“Boy, Did That Ever Suck, Dear!”

There had to be at least one middle-aged ex-Bostonian Sox-fan couple who hadn’t been to Fenway in years, and who went to great planning, time, travel, and especially expense to journey to Boston for just the two games Thursday and Friday night. Been looking forward to it, and often talking about it, for over a year, I suppose they had, what with the lead-time on tickets.

Then absolutely drenched on Thursday watching the Sox get one hit, and brutally victimized by yet another Japanese atrocity on Friday, while watching the Sox get all of two hits. And, squirming uncomfortably in their tiny seats and the world working they way it usually does, they undoubtedly also had a fat, drunk guy squashing them from the left, and an ever fatter and drunker woman globbering all over them from the right.

But, thanks to the Baseball Package, historic Fenway sure is pretty—from 1500 miles away.

I wonder when was the last time the Sox totaled three hits in back to back official games at Fenway? Still a very inconsistent offense for an elite team.

It takes an act of Congress to move Pap out of #3, and get the totally lost Matzaka!!! to agree to rehab at Pawtucket? Or maybe Matzaka!!! has finally agreed to head south, but now the Sox can’t get the fellas down in Pawtucket to agree to take him? They do have their own lives to live down there, too--and the right to pursuit of happiness still applies, even to people who choose to live in Pawtucket.

And when have two stars on the same team fallen so far so fast, as Pap and Dice-BB?

(As I said below, ‘Matzaka!!!’ comes from the simple, fun way the Japanese little leaguers at Williamsport, who last year almost unanimously cited him as their favorite player, gleefully bellowed out his name. You do have to feel bad for the little guys—the free fall certainly disappointing to Sox fans, but probably confusing enough to a poor hero-worshipping Japanese kid to actually shake his faith in the glorious game.)