Red Sox Reality Check

Well, what goes for last night's punk starter goes for Casey Fossum, too. Chicken-bleep, horse-hockey, bush league stuff hitting Renteria in the first inning, drawing warnings to both benches. Maybe tomorrow night you'll get the warning before the game starts. Perhaps "Yankee Bob" could serve you up a 3 day big chicken dinner (bad conduct discharge) for being a general menace to Major League Baseball. But I digress. "Not So Mighty" Casey Fossum hung around long enough to get the well-deserved loss, issuing three gopher balls (Millar, Mirabelli, Ortiz), before departing to allow the game winning run, courtesy of the Ray pen. Millarbile dictu , Kevin Millar pulled an anti-Samson using the bleached crew to deliver two out of the yard, including the game-winning Coke Bottle Shot. The Talisman, Kevin Youkilis, is back, while Manny Delcarmen puts on extra gas mileage shuttling between Boston and Pawtucket. Tomorrow, we'll see who gets promoted from the Rhode I...

Scott Kazmir, you are a punk. You have a live arm, a reasonable idea, and then you hit Graffanino to start the game. The left-hander's natural corner is the outside to right-handed batters, and you miss two feet inside the other corner. You and Lou deserve each other. Should they abandon the DH in your lifetime, you'll need chain mail to bat.Lou, do you call pitches? Trot Nixon is looking dead red against Baez, and you oblige. I'm sure you'll be whining about the umpiring (not great), but you blew it. Take responsibility. Schilling's outing was a tale of two pitchers. The first two innings looked like Night of the Living Dead and the last four were The Terminator . It's amazing what hitting spots can do, even with a bit of squeezage from the umpire and a decent Tampa lineup. Still, there were an awful lot of balls hit out to the track... Johnny Damon, you've obviously earned the money. I hope that you're willing to stick around for Varitek money. Olerud...

Double digit wins for Wells (10), joining Arroyo (10), Clement (11), and Wakefield (13). Somehow, Wells seems like the most 'consistent' of the bunch, probably because he throws strikes. I continue to worry about mechanical flaws in the delivery of Arroyo and Papelbon contributing to their problems. I certainly hope that the baseball staff is reviewing the tapes/doing self-scouting to try to identify and correct possible problems. The Sox captured their first series in four, thanks to an offensive outburst and some sharp defense at third (mostly sharp) by Bill Mueller, who has been on something of a hitting tear. One of the most critical criteria in player evaluation is the willingness to admit you are wrong. As a stock trading afficionado ( www.ronsen.blogspot.com ) , I recognize that losses/mistakes are inevitable and that "a small loss is a professional loss." Today, GM Theo Epstein attempted to correct that, jettisoning Mike Remlinger in favor of the second coming...

The long season, a.k.a. marathon, that constitutes baseball tries even the most patient souls. After a dispirited road trip, the Sox returned home to Fenway to eke out a victory against the Tigers last night. Whether the Tigers lost or time expired was in doubt. Tonight, a comedy of mound errors subjects even the most patient Sox loyalists to wonder whether hemlock is preferable to HDTV (by the way, I don't have it). Bronson, the noted singer, Arroyo, continued to make us wonder which is his day job. Somehow, the spreadsheet that Theo must maintain concerning 2006 must have a question mark where Arroyo's name used to be. Jeremi (non-Nirvana) Gonzalez got lit up like a Christmas tree in relief of the polysyllabic one, Jonathan Papelbon, whose fastball wasn't well located and whose complementary pitches didn't fool anyone tonight. Worse still, the Ivy League professor, Mike Remlinger continued to 'throw it in and duck', although he might make an exemplary batting ...

Okay, so the Sox are the reigning World Champions. Well, "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." Is the pitching good enough? Let's review where we are. Starting pitching. The rotation is Clement, Wells, Wakefield, Arroyo, Schilling, and/or Papelbon. Wade Miller, injury or otherwise, hasn't been dependable. That doesn't separate him much from the rest of the starters. All of the starters have had their moments, but as for winning the 'big game', it's hard to choose. Clement, at this juncture has the best raw stuff, Wells the savvy, Arroyo the funk, and Schilling is still a question mark healthwise. Papelbon has the electric stuff, but some minor mechanical issues, and his secondary pitches are unproven. Wakefield's knuckleball is frequently effective and he is the streakiest of the bunch. In a short series, the Sox staff without a healthy and dominant Schilling doesn't match up particularly well with any of the major contenders. The bullpe...

