Deja Vu all over again

I cannot believe that I have had almost ZERO to say about the last few weeks of the season and now the playoffs.

And I still don't have time to do it...

But at least you all know I'm thinking about it...

Go Sox!!!

Game 7 tomorrow... what a spot for Dice-K. And I got my T-shirt just in time!!

I'm A Member of Red Sox Nation

2004 BOSTON RED SOX

Matt Damon on Letterman 06/05/07 RED SOX!!!!!

Oh this is just priceless

So much baseball - so little time... and some playoff potpourri

First of all, let me admit that I find it hard to believe that I am using the word "potpourri" in a sentence, never mind in a post title. Of course, I find it hard to believe that the highest-payrolled, hottest-playing, highest-payrolled team in baseball is eliminated in the division series after having lost 3 out of 4 games exactly twice in the almost 3 month period after the All-Star break... hmmmm.

In nearly every one of my growing-up years, I could count on setting my watch by the annual event that was the "first day of hunting season." Not for myself, mind you, but for my Uncle George. "So much hunting, but so little time" was what he'd sometimes say, although you could depend on at least Day 1 being a day that he took for vacation time to get his first crack of the year at the elusive Vermont deer population. The only leisure activity that comes close to his passion for hunting is his passion for the Bronx Bombers - and he is still the only person I can find that is anywhere close to being as pathologically attached to his team as I am to mine.

But I digress...

Unfortunately I do not presently have a TV that is hooked up to any sort of cable, dish, or directTV receiver so watching our nation's favorite pasttime is not possible - yet still I say, "So much baseball, so little time." I love baseball, especially October baseball. As a Red Sox fan, October has been much friendlier of late and harkens back to the mid-80's when I had a Red Sox T-shirt that read - "The Hunt for Red October."

I know and have met MANY people who only watch the World Series as if it were ONLY the Super Bowl or some other one-game championship. Sheesh... tape the whole season on TiVo and I'm there! Sure I've got the whole 2004 World Series on DVD, but I've also got the special edition that includes that incredible ALCS too.

Playoff baseball is an odd duck though - rarely does it shake out like you expect and rarely is it as competitive as the regular season. We all expect the level of play to be raised but unfortunately that usually only happens for one or two of the 8 teams involved at the outset. A few sweeps later and you've got the two HOTTEST teams in baseball that aren't necessarily the two overall BEST teams - but that's the beauty of baseball: if the World Series contained who everyone THOUGHT was going to be there then we'd have the Mets and, er, the Red Sox... doesn't THAT ring an ironic bell?

So, you've got 162 games to develop team chemistry, groom the best starting rotation, and warm the offensive juices up - whoever boils at OctoberFest wins!!

Rah Rah Midges!! Go Sox!!

A beautiful night at The Ballpark

After having attended both games of a double-header last August during the Boston Massacre, I was absolutely itching to get back to Fenway Park to see my Sox in action. So my friend Steve Daniels and I got some tickets to Tuesday night's game versus Oakland and drove down to Boston to catch some of the last regular season action at Fenway this season.

I've actually only been to Fenway 6 times now, but it will never get old. The weather was ungodly good - gametime temps at 7:10pm were over 80F and when the game finished just short of 11pm it was still over 70F. Not a cloud in the sky and a gentle warm breeze blowing out to centerfield.

Upon entering the ballpark, I was hoping for a couple of specific things during the matchup with the Oakland Athletics, apart from us winning the game:

1. I wanted to see David Ortiz hit a home run
2. I wanted to see JD Drew continue his recent hot hitting - just so Red Sox Nation could get off his case and he could smoke right into the ALDS
3. I wanted to see Jonathan Papelbon pitch
4. I did NOT want to see Eric Gagne pitch
5. I wanted either Manny Ramirez or Kevin Youkilis to play at least a little - both had been out for significant time (Manny for about a month, Youk for almost 2 weeks)

Well - I got almost all my wishes. Ortiz hit a 2-run HR in the 8th inning, JD Drew had 3 hits, Pap pitched (1 pitch - 1 out in the 8th with the tying run at the plate), and BOTH Manny and Youk played siginificant time in the game despite Tito saying Youk was likely a scratch and giving ZERO indication in regards to Manny's status.

Unfortunately - Eric Gagne also pitched and despite his shaky performance he did not have a meltdown and in fact, during his stint on the mound the AL scoreboard flashed up that the Tampa Bay Ray had scored 6 runs in the 6th inning of their ballgame versus the yankees to take a 6-5 lead - The Park erupted and I think Gagne almost fainted as he'd never heard that kind of applause during his stay in Boston.

Fortunately, the best laugh of the day came before we even got to the ballpark and also came at the expense of Monseuir Gagne - the guys selling the unofficial Red Sox programs outside the ballpark were giving away free bumper stickers with each program that read,

"Gagne is a yankee spy"

Too funny...

Curt Schilling started and despite a solo home run given up to the #2 hitter of the game, he was brilliant over 6 innings - 6H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 6K, 6.0IP. Brian Corey pitched a shaky 9th inning giving up his first 2 runs of the year since his late summer call-up but likely AL Rookie of the Year 2B Dustin Pedroia made a great over-the-shoulder catch and doubled a man off second to end the ballgame.

And just to top things off, I find out from another fan while in the MBTA (subway) station that the Red Sox's magic number had dropped to 3 when New York lost in extra innings when ex-yankee Dioner Navarro homered leading off the 10th in Tampa Bay.

Aaahhh...

This is getting ridiculous...

I know I have snidely remarking that it appears that MLB is doing whatever it can to hand the yankees a playoof spot, but this is kind of getting ridiculous now.

Due to an unexplained "family matter" the Toronto Blue Jays excused #2 starter AJ Burnett (who has been SMOKIN hot lately and mowed right through the Red Sox last week) and replaced him with fill-in rookie starter Jesse Litsch - record of 6-9 with an ERA over 4.00.

Fortunately, the Blue Jays lineup which is an absolute shell of the one that faced the Red Sox is not rolling over against Andy Pettite.

So we'll see. But don't put your money on the rookie in the Bronx if you know what's good for ya. Hopefully Litsch will have a chip on his shoulder.

Unless Bud Selig had it surgically removed in the dark of night last evening... but then maybe the Sox would get this sort of treatment if THEY had won 25+ titles too. Of course if they HAD, we'd have a salary cap by now.

Ridiculous...

A curiosity? A coincidence?

I was just wondering if this was all in my head - maybe someone can explain it to me.

Toronto Blue Jays lineup versus the Boston Red Sox this week:

1. Vernon Wells (CF) Gold Glove CF; 32HR, 106RBI, 302. avg in 2006.
2. Reed Johnson (LF)
3. Alex Rios (RF)
4. Frank Thomas (DH) over 500 career HRs including 3 in one game this week vs Sox
5. Lyle Overbay (1B) 22HR, 92RBI, .312 avg last year
6. Aaron Hill (2B)
7. Greg Zaun (C) veteran catcher
8. Russ Adams (3B)
9. John MacDonald (SS)

Blue Jays lineup versus New York this week:

1. Reed Johnson (RF)
2. Matt Stairs (1B) slow but potent bat; slug speed on basepaths
3. Alex Rios (CF)
4. John Ford-Griffin (DH) are you kidding me?
5. Aaron Hill (2B)
6. Russ Adams (3B)
7. Adam Lind (LF)
8. Curtis Thigpen (C) 0 for last 23
9. Ray Olmedo (SS) another rookie (see John Ford-Griffin)

I guess Toronto figured that one game against New York was all they needed to try for... Vernon Wells and Frank Thomas have played an entire season and today they're sore (Wells - shoulder, Thomas - knee).

