It's Been Awhile...

A wonderful birthday gift

It's been awhile since I have last posted.  I admit, this off season I haven't felt as "into the blog" as I would have liked.  Not that I didn't still love writing the blog because I do.  Things changed drastically over the winter, and I'm learning that things are constantly in motion.  I won't get into every detail, but here are a few of the things that went on that helped contribute to me not writing for months:

• Most important, my brother's diagnosis with leukemia.  When I first moved to Connecticut, my youngest brother was diagnosed with leukemia (I mentioned it here and how I bought the #GetBeard shirt in honor of him).  I'm happy to report that my brother is officially in remission and will be getting married in about five and a half weeks.
• I started a new job.  I started working at a law firm in Hartford in December.  With working, I no longer had my days to write the blog.  This is no excuse, I know, since I wrote the blog while I was living in Iowa.  But, this was a huge adjustment to me.  I had been at my job in Iowa for years before I started the blog, and I was comfortable with the pace and then writing.  Working in Hartford is a much faster pace, and the type of working I'm doing is different.  It was a huge adjustment for me, and I'm still adjusting to it months later.  
• My original plan was to start blogging again once a week when the season started.  Unfortunately, the Friday before Opening Day, I received devastating news that my cousin had passed away.  It hit me very hard, especially since I was not with my family and would not be able to attend the funeral.  I won't get into all the details, but my cousin suffered from addiction.  His brother set up A Go Fund Me Account in my cousin's honor, and I highly recommend everyone to check it out, especially if you've ever known anyone who has suffered from addiction.

I wanted to start writing this past Sunday, but I've been fighting a sinus infection.  I'm actually home from work today with it, so I thought I'd do a little blogging.  But, we're not here about what's going on in my life; we're here about the Red Sox.

For my birthday, my wonderful boyfriend got me a Fenway Four-Pack; tickets to four Red Sox games.  There were tickets for a game in April, May, June, and September.  My parents are coming to visit in July, and we got tickets for a game when they're back.  We also got tickets for a Yankees game in August.  That works out to a game a month for six months.  Not bad.

A beer in honor of my cousin

We went to our first game April 5th against the Brewers.  It was a bitterly cold night (seriously, the temperature was around 35*, and it was windy).  I hate to admit it, but we didn't last past the 6th inning.  I blame Buchholz.  Everyone around us left, which made the wind hitting us that much worse.  There was no coffee and little hot chocolate available.  The Red Sox ended up losing 7-6 in 11 innings.

Since we're a few weeks into the season, I thought I'd just do some random thoughts on the season so far:

• I am not in panic mode...  yet.  There's been a lot of talk on the radio and television about whether people should be panicking about the Red Sox, since they are currently in last place and have a 9-11 record.  Season is still early.  The past two games have showed the Red Sox still have fight in them.  Victorino and Middlebrooks coming back from the DL will make a huge difference.  
• Buchholz needs to get his act together.  Every year, it's the same thing.  He shows these flashes of brilliance then falls down the wormhole again.  My guess is if he has another bad outing in his next few starts, he'll be making a trip to the DL and Workman will be brought up.
• Not impressed with AJ Pierzynski.  I don't think I'm being biased here.  He's batting .235 with a HR and 6 RBIs.  I don't think his defense has been stellar either; I'd rather Ross be back there.  I know it's still early, but I don't know how this move will benefit the Sox.
• Anyone else get really annoyed with the ESPN commentators Sunday night during the game talking about how much the Red Sox missed Ellsbury?  Wow!  I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I'm not a big fan of ESPN; and I try not to watch things on ESPN, if I can help.  Sunday night, ESPN could not let up on their admiration for Ellsbury.  Honestly, I think once Victorino returns from the DL, the Red Sox will be more of a threat on the base paths.  Sure, Victorino doesn't steal bases like Ellsbury, but he has confidence running the bases.  The Red Sox just need some confidence.

I'm hoping to post again this coming Sunday.  Make sure to follow me on Twitter at BornIntoItInIA.  You can also check the side of the blog for Tweets.  

GO RED SOX!