Teetertotter
| Game 76: June 26, 2007 | |||
| Red Sox | 7 | L: Javier Lopez (1-1) | 48-28, 2 game losing streak 18-7-2 series record |
 Mariners |
8 | BS, W: Eric O’Flaherty (1, 5-0) H: Brandon Morrow (10) H: George Sherrill (11) S: J.J. Putz (22) |
41-33, 4 game winning streak 16-10-2 series record |
| Highlights: Kevin Youkilis now holds the franchise record for errorless games with 120 consecutive games without an error at first base. He surpassed John “Stuffy” McInnis’s mark set in 1921. McInnis record was set in the days when a player had to play nine innings or more in a game for it to contribute to a streak. The Red Sox offense was productive: Mike Lowell tripled in the fifth to tie the game (the Mariners scored two more in the bottom of the inning) and bench player Eric Hinske launched a homer in the sixth to bring his team within a run (only to have Seattle increase the lead again). | |||
One of my favorite rides as a kid was the seesaw, but this wasn’t always the case.
The first time I rode a teetertotter I was about four years old. I was visiting my older cousin Leroy on Oahu, something I often did during hanabata summers. Leroy was my childhood idol because he got to live on the cool island, which had an actual city, comic book stores, and Hakubundo, a Japanese sundries shop where I could get Ultraman and Kikaida toys and books.
You had less traffic, cleaner beaches, and fewer people on Maui, but that sort of thing didn’t interest a otaku tomboy in training.
I learned from one of the best geeks in my cousin Leroy. When he would come to Maui he’d comment on how behind the times we were. We went to see Star Wars and he would nudge me when he knew an exciting part was coming. Of course he had already seen it weeks before on Oahu.
My aunt was of the “kids should play outside” mindset. Forced away from the Atari to “give it rest,” Leroy and I trekked off to a nearby park.
There was a slide, of course, the surface of which was heated like a cookie tin, so we avoided that. We decided that even though Leroy was a little bigger than me we could ride the seesaw together. I clambered on to my end thinking that this was going to be the best thing ever! as my cousin endorsed it.
Then I rocketed into the air, legs dangling, no ground to support me. I looked across the metal plank and Leroy was making his “scary but exciting” expression while whooping.
Upon my first descent I was so thankful to feel the earth even through my rubber slippers. Contact with the blessed ground was too brief. Conflicting thoughts welled in me as reached the apex of the ride and lowered again. I wanted to impress Leroy, but the ride was overwhelming me.
Right at the bottom of my journey I muttered, “I’m scared! I’m getting off!”
Leroy didn’t quite hear me but when he saw me hop off the seesaw his face turned a mask of panic. “No, no, no! Don’t!”
Too late. He plummeted to the ground too quickly to brace himself from the thudding impact of the plank.
Is four too young to learn about the difference between girls and boys in such a way?
Last night’s game was like that ill-fated dandle board incident. (That’s not the word I use for the ride, but I wanted to use Narragansett Bay parlance.) Red Sox fans thought, just like my cousin Leroy thought, the team was getting into a good rhythm with each offensive comeback. But then the pitching would hand the lead back with a resounding clunk.
Kason Gabbard had the shortest outing of any Red Sox starter this season. He was so appalling Jeff Weaver was taking notes on how to have a truly calamitous outing. It started off promisingly enough with Ichiro Suzuki waving ungainly at a curve. But then Gabbard walked Jose Lopez, allowed a single by Jose Vidro, and walked Richie Sexson to load the bases.
After hitting Kenji Johjima to force the first run in, two more runs came on consecutive bases on balls to Jose Guillen and Adrian Beltre.
Gabbard is no longer permitted to face lineups with three or more Joses. Jose Melendez has yet to comment on why his name is to the young lefty is like kryptonite to Superman, but his explanation will surely involve how substituting “k” in a “j” name has angered the Gods of Those Who Have Names That Begin With the Letter “J” (Even if That Letter is Not Necessarily Pronounced With the Typical J Sound [dʒ].
