The Lost Game - Jenn

It's a good thing I couldn't see today's game, because the way the game went down, I don't think I could've stomached it.

Final score: Jays 10, Sox 2. Two runs. That's all we scored over nine innings. But the Jays? They scored 10 runs. Ten! To our measly two. Yuck! And guess why? Because of the bullpen. Again. Just like last night, it was very close. Yes, we were losing, when Clay Buchholz left the game after five innings, but only by two runs. However Kyle Snyder took the mound in the bottom of the 6th and that was the end.

I won't go into detail over how it happened because I can't. Unlike every other game where I've been able to give a detailed account of what happened and why, I am unable to today. Why? Because Directv's MLB package has some shortcomings.

Yes, I'm a girl who has the MLB package. It's not something I ever thought I'd have. But my husband, who understands and accepts the fanaticism that is my devotion to the Sox, got me the Directv MLB package for Valentine's Day a few years ago. And now I can watch every game from the beginning of the season until the bitter end in September (or October when we make the playoffs). But not today. Today I had to wait 'til I believed the game was over and checked the score at Redsox.com. Once I saw the final score, I was happy for the blackout. Though when I tuned in at 10:15 to start watching, not so much.

Every week I set TIVO to record all the games for the week. My first choice is NESN because Don and Remy are the Red Sox commentators. And as I'm sure you all know, it's better to hear the commentators for your team than those for another. I hate watching YES when we're playing the Yankees because those guys praise the Yankees every chance they get. But if NESN isn't a possibility, the next best thing is the MLB package because while it may be the other team's commentators at least I still get to watch my boys. Well, the only option for today's game was NESN. So I set the TIVO and couldn't wait.

When I tuned in at 10:15 all I saw on my screen was black. No baseball diamond, no players, not even the dome they're playing in. Just a big black screen. While I love the MLB package this is the biggest problem I have with it. I probably get to see 90-95% of the games over the course of the season. And that's great. But every so often, usually a Saturday game, I can't get anything. We've looked into the problem every season and every season we get the same answer: if the game's on another channel like Fox or ESPN, the MLB package doesn't cover it. And if it's going to be broadcasting on one of those channels, it's usually blacked out on NESN. Now don't get me wrong, we get ESPN and Fox. We even get ESPN2. But being in Los Angeles we don't get the East Coast feed. So if the game's on a Fox affiliate on the east coast, I'm out of luck.

Does anyone else out there have this problem? And if so have you figured out a way to fix it?
Because there needs to be some way to fix this problem. Why should I be paying extra money six months out of the year for the MLB package when I can't get every single game? Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy I can see 150 games, but I'd be really, really happy if I could see all 162. I mean, if you're getting the MLB package, shouldn't you be able to watch whatever team you want whenever you want to watch them?

So that's the long winded reason why I can't give my opinion on today's game. But I will say this; based on what I saw last night and what I read about today, our bullpen needs some serious help. I don't know what they have to do, but something needs to be done. Otherwise it's going to be an interesting season. And I don't even want to think about next weekend when we face our biggest enemy - those guys in pinstripes from the Bronx.