Red Sox Reality Check

A keen sense of the obvious reveals what all of us know, the Red Sox relief pitching is killing them. The Sox are 12th overall in pitching (ahead of powers Tampa and KC), 13th in relief pitching, and last in ERA (5.67) in 'close and late' situations, as well as 12th from innings seven to nine. Looking deeper, we see they are 12th in relief strikeouts per nine innings, 11th in bullpen K/BB ratio, and 13th in OPS. They are only 10th in blown saves, because they are last in save opportunities. They are 11th in save percentage. Why all the whining about the ineffectual bullpen? Obviously, over the long haul, strength up the middle wins championships, whether it's basketball (Duncan, Shaq), football (Brady et al.), baseball, checkers, or chess. What options does Theo Epstein have? We have heard that the trade market is lean, and several circumstances argue against trading the young stud arms (Papelbon, Lester, Sanchez, Rozier, Alvarez). First, with so many teams in contention, t...

The Red Sox played an excruciating baseball game tonight against the Cleveland Indians. The Sox continually battled back, only to have 'gasoline alley' light up the Tribe as Keith 'Truck' Foulke continues to struggles. Foulke seems to have lost his release point, as his customary pinpoint control vanished, resulting in the Clevelanders rallying from an 8-5 deficit on his watched, capped off by a Travis Hafner Slam (called by me) breaking an 8-8 deadlock in the ninth. In addition to having command issues, Foulke's normal 87 mph fastball drifted down to 83-85 mph, just a shade ahead of batting practice velocity. The Sox remain without a reliable closer, as perhaps Foulke needs anoth trip to Birmingham for a tuneup. Hey, we don't care if he's going for medical treatment, mechanical evaluation, or acupuncture, just let something work. To make matters a bit worse, the Sox went meekly in the ninth, going out 1-2-3 on three pitches. Goodbye ballgame, hello sandwich...

"You're never as good as you look when you win, or as bad as you look when you lose." Res ipsa loquitur* . The Sox and Phillies exchanged Alphonse and Gaston routines today, as each attempted to give away the game, before the Phillies succeeded, losing 12-8 to the Sox. The Sox continued to knock the ball around and out of the park, with three more homers, including ones by Mark Bellhorn (5), Manny Ramirez (19), and Jason Varitek (13). Ramirez is a remarkable case, near the league lead in RBI and homers, and now in the top 10 in OPS (.914), despite seeming to struggle for most of the year. He also had his league-leading 10th outfield assist. Ironically, it was 'small ball' that ignited the 8th inning rally as Johnny Damon laid down a perfect drag bunt against Rheal Cormier. Baseball fans will remember that portsiders have a natural follow-through to the third base side, making fielding drag bunts more difficult. Relief pitching, thy name is inconsistency, with Davi...

When you're riding, only the race in which you're riding is important. -Bill Shoemaker The Red Sox achieved a number of milestones this week, claiming first place and going over the .500 mark on the road. Meanwhile, their chief AL East Division rivals the Orioles and Yankees hit some bumps in the road. The Orioles had already been without their ace Eric Bedard, and now Bruce Chen develops pitching lameness. Meanwhile, the Bronx Bombers do the unthinkable, losing 3 of 4 at home to the D-Rays and then two more to crosstown rivals the Mets. Short memories create long careers. The last game, inning, at-bat, or free throw become indelible history, with focus required on today's contest. Whether in sports or stock trading, yesterday's events can't have carry-through on today's performance for long-term success. The Sox have shown considerable resilience in harnessing adversity and from the catbird's seat, they have the opportunity to perform looking over their col...

Matt Mantei gets celebrated for his 'electric' stuff. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Mantei has plus velocity and a sharp-breaking curveball. However... Aside from general ineffectiveness, Mantei came into today's action with 24 innings pitched, 18 walks, and 4 hit batsmen in 89 batters faced. He hit one batter in three faced today. He's hit three left-handed batters this season already, not easy for a right-hander with a tailing fastball. Does Matt Mantei have 'Steve Blass Disease' or at least some variant? Blass was an effective pitcher for the Pirates who developed the inability to throw the ball over the plate or even remotely where he wanted it. Numerous players have suffered from the condition since. Off the top of my head, I can think of Mackey Sasser, Steve Sax, Chuck Knoblauch, Matt Young (throwing to bases), Mark Wohlers , and Rick Ankiel . I suppose that strictly speaking, only pitchers can have Blass Disease, but let's be l...