And it is just a LITTLE bit of a downgrade when you've got Adam Lind in LF instead of Rios (who had to cover for Wells in center), Thigpen the rookie behind the plate who is mired in a 0-23 slump and batting right at the Mendoza line, and Olmedo in there instead of the Gold Glove caliber SS MacDonald.

Curious...

And here's a picture for all you Tom Brady fanatics - of course, you have to expect this from a Michigan guy.

A tough stretch

I've spent the last week or so asking myself a very simple question:

"What are the Red Sox DOING?"

But before I get too serious, I think I should let my two readers know that the reason I'm writing this is for a few very good reasons:

1. I wanted to be able to tell people that tease me about my sports teams losing to "go read my blog" instead of using phrases such as:

"If you can't talk to me when they're dominating, don't bother talking to me when they're not."

OR

"Does the phrase 'I've NEVER been charged that much at the vet's before' mean anything to you?"

2. I realized that I am a part of Red Sox Nation - and we NEVER quit. yankees don't have a single solitary clue what The Nation means to us - they don't have anything close. We outnumber the opposing team's fans in THEIR ballparks almost every time. We're louder, more loyal, less conceited, kinder, better sports, and we don't care what other people think about us or our team. We hate the yankees just like everybody else, except more so - and not because they've won a lot, but because they act like they're God's gift to the baseball world.

3. Winning is important but it ISN'T everything. Sure, I love to see the Sox win. And I hate it when they lose, but I've been too emotionally swayed by Boston's Win/Loss record over the years. I don't sleep, I get sick to my stomach, and I lose precious time with my family while I stew about losing streaks. If the Red Sox losing makes me worry more than my conscience bothers me about my poor attitudes, then sports are in the wrong priority slot in my life. So maybe this post is as much about perspective as it is about providing some valuable data on why the Red Sox are gonna be just fine...

So, "What are the Red Sox DOING?" With the Boston lead in the American League's Eastern Division down to 1 1/2 games as of this evening, I am sure that the many ulcers developing all over Red Sox Nation are asking something along the same lines.

However, after all the internal (and a few external) tirades I've blown through recently regarding such topics as players being bought off (ala Black Sox 1919), MLB officials and umps "arranging" for a positive yankee swing this late season, the inevitable yankee surge (ala Bucky F**king Dent) and the uncanny chain of statistically improbable events occuring - I've come to realize that the Red Sox are exactly where they needed to be at this time of the season. AHEAD. Obviously no one in the Red Sox front office would like to see us limp into the playoffs as we are undoubtedly doing at present, but then the factors involved here are more complex than "the Red Sox were winning a lot and now they're struggling." Who's chasing who?

So who is better off heading into this post-season? New York or Boston?

Let's take a look at some historically proven trends and issues that have played key roles in previous post-season pushes:

1. Health - it has been said almost to the point of boring ad nauseum by broadcasters all over the sports world that one common denominator amongst championship teams in nearly every sporting discipline is that of overall team health. Right now, the Red Sox are hurting big time and it is no small coincidence that their recent decline has directly coincided with that. The yankees had similar injury issues earlier this year but their record suffered for months, not weeks. And regardless of recent events, the Sox are making the right choices to bench players with nagging injuries to preserve them for a post-season run. On the other hand, just to give themselves a chance at catching us for the division crown, the yanks have a injured Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, and Johnny Damon playing nearly every day - and don't give me that bunk about "playing through the pain" and "tough guy" crap. The Boss wants the AL East title - period. Kevin Youkilis is arguably the toughest competitor in baseball and only a doctor's mandate is keeping him on the bench right now.

2. Pitching - Boston's starting rotation has an absolutely miserable RECORD of late, but their ERA STILL leads the league, even after a sweep against the team with the second best ERA, Toronto. It has been the offense that has suffered of late and even when it hasn't the bullpen has been coughing the lead up. This offense can only win so many games by itself (e.g. NYy of the first 4 months of the season). Get those offensive players healthy (Manny, Youk, Crisp, Papi, Drew, and the list goes on) and this team will once again be, as they say, SCARY.

3. Hitting - still in the top 5 in almost every major offensive category, the Red Sox and yanks are nearly a dead heat here despite the pendulum swinging towards the Bronx late here in the season. But that is why you play a SEASON. The Red Sox CAN rest a little on their laurels thanks to completely demolishing the league for 140+ games. Complacency is different than rest and nothing approaching complacency can be found in Beantown. And despite the NY-biased media machine (don't even BEGIN to deny that), no one in Boston is panicking and no one in New York is comfortable, especially with the recent hitting woes of some key Bombers.

4. Defense - despite the influx of rookies in the starting lineup (averaging 2 rookie STARTERS per game), the defense is actually getting better in Boston. Unfortunately for the Bombers, defensive upgrades mean playing Doug Mientkiewicz, benching Johnny Damon (or DHing him - yikes), and doing anything possible to NOT have to play Jason Giambi in the field - anywhere. Yuck.


Phew... I feel like I just hit an inside the park homerun - a little winded but boy does it put a fresh perspective on "in it for the long haul."

Geez I love baseball - but I need to go kiss my kids good night and snuggle up to the woman of my dreams. After all, they still love me even if the Red Sox could care less about my ulcers.



P.S. Take a look at what New York's Shelley Duncan gave this young Red Sox fan when asked for an autograph at the recent series at Fenway Park... now THAT'S a class act huh?

Quote of the week

"Never Argue With An Idiot. They Will Drag You Down To Their Level, Then Beat You With Experience." Anonymous

My family - we couldn't be more proud

The best part of the pregame ceremony

Check out this video: running through the "T"

Tennessee Volunteers Running Through the "T"

Crank the volume on your machine to max and you'll get a rough idea of what this is REALLY like!!

A brief logo lesson...

I was notified recently that someone in Hawaii had seen a bumper sticker with a big orange T on it... hmmm... of course I had to believe that this was a Power T for my beloved Tennessee Volunteers. But then I do have to be mindful of what we in Big Orange Country refer to as "The OTHER UT" - that being the University of Texas who also uses a similar logo for their school.

Herein lies a thorough yet concise treatise on the basic difference between the two logos. And a little tidbit thrown in at the end just for fun...



The Tennessee Power T is seen in the upper left hand corner here. The color is Tennessee Orange which has less red than the Texas burnt orange and more yellow. In addition, you can see by comparison that there is a distinct difference in font style with the Tennessee Power T being rounded in the interior angles while the Texas T is a classic block font with a simpler overall effect.

The interlocking UT symbol that both schools use is almost identical, but as you can see from the pictures, the Tennessee version retains a more distinct appearance with the lack accenting border while the Texas version is a straight block style.


And now for the finale - the tidbit I promised you. Obviously as a Tennessee alum I MUST be biased towards my school...

I have often told my closest friends and family that if I could ever bring them to a Tennessee football game some crisp November afternoon I would love to be able to do so - if only to have them see the incredible spectacle that is the on-field pregame tradition unrivaled in college football. The Tennessee Pride of the Southland Marching Band forms a large solid Power T and marches in unison up and down the field prior to forming a solid T that splits at the last second to allow the cheerleaders and football team to come running through an open T on to the field. If I can find some pictures to illustrate I will... or better a video (good luck on THAT!). Just imagine this spectacle with 108,000 people screaming at a collective din that makes screaming to your seatmate impossible for about 5 solid minutes: and then the game starts!! GO VOLS!!!

The BQOYA

I'm still laughing...

The Best Quote of the Year Award goes to Chicago White Sox television broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson.

