LAZING ON A SUNNY AFTERNOON JUNE 1, 2010

To the sounds of the Kinks’ song, Monday was a beautiful day to take in the PawSox game. Michael Bowden pitched a gem striking out 7 and pitching no run ball for 6 innings. Bowden was matched by Charlotte’s (White Sox) Carlos Torres, whom the PawSox finally cracked in the 7^th on a walk, wild pitch and single up the middle by catcher Gustavo Molina. It was one of 3 hits allowed by Torres. Molina is a catcher but not related to the catching family of Jose, Bengie and Yadier Molina of the Majors.

Bowden had departed by the time his team scored their first run. Reliever TJ Large gave up the tying score in the 8^th. Large got the win anyway when the PawSox came right back to seize the lead in the bottom of the 8^th as Aaron Bates plated the go ahead run and Josh Reddick doubled in two more pad runs.

The game was under 3 hours, a rarity in these times. In fact, had the two starters pitched a little faster, it could have been one of the fastest home games of the year.

Going to McCoy Stadium is always a treat. Ben Mondor, Mike Tamburro and Lou Schwechheimer do a great job finding ways to entertain the fans. There is a new video board in right field on which replays can be shown and live updates of the Red Sox are inserted. On this day, the message board in left field was down with only the balls and strikes and innings scores working. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. I missed seeing the batting averages and recaps of previous at bats. Linda, the season ticket holder behind me, said the video board in LF stopped working after the rain shower on Saturday.

Whoever chooses the music has their finger on the pulse of the fans. An Elvis song, A Little Less Conversation, played when the Knights were holding a press conference on the mound. I even heard the opening notes to Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side (though understandably none of the lyrics). The PawSox players seem to have personal musical preferences as they stride to the plate.

I passed out the Sportzine to people in the stands, including Big Al whom I mentioned in the Hot Club section as one of the Canadiens’ fans who saw his team eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Big Al said I should have a memoriam for all the Bruins fans after Boston was ousted from the playoffs (before Montreal fell). I told him the Bruins underachieved during the regular season while over achieving in the playoffs. Boston was a 6 seed and Montreal the 8^th seed. And as Big Al pointed out, the Flyers were a 7^th seed and didn’t make the playoffs until the last day and that was with a shootout win.

The pace of a baseball game allows for this kind of banter. That and observations on the teams and the game being played. In one inning, the PawSox had 2 successive batters bunt. I don’t remember that happening in the RJ (Ron Johnson) era. The Charlotte Knights have Coats and Flowers, i.e. Buck Coats (great name) and Tyler Flowers.

	PUT SOME SOUTH IN YOUR MOUTH

There was a young man with a portable video camera who was shooting the PawSox players as they went up to bat. While the game was being shown by Cox, he worked for the PawSox and his work was being shown live on the RF video board. Ted Bates was missing from Section 8 and the video cameraman used Ted’s seat as a launching pad.

Tommy, the policeman from Fall River, told me that he took his son to sign up for Legion ball and was at a Fall River batting cage owned by Ryan Westmoreland’s father. Tommy said they saw Ryan Westmoreland who looked very tired but admittedly it was shortly after his surgery (cavernous malformation of the brain). No one knows whether this young man will ever have a pro baseball career. Here’s hoping he does.

Other great music on the day: Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit In The Sky (I still get shivers when I hear it as it was played just before Adam Vinatieri kicked the game winning FG vs. the Oakland Raiders).

During the playing of God Bless America (the Kate Smith version, thankfully), all the Charlotte Knights team came out of their dugout. I don’t remember seeing that before.

Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees is always a big hit. And speaking of hits, Betty’s compadre Joe almost took one on a foul ball off a left-handed batter. Beware the lefties at bat when you are in Section 9 box seats. Must have been that KC Royals hat that Joe was wearing.

The baseball quiz was ‘Who was the last Red Sox to play every game?’ The answer given was Jim Rice who did it in 1978. However Big Al’s source book said that Bill Buckner (1985) and Dwight Evans (1984) were the last Red Sox to play all 162 games. Al knows.