I've reviewed in the past the very old data about the QUALITY START being a useful statistic. Simply, quality starts result in about 70 percent winning percentage, and probably higher on a good hitting team. Among the top 30 pitchers in quality starts, Chicago has 4 (Buehrle, Garland, Garcia, and Contreras), Detroit has 4, Boston has 3 (Clement, Arroyo, Wakefield), the Angels have 3, Baltimore has 2, New York has 2, Texas has 1. Quality start leaders in the AL (top 5) are Kenny Rogers, Roy Halladay, Mark Buehrle, Jarod Washburn, and Matt Clement, the first three with 12 and the last two with 11. Collectively their record is 41 and 12. The top five in ERA are Rogers, Bartolo Colon, Halladay, Buerhle, and Chris Young with a collective record of 44-16. The top five in WHIP ratio are Santana, Halladay, Buehrle, Garland, and Garcia. Collective record 46-13. Top five in strikeouts are Santana, Halladay, Johnson, Jeremy Bonderman, and Clement. Record 42-17. The top five in K/BB ratio ar...

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2005/06/23/his_numbers_are_in_the_ballpark/ Good for Eric. Eric probably doesn't remember me, but we attended college together back in the Dark Ages, when you could get a pizza at Harvard Pizza for 99 cents. A good pizza, too, tasty with some orange soda. Numbers are just one of the reasons fans love baseball. Peyton Manning set an NFL record this year throwing X touchdowns. We remember Hank Aaron (755), Ruth (714), and even Mays (660). Statistics are just ingrained as a huge part of the analysis of baseball.

I don't know Manny Ramirez, but watching him play baseball, he looks pretty happy. Yes, he makes some errors, and some baserunning FUBARs, but he also has a lot of outfield assists and has been ripping the baseball lately. So you say, he makes 20 MILLION DOLLARS. Mucho dinero, a lotta dollars, serious bling. Is that his fault? Realistically, there isn't any baseball player who earns that kind of money annually, but it isn't just the stars who produce 100 dollar tickets, but the high cost of mediocrity. I'd guess that every Sox fan in New England would have chipped in 10 bucks to pay Manny if we could be guaranteed the championship. Heck, I got the Sox 2005 jacket, T-shirts, Red Sox Monopoly, a couple of hats, NESN on cable. Feeling like Ben Wrightman? What would Manny have to do to earn 20 million? Hit .400, 50 homers and 150 RBI, All-Star, Gold Glove and MVP? Sign 1000 autographs a day, 5000, sing the National Anthem, come to your house for hot dogs and beans? Come on,...

Can you fix this mess, Theo? http://www.garnersclassics.com/wavs/bride/think.wav Tito tells Dave Wallace to warm up the pen. http://www.garnersclassics.com/wavs/goodbad.wav http://www.garnersclassics.com/wavs/holy/dead.wav Does Jason Varitek think this when the pen pals are coming in? http://www.garnersclassics.com/wavs/vacat/crazy.wav Sox fans talk to Alan Embree before a recent outing. http://www.garnersclassics.com/wavs/donotgo.wav Can the Sox win with this bullpen? http://www.garnersclassics.com/wavs/dumb/notgood.wav Enemy batters hear the relief corp is coming in. http://www.garnersclassics.com/wavs/mkmydy.wav

Beldar Conehead : If I did not fear incarceration of human authority figures I bring pressure to your blunt skull and cause it to collapse! A pharmaceutical representative came in today with a legitimate concern, ticket scalping. She and her husband (a longtime Pirate fan) had tried to get tickets for the weekend series with the Bucs. Although they couldn't get tickets, scalpers had handfuls, asking 100 dollars pregame and 75 in the third inning. Being sensible people, they passed and went home disappointed after stopping in a nearby pub. She noticed the scalper came into the pub with 'fistfuls of money' as though he were a drug dealer (obviously she hadn't read Steve Levitt's book Freakonomics and its evaluation of the economics of drug dealing). Recently a Sox fan living in Pittsburgh (caller from sports radio) noted that his tickets (purchased from EBAY) were confiscated by the ticket scanner as EBAY resale isn't permitted. So, if you want to get Sox tickets,...

