and the winner is...

well technically all the people voted to the all-star roster are 'winners'...

AL starters:
- C: joe mauer, twins
- 1B: mark teixeira, the evil empire >:(
- 2B: dustin pedroia, us :)
- SS: derek jeter, the evil empire >:(
- 3B: evan longoria, rays
- OF: jason bay, us :) ; ichiro suzuki, mariners; josh hamilton, rangers

there are a lot of AL reserves but the important ones, for me, anyway, are... well, pretty much just youk. beckett, pap and wakefield got the pitching staff nod (this is actually wake's first all-star game which is cool)

and funny how it is that out of my official "5", the only two that got voted in were the pitchers who i couldn't vote for anyway. i wasn't surprised. so far, starting pitchers for both teams have not been announced.

kinsler and sandoval for the final vote!

as a whole i'm pretty cool with this lineup. except for the 1B and SS starters and other members of the evil empire but that's a given.

happy 4th

i'm off to a birthday party for my cousin later but that's about it for my festivities.

i went to the defenders/senators game last night, and i was a bit disappointed that the 1st-place defenders lost 9-2 to the washington nationals' double-A team, but i will admit that they do have some pretty darn good prospects (maybe the nationals wouldn't be quite so bad if they kept their prospects). i visited the baseball card guy and got the rest of my boys covered in my baseball card collection; i got 2 dan haren, a salty and a lincecum. i also got a consolation pack of vintage cards 'cause my sister was with me and not necessarily being the most behaved and she got her finger pinched in the display case so the guy gave her a pack of cards for free 'cause he felt bad. oh well.

sox lost to the mariners 7-6 in 11 innings which kinda stinks, ellsbury went 1 for 5, but wakefield broke the red sox record for career starts for huzzah for wake. the rangers beat tampa bay 3-1 and salty had an 0-fer but he got intentionally walked which is pretty awesome :). royals got shutouted by the white sox 5-zip but alex did his rehab game in triple-A last night and i'd give you the recap except i can't 'cause the game was suspended so they won't have the recap 'til the game is finished EDIT: he went 1 for 3 with 2 walks and a run, thank you royals.com. alex will be doing more rehab in double-A. (oh, and ps: you gotta watch the video in the first link. it's so random and hilarious.)

take that!

the house didn't flood between the monsoons of last night and yesterday (thought at times it was coming down pretty hard and the pool is dangerously close to overflowing), i got to sleep in a bit and the sox had their own little mini-comeback! woo!

the sox won 6-5 in 11 after being down 5-1 in the beginning of the 9th inning. 4-run 9th to tie, and an ellsbury double + youk groundout + lugo single to bring ellsbury home in the 11th. and pap broke the sox's all-time saves record with his 133rd career and 20th season save so huzzah for pap.
the twins beat the royals 5-1, no outstanding news on alex's rehab but it's pretty much official that he won't be playing in the fenway series. his hitting is getting better but his running and lateral movement and stuff isn't that great (well hello it is hip rehab we're talking here) so let's hope for a soon-but-healthy return. and let's also hope that the royals don't trade teahen before alex comes back otherwise they'd be toast in the hot corner.
rangers beat the angels last night, salty went 0 for 2 with a HBP and an RBI strikeout that has a very interesting score recap: "J Saltalamacchia struck out swinging, J Saltalamacchia safe at first on wild pitch by J Weaver, H Blalock scored, J Borbon to third." (hey i think i've had that happen to me before, just without the rbi)

the look on his face makes it look like he's thinking "uh... i don't think that was s'posed to happen..."

*air bubble*

since that was all i could bring myself to say when i saw this headline: "O's erase 9-run deficit in 7th, 8th to stun BoSox". i mean, for crying out loud we were up 9-zip after the 4th inning! how could we just give that up?! smoltz was doing awesome but once he was done, "the bullpen blowup of '09" happened. that's what it is deemed now since no other non-profanity-laced nickname will suit it. it was a good game to start too, ellsbury even hit a home run but that ruined it. i'm upset. *pout*
the sucky part is that last night went well for my other boys who played but the sox game kinda ruined it. dan haren got his 7th win, 6-2 over the reds with 9 Ks, and he even contributed with his first home run not only of the season but ever, and a double (and he got thrown out at home but that's ok) so i take back what i said about the d-backs not giving him any run support.

and look! he shaved!

the rangers beat the angels 9-5 and salty also hit a double but that was it.

k, well i guess those two games made me feel a bit better but i'm still not that happy about it >:(

and now for a slightly less ginormous post

i really don't like doing long posts. even i get bored reading them. and they're my posts.

so. baseball recap.