The setting: U.S Cellular Field - south side Chicago

The date: Sunday, August 26th, 2007

The players: Red Sox @ White Sox (final game of a 4 game series)

The context: Following three straight shellackings of the South Siders by our beloved Red Sox (combined score of 35-6), the television broadcasters were obviously hoping for better results with Javier Vasquez on the mound. Early in the fifth inning the White Sox had a chance to turn a double play to end the inning with no runs scoring and keeping the game tied at 1. Doh! No DP and then comes a full count on the next batter... unfortunately for the White Sox, rookie Dustin Pedroia had now just hit a predictable pitch in a predictable location for a go-ahead 2-run single in the 5th inning. Mere moments after this, David "Big Papi" Ortiz demolishes a waist-high fastball to the opposite field for a 2-run dinger and a 4-run lead.

The quote: "Well, the first thing that comes to mind is, dad-gum-it."

P.S. Final score: Boston 11 Dad-Gum-Its 1

A pressing question in a tightening race...

People have been asking me recently if I think the yankees have enough steam to overtake the Red Sox in the AL East.

Well, in the words of the new Hyundai summer sales campaign... "Duh."

Of course they do - in fact I predicted almost a month ago before the Bronx Bombers got rollin' that they would overtake the Red Sox before the end of August. The plain and simple fact is that they have too many weapons offensively NOT to play well on average over the course of the whole season. Fact is, if they played at 80% capacity for an entire season they'd still finish ahead of all but 2 or 3 teams.

Can you say "salary cap?" Besides, George Steinbrenner practically invented the luxury tax. You think that levels the field? Heh, heh... whatever.

The turnaround in the New York season has been thanks in large part to their incredible offense - which has disguised their continuum of appalling pitching (only a pinch better than Baltimore and Kansas City). Their record in one-run games will not serve them particularly well come post-season (if they indeed make it) but then the way the division and wild card leaders have ALL come back to them they don't NEED much to make up for it.

One (and only one) sportswriter wrote several weeks back that Roger Clemens had the aura and ability to carry the yanks to the post-season - fortunately for the Bronx Balloons, DESPITE the Rocket the yanks offense is carrying them in that direction at full steam.

And Omar Minaya comes in second again...

I Do Not Have Tunnel-Vision... repeat, I DO NOT...

Anyone who knows me well knows that I know at least two things well:

1. My family
2. Animal stuff
3. Red Sox baseball

Ok, so that's three. Notice that counting wasn't one of them? Anyways...

What most people MAY not know is that I am an overall sports nut and keep track of many players, teams, and sports in general regardless of their Bostonian connections or lack thereof.

For example - I can translate any football ref's hand signals (plus I'm ok at reading lips), I know the differences between international and US rules for basketball, I know enough about auto racing to make intelligent fun of it, I love watching "boring" sports on TV (like golf, water polo, and soccer), I know more about women's basketball over the past 15 years than anyone I know that ISN'T a sportscaster, I know how to throw a curveball or a circle changeup, I know enough to know that I stink at throwing sliders, and I have a working knowledge of the alien concept that some call "free agency."

So where is this going?

I've been doing some sports-related research this evening and I came across an absolutely incredible defensive gem that you have to see to believe. I was checking out the St. Louis Cardinals home page to see how Scott Rolen and Albert Pujols did today since they are on my brother-in-law's fantasy team when I saw a link to some "web gems" from today's MLB action. I hope the link works by the time you read this because it is worth a second or third look... hopefully they will include the Rolen play in the highlights at the top of the article, though they haven't yet. Otherwise you can look at the Video section on the MLB.com homepage and find the play labeled: "Rolen throws from his knees"... yeah, his knees. And for those of you who don't know, he plays THIRD base. Can you say CANNON?

CLICK HERE

P.S. Just so you don't think I've gone soft...

Red Sox win!!
yankees lose!!

And by the way - I REALLY hope the Colorado Rockies don't end up in the World Series against my Red Sox. They are KILLER right now! Gotta love those Tennessee Volunteer alumni - good job Todd Helton!

A June to Forget

Suffice it to say that I can only imagine what New York yankee fans must be feeling like right now - my beloved Red Sox have bumbled through the better part of a miserable month playing well below .500 baseball. And NY fans have had to deal with that all season. Ouch.

To double the pain, the yanks have not been able to take much advantage of this blather by the BoSox since they too have gone somewhat cold this month.

Let's hope things brighten up after the All-Star break...

...for us.

Intolerable (Interleague) Cruelty

"Please Mr. Selig, don't make me bat anymore."

I love baseball. I love the Red Sox. I love hot dogs at the ballpark. I love almost anything about America's great past-time. But...

I hate interleague play. Oh, let me count the ways...

1. Does ANYONE really want to see these pitchers hit? I mean I know many of them are pretty good athletes, but when you see them up there hacking away or lacksidaisically walking away with the bat on their shoulder you kind of wonder if the men batting were plucked from the fans in the stands. Good hitting pitchers are pretty much history by about Division III level college ball. Whatever ex-pitcher came up with this idea should be drug out in the street and shot.

2. The matchups that MLB comes up with make absolutely NO sense whatsoever - except for the odd Subway Series or Battle of the Bay stuff, these historical or "regional" (aka Minnesota vs. Pittsburg?) games are an absolute joke. Chipper Jones was right.

3. Just because you have to add the term "DH" to the lineup does NOT make the position insignificant regardless of what NL pundits may claim. No one wants to see Jim Thome or David Ortiz play first base any more than anyone wants to see Greg Maddux jiggle while he waves furiously at a blazing 82 mph changeup.

Shall I go on?

I must admit that PART of my disgust arises from the Red Sox' historically poor showing in this phase of the schedule - a trend that has gloriously reversed itself over the past few years. So instead of being about a .400 team versus the NL, Boston now has won something like 26 out of their last 31 interleague games. And I still don't like it. Doesn't that say something?

Even the word "interleague" suggests something almost smacking of political correctness - gee whiz! This is baseball! PLAY BALL! not politics. And for those lifelong NL "purist" fans who still drool over their hometown pitchers blowing away their visiting counterparts to the tune of 6-8% more strikeouts per year, I am guessing that you're mostly all Cubs fans or you still believe the team in D.C. is the Senators.

Rock on you DH-haters... we'll see you in the All-Star game.

This is getting bizarre...

...and I don't mind saying that this kind of weirdness makes me nervous.

The luck the Red Sox have had over the last week has been nothing short of yankee-like. Very much like the NY start to the season, the Red Sox have been statistically dominant in every category except wins lately.

Tonight is an interesting example...

Oakland starter Lenny DiNardo has held the Red Sox to only two hits but has walked 6 batters so far! The killer stat is this though: the Sox have hit into 4, yes FOUR double plays in 6 innings including two by almost-impossible-to-double Coco Crisp and one by hotter-than-hot Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded.

Boston won't openly gripe about the scheduling SNAFU that forced the Sox to play two games inside of 24 hours with a cross-country trip in between, but I WILL. The one way to get a healthy team unhealthy and injury-prone is to tire them out. Forget the fact that the 2nd of the two games went 12 innings.

Get a clue MLB and kill these ridiculous travel expectations.

POST GAME NOTES:

Red Sox cannot score despite getting a total of 8 walks. They hit into 6 double plays - the weird Ortiz/Pedroia one doesn't count as an official one, but it was. DiNardo threw almost 2/3 of his pitches for BALLS and was basically just wild enough NOT to give Boston anything good to hit.

I had a feeling...