Last evening's exhibition showed the fickleness of the baseball gods, as they turned the proverbial 'laugher' into a white-knuckler by the names of Embree and Foulke. Embree appeared to be throwing the ball better (although arrow-straight) and Foulke, who had pitched far better recently, had nothing, no velocity, no location, and no duende. He did preserve the victory, however. On the scale of good wins to bad losses, somehow this felt a lot closer to the bad loss spectrum. That makes no sense in any normal reality, because 'a win is a win'. There was no palpable injury or loss, but only unnerving psychic energy dispensed. As we are almost at the halfway point in the season, perhaps we should call out the Professor, and ask him for a progress report if not a full report card. The stipulation about the grading is that it occurs on an absolute scale, not relative to the players' historical norm. Catchers: Varitek--- A the most important player on the ...

What words best describe Sox fans? Passionate, loyal, obsessed, angry, insatiable? Last year the Sox did the unthinkable but possible, actually won the whole enchilada. At times, it seems as though we're back to square one, led of course, by critical works like my 'panic button' picture, the daily flaying of Edgar Renteria by much of the sports radio rabble, and our latest whipping boys, Alan Embree and Jay Payton. Embree, to his credit, acknowledges that he's underachieved. Payton just wants to play. Embree has a pretty fair post-season track record and done poorly in relief this year. Payton has a more mediocre dossier but has performed admirably off the bench. Let's spread the wealth, with our 'wish list' Jason Varitek - just lay off the high, hard ones. Kevin Millar - if you have to carry the piano while running, don't play it Mark Bellhorn - contact...think contact Edgar Renteria - don't listen to these nitwits, just have fun Bill Mueller -...

The Sox won behind erstwhile ace Matt Clement, who moved to 8-1, 3.48 as he makes a bid for an All-Star berth. Sidelights included two hits and a walk from Trot Nixon, leading off in place of an injured Johnny Damon, and two hits and a homer from malcontent Jay Payton, who has performed well in limited duty (.328/.459/.787) and .500/.923/1.423 the past week. Alan Embree starred in 2 innings of 'Dawn of the Dead' with three strikeouts and no walks, in a 'Baby Steps' move in from the gangplank. Reality Check. The Sox remain three games back behind the Orioles, who are rumored to be discussing dealing for Andy Pettitte for Jorge Julio and Jay Gibbons. The O's have full coffers from the spoils delivered by MLB via the Washington Nationals and continue to play good baseball. The Sox are 1/2 game behind the Twins in the Wild Card race, and 1/2 a game ahead of both Texas and (huh?) the Tribe. The Yankees are two games back having gotten well after playing the Pirates and t...

The good news: my wife and I went out to see Revenge of the Sith instead of staying home to watch the Sox-Pirates. The bad news: heard the collapse of the pen ending the five game winning streak solution. Solutions? Letterman must have answer 10) Alan Embree to take over for Alan Greenspan 9) Hey Jay Payton, wanna pitch? 8) Theo, it's okay for you to take one for the team on the bullpen. 7) Craig Hansen, wipe that Cheshire cat smile off your face. 6) Ditto Scott Boras 5) Jeremi Gonzalez can't do any worse than Halama. Really. 4) Come on Tim, you got a few more pitches in you. 3) Move the wall back a few feet. 2) We got Cla-mation for the Nation. 1) Bring back Dave McCarthy

