8:03 pm, pre-game Ah, the World Series. The last bit of baseball before the long cold winter. (Or perhaps global warming will make it the long warm winter.) These games that are for all the marbles. God’s team versus the comeback kids. David versus Goliath. Mountain men versus New England’s finest (except for maybe the Patriots). Bull testicles versus Fenway Franks.
Fox’s little pre-World Series vignettes were a little cheesy, but I still liked them.
8:22 pm A Kirby reference! Very brief, but I still got nostalgic for 1991.
8:36 pm, top 1st The first pitch hasn’t even happened yet and Tim McCarver has already said something stupid.
8:43 pm, mid 1st Three strikeouts to start the first. Damn, Beckett is good.
8:47 pm, bottom 1st Whoooooooo hoooooo! What a way to start, Dusty! Can you say Rookie of the Year?
8:50 pm, bottom 1st Why is David Ortiz attempting to bunt? I seem to recall that being a bad idea in the past.
8:53 pm, bottom 1st Jeff Francis looks a little like my old housemate, Matt McGann.
8:59 pm, bottom 1st Hey, Manny was actually running full speed there! 3 runs in the first…

9:03 pm, top 2nd Wow, four strike outs to start the game. I’m reminded of Santana’s 17 strikeout game back in August.
9:11 pm, top 2nd Two doubles later and it seemed that I may have jinxed things. But still… all five outs have been strikeouts. Wait… Torrealba grounds out to end the inning, nevermind.
9:24 pm, bottom 2nd Nice running by Youk! 4-1 Sox.
9:42 pm, top 3rd Now that’s how you bunt. Ortiz should take note. Actually, no he shouldn’t… he should stick with homeruns. (And hi, Jenn and Chia.)
9:44 pm, end 3rd I mentioned Kirby Puckett just now and my housemate the Red Sox fan asked me who he was. That makes me a little sad.
9:47 pm, top 4th That seems to be a lot of rain. Weather Underground tells me there’s more coming.
9:49 pm, top 4th The Red Sox play cribbage?! Who knew? Oh, the memories I have of playing cribbage back stage when I was in Othello.
9:54 pm, mid 4th Damn… 7 strikeouts. I wonder what the World Series strikeout record is.
9:58 pm, bottom 4th Oh, how I love baseball almanac. Most strikeouts in a World Series game was Bob Gibson in 1968 with 17. Walter Johnson has the most for a losing pitcher with 12… have I mentioned before that I know his great-grand niece? Apparently I have.
10:02 pm, bottom 4th David Ortiz is possibly the best clutch hitter I’ve seen. Damn, I typed that before Tim McCarver said it.
10:06 pm, bottom 4th I’ve declared before that Manny’s not very clutch, but he’s done pretty well this post-season. It’s just too bad Ortiz is slow as molasses and couldn’t score on that double.
10:10 pm, bottom 4th “The Black Pearl” is back! (That would be the bullpen band.)
10:11 pm, bottom 4th Damn that interfering fan… that could have been a triple. And did anyone else notice just a how slow Ortiz trotted to home? I’m not sure I believe his claims that his knees are good enough to play first.
10:17 pm, top 5th Yorvit Torrealba has the funkiest name.
10:19 pm, top 5th That’s 8 strikeouts… if all remaining outs are strike outs, save for one, he’ll have the record.
10:20 pm, top 5th For Tim McCarver… some synonyms for dominant would be overpowering, unbeatable, commanding… and this is off the top of my head.
10:33 pm, bottom 5th A balk?! I haven’t seen one of those in forever. It seemed to me like he stepped towards first, but hey… I’m not the ump.
10:36 pm, bottom 5th With Youkilis’s double, that balk turns into a run. If I was a Rockies fan, I’d be a little annoyed right now. Then again, my team would be down 7-1 for more reasons than just a balk…
10:37 pm, bottom 5th Papi being clutch again… looks like Ellsbury would have scored anyway.
10:40 pm, bottom 5th Whoa — Ortiz actually ran 180 ft in one stretch. Maybe he can play defense in Denver.
10:43 pm, bottom 5th That Lowell double caromed like nobody’s business. Also, the Red Sox now have tied the record for most extra base hits in a World Series game.
10:48 pm, bottom 5th And the hits just keep on coming… 10-1 Boston. From my housemate’s dad… “I think God is a Red Sox fan.”
10:53 pm, bottom 5th My housemate’s friend (via IM): “It’s like watching my gas tank fill up. The digits just keep going up even when I expect them to stop.”
10:55 pm, bottom 5th Tim McCarver says that these are not my father’s Rockies. Well, given that the Rockies weren’t a team before 1993, then yes, I’d say that’s generally true since, well, they exist now.
10:58 pm, bottom 5th Well, it was great for Speier to come in and walk three in a row. Very effective was he.
11:01 pm, bottom 5th The Sesame Street song! “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… 11, 12.” That’s not as exciting typed out.
11:02 pm, bottom 5th And 34 minutes later, the inning is over… 34 would be Big Papi’s number (and also Kirby Puckett). Coincidence? Almost certainly.
11:11 pm, top 6th Whoa… I blinked and the top of the 6th was over. I forgot how long innings were supposed to last.
11:15 pm, bottom 6th This Taco Bell conversation is pretty funny. Of course, Mark points out that it was really just free advertising for Taco Bell. And Sarah points out that Taco Bell really ought to send those free tacos to starving people in Africa or somewhere. So that they can have the diarrhea, I guess.
11:30 pm, top 7th How many times can they say Bank of America? I counted at least 7.
11:32 pm, top 7th Tulowitski wears Jeter’s cologne? That’s disturbing. On a lot of levels.
11:43 pm, end 7th Aww, Timlin’s coming in in the 8th. No one ever pitches complete games anymore.
12:02 am, top 9th Eric Gagne?!?! Thank god we’re up by twelve.
12:06 am, top 9th I was discussing protein folding with a med student… why are there 80s rock stars on my screen.
12:07 am And game one is in the can! I figure the Sox have to win tomorrow too to make up for losing offensive power in the National League park. And to make-up for all the non-Beckett starters. But in the meantime… “Down by the river, down by the banks of the river Charles…”