Mackenzie and Nick from Longwood University, and Other Cool People at Pats / Ravens Game

I met a lot of cool people at all of the sporting events this year.  I met a few in Baltimore on Sunday.  I especially remember eating after the game at a Chili's near our (By "our," I mean my friend Chris and me) hotel, and meeting Mackenzie and Nick, from Longwood University, in Virginia.  They were nice enough to laugh at all my silliness.  Nick even tried a "Well, you know, Susan..."--which is my rendition of the New York Yankees' radio guy, John Sterling--and Mackenzie did an outstanding Inappropriate Slap.  (Don't ask.)  Funniest moment was when I told Nick that he was overachieving with such a pretty girl with him--and he agreed with me!  The smart ones know when they're overachieving.  (I'm always overachieving.)  She's going to be an elementary school teacher (the world always needs good teachers) and Nick's going to be something in the law, either a lawyer or a policeman.  Good luck to both of them, and if you're reading the blog, guys, please comment or email me!  The email address is to the right of this entry, below my other pages.  (And I'm upset that I didn't take their picture, while I did take the picture of the other cool people I spoke to, below.)

--Others I met in Baltimore include a Santa / Grinch cameraman:

   

And a very cool Ravens fan / Santa who was such a good guy that he deserved better.  He was such a solid fan that he was one of the few Ravens fans to stay to the bitter end.  And what did he get?  Two garbage-time touchdowns scored against his team.  Here he is taking a beard break:

--And, if you've never been there, here are a few pics of M & T Bank Stadium.  I was pretty high up, but I had such a great view that I was able to see every single play of the game, a rare occurrence at any football stadium.  (And the fireworks before the game were cool, too.)  I saw each play so well that I correctly overruled the refs on some plays, even in the Ravens' favor. That shows you how brutally bad the refs were that night.  And for the record, Ravens fans know the first name of one of the refs personally--that's how often, they say, he has screwed them over.  So, the pics:

 --I watched a Patriots game on December 22nd, sans jacket, and with my sleeves rolled up.  It was sixty-one degrees at game time.  Sure, it rained all the way back, but there were only a few scattered drops during the game itself.  What a great night!

A great, big, hearty thank-you to my friend Chris for inviting me along, and for driving me a total of about 13 hours, to and fro--including 6 1/2 hours in a pouring rain the entire time back.  Thanks for all the Fenway games, too!

April 23rd, Aceves' Meltdown, 13-0

In a blustery, rainy, cold, and wind-swept Fenway, I saw the Red Sox do their Bad News Bears impersonation to a mostly-empty ballpark that became even more empty, fast.  A few other tidbits from this game:

--Took me more than half an hour longer to get to Fenway because Boylston is still partially closed off.  Not a complaint; just a traffic advisory for fellow fans going to Fenway.  Leave earlier than usual.

--Since I was one of the 200 or so left at the end of the game, in the seventh inning, I was given a free ticket to Thursday's Sox/Houston game.  I'll be there, of course, so look for another blog entry then.

--Aceves gave me a lot of firsts.  First pitcher I've ever seen balk twice in the same inning.  First pitcher I've ever seen commit two errors in the same inning, though one of them was generously scored a hit.  (This was on his throw to first, which he essentially threw into the ground.)  First pitcher I've ever seen in person be late to cover first, and then throw the ball nowhere close to the catcher to get the guy trying to score.  First pitcher to allow a large village of baserunners in such a low number of innings, and then blame his offense for not scoring any runs for him during the postgame interview. 

--Also, he was the first pitcher I've seen in such horrible--but great-for-the-pitcher-- weather conditions walk so many batters.  With the wind blowing in so strongly, and with the air so wet with rain, and with the ball so dead because of the weight of so much water on it, all pitchers know that they can essentially throw a shutout if they just throw the ball over the plate, with just a little bit of effort, and allow the batter to hit the ball slowly to an infielder, or as a dead weight to an outfielder.  Such conditions create a low-scoring, pitcher-friendly game.  All the pitchers have to do is throw strikes.  Aceves refused to do so.  Colon didn't, and so threw a shutout.  Amazing.

--I said before in the first entry this year that Aceves had better watch his act because he was on the Sox's S-list already.  With rookie Alex Wilson pitching pretty well, and with John Lackey coming back this weekend, there really isn't a spot for Aceves and his antics anymore.  He knows this, and it probably led to his meltdown.  That, and whatever goofiness he already has.

--The relief pitcher for this game, Steven Wright, was making his first MLB appearance after eight years in the minors.  He did not impress, either, giving up five runs in about three innings, with lots of hits and walks.

--Aceves's demotion will happen just as much for his remarks after the game, blaming the offense for his loss.

--Speaking of that, the word "demotion," should be used in this case, as sending Aceves down is exactly that, a demotion.  A reality check.  Commentators can choose when to use that word, as opposed to any other phrase, as with Iglesias.  I don't know why this is such an issue for me...See my bullet about this in the last entry.

--The Sox should be able to easily shrug this one off and win the next game, and therefore the series.  I used to play Vintage League baseball, where this sort of score is common.  (In fact, Vintage scores are much, much more lopsided than this.)  You just shrug it off.  It's still just one game, exactly the same as losing 1-0.  In fact, losing 1-0 or 2-1 hurts much more.  Again, a team tries to win every series, not every game.

--Probably I'm just being picky, but I'd like Napoli to walk more.  He has about five walks and twenty-eight Ks, or so.  His OBP is very low.  I know he gets paid more to drive in runs than he does to get on base, but it seems like he's only getting on base when he drives in runs.  This doesn't do much for the hitters behind him, all of whom are struggling.

--Middlebrooks needs a day off to clear his head.  He's playing good defense, though.

--I took a lot of good noir shots of Fenway and its environs with my cell phone.  Yeah, I'm like that.  I'll upload one for the picture for this entry when I get a chance.

--Okay, I didn't post this after the game, like I should've, and so now I can say that the Sox did indeed win the rubber game of this series, and they did indeed demote Aceves.  Nice to see I'm not just making all this up as I go, right?

--Bottom line: Sox are 14-7 and playing well, more with their pitching and defense than with their offense, which isn't doing too badly, either.  And who would've thought that possible this early in the year, after the debacle of last year?