Coming off of a World Series Championship, we have to love everything about the Red Sox, right? I'm sure you have a couple of 'sore points' about the Sox, Fenway, and the Ballpark Experience. Add 'em. 1. Concessions. A friend went to Fenway this week and bought four waters, high quality H2O. Total $17.00. The commodity of the 21st century. A bleacher ticket to Game 1, 1975 Reds at Red Sox cost me $4.50. Still got the stub. 2. Obstructed view seats. Nice picture in The Globe yesterday. "Well, nobody holds a gun to your head to buy the seats." Caveat emptor. 3. Boorish fan behavior. No matter where you sit, it seems that there is always an obnoxious, cursing, drunken fan no farther than three sheets, er seats, away. That's a fact, Jack. 'They' say that Fenway is doing a better job policing this behavior. Didn't work for my daughter and me last September 24, 2004, when the ushers took away the drunks in the eighth inning. 4. Imperial attitudes. Ba...

One of the worst elements of baseball is the constant matchup manipulation in the late innings with mediocre pitchers substituting for other mediocre pitchers to face mediocre hitters. This continuation of the LaRussa Doctrine, inspired by such 'great' relievers as Darold Knowles lives on. Meanwhile fans die of old age and new fans disappear with boredom. Or course, it often works, like tonight. Instant replay in baseball may never come, but plays like tonight's drop of a double play ball deserves replay. "It destroys the flow of the game," the purity of the game. Not as much as the constant substitution of relief pitchers. Jay Payton grouses because he's not getting enough face time, i.e. at bats. Payton's a valuable guy to have on a team, runs well, and has some pop. Granted he had 28 homers at Colorado in 2003, a feat that didn't even get him resigned at Coors. Reality Check absolutely wants every major league player to want everyday action. Payton...

Which current and former Sox players have Hall of Fame credentials yet aren't in the pantheon of stars at Cooperstown? On the mound, it's impossible to overlook Pedro Martinez , the best pitcher of his generation, albeit without the durability and numbers of Roger Clemens . If I had to win one game, Pedro in his prime was the guy. Luis Tiant remains deserving, but I wonder whether Luis will ever get there. He played for some bad teams and doesn't get as much credit as he would have had the Sox won the series in his era. Curt Schilling had a slow career start and has had a gangbusters finish. The black and grey ink stats at www.baseball-reference.com plus his postseason heroics (bloody sock not included) argue that he's going to Cooperstown, 200 wins or not. I'm a closet Dwight Evans guy whose defense and second half of his career gets him in. Unfortunately, the first years of his career drag his candidacy down, and Dewey's probably going to have to be content ...

Amidst the 'Moneyball' teams, Boston, Toronto (Ricciardi), Los Angeles (DePodesta), and Oakland (Beane) we note variable success. The Sox (and a lot of cash) validated the concept last season, Toronto is good for their payroll, the Dodgers are competitive, and Beane, er, pulls up the rear. BUT, I ask are the Sox as 'interesting' taking a lot of pitches, getting on base via the walk, wearing out the starter, and hoping for the three-run homer? Winning is everything, and I wouldn't trade the World Series title for 240 homers and losing, but I hope that the Sox are developing more complete players in the minors. Last night Ted Sarandis expressed great reservation about the talents of Millar and Bellhorn, to name two starters. They aren't great players, and you don't buy great talent for 'shoestring' salaries (wouldn't I like to live on theirs, each over ten times mine). They do what they do. They play adequate defense, get on base, and contribute. Y...

Before we have any more naming ceremonies at Fenway, maybe it's time for a simple monument to remember Victoria Snelgrove. If her family found it appropriate and desired, maybe a small plaque somewhere inside the ballpark would be fitting. The plaque could be dedicated in a private ceremony, away from the bright lights that surround everything Boston Red Sox. Tragedies like this young girl's recur because we forget too easily. Nothing like this should ever happen again.

