Red Sox Reality Check

The Red Sox have worn a variety of labels through the years, ranging from slugging station-to-station baseball to the more recent mantle of champions. Only recently have they become a team focused as much on balanced run generation and run prevention. The acquisition of Curt Schilling became a landmark for that transition and the Hanley Ramirez trade for Josh Beckett marked the next step. The posting for Daisuke Matsuzaka continued the process and the development stage continues with the potential evolution of frontline starters (in particular) among Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, and Justin Masterson. Effective starting pitching mandates disrupting hitters timing (changing speeds), altering where they 'sight' the ball (e.g. high or low in the strike zone), and controlling both sides of the plate. Lester has improved his ability to come inside to right-handers using his cut fastball, similar but not as effective as the way Ron Guidry used his power slider. Buchholz moved to Pawtuck...

It has become fashionable to bash the "Pink Hats", whom I will define as the "bandwagon class" of Red Sox Nation. According to Kate Jackson "Next to Yankees caps and Giants jerseys, the pink Red Sox cap has become the most polarizing piece of clothing a Bostonian can wear." She argues that the pink hat generation simply hasn't suffered enough. That reasoning pervades many arenas. Old time physicians who took call every second or third evening and who worked 100 hour weeks in training argue that younger trainees don't pay the dues that they did. Some military veterans argue that the armed forces have watered down recruit training (boot camp) to accommodate the younger generation. Even my children lament the reading, long hours, and tests challenging them in college? Who knew? I don't remember studying hard or taking tests in college? Maybe people have forgotten the old saying "Baseball is too much of a game to be a business, and too much o...

Jerry Remy gets recognized as a Red Sox lifer, which can't be a bad thing. The RemDawg brings a breadth of baseball knowledge and affability to the park daily, and a sense of humor that seems unflappable, unless Don Orsillo impedes his post-game departure. The best part of RemDawg Day Afternoon for me was the reunion of former teammates, including Rick Burleson, Jim Rice, Carleton Fisk, Dennis Eckersley, and coach Walt Hriniak. Other worthwhile memories include some Ned 'Rooster' Martin clips as Remy's first partner, and Lenny Clarke yelling for Heidi Watney, who was sitting virtually behind him. My wife asked about Hriniak. Hriniak was legendary for his willingness to tutor hitters with his 'style' that rescued the careers of some (Dwight Evans notably) and impaired others (Rich Gedman didn't seem to hit with the helicopter swing by my recollection). Meanwhile, the action on the field left something to be desired, as Doug Davis appeared to be Jamie Moyer re...

Every game has unique features, that aren't necessarily unique but by convention are. For example, Kevin Youkilis gets hit in the face by an infield warmup toss and has to leave the game. And the Red Sox run short of substitutes, so Brandon Moss's appearance at first base costs them a run on a spinning dribbler. Julio Lugo was hitting over .274, but it seems like the weakest .274 ever, with a homer and thirteen RBI...a real eye rubber. The Sox finally pushed across in run in the eighth inning and trail 2-1 with two down. I don't love the matchup of Manny against ultra hard throwers like Tony Pena. But you never know with Manny being Manny. Meanwhile, statistically the Sox have moved into fifth in pitching in the AL and remain in second in the AL in runs scored. The Sox have finally pushed over the '2' mark in strikeouts to walks, partially from the bullpen, but also from improved work from Jon Lester . Lester has grown in front of our eyes, to the point that he is b...

The Red Sox are amazingly close to the Pounding Phillies, considering that Bartolo Colon came out with about nothing. His first inning fastball was mid-80s and Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard went yard for a quick 3-0 lead at Citizens Bank Park. Howard took another Colon offering into the left field seats for the fourth Philly run before the Sox struck back with back-to-back jacks in the fifth by Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew...leading to Javier Lopez entering the fifth inning. Heidi Watney reports that Bartolo Colon left the game with back spasms. If it were the National Hockey League, we'd call it a suntan from the red light going on. Actually, I like Colon and he's probably more svelte than Mickey Lolich . Daisuke Matsuzaka's rehab start at Lehigh Valley is delayed. Minor Consideration . In the hitter's league California League , the Sox have several major prospects hammering the horsehide. Jorge Jimenez, Josh Reddick, and Lars Anderson all are hitting over .300 and slu...

Red Sox Nation rolled into the Great American Ballpark today sans Manny Ramirez (hamstring) and David Ortiz (wrist). The result? A 9-0 thrashing of the young Reds, behind home run power among Coco Crisp, Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, and Dustin Pedroia. The Red's biggest question is where in the world Ken Griffey, Jr. heads for the pennant stretch. Griffey, the 38 year-old, injury-riddled outfielder has numbers .246//358/.394/.752 that don't support what is listed as an 8 million dollar plus salary. And a team like the Sox doesn't need veteran leadership, just performance. For the most part, the Sox held down Red phenom Jay Bruce, other than his Friday night leadoff homer off Justin Masterson. Sox pitching might give clues as to how Bruce's power can get turned into a summer of 4 to 3 (groundouts to second base). Josh Beckett had better feel on his breaking stuff today, raising his record to 7-4, with seven scoreless innings. The Sox decision to hold onto Coco Crisp looks...

The Sox struggled through game two of the Cinci series with Kevin Youkilis pulling the bleachers' hole card to a Royal Flush of the Reds. The Cincinnati Kid returned home leading the Sox to a 6-4 extra-inning victory at the Great American Ballpark with three hits including the game winner. Youk's blast pleased 140 friends and family on hand to celebrate his return. Meanwhile, Coco Crisp tacked on an insurance run following up Youk's blast with one of his own, and Jacoby Ellsbury added a pair of stolen bases to run his total to 31. The Red Sox rookie leads the majors in stolen bases with 31 and is third in the AL in runs scored with 48. The Sox also have three players in the top eight in on-base slugging percentage, led by J.D. Drew (two), Manny Ramirez (five), and Kevin Youkilis (six). But it wasn't all offense, as Tim Wakefield delivered seven innings of two-run pitching. Unfortunately, the bullpen struggled as Jonathan Papelbon allowed a two-out ninth inning homer on...

Statistics IP H BB SO W-L ERA Player A 89 84 37 57 5-3 3.43 Player B 94 88 24 86 7-4 2.85 Player A has a salary of $421,000 and is 24 years old and Player B is 29 years old and his salary is $16.98 million. Player A is Jon Lester, who hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in his last nine starts. Player B is Johan Santana. I'm not claiming that Lester is the equal of Johan Santana. But for a young pitcher learning his craft, Lester has performed admirably and improving steadily throughout the season. The Sox had three homers tonight, ironically the 10th of the season for each of Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, and J.D. Drew. Has that ever happened before.

Why is it that watching the Orioles seems so painful? It's probably a total lack of star power. I grew up in an era where the Orioles dominated the AL East, with Frank and Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell, Mark Belanger, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, and more. The era of pitching and the three run homer. Now the Os have Brian Roberts and nobody. Jeremy Guthrie could be pretty good. George Sherill is a solid closer. Luke Scott could be pretty good. Kevin Millar and Jay Payton are Sox castoffs. Can't be the Sox can it? I don't think so. Bartolo Colon put on a good show, the power Sox drill a couple of homers (the Fenway over-under for homers must be 1.5), and the running Sox pile up the stolen bases (Ellsbury, Lugo). Anybody notice the action in the minors? Jason Place has started to hit at Lancaster, with a .400 average in ten games with twelve runs, ten ribbies, and four dingers. Lars Andersen has raised his average to .313. Josh Reddick has double digit homers (okay, it's Lanc...

The Red Sox have lowered their team ERA below 4, to 3.92. How? The current pitching rotation: Josh Beckett, the ace, ERA 4.07, 6-4, finding his groove Daisuke Matsuzaka, disabled Jon Lester, ERA 3.50, 4-3, the maturation occurring Tim Wakefield, ERA 4.33, 4-4, last 3 starts 22 innings, 5 ER Justin Masterson, ERA 2.59, 3-0, looks like he belongs Bartolo Colon, ERA 3.91, 3-1 Clay Buchholz, ERA 5.53, 2-3, inconsistency and injury resulted in a trip to the Pawsox The Sox June ERA has been 3.34, and the bullpen has improved their K/BB ratio to 1.89 and their ERA to 3.93. The quartet of Papelbon, Okajima, Delcarmen, and Hansen have recently given Terry Francona the stability and reliability not seen during the early season. The Sox have developed pitching throughout the organization and have promising prospects on the horizon should injury or ineffectiveness require it.

Jeff Sagarin's offensive ratings at USA Today . Five Red Sox in the top 23: Drew (2) Ramirez (5) Youkilis (17) Ellsbury (19) Ortiz (23)

The Red Sox have several players who have returned to more normal performance this year, notably Julio Lugo (including his defense). But the biggest defense in the lineup is the Guess Who's Coming to Dinner winner, J.D. Drew. With three hits today, Drew is now sixth in the AL in OPS and fifth in the AL in batting average, in the top three in on base percentage, and just outside the top ten in runs scored. Drew obviously looks much more comfortable offensively both making contact and driving the ball, delivering his seventh homer of the season today. Jeff Sagarin gives overall production ratings at USA Today, and using his ratings, Drew ranks fifth in the AL. The Sox have avenged last night's whupping by the Mariners, presuming the Mariners don't hang double figures on Papelbon. Cross-talk: The SP500 with a point-and-figure chart with the COLUMN of Os moving below a lower column of Os. That's a negative in stock trading. John Henry would know that. _____________________...

