Friday, October 08, 2004
NO CAN DO; I’M ON CALL THIS WEEKEND
As part of my tenth man package, I got a ticket to a first round game, but it is Game 4 on Saturday. As you know, the Sox may not need to play that game and if they do, it is unknown at what time the first knuckleball will be thrown. It basically puts me and my tenth man compadres on Red Sox Call. We could be summoned to drive 3.5 hours south via I89, I93 and Storrow Drive to Fenway at a moments notice. All of my weekend plans are on hold. Damn you - Fox, Disney and Buddy Boy!
“But back to the nature at hand…”Arroyo and Escobar take the mound today at four. On the surface, Anaheim should have the advantage with their best pitcher going, but Escobar is throwing in Fenway where the Sox flat out rake. Back in July in the O.C., Escobar had a 6IN, 8H, 3R, 1HR, 3BB, 6K performance versus the Old Town Team (No-more-ar hit the dinger). In nearly all cases, one appearance doesn’t tell us much. It does give the hitter a very slight advantage over the pitcher. Individually, only Johnny Damon has enough at-bats against Escobar to pass the SST. Johnny rocket has an unimpressive line of 150/227/175 in 44 appearances.
Surprise, no Angel has > 30 at-bats against the rookie Arroyo. Bronson has faced Anaheim twice this season and has gotten killed. They will likely be confident tonight. But as Rich Ceccarelli of Pearly Gates mentioned in a Q&A earlier,
As a team, the Angels tend to have a problem with pitchers with good off-speed stuff (guys like Jamie Moyer tend to tie them up in knots), so I would imagine that Arroyo has a pretty good shot.
Plus, Arroyo holds RHB to 227/281/375, which is a nice split when you face this Anaheim lineup with Vlad and Glaus as their only big guns.
It is going to be another interesting game. I’ll be home by four for the start unlike some MFY fan – I use that term loosely - I saw Wednesday night. I needed to pick up a few grocery items (beer, a to-go sandwich, chips, laxatives and extra large condoms) so I run into the store. As I enter wearing a Sox fleece, I make eye contact with a guy with the MFY logo on his shirt. We both snicker disapprovingly at one another and continue shopping. I don’t think much of it. It is just the usual October stare among rivals. Then I realized he was not a real MFY fan or any fan. How could any self respecting fan not be at or watching a critical playoff game? What a loser! I hope our Sox do not have many fans like that guy. The borders of Red Sox Nation are closed to those types of "fans."
As part of my tenth man package, I got a ticket to a first round game, but it is Game 4 on Saturday. As you know, the Sox may not need to play that game and if they do, it is unknown at what time the first knuckleball will be thrown. It basically puts me and my tenth man compadres on Red Sox Call. We could be summoned to drive 3.5 hours south via I89, I93 and Storrow Drive to Fenway at a moments notice. All of my weekend plans are on hold. Damn you - Fox, Disney and Buddy Boy!
“But back to the nature at hand…”Arroyo and Escobar take the mound today at four. On the surface, Anaheim should have the advantage with their best pitcher going, but Escobar is throwing in Fenway where the Sox flat out rake. Back in July in the O.C., Escobar had a 6IN, 8H, 3R, 1HR, 3BB, 6K performance versus the Old Town Team (No-more-ar hit the dinger). In nearly all cases, one appearance doesn’t tell us much. It does give the hitter a very slight advantage over the pitcher. Individually, only Johnny Damon has enough at-bats against Escobar to pass the SST. Johnny rocket has an unimpressive line of 150/227/175 in 44 appearances.
Surprise, no Angel has > 30 at-bats against the rookie Arroyo. Bronson has faced Anaheim twice this season and has gotten killed. They will likely be confident tonight. But as Rich Ceccarelli of Pearly Gates mentioned in a Q&A earlier,
As a team, the Angels tend to have a problem with pitchers with good off-speed stuff (guys like Jamie Moyer tend to tie them up in knots), so I would imagine that Arroyo has a pretty good shot.
Plus, Arroyo holds RHB to 227/281/375, which is a nice split when you face this Anaheim lineup with Vlad and Glaus as their only big guns.
It is going to be another interesting game. I’ll be home by four for the start unlike some MFY fan – I use that term loosely - I saw Wednesday night. I needed to pick up a few grocery items (beer, a to-go sandwich, chips, laxatives and extra large condoms) so I run into the store. As I enter wearing a Sox fleece, I make eye contact with a guy with the MFY logo on his shirt. We both snicker disapprovingly at one another and continue shopping. I don’t think much of it. It is just the usual October stare among rivals. Then I realized he was not a real MFY fan or any fan. How could any self respecting fan not be at or watching a critical playoff game? What a loser! I hope our Sox do not have many fans like that guy. The borders of Red Sox Nation are closed to those types of "fans."
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Thank you - Red Sox!
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