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Whoops, I lose. I really need to stop thinking I can predict series outcomes. Or the outcome of a game. Or even the outcome of an at bat. Because I AM ALWAYS WRONG. If I say something is going to happen in baseball, it never happens. I know this. But I did it anyway.
And haha it worked am I good or what? I told you I knew what I was doing, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
offspeed!
Okay, I'll admit it now. Fellow Sox fans, crucify me if you like, and I will meekly accept it, but I was rooting for the Tigers. I couldn't help it. I am wired that way. The more certain I became that the Sox would sweep - and there was no doubt in my mind - the more I wanted the Tigers to at least take one game. Be it fact or fiction, I've always rooted for the underdog, even before I knew what an underdog was. It's made me pick favorite characters like Wesley Wyndham-Pryce and Joxer the Mighty. Hell, it made me a Red Sox fan - the day after the 2003 ALCS, when I'd had time to process what had happened, was the day that really cemented my love for the team. Had they won, I'm not sure my sudden new obsession would have sustained itself and become genuine love. I think it might have faded over the offseason.
And what's more underdog than my beloved Tigers, who have lost eighteen squillion of their last eighteen squillion and six games, coming up against my beloved Red Sox, first in their division and on a winning streak? I know, logically, that I should support the team in contention who needs the wins to stay that way, and not the team whose season I've given up on, but who ever said logic has anything to do with baseball?
And honestly, I am very attached to the part of the Tigers rotation we saw. I love Sean Douglass for sucking at life when he was an Oriole, going to AAA, and coming back to kick ass for us. I love Nate Robertson for not going on a killing spree after watching beautiful start after beautiful start go to waste. I love Bondo because he is Bondo and he is twenty-two and was an All-Star candidate this year and I am so excited about his career I can hardly contain myself at times. As I've said before, I've become a real pitching enthusiast this year, even though it's the area of baseball I know the least about, and when my favorite boys are on the mound, I want them to get those wins.
Which is why today's game was the one I was most excited and anxious about. Bondo, who very quickly became the player I probably enjoy watching the most, and Boomer, who I was excited about having from the second he signed. At the moment, each is probably the best in his rotation and I was anticipating a possible pitchers duel, and also anticipating my own fatal heart attack.
So, really, it was sweet of Boomer to get that out of the way early.
That first inning was weird. Last time he did that badly, I had to go out and buy beer to survive the rest of the game. Against any other team, I think I would have had to do the same thing. But with this one, I was cheering with each hit and each run, and then wincing when they showed him looking gobsmacked and angry.
Ha, and Bondo made me twitch a bit too. He was good, but not as good as he can be, and his control left a lot to be desired. (beckla30 also pointed out to me that he was leaving his pitches up a lot, which is one of many things I need to spot on my own. I wish the umpires we get stuck with didn't suck so often. I bet I'd be a lot further along if I could see a consistent damn strike zone from game to game. Or inning to inning sometimes. But anyway.) And the reason the Sox are first in their division is their offense; if that wasn't so solid, they'd have fallen victim to their pitching long ago. So, Bondo was makin' me a little nervous there. But in the end, he did just fine.
Speaking of offense! I love offense too. And when the Tigers offense is on, it makes me so happy. (By the way, I just checked the GameCast play by play, and somebody fell asleep during the first inning, because according to that PBP the Sox won 5-1. I love GameCast.) I love watching them jump all over bad pitching, and I really love Chris Shelton and his bazillionth homer that turned out to be the game winning run. I find it very hard to believe that Shelty just came up like a couple months ago. It feels like he's been here forever. Does anyone remember what it was like before we had Chris Shelton?
Series thoughts in general: Battle of the Shitty Bullpens! WOOOO! Did you guys know that the Red Sox pen has the worst ERA in the American League? Did you know that the only reason this is is because the Tigers pen was pretty damn good before the trade deadline rolled around and Very Terrible Things happened? Yeah. So the last few innings of each of those games were pretty suspenseful, and that's a key reason why I expected the Sox to sweep. The offense should have owned the Tigers pen, and mostly it did. Just, you know, not quite enough, and they can thank their own bullpen for that.
Okay, I've been writing this for like an hour, so I'm done now, and I can't believe I get to spaz like this all over again next week.
offspeed!Okay, I'll admit it now. Fellow Sox fans, crucify me if you like, and I will meekly accept it, but I was rooting for the Tigers. I couldn't help it. I am wired that way. The more certain I became that the Sox would sweep - and there was no doubt in my mind - the more I wanted the Tigers to at least take one game. Be it fact or fiction, I've always rooted for the underdog, even before I knew what an underdog was. It's made me pick favorite characters like Wesley Wyndham-Pryce and Joxer the Mighty. Hell, it made me a Red Sox fan - the day after the 2003 ALCS, when I'd had time to process what had happened, was the day that really cemented my love for the team. Had they won, I'm not sure my sudden new obsession would have sustained itself and become genuine love. I think it might have faded over the offseason.
And what's more underdog than my beloved Tigers, who have lost eighteen squillion of their last eighteen squillion and six games, coming up against my beloved Red Sox, first in their division and on a winning streak? I know, logically, that I should support the team in contention who needs the wins to stay that way, and not the team whose season I've given up on, but who ever said logic has anything to do with baseball?