The Red Sox swept the Cincinnati Reds behind outstanding starting pitching from Bronson Arroyo, and relief efforts from Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke. Arroyo (5-3, 4.26) had eight strikeouts, yielding six hits, two walks, and one run in seven innings. Timlin pitched the eighth, and Foulke fanned the side in the ninth. Offensively, the Sox banged out another ten hits, with two apiece by Renteria, Ortiz, and Ramirez. Johnny Damon and Edgar Renteria each scored two runs, and Ortiz had 3 RBI with 2 for Mueller. Worth noting. Mark Bellhorn fanned once tonight, his 71st in 61 games. Bellhorn has now struck out in over 30% of his at-bats. Still, he has an on-base percentage of over .350 and continues to play steady defense. Last year Bellhorn's Win Shares stats produced All-Star numbers (really) and I keep rooting for him to turn it around. I have never seen a player swing and miss more often. At the other extreme, Kevin Youkilis strikes out only 8% of his at-bats and Johnny Damon 9.4%. Yo...

Following Theo Epstein's put up or shut up warning, the Sox responded with their third consecutive quality start, as David Wells (5-4, 4.54) threw seven one-hit innings to stop the Reds, 7-0. Wells didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning and had the Reds off balance all night. Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke completed the whitewash. Offensively, Manny Ramirez (14) homered for the third straight game, and the Sox cranked out ten hits and garnered five walks. Trot Nixon, Bill Mueller, and Kevin Millar each had two hits. Coming and going. Terry Francona returned to skipper the club after a day off at his daughter's graduation. Minor achievement. The Portland Sea Dogs have regained first place in the Eastern League, although uber-prospect Hanley Ramirez is on the DL. Brandon Moss continues red hot for the Sea Dogs, raising his average to .295 at last count, with nine homers. Moss was hitting about .230 less than a month ago, but has been on a tear. Jared Sandberg now has 15 home...

Football mentality. Judging each game as though it were the NFL weekly tilt. Tonight's game would have been the Buffalo overtime win with David Patten getting knocked out, fumbling, but 'recovering' because he was out of bounds. One more strange play was Willy Mo Pena's attempt to catch Manny's homerun and deflecting it into the stands. Maybe Manny deserved a break. Matt Clement, 7 wins in 63 games, had his slider and cutter working to the tune of 9 strikeouts, and Matt Mantei closed it out with his usual, er, command. Clement, the victim of no run support as a Cub, has felt the opposite while on the Sox. Clement also got his tenth quality start. Maybe we fans shouldn't be so high on our own personal '8itch count', but a lot of the games have been painful to watch, amidst struggling pitching and inconsistent offense. Maybe a decent homestand will calm the spirit of the nation. Three games out of the wild card with injuries and inconsistency aren't so...

The Sox have worked overtime providing unusual plays for their fans. Last night in the 8-1 thrashing of the Cubs, Johnny Damon AND Kevin Youkilis came up in the same inning with the opportunity to hit for the cycle. Didn't happen, no matter. We got to watch Tim Wakefield chug around the bases and saw a Sox pitcher get a hit for the second game in a row. Tonight, we've already seen Ken Griffey, Jr. whiff twice, Edgar Renteria get a double when the Reds centerfielder broke in on a ball over his head, Jay Payton with a strange swing double off the wall, Bill Mueller tag out a runner oversliding a base, Manny with a bloop ground rule double just behind first base, and Manny take third base on an errant throw back to the pitcher. The Baseball gods like having a good laugh at someone's expense.

As the Sox face the Cubs at Wrigley tonight, a few thoughts come to mind. First, it wasn't that long ago that Wrigley had no lights, so night baseball didn't exist there. Second, absent interleague play, the only way a Sox-Cubs tilt could exist would be in the World Series, an unlikely matchup. The Sox enter the contest at 32-29, 17-9 at home and 15-20 on the road. The Sox are 18th in RPI, an ESPN contrivance designed to measure schedule-adjusted performance. Boston has only scored nine more runs than it has allowed, so their record is not far from what is expected from baseball's Pythagorean Theorem. Terry Francona must reminisce for the 'good old days' of Philadelphia, when he had Curt Schilling. If you had told the average Sox fan that Curt Schilling would miss the first half of the season, that Manny Ramirez would hit .250, that Edgar Renteria would generally be mediocre except for one road trip, that Tim Wakefield would struggle, and that Keith Foulke would hav...

