Commercial interruptions

(originally posted 6/29/07)

The Red Sox finally won again tonight, 2-1 at home over the Texas Rangers. After that forgettable sweep in Seattle, the Sox need to gorge themselves on Texas' woebegone pitching staff, and increase their AL East lead. There wasn't much gorging by the Sox' forgettable offense (2 runs scored or less in 9 of last 17 games) tonight, but the two markers they did scrape up proved sufficient. Barely.

The performances turned in by the Sox' pitching staff tonight were anything but forgettable. Red Sox SP Tim Wakefield permitted only one earned run in six and two-thirds innings, and Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima combined to prevent Texas from scoring further in the 7th and 8th innings. Jonathan Papelbon (0.00 ERA, 21 of 22 batters retired in games since I acquired his bobblehead) came in to secure the victory. Throwing mid-90s heat, he retired the first two Rangers batters without difficulty. Then he put an exclamation point on the win, by outracing the timelessly-speedy Kenny Lofton to 1st base for the game-ending putout.

Well, it would have been a swell exclamation point, if Lofton hadn't been called safe on the play. It was a close call, but Jonathan Robert Papelbon was rather convinced that the wrong verdict was rendered. He proceeded to make his opinion known both immediately and vociferously, as he violently entered 1st Base Umpire Mike Reilly's personal space. No expertise in lip-reading was necessary to realize that the enraged bullpenner was not using words he learned from his Official Scrabble Dictionary. Fortunately, Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia pulled Papelbon away from the scene of the alleged crime before there were any ejections. Or casualties. Papelbon plunked the next batter, but then whiffed slugging SS Michael Young (with 600 HR-man Sammy Sosa on deck) for the final out, securing his 19th save. The Sox had overcome Mr. Reilly's crime against Red Sox Nation.

The questionable umpiring in the 9th inning wasn't the only crime perpetuated against Red Sox Nation tonight, however. A much more disconcerting crime was the atrocity of a pre-game show. Usually, the Red Sox pre-game show on NESN is excellent. With knowledgeable insights from Eck, Edes, and Benjamin, and (usually) humorous shenanigans from Messrs. Remy and Orsillo, the pre-game is well worth watching.

Not tonight, however. Perhaps it is partially my fault. I have absolutely zero interest in car racing. On my list of television-viewing preferences, car racing would fall somewhere below watching CHB watch himself on TV. (Note: Papelbon on a duck hunt with Timlin is on the top of the list.) Then again, perhaps it is reasonable to expect the pre-game show for a Red Sox baseball game to feature content that is, at least primarily, baseball-related. Tonight's pre-game show was all about the car racing, however. Jerry Remy riding in some kind of race car. Different race car people being interviewed about different race car topics. Pretty much the only oasis of baseball content was 3rd-string Globie Neil Cafardo's report. After awhile, I was hoping for some Foxwoods commercials. Quite possibly the only thing that could have saved the pre-game show would have been if they had spent the last ten minutes televising the Papelbon-Tavarez-Matsuzaka Boggle Competition. But they didn't. They opted to show a race car driving around the hallowed ground of Fenway. Thankfully, 7pm finally came, and it was time for some baseball.

Baseball, preceded by more car racing people, that is. There was some kind of presentation with Don Orsillo saluting the car racing people and/or the Red Sox for their strategic partnership or whatever with the car racing people and/or the fact that the car driving on the field had some Red Sox logos on it. The crowd at Fenway looked like it shared my level of interest in the proceedings. Also troubling was the big car-racing banner draped over The Monster. The same wall that has oft-displayed the American Flag, as well as many a tribute to baseball memories and successes long past, was now covered in one, big commercial announcement. Almost blasphemous, that. Then some car-racing people were paraded out to throw out the first (three) pitch(es). Their uninspiring efforts paralleled that of the preceding presentation. But, finally, it was time for baseball.

At least until the 2nd inning, when one of the car racing people resurfaced in the broadcast booth. As play continued on the field, car racing topics were discussed. The game on the field was largely ignored. The car racing guy mentioned that he tried to throw the ball as hard as he could to Varitek on his first pitch. Brilliant. Varitek was neither wearing a mask, nor any equipment. The first pitch is not typically delivered at high velocity. It is fortunate that the Sox catcher did not get injured in any way. Fortunate because Sox fans would have to, likely, endure a duo of Mirabelli and Kottaras during any prolonged Varitek absence. Fortunate because the car racing guy would not have left the infield alive if he had beaned 'Tek. Even worse, the inevitable dismemberment would, likely, have delayed the baseball further. Next time Lugo and Clement need to be utilized for first pitch-catching duties.

Hopefully, there won't be any pre-game car racing shenanigans on Saturday. Unless it involves Dustin Pedroia and D'Angelo Ortiz on Big Wheels. That would be fine.