Watching the Sox from Washington

Good evening all,

Sorry to be late to the blog. My wife and I just finalized the purchase of a condominium today, so things have been more than a little busy lately.

It feels like we’re really starting to put down roots here in Washington, DC, which I am glad to report is an amazing town for running. There are miles and miles of running paths, threading through riverbanks, historic neighborhoods, national monuments, open vistas, cherry blossoms. On Sundays, the traffic is almost non-existent, so you can wander wherever you feet may take you. The city hosts two marathons a year, and there are tons of great looking races in the countryside of Virginia and Maryland.

Now, we’ll just have to see if I can survive a summer . . .

Whenever I go out running, I never fail to cross paths with three or four other runners wearing Red Sox caps. I don’t know what kind of person wears a baseball cap while running when it’s already in the mid-60s, but bless them for their Sox pride. Perhaps I’ll run into them again when I go up to Baltimore to catch a game.

But more on all of that later! The game is due to start in five minutes. Looking at the tonight’s starting up, I realize we have finally reached the point where it is possible for Francona to put together a group of men who are each hitting above .200 for the season! Carl Crawford’s riding an eight-game hitting streak (four of them multi-hit games). Saltalamacchia’s been bouncing around the 0.200 line for a while, but he’s above it, too.

That being said, Varitek’s behind the plate tonight. While I hate to see him struggle with the bat, and while I haven’t seen him throw out a runner for a while, the leadership he brings to the team and the guidance he gives to pitchers are more than worth the sacrifice. Too bad you can’t capture those things on a stat line.

Speaking of catchers I see rumors that the Red Sox have shown at least mild signs of interest in both Bengie Molina and Ivan Rodriguez. Now this could get very interesting. (Oh and, what do Saltalamacchia, Molina and Rodriguez have in common? They’ve all played for Texas, of course.)