Budget Gamer, Depression Special: Angels-Sox

YFSF might be sticking around during these tough times, but there are going to be changes. To save money, YF and SF have re-organized YFSF Inc. Departments have been eliminated (Goodbye, Misc Tag!), writers have been reassigned. Unfortunately, the quality of work around here will suffer. Those expecting to read Paul's impressive statistical master works will be disappointed. Wheareas before, you would get the chance to read a lengthy and interesting essay, complete with statistics and anecdotes, about Red Sox history, today you will have to read the efforts of your's truly--he of the run-on sentence, poor grammaritude, etc etc. I have taken over Paul's job. Thus, this gamer.

This is probably the worst gamer in the history of the site: Solopsistic and annoyingly self-consciously--filled with annoyingly annoying adverbs, reduncies and self-conscious late 90's-style literary world wink-at-the-camera fiction. This has to be the most crappy self-conscious attempt at self-conscious humor ever!

In the future, Paul's impressive pieces will turn into one line crap from me.

Here's a first attempt at a post titled "The 2008 Red Sox in a Historical Context":

This year's version of the Red Sox is better than the 1993 version. Good night and good luck-N

Okay. Now you can read a better gamer above. But if you're a Yanks fan, maybe you want to choose this gamer to comment on. We have nothing but navel-gazing to do these days anyway.

Comments

[Sam-YF]

Nice gamer nick. I like the changes around here...

[nettles]

A sterling effort, Nick. Which is not to be confused with a Sterling effort, which is something John would have done, had he still been at work here in October.

Looks like the Rays are going to finish off the Pale Hose. 6-2 after 7.

[rootbeerfloat]

Lowell has been removed from the roster and will be ineligible for ALCS play.

[Atheose]

Oh shit, he's out completely now? Hopefully we'll see Youk at 3rd and Casey/Bailey at 1st. Please no more Alex Cora.

[FenSheaParkway]

Kotsay at 1st tonight, I think. And hopefully future member of Red Sox lore (the good kind), Gil Velazquez replacing Lowell on the roster.

[Atheose]

Quick first inning from Lester. Woohoo.

Let's go bats!

[Micah-SF]

Lester looks absolutely fantastic. Let's go offense!

[Micah-SF]

And the offense looks... terrible.

[Atheose]

Grrr stop bitching Youk, that was a good pitch.

[Atheose]

Drew singles. Wasn't he supposed to have a bad back or something?

[Nick-YF]

by the way, is that radar gun juiced or does Lester usually hit 96-98 mph?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Have heard lots of comments lately from fans of many teams demonstrating disdain for this Tampa team.

[Atheose]

F*ck you Kotsay.

[SF]

Does Sean Casey still play for the Sox? Is he hurt? Did he do something to Terry Francona to doom his chances of ever getting off the bench?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Off the game for a sec, After I climbed into bed last night, flipped on the TV, surfed a bit and ran aacross an old silent film starring Babe Ruth.
Didn't appear to be very good. But the Babe didn't seem to blow any lines, either.

[Brownie]

There is absolutely no excuse for playing Kotsay over Casey.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Tito doesn't like Casey's defense, and thinks it's important to go with D against the OC.

[Atheose]

Lester has slowly been regaining his strength over the last year and a half. I think he was topping out at 97 before the cancer/chemo.

[Brownie]

"Tito doesn't like Casey's defense, and thinks it's important to go with D against the OC."

I think the gap between their bats offsets whatever marginal defensive improvement we get from a slightly more mobile 1B.

[Atheose]

If I hear the term "nose-to-toes strikezone" one more time I'm going to take a machine-gun into work tomorrow.

[Atheose]

Pass interferences on the referee!

[SF]

Wow, the offense has just disappeared.

Angels in five is looking extremely possible right now.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Ath, how's that domestic situation working these days?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

SF, I'm just not very optimistic. Dunno why. Lester wil do fine, but I fear it won't be enough.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

OC really showing a lot of patience. Lester throws 9 pitches in first, needs 50 for the next 7 outs.

[Paul SF]

My thoughts exactly on Casey. What did he do to earn Tito's hatred? He's a far superior hitter to Kotsay.

