Cursed To First - Sox and Pats forever.

Return of the King

Pedro Martinez, originally uploaded by Michael G. Baron.

Pedro is the same. He is still equal parts strange, silly, audacious, angry and wickedly intelligent. Yes, all of them, if not at the same moment, at least in the same press conference.

He was also, as one AP sportswriter put it, erudite in his pregame opening volley toward Yankees fans. The first of many memories that came flooding back on the nostalgia trip that was this game was how laughable I used to find his claim that some of his more controversial remarks were attributable to poor English.

And the more years that pass, the more poetically and provocatively Pedro speaks. Especially when he's speaking in New York.

As Denton put it:

He brought his own 150-pound version of badassery to this town when we sorely needed it. And he very quickly took to heart the rivalry and developed a hatred for the Yankees akin to my own.

He has always been angry. That anger, that fire, that's the feeling of Pedro. He has always been a little guy whose body was all wrong and sure to give out completely at any time. Now here he is, nearing 40, without his fastball but with enough guile to still be on the mound, staring down Yankees hitters in late October.

This is how he has always done it, from the scrawny kid in the Dominican Republic who would always be second fiddle to his brother Ramon, to the mean, smoke-throwing bastard who was never going to make it out of the Dodgers bullpen, to the leader of the Boston underdogs against the Bambino and the Bombers, to the wily veteran plying his trade in the National League through surgeries and injuries and rehab and making his stubborn return to the mound at an age when few would have envisioned him still in uniform. He has been fueled all along, it seems, by sheer spite.

He still has a knack for whipping Yankees fans into a froth -- the "Who's Your Daddy?" chants were ringing out in the first inning at the new Stadium last night. He still has a graceful, looping movement on many of his pitches, though his arm slot and velocity are low, and he even seems a shade stocky these days. He can still put in a quality start, six innings and three earned runs; he struck out eight hitters with that 88-mph stuff.

In the end, however, this game would also remind me of a more recent time, a night Pedro ceded the field he once ruled absolutely to a younger man--in 2006, Josh Beckett showing early flashes of dominance, in last night's case, a brilliant AJ Burnett. A night haunted by memories, but which also left no doubt that the Pedro of legend has been gone a while.

Around here we root for two teams...

Cliff Lee, originally uploaded by mrtickles.

All of a sudden, it was like I'd woken up from a dream. For a few days I couldn't quite pinpoint what was different, except that suddenly I was realizing how long it'd been since I'd, say, changed the Brita filter or cleaned the shower. Suddenly it seemed like everything was a mess.

I was washing what felt like my millionth dish the other night when it finally struck me what had made me begin to inspect my general surroundings more closely once I was home from work of late.It had all started, I realized,on Friday, October 16. The Yankees and the Angels were kicking off the ALCS in the Bronx, and I decided, at the last minute, that I'd sit this one out.

It's obviously against my religion to root for the Yankees, but I couldn't quite root for the Angels. I wasn't even feeling particularly bitter about the division series--the Sox were playing too badly for that--it's just that I don't like them, or some of their fans.

The team sometimes remind me of the San Diego Chargers -- when they've lost in the playoffs against Boston, it's always about someone else, and a few of them have to let everybody know about it. Legitimate gripes with umpires are one thing (though you lose me at the league-wide conspiracies), but let's just say I don't think you make yourself look good, no matter what sport you're playing, when you insist to the press postgame that the better team lost.

As for the fans, I also think that allegations of cheating--open, bald-faced cheating of a kind uncommon since the presidency of Woodrow Wilson--based on a few seconds' worth of video of your opponent from a bad angle, is not something that's going to make you look very good.

Yes, I know that first example was last year. Yes, I know I'm in a glass house as a Boston fan talking about being a sore loser. I honestly didn't even feel like having that argument, if anybody even cared to have it. I needed a break.

Next thing I knew, I was scrubbing floors. Watching back episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Colbert Report on the ol' TiVo. Processing photos. Many photos. It's amazing what you suddenly remember about your life when you're not watching baseball.

I mainly absorbed the ALCS by Google Reader osmosis. I know about A-Rod becoming a true Yankee and then elbowing Erick Aybar in the grundle heading in to second base. I feel I've caught up on the important highlights.

So now here we are, and this World Series...well, that one's pretty easy. But not just because The Phillies are "whoever's playing the Yankees".