Sometimes it's good to step back and take a look at the forest, and nestled amidst the wooded mountains of Ojai Valley, California this weekend, I have that opportunity. The Sox invaded Angel Stadium (what, no naming rights) Thursday night, and got hammered (as so often seems to happen in the first game of road series this season), before coming back to win Friday night. "You can see a lot by just watching." - Yogi Berra Talking with a number of conference attendees out here, I get the sense that last year (including Yankee fans) people considered the Red Sox a special team, and that sense doesn't particularly carry over into 2005. Admittedly, the Sox have enjoyed terrific seasons from Johnny Damon (a 'career contract year'), Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez. However, the infield has generally been mediocre (compare Mueller, Renteria, Graffanino, and Millar to Blalock, Young, Soriano, and Teixeira for example). Last year's rotation could call ...

There can only be twenty-five players on a professional baseball roster, and sometimes capable, affable, deserving players simply get less opportunity than they deserve. For example, management continually recycles worn out relievers (like Mike Remlinger), sending promising young pitchers (like Manny Delcarmen) for more apprenticeship. Remlinger, the latest in the Chad Fox, Ramiro Mendoza, Joe Blow Saves saga, actually lowered his E.R.A. last night by allowing 4 runs in an inning. On the Red Sox usenet newsgroup, he became Remlidinger after surrendering a grand slam. When Trot Nixon returns, who goes? Adam Stern seems locked in via Rule V, and Gabe Kapler isn't going anywhere. Does Roberto Petagine go, while Kevin Millar underachieves month after month? Previewing the late August roster of 'who counts', it looks like this: C (2) Varitek and Mirabelli (a no-brainer) IF(6) Millar, Olerud, Graffanino, Mueller, Renteria, Cora OF(5) Ramirez, Damon, Kapler, Nixon, Stern DH(1) O...

David Ortiz isn't the Red Sox' most compelling player for nothing, having a flair for the dramatic and a winning, engaging personality. Personality aside, ninth inning, game-tying homers attract attention. The Sox have a bit of the Jekyll and Hyde hitting achievement, .370/,464/.834 at Fenway and .355/.452/.808 on the road, although it is the best OPS in the AL on the road. Kevin Millar's road performance was recently particularly highlighted, a rather anemic .315/.292/.607. Jonathan Papelbon had better command of his stuff tonight, but still came away with a no-decision with 2 runs allowed in five innings. Thus far the bullpen hasn't been spectacular, as Timlin and Varitek elected to go upstairs on Maglio Ordonez after Ordonez missed a sinker (the theory being to change the hitter's eye level). The Big O promptly delivered a sac fly. The Sox have plenty of pressing issues for the future. It looks as though the five spot is Papelbon's with Wade Miller on the she...

"Imagination is more important than information." - Einstein Last Monday I wrote a very brief piece entitled "Popularity Contest", ranking of the popularity of current Red Sox players, obviously led by David Ortiz. I actually considered a broader discussion, emphasizing the changes in the racial climate in Boston, exemplified by the popularity of numerous Boston minority athletes. But I digress. I didn't go into great detail (like you didn't know Big Papi?), but I was mildly surprised to see what seemed like an expansion of my outline a few days later in the Boston Globe by the newspaper's Daniel Shaughnessy. You know, the anagram, "Dan lies, as he hugs NY". The beloved Shaughnessy has written a couple of pretty good books, Seeing Red and The Curse of the Bambino (see, no hard feelings, Danno), and the odds are pretty good that he's never even heard of my blog. It's just the timing, the circumstantial evidence that bothered me. Serious...

Everybody in Boston is a baseball expert, right? Who are some of the most underrated players in the American League. Some are pretty obvious, while others are less obvious. We'll begin on the mound, because pitching is so critical, as illustrated by the Sox turnaround in concert with bullpen stabilization. Two very underappreciated players are Carlos Silva of the Twins and Cliff Lee of the Indians. Silva is only 7-6, 3.42 but has an outstanding WHIP of 1.17, and a K/BB ratio of 7.38. He averages only 12 pitches per inning. He is economical with pitches, averaging 3.04 pitches per plate appearance. Conversely, Wade Miller throws 4.04 per batter and Clement 3.87. Lee is more of the guy who seems to pitch well enough to win. At 12-4, 4.26, WHIP 1.35 his stats aren't overwhelming. At 26 years old, a lefthander, and with a salary of $345,000 he's a general manager's dream. Concerning hitting, the Indians' Travis Hafner is third in the AL in OPS at .981, with 18 homers in...

Amidst the sea of plenty, have pity on the Lords of the 4th Estate, our noble and esteemed colleagues from the print media (i.e. the people Joe Sportsfan actually reads). Day after day, year after year, losing campaign after another their task was to humiliate and decry the performance of Ye Olde Towne Team. The World Series wasn't a panacea, but fortunately the Sox continued to provide grist for the ink-stained mill. There's Terry's pectoral pain, Curt's talus troubles, the Foulkester's failures, and so on. Of course, over the long baseball season, there is no end to the travails that any organization will endure. If you don't have enough of your own, then there's always steroids, especially used by the Lying Liars (Rafael P., that's you), managers to jettison (pity poor Pena), or you can even cross sports to dump on Terrell Owens. But we digress, let's look at where the Sox stand, 5 games up on the Yankees, with 48 games to play, 26 at home, where ...

