Jacoby Ellsbury

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul of Red Sox fans

The bullpen held it together long enough for Ellsbury to hit another home run and keep the Sox a game in front for the wild card. Sign of things to come, or dead-cat bounce?

The difference between Pedroia and Ellsbury

Red Sock can't figure out the difference:

... [B]oth young players had bone fractures, both returned ahead of schedule, both experienced additional pain or re-injury, and both returned to the DL. Yet the media presentation of their experiences could not be more different: we are told one is a malingering whiner allegedly hated by his teammates while the other is the very personification of a gritty gamer.

Is anybody really disgusted with Jacoby Ellsbury besides one grumpy old coot of a columnist?

Shank writes:

Many fans and folks in the Sox organization are disgusted by how this has unfolded.

OK, who slipped and talked to him while under the influence?

Trade away Buchholz and Ellsbury for Gonzalez?

The Steal

Ellie was in the shower, listening on an AM radio:

... I do wonder what my neighbors thought was going on in my shower, what with all the jumping up and down and whooping and bumping the tile wall with my fist. But I'm sure they understood if they heard what I heard. ... Just one request, Jacoby: do it again, but this time on their turf. ...

Allan Chace revels:

... Some other stuff happened, but who the F cares? ...

Beth loves baseball stuff like that:

... One of the best things about baseball - the thing people who say it's boring don't get - is the way this ho-hum kind of moment turns on a dime, explodes into a moment of blinding excitement, crowd roaring, play-by-play announcer hollering. Tonight, even Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada had been lulled by the routine nature of the Youkilis and Drew at-bats, it seemed - neither noticed as Jacoby Ellsbury suddenly broke into a run from midway down the third-base line. ...

Bickley: Jacoby, you rock, son. You simply rock.

One up

That's what some Sox fans were this morning and what the Sox are today.

Dan Miller: This is why they invented coffee. Vickie shows us the dark smudges under her eyes.

Red: Substitute Ass Kicker Kicks Ass.

Peter on Lester: WOW!

Watching Jon Lester wriggle out of early inning mini-jams and then getting stronger and stronger as the game rolled by made me say just that after his brilliant outing was finished. ...

Rob notes last night was a good one for Sox players whose first names begin with J.

Singapore Sox Fan: Ah, that Jason Bay homer was so good.

My favorite play was Ellsbury's catch: First he races all the way in to slide for the ball, then he just pops it up with his gloved hand and catches it with the other, like, "Hey, that was pretty damn cool, wasn't it?!?"

Adam Hart liveblogged the game.

Keep Ellsbury

Dan Kennedy begins to despair of the winner-take-all annihilation mode of Boston/New York baseball:

... I'd rather see what the kids can do than land yet another proven star and pencil in a guaranteed (barring injury) 18 to 20 wins. ...

Time to let Ellsbury go?

If it means getting Johan Santana, then Jimmy says yes.

Tacoby Shellsbury revisionism

There's a Web meme that needs to stop now: That Tacoby Shellsbury t-shirts went on sale solely to capitalize on Ellsbury's steal last night (the meme apparently started here).

In fact, it all started with Sean Graham announcing his run for RSN president on a taco platform way back on Oct. 22. He wants Fenway Park to sell tacos and proposed a mascot named Tacoby Ellsbury to help his campaign. For those of you with short memories, such as, oh, the author of the above boston.com blog post, this was back before the World Series. A friend of Graham's then whipped up some Cafe Press Tacoby Shellsbury shirts that very same day. So nothing at all to do with whoring for some saturated-fat franchise and everything to do with one fan's love of real tacos.

Game 2: Schilling goes out in style

Philip McCarthy: This was the game I expected. Also: He thanks Schilling and says Okijima might be the better Japanese deal.

In case you've ever wondered what "Red Sox" looks like in Hebrew, wonder no more.

Anali and her brother were in an elevator yesterday:

... The elevator stopped and a priest walked in. I know this sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it's not. The priest couldn't help but hear us talking about the Sox, so he says for us to pray hard for the Sox, if we believe in that sort of thing. We all agreed that we would. Every little bit helps. Then we all talked about how it's so nice seeing people so happy and coming together all because of the Sox.

Some people in other parts of the country may think that Bostonians are cold. That's a whole different post, but I can tell you this. When the Sox are winning and in the World Series, normally reserved people start talking to everyone. We can't contain ourselves! We're just busting with happiness and pride! ...

Dan Kennedy says the Sox should re-sign Schilling: