The Killers - Hot Fuss



Interesting Sox game last night that had a little bit of everything: a near-fight in the field, a retaliatory HBP, strong pitching (welcome back, DLowe), tons of runners LOB (in typical Sox fashion), runs scored at crucial times, an Orlando Cabrera meltdown, a near blown-game from DLowe, a beautiful two-inning save for Foulke, and of course, the Derek Lowe face.

So Mientkiewicz was at 2nd last night as a result of Youkilis' recent leg injury. Sure, it was a risky move, and Francona is generally an idiot, but I had faith because...well, I won't lie. I had faith because my Doug Mientkiewicz crush has reached epic proportions and I don't see how he could possibly do anything wrong. Ever. (Except hitting into a DP with the bases loaded and one out.) But, there you have it.

Anyway, Mientkiewicz goes for the tag in the 2nd inning and gets taken out by Carlos Delgado. He immediately gets in Delgado's face, swearing and spitting and doing all those other things that are supposed to repulse women but were, instead, directly responsible for naughty dreams I may or may not have had last night. The guy is a dirt dog to the core and I absolutely adore him.

There's only one problem; one thing standing in the way of Mientkiewicz reaching the heights that Tek, Pedro, and Johnny have reached in my red sox fandom. And no, it's not his batting average.

Mientkiewicz needs a nickname.

This guy has to have the worst nicknames in all of sports. Snook? Minky? Minty? He is not a cartoon character, for fuck's sake, he is a tough, acrobatic baseball player that is not afraid to get dirty. And none of those names do him justice. The Red Sox are a team of fantastic nicknames - but this guy could be the ultimate challenge. SoSH has come up with some genius ones, as always, but nothing that I can see myself screaming at Fenway after a routine Mienktkiewicz diving grab on the 1st base line. I can not keep typing 'Mientkiewicz' every time I want to talk about my new favorite first baseman, so something is going to have to be done.
____________________________


Claudia informed me last night that the July 27th Sox/Orioles game that was rained out had been resceduled for Sat, Oct 2nd at 1pm, which happens to be the weekend of our Red Sox pilgrimage to Baltimore. So a quick phone call later, we'll now be taking in the Friday night game at Camden Yards, as well as the Saturday doubleheader. It. is. on.
____________________________

Oh, Texas Rangers, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. You ruined my birthday weekend by sweeping the Red Sox while I was in attendance. You have the nerve to be tied with the Red Sox in mid-August, making a mockery of my pre-season predictions. You have the ability to keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs, despite the fact that your starting pitching is a joke and your bats have been asleep for weeks. But there's more. Because of your winning record and poorly situated ballpark, I get stuck in Rangers traffic every night on the way home from work, which causes me to miss the first 30 minutes of the Sox games.

You will pay. Oh yes.

Speaking of ballpark traffic, when I lived in Boston, I lived 10 yards from the Fenway T-stop. There were days I would sit in the Park Street station for 30 minutes, unable to get home because of the Sox fan-packed trains.

I never thought I'd say it, but now I really miss those days.