Alex Rodriguez HAD to have one of his homers count for something this season against the Red Sox. Gee whiz he picked a crummy time for it. The yanks hit exactly 3 balls hard last night: one of them tied the game against the most dominant reliver in MLB this season and one of them won it against the most dominant closer of the game today.

I woke up this morning and the first words I said to my wife were, "Well, the punk did it." She'd already read the article on Yahoo!Sports and knew exactly what I meant. Too bad. But then being 12.5 games up is still pretty sweet.

Fortunately for Red Sox fans the yanks haven't played anyone hard this year except us - and I say fortunately because if the Bombers had any semblance of this sort of effort versus the rest of the league they'd still be in the hunt for the playoffs. Now there is LOTS of time left this year... but, then who in the world is gonna say, "Yeah. We've got it in the bag now"?? Ha!

Well - it's on to Oakland and the sports world will have to wait until three months from now to resume the ulcer-inducing rivalry that is Boston vs. NY.

Bring on the Tums!!

I had a feeling...

Alex Rodriguez HAD to have one of his homers count for something this season against the Red Sox. Gee whiz he picked a crummy time for it. The yanks hit exactly 3 balls hard last night: one of them tied the game against the most dominant reliver in MLB this season and one of them won it against the most dominant closer of the game today.

Fortunately for Red Sox fans the yanks haven't played anyone hard this year except us - and I say fortunately because if the Bombers had any semblance of this sort of effort versus the rest of the league they'd still be in the hunt for the playoffs. Now there is LOTS of time left this year... but, then who in the world is gonna say, "Yeah. We've got it in the bag now"?? Ha!

Well - it's on to Oakland and the sports world will have to wait until three months from now to resume the ulcer-inducing rivalry that is Boston vs. NY.

Bring on the Tums!!

I'm getting sick of this...

...the Red Sox are absolutely hammering the ball against Andy Pettite tonight and as yet have nothing to show for it. Two balls hit would have been gone had the wind not been helping Pettite and five others have been smoked right at defenders... this is the kind of luck that usually ends up coming close to no-hit type games.

Meanwhile - the yanks have two bloops and an RBI off the glove of Julio Lugo. Geez...

Women's College World Series

I know you will all accuse me of extreme bias, but I think Tennessee's women got the shaft by the selection committee for the NCAA Division I Women's Softball Championships and College World Series. They got the overall #5 seed after the following season (stats not official - but I think I'm pretty darn close):

Ranked #1 (most of the time unanimously) every week (except week of May 4th) from Feb. 13th to end of season
Swept #1 Alabama (the team at #1 on May 4th) to clinch SEC regular season title
Record of 61-6 (so far)
Winning streaks of 20 and 26 games
Lost only one series all year
Lost two games in a row only once
First team in 6 years to sweep SEC perennial power Georgia in Athens
39 shutouts (including 4 streaks of at least 5 in a row)
8 no-hitters
4 perfect games
19 games shortened by the run rule

Now HOW do you drop them to #5 after losing a 1-0 game in the SEC tournament? I guess there's no respect for the SEC until they earn it it the WCWS.

And how has the velvet steamroller that is the Orange Crush doing despite the snub?

1. 1st team to no-hit U. Hawaii this season in super regional action
2. No-hit Texas A&M 2-0 in first game of WCWS
3. Beat defending champion Arizona 1-0 in second game of WCWS

Guess there's a little payback huh? Sound familiar? It should - my Lady Vols hoops squad took a small chip on their shoulder all the way to the National Title back in March Madness.

Keep it up Lady Vols! We'll be rooting for you all the way from New Hampshire!!

Trot back in Boston... in the wrong uniform

One of the most intense competitors and down right great person ever to have worn the Boston Red Sox uniform was back in Beantown today for the start of a three game series between the Sox and the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians.

Christopher "Trot" Nixon, apart from wearing my favorite number, having the same first name, playing the outfield like I do, and batting lefty like I do, is an incredible teammate and my favorite Red Sox player of all time. I even gave my wife the old puppy dog eyes the other day so that she would consider using part of her father's day gift money on a Trot Nixon jersey that I found on the web. Nothing too fancy but I wanted to make sure I had a mimento that will always remind me of where Trot belongs - Boston. More specifically - right field at Fenway. That honor now belongs to JD Drew and time will tell if JD even comes close to the adoration that Trot earned. Don't get me wrong, I am a BIG JD Drew fan and always have drooled over the prospect of signing him - but the price was tough to swallow. Trot was family to most of New England.

Trot even gave the Fenway faithful a wave and a smile following their standing ovation prior to his first AB of the game - he then promptly singled into, you guessed it, right field for the Indians first hit of the game.

Welcome home Trot - we wish you had never left.

Walking, Texas Ranger style

In the art of racing (not the fakey NASCAR stuff), there are many ways to get from point A to point B. In sprints, the fast twitch lightning reflexes are key. In the marathon, stamina is of primary importance. In either form or anything type of race in between, the ability to respond to your opponent(s) and changes in circumstances is vital.

The sport of baseball is the artistic mixture of all of these qualities and in this past weekend series with the Texas Rangers, the Red Sox painted a masterpiece the likes of which has not happened for the Beantowners since 1973: a sweep of 3 or more games at the Ballpark at Arlington. And they did it with a curious but deadly mixture of patience and aggressiveness.

Walking - Texas Ranger style. In a matchup between the team that draws the most walks (Boston) and the team that issues the most per 9 innings, something had to give. And the Rangers pitching staff gave generously. To the tune of 17 walks in the series of which 8 came around to score. That's 8 out of 23 runs Boston scored this weekend. When the Rangers finally found the strike zone in game 3, our beloved Red Sox still found a way to slug their way to another comeback win. Leading 3-0 on a Jason Varitek 3-run homer, Boston starter Julian Tavarez gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in an abyssmal 6th inning (he'd only given up a leadoff single in the 1st inning prior to that).

Now I have to admit that when this happened I was horribly less than thrilled since the one dependable strength that Texas could hang its cowboy hat on (besides leading the league in homeruns AND strikeouts) was it's lethal setup and closer combination of Akinori Otsuka and Eric Gagne. Their stats were absolutely dominant: Otsuka had given up only 2 runs all season while opponents were batting under .115. Gagne had given up ZERO runs and opponents were batting .133. In the eighth inning, Boston scored runs #3 and #4 of the season off Otsuka to take a thin 5-4 lead into the ninth where light-hitting Dustin Pedrioa hit the 12th (yes, 10 plus 2 = 12) pitch of an incredible at-bat into the left-field seats for his second homer and a 2-run lead.

Enter the Otsuka counterpart for the Red Sox, Hideki Okajima and two hits, one run, and three outs later the Red Sox had their first 3-game sweep in Texas since the year I was born.

Up next is a three game series with the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians who are fresh off a sweep of their own in Detroit against the Tigers - an impressive feat since the Tigers hadn't been swept all year and started the series a half game ahead of the Indians in the division. This will mark the second time this season Boston has faced the leader of this division.

Go Sox!!

Kinda reminds you of bowling...

Remember when you were a kid back in the 1980's and your parents asked you if you wanted to go bowling? Ok, so maybe it only happened once or twice - but it never failed that upon hearing that question one of us kids would ask, "Do we have to use the BIG balls?"

Well - for a while now, I've been writing about the little balls: baseballs that is. I wanted to take a moment (and just a moment) to mention the big balls. Softballs that is.

Reflecting back on the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team's recent national championship has gotten me so spoiled that I almost forgot that their softball team is also #1 in the country and headed back to the College World Series for a third straight year. If you get a chance, check out ESPN and ESPN2 for some faster-paced action than your average MLB game and some real team spirit in action.

Now don't forget to root for the Orange and White. Monica Abbott and her teammates will be looking to get the first softball national title for the SEC and with this being her senior year, she has got just this one last chance. In case you were wondering, Monica is a lefty pitcher who is now the all-time NCAA record-holder for strikeouts, shutouts, and wins and is only 14 K's from breaking the once-thought untouchable record for strikeouts in a season.

Tennessee faces Texas A&M in the CWS starting this coming Thursday - starting time on ESPNHD is 6pm.

GO VOLS!!!

Click HERE for the WCWS Bracket

Bombing in the Bronx

One of the best defenders in the history of the NBA once said about Larry Bird that, "you could never feel completely comfortable with any lead because you never knew WHEN Larry was gonna take over."

Tonight's Sox game versus the yankees kinda had that feeling despite a line score that seemed like a ridiculous walk-over. Despite having leads of 4-0 and 7-2, the game never seemed completely comfortable until the very last strike was in Tek's catcher's mitt.

Before any analysis or facts, I must mention that the cheap shot A-Rod landed on Dustin Pedroia in the above picture did NOT go unnoticed by either Red Sox OR yankee observers. Not only that, but he won't even get the pleasure of a protest from the Red Sox either. Sorry Axel-Rod, keep on spinning those wheels.

As I mentioned regarding last night's pitchers, neither pitcher dominated and in fact Mike Mussina looked absolutely pedestrian. Julian Tavarez dominated early before giving up his first two hits in the fourth inning, but then struggled with his control before departing with two outs in the 6th inning. Javier Lopez came in and shut down the four hitters he faced before normally dominant relievers Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon walked a total of 4 hitters and made Red Sox Nation squirm through the last two innings. One can only hope these were the aberrant outings of the month for these two guys.

One more to go this week with Curt Schilling slated to take the mound versus Andy Pettite who despite an excellent sub-3.00 ERA has only a couple of wins to his credit.

Gotta love those rubber matches... LOTS of friction!!

My pick (with 3 runs scored off the NY bullpen):

Red Sox 6
NYy 3

P.S. If you get a chance, look at the video link of Manny's laser bomb from the first inning. OUCH. Hope no one in the stands was hurt. It almost killed a Moose I heard...

Another strong week... with yankee Stadium next

One look at the box scores and print from "the week that was" will tell you that this was one weird week in the game of baseball.

Two doubleheaders... back-to-back. The first one a sweep of the defending AL champ Tigers and the second a bizarre see-saw affair starting with a 13-3 pasting of the Braves but with Atlanta returning the favor 14-0 in the nightcap. And go ahead and mark down the Mother's Day Comeback as the comeback of the year right now. Red Sox being mowed down for 8 innings to the tune of a 5-0 deficit heading to the bottom of the 9th: and for the first time in the majors in almost 30 YEARS, a team came back to win after having been shutout through 8 and down by 5 or more runs. Sox win 6-5 when the pitcher drops the ball on a bang-bang play at first that would have nailed Julio Lugo for out #3 and end of ballgame. Ouch Baltimore.

Speed demons Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp have been on base and wreaking havoc on a daily basis. Kevin Youkilis is THE hottest hitter in the major leagues (14 game hit streak; 3 HRs, 4 doubles, .400 BA, 7R in last 11 games). David Ortiz is still Big Papi. Manny and JD Drew STILL aren't producing much. Mike Lowell is having another incredible start. Second base is a definite strength with both Pedroia and Cora producing. El Capitan Tek is not smoking it but is getting some clutch hits in key situations. And the pitching is still incredible although the run support for a couple of the starters (Wakefield and Tavarez) has been sporadic at best.

The Sox just finished losing to the NY yanks tonight - not a great start to the road trip and there is WAY too much time to think that every game isn't important but the score wasn't very indicative of how close this game was. Despite the fact that Timmy pitched sub-par at best, he still wasn't hammered and gave up his hits mostly in bunches and to the wrong people. Wang for NY was pitching no better but conversely DID get the key outs in situations where Boston had men ready to score. No keys hits at all tonight. Unfortunately one of the pitchers tomorrow WILL get shelacked as their near 6.00 ERAs will attest... but don't bet against Mussina as the Moose has been slightly more consistent lately and is pitching at home with an offense that just might be waking up a little. Let's hope Schilling can get HIS act together for game 3, otherwise this 3 game set will look pretty ugly come Thursday morning. The Sox haven't lost a 3 game series since the first week of the season, but losing the first on the road to NY is an easy way to change that trend.

I still believe that Boston will have a double digit lead over NY by the end of the month regardless of this series, but time will tell. We've been down this road before... time to finish well boys!!

GO SOX!!

Defending the Home Field Advantage

In basketball it's all about the crowd noise and the flailing behind the backboards during an opponent's free throw attempt. In hockey, well, let's just say you don't want to be in the penalty box ANY longer than you have to be on unfriendly ice. In football it's sheer volume in numbers and the familiarity of field and backdop. In tennis... well, uh, I guess you'd leave THAT on the shelf with NASCAR, wrestling and horse racing. And golf? Ha! Even with a sport that I love I have to say that home field advantage basically means that if you're a pro golfer in your home state in a tournament NOT including Tiger or Phil, you've got it made. But I digress...

In all fairness, baseball is singular in it's home field advantage. From Little League to Cal Ripken, college, and the pros the home team has the distinct advantage of batting last in each inning. Not to mention that if you are at home and leading going into the 9th inning you may not even have to play the full 9 innings (offensively that is) to get a win. I mean really, who wouldn't want to know what they're up against before heading to the plate? Obviously you don't want to be down 4 or 5 runs right off the bat, but the mountain doesn't seem quite so high when you've got the last say. Just ask the Red Sox about Mother's Day 2007! If you're at a loss on that one, just check the game links over to the lower right and click on Game #36.

Let's think about this in terms the other sports would understand...

Football: Let's imagine that in every game, the home team was GUARANTEED the last possession of the game. Ooh! Think about the Super Bowls John Elway and Peyton Manning would have won... besides the three they did.

Golf: Here's the new rule Tiger - if you're in a playoff, you have to play the hole FIRST and the other guy gets to see what score you post and try and beat it. Hmmm... playoffs aren't too fun anymore.

Tennis? NASCAR? Lawn darts? Yeah - I'm still laughing too.

Basketball: Ooooh! Here's a doosy! If there are less seconds on the play clock than the shot clock, the home team automatically gets the ball for the final possession. Eeew. Kinda sounds like the hockey shootout...

You just can't beat a good game of baseball, especially if you could get a Princess on the field. Ooh! Sorry New York - I forgot you already have one. Way to go A-Rod!!

Now if only the Sox could keep Chewbacca on the field aid in their defense...

"Ha! So you WANNA take out the shortstop to break up the double play huh? Let's just remember OUR "shorty" is over 7 feet tall and can pull your arms out of their sockets if he wants to."

Gee whiz I love baseball.

Red Sox sock Detroit Meow Meows

I firmly believe that the Detroit Tigers will be leaving Boston tonight thinking that they should have won 3 out of the 4 games in this past series - instead, they'll leave losing 2 in a row and 3 out of 4 to the Red Hot Sox.

Lesson learned by the rest of the league? As long as you can get into the Detroit bullpen your chances of winning go up dramatically.

The only bright spot for the kitties this week was flamethrower Justin Verlander's superb start versus an uncharacteristically hittable Tim Wakefield. And if you'd told me that neither Beckett, Schilling nor Wakefield would get wins in this series I would have told you that we probably got swept. Gee whiz I love being wrong sometimes... but don't tell my readers (all 2 of them).