For that matter, Bailey is a far superior hitter to Kotsay. And there's no book on him yet.

[Atheose]

Yeah, I could see us losing this game 1-0 or 2-1.

Bill, my roommate and her broke up a few weeks ago, so I'm happy. Oh, and she actually mailed me an apology letter this week--two months after the events happened. Needless to say it's too little too late. I intend to sit down and write an angry letter back, really giving her a piece of my mind.

Woah now, Lester nearly impaled by a bat.

[Atheose]

I suspect that Casey isn't at 100%. There's just no way he sits out this much after doing so well during the regular season.

Either that or he pulled a "Cabrera" and f*cked Tito's wife.

[Paul SF]

I wouldn't do that, Ath. Best not respond at all. Let sleeping dogs lie, and all that. No sense stirring up stuff that doesn't need to be stirred back up... Not that you were asking my advice.

Also, if given a choice between Nick's posts and my posts, I would pick Nick's posts.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

If this has been brought up, I apologize, but isn't Juan Rivera involved in that Jeff Nelson/Yankee bullpen dustup at Fenway a fwe years back?

[Micah-SF]

And Lester keeps doing everything we could possibly ask from him - COME ON, BATS! WAKE UP!

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Here's my unsolicited take, Ath: The high road is best, Let it rest.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Pedro breaks out with a homer tonight.

[Paul SF]

It is just not Pedroia's series. Suck.

[Atheose]

Yeah Paul, my girlfriend said the same thing. Most of my anger died about a month ago, but I still feel like there's a lot that needs to be said. She dated my roommate for almost a year and never, ever attempted to be friendly despite our attempts to bring it out of her. And then she violated our room every day for over a week, and then lied about it when confronted.

You're probably right that I should let it go, but I'm thick-headed sometimes. We'll see how I feel by the time the weekend rolls around.

Ortiz singles. Pedroia may be 0-for, but he has hit the ball very hard and has gotten unlucky.

[Paul SF]

Another lousy defensive play by the Angels. Let's capitalize, Sox!

[Atheose]

Wow, 3 people think I should take the high road? Starting to sway me.

3 straight balls to Youk, Lackey looking nervous. Youk grounds to 3B, but a bad throw saves them. And Ortiz slid 3 feet to the left of the bag! I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was trying to break up the tag.

[Hudson]

Boston finally gets a break and and opportunity with that offline throw to second. The Sox bats have been silent for a long time now going back to last night.

[Atheose]

Drew hits it to the deep part of the park. Ortiz tags up.

COME ON BAY!

[Hudson]

Nothing doing.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

SHIRT!

[I'mBillMcNeal]

At least they got Lackey's pitch count up.
I'm getting annoyed with Scioscia.
Too much barking at the umps.

[Atheose]

Lester throws the exact same pitch, this time called a strike. Sit the f*ck down Tex.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Lester's pitch count up to 84. They really need to make Lackey work this inning.

[Atheose]

I think we need some runs against Lackey. I don't feel confident we'll get much against their bullpen.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Tek singles to cap a great at-bat.
Lackey showing some cracks?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

OK. There's a Run!
Ok!
Pedro, we need you here.

[Hudson]

Another big chance thanks to a mice Kotsay/Tek hit-and-run.

And it becomes a 1-0 game thanks to another Halo fielding brain fart.

[Micah-SF]

A RUN. THANK YOU. I WILL TAKE IT.

[Atheose]

PEDROIA BREAKS OUT!

[Micah-SF]

ABOUT TIME YOU BROKE OUT, DUSTY!

[I'mBillMcNeal]

PEDRO!!!!
YES!!!!

How close was I to looking psychotic?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Just as important as the runs is that Lackey's pitch count is rapidly climbing.

[Hudson]

And Dustin breaks out of the slump at just the right time. 2-0.

[Brownie]

Okay, I'll concede: Casey maybe doesn't make that play.

[Atheose]

Fantastic play by Kotsay. Scores the go-ahead run and makes that play with Vlad up? Tito knows best.

[Atheose]

Announcer: "How often do you hear a pitcher say all he needs is a run or two?"

Dude, that's totally a Nolan Ryan quote.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Anyone wanna keep dumpin' on Kotsay?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

gotta be Chimp Caray, Ath.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Y.
E.
S.

