DEAR DIARY... IT'S ME, PEYTON

Dearest diary,
Sorry I haven't talked to you in a while. Sunday was a very rough day, and it's been a rough week since then. Me, Marvin, and Reggie all had to go to the hospital for dehydration Sunday night. We all cried too much after the game. We even cried at Chuck E. Cheese's. Coach Tony was mad at us for that. "Chuck E. Cheese is a no cry zone" he always says.

I wasn't just crying because we lost. I was crying because I was lied to.

Before the game, Daryl Smith and John Henderson of the Jaguars came up to me.

"Hey, Peyton," Daryl yelled across the field during pregame warm ups. "Can you do us a favor?"

"Sure fellas," I replied with a smile.

"Well, man, some of our DBs have been feeling down lately," John stated.

"Oh, I see. Me too. The end of summer always makes me feel a little low."

"Yeah, man" Daryl agreed. "We were wondering if you could throw them a few interceptions, just to make them feel better."

"I don't know guys, Coach Tony might get upset. I could never hurt him. And we want to win the game too."

"Peyton, we promise to give the ball right back. Garrard will throw a pick or Scobee will fumble or something. Please."

"Well, alrighty then!"

HAHA, I love Ace Ventura! When he talks with his bum (sorry for swearing)it cracks me up. Get it? CRACKs me up? tee hee hee :-) Don't tell my dad I said those words ;-)



But they didn't give the ball back at all! Rashean didn't even let his offense touch the ball! Those Jaguars pretend to be nice, but they're mean guys. I hate them! Adam called them the "F*guars" on the sideline and Coach Tony had to give him a spanking during halftime.

Coach Tony has been really hard on us this week at practice. We only got to watch 101 Dalmatians on film day. Dwight and the guys all wanted to see 102 Dalmatians right after. He says Cruella Deville reminds him of that mean old man who coaches the Patriots.



But Coach Tony wouldn't let us. :-(

Yesterday, we usually have a 90 minute flower picking session before practice. Me, Marvin, Dallas, and Joseph always compete to see who can find the prettiest flower. I like daisies. But Coach Tony only let us pick flowers for 30 minutes. He said we had to get inside and work on "Important stuff." What's more important than daisies? I didn't have enough time to find a single one!

I think losing makes Coach Tony into a mean guy. He never used to yell before. But now he's a sour-puss all the time. I don't like it. Neither do the rest of the fellas.

So guess what me and the guys did this morning to cheer him up? We threw him a surprise birthday party! His birthday isn't until October 6th. "That's the surprise!" Dallas said. That Dallas is such a crazy guy! We decided to make it a Dora the Explorer party. Coach Tony loves Dora, and so do I.



So we had the party, with cake, and ice cream, and orange drink. Coach Tony loved it. We all gave him gift certificates. I gave him one to Blockbuster. And you know what he did with it? He rented 102 Dalmatians and we all watched it! Twice!

Then the clown came. He was hilarious. He made me a balloon unicorn. Unfortunately, Antoine Bethea is afraid of clowns, so he locked himself in the showers. But he came back out when the clown had been gone for an hour.

I love my coach. I'm so lucky to play for a coach like Coach Tony.

And I love you too, diary!

Yours forever,
Peyton

SOX TO RETIRE #6

The Red Sox will retire the number 6 Friday night, on the eve of Johnny Pesky's 89th birthday. In order to do this, the Sox had to change their policy on retired numbers. Doerr, Cronin, Williams, Yastrzemski, and Fisk - the owners of the retired numbers in left field - are all Hall of Famers. Pesky is not.

But, he's been with the team in one capacity or another for almost 60 years.

The number 6 has also worn by Harry Agganis, Joe Cronin (for one season), Rico Petrocelli, and Bill Buckner. Gary Gaeti was the last Sox player to wear it in 2000.

I'm happy about this move. Pesky wasn't a phenomenally great player. He was good, but not Hall of Fame good. But he's been a part of this team for so long. The term "ambassador" of the game gets thrown around too much, but in Pesky's case it fits him like a glove.

And hopefully this opens the door to retiring Tony Conigliaro's #25.

Sources:
Boston.com
Red Sox Diehard.com

RED SOX IN PLAYOFFS!!!

By giving eventual Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee his 3rd loss of the season, the Red Sox clinched at least the AL Wild Card. It's their 5th playoff appearance in 6 years, and 19th in team history.



It's been a very interesting season to say the least. With all the injuries and drama, making the playoffs is a bigger accomplishment than it was last year. Schilling never pitched a game. Colon came and went, then came and went. Beckett wasn't Acelike as he was a year ago, plus he missed some time. Okajima struggled, as did the rest of the bullpen. Ortiz missed time and played with hurt wrists. Lowell's been injured pretty much all season. Drew's missed a lot of time. And of course, there was that Manny Ramirez guy. Remember him?



Last night, the two most valuable players on the team came through for the Sox. Youkilis hit a 2 run homer in the 4th to put the Sox on top. Pedroia hit a 2 run double in the 5th to tie the game at 4-4.

I know Pedroia's been getting the "MVP" chants, but Youkilis had 11 RBI, has played two positions (three if you count his abbreviated outfield stint), and batted everywhere in the top of the lineup.

The Sox can now use the remaining 5 games to get the rotation aligned, give players like Papelbon and Ortiz some rest, and get ready to play some October baseball. There also needs to be some roster decisions for the postseason. More on that later.

Oh, and the Yankees were eliminated from playoff contention last night.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Fausto Carmona vs. Paul Byrd tonight.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer