Dice-K, Make My Day, or How Sweep it Is

So Charissa has been going to the wall on the third base side for the last three days trying to get autographs. We got Kyle Snyder on Friday but no luck yesterday. Today we get there at noon and go in as soon as the gates open. Charissa goes down to the wall in one of the aisles and she is a little back in line. The pitchers are playing catch along the third base line in shallow outfield. They finish up and I realize that Daisuke Matsuzaka is walking towards Charissa's line. He begins signing and she is getting closer and closer. I think that she had looked pretty close to the front but now she seems miles away from Dice-K as people push and shove to get to the front. Then he takes Charissa's ball. He signs it (or as she says it, "his $103 million hand touched me) and she says thank you. He bows to her and she bows back; then she turns to walk away. as she goes up the aisle past the people who are still in line and I'm thinking, 'stop talking to people. Look disappointed,' because I can just see someone snatching the ball out of her hands and running. I come towards her and I can see that her hands are trembling. She hands me the ball and there it is, a big "D' with some scribbly crap after it and the number 18.

Tavarez and Loe are the Sox and Rangers number five pitchers, respectively. Both of them had fairly good outings. Tavarez: 5.2 IP, 4R 4ER, 6H, 1BB, 1HB, 6k. Loe 6IP, 3R, 3ER, 7H, 1BB, 0HB, 2K.

Varitek hit a three run home run in the fourth in support of Tavarez but Tavarez got no decision after giving up a three run upper-decker to Teixeira and an RBI single to Ian Kinsler. Piniero got the win for the Sox after Otsuka blew the save for the Rangers, allowing two runs on three hits in the eighth and Gagne gave up a lead off homer to Pedroia.

Okajima came in to save the game for Piniero and had to make it close for us. He gave up one run on an RBI single by Teixeira (who wouldn't go away) allowing the Rangers to come withing one. Then, Sammy Sosa came up to bat. He hit a long two-strike fly ball which Crisp caught, ending the game and securing the sweep.

In the Wake of our Curse; Curse No More

We thought we were bad luck. Every time we have come to Arlington, we have scene Wakefield pitch. Every time, the Sox have lost. In fact, it was our Wakefield woes that convinced us that we needed to come to a whole series instead of just one game. Our luck has changed.

Before the game, we took a tour of the park. We got to go into the Rangers' dugout and ride the bench and stand on the top step. Then the Allen's came to have dinner with us and watch the game.

Wakefield pitched seven innings, allowing four tuns on four hits. He struck out four while walking only one. The fifth inning was a little scary, as it looked like Wake was going to let us down again but Sox hitters supported him with a huge sixth inning which saw five runs on four hits. Two pitchers had to pitch to ELEVEN Red Sox batters to get the three outs in the sixth.

Manny seems to be coming out of his slump. He was four for four and lacked only a home run to bat the cycle.

Sox win 7-4 and climb to 11.5 ahead of the Yankees, who are now in fourth place in the east! We are trying to decide whether or not to bring brooms to tomorrow's game in preparation for a sweep.

Dispatch from the 16th Floor

I write to you now from the sixteenth floor of the Arlington Wyndham Hotel where we are staying in a Suite after getting a free upgrade. We have a kitchenette and a living area with a sofa; all so we can relax between baseball games.

We walked to the park extremely early today so that we could go to the Legends museum. The picture above is of a jersey and a bat that belonged to Ted Williams. Unfortunately, his head is still in a freezer. That's what I'd really like to see. So, to the game.

The game didn't begin until 9:00 due to a rain delay. By that time, we'd been at the park almost six hours. The good part of all this time is that Charissa was able to get an autograph from Sox reliever Kyle Snyder (who would pitch an entire two thirds of an inning: .2 1 0 0 0 1). Rangers starter Brandon McCarthy went only two innings allowing four runs on only one hit with four walks. Matsuzaka cruised for the first three innings but then he began feeling nauseous and allowed five runs in the fourth inning (he had allowed five runs in his last three starts...combined). He left after a strong fifth, just long enough to get the win after the Sox scored two more in the fifth. The Sox then t-ed off on Frank Francisco who allowed four more runs on four hits in one third of an inning. Sox win 10-6, incidentally, the same score that the Yankees lost to the Angels with which moves the Sox to 10.5 ahead of the second place Yankees in the AL East.

By the way, I gave Sammy Sosa an error in the second allowing Lugo to reach. Sosa then through Pedroia out who had remained close to first so that he could tag. The home town score keeper saw it differently and spared Sosa the error, calling the play a fielder's choice. It remains an error on my score card and I refuse to change it.

All Set

We leave for four days in Dallas tomorrow to see a full series of the Red Sox at the Rangers. Here's how it looks:

Friday:
Matsuzaka (6-2, 4.06) vs. McCarthy (4-4, 5.82)

Saturday:
Wakefield (4-5, 3.14) vs. Padilla (2-5, 5.52)

Sunday:
Tavarez (3-4, 5.27) vs. Loe (1-4, 6.38)

The matchups promise a good series. With Tavarez pitching on Sunday, I have chosen that as the day I will wear a Rangers hat, especially since I like Kameron Loe. I will give dispatches from D-Town and pictures when I return.

GO SOX!

Beat Picture of the Week

A Picture from my beat:
In case you cannot tell what this is, this is a glass door at a "church" which awaits the overthrow of white people. This door lists the 12 tribes of Israel with their modern descendants.

1) Judah: The Negroes
2) Benjamin: West Indians
3) Levi [the Priestly tribe, I'd like to point out]: Haitians
4) Simeon: Dominicans
5) Zebulun: Guatemala to Panama
6) Ephriam: Puerto Ricans
7) Manasseh: Cubans
8) Gad: Amer. Indians
9) Rueben: Seminole Indians [which are apparently different than American Indians]
10) Nephtali: Argentine to Chile
11) Asher: Colombia to Uruguay
12) Issachar: Mexicans

Still Going Strong

My grades for Spring:

Writing the Short Story A
Restoration and 18th Century A
American Lit 1800-1865 A

It Would Bee My Luck

I woke up this afternoon and went outside to see several bees hanging around the front of the house. I though, "yikes. The bees like my house. I might have to get some poison." Charissa came home and we went out to eat with her parents, which kept us away from the house for about an hour and a half. When we returned, the several bees had turned into a bee hive full of thousands of bees hanging below the overhang between out first and second floor, about six feet from our front door. Now we have to use the back door and I'm desperately afraid that the bees will find a way into the house. I guy from a bee farm is supposed to come in the morning "about seven or maybe a couple hours later." Please, please, be there at 7:00. In the meantime, Charissa has gone to stay with the Landrums, just in case, and I have gone home a couple times just to check out the situation.

Update:
The bee farm guy is hindered from coming by the torrential downpour outside. Apparently, they can do nothing in the rain so he can't come out until it stops. Plus, there's no way to get around town without coming across roads closed by water. After a three year drought. Mother Nature is attacking me.

Congrats to My Old Man

Lat night I got to watch my dad accept a Medal for Meritorious Service for his work in solving two cold case homicides in smaller jurisdictions at the request of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations. Congratulations to my daddy on an award that he has deserved for a long time. My old man is truly one of the best officers on our police department.