I love the Sox, but that was bad baseball last night. If Mike Hargrove were the 'Human Rain Delay', then Doug Brocail is 'Thunderstorm City'. He threw about 200 pitches in 2 innings, most of the strikes fouled off by Manny. Actually, Rangers pitchers threw 192 pitches in just eight innings, including seven walks and a hit batsman. The umpires managed to get it wrong on the Kapler homerun (hasn't the umpiring been atrocious) and Christopher Nixon must have got tossed for being too into the game. Actually, finding a lot to complain about concerning the locals recently, as winning covers up a variety of sins like inconsistent relief and defense. Hey, all those people looking to dump Manny Ramirez, doesn't that look foolish now, as he goes on an AL Player of the Week tear, leads the league in RBI, and his OPS is up to 0.985. Don't worry, we'll all have something to whine about soon, whether it's the return of Mark Bellhorn, or the Remlinger Factor, or so...

Who's your favorite Red Sox player? Who are the most popular Red Sox players? Popularity surely shouldn't determine security, but maybe it makes it difference. If you're a 'rat buzzard' and equally talented to a more popular player, that might get you a ticket out of town if Theo has to make Sophie's Choice. It also makes a difference whether you're a pitcher or an everyday player. Most of us 'associate' with everyday players, not as though we should associate with any of these athletes. About the only thing most of us have in common with them is human DNA, and probably a big appetite. Life's choices allow us to be lumpers and splitters, so I'll lump the players into quintiles from most popular to least popular, realizing that I'm trying to project other people's opinions onto my biased opinions. Hey, we're not about being right, just having an opinion. Quintile 1 David Ortiz Jason Varitek Johnny Damon Trot Nixon Manny Ramir...

Foreshadowing. Like in the movie Karate Kid when Daniel sees Miyagi practicing the 'crane technique'. When Johnny Damon tripled and got stranded at third (early 2000'/Greg Maddux strike zone redux) and then got homerdomed on Lew Ford's triple, then you had the feeling the sky was falling - at least for today. The Twins owe the Sox a little payback for last weekend's Twins-slapping, and eight game winning streaks are made to be broken. Even if you had a 60 percent chance of winning daily, the odds of an eight-game streak would be 0.6 to the eighth power or 1.68%. And as well as the Sox have played lately, how about the Oakland A's? Maybe Billy Beane deserves his reputation. And speaking of Beane, my son Conor, the Orioles fan, reminded me that Larry Bigbie is the embodiement of the 'looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane' theme, a big stud who can't hit. Maybe that's what the Sox supercomputer finally spit out. Roberto Petagine got shut out in his fi...

In the wake of the steroid scandal, we are starting to face some uncomfortable reality. Maybe Jose Canseco was the only guy telling the truth, even if were a bit enhanced. The story reminds me of the Reagan administration, circa 1987, around the time of Iran Contra. I was working in Washington at Bethesda Naval Hospital. An unattributed Administration source (I'll call him Manny and he wasn't a patient so there's no doctor-patient confidentiality), told me that the only guy he trusted in Washington was Robert McFarlane. Ironically, McFarlane pleaded guilty to four counts of providing false information to Congress. The point isn't to indict politicians for lying (there wouldn't be enough courts in America to handle the business), but rather to show how difficult it is to tell when they are telling the truth. So now that we have the truth about Palmeiro (and provisionally about other Canseco nominees to the Hall of Shame), what do we do with them? Raffy ought to get s...

Because many of us grew up playing ball, and everyone here watches the Red Sox as a near-religious experience, we all believe we know at least as much as the manager, pitching coach, and definitely the third base coach. We don't. However, I know enough to share a few thoughts. Orioles pitching coach Ray Miller summarizes pitching thusly: 1) Throw strikes 2) Change speeds 3) Work fast ESPN gives detailed breakdowns of hitter performance by count. Obviously, hitters who work behind in the count seldom are good hitters. Hall-of-Famer Wade Boggs was a rare exception. Strike one gives the pitcher a tremendous advantage. "Hitting is timing. Pitching is disrupting timing." Pitchers without great 'stuff' can still get hitters out. Randy Jones of the seventies Padres, Doug Jones, and Mike Boddicker are all great examples of guys who had success without overpowering 'stuff'. Yesterday, the Sox threw Jon Papelbon against crafty veteran Brad Radke. If Radke had Papelb...