First Time to Heaven

On Sunday, July 29th I took my 5 1/2 year old son to his very first Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Needless to say it was a greatly anticipated event, as any of you Dads (and Moms) can surely appreciate. For the past month or so, we had been wondering if Nomar's return would happen before or after our trip to Yawkey Way. Luckily for us, 7/29/01 was "D Day" and boy did Nomie D-liver !!!

Before we go on about the Sox, a little background on my oldest son. He loves baseball quite a bit. Quick story: a little more than a year ago, my then very expectant wife was having a little trouble getting around. See, she was 8 1/2+ months pregnant at the time and one day needed my assistance waddling to the bathroom. No problem, I obliged. I said, "just give me a holler when you're done." Meanwhile, my oldest son- then age 4- and I were watching the Sox on TV. A little while later my wife beckoned me to help again.  She was in obvious pain. Well, my oldest boy was very concerned about his Mom and wanted to go with me to help her out, but be was completely torn as he uttered, "but Dad, who's going to watch the score if we help Mommy"... From that moment forward, I knew I had succeeded in training the boy in one of life's essentials. We won't mention the other two.

As most of you know I'm sure, Nomahhh stole the show in his debut: a homer and 3 RBI's including the tying and winning runs. It was a picture perfect day: 80 degrees and sunny. Not only did we "score" the game as most baseball geeks like to do, we also "charted" every pitch a la Joe Kerrigan. The radar gun and laptop had both fit nicely into my son's "Arthur" backpack. After a combined 5 hot dogs, 2 pretzels, ice cream, cotton candy, and several beers (my son drove home)... the ushers convinced us there was no doubleheader so we had to leave.

But you can't see heaven every day. Since then the Sox have acquired Uga Urbina. (The coincidence is that my wife and I were thinking of the name Uga, for a boy or a girl, if and when we ever have another baby.) "U-cubed" should help the overworked Sox bullpen, but Jimy will have to deal with possible whinings from Beck, Lowe, and when Wakefield eventually gets bumped from the starting rotation.  Not a bad problem to have, I say.

Some of you have been wondering where the heck my Sox ramblings had gone. Thanks for the encouragement. I failed to hand out my mid-season "report card"... You see, I have been out looking with OJ and Terry Glenn for Nicole Brown's murderer. Seriously, there were so many "Incompletes" on the report card that I decided to give a comprehensive grade at the end of the season-the post season that is.

In the meantime, be patient. We've now got Mount Everett back along with mafia man, Frankie Castillo.  Sabes had one great outing, stabbed Jimy in the back, then got stabbed like a voodoo doll and may be all done. Conie has been the unsung hero. From 4-14 a year ago, he's been the most consistent pitcher and seems to spark magic in his teammates bats. Rollie Arrojo has taken Pedro's turn in the rotation and spun gem after gem. Once he and Nomo get their blister boo-boos taken care of, we may be OK until the Master returns. And let's not forget, winning anything in the postseason begins and ends with the condition of Petey's right arm. Period.

Hatteberg can hit a little but his grandmother can steal a base off of him. For my money, More-beer-belly is a better defensive catcher and can occasionally get a key hit. But Tek is the complete package in a catcher and is sorely needed. Again, be patient. It's time to OFF Jose. Bye-bye-bye.  Stynes, Hilda, and even Lansing can combine to the job Jose couldn't.

Sorry, just got a call. Seems OJ can't find Terry now. Gotta go, This business of midweek golfing, I mean "finding the real killer" really starts to take its toll.

Forget the Wildcard. We still want the YANKS !!!

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