Add to the sweetness that the yanks have been struggling against the White Sox and you're looking at a 9.5 game lead for Boston in the AL East. I know it is only May, but as they say in September, "losses cannot be taken off your record, you can only add wins." I hate being X number of games back in the loss column... it feels fantastic to be 9 games ahead of NY in the loss column.

One final note - can ANYONE not be happy for Eric Hinske today?! A guy who is loaded with potential but never realized - and not because of lack of effort or attitude. His lack of playing time this year has been a contributing factor as well, but with the unfortunate hustle injury to JD Drew he has been forced into service that I believe will do wonders for him. Tonight he made an absolutely phenomenal catch that even watching in slow motion I had a hard time believing he was going to make and then two innings later hits an absolute howitzer shot into the bullpen in deep right center field to make the difference in a 4-2 series-clinching win. Check out the video if you don't believe me... I think the smile on his face says it all!

Now we can only hope that we're actually going to care who wins the All-Star game come summer time ;)

On any other day...

...when you wake up this Monday and pull out the sports section of your friendly neighborhood newspaper of choice (if you're fortunate enough to afford home delivery or the splurge at the local convenience store), you'll probably scan the box scores to see, among others, the Bostonian listing with a more-than-typical 6-5 victory over the surprisingly spry Baltimore Orioles.

Assuming you're NOT reading the Boston Globe or any other New England rag, you'll probably mark this as yet another in a string of victories for our Red Hot Sox. You probably won't care about the Who, the Where, the When, or maybe even the Why. But you SHOULD care about the How. HOW did they do it?

Let me rewind for you...

Pre-game expectations were largely focused upon Josh Beckett's bid to start the season 8-0 in his first 8 starts and Boston's bid to keep pace with the Brewers in the NL for the best record in Major League Baseball. After all, Beckett has dominated for the most part while being the recipient of some of the best run-support of any starter in the league - and the Sox DID take 15 out of 18 from the O's last year and 22 out of the last 26 (including Friday night's debacle). And Beckett didn't disappoint - although he gave up a couple of early runs, he had struck out 7 through the first 4 innings and looked like he was settling into a groove - the kind of groove that has been nearly impossible to knock him out of once he gets it going.

Then blister problems struck for Josh (like the 78th time in his career I'm guessing) and in comes Kyle Snyder to pick up the slack. And before you know it, some relief pitcher named Jeremy Guthrie making only his fourth start is shutting the powerful BoSox out through 8 EASY innings.

Then comes the 9th... oh, that sticky 9th inning. Julio Lugo grounded out to start the inning and many impatient patrons who hadn't left already started streaming towards the exits. Julio must've thought that after his steaming hot start to the series that this was a poetically cruel way to end it. I'm guessing he was thinking about how he'd do better versus the Tigers... but only for a moment. Coco Crisp reached first on a misplayed popup and next came Big Papi - ringing double off the left center field wall and its 5-1. Ok... no shutout. Phew.

Following a Wily Mo Pena single that pushes Ortiz to third, the O's bring in their closer to stop the minor leak that has put the tying run in the on-deck circle. Two walks later, it's 5-2 and El Capitan V-Tek is at the dish with his lovely pink Mother's Day bat (NOT the most fearsome sight I might add). Well, Pinky and Mr. Spaulding met and thanks to a little bobble in right center, the go-ahead runs are in scoring position. 5-4 Baltimore. And up comes Alex Cora.

Now, everyone in the park is thinking that Alex Cora has yet to fail in the clutch this YEAR: go ahead triple versus Toronto, two-run single on Saturday, and the list is LONGER. And so would I have been (if I hadn't turned the game off in the 8th for fear of physically damaging something has they lost)... oops, fielder's choice eliminates a run at the plate and we're down to our last out. Guess who?

Yep. Mr. Lugo. Again, I can probably predict the thought processes of 95% of the fans in attendance: he started this inning poorly, and he'll probably end it that way too. Well, it sure looked like it - a bounding grounder wide of first that ex-Red Sock Kevin Millar fielded cleanly and threw slightly behind the pitcher covering. The play would have been close but few would argue that Julio was going to be out. The ball is dropped, knocked slowly into foul territory and Tek and Hinkse score to complete the 6-run 9th and a stunning 6-5 victory to take the series 2 out of 3.

I honestly think that the touchdown posted on the Seattle Mariner scoreboard this afternoon took the gas out of the yankee attack... leading to a 2-1 defeat and an 8 game deficit in the AL East.

I had prepared an asterisk labeled link to the inevitable demise of our Bostonian crew on my blog so that I might briefly discuss how this game MIGHT have signaled a change in momentum for this season - especially with the pitching-laden, heavy-hitting Detroit Tigers coming to town for a 4-game set - but thanks to some late game heroics that thought is but a distant memory.

No asterisk today... that will have to wait for Barry Bonds a couple of months from now.

I'm sick... the Sox are not

I've been ill this week, but fortunately the bug hasn't touched the Red Sox as they've managed to handle Minnesota for 2 out of 3 in a series of pitchers duels in the Metrodome and sweeping the slumping Blue Jays in the other dome (Rogers Center) in Toronto by a combined score of 26-5 in the three game series - including an 8-0 shutout of Toronto tonight when they had their Cy Young winner Roy Halladay on the mound.

I won't add much to this, but you can check out the wrapups in the series links to the lower right if you like... perhaps some more enlightened coverage in the days and weeks to come for all of my (two) devoted readers.

If there is ONE must see highlight though it would have to be Doug Mirabelli picking Troy Glaus off first base for a very unconventional double play to end the bottom of the 1st inning when Toronto had the based loaded with only one out and slugger Frank Thomas at the plate. His snap throw nails Glaus about 2 feet from the bag - niiice. Check out the highlight video on the Red Sox homepage!!

P.S. The yanks got spanked today 14-2 including a pinch grand salami by Diaz Texas Ranger in a 10-run 7th inning. Salami! Yummy!

Just to add an amen... and a little "I told you so"

Check this priceless link out... my wife found this article in her browsing in preparation to discuss the matter with her dyed-in-the-wool Roger Clemens fan brother Andy. Better press could not be found...

CLICK HERE...

Thanks honey! Ho-hum indeed :)

Boston gets twin wins verus Twins in the Twin Cities

Okay - so they weren't EXACTLY identical twins, but taking two out of three from an AL Central foe on their home fieldturf will be acceptable to most Red Sox fans on any given day... assuming we don't need all three to stay alive in some playoff series, despite our historical ability to overcome such obstacles.

I was actually in Portland, ME at a FamilyLife marriage conference this weekend so you might be thinking that my take on this past series would be a bit barebones... au contraire baseball aficionados (for you Anglo-Sportsian bilinguals out there)!! My wife just so happens [LOUD LAUGHING by many rabid Red Sox wives can be inserted here] to be a fan of our dear Bostonians as well and when she heard that our hotel room had a TV with New England Sports Network (NESN) on it, she was almost excited as I was to catch some of the action. After our marriage projects of course...

We caught the last few innings of the first game which turned out to be number one in a trio of pitchers duels. Not a particular surprise considering that the Twins perenially have one of the best team ERAs in the American League and our boys from Boston have one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball this year. A quick recap of the weekend's action...

Game 1: Another Wakefield pitching gem without much run support. And although there isn't much to say about a 2-0 shutout against a relatively anemic Twins offense (especially without Michael Cuddyher), Wakefield ratcheted his game up another notch with the realization that is his offense doesn't score much he has to give up even fewer than his approximately 2 per outing. He did - and Big Papi launched an absolute bomb into seats that rarely see a baseball, and not because they historically have few fans in them. Even the unusually sharp Carlos Silva was visibly wowed.

