Red Sox Reality Check

When was the last time the Sox won ten in a row to move into second place? Maybe 1967. On that interesting note, let's try some random thoughts. The NBA's gone to plus minus in assessing contribution. Maybe the newspapers could introduce that for starting pitchers and catchers. Too random? A Yankee fan took umbrage to my comment that Kevin Youkilis might be the Sox version of Paul O'Neill. Evidently, he viewed O'Neill as the New York version of Mother Teresa. Did she beat up water coolers? Ramon Ramirez has been pretty effective...is he just wild enough to be scary? Cliff Lee looks like he's got the kryptonite so far tonight. Jacoby Ellsbury is on a 90 steal pace. With Scott Boras as his agent, will we know him as the Ellsbury Dough Boy? David Ortiz still isn't making great contact. Does Papi need an eye check, or a wrist check? Julio Lugo is back. I'm kinda good with Nick Green for now. Don't rush it, eh? Tim Wakefield's biggest liability is the run...

First, I am a Red Sox fan, tracing my Sox roots back to the Yaz era that began in the early 60's. I've suffered though Mantle, Maris, and Ford, the dark days of Hector Lopez, The Stick, Roy White, and the resurrected Bombers of Reggie Jackson, BillyBall, and the Jeter era...and of course the Frustration of the New Millenium. I remember Felix Mantilla, Jim Pagliaroni, and when Schilling was Chuck, not Curt. Culpability meant Ray Culp's location not two hundred million dollar payrolls. So the Sox victory tonight brings their deficit to 64-68 over the past seven plus seasons. Still, watching these games brings plenty of time pain, as they almost never last less than four hours (4:21 tonight), as though swinging at a first pitch strike is a crime and you get paid time and a half for a full count. Okay, so maybe extra innings gives some legitimacy to a four hour game tonight, but not by that much. If you love crisp baseball, you will find only annoyance in Sox-Yanks contests. Jo...

The Red Sox ride a seven game win streak into a weekend series with the Yankees, who have played well since their 22-4 destruction by Cleveland. The Sox showcase Lester, Beckett, and Masterson while the Yankees counter with Joba "the Hut" Chamberlain, A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte. The first game of the series pits teams with identical 9-6 records tied for second place behind Toronto. Chamberlain pitched brilliantly in one start against the Sox last season, and Lester shutout the Yankees at the Stadium. Chamberlain has a propensity for head-hunting, with Kevin Youkilis the object for his disaffection. Yankee lackey Bob Watson ought to consider dropping a dime to Chamberlain with some reminders of the impact of the "purpose" pitch, using Tony Conigliaro and Kirby Puckett as tragic examples of baseball meeting heads. Mark Teixeira (double 'e' before 'i') makes his pinstripe debut at Fenway Park leaving disaffected Boston suitors for a steamer trunk f...

Maybe it's too soon to make overarching judgements about the 2009 baseball season, but we all have our early impressions.  Is the offense better around the league or the pitching worse? Break up the Marlins? Balls are flying out of Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox pitching may not be nearly as good as we thought. Fortunately, the Yankee pitching may not be as good either. Maybe Zack Greinke (ERA 0.00 after three games) IS the real deal. You knew Tim Lincecum wasn't going to keep getting lit up forever. Lou Groza's five field goals and a Browns touchdown were too much for the Yankees. Kansas City. First place.  Does Gary Sheffield's 500th homer (25th guy to do it) get a steroid asterisk? Some think Bob Watson still acts in the Yankees' interest. The New Look Giants have a record like the 2008 Giants. Manny continues to hit (and field) like Godzilla.  Anybody wondering whether the balls are juiced? Johan Santana sure looks good. Should that surprise us? Are the Orioles try...

The Red Sox came back from an early nil-7 deficit to beat the Orioles last night. But was that the story? Sure the Sox got some timely hitting, Dr. Longball from J Bay and J.D., and outstanding relief pitching. But wasn't the Woes defense the major contribution? Jeremy Guthrie certainly could claim non-support, particularly with Aubrey Huff doing a Doctor Strangeglove imitation at first and Adam Jones not confusing anyone with Andruu Jones in center. Certainly the Mothers' Day Miracle comes to mind in Sox comebacks for the nouveau Sox fan. For the slightly older, there was the playoff rally in the ill-fated 1986 playoffs against the Angels with the Hendu homer off Donnie Moore. But for the long of tooth, in the Impossible Dream season of 1967, the Sox came back from an 8-0 deficit against the Los Angeles Angels, winning, if I recall, on a Jerry Adair homer. Adair would later have a key contribution (again with memory fading) in the sixth inning five-run rally against the Twins ...

Most Sox fans are trying to avoid making too much of a start to the season marked by losing three consecutive series, to the Rays, Halos, and A's. The strength of the team ostensibly is its starting pitching, which has largely betrayed them. Josh Beckett contests a suspension, Jon Lester hasn't gotten it together, and Daisuke Matsuzaka goes on the DL, a casualty of the World Baseball Classic. So what's logical? Brad Penny goes Friday Beckett is contesting suspension, and presumably would be available Saturday; then serve his suspension Lester would go Sunday Masterson would move into the rotation Monday against Baltimore Wakefield would come back Tuesday. Ideally the Sox use a spot starter callup Wednesday (Bowden or Tazawa) Thursday would be an off day Friday they bring back Penny Saturday would mean Lester Sunday night (having served his six game suspension) Beck against the Yankees. Tim Wakefield was masterful today, sparing the bullpen, which now gets a travel day to re...

Click photo to ENLARGE Okay, it's a little early for that.

