Jobu came, took fear from bats.

All that rum I've been offering up to Jobu really paid off -- in the form of a complete, three-game sweep of the Rays. It's only rightful as payback for the disaster that was last weekend. The Sox bats were back in fine form... I can only assume Jobu played a part.

The awesome powers of Jobu were not enough, however, to keep Brandon Moss off the DL. Come to find out, he's a right Dustin Pedroia that one. Brandon played through pain and sick feelings on Friday night, pounding out his second big league homer in the process... only to discover the next day he needed to have his appendix removed. That's enough to earn him Baseball Boyfriend of the Day honors, I'd say.

Brandon wasn't the only one being all Dustin Pedroia-like; Dustin Pedroia was downright Pedroia-esque as well. From the Herald:

Against the Blue Jays, Pedroia's left shoulder popped out of his socket after making a potentially game-saving stab of a Vernon Wells grounder. The subluxation, which originally stems from the injury he suffered in the 2006 spring training, was quickly fixed by the Sox infielder by manually popping the problem back into place.

But according to Pedroia, he experienced a similar instance during the ALDS against the Angels last year when making a diving stop.

"I did against the Angels and just had to pop it back in," he said. "I just rehab it and keep it strong, but my joints are loose and it will pop out sometimes when I dive."

Jacoby Ellsbury makes teenyboppers (and even grown adults) do some crazy things. But now it appears Jacobymania is so powerful, he's making corporations pee their pants.

I really think the folks at Owater could have used a copy editor to check their new ad campaign with a dictionary before running it. Unless they really are so super excited to have Jacoby as their new spokesman, that they're wetting themselves.

Jacoby took the David Wright-route with Massachusetts-based owater: he will receive an ownership stake in the company in lieu of traditional endorsement fees. Both Jacoby and Owater are tight-lipped on the precise percentage ownership Jacoby was granted-- but DWright's 0.5% ownership of VitaminWater netted him over $20 million when the company was sold to Coca-Cola.

The two-year endorsement deal will land Jacoby in radio spots and print ads around New England:

Ellsbury will be featured in the company's radio campaign, point-of-sale and other marketing efforts. The radio spots will begin to air this spring on New England radio stations. This marks Ellsbury's first partnership with a beverage company. owater VP/Marketing Kim Stewart said that the company is "mulling some other marketing events for him to help 'maximize Jacoby's stuff.'"

Ellsbury said that he signed with owater because he "sees himself as a role model and wants to put 'something positive out there on the shelf.'" owater President & CEO Tom First "got in touch with Ellsbury's representatives and got owater to [him] during spring training." On Tuesday, Ellsbury recorded a radio spot for the brand in the "make-it-up-as-you-go-along style." Ellsbury: "It's not scripted, so it's from the heart."

This is getting absolutely ridiculous.

Sox and Yanks fans getting into tussles is nothing new - the two fanbases have perfected the art of getting drunk and calling names... and throwing punches inevitably follows close behind. There have been multiple well-publicized incidences over the last couple of years where the anger carried over outside the ballpark, and fans perpetuated severe beatdowns on rival fans. And as idiotic as all of that is, it is nothing compared to the latest: a Yankees fan ran over a Sox fan with her car and killed him.

Authorities won't describe the argument beforehand in Slade's Food & Spirits, but witnesses said it heated up when Hernandez identified herself as a New York Yankees fan. Like the rest of New Hampshire, Nashua, 45 miles northwest of Boston, is Red Sox country.

Bartender Tanya Moran said the argument spilled outside, and at least one person in a group that included Beaudoin began chanting "Yankees suck!" when they saw a Yankees sticker on Hernandez's car.

Hernandez, 43, allegedly gunned her car and struck Beaudoin and his friend Maria Hughes, 21. Hughes had only minor injuries, which Beaudoin's sister Faith said was because her brother shielded his friend.

"She never braked, and she accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people," prosecutor Susan Morrell said of Ivonne Hernandez, who is charged with reckless second-degree murder in the death early Friday of Matthew Beaudoin, 29.

Rivalries are essential to the enjoyment of sport. Anyone who attended a college without a rabid athletic rival or roots for a pro team without a rival counterpart team knows that having someone to "hate" makes sports a lot more exciting and interesting. But rivalry carried to this extreme isn't really rivalry any more -- it is pure hatred. That's not fun or exciting- it's ludicrous.

