The Boston Red Sox at mid-season - "Please, sir, I want some. . more?"

           Hey, Sox Fans, how’s it been goin’? Been a while. . .

            I’ll be honest with you, following the Red Sox on a daily basis can turn into a full-time job, and this doesn’t even include the other teams you tend to watch as they jockey with the Sox for position. Just got out of the habit of writing about them.

           Watched them split with the Yankees last weekend. Nothing to say. All the talk about the ‘whys’ and the ‘wherefores’ and why so-and-so’s batting average was so abysmal, didn’t mean a thing to me. Well, at least not all of it (there was something clearly ‘up’ with Manny in this slump of his).

            So, I’m at home here, and get myself situated to watch MLB TV and discover that the Sox played at 1:05 p.m., this afternoon (Wednesday). I hadn’t actually heard anything about the game, or seen a headline, or heard a news report. It wasn’t really even a conscious move. There was no news outlet down here that carried it as a story. Not even one of those marathon sessions with team names and a verb that a sports announcer rattles off as the camera confirms the words with a chart.

“The Marlins fed on the Rays, 8-3; The Tigers swatted the Cubs, 6-1, and Boston bounces the Bombers. . .again!"

Hadn’t gone to ESPN’s SportsCenter, either.

By 7:30, the Twins/Sox game is archived on MLB.TV and I’m in the mood to take a gander at the game. Program starts at the beginning and doesn’t give anything away. Right away. The Box Score is hidden, though available at the click of my mouse. But over on the right, I read, and could if I wished watch a recorded clip of “Boston’s seven in the seventh.” And then I see “Ellsbury’s big day.” They’re not Sox loyalists at this place, and if Minnesota had prevailed, you would for sure be looking at quite different headlines, so I knew before I clicked on “Play” that the Sox had won.

Anyway, I showed the weakness of my character by clicking on the Box Score and discovered, to my ‘wake up’ call surprise, that they had indeed scored seven in the seventh, but they had also scored four in the third, two in the fifth and one in the sixth. And then, added insult to injury, by scoring 4 more in the bottom of the 8^th for an 18-5 sweep-completing victory over the Central Division Minnesota Twins, who’d come to town looking to gain a little ground on the White Sox. The Red Sox hadn’t done anything like that since they took down the Marlins, 25-8, five years ago.

Meanwhile, the Twins are four and a half out (if I’m figuring correctly). Chicago had beaten Kansas City 7-6.

Meanwhile, I also note that we’re 3 off the pace in the East, behind Tampa, and in mid-July the four-and-half-games by which the Yankees trail us in the East can justifiably be referred to as “breathing down our necks.”

Glancing at the Box Score, I figure that the top of the seventh inning, when it was 7-5 Boston would be a good place to start watching the game, and the first thing I see is Brandon Moss dropping a ball in right field, loading the bases, with 1 out for the Twins. Then Manny gets a good jump on a potential bloop single into left and there are two out. Sox pitcher, Hansen, snagged a ball bounced right at him and the top of the inning was over.

In the bottom of the seventh, Lowell walks to start things. Sean Casey hits a fly ball to right, which like Brandon Moss, the Minnesota right fielder couldn’t see and let fall behind him. I don’t remember his name. Sorry, I don’t. And I’m not going to look it up, either. These guys want me remembering their names, or looking them up to help them with their sneaker contracts, have their agent give me a call. I remember the Sox, ‘cause I watch them a lot. And they’re all interesting in one way or another. Unlike the Twins. . .no offense, mind you, but really. . .

Anyway, men on second and third and no outs for Jason Varitek, who hits a short fly ball that Minnesota’s right fielder (remember him?) caught on a bounce. He knew it, too, and still let his manager come out on the field to give an umpire an extremely hard time about it that got him ejected. Another reason I don’t feel like naming this guy. I know very well that it’s standard practice to see if you can get away with a bad call. But I’ve never liked it, and I don’t think it reflects well on the game or the people who play it. Period.

Moss strikes out (at that point, the only Sox batter to go 0-4; a stat he would change later in the game), and Lugo walks. Bases loaded, still one out. Ellsbury then completes a four-hit day that drives in the 9^th run. Pedroia clears the bases with a smash off the Monster, keeping his 17-game hitting streak alive, and Youkilis doubles. Manny drives him in and “seven in the seventh” is over.

Partisan announcer Jery Remy is commenting on how Manny’s swing has changed in just the last couple of days and even compares ‘before’ and ‘after’ video clips to back it up, which it appears to do, although some of the language is so arcane, you find yourself nodding in agreement before you really know what in hell the guy’s talking about. It did look, though, as though someone had dropped a note into Manny’s locker that said “Forget the fences. Level off your swing and drive the ball.” And better than that, he listened and learned.

Saw him do it twice in the game.

The facts of Opening Day remain. It’s a long season. Hell, it’s a long half season at this point and while I’ve drifted in and out of maniacal Sox watching, I’ve . .stalked, I guess. For all the runs they scored in this one game, they seemed, on the surface, to be the same team that had just gone (what?) 7 and 10 on the road? Same sort of business-like approach to things like batting and fielding stance. Same speed, coming in and off the field. A little bit of “yahoo!!” but not much.

Boy, do these guys need Ortiz back. Forget the extra RBI numbers one hopes that he’ll be adding when he gets back. I want to see these boys chuckle a little once in a while.

Okay, so the game was still on in the background as I was writing this and I hear Kevin Cash’s home run and then, watch just long enough to see Brandon Moss redeem his “0-fer” day, with a triple off the center field wall. And then Pedroia’s hit and the Youkilis two-run homer that concludes the scoring.

I’m amazed at how many of their games I get to see on live TV down here in North Carolina. There’s a Yankee radio station nearby somewhere and I get to hear the dulcet tones of John Sterling (as I root for the opponent), but the Fox television affiliate n Wilmington shows a lot of Red Sox vs Virtually Anybody games, especially on weekends, while ESPN does quite a few of them, as well, in their Sunday, Monday and Wednesday slots.

So, finally, I’m thinking. . OK, we’re headed into the All-Star game. We’re three games out and we’ve just completed a three-game sweep of a fairly decent Minnesota team and while it’s tempting to think that Wednesday was just a bad hair day for a whole lot of Minnesota pitchers (23 hits; ya think?), that last win was pretty impressive. Not so much because of the score, although it was fun watching those runs happen, but there seemed to be something else at work. Some . . I don’t know, solidity to this team suddenly. Like me, they seem to have drifted in and out of paying attention to what’s been going on for a while and then, on this particular day, decided to settle in and get some work done.

"Please, sir," said Oliver to a stern Mr. Bumble in the musical, Oliver, "I want some. . more?"

See you after the break sometime.