10/30/2013 St Louis Cardinals 1, Boston Red Sox 6

Fenway Park, Boston, MA
World Series Game 6

The WEIRD SERIES...ends with Game 6.

This is Boston celebrating. They would have liked to celebrate at home, and they did.

Mike Napoli gets a Golden Sombrero...but Boston still wins. Mike Matheny calls for 3 intentional walks, 2 of those 3 baserunners ended up scoring. Think about that what you will. Or not.

Scorekeeper's Note: The weirdest play happens in the bottom of the 5th inning, Boston already up 6-0, Jacoby Ellsbury on 1B after reaching on an error (Matt Carpenter's 2nd errah of the Series). During Dustin Pedroia's AB, Ellsbury heads for second...and returns safely on a 1-3-4-3-6-3 PO attempt. According to the Rules - this is not a Stolen Base Attempt...it would have been considered an attempt only if Ellsbury was either safe at 2B (successful), or caught at either 1B or 2B as a result of the Pick-off (unsuccessful). You can't give credit for something that didn't result in either outcome, regardless of the intention at the time.

Boston wins the Series 4-2. Cue "Dirty Water."

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10/24/2013 St Louis Cardinals 4, Boston Red Sox 2

Fenway Park, Boston, MA
World Series Game 2

The 2013 WEIRD SERIES continues...

Boston wins the errah sweepstakes tonight, by committing 2 in the same AB (Saltalamacchia, Breslow).

Michael Wacha's Postseason scoreless innings run ends at 19 (tying Bob Gibson), but he still gives the Red Sox "the business" and manages to break 2 bats in the process (Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz).

Boston loses their first World Series game since 1986 Game 6.

The Series is tied 1-1.

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10/23/2013 St Louis Cardinals 1, Boston Red Sox 8

Fenway Park, Boston, MA
World Series Game 1

Welcome to the 2013 WEIRD SERIES!

Pete Kozma commits 2 errahs in 2 consecutive innings...

But, HEY...Mystery Solved!! It's not really Pete Kozma playing shortstop for the Cardinals tonight, it's actually Dweezil Zappa!!

Interesting occurrence during the 1st inning: After Dustin Pedroia reaches on a one-out single, David Ortiz grounds into a Fielder's Choice (4-6, KozmaZappa bobbles the ball), Pedroia is called 'out' at second by Dana DeMuth. With barely a rumble from Red Sox Manager John Farrell, the Umpire Crew overturns DeMuth's call and Pedroia is "SAFE" at second. Just a reminder, this doesn't happen very often.

Red Sox lead the Series 1-0

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5/21/11 Chicago Cubs 9, Boston Red Sox 3

Fenway Park, Boston, MA
Game 2 of 3



As if the talk in last night’s game about the historic 1918 World Series (the last time the Cubs were at Fenway Park to face the Red Sox) wasn’t enough for you, today we got a very awkward and unique visual representation of that contest…throwback unis…HARD!



We’ll get to the game in a moment…first, let’s get our throwback uni freak on! Here’s Alfredo Aceves in his first start for the Red Sox (and his first start about 2 years).Matt Vasgersian make a pretty good joke about how hard it will be for MLB to sell replicas of the Red Sox unis to their fans…it’s just a white hat, white jersey and pants, with red stockings (of course)…no logos or anything. Just White. And Red.

Here’s Carlos Zambrano modeling the Cubs unis, with a scratch. These uniforms have more ‘snazz’ than Boston, but at first glance, I’m thinking…”prison garb??” The “Cubs” logo as represented looks like “UBS” at first (the “C” is actually an open, elongated rectangle around the “UBS”), so I drift from the prison uniform impression to some kind of a bizarre public utility worker uniform…with stirrups.

Here’s both team, in action, sporting the throwbacks.


Mike Quade is probably grimacing about something else, but I’d like to think he’s perhaps making adjustments to seeing these unis on the field…

Where Game 1 of this series was pretty much mostly forgettable for Cubs fans, we won’t be forgetting this game for quite some time…and not in a very good way, either. Aceves is “effectively wild” during his 5 innings of work; he hit the very first Cub he faced, Kosuke Fukudome. During the 2nd inning, Marlon Byrd’s very first at bat, Aceves hits Byrd in the face, sending Byrd reeling to the ground in pain.It’s apparent Byrd isn’t hit on purpose, but he’s hit just the same, and for a few minutes, we are all pretty much in pain as Byrd writhes in agony.
Kevin Youkilis at 3B winces when Byrd is hit (his stirrups style leads to some amusing comments from Vasgersian and Eric Karros).

