August 18, 2006
FIVE FOR FIGHTING:
All eyes on Sox-Yanks rivalry this weekend: The teams are so evenly matched that a sweep by either is highly unlikely, but hey, you never know. (SEAN McADAM, 8/16/06, Providence Journal)
Ever since a May rainout expanded a four-game set to a five-game reality series, the Red Sox-Yankees marathon scheduled for this weekend has loomed large.The teams haven't met since the first full week of June. Since then, the clubs have seesawed for American League supremacy. The Red Sox once led by as many as four games in the standings as the Yankees dealt with a series of injuries to starters Robinson Cano, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui.
More recently, the Yankees have surged ahead as the Red Sox nurse injuries of their own to Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon. The Sox fell out of first place on Aug. 2, a date which dovetails almost exactly with the losses of Nixon (July 30) and Varitek (July 31).
On a couple of occasions in the last week, the Yanks' margin had grown to three full games -- four in the loss column -- but the events of the last two days have sliced that gap in half. As the first five-game series between the two teams in 33 years kicks off, the Yankees are ahead by just a game and a half thanks to two straight losses to the Orioles and Boston's win over Detroit Wednesday night.
And that's how it should be. Since the 2003 season, though the Yankees have finished first each time, the clubs could not be more evenly matched. Consider that since the start of the 2003 season, the teams have met 81 times, or the exact equivalent of half a season. The Red Sox hold the slimmest of edges, 41-40.
That's why we got the 50" Samsung, honey. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 18, 2006 9:02 AM
Go Blue Jays!
Who are you and what have you done with the real oj?
http://www.brothersjudd.com/blog/archives/2006/05/god_meant_baseb.html
Posted by: Patrick H at August 18, 2006 10:01 AMHave you seen NESN HD on a 50" rear projection tv? It's like being at the game. The kids try wiping the sweat off Big Papi's face. Gotta listen to Joe and Jerry though.
I may even watch some football this year....
Posted by: oj at August 18, 2006 10:17 AMBTW: if you're in town and bring beer you're welcome to come see it.
Posted by: oj at August 18, 2006 10:19 AMPatrick: It's no use, man. He's obviously crossed over to the darkside.
Posted by: John Resnick at August 18, 2006 10:36 AMOJ,
I know exactly what you mean. I recently bought a 54" projection lcd and the first time I turned on a sporting event my jaw dropped and I could have cried for joy.
If only someone had on World Cup replays.....
Posted by: oj at August 18, 2006 10:41 AMPatrick:
I find myself going back to watch movies that looked muddy--like Gladiator in its opening scenes--and all of a sudden there's actual color in them....
Posted by: oj at August 18, 2006 10:44 AMHDTV or HD-capable I presume. As good as the big screens look, there's no point in buying some of them, when the 525-line screens are going to be obsolete a few years from now.
Posted by: John at August 18, 2006 11:03 AMMy 36" (4-3, conventional CRT tube) HDTV Sony is best viewed from about 2 feet away - you can see blades of grass on the infield. Amazing.
Perhaps I need that 50" so I can see as clearly from the sofa...
Posted by: Mike Earl at August 18, 2006 11:20 AMI bought a 30" HD-ready widescreen CRT last December. Soon after, I acquired the set-top box to get the local HD broadcasts. Olympic hockey was stunning, as are the network HD broadcasts of baseball and football.
I thought the CRTs looked better than any of the flatscreen models (pricetag looked way better, too). 30" works just fine if you are sitting 10' to 15' away from the box, in my opinion. My kids don't need any more envelopment in video reality than they already are getting.
Posted by: twelter at August 18, 2006 11:28 AMJohn,
Most major sporting events and ESPN are already in HD.
The HD Discovery channel is simply stunning in it's clarity.
Posted by: Patrick H at August 18, 2006 2:30 PMPatrick --
Cable broadcasts are are, since you have the digital tier. It's the over-the-air HD network signals that many cable companies are not pulling in, unless you are close to the antenna source (digital images with the 1s and 0s are either there or not there -- there's no signal with "snow" as in traditional analog broadcasts, and the HD signals as of now are just not beamed that far from the towers).
As for the games today and (especially) tonight, I keep thinking of that hoary old Star Trek episode with Biel and Loki locked in a death grip over matters that are essential to them, but that no one else is really going to care about (14-11? I don't care if this does widen the AL East gap -- if you're the Yanks you're not going to the World Series if your pitching is allowing those kind of runs in a game. As for the Sox, the bullpen made the kids helped by the Jimmy Fund only the second most neediest cases of the day).
Posted by: John at August 19, 2006 2:29 AM