Major League Baseball trotted out its 'Three Blind Mice' disciplinary squad and with all the precision of an Edwin Jackson fastball suspended Coco Crisp for 7 games, Jon Lester for 5, and Sean Casey for 3. As for the Rays, who cares? And what fine did Joe Maddon get for his supervisory role? Does this bring the Sox closer together or has the incident been divisive? Did Youk and Manny disagree on their role in the punchout? Tonight it's FITNESS NIGHT at the ballpark, as my idol Bartolo Colon (a couple more pieces of garlic bread and I'm there) climbs the hill for the Sox against the Mariners. The Sox go from the fish to the fishermen, as the Mariners invade Fenway Park. According to ESPN, several Red Sox players take umbrage with Youkilis' temper tantrums after outs. Youkilis has filled Paul O'Neill's role with the Yankees, designated hothead. Of course, Yankee fans don't see it that way, because O'Neill was a 'competitor'. Chris Carter, we b...

The Red Sox continued to enjoy home cooking and the Rays faced road woes as the Sox swept Tampa and moved 1 1/2 games into first place. The game had a series of highlights: Jon Lester with 6 plus innings of 1 run ball A bench clearing brawl after Coco Crisp charged the mound after being thrown at Manny Ramirez jacking a three run first inning homer Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis having a shoving match in the dugout Jacoby Ellsbury hurting his wrist making a diving catch Lester raised his record to 4-3, lowered his ERA to 3.5, and didn't allow a walk, critical progress for the young lefthander. Timlin and Aardsma finished, with a total of 177 pitches in something less than economy. Crisp charged the mound, avoided a James Shields right hook, got tackled by Dioner Navarro, and then played punching bag to Johnny Gomes and Carl Crawford. Manny got subbed out early for a pinch runner after hitting a homer...and Youkilis. Ellsbury appeared to hyperflex his right (glove hand) wrist maki...

The Red Sox hosted the Rays on a misty Wednesday evening, and when the skies hadn't cleared, the Sox emerged in first place, a half game ahead of Tampa. The game had a set to between Coco Crisp and Rays' manager Joe Maddon, as Crisp took on Rays' second baseman Iwamura on a hard slide after Jason Bartlett had blocked Crisp from sliding head first into second. Josh Beckett raised his record to 6-4 and lowered his ERA to 4.07 with six innings of 1-run ball. The Sox also had three innings of solid relief work from Delcarmen, Okajima, and Hansen, the latter emerging as an effective component of the Sox bullpen. The Sox bullpen has shown new life and a revised pecking order: Closer - Papelbon Setup - Okajima/Delcarmen Primary middle - Delcarmen/Hansen Long - Aardsma LOOGY - (lefty out of the bullpen guy) - Lopez Looking for a role - Timlin The umpires missed a homerun around the Pesky Pole by Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia needs a little luck and looks to have shaved his head for a cha...

No controversy in Boston? Is David Ortiz out for a month or for the season? The Yankee fans already have danced around with visions of sugarplums in their heads. Two words answer the need. And they don't have to trade a draft choice or Michael Bowden or anybody else. Baggage? Of course, as much of life comes with baggage. Two words. The greatest (med aided) slugger of our times. Can he run? Can he still hit? Barry Bonds.

Is tonight's outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp, and J.D. Drew the best defensive outfield in modern Red Sox history? All have good defensive instincts and two have exceptional speed. Drew has a solid arm in right, Ellsbury has an average arm, and Crisp is below average. What do we have for comparison? In 1967, at times the Sox had Yaz in left, Reggie Smith in center, and Tony C. in right. Yastrzemski's defense was exemplary, Smith had the best arm I've seen on a Sox outfielder, and Tony C. was solid. The mid to late seventies saw Jim Rice in left, Fred Lynn in center, and Dwight Evans in right. Rice was a lot better than people give him credit for, Lynn was outstanding, and Evans was the best defensive right fielder in modern Sox times. I can't speak to the defense of the legendary Tris Speaker, who can't be considered 'modern' in any sense. There's some honorable mention out there, too, with Rick Miller in center tracking them down and Tony Arma...