In fact, even though it's the Yankees, for a brief moment, I wondered if there wasn't something vaguely disloyal about rooting for the NL, according to a kind of abstract hierarchy of rooting interests (I have been able to bring myself, with some retching, to root for Derek Jeter during All-Star Games based on this same set of principles).

But there's no way I can not root for Pedro, no way I can not watch to see if he has one more great performance left in him, even if it's more like "Who's your granddaddy?" now.

Tonight, watching the broad-shouldered and businesslike Cliff Lee pitch a one-run complete game, languidly gloving a popup in the sixth, smiling and shrugging after an uncanny behind-the-back catch in the bottom of the eighth, and Charlie Manuel cursing at the umpires from the dugout on any number of farcical calls, I decided I truly like the Phillies. There's something old-fashioned about them, the solid primary colors of their uniforms, the crusty manager and the baby-faced Chase Utley rounding the bases. 

Go Phillies. Go Pedro.  The Yankees must not win. And the rest of the chores can wait.

Patriots vs. Ravens Photos

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Meriweather & Co. Stomp London Buccaneers

Brandon Meriweather collected two interceptions this week, one of them
run back for a touchdown...but Tom Brady put up two INTs of his own.

"Here’s the strange land of uncertainty in which Patriots fans find themselves, heading into the bye week at 5-2. How much of the last two weeks of dominance should truly be encouraging? And how much should be chalked up to facing consecutive 0-fer teams?" Game Post at MVN

Patriots trounce London Buccaneers, but question marks remain

Even when Tom Brady screws up, he sets a record.

In the first half, he tried to hit Randy Moss in the end zone for a touchdown but threw somewhat awkwardly off his back foot and it looked like he didn't get enough on the throw, which was intercepted by Tanard Jackson.

With that, Brady officially sets a team record of 183 consecutive passes without an interception. You have to go back to 2005 for the last time he threw a pick inside the red zone.

But these are not the records of achievement -- number of points or touchdowns successfully scored, for example, or yards successfully gained -- but records of non-failure, streaks of time in which an an undesirable thing does not happen. The kind of streak like the one Brady broke when he was carted off the field last year, after a team-record streak of consecutive starts by a quarterback (111-- also good for fourth on the all-time list).

The statistical feats are cold comfort when such streaks come to an end. They only remind us of how great things were two years ago -- and that they are now, officially, different.

It wouldn't be another 183 passes between interceptions for Brady, either -- rather, it would be either one or two, depending on if you're counting attempts or completions, before he threw another pick, on another attempt to find Moss, this time deep downfield from the Patriots' 33.

With that, in case you were keeping track, Brady matched his own season record for interceptions (2) in the first two quarters of one game.

In fairness, however, those same two quarters saw the Patriots' 80th unanswered points in just under 90 minutes of football. The only thing between them and 100? A single Buccaneers' touchdown, the only one the "home team" at London's Wembley Stadium would score.

Is Brady really showing rust after his knee injury? Or is he rusty only by Brady standards?

Meanwhile, Brandon Meriweather chalked up two interceptions of his own this week, one of them run back for a touchdown. Vince Wilfork appears to have fully recovered from his Week 3 injury. And aged as he is, Junior Seau seems like he's become something of a good luck charm for the Patriots.

It's easy to imagine Seau as a veteran catalyst, whose leadership is bringing the Patriots' many fresh defensive faces together into a cohesive and solid unit that will continue to stifle opponents in the second half. But before we get too carried away, he's also a 40-year-old linebacker who's made exactly 4 tackles so far this season.

Then there's Laurence Maroney. He led Patriots rushers today with a decent 43 yards, hardly last week's 123-yard effort but a far cry from the single and low-double-digits he was putting up in earlier weeks. Still, with Sammy Morris out, what happens when New England isn't facing the Sisters of the Poor?

Here's the strange land of uncertainty in which Patriots fans find themselves, heading into the bye week at 5-2. How much of the last two weeks of dominance should truly be encouraging? And how much should be chalked up to facing consecutive 0-fer teams?

Prior to that, the Patriots beat the Bills (3-4), the Falcons (4-2) and Ravens (3-3). They've faced one team that's remained undefeated through Week 7 -- the Broncos, who had a bye this week. I think we know what happened then.

But what to make of another statistical outlier -- the loss to the now-4-3 Jets in Week 2?