Except hatred of A-Rod... we can all get behind that. /ends on a light note

Finally, the long-awaited true story behind Schilling and his bloody sock.

With the news that Sean Casey is set for a rehab assignment in Pawtucket this week, it seemed like the perfect to share that not only is Sean "The Mayor", he's also...

the Homecoming King!

More not-at-all embarrassing yearbook photos of Sean after the jump...

(big hat tip and credit to TheStarterWife for sharing these pictures)

Continue reading »

Julio "E6" Lugo (or should that be "E6E6E6E6E6E6E6E6E6E6"?) has had enough.

He's tired of people talking about his 10 (!) errors so far this year. He doesn't want to talk about leading the league in errors, two more than the next guy on the list (Edwin Encarnacion has 8). Don't ask him any questions about his error in the ninth last night, and certainly don't bring up his 3-error game in Toronto just a short while ago. He just doesn't understand why anyone cares about all that.

"I don't care, but sometimes it would be nice to say something positive," [Lugo] said. "But all the time it's negative things, you know? Sometimes, you know, people should say something that's positive. But every time it's something negative . . . bring it up, bring it up, bring it up. Why?

"I understand you (the media) are going to write whatever you want . . . but I come here every day and bust my ass . . . if things don't work out sometimes, that's the way it's going to be. You understand? But sometimes you bring up the same things . . . You get tired of that."

And it's not like you're coasting on a groundswell of goodwill, either. Remember this? You're not a rookie phenom pitcher who consistently throws well, and had a rough outing. You're not a lights-out closer who notched a very rare BS. You're certainly not a twice-over World Series batting juggernaut and clutch hitter who hit a batting skid for a few weeks. You're a guy who's getting paid a shit-ton of money, who's been mediocre (or worse) at the plate and downright horrific in the field. Please quit acting so pissy because you're getting called out for sucking when you are, you know, sucking it up at SS.

And don't front like it's just us, either. It's not often that a player's Baseball Reference page is sponsored by a rival team's fans, who celebrate the fact you take up a Sox roster spot. To wit:

Oddly enough, I think most folks have been pretty lenient with you-- highly unusual for this town, as you well know. But Lugo... you're driving otherwise sane and rational folk to acts of violence. Either quit with the sucking, or quit with the attitude... otherwise someone's liable to go all Josh Beckett profanity-laced-tirade on your ass.

Hat tip to Joe in Philly at Soxaholix for noticing Lugo's BR sponsorship.

Jonathan Papelbon was not pleased with his blown save performance last night (even though neither of the runs in the ninth inning were earned by him), and this water cooler is going to pay the price.

FEEL THE WRATH, WATER COOLER!

This isn't the first time a poor, hapless water cooler at Comerica has been made to feel the pain of a Papelbon cleat. I think those Detroit water coolers must just be asking for it.

And of course, here's video of the cooler kicking from yesterday - and some postgame lockerrooom reaction from Papelbon as well.

vs. Detroit Tigers 7:05 pm Comerica Park - Detroit, MI SP: Josh Beckett vs. Justin Verlander tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

And how about a little Beckett-Verlander montage video to get you pumped for the faceoff?

A quick administrative note: I'll be on the road most of today and Sunday, traveling to and from my brother's graduation. That likely means there won't be much updating on Saturday-- but since I'll be spending hours in the airport today and Sunday, posting on those days should continue as normal. I may end up posting Saturday's open game thread early, at an odd time, because of the scheduling.

There will also be an announcement on Monday of a fun intra-team blog wager on an upcoming series.... so look for that.

And finally, for anyone who's going to this weekend's series in Minnesota, I was asked to write the Red Sox summary for the insert in the Twins' GameDay program- so check that out! (Thanks to Kyle and all the GameDay program staff for that opportunity.)

In which I highlight noteworthy blogs for you to gather reconnaissance on the Red Sox upcoming opponent. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Twins Geek: insightful analysis on the Twins, and timely news updates Lipgloss & Baseball: the Twins from a female perspective, and loaded with humor Twinkie Town: SBN site that's updated daily with all the latest news & happenings On The Road: pitcher Pat Neshek's personal site, where he talks about life in baseball