Game 2: On a day when Julian Tavarez was the best pitcher in Minnesota NOT named Santana - um, er, actually he was the best pitcher in the Metrodome INCLUDING the Twins Cy Young winning ace on this night. However, the best pitcher does not always win in this often fickle game of baseball and on a day when Johan Santana did not have nearly his best stuff, the Red Sox failed to get a single clutch hit among their many scoring opportunities (12 LOB) and Santana kept the ball in the ballpark - a key to beating our Beantowners. Now I will NEVER say that Tavarez has any where NEAR the talent of a Johan Santana and you will ALMOST never see Santana outpitched inside the Metrodome, but despite these facts Julian DID do it to his credit but was unfortunate to have even WORSE run support than Timmy. Of curious note, this is the third time this year that Julian Tavarez has pitched opposite a Cy Young winner.

Game 3: Rubber matches are designed for games like this one. Curt Schilling was razor sharp versus a lineup without Cuddyher or 2006 AL batting champ Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter extended his hitting streak with a late RBI single, and the bullpens continued their shutout work through to the completion of this series. Take home message: don't be trailing the Twins or Red Sox after 6 or 7 innings or you're in BIG trouble. Despite the unusually high Twins bullpen ERA this year, they were extraordinarily effective - even against Boston's best hitters in the clutch. The Red Sox continued their unexpectedly stellar bullpen's season start too - one can only hope this is the beginning of MANY stellar late inning performances in the land of Irish, Manny, Pap, and Papi.

And thank God for Alex Cora... have you ever seen a more productive week from the 2B slot in the lineup. Pedroia is finally coming around!

And in case any spankees fans are out there - I could really care less that Roger Clemens has come to the Big Apple (I only take note to prove I don't ignore the rest of the league). It will only increase the expectations and the pressure in a city seriously in need of no more than it already has. So we take notice for a moment, but we agree with young Dustin Pedroia said in his postgame comments when asked informed of the transaction:

"Hmmm. That's cool... It should be interesting facing him, but I like the team I'm with."

Yeah. Cool. Whoopee.

Whatever.

Manny being Manny... FINALLY

Cliches are an unfortunate way of life for most people who spend time writing about sports. After all, how many games have been played over the course of the last 100+ years? How many angles have been taken to find originality in sports journalism? It boggles the mind...

"Manny being Manny" is a cliche that means Manny things to Manny people (pun DEFINITELY intended). In the off season it centers around a seemingly non-stop barrage of mostly unsubstantiated newspaper articles and radio commentary regarding Manny Ramirez's desire to be traded out of Beantown - rubbish I've always said, but then he DID grow up in the Bronx as a yankees fan and has always destroyed yankee pitching in the house that Ruth built. During the season the phrase often refers to his nonchalant playing style - primarily on defense or on the basepaths. Actually, his baserunning in general is excellent although his occasional lope to first on a routine ground ball has irked many a dyed-in-the-wool "baseball is all about hustle" pundits, of which I lean towards agreement with more often than not. And then comes the ultimate "Manny being Manny"-ism: his hitting. Gosh can that guy knock the snot out of Mr. Spaulding! Tonight he homered DEEP to left with an absolutely ferocious headwind whose absence almost certainly would have spelled Mass Turnpike for that little white sphere - as it turned out it ONLY made it three rows deep into the Monster seats. Wimp. And then in the 8th inning when it looked like Dice-K's sloppy walk-laden start would doom us once again, Manny drove a 2-out fastball on a 3-2 count over the bullpens and into the right field bleachers (a shot whose location and timing he predicted to Wily Mo Pena in the dugout minutes before it happened) to complete the scoring in a thrilling 8-7 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Notes: Manny's second dinger of the game gave him 4 on the year, and it was the 4th time that his homer was directly instrumental in winning a game.

#1: tied the game on April 19th in Toronto at 3-3. Boston wins 5-3.
#2: the first of the historic back-to-back-to-back-to-back HRs versus the yankees at Fenway on April 22nd that turned a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead in a span of 10 pitches.
#3: gave the Red Sox a 7-3 lead in the April 29th game in the Bronx. Boston wins 7-4.

Manny being Manny.... yeah, I'll take that when the game is on the line.

It had to happen I guess...

Jonathan Papelbon IS human after all. Unfortunately, not only did he give up his first runs of the season, but they were in the form of a game-tying 2-run homer by Jason Buck of the Oakland Athletics. His first blown save of the season also gave the A's a chance to win it in extra innings which they did with back-to-back doubles by Mike Piazza and, er, whoever came next in the lineup to lead off the 10th inning. Enter Oakland closer Huston Street and he accomplished against one of the best lineups in baseball what the most dominant closer in the game today couldn't versus a rookie hitting around .200. Injustice prevails once again...

But then the Red Sox do once AGAIN lead the league in runners left on base and are AGAIN near the bottom of the league in clutch hitting and hitting with RISP. That can't continue if this team hopes to continue to build their division lead.

Unfortunately, the A's have again come from multiple runs behind tonight to take the lead late in the game - let's hope our offense can pick up that pitching staff like I mentioned in an earlier post. So far they're coming up empty.

Another day in New York - another win

It's no secret that I do not like the New York yankees. There isn't a word strong enough to describe the loathing, but I also recognize that they are not the only team we need to beat and beat often this season. Do I relish the now 5 wins in 6 games we've gotten so far? Absolutely, but if this Red Sox team focuses too much attention on looking down the standings at the yankees, then not too long thereafter they'll be looking up at them (e.g. 2006).

Go to work, play the game right, keep your focus and seek to dominate EVERY time you go out there. April was a month not unlike many Red Sox Aprils of times past, but we've got May, June , July, August, and September coming up including 12 more game versus the yanks and 13 versus our nemesis team of late, the Toronto Blue Jays.

On to the game details...

I will be honest, considering Julian Tavarez's track record this season I was expecting a run-per-inning sort of performance and the return to dominance of NY's Chien-Ming Wang. However, other than a get-me-over fastball that heavy-talking light-hitting Dougie Boy hit for a 3-run dinger, JT pitched well.

The offense is STILL not clicking very well but with a 16-8 record thanks mostly to our pitching staff I am only expecting that the Red Sox offense will need to pick up our pitching staff down the road when they are not at their best - very much like the first NY series in Boston. Big Papi got us off to a good start and it was only a matter of time before Manny launched another one in the Bronx. Add Alex Cora's second homer of the season and not only do you have another win but you probably are looking at the new starting 2B for the Red Sox (sorry Dustin Pedroia - you're just not productive enough yet).

Red Sox 7 NYy 4

Miscellaneous note - Jonathan Papelbon gave up another hit!! Yikes! Thats TWO this season!! Two hits, 0.00 ERA, 9/9 saves, and 16 K in 9 innings in the month of April. Sheesh. Not even fair.

Here's the first draft game recap

Red Sox game links

Hey everyone - in case you were looking for some game info, I've compiled a complete list of the Red Sox games this year, the score, the opponent, and the game #. Check out the link list to lower right - most recent games are at the top.

Go Sox!!

A fortuitous injury... are you kidding me?

Well - it didn't take long for the Red Sox to knock Jess Karstens off the mound today. First pitch: Julio Lugo lines a ball right off his leg and Kevin Youkilis knocked another pitch solidly for a single. I guess the first hit took it's toll.