Charlotte’s center fielder Jordan Danks made one of the best catches of the year robbing Josh Reddick of a home run by leaping above the CF wall. Reddick later got revenge with a 2-run double. Chicago (Charlotte’s parent club) has a starting pitcher named John Danks. Related? Yep! A Google search shows that they are brothers.

Lazing on a sunny afternoon at McCoy Stadium watching the PawSox. What is better?

THE CELTS

The Green Machine is on a mission, and only the Los Angeles Lakers stand in their way. It will be an exciting series. The better team will win. I think that’s the Celtics. We’ll see. Friday Foot Joy asked me if I wanted to double the bet. I didn’t say anything but sidled up to him before I left the HC and asked if he really wanted to double the bet. Foot Joy said he was happy with his one drink.

BULLETS

• Last week, I said that if you are a Patriots fan then Mike Reiss’ blog at ESPNBoston is a must read. Similarly if you re a Red Sox fan, you have to follow Alex Speier on WEEI’s site. His review of the BoSox minor league prospects (6/1) is outstanding.

• OF Ryan Kalish was just promoted from Portland to Pawtucket. In Friday’s game Kalish led the SeaDogs to victory by going 5 for 5, with 3 RBI, his 7^th homer and 13^th stolen base. Pawtucket, with Lars Anderson, Kalish, lefty Felix Doubront and a hot Josh Reddick, is about to get very interesting.

• Baseball Injury of the Year: The Angels’ Kendry Morales hit a walk-off grand slam and after leaping in the air toward home plate, he fell and broke his leg. Gone for the season. Remember when Wade Boggs hurt his back taking off his cowboy boots? Or so he said.

• Garrett Wittels of Florida International has a 54 game hitting streak. His team edged Florida Atlantic 11-9 (4 runs in the 8^th) and Troy 14-10. Wittels is after Robin Ventura’s 58 game NCAA record. Wittels will get a chance as his team made the NCAA tourney.

E-MAIL

From a soccer fan who appreciated my mention of Inter Milan’s win over Bayern Munich in the European championship match:

Thanks, Jim!  Congrats to Inter from this Man U supporter.

Glenn Dewell

Hi Jim!

As we discussed a bit earlier today, before the new stadium in Foxborough was “Gillette”, it was called CMGI Field.

The stadium opened for soccer in the spring with the CMGI signage and logo everywhere – on the stadium, on cast bronze (or bronze look-alike) plates outside the restrooms, on the manhole covers in the parking lot, etc.

In the transition period (post-CMGI vs. early Gillette) all of this signage was either removed or “masked,” which in many cases was accomplished by grinding the logo away on the metal structures. It seemed a bit bizarre at the time (and the “rework” was not always 1^st class), but the changes provided a chuckle as we walked into and around the stadium.

But whether we call it CMGI or Gillette, and while a visit there is not cheap, it’s a great stadium that does not reek of the greed associated with many other venues opened in recent years. So I join you in your compliments to the Krafts.

Rick Nadeau

Thanks Rick. I don’t remember the manhole covers with CMGI, but maybe Driller Killer does. It is a great stadium and we look forward to those new HD screens which will show (at halftime I think) the NFL Network’s Red Zone. - Z

ONCE PROPERTY OF THE BOSTON RED SOX

The Wise Man asked me to provide some info on ex-Red Sox players. First installment:

Orlando Cabrera is batting leadoff for Cincy (.269). He has 24 RBI and 8 stolen bases.

Adam Stern is back in the majors with Milwaukee. Used as a pinch hitter, he’s at .000.

Eric Hinske is playing for Atlanta and batting .329 with 22 RBI.

C Kevin Cash is with the Astros and, like Bill Hall, recently pitched an inning of relief.

Relievers Takashi Saito (3.27 with 5 holds) and Billy Wagner are with the Braves. Wagner (1.89) has 6 saves in 8 chances.

Mark Kotsay is with the White Sox hitting .208.

1B Adam LaRoche is with Arizona and has a .270 BA, 7 HRs and 33 RBI.

1B Casey Kotchman plays for Seattle and is hitting .192 with 3 HRs and 19 RBI.

Sportzine is also available at jimdawsonsports.com (Thanks Buffalo Steve)