• lincecum pitched his third complete game of the season, a lovely 2-hit shutout of the cardinals to bring his season record to 8 and 2. he issued no walks and 8 Ks. and he is just too darn cute. i mean, look at him!

(yes even though he is still in desperate need of a haircut).
and in ex-defenders news, ishikawa hit a 3-run home run so yay for that.

• the red sox beat baltimore on lester's 7-inning shutout effort, and drew was a double away from hitting for the cycle (and he scored two and ribbied another, so he was in charge of 3 of the 4 runs, which is cool). ellsbury went 1 for 3 with a single, a HBP, a run and 2 SB. lowell sat out after getting a shot for his hip and some fluid removed, and pap tied the red sox record for saves with his 132nd save last night.
  
• royals beat the twins 4-2, and the latest news on alex is that he's rehabbing in arizona (the spring training facility) and he hit a home run in a game on the 26th so that's a good sign.

dan haren pitches tonight and salty was off. sox @ orioles 7:05, d-backs @ reds 7:10, rangers vs. angels 8:05, royals vs. twins 8:05.

oh, speaking of lincecum, i finally got mlb 2k9 except it's at the EGE's house 'cause i don't have a wii. the controls are a tad confusing and we played an exhibition game as the royals (we wanted to be the sox but again, we were confused) and we were losing like 13-zip in the 4th inning and david hit ellsbury twice and pedroia once with a pitch even though i told him not to and alex looks really funny and teahen and dejesus collided in the outfield and it was HILARIOUS :)

and for a last little tidbit, you may have noticed that i started labeling my posts (took me a few hours yesterday but i sucked it up) because someone suggested i should. that person knows who they are. oh well, hope it helps for... something...?

tour guide mandachan: the poconos

(i told you guys i wouldn't get around to it 'til monday)

anyway, before i begin, i just wanted to say something about the celebrity world the past week. WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO DIE IN DROVES?! i realize people die, it's a fact of life, but you almost never see just one person go. they have to go in groups. must be like how girls can never go anywhere without a buddy, even to the bathroom....

and now back to our scheduled program...

so. we actually stayed in PA monday to thursday, not sunday to thursday like i thought. the ride over wasn't bad, a bit long though (we got off I-84 right as we got over the NY/PA border and took rt. 209 which was scenic but very long...) and then we accidentally got onto the business version of 209 and got a bit lost but eventually we found our hotel. it was this really cool old-looking hotel (mom said it looked kinda like the one from the shining but since i've never seen that, i wouldn't know) and it was kinda fancy but not too horribly so.
we ate at this really cool diner up 611 that had a movie theater attached to it and the cool part was that you could order normal diner food and have it delivered into the movie theater (we ate too early to take it into the theater). since sam was with us, we saw up. warning: do not see up if you cry easily. luckily i don't but everyone was bawling in the theater and that really bothers me...
we went mini-golfing twice and i found a really tiny frog of which i'll post a picture of later and i got 3 hole-in-ones the second game even though the first one i hit a little too vigorously and it ricocheted off the side bumper things a few times, almost hit my sister and then fell back into the hole (see? a failure so epic it's almost a win!).
we went to this pretzel/candy factory business owned thing which was totally yummy even though they were like 3 miles apart so we couldn't take the pretzels and walk over to get them dipped :) but i did buy some chocolate-covered strawberry ball things, just haven't eaten them yet. we also ate at the tavern on-site of our hotel twice, the first night being appetizer night omg those wings were good with that sweet heat stuff ^_^ .
we went to a zoo which was practically in the middle of nowhere but they had a lot of animals for such a little zoo and the lions were miffed about something 'cause they had roaring spats which was quite entertaining.
finally, before we left on thursday, we went to bushkill falls which was sorta on the way back and we walked all around there which took about 2 hours and then we were stupid and decided to do paddleboats after our knees were already dead (bad planning on our part)

and now for the baseball part. even though this is totally old news, ellsbury went 4 for 4 last tuesday night with 2 singles and the first 2-triple game of his career and the sox won but i don't remember the score, and lincecum pitched another 7-hit CG. wednesday wasn't so hot 'cause haren got the loss for the 2-1 rangers win (dang that run support. it would've made it a bit better if salty did that damage but he wasn't playing.)
sox lost last night 2-1 to atlanta but hey it was close, zack greinke got his 10th win in a close 3-2 over the pirates, rangers got 1-hitted by the padres (and no it wasn't salty. gosh that's embarrassing.). lincecum is pitching tonight against the cardinals as we return to intraleague play, with the sox @ orioles, royals facing twins, and the rangers vs. angels.

