Do the Yak

The Series Sox win Series in sweep. The Rockies never knew what hit them. Read all about it. A-Rod He opts out of his Yankees contract at $25 million per (and reportedly an offer of an extension at around $30 million per) because he apparently thinks he can get more money elsewhere. Or because his trusted agent Scott Boras has been huffing nitrous nonstop these past few weeks. Hard to say at this point. Oh yeah, and Boras announces it in the 8th inning of Game 4, pissing absolutely everybody off but getting maximum attention, which was always his plan despite his disingenuous apology afterwards. The rolling rally We walked to Mass. Ave. and Boylston and were rewarded by duck boats, confetti and our heroes backlit by a warm autumn sun. Paps was dancing on the Dropkick Murphys flatbed truck. I cheered wildly when I saw Jacoby Ellsbury, Theo Epstein, Terry Francona, John Henry, Kevin Youkilis, Tim Wakefield, Oil Can Boyd (whom I couldn't actually see, but his name card was on the ol...

Last night's 2-1 victory obviously had a different than Game 1, but the end result was just as sweet. If they win two more games (a big if, of course), this time I'm going to the victory parade. Last time I was stuck in the Deep South and the extent of our celebration was Ben pouring beer on my head in our living room right after Mientkiewicz gloved the final out. Perusing boston.com's Red Sox section is such a pleasure, even the nerdy stuff like the 89 Photoshopped images (as of this morning) sent in by readers. I'll spare you the cheesier ones; the best are takeoffs on movie posters, beer, batteries and of course digs at the Yankees and Indians: Riverdance The Departed Energizer Gone Baby Gone The Usual Suspects Star Trek Escape From New York

I just found out on Maternally Challenged that today is "Blog for the MOTHERS Act Day" ( Senate bill 1375 -- the cutesy acronym stands for Mom’s Opportunity to Access Help, Education, Research, and Support for Postpartum Depression). I had no idea this bill existed until about 20 minutes ago, but I sure as hell hope it passes, because it will provide education, screening and treatment for a condition that's more common than one might think. Many people wind up getting political about issues that have affected them personally, and I'm no exception. I first mentioned my tale of woe here , and all I can say is thank God for on-call mental health professionals who prescribe powerful anti-anxiety medications to strangers sobbing on the phone at 6 a.m., because I honestly don't know what I would have done otherwise. Hindsight is always 20-20 but I sure wish that (1) I hadn't stopped taking Prozac when I got pregnant, (2) I knew at the time that it wasn't just ...

After last night's World Series game 1, all I can say is wow. Now that was just embarrassing, and for once I say that in reference to the Red Sox opponents -- in this case the Colorado Rockies, who had won 21 of their last 22 games and swept both of their playoff series. Let's see: after five innings the score was 13-1 (also the final score), and in that span the Sox left 10 on base, hit eight doubles and scored nine runs when there were two out. The Rockies starter, Jeff Francis, threw 103 pitches in four innings and gave up six earned runs and 10 hits. The next guy was in the game for two-thirds of an inning and gave up six hits, seven earned runs, a walk and a balk. And the next guy came in with the bases loaded, faced three batters... and walked all of them. See what I mean by embarrassing? Our starting pitcher was a little better -- Beckett struck out the side in the first and two more in the second. In our last four games we've outscored the opponents by a total of ...

That old familiar sinking sensation I refer of course to the Red Sox, who as we speak are down two games to one in the ALCS against the Indians. Josh Beckett is a god, as he showed in Game 1 and in the ALDS (we demolished the Angels in three straight), but now the offense has vanished and the pitching is shaky. And for some reason Francona is having Wakefield start tonight rather than Beckett on three days' rest (which would also have him ready for a Game 7 on regular rest). Why is Wakefield starting? Why does Dice-K now suck? Why is Gagne even on this post-season roster? Why do we care? Why, why, why? Deep thoughts I've been reading Larry Sievers' blog on the NPR web site and it made me realize that the whole notion of predicting a life span "time limit" based on a certain diagnosis is questionable, because there is so much variation depending on each person's individual body chemistry and response to the many types of treatments (and new ones appearing all ...

As a former reporter, my name has been in the paper lots of times above the articles I wrote, but this may be the first time I've been at least partially the subject of an article, or in this case a graphic artist's layout. (OK, the second time, but I'll get back to that.) The graphic artist in question, Greg Williams, found my post on spam poetry a while back and e-mailed to ask if he could use it in a page design he was doing for the Tampa Tribune. I said sure, and here's the result . Greg also does Wikiworld , a feature on Wikipedia where he uses his talents to illustrate random entries in that vast online encyclopedia. The first time my name got into a paper that wasn't my employer was in a Dave Barry column, believe it or not. It had to do with an article I sent him (yes, I was identified as an "alert reader"!) about little flexible robots that engineers were designing to, um, use the basement entrance to explore one's colon from the inside and i...

The Red Sox just got swept in Toronto. Their 14.5 game lead of late May over the Yankees is down to one and a half games. New York, of course, swept Baltimore and has won 12 of their last 14, including two out of three against the Sox last weekend. That series included a nasty 8-7 loss on Friday, courtesy of flameouts by Okajima and Papelbon, who between them gave up six runs in the 8th; a satisfying 10-1 stomping at Beckett's hands on Saturday; and an excellent game with the wrong outcome – a pitcher's duel on Sunday between Schilling and Clemens culminating in a 4-3 loss after Schill gave up a three-run homer to Jeter in the 8th. In the Toronto series they just plain sucked. The Sox scored all of four runs in the three games. Meanwhile, there was another horrific outing from Gagne, who was brought in on Tuesday to protect a 2-1 lead in the 8th but coughed up three runs, and another collapse by Papelbon, who likewise entered the 8th in Wednesday's game with a 2-1 lead and ...