Kull's World

Sox Talk

I could see last night's letdown loss coming.  After piling up 24 runs in the last two days, the bats were sure to cool off.  Especially against Lopez, who pitches like Cy Young versus the Sox.  Also, arriving home at 3:00AM after the Sunday night game never helps.  But I think a few positives came out of the loss:

1. John Halama:  That is exactly what Theo was looking for when they signed him.  Flawless pitching in long relief, able to eat up a chunk of innings when a starter just doesn't have it.  He definitely did his job.  If he can keep that up all season, that will be a nice thing to have out of the pen.
2. Kelly Shoppach:  The injury to Mirabelli could be a blessing in disguise.  With Tek signed for the next 4 years, getting this guy some experience with the big club should help improve his trade value if they go that route.  Could help us get one more pitcher down the stretch.
3. John Olerud:  Continues to impress.  Great hitter, better glove.  I was glad when they picked this guy up.  I hope it kicks Millar into gear and they have a competitive platoon situation.

A leftover thought from the weekend...Bernie Williams is about as likeable of a Yankee as there is.

Sad to hear the news of J.P. Villamon dying in a car crash.  Sounds like he was a very well liked guy around the team.  The Sox have had a lot of tragedy in the organization this year, it was only a couple weeks ago that Bernie Logue died.  Strange year.

One Month Old....

Hard to believe that Ben is already one month old today, it has flown by so far.  And he has grown so much already....Here he is at one day old:

And today, at one month old:
(not like anyone is actually looking at ME, but if so, ignore the bed head!)

Beautiful Day in Boston!!!

  Jeremy, Ben, Kristin, & Laura 
  Originally uploaded by JAKULL.

For the first time in five weeks, the sun came out on a Saturday in New England and we sure weren't going to miss our opportunity to enjoy it.

Laura is up for the weekend with a long list of things she wanted to do, so today we checked off the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain.  It sure was gorgeous and it was great to be outside in the fresh air.  Ben pretty much slept the whole time, but I think he still enjoyed it!

And that's why they're the Red Sox!!!

Just when I am ready to stop watching them for a while because they frustrate me so much...BAM!  They reel me back in with a 17-1 thumping of the Yanks in Yankee Stadium.  Typically in routs I kind of wish the team would "save some runs" for the next day, but not today.  It felt good to see them just piling on the runs.  A few thoughts on the game:

• John Olerud could have very easily had 5 hits in his Sox debut.  The two outs he made were on well hit balls right up the middle that hit the pitcher.  That guy can flat out hit.
• As I mentioned earlier in the week and it continued today, good to see Edgar Renteria hitting the ball and hitting it very well today.  Even if he goes 0 for Sunday Night, he deserves an ovation when he returns to Fenway on Monday, last time he was there he was getting booed.
• Speaking of ovations, do Yankee fans request curtain calls of Yankee players when they hit home runs during batting practice?  Their curtain call routine seems a little over the top.
• Couple things that may have contributed to the turnaround today, Benjamin sported his Red Sox onesie (from Moon & Nikki) for the first time, as well as had a photo taken outside of Fenway Park today.
• How good has Matt Clement been this year?  He gets a couple more W's he is a shoe in for the All-Star game, along with his battery mate.

And that's why they're McCarver and Buck...

• Man, I have missed hearing McCarver's idiotic comments since the 2004 post season.  His first doozy today was stating that Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke both HAVE RADIO SHOWS in Boston.  Hmm, if these guys really had "shows" based on what they do, thousands of Bostonians could add that to their resume.  Since all these guys do is simply call into WEEI once a week during the season. 
• McCarver is just one of those guys that thinks he knows everything.  At one point, he speculated that Shawn Wooten might replace Tek in the game, tough to do since he was released a few days ago.  Tim...you do like what, 20 games per year?  Read the background information the Fox people give you will ya?
• Buck, while far better...is no prize either.  Late in the game, after Bernie Williams drove in the Yanks lone run and Buck talked about Bernie for about 30 seconds.  10 seconds later Bernie steals second base (defensive indifference) and Buck calls it as Jeter moving to second.
• Speaking of that Bernie hit, that got a huge ovation.  Not a mock cheer you would think of by  fans at the tail end of a rout.  I think they were just showing him a real appreciation and are probably upset that he is no longer in the lineup everyday.  Just an outsider's opinion there.
• Just a few McCarver/Buckisms today, fortunately I Tivo'd and watched the majority of the game in FF mode between pitches, so I missed a lot of their contributions.

So if fat boy can get it done tomorrow night, the Sox will be looking that much better.  But it will be tough since Mussina is pitching his tail off lately.  Shows how crazy a game baseball is.  But it will also make Friday night's loss sting that much more, because they SHOULD HAVE WON THAT GAME!

Self Imposed Sox Hiatus Coming Soon...

Last year around the end of June, I decided to stop watching, listening, reading about the Red Sox for an undetermined amount of time.  Saving my sanity was my goal behind the boycott.  It lasted a couple of weeks, and by the time I started watching religiously again, it was mid July and the team was starting to come into form, and their late season run to glory wasn't far away.

