Kevin Brown finishes the 2004 post season with a 21.60 ERA. I'm pretty sure that Jeff Weaver could have done better than that. Hey Kevin - the jerk store called to say that they were out of you.

I don't mean to be mean - it's just that Kevin Brown and Kenny Lofton really get under my skin. I don't loathe the Yankees like some people do. I've had Yankee favorites over the years like Mattingly and Guidry. I also think Steinbrenner is one hell of an owner. He wants to win every year and what's wrong with that?

Bottom of the sixth and I would like to take this opportunity to point out that my Fever Pitch Theory is holding up pretty well. I may have to drink nothing but mudslides the whole world series.

Derek Lowe has been super. Maybe his best outing of the year. I hope he's got another good one in him for the World Series. The honest truth though is that he's all done with the Red Sox. The only possible way for him to be on next year's team would be if the Red Sox offer him arbitration and he accepts.

Lowe's final line - 6 innings, 1 run, 3 K's and just 69 pitches thrown.

Ummm...I don't understand this move to Pedro. I'll give Francona the benefit of the doubt but it puzzles me. I think this may be a personal thing to Pedro and maybe Francona thinks Pedro has earned this right. I have no problem with that.

Pedro gives up 2 runs but finishes strong and Bellhorn gets one right back. 9-3 Red Sox.

OK now Timlin is in. I have no idea what's happening with the bullpen. I wonder if Brian Cashman goes into the witness protection program after this game rather than face up to the wrath of George.

When the Fox guys mentioned great upsets I think the example they should have used was the 1993 AFC Playoff game between the Oilers (who were in Houston then) and the Buffalo Bills. The Oilers built an insurmountable 35-3 lead only to have the Bills surmount them. That's what the Red Sox have done. They have surmounted an insurmountable lead. The Red Sox have surmounted the Yankees.

Just in case you need to explain what happened to the Yankees to a deaf friend.

One final note - the Yankees gave the Red Sox the Sinatra version of New York, New York instead of the Liza version and that might have been a small thing but it was a classy move by the Yankees and it did not go un-noticed.

Bring on the World Series!