So with Free The Birds on my brain and baseball on my mind, my wife and I settled in to watch some hardball tonight…
Currently, it’s tight. Red Sox down a run, Yankees up on the Orioles, with the brooms swinging…
And I’m just thinking, and when I’m thinking, I’m blogging…
* What’s it like to be an Oriole player tonight, in the midst of Yankee Stadium on a September night?
The park is full, the home team — given up for DEAD three months ago — is within breathing distance of the hated Red Sox, Andy Pettite’s on the hill and the joint is rocking. And then, on Monday, they’ll come home to find a near empty stadium, and the few of us there will include a contingent that is coming to the park to protest the same ownership that many of them realize has screwed the whole thing up here.
If you’re Brian Roberts or Miguel Tejada or ANYONE on the team this is how it goes:
Tonight, baseball is a joy to play…
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On Monday and all of next week, they’ll play in front of an empty stadium every night…NOT fun!
And then the Yankees fans will invade their home stadium and pack ’em in all weekend before they go home for the winter to contemplate the only race they were in: the one for last place with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who like the Orioles, seeming absolutely incapable of ever winning a game again.
And if you’re under contract next year to the Orioles like Robert and Tejada and many others: NOT fun!
* We’re watching the Canadian version on the Red Sox-Blue Jays game. Weird commercials with A.J. Burnett. NO LIFE AT ALL in the Skydome. The guys from NESN do a nice job. I love hearing Jerry Remy butcher the English language.
* Burres is pitching a helluva game tonight. Just buckled Derek Jeter’s knees!
* So, the Red Sox are about to fold and some guy I’ve never heard of (Cory something??) just came in to face the Blue Jays in the middle of the pennant race. And the Blue Jays starter — another cat I’ve never heard of before — was hurling a two-hitter against the BoSox.
* For the record, the "proper" pronunciation is "Paah-tucket", NOT "PAWW-tucket"…
* Cocky overheard Red Sox quote of the day from the Ravens clubhouse: "Red Sox fans don’t worry about the standings until October"…you really gotta hate the Red Sox, right? But what’s to say when the Yankees are the alternative.
I abstain…