A friend (Yankee fan) and I discussed the sorry state of baseball the other day, with the embarrassment of riches that encourages 'quality at bats', extended pitch counts, and getting into the opponents bullpen. The strategy worked somewhat on Carlos Zambrano today, but not as well as his baserunning that produced a foot injury. Unfortunately for the Sox, Wade Miller also proved a victim of lack of pitching parsimony and he departed with the Sox trailing 5-4. As customary recently, the bullpen failed again, yielding two Cub runs in the eighth, and a Sox rally fell short, dropping a 7-6 decision to the Nomarless Cubs. The defeat was the fourth in the past 5 days as the road trip continues to extract its toll. Trot Nixon got the Sox off to a fast start in the first with a three-run shot to left center, followed by a second inning dinger by Bill Mueller. Pen-Stained Sox. The Sox era for June has risen to (gulp) 6.92, and the Sox pen is allowing a league leading .812 OPS. They are ...

Maybe a day off will be good medicine. Here are some places to visit on a night off. http://www.soxprospects.com/ Overview and ratings http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/index.jsp?cid=milb comprehensive minor league site http://www.pawsox.com/ PawSox, the 'taxi squad' http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&did=milb&cid=533 PawSox stats http://www.seadogs.com/ Portland, the 'launching pad' where the premium prospects are http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&did=milb&cid=546 Sea Dogs stats http://www.bluerocks.com/ Wilmington http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&did=milb&cid=426 Blue Rocks stats http://www.bomberball.com/ Greenville of the Sallie League

Terry Francona announced that Kevin Millar would play left field and Manny Ramirez would sit out the final game of the Sox series in St. Louis. The baseball gods have rewarded Francona's decision with rain, both in the Gateway to the West and in The Hub as cats and dogs come pounding down. To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heav'n in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. ---William Blake A poetic interlude in a spell of twelve games with six wins and six losses against the Yankees, Orioles, Angels, and Cardinals. Some will argue that the Sox have found their grip on the handlebars during this stretch, but that sounds like sister-kissing logic around here. The Yankees are not even Tony Massarotti's 'Fortune .500' team (make a fortune, play .500) now, the Orioles outplayed the Sox and got beat by David Ortiz, the Angels series was ugly, and the Cardinals have phlebotomized the Sox to the point the socks aren...

Admittedly, the Sox have faced a tough schedule recently, with the Yankees, Orioles, Angels, and Cardinals. Unfortunately, as much as we desire, they can't play Kansas City, Tampa, and Detroit enough. Of course, it's not bad enough the Cardinals have been beating us like a rented mule, we have to humiliate ourself by throwing at (excuse me, how do you know?) Cardinal batters. Maybe it was a Drysdalian intentional walk. Signs outside the Red Sox offices? Wanted: pitching; Don't ask, don't tell. The Sox stump to beat the slump on the hump, as the pitching continues to beget, er, complaining. The Sox team ERA rapidly approaches 5.00 and the bullpen continues to struggle. Four Rent. The bad news. Edgar Renteria has grounded into four double plays in two games. The good news is that Edgar makes Mark Bellhorn's strikeouts look better. Minor adjustments. The PawSox have played better recently, behind the offensive production of Justin Sherrod and Roberto Petagine, and Cla...

Today, Carson Kressley of the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Team will throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park. Okay, so I'm a little envious, because I'll never be throwing out the first pitch for a game anywhere, but that's just an aside. For at least part of this week on sports radio (self-proclaimed 'Nitwit Radio'), WEEI reveled in bashing the inappropriateness of Cressley's appearance, with Gerry Callahan labeling him a 'fruitcake'. Callahan has something of a track record with his previous METCO diatribe, and the show spent some of the next day trying to dance around the issue (one suspension being enough pain in the proverbial purse). I didn't hear Larry Johnson's diatribe yesterday, but on the Wallach and Dickerson show, they were almost apologetic for Johnson's sermonizing about the gay and lesbian community. Although I don't think anyone really has a percentage of what percentage of people are gay, we know it's substantial ...

Highbrow to Lowbrow. The bullpen preparing for the postgame meal.  

