Pre-game

Turned on the TV 15 minutes before game-time, and caught the end of SportsCenter. Inspired by the return of baseball to D.C., SportsCenter ran a Top 10 list of franchises with substantial moves. Number 2 on their list were the Atlanta Braves. But SportsCenter said that the Braves started in Milwaukee, and then moved to Atlanta, completely leaving out the Braves’ 81-year stay in Boston. I mean, come on people. So I shot them an email pointing out the omission.

Also, I should say that my sister (kboc923) is at the game. I’m SO JEALOUS.

Right, now that that’s out of the way, let me say that I’m excited about this matchup. It’s the Unit’s first game in Fenway since he was with Seattle, and I’m a big Arroyo fan.

1. Top

   Not a bad inning for Arroyo, but I’m not happy with it either. Everyone connected and put things into fair territory. But the Yankees stranded their runners, so really what do I have to complain about.

   Bottom

   Ouch. Well, it is Randy Johnson after all.

2. Top

   I don’t like Arroyo’s pitch count. But again, New York strands their runners and I’m happy.

   Bottom

   Millar on base with a single. Two-run home run from Jay Payton puts Boston up 2–0. Excellent.

3. Top

   Jeter doubles, and then Matsui drives him in with an RBI double. 2–1 Boston. FYI, from here on out, I’m only going to refer to Matsui as "Robot," as I’m convinced that he’s some kind of Japanese industrial robot.

   Slappy McBlueLips continues his streak of not getting anything from Boston. I live for this.

   Bottom

   Renteria hits Boston’s second 2-run home run of the night. 4–1 Boston. I’ve been pretty ambivalent about the switch from Cabrera; yes, Renteria is slightly better on paper, but Cabrera fit in so well last year. So far this year, Renteria hasn’t quite sold himself to me; too many ground balls into double plays for my taste. And he’s had as many bad fielding plays as good feilding plays. Nevertheless, this homer has me warming up to him. Also, two two-run home runs off of Johnson tonight! I really like the way this is going.

4. Top

   Wow, Arroyo’s all over the place. When you’re only putting one pitch in the strike zone, eventually your opponents catch on and are all over it. That being said, Gibson is calling a really small strike zone on him. Smaller than he’s calling for Johnson.

   Whoa. Jackson ejected by Gibson. If only I were better at reading lips. Speaking of lips, even ol’ Slappy hit the ball this inning. Not good.

   5–4 Yankees.

   Bottom

   Oh captain, my captain! Tek comes through for us again. Third home run off of Johnson tonight, and Tek’s 100th in his career. Tied 5–5.

   Gibson continues his strike-zone double-standard. Tito ejected when he complains about it. I suppose we need to get the ejections in now, since we won’t be seeing the Yankees for a while.

5. Nice and short. Guess both pitchers have settled in.

6. Top

   Sheffield singles, Embree comes in to relieve Arroyo, and Robot flies out to Damon to end the inning.

   Bottom

   Johnson walks Manny. Ortiz flies out to left; Robot makes the catch. No one gets on base; at least we ran Johnson’s pitch count up a decent amount.

7. Top

   I absolutely adore it when Slappy strikes out.

   Bottom

   Lovely hit right up the middle from Mueller. Oh, but there’s the double play from Bellhorn’s hit to end the inning.

8. Top

   Foulke in early tonight. A’ight, A’ight, I’m OK with it. Tino walks, two strike-outs, and Jeter flies out to Payton. I love Keith Foulke.

   AAAAAAAGHGHGH. Would ESPN stop playing this stupid Slappy McDeodorant ad already? So annoying.

   Bottom

   Jesus is my lead-off man, and he lead off with a nice hit right up the middle. That’s why we pay you the big bucks, Johnny.

   RENTERIA TO LEFT-CENTER DAMON SCORES 6–5 BOSTON! OK. Forget everything I said earlier about Renteria.

   Manny hit a nice one to left, but Robot catches it. Gordon intentionally walked Ortiz; let’s see what Millar does with Renteria and Ortiz on base and 1 out.

   More Robot-catching; 2 outs. Here comes Tek.

   Tek hits it down the first base line; Renteria and Ortiz score. 8–5 Boston.

   Some kind of ruckus in right field; Yankees bullpen clears, police, the whole nine. Why won’t ESPN show us a freaking replay of the corner so we can see what happened? Ahh, here it is. Looks like one fan interfered with Sheffield, Sheffield didn’t like it one bit, and goes after fan. Not clear if the fan was doing so intentionally; he may have been reaching for the ball. Girl next to fan dumps beer at Sheffield. Security arrives immediately and separates fan from Sheffield. What a mess. How hard is it to behave yourselves, people? Why spend four bajillion dollars on tickets if you’re going to be such a jackass? I hate people.

   Sweet Caroline
   BAH BAH BAH
   The good times never seemed so good!

9. Top

   Sheffield doubles; Robot walks. Slappy hits to Manny. Foulke’s pitch count is getting worrisome. Posada pops out to Renteria. Giambi walks. Foulke is at 50-some-odd pitches. Sierra pops it to Tek; that’s it!

   Well I love that dirty water
   OH! Boston, you’re my home!

After-dinner commentary

As for the ruckus in right field, here’s my basic attitude: the fans in question spent too much money to get into Fenway just to then act like complete idiots, and Sheffield gets paid too much money to let it get the best of him. Cursed to First has it exactly right.

I’m a little worried about Arroyo’s outing, but it’s still early in the season.

I imagine we won’t be using Foulke for a few days to let him rest up after his extended outing; it should be interesting to see how the bullpen handles things. I think they’ll be fine.

Further updates

basegirl’s writeup demonstrates that I have a long way to go before I’m the game-writeup guy you have to read. Granted, she was there, but still.