Sox take two of three from the Rays

The Red Sox snatched victory from the jaws of defeat tonight, defeating the Rays 4-3 to stay one game behind the Yankees with a 24-17 record.

In the ninth inning, Boston was down to their last strike, with the bases loaded, and facing last year's out of nowhere phenom closer for the Rays -- Fernando Rodney. Rodney followed up a 100mph fastball with an 85mph change-up to Will Middlebrooks who jumped all over it and sent a line drive double to the wall that cleared the bases and gave the Sox the lead.

Junichi Tazawa who had also pitched a scoreless eighth, finished off the ninth to seal the win.

Situational hitting has been the bane of the Sox in their current sort-of slump. Their RISP has been atrocious, and tonight wasn't much better -- I think they were 2-8 on the night. But they got the clutch hit when it counted, much like last night's huge third inning. This was the idea behind the retooling of this team with so many character players and a manager who is on an even keel. Farrell has refused to panic and make wholesale changes to his line-up when they were struggling to manufacture runs. These last two games are the payoff I think.

It was nice to see a well played series between these two teams without all the acrimony that went on last season and some of the ones before. With any luck, I can watch these guys play each other the rest of the season and be able to enjoy some good baseball. I'll hope the Sox win, but unless Boston's going for a playoff spot, I won't cry if the Rays come out on top.

fingers crossed

Looks like someone's lost a few pounds

Christina Aguilera posted of pic of herself on Twitter the other day, showing off her somewhat more slender physique:

Christina's taken a lot of grief for her weight gain over the last few years. If this is a sign that she's finally getting some control over herself and her life -- more power to her. She may not look like this again any time soon:

But she's still got some of the best pipes in the business. It would be nice to see her doing well again.

Sox get a much needed win

Mired in a ghastly slump, losing 9 of their last 11, the Red Sox got a solid 9-2 victory over the Rays last night.

A huge third inning where the guys batted around was capped by a grand slam by Stephen Drew. They didn't get much else going offensively until the eighth when Will Middlebrooks got a solo homer. The announcers were going on about just that, the hitting being held in check for most of the game. But that's the way games go. Had the Rays put together a monster inning like that, the announcers would have been lauding how they did what they had to to win.

Sort of forgotten in all this is another fine performance by Jon Lester who is undefeated in his first nine starts this season. 6-0 with an ERA in the mid-two's, Lester is now number five all-time on the Sox strikeout list.

After last night's heartbreaking 5-3 loss, due mostly because Mike Napoli couldn't judge a high pop-up against the Trop's odd ceiling, the win keeps the Sox at just two games behind the Yankees, who are still winning despite half their team being on the DL. Wild!

Anyway, tonight's game has Clay Buchholz going for his 7th win. So hopefully we'll get a series sweep here with some good hitting and more excellent starting pitching. Correction: it appears Felix Doubront has the start, not Buccholz. I'm not nuts about this as Doubront's been a bit of a disappointment this season coming into camp out of shape and not delivering on the mound. Hopefully he'll have his A-game back after a stint in the minors.

Also of note -- David Price left the game in the third inning with (airquote)triceps tightness(/airquote). Last year's Cy Young winner has struggled mightily this season with lack of command and an obvious loss of velocity. Reports surfaced yesterday that Price is suffering from an allergic reaction to the chemicals used in the clubhouse for cleaning. Saying he can't see, and has been using eye drops, etc. Funny how we're just hearing that now. Even the guys on Baseball Tonight last night were going on about Price belly-aching about not getting strikes. Won't be surprised to see Price go on the 15-day DL for his arm but more accurately for him to get his head together.

So this is what happens when we underpay our teachers

They have to augment their meager salaries with some saucy modeling jobs:

It's the fault of those damn vouchers, I tell ya! The liberals were right all along!

On the one hand, I feel sorry for Ms. Sprauer for losing her job as English teacher at Martin County High School in Florida. It's a bit prudish on the part of the school to hyperventilate over something so benign. Ms. Sprauer is a young grad student presumably working hard as a teacher and moonlighting as a model to pay for the remainder of her college education.

On the other hand, in this day and age, it's a bit naive of Ms. Sprauer to imagine that after plastering saucy images of herself on her Facebook page, even under the professional name of Victoria V. James, she wouldn't eventually be recognized. High school age boys are little hormone machines. They're already fantasizing about their teachers, especially if they are even remotely attractive. And these kids spend all day on their computers and cell phones, browsing their various social networks. Just a matter of time before some hard breathing boy recognized this full-figured beauty:

Then of course, he shows the picture to his girlfriend who probably ratted the hot teacher out to the principal out of typical teenage girl jealousy.

'Cause girls are like that

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Need more Victoria James hotness? Try these:

Victoria V. James has her own website now.

Victoria James did Hustler after all.

Helen Mirren got back

Yeah . . . the pic below is 67 year old(!) Helen Mirren rockin' the hell out of a pair of tight jeans:

That's just crazy! She is so the December to my May :-)

Letter Carrier's Food Drive

This Saturday, May 11th, is the 21st annual USPS Letter Carriers' food drive. This is the largest single day food drive in the country. Last year, USPS carriers collected over 70 million pounds of food, that was then distributed to food banks around the country.

With the day rapidly approaching, I'd like to offer a few tips to those who are inclined to donate to this worthy cause:

1. First off, please don't leave your donations out prior to Saturday if you can at all help it. Most stations do not have the storage space to keep all these donations for an extended period of time, we're pretty cramped in our offices. It's the reason we do this on a single day -- the logistics of this massive collection of goods works better if we can quickly turn the stuff around and get it out.

2. Dude, please . . . not that bulging, rusted, 15 year old can of creamed corn! Seriously folks, the stuff we are collecting is supposed to feed the hungry, not empty out your pantry. Have a heart! No expired goods, please. And non perishible too! No yogurt, quarts of milk, eggs, cheese slices, ice cream, etc. -- they should be items that can be stored on shelves at the food banks unrefrigerated.

3. Avoid glass containers if at all possible. I know it's tempting to toss a couple of jars of spaghetti sauce in there, but we're piling up bags of stuff in the backs of our trucks. And when we off-load, we're filling huge containers with all the collected goods. Those glass jars break more easily than you'd imagine, then you've got a mess plus a safety hazard with all the broken glass. Try to keep it to boxes, cans, and plastic jars whenever possible.

4. I know you're loving those cultured quail's eggs in artisan mustard sauce and want to share it with those less fortunate, but for the same amount of money, you probably could have purchased a case of beef-o-ghetti -- which would be much better for the cause in the long run. Remember -- this stuff is for food banks to distribute to the homeless and unfortunates that are struggling to find something to eat every day. Ravioli, Hungry Man soups, mac & cheese, canned veggies . . . simple, quickly prepared edible stuff is the way to go. And with most groceries running BOGO's these days, you can grab a couple of cans when you do your shopping and it won't set you back much.

Thanks in advance to everyone who pitches in this Saturday. I'll update this post with the collection totals as soon as they come in.

Well, hello there Vanessa Hudgens' undies

Vanessa Hudgens is pretty much always rockin' the groovy hippy look, and I like that about her. But sometimes, them sloppy floppy outfits just don't get the job done, from a covering things up standpoint that is: