9:54 pm, bottom 3rd Came home from the grocery store about an hour ago, just in time to see J.D. Drew’s grand slam. As I slowly put my groceries away between innings, the Red Sox keep piling on the runs and it’s currently 10-1. But I had a rule question on Youkilis’s hit… Cabrera threw the ball and it hit Youk in the head. (Actually, watching the replay, the way it bounced off his helmet was almost funny.) I thought that if you threw the ball and hit a runner, it was a dead ball and all runners advance one base. So why wasn’t Youkilis sent to second? Was it because he was heading back to first? Or do I have my rule totally wrong.
10:16 pm, bottom 4th Ken Rosenthal says, “When you talk about Jacoby Ellsbury, think Johnny Damon.” Maybe I should make a cake for Ellsbury. (And it looks like Ellsbury must have had the most depressing 18th birthday ever — he was born September 11, 1983.) Oh, and holy crap, what a catch for Sizemore.
10:20 pm, break between 4th and 5th I’m sitting in a room of Michigan grad students and we just flipped to the football game to see the score. It turns out, we all secretly want to see Illinois win. Not much school spirit in this room.
10:26 pm, top 5th Looked up the rule about Youk getting hit in the head. It appears to be covered by 7.06a: If a play is being made on the obstructed runner, or if the batter-runner is obstructed before he touches first base, the ball is dead and all runners shall advance, without liability to be put out, to the bases they would have reached, in the umpire’s judgment, if there had been no obstruction.
So Youk went to first because he was heading to first.
10:30 pm Michigan game is tied. We just cheered. Two more of my housemates came in and agreed with the cheer. (Neither of them are actually Michigan students — one goes to EMU and one is a research assistant.)
11:07 pm, end 7th There’s something to my father’s comment about this game being over already. We’re not so much paying attention anymore.
11:23 pm, bottom 8th Score is now 12-2… save some offense for tomorrow, would you boys?
11:34 pm, top 9th What a play to end the game! Mike Lowell bare hands it and tomorrow they play Game 7.
Oct20
Colossus of Rhode 
Not since Reagan beat Carter has a contest been over so quickly. Back then I hadn’t even voted yet and the networks had already announced for Reagan and even worse Carter had conceded. It is clear that I was wrong about the comebackability of the Sox, I still doubt they’ll make the Series, but it’s down to one game now.
As to the rule, just because a runner is hit by a thrown ball does not make him an obstructed runner, you’ve got the wrong rule and I’m too lazy to look up the right one. The point is, being hit by a thrown ball is the same as the ball being thrown awry. The ball is alive, all runners are alive and depending on how hard the ball was thrown so is the “hit” runner. Everybody can advance at their own risk.
I think you are confused with the runner intentionally getting hit; then the ball is dead and the runner is out.
I thought you couldn’t throw the ball intentionally at the runner.
Ah well.