i told you it'd be a ginormous post :)

phew

yeah sorry i didn't post yesterday but i was kinda tired...
the "tour guide mandachan: the poconos" edition will come at a later date, probably monday 'cause i don't feel like posting much right now. and i'll do a big baseball recap one too.

has anyone else noticed that i got like 30 visits chopped off my counter? i'll have to fix that later...

oh well. write back in a few days.

yet another break

sorryyyy, this time i'm going to pennsylvania with my family from sunday to thursday i think. don't miss me too much :)

as for the baseball-ness, sox lost the rain-shortened game to the marlins 2-1 (it was only 6 innings but hey it was close) and ellsbury had an SB. dan haren beasted against the royals, getting his 6th win in the 12-5 blowout. and what is it and my pitchers' hair? lincecum needs a haircut and haren REALLY NEEDS A SHAVE!!!! i mean, look at him!


oh well. see y'all when i get back.

mmrgh.

so yay and all for no school but it makes me wonder if anyone in my house, namely my dog and little sister, understands the concept of "i want to sleep in when i don't have school"...

interleague recaps for ya:

• the sox beat the marlins 6-1 with penny's 100th win (yay penny) and fenway's 500th consecutive sellout (yay fenway). it kinda sucks that the marlins' run was scored off an ellsbury error but hey, it was a line drive, those things are scary! (and it was his first error this year so that's pretty good). besides, he hit a home run and had a stolen base to make up for it.
• the giants lost to the angels 4-3 and unfortunately lincecum got the loss, but otherwise it was a decently strong outing; 8 IP, 8 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), no walks and 9 Ks.
• the rangers beat the astros 5-4 in 10 and salty hit a home run so yay for that.

i guess i should probably start my outlines for ap bio (mmrgh summer homework), so that's it for now. red sox vs. marlins @ 7:10 (lester's pitching), d-backs at royals @ 8:10 (dan haren is pitching so it's a darn good thing alex isn't playing yet...)

happy lincecum day!

well technically he's not pitching today (remember the 7-hit CG SO last friday?), but i believe the reigning cy young winner deserves a little birthday post. happy 25th, timmy!


(pictures from espn mag, sports illustrated, espn.com, mlb insiders mag and other misc. places)

and you wonder why i like these people...

out of my 5 "buddies", the 3 that did play yesterday did AMAZING. it was awesome.

the red sox beat the phillies 5-2 in 13 innings last night, ellsbury with the last RBI. it was intense, mostly after howard's moonshot in the 9th ruining lester's chance at a win.

the giants beat the a's 3-0 behind lincecum's 7-hit CG shutout. how can anyone not love a guy this awesome?

(he still really needs a haircut, though...)

the d-backs creamed the astros 8-1 and dan haren pitched a beautiful 2-hit CG.

(that doesn't look too comfortable...)

the rangers and royals also won, but salty had the night off and alex OBVIOUSLY didn't play... (although, speaking of alex, he's starting to take light swings. i'm starting to doubt that he'll be in check for the fenway series in july but i'm just hoping he'll be back to play at some point this year)

hm.

interesting stuff last night.

the first is a yay for the sox for sweeping the yankees again in a 4-3 win. that's always a good thing. penny did a great job pitching and luckily the offense fought back when they ran into some hairy spots with the relievers.

royals lost to the indians 4-3 but on a totally ridiculous situation. the winning run was scored because of some birds on the field. seriously. there was a bunch of seagulls parked in center field and choo hit a single straight at them which sent them into a tizzy which rendered crisp unable to field the ball amidst the chaos. and the run scored on that. come on. that's lame. yes, i realize that obviously i wanted the royals to win, even without alex, but i think that should've counted as interference or something.

rangers beat the bluejays 1-0 and salty got a hit, but i like this picture:

gotta love that last name :)

finally, the rays kicked butt last night, beating the angels 11-1, and yay for evan longoria and his home run. although i think he needed a hug after taking a wild pitch to the face (who wouldn't?)