Not much of a pattern in the tea leaves to tell us what might be waiting on the other side of the bye, when the Patriots must face the Colts and Saints, both of whom head into Week 8 undefeated.

Red Sox vs. Cleveland Photos Pt. 2

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Red Sox vs. Cleveland Photos Pt. 1

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Patriots Week 3 Photos

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New England Patriots crush Houston Oilers / Tennessee Titans 59-0 in snowy romp at Gillette Stadium

It doesn't matter what vintage uniform they wear, this year's o-fer Tennessee Titans are woeful. For today's AFL Legacy game, they were suited up in the old powder-blue helmets with the oil rig and matching uniforms, and were also on the receiving end of an historic loss for an added touch of nostalgia.

At first, this game seemed like it would hold another Sunday of frustration for the Patriots. Sammy Morris was injured on the Patriots' first drive, and just when I thought we'd had a breakthrough about Maroney, up he popped again (or so I thought) like a bad penny.Tom Brady was then sacked, limiting the Patriots to a field goal attempt on this first possession. As Gostkowski got ready and the Patriots milled around in the snow in their red throwback uniforms, I couldn't help but think of the footage I've seen of the Snow Plow game in 1982.

Except in this case, the field goal was missed. Suffice to say, things didn't look good.

To say the worm turned on the next possession, when Maroney suddenly reoriented himself North-South (a departure from the stubborn East-West focus he habitually lapses into), busted through the Tennessee line, and ran 45 yards all the way to the end zone for the Patriots' first touchdown.

After that, the play by play isn't terribly important. When the snow settled and the sleet and fog cleared, the results were shattered team and league records as a result of a 59-0 trouncing.

Relevant stats as posted by Patriots.com:

Team records set by the Patriots [yesterday]:

* Most points in a game (59)
* Most points in a half (45 in the first half)
* Most points in a quarter (35 in second quarter)
* Most total net yards in a game (619)
* Most passing net yards in a game (426, tie)
* Most touchdowns in a game (8, tie)
* Most passing yards in a half (Tom Brady, 345)
* Most passing touchdowns in a half (Tom Brady, 5 in first half)
* Most passing touchdowns in a game (Tom Brady, tie, 6)

NFL records set by the Patriots [yesterday]

* Most touchdown passes in a quarter (Tom Brady, 5 in the second quarter)r * Largest halftime lead (45 points, 45-0)
Other milestones achieved by the Patriots [yesterday]

* The Patriots' 59-0 win ties the largest shutout victory by an NFL team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the Atlanta Falcons 59-0 on Dec. 4, 1976.
* The Patriots 59-point victory ties the largest margin of victory by any team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, equaling the L.A. Rams' 59-point win over Atlanta on Dec. 4, 1976 (59-0).

For the Patriots to have defeated the Titans so badly, obviously a part of this victory should be chalked up to weakness of opponent. There were times Randy Moss and Wes Welker were left so wide open, there wasn't even a white shirt on the TV screen with them. Tennessee's wide receivers appeared to give up completely in the snow by the second quarter, dropping passes that hit them right in the hands.

"Where does one team’s astonishing awfulness coincide with another’s obvious efficiency?" wrote Bob Ryan this morning. "We might be entering existential question territory here."

True, but measured just against themselves last week, the Patriots showed more poise and organization in the freezing weather at Foxboro yesterday than under clear skies in Denver. Maroney, in particular, had a breakout game yesterday, amassing 123 yards -- half again as many as he had amassed for the entire season before Week 6.

Brady and Moss also especially seemed to be clicking for this game. Weakness of opposition notwithstanding, it took precision and proficiency for the back-to-back touchdown passes that found Moss in the end zone, once from 40 yards out--the Patriots' first such play of the season--and another from 30 or so on a flea-flicker initiated by BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

It's true that there were times the Titans literally might as well not have been on the field. But the Patriots were playing like something had lit a fire under them, and I'm pretty sure that something was stalking the sidelines in a soaking wet grey hoodie yesterday.

As Ryan noted, it's too early and the game was too flukily noncompetitive to draw any long-term conclusions. But I'm certainly in a cheerier mood to start this week.

What is this "baseball" you speak of?

Today, the Patriots brought back 1982's uniforms and 2007's hegemony over the National Football League with a 59-0 all day long country-ass-whupping of a warm weather team in the snow. 

Good times. And vastly preferable to watching Joba thumping his chest in New York.