Getting Excited For Baseball

Seeing these 2010 baseball commercials have surely fired me up for the baseball season.

In this ESPN Sunday Night Baseball clip, Buchholz and actor Adam Scott sing along to Sweet Caroline and try and get Yankees outfielder, Nick Swisher involved too. He wants nothing to do with it. So what does Buchholz do? He continues to sing along by himself. And he can actually carry a tune (not sure why this surprises me, but it does!) I've never been a huge fan of Buchholz, but this makes me like the guy a little.

Then there are the NESN spots that my friend Susan Mahoney told me about. The first one kind of cracks me up. Orsillo is trying to explain how to navigate around Boston to John Lackey. It has often made me comment out-loud that 95/128 are the same road (in some spots) and that 95S turns into 93N....it's just confusing. Even to those of us who grew up in MA.



This last video, however, has got to be my favorite. A (real) Yankees fan walks into a barber shop talking smack...until he sees the likes of Papi, Tek, Wake and Paps. It's great.



What about you? Which is your favorite? What is getting you fired up for the baseball season?

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Josh Beckett Pitches a Shut-Out in Game 1 of the 2007 ALDS

Oh yes, yes he DID!!!!!!!

The night started out great - the weather was a comfortable 63 degrees and the Standells did an Amazing rendition of the National Anthem, followed by a flag being draped over the Monster and a flyover. Then they broke into their (one) hit - DIRTY WATER!

Beckett gave up a single to Chone Figgins to start the game, but went on to retire the next 19 batters in order!!! He ended up with a complete game shut out (the first time a Red Sox pitcher has done this in the post-season since Luis Tiant in 1975! And the first time a MLB pitcher has done it since...well...himself in 2003). He gave up 4 hits over 9 innings, walked nobody, struck out 7. He was amazing and proved himself to be the Cy Young pitcher we all KNOW he is!

The Sox continued to give trouble to Lackey who gave up 9 hits in 6 innings including two home runs from YOUK and PAPI! There were a couple of bad calls (um, ump - Cabrera NEVER touched Lugo and Manny's 3rd called strike in the 5th was outside!) but all in all it was an AMAZING game and a great night to be at Fenway Park. Coco, Lowell and Ellsbury all made fantastic defensive plays to contribute to this well-deserved win.

I'm tired, and not to witty so I'll leave you with this - a very unsteady shot (sorry had to get my high fives in!) of the last out of the game (a fly ball by Anderson to center field). GOOOOOO SOOOOOOXXXXXX!!!!!!

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John Lackey vs. Josh Beckett

A lot of stats have been thrown around today about Lackey's pitching (in)ability against the Red Sox. I can't find any two stats which agree, so I thought I'd do my own analysis.

This season Lackey has won 19 games for the Angels with a 3.01 ERA and 179 Ks.
This season Beckett has won 20 games for the Sox with a 3.27 ERA and 194 Ks.

John Lackey pitching in games against the Sox in 2007

  W  L  G  GS CG SHO GF SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO HR   ERA  HBP WP BK
+--+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+---+--+--+
 0  2   2  2  0   0  0  0   9.2  20  10   9   1   9  2   8.38   1  0  0

Josh Beckett pitching in games 142, 162

  W  L  G  GS CG SHO GF SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO HR   ERA  HBP WP BK
+--+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+---+--+--+
 1  0   2  2  0   0  0  0  13    11   3   2   2  13  1   1.38   1  0  0

2007 - Red Sox Batters against John Lackey

                    **PA**  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
J.D. Drew             6     5   4  0  1  0   1   1   1  .800  .833 1.200 2.033   0   0   0   0   0             
 Mike Lowell           6     6   2  0  0  0   1   0   1  .333  .333  .333  .666   0   0   0   0   0             
 David Ortiz           6     6   3  0  0  1   3   0   2  .500  .500 1.000 1.500   0   0   0   0   0             
 Dustin Pedroia        6     6   2  1  0  0   0   0   0  .333  .333  .500  .833   0

   0   0   0   0             
 Manny Ramirez         6     5   1  0  0  0   0   0   1  .200  .333  .200  .533   0   0   0   1   0             
 Kevin Youkilis        6     6   2  0  0  0   0   0   1  .333  .333  .333  .666   0   0   0   0   0             
 Coco Crisp            5     5   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0             
 Doug Mirabelli        4     4   3  1  0  1   3   0   1  .750  .750 1.750 2.500   0   0   0   0   0             
 Julio Lugo            3     3   2  1  0  0   0   0   0  .667  .667 1.000 1.667   0   0   0   0   0             
 Alex Cora             2     2   1  1  0  0   1   0   0  .500  .500 1.000 1.500   0   0   0   0   0             
 Jason Varitek         1     1   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0             
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+

So what does this mean? Is Coco going to be sitting (0-5) in favor of Ellsbury who might light this guy up? I doubt it. Crip's lifetime BA against Lackey is .182, not exactly great, eh? Will Tek be sitting (0-1) in favor of Mirabelli (3-4) - is this why we have so many catchers in our ALDS roster? I doubt it. Varitek's lifetime BA against Lackey is .278, that's a bit better.


2007 - Angels Batters against Josh Beckett

                    **PA**  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Orlando Cabrera       7     6   2  0  0  1   1   1   2  .333  .429  .833 1.262   0   0   0   0   0             
 Garret Anderson       6     5   3  1  0  0   0   1   0  .600  .667  .800 1.467   0   0   0   0   0             
 Maicer Izturis        5     5   1  0  0  0   1   0   1  .200  .200  .200  .400   0   0   0   0   0             
 Chone Figgins         4     4   0  0  0  0   0   0   2  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0             
 Vladimir Guerrero     4     3   1  1  0  0   1   0   0  .333  .500  .667 1.167   0   0   0   1   0             
 Nathan Haynes         3     3   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000  .000   0

   0   0   0   0             
 Howie Kendrick        3     3   1  0  0  0   0   0   0  .333  .333  .333  .666   0   0   0   0   0             
 Casey Kotchman        3     3   1  0  0  0   0   0   1  .333  .333  .333  .666   0   0   0   0   0             
 Robb Quinlan          3     3   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0             
 Mike Napoli           2     2   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0             
 Reggie Willits        2     2   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0             
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+

All I can say is it LOOKS good on paper for the Sox, but we all know what can happen in this crazy game. GO SOX!!!!!!

And in exciting (for us girls!) news, Babe Kapler will be sharing his thoughts on the Red Sox during the 2007 playoffs!

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