There isn’t much more to say; Reed Johnson comes in as a pinch-runner and the Red Sox take the lead early in the game, with the score at 3-1 entering the 8th inning. This is when the Cubs pull off an extraordinary 8-run 8th inning, lighting up relievers Matt Albers (6R, 5 of them earned) and newly-acquired Franklin Morales in his first appearance for Boston (2 ER). 2 RBIs in the inning are credited to Johnson.

Youkilis is hit by Zambrano in the 5th, apparently in retaliation for Byrd. We get an indication of this when HP umpire Alfonso Marquez issues warnings to Quade and Francona. Quade is enraged, holding up 2 fingers (and not as a peace sign)…indicating he is “owed” for 2 beanings. This is a historic HBP for Youkilis, his 72nd, that has him passing Mo Vaughn’s previous record with the Red Sox.

Another Red Sox Milestone: David Ortiz hits his 300th tater as a Red Sock…over the Green Monster, of course.

In one of the strangest Catcher’s Interference calls I’ve ever seen, Jacoby Ellsbury gets on base in his very first PA of the game, when on a 1-2 pitch, the end of his bat as he swings knocks off Koyie Hill’s glove…




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5/20/11 Chicago Cubs 5, Boston Red Sox 15

Fenway Park, Boston, MA
Game 1 of 3

The fabled GREEN MONSTER. This historic meeting between the Cubs and the Red Sox was filled with famous facts and cute images of Cubs goofing around with the GREEN MONSTER. Later in the game, the goofing around with the GREEN MONSTER pretty much amounted to the amount of batted balls going over the GREEN MONSTER plus batted balls hitting the GREEN MONSTER. The Red Sox launched 7 hits to the wall, plus 2 of them over the wall (1 of them caught by Cubs President Crane Kenney). The Cubs launched 3 hits to the wall, none over. But, I digress…

Know this: this is the first Cubs visit to Fenway Park to face the Red Sox since these two teams faced each other in the 1918 World Series.

And Doug Davis spoiled it!!



Bill Buckner joins Len Kasper for the WGN broadcast (filling in for Bob Brenly) and besides the game-calling, our eyes and ears are getting filled with as much trivial brain-crowding stuff you may or may not want to know as any human can handle. Probably too much; it was neat-o at first, but as the game crawls on, many of us find ourselves reaching for our motion sickness bags.

…and by the time we thought we wouldn’t need them, Doug Davis’ performance mandates their eventual use…

Doug Davis’ previous start (his first for the Cubs and his first MLB start since July of 2010) wasn’t really a cause for great celebration, but you could chalk that up more than anything to very inclement weather plus a stunning Ryan Vogelsong added up to equal Doug Davis trouble on behalf of the Cubs. Tonight, Davis can’t really rely on either factor; the weather is better and Jon Lester isn’t really outstanding.

The first inning was confusing enough, including but not limited to a stolen base, obstruction call on Jeff Baker, a passed ball charged to Koyie Hill, a throwing error charged to Koyie Hill (on a PO Attempt during the stolen base), most of this occurring in the space of 3 Red Sox plate appearances.

The 3rd inning gets hairy, but not as hairy…the 4th inning is where Davis allows 3 runs with 2 outs recorded, one of those runs was driven in on an epic rocket-launcher HR by Kevin Youkilis that went all the way to Lansdowne Street, and beyond...that HR was given up by Scott Maine in relief of Davis, who topped this feat by allowing 2 more runs before being replaced by James Russell, who has been pretty much cool as a cucumber so far this season. Let’s not bring up Jeff Samardzija, if only to spare the analysis that his 5 runs allowed (3 ER) didn’t really have an impact on the outcome of the game.

I’ll write this again: I still want to be optimistic about his future not only as a Major League pitcher, but also as a Cub. But so far, this adventure isn’t working out very well.

On a more positive note: the most Cubs fans at a road game I think I have ever seen in my life, even Bostonians are wondering – “where did all these crazy people come from???” I can’t answer that, but I can answer this: “Yes, Kevin Youkilis is pretty good at baseball.”




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