Riske business

Record: 20-13

First, excuse the title. David Riske is currently protecting a 6-2 lead the loser Indians somehow got over my beloved Sox. I'm willing to bet a large amount of money that no one has made that joke about his name yet.

I'm heartened to see Mike ignored his obvious lack of talent and writing ability and kept the Blog in good order whilst I was in Ithaca (read: enemy territory) visiting some good friends. Mike would have been in attendance but A) We hate each other and B)it conflicted with the local comic book shop's newest shipment of Magic cards. According to our metropolitan friend: "Just TRY finding a mint condition Song of Ethereal Mana Rejuvenation card if you're not one of the first five people in line, I dare ya!" I'll take his word for it, considering his advice usually consists of things like "God I'm lonely" or just sobbing for three hours straight.

I avoided watching the Sox for most of the week because I was already in a good mood and all the Sox could really do is spoil it for me. I apparently stopped watching just in time for them to go on a 4 game winning streak, immediately following a 5 game losing streak and a 6 game winning streak. Streaks like that are indicative of a streak offense. And, why, lo and behold, our offense personifies "streaky". Actually I believe Peter Gammons called it "eratic" but then again Gammons also called Craig Biggio the game's 11th best player ever, so perhaps the big guy has merely reached Rickey Henderson levels of insanity.

How about that Pokey Reese, huh? Ever seen one of those spit takes in the cartoons or movies? I did one of those after seeing a quick ESPN ticker update saying Pokey had a 2 HR night a few nights ago. I later learned that one of them was of the inside the park variety, and both were of the "looming contract with Satan" variety, but it's nice to see the little guy showing some pop and hitting the ball well. Now if he could just hit the ball on the ground and get a few cheap infield hits and steal some bases, like we goddamn pay him to, I could be happy.

I can't mention Reese without talking about his 2B counterpart Mark Bellhorn. He's got 3 homers and a few clutch hits, but he's also striking out a ton and is on pace for a mere 142 walks now. It was only a matter of time before opposing pitchers said "Waiiiiit a second, if we throw him strikes he always strikes out or flies out to the warning track! Every single goddamn time! Look, he did it again! Awesome!!!" but it's still sad to see him falling so far off Barry's pace. 3 homers is only on pace for 15, too, which isn't too many. Where's that "6 pack of pop" he has in his bat, huh Sportingnews.com? HUH??!!?

I look away for a few days and suddenly Kevin Millar has his average at .290? When the heck did THAT happen? Luckily Fatso is still only on pace for 10 homers and a whopping 40 RBIs, so don't go jumping to any crazy conclusions like "Kevin Millar is a satisfactor baseball player". Also Bill Mueller has shown beyond a doubt he can only hit in the 8 hole, nowhere else, and he's actually NOT the worst defensive third baseman since Lou Merloni. Over time our team is beginning to show its true form: Highly paid and maybe just BARELY good enough to win 95 games, squeak into the playoffs, then sputter and die like any of the 7 cars I've owned. Here's looking forward to it!

Not much else to report over here from Red Sox Nation. Team's currently fighting the Indians in the bottom of the ninth but are still down 6-3. Oh and Johnny Damon is selling his hair to charity. God I love this team.