Have the Sox ever opened on the road in California? Well, yes, after Japan last year, but on a glorious day (my daughter was there surely wearing a Sox tee-shirt), the Sox outlasted the Halos. The Sox offense finally got going via Doctor Longball, with a two run homer by Mike Lowell and a pair of homers by Jason Bay. Bay's circus catch in left field was not reminiscent of anything Manny, and fielders seemed plagued by what they call in baseball a "high sky". Yeah, I know the sky is always high. Jacoby Ellsbury definitely looks less helpless at the plate, although he got caught stealing after swiping his third bag. Brad Penny didn't look like he could get loose early, but amped it up into the mid-90s as the game went along. He does have a bit of a Mickey Lolich look about him...but Lolich got guys out. Penny showed flashes of why he won 16 games two of the past three years. He reminds me of an upgrade on a Ray Culp , which isn't so bad. Think of a Ray Culp on stero...

Today sports fans mourn the loss of Nick Adenhart a promising young baseball pitcher, tragically killed in an automobile accident. Not long before, we learned of the death of an 'anonymous' person by Donte Stallworth . In April 2007, Cardinals' righthander Josh Hancock died in an car crash. The common theme? The tragedy that each involved a traffic fatality induced by alcohol. Every year 25,000 people die in alcohol-related accidents, the equivalent of eight '911's every year. Supposedly, a person has a one in two chance of being involved in an alcohol-related accident in their lifetime. We parade athletes before Congress for use of anabolic steroids, yet seem all to willing to stand by and let history repeat itself, day after day after day. Nobody demands that baseball be free of drunken fans, drunken players, or drunken managers. We celebrate the drunken exploits of "The Babe" or "The Mick". It's the misbehavior that we have no problem l...

There's a saying in baseball about you win 60, you lose 60 and what you do in the other 40 determines what kind of team you are. Well, today was one of those 'lose 60' efforts as the Sox went from zero losses to using up one of their 60 defined losses. We didn't see Bigfoot out there tonight in the frozen tundra, but it probably felt that way. The Rays brought out the Kazmir sweater, and the largest strike zone since Eric Gregg destroyed a lot of hitters. The Ques-Tec police are going to be out there on this one, although the zone was consistent...consistently oversized. Another weird play as Gabe Kapler (after a double) got thrown out at third on a blooper to center that Jacoby Ellsbury handled. Terry Francona looked like he wanted to commit harikari after watching Javier Lopez play hide and seek with a 99 hopper to the mound, allowing a run to score. It's premature to make any major judgments after a pair of games. Just one of those nights.

One of my favorite things about baseball is the everyday occurrence of something that you 'never' see. No, I don't mean umpires reversing a safe or out call after an argument, or owners in the counting house, I mean real baseball oddities. And if you watch even casually, every game has something that you never see. Sure, there are the easy "passed balls as a bunter distracted the catcher", and the Jeffrey Maier "armed robbery", not to mention the Sausage races. But I'm more interested in the 'subtle' not the profane. For example, in the Sox game today, the "there you go again" play was Kevin Youkilis being forced out at third base on a line drive 'single' to left. With Youk on Second, Jason Bay ripped a liner that Carl Crawford trapped and surrounded and quickly nailed him at third. All of which is why Crawford is one of the best left fielders around. As to the game today, a few quick observations: Josh Beckett was masterful...

What can we say about rain delays? There must be some fantastic rain delay stories, although I'm not sure. Was there a rain delay in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series? I'm feeling like there was, but that was a long time ago. I attended a game at Fenway and when the grounds crew ran out, one of the members collapsed on the field. Had to be at least 45 years ago. Rick Dempsey did his clown act on tarps during rain delay. That was before TARP became a four-letter word. What is the relative concession sales ratio during rain delays? Could it be twice as productive as during a continuous game? How many ballplayers have lined up dates with Baseball Annies during rain delays? I think it was John Kennedy who said the toughest thing in baseball was deciding whether to take greenies (amphetamines) with rain interfering. How often has playing on wet fields resulted in injuries? The Yankees put their gazillion dollar man on the field today, and C.C. Sabathia got doubled up by the Mighty O...

If you can't beat 'em, shut 'em down. That may be the motto of the Times, as The Boston Globe is on notice to shrink or die. If the Globe goes under, then who will assume the reporting and columnist mantle? April baseball has different meanings to fans. Some see Opening Day as a reason to skip school, others see it as an annual renewal of the seasons, and many see it as the beginning leg of the journey that is a baseball season. I have written that the Red Sox should be considered favorites to win their third title of the decade, but baseball's marathon has little tolerance for error. Three factors often determine the outcome over the long season, 1) injuries, 2) performance in one-run games, and 3) performance variation. Every team has injuries. Last season the Sox lost Josh Beckett, David Ortiz, and Daisuke Matsuzaka for various periods. The Yankees were without Chien Min Wang and Philip Hughes for extended periods, and the Rays lost Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford. ...

Within baseball's best division, the Red Sox, working smarter not harder, capture their third World Championship of the millenium. From front to back, baseball's Athens has the stuff of champions. Josh Beckett reemerges as the bluest of blue chips Newly inked Jon Lester pays dividends as one of baseball's premier lefties Daisuke Matsuzaka extends his record as the winningest Japanese import, ever Brad Penny is worth every cent Tim Wakefield keeps opponents off-balance The Killer B's (Buchholz and Bowden) await their chance in AAA; Buchholz had a Spring ERA barely above the Mendoza Line The Money Guy awaits, as John Smoltz rehabs, author of a 2.65 post-season ERA in 24 series A revitalized bullpen return newly minted millionaire Jonathan Papelbon, unscored upon in 25 post-season innings. He holds court with the "lay down the law" firm of Saito, Delcarmen, Ramirez, Okajima, and Lopez. Justin "Bull from Night Court" Masterson can start, relieve, or brin...