After last night's game , the 2005 hiatus may come a bit earlier.  Holy frustration batman!  Dale Sveum must have missed hearing his name on the Whiner Line because he had what you might call a bonehead inning last night in the 6th.  However, as always I will look for a silver lining in this disaster.  This game enabled me to teach my young son a valuable lesson in the game of baseball...

   

Anytime your team makes 2 outs in one inning at home plate, it's not a good sign!!!

My god, 5 hits in an inning against Randy Johnson and we plate one run?  He was on the ropes, a few more hits away from having the Bronx Faithful boo his ass off the field and Sveum decides to F it all up.  Even RemDawg was fired up while he was breaking down the second bonehead "send em in" move.  And isn't it crazy how so many times in baseball after a guy makes a great defensive play like Robinson Caruso did last night, they come up the next inning and have a great offensive play?  That's baseball for ya.

Okay, it is 7:30 in the morning and I am way too frustrated.  But sweet mother of god, is that the sun I see outside right now?  Wow, it is....there is a bright side.  Now if only our new ace Matt Clement can continue his great pitching today, let's go Matt!!!

Laura's coming to visit....

Stretch!
Originally uploaded by JAKULL.

YIPPEEEE!!!!

Blah, Blah, Blah...

• Did American Idol earn any "street cred" by having a rocker with a history of drug arrests in the finals?  Speaking of which, Bo Bice should have won IMO he is a much better singer and entertainer with great stage presence, Carrie just stands up there like a statue, great voice, but that is all.  But I guess she needed the win more than Bo did.
• Staying on the reality theme, I was glad to see Uchenna & Joyce  win the Amazing Race a couple weeks ago.  You have to give Joyce crazy props for actually shaving her head on that detour, and to Uchenna for actually sticking it out and gathering enough cash to pay that Miami cabbie on the final challenge, even though they knew Rob & Ambah were getting close.
• Okay last reality point, I swear.  Tom definitely deserved to win Survivor.  Also good to see that the best "survivor" on the show won the competition, and was not voted off early on because he was seen as a threat to the others that suck at challenges.  But what was Ian thinking?  I thought Penn State educated people were supposed to be smarter than that?!?!
• Kind of bummed to see no pictures of Bill's annual fundraising game on his site, especially since was the first year in a while that Kristin and I haven't been.  Did anyone take photos?
• Speaking of the Sox, what the hell is wrong with them right now?  About to be swept by the Toronto Freakin Blue Jays?  Are you kidding me?  I hope they are getting all their bad baseball out of them before this weekend's series in the Bronx.
• Looking for a silver lining, it is good to see Edgar Renteria starting to hit.
• Wow...Orsillo just mentioned the Sox are the only American League team that has not been shut out this season.  That is impressive.
• Just an FYI...I can't remember the last time I have seen the sun.
• And last but certainly not least.  Congrats to the guy that goes by the name of Freight Train around here, who from what I hear has made his way to the Valley of the Sun, becoming the newest resident of the Burg Southwest.  Good luck at ASU!

Comedy/Mystery Hour with Baby Ben

  Nappin in the Boppy 
  Originally uploaded by JAKULL.

There is comedy, there is high comedy, then there is this little experience that just went down at Casa de Ben: 
(Warning: Non-Parents might not appreciate this story, sorry if that is the case)

This afternoon, Kristin and I decide to give Ben a quick sponge bath, which was accomplished with minimal difficulty.  After the bath, Kristin put his baby bathrobe on and began transport to the Nursery for dressing.  Just as she crosses the threshold into the nursery, there is a major rumble in the South Bronx!  Kristin runs  back over towards the sink/bath area to clean him up again, perfect timing for Ben's old faithful of a pee fountain to go off, straight up in the air....the dreaded double whammy of baby changing disasters!

So...where is the mystery part of all of this?  Just as I sat down to enter this post, I notice a bit of dried poo on my left thumb knuckle.  Then Kristin notices a surprise on the bottom of her socks, then I do too.  However upon investigation of the floor, we find nothing.  Hmmm.....where did the poo go?  Or did our socks do a good job of Zamboni'ing it all up?

I'm sorry to be "that guy" with the whole new parenting thing.  But I am already at the point where I forget what life was like without this little miracle.  Everyday I could tell a million stories about how amazing he is.  But that's all for now.

Skate Punks with Skillz!

Check out the videos on this shoe company's website!  It is a bunch of employees of DC Shoes combining skateboarding and basketball.  They claim all the shots are real, not sure how many takes it took on some of them.  Regardless, pretty neat stuff.  I'd like to have some of them on my men's league squad!

Summer Reading Fun

Back in February, I wrote a post about the crazy amount of books written on the Red Sox finally winning the World Series last fall.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to return to my high school alma mater for a fund raising meeting.  Barry and I took a few minutes to roam the hallways after the meeting and stumbled upon the Summer Reading List for students.  While there were dozens of choices for the kids, Barry was quick to point out that Idiot by Johnny Damon was one them, and I also noticed A Tale of Two Cities made the cut as well.

So I returned home and told Kristin these books were among the many choices for high school students to read over the summer. 

Her response, "so they can get PEOPLE LIKE YOU to read."

Damn...for someone that didn't know me in high school, she certainly knows my story.