[Atheose]

6 IP, 6 baserunners, 0 runs, 4 K's. Phenomenal considering this was a 100-win team that he faced 5 days ago.

[Paul SF]

Lester I assume will be coming out for the seventh. He went 110+ pitches last time out, and I think you need to ride this horse as long as you reasonably can.

[Atheose]

With a 2-run lead, you absolutely send Lester back out there. Short leash of course.

Aybar makes an error. These Angels are mentally beat.

[Paul SF]

John Lackey is the only thing keeping these Angels in the game. The position players seem tighter than a drum. Maybe Lester can capitalize on that and get a super quick inning and even go eight. That would be fantastic.

[Atheose]

Wow, Kotsay.

[Paul SF]

Mark Kotsay tonight has given a big "F*ck you" to YFSF...

[Micah-SF]

Jon Lester deserves a standing fucking ovation.

Does he start the eighth?

[Paul SF]

Lowrie with the leadoff single! Would loooove an insurance run here.

And I still say we put Lester in for the eighth. He hit 97 last inning.

[Atheose]

Lester is amazing. At 108 pitches I say send him back out. He's cruising.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Oki warming, but Lester starts the 8th.
Just told the wife, the boy gets a Lester T-shirt for Christmas this year.

[Paul SF]

Well, whoever's pitching is gonna have to do it with a two-run lead...

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Wow. I was ready to barbeque Scioscia for putting Lackey back out there, but he gets through the 7th on 6 pitches AND gives up a hit.

And ... It's Oki.

[Paul SF]

Okajima in. Third time in four games. Nervous.

[Micah-SF]

So how much is Paps available for tonight?

[Paul SF]

After 2 innings and 31 pitches? He might not be available at all.

[Micah-SF]

It's the playoffs. I can't see Tito risking going back to Anaheim because he wouldn't put in Paps.

OKI! ONE!

[Paul SF]

Okajima walks Teixeira, so it's Masterson to face Guerrero. More nervous.

[Atheose]

Paps also threw 2 innings on Friday, and 1 on Wednesday. So he's thrown 5 innings in 5 days. That makes me nervous.

Masterson in to pitch to Vlad. He's thrown in every game so far too.

[Atheose]

Wow, is it me or has Masterson never hit 97 before? I throught he threw in the low 90's.

Walk to Vlad after getting ahead of him 0-2. Delcarmen up in the 'pen. Supposedly Paps is available.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Damn, damn, damn, damn.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

WTF, tek?

[Atheose]

Wtf, signals crossed. Sigh.

[Paul SF]

I was not thrilled about this decision. I would have stayed with Oki or gone to Papelbon. Masterson hasn't shown the control you need for a situation like this, and he's showing that again tonight...

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Mutha f*ck.

[Atheose]

Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK.

[Paul SF]

Fuck.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Delcarmen warming.

[Paul SF]

Bad managing there. Masterson allowed baserunners every single one of his appearances and had problems throwing strikes, to boot. Why was he brought in there with a runner on?

[Micah-SF]

...

GOD DAMMIT.

[SoxFan]

This could be the turning point of not only the game but the entire series.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

He's been disaster with 2 strikes.

[Paul SF]

If the Sox lose tonight, the turning point of the series will be the Sox leaving the bases loaded against K-Rod last night.

THERE'S the easy third out. Something tells me Okajima could have done slightly better than that... Or Lester. There was simply no reason for Masterson to be pitching for the fourth time in four games against the same team. None whatsoever.

[Atheose]

Im gunna tell myself this is just setting up for a dramatic walk-off Ortiz hit.

At least we don't have to use Paps now.

[Paul SF]

Shields is also appearing for the fourth time. So let's see if we can't let familiarity breed some contempt here....

One down quickly though.

[Atheose]

Wicked curveballs to Ortiz and Youk. Great pitch-calling there.

[Atheose]

Masterson still in. Not sure how I feel about this.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

We're trying to let them build up a false sense of security.

[SoxFan]

Masterson is still in.

Francona obviously has a perverse sense of humor.

[rootbeerfloat]

dammit

[Atheose]

Wtf omg gay