Distraction

There’s a lot of crappy things to focus on from the fiasco that was the four game series at Tropicana “We’re A Dome, So Why Do People Call Us A” Field. Julio Lugo’s horrific and embarrassing return. Josh Beckett and Justin Masterson’s questionable pitching. Brad Penny nearly losing it on the field with Lugo (although it was fairly hilarious watching James Shields throw a tantrum directed at JP Howell). David Ortiz actually losing it and slamming his helmet around in frustration. And the turd cherry on top: Carl “Butthead” Crawford stealing six bases in one game off of Jason Varitek.

Instead of digging down into that mess (and mostly as a survival mechanism), I’m going to post a bunch of entertaining video snippets from the past few days.

Let’s distract ourselves, shall we?

First up, Jonathan Van Every. After his virtuoso performance in Cleveland on Wednesday night, JVE decided he wasn’t content with just contributing with his bat and his glove. And so when Javier Lopez (predictably) started to suck wind on Thursday night, of course Terry Francona turned to JVE to get them out of the inning. Lopez’s fielding skills weren’t much better.

After the jump, Jon Lester, Nick Green and Dustin Pedroia provide some more distraction…

Ostensibly, this next clip is about Nick Green tripping up on the basepaths, after which he nearly faceplants in the dirt. Heidi Watney provides the background noise blather, and trips herself up in the process while trying to decide whether to talk over the blunder.

But there’s a hidden gem in this video clip. The clip starts out with the camera focused on Terry Francona, while Buck Martinez drones on and on. But it catches Jon Lester demonstrating his unique approach to eating a handful of sunflower seeds. Is this the kind of aim John Farrell is teaching them?

And our last little ray of sunshine, comes at a painful price – courtesy of a shot to the family jewels of Dustin Pedroia. But what’s amazing is that it took Don Orsillo and Buck Martinez so long to figure out that Carl Crawford’s throw was a nutshot – Don thinks it hit DP in the helmet, until he’s presented with a camera still freeze-frame after the inning break. I’m a girl, and even I know there’s only one kind of blow that would drop a guy to his knees in that fashion.

It is fairly hilarious that NESN replayed the hit no fewer than three times. In slow motion. Over two innings. Nothing like a little nad humor to lighten the mood during dark times.