Rubens' DANIEL or Terry Francona contemplating a pitching change?

Roy Lichtenstein painted the summary of yesterday's game in 1963.  

Picasso's vision of a bullfight. Why does this remind me of the Red Sox vision of the bullpen? 

Baby we can talk all night But that aint getting us nowhere I've told you everything I possibly can There's nothing left inside of here And maybe you can cry all night But that'll never change the way that I feel The snow is really piling up outside I wish you wouldnt make me leave here I poured it on and I poured it out I tried to show you just how much I care I'm tired of words and i'm too hoarse to shout But you've been cold to me so long I'm crying icicles instead of tears And all I can do Is keep on telling you I want you I need you But there aint no way I'm ever gonna love you Now dont be sad Cause 2 out of 3 aint bad Now dont be sad Cause 2 out of 3 aint bad You'll never find your gold on a sandy beach You'll never drill for oil on a city street I know youre looking for a ruby in a mountain of rocks But there aint no Coup de ville hiding at the bottom of a CrackerJack box I cant lie I cant tell you that i'm something i'm not no mat...

The Red Sox welcomed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA, Planet Earth for a three game series at Fenway Park. David Wells, coming off his victory over the Yankees wasn't as sharp, giving up 4 runs in 7 innings, including a Chone Figgins home run. Meanwhile, the Sox struggled against Kelvim Escobar, who had a nasty change up working for 6 innings. However, the Sox dope-slapped Brendan Donnelly and Scott Shields for 6 runs in two innings, highlighted by a three-run double by Johnny Damon in the eighth to supply the margin of victory. Mike Myers got the victory in relief with a Perils of Pauline 8th, and Keith Foulke got the save, despite three singles allowed in the 9th, stranding the bases by striking out Steve Finley with hard stuff up and in after working the lefthander down and away. A great call by Varitek and great execution on that pitch by Foulke. The Sox had only seven hits on the night and didn't hit the ball hard for most of the evening. Bill Mueller ha...

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/some-graphs-about-the-padres/ Check out the bottom graph in the series. Young Master Theo has to be pondering this reality. http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/teams/aleast/ The AL graphically, from The Hardball Times.

Originally published at www.uwritesports.com by Ron Sen (6-21-2004) Spankees and Our GangHow much do I hate the Yankees? I’ve already violated my first rule, i.e., I shall always refer to them as the ‘hated Yankees.’ Hating the hated Yankees doesn’t obsess me. I detest okra, artichoke (artichoke ‘ya), and have negative feelings about Egg foo yung, ABC (American Born Chinese) heritage or not. Yes, I’ve sat in the bleachers at the House That Ruth Built, without the smallest desire to join the legions of New Yawkers celebrating the laundry adorned by NY.Among the greatest hated Yankees ever, yea the greatest ballplayers ever, I recognize Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, Berra, Ford, Rivera, and others. The apotheosis of the Murcers, Munsons, Kubeks, and Richardsons I can’t accept. Hated Yankee devotees fawn over memories of ‘Donnie Baseball.’ Mattingly had the textbook swing and the golden glove, but his career stands as much for playing with injuries as it does for his accomplishments. Mattingly t...

The Sox rudely interrupted last night's effort of good baseball with another lackluster performance tonight, pounded by the Orioles 9-3, absence the dread pirate Brian Roberts, day-to-day with a shoulder injury. Tim Wakefield got cuffed around by Geronomo Gil (three-run homer), Miguel Tejada (HR 14, Nomar's better?), and Sammy Sosa (HR 5) as Wakefield fell to 4-5, 5.03. Sox highlights? Manny had a two run single in the 'it's alive' 3 run seventh, Trot Nixon threw out a runner at the plate, and Bronson Arroyo got a confidence boost retiring four consecutive batters. Terry Francona must be getting close to the threshold for recurrent chest pain. Big Picture. "You're never as good as you look when you win or as bad as you look when you lose." Maybe Earl Weaver owns that quote. The Sox fell to four out in the division and 2.5 games out in the Wild Card battle as we come up on the one-third mark of the season. " Facts are meaningless. You could use fac...