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!

Red Sox at Cubs, June 17

Last night, I bought my tickets for the Red Sox at Cubs game on June 17. The time is TBD, but my guess is it’s the game broadcasted by ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball. This would mean that there’s a good chance Terry Francona will be commentating. A reunion is in place for the Boston Red Sox, former general manager Theo Epstein, and former manager Terry Francona.

When I first found out about the Red Sox at Cubs series for the 2012 season, I immediately went to my family and said we had to go. There was some apprehension, then a flat-out “no” from my parents, then some looking into the White Sox-Red Sox series, and then another “no” from my parents. I went on StubHub a few weeks ago to see about Reds-Cubs tickets (for some reason, I’ve been enjoying watching the Reds play the past few years) and came across Red Sox-Cubs tickets starting under $50. I decided that if I wasn’t going to go to the game with my family, I would try and get some friends
together and go. My family soon changed their minds though.

I’m very excited about this game for a number of reasons. The first reason being that this will be my first time going to Wrigley Field. I’ve always wanted to go to Wrigley, but when you’re a Red Sox fan living in Iowa, you always want to see the Red Sox play. I’ve been to many games at US Cellular Field (aka Comiskey Park); I’ve even seen a White Sox-Mariners game there (one of my favorite baseball moments- Ken Griffey Jr. waived at my friends and me). The last time the Red Sox visited the Cubs, I couldn’t get tickets, so I’ve been keeping track of this game for a long time.

The second reason I’m excited about this game is that it’s been two years since I’ve seen the Red Sox live. My family and I went to Boston two years ago, and I was lucky enough to see two games while out there. Growing up, we’ve tried to get to a Red Sox game every year (we’ve seen them play in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Kansas City), but it’s been a little more difficult now that we’re all older. The last time I saw the Red Sox play in Chicago was four years ago, so it’s been awhile. Another reason why this is going to be an exciting game is the whole Red Sox-Cubs, Theo Epstein dynamic.

I’ve been trying not to talk bad about Epstein, but I do think he sort of jumped ship on the Red Sox organization. I know he did about everything he could with the Red Sox, but he also left the organization at a bad time. The compensation, which was supposed to be “substantial,” has been anything but. I want to see what it’s like for Cubs fans who are thinking of Epstein as a “savior” figure (please Google “Theo Epstein, Chicago Sun Times” for this image, if you haven’t seen it yet).

This is being set up as a Sunday Night Baseball telecast (though, it hasn’t been announced yet). It’s the Cubs and the Red Sox, two of the most storied franchises. Even people who are not fans of either teams will tune in to watch this game. I’ve never been to a Sunday Night game, let alone a Sunday Night Baseball game. I’m sure the entire atmosphere of Wrigley will be different with even more energy and excitement.

Lastly, I want to see if Terry Francona goes down on the field and visits with the Red Sox players. One of my favorite things over the past few seasons is seeing Francona with his players, especially Pedroia. The players loved Francona as a friend/father-figure. The fans loved Francona, for the most part.

As I’ve been stating, I’m really excited for this game. If anyone has suggestions about things to do in Wrigleyville or things to see at Wrigley Field, please let me know. I want to get as much out of this experience as possible.

I'm A Bit Disappointed in the MLB Coverage

This morning marked the official start of the MLB season- the Japan series. The Mariners took on the A’s in Japan, and the game was scheduled to start at 5:00 AM, Central Time. Around 5:30 this morning, I turned on MLBNetwork to watch the game, but it wasn’t on. Instead, I was watching a re-airing of the Mets-Braves game from yesterday. My trusty “red button” icon came up to check scores, and I found out the game was not airing live. What’s up with that?

I remember when the Red Sox played in Japan in 2008. I remember waking up at 5:00 those two mornings, flipping on the television to ESPN, and watched a little of the game before having to get to work. It was an early two mornings, but I enjoyed it. It was the Red Sox, it was baseball, and it was live. What’s not to enjoy?

So, this morning I was expecting the same giddy feeling… the feeling I always get at the start of a new season. However, there was no game. It was airing on one of the DirecTV “Extra Innings” channels (and I could’ve gotten it with my MLB.TV subscription), but not on ESPN or MLBNetwork. MLBNetwork was re-airing the Mariners-A’s game at 8:00 AM Central time this morning. I don’t understand that.

I know ESPN isn’t as baseball-centric as it once was, one of my many problems with the channels (I get quite a few of them). They’re doing better, showing a few more interesting games this Spring Training, but why not air the live game? Same with MLBNetwork. This channel is exclusively for baseball- that’s it! Why not show the live game?

Lucky for me, the game today went into extra innings. When I arrived at work at 7:35 (work doesn’t start til 8:00 but I like to get there early and get some things done before the phones start to ring and people come in), it was in the 10th inning. I loaded my MLB- At-Bat app on my iPhone and watched the last two innings while I did some work. This is exactly why I’m happy to have the MLB subscription- I can watch the game anywhere I choose.

For the record, the Mariners won 3-1. The winning run game on a Dustin Ackley single to center fielder Yoenis Cespedes, scoring Brendan Ryan. Felix Hernandez gave up 1 run in 8 innings, striking out 6 with 0 walks. Ichiro was 4-5, Reddick was 0-4, and Cespedes was 1-3. Since I didn’t get to watch the whole game, that’s all I have.