And honestly, I am very attached to the part of the Tigers rotation we saw. I love Sean Douglass for sucking at life when he was an Oriole, going to AAA, and coming back to kick ass for us. I love Nate Robertson for not going on a killing spree after watching beautiful start after beautiful start go to waste. I love Bondo because he is Bondo and he is twenty-two and was an All-Star candidate this year and I am so excited about his career I can hardly contain myself at times. As I've said before, I've become a real pitching enthusiast this year, even though it's the area of baseball I know the least about, and when my favorite boys are on the mound, I want them to get those wins.
Which is why today's game was the one I was most excited and anxious about. Bondo, who very quickly became the player I probably enjoy watching the most, and Boomer, who I was excited about having from the second he signed. At the moment, each is probably the best in his rotation and I was anticipating a possible pitchers duel, and also anticipating my own fatal heart attack.
So, really, it was sweet of Boomer to get that out of the way early.
That first inning was weird. Last time he did that badly, I had to go out and buy beer to survive the rest of the game. Against any other team, I think I would have had to do the same thing. But with this one, I was cheering with each hit and each run, and then wincing when they showed him looking gobsmacked and angry.
Ha, and Bondo made me twitch a bit too. He was good, but not as good as he can be, and his control left a lot to be desired. (
beckla30 also pointed out to me that he was leaving his pitches up a lot, which is one of many things I need to spot on my own. I wish the umpires we get stuck with didn't suck so often. I bet I'd be a lot further along if I could see a consistent damn strike zone from game to game. Or inning to inning sometimes. But anyway.) And the reason the Sox are first in their division is their offense; if that wasn't so solid, they'd have fallen victim to their pitching long ago. So, Bondo was makin' me a little nervous there. But in the end, he did just fine.Speaking of offense! I love offense too. And when the Tigers offense is on, it makes me so happy. (By the way, I just checked the GameCast play by play, and somebody fell asleep during the first inning, because according to that PBP the Sox won 5-1. I love GameCast.) I love watching them jump all over bad pitching, and I really love Chris Shelton and his bazillionth homer that turned out to be the game winning run. I find it very hard to believe that Shelty just came up like a couple months ago. It feels like he's been here forever. Does anyone remember what it was like before we had Chris Shelton?
Series thoughts in general: Battle of the Shitty Bullpens! WOOOO! Did you guys know that the Red Sox pen has the worst ERA in the American League? Did you know that the only reason this is is because the Tigers pen was pretty damn good before the trade deadline rolled around and Very Terrible Things happened? Yeah. So the last few innings of each of those games were pretty suspenseful, and that's a key reason why I expected the Sox to sweep. The offense should have owned the Tigers pen, and mostly it did. Just, you know, not quite enough, and they can thank their own bullpen for that.
Okay, I've been writing this for like an hour, so I'm done now, and I can't believe I get to spaz like this all over again next week.
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He's very tidy
Everyone admires him
He's so handsome it's a sin
When you're in jeopardy
Don't call the cavalry
There's a better remedy
(Although he doesn't work for free)
He's every man's trusty,
He's every woman's fantasy,
Plus he's goo-oood company
He's Joxer—
I'm Joxer the Mighty!
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Good power hitters (like Ortiz, Varitek, Manny) will crush those pitches left up, unless you crowd them inside. Hence why you saw Bondo go inside on Ortiz and Varitek. If you keep your pitches down, you keep them away and never go inside because good hitters will crush those. Its all about getting the arms extended.
I could go into more depth but I'm not sure how much comment space I have. Haha.
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And by "easier," I mean, "harder," because three teams WTF? It's exhausting sometimes. Fun and often rewarding, but exhausting.
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Don't worry, you're allowed to root for the Tigers. Not to mention a certain Bonderman. :)
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It's OK to root for the Tigers. I was too. Sometimes you want to root for the team that need it more, you know?
And, my gosh, for someone who got into baseball not too long ago, I'd say you're doing just fine in the comprehension department. I'm also around if you ever need, I don't know, clarification or something. But pitches are the hardest things to see, sometimes people who've been watching the game their whole lives still can't see them, just don't have the eye for it or whatever, so I wouldn't be too concerned. ;)
Oh and also, I'm getting wicked character bleed from the Farns. Depressing! I hope you're happy. :P
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YES. I mean, one could argue that the team that has a lead to hold on to needs it more, but, fuck, with the Yankees going around dropping series to the Devil Rays, why not root for the Tigers?
I'd say you're doing just fine in the comprehension department
Yay! That's really good to hear. I know that I know more than I did a year ago, or six months ago, but I also know that I have plenty left to learn, and sometimes I wonder if I'm just talking out my ass. Man, baseball is so complicated it's a wonder I managed to hang on past my first game. I had NO IDEA what was going on when I started, other than a vague memory of the fake rules they teach you in middle school gym class. I had a lot of conversations like this with my dad:
Him: *comes back from the kitchen* "What'd I miss?"
Me: "Uh, the guy struck out."
Him: "Okay, but did he strike out? Or ground out or fly out?"
Me: ". . . he's out."
Heh.
On the subject of character bleed: What's more fun than doing an eight hour shift on five hours of very poor sleep? Doing it with a knot of guilt in your stomach that doesn't belong to you and won't go away! That was possibly one of the most interesting work shifts I've ever had. Before my patience with my coworker's choice of music snapped and I put a CD in, I was identifying with country songs, okay, and that's just scary.
*sigh* It just means we're doing it right.
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i'm not sure i had a point; if i did i think i lost it.
and yay for rooting for the tigers!!!11