And good thing for NY it did - our BoSox were moments away from destroying Mr. Karsten's ERA, never mind his confidence. Joe Torre would never ask for an injury, but this one was sure well timed - otherwise we're looking at 5 in a row versus the yanks and they're running on gas - in APRIL!! Too bad - after tomorrow they will likely be within 5 games and our hot start won't look so hot. But enjoy the April sunshine while it lasts Red Sox fans... Enter stage left: Kei Igawa - the yankees' attempt to answer the Japanese invasion of Boston and as yet the only thing even remotely resembling his home land was his Richter scale-like ERA of almost 7.00. NOT the perfect number when it comes to baseball.

Regardless, Igawa held the Red Sox mostly in check today and lasted long enough to allow the bullpen a mild rest and gave the yankee offense enough time to wake from its slumber and post a 3-1 win. Both teams left TONS of people on base, but there was little clutch hitting and it all belonged to the bronxers. Joe Torre said the night before that he thought that all it would take to get back on track is one well pitched game. Well Joe - you got it.

And now all that the Red Sox Nation can hope is that OUR starter with the sky high ERA (Tavarez) can hold ANY lineup in check for more than 6 or 7 pitches. Against Wang tomorrow I don't think that is very conducive to making that happen. If Jon Lester doesn't come back soon, Julian will be headed towards breaking some losing streak and ERA records for a first place team.

Just imagine when Lester returns to the lineup... I'm drooling on my keyboard. Yuck.

Contrary to popular belief...

...the yankees WILL beat the Red Sox this season at some point. Let's just hope that it is in a meaningless series late this coming fall.

Red Sox 11
NYy 4

Season series: Red Sox 4 NYy 0

The yankee-killer Manny Ramirez is STILL struggling (and not only versus the Evil Empire), but since baseball is a team game we're fortunate to have a productive offense without him pounding away. He is starting to stripe the ball and I am confident that the average will begin to climb... how about a power display in Boston/NY games 5 and 6 Manny? Sweetness.... ohhh sweetness would ensue.

How typical can this be?

Rained out baseball games are no fun for anybody - unfortunately they are going to be an even bigger pain in the pitoot thanks to the recent rainout between the spankees and the Blue Jays...

I cannot complain too loudly as all of NY must have groaned in unison last weekend when they found out our #1 - #2 - #3 pitchers were lined up perfectly to face them in Fenway. Now our Bostonian crew will have to face Andy Pettite AGAIN thanks to Joe Torre's slight of lineup hand. Andy P (no relation to my brother-in-law) was slated to face Vernon Wells and the dangerous but underachieving Torontonians - RAIN enter stage left, and guess who pitched for the yanks instead tonight... another rookie named (and I had to go look this up twice because I kept forgetting his name) Phil Hughes - an undrafted non-college signee that had never before pitched in the majors. Exit stage right to an extraordinarily predictable ending - Toronto wins 6-2 behind AJ Burnett and Mr. Wells.

So - long story short - Manager Torre obviously knew his ballclub needed a win against our Red Sox SO badly that he shifted his number one guy not one day but TWO! After all, he knows that once his team gets rolling that they'll torch the living daylights out of Toronto for the rest of the year. One can only hope that this "layoff" isn't good news for Andy P's rhythm. And the rest of us can only hope that Dice-K's pledge to take his game up a notch for the rematch will pan out. And let's also look forward to what fleshes out from Dice-K's pledge to take his game up a notch for this weekend's rematch.

Back at ya until at least Friday night!!

Back on track - warming up for the Bronx Zoo

Well - I was expecting a more thorough offensive beat-down than what happened last night at Camden Yards, but regardless*, a win is a win and to hear Curt Schilling dominate like he did last night is encouraging - not to mention the fact that Big Papi and Manny came through when we needed them most last night.

*No, "irregardless" is NOT a word despite the fact that the spell checker passed it and the fact that half of Americans use it regularly - I hate words like that whose mere over MISuse lands them in not only the vernacular but also some half-witted dictionaries (e.g. nuclear is NOT pronounced like NOOK - yoo - lur). Sorry for the side note but at least my mom would be proud!! Hi Mom!!

Anyway - back to the good stuff...

The Orioles proved once again that they are essentially Miguel Tejada and 8 other guys. 8 not so good other guys. Hopefully that bullpen will get back to normal for them after last night's debacle. Sweet debacle it was... lol.

Alex Cora kept up his rep as a "Daniel Cabrera killer" by going 2 for 3 against him with a sacrifice bunt as his only "blemish" before the relievers started filing through. Now if only we could find a way to work Cora in as like a Gustavo Chacin or Johan Santana killer... hmmm...

Hideki Okajima continues to be filthy good and with a 5 run lead in the 9th, the Sox could afford to send out Brendan Donnelly to close it out instead of using up Papelbon like we did prior to the first game of the yankee series. THAT won't happen again.

Speaking of the Bronx Zoo - our series there is rapidly approaching and the prospect of Dice-K and Wakefield pitching the first two games is scintillating... if only we could find a fill-in for Julian Tavarez. We'll lose HUGE if he pitches on Sunday...

And so he prayers start... for starting prayers, er, pitchers.

Gotta love it!!

Nothing much to say about THAT series

Well - once again the thorn-in-our-side Blue Jays have been, well, a THORN!!!

Vernon Wells drilled us again - tying career highs for hits and runs scored (4 each) and Roy Halladay struck out 10 of our guys (1st time he's gotten double-digit Ks in over a year!) to fill out a 10-3 pasting of the beloved Bostonians.

Not to mention that completed a short 2 game sweep at Fenway - not sure the last time the Sox have swept and then immediately been swept, but it sure sucks regardless. Tim Wakefield was again the victim of poor run support on Monday despite pitching very well sans the only homer he gave up. Poor Timmy. And to lose to Tomo Ohka?! Now THAT will be hard to live down... tougher to swallow than Roy "Doc" Halladay over Julian "I can keep the ball off the bats" Tavarez. PLEASE tell me that Jon Lester is coming back soon!! PLEASE!!

Not a good way to head into a short series with Baltimore at beautiful Camden Yards. And actually it is even worse due to the fact that Schilling and Beckett will be pitching versus the O's and not in New York this coming weekend. OUCH. Talk about payback being an, er, something that rhymes with "bitch" - and yes, I can say that on my blog because I am a veterinarian and I am allowed to use that word in my profession. But only under the appropriate circumstances... and of course, these are just that.

Normally I'd say that these two were being wasted on Baltimore, but it just so happens that the Orioles are in 2nd place only 1.5 games behind us in the AL East while the yanks are dead last. Sweet to say I will admit - but we all know it won't stay that way. Besides, the Orioles actually should be leading this division but they've hit a short skid that directly coincided with ours - otherwise our two losses in a row would have put us behind the "lowly" O's. Pee-you-wee!!

Well - it's late and I'm not in a good mood. Better sign off before I get "itchy" again.

Red Sox 4 Home Runs

Red Sox hit 4 consecutive Homers against Yankees [4.22.07]

Here's the proof... history being made

What IS that swishing sound?

I love the Red Sox and whichever team is playing the yankees - and when they play each other my mood can be influenced positively or negatively for a week or more. Sometimes it lasts an entire off-season. Ok - so you know.

My beloved Sox have just finished off a sweep of their meanest rival - a sweep that I auspiciously predicted would NOT happen in an earlier post. Ok - so I know a lot about these two teams but I didn't know it had been 17 years since we'd swept the yanks in 3 or more games at Fenway. We'd swept them several times at the house that Ruth built since then but our home cooking never quite matched up until this weekend.

You'll have to forgive the lack of wit and panache tonight - I am still recovering from the heart attack that is Axel-Rod vs. Papelbon with a man on and a 1 run lead in the 9th.

In hindsight I predicted most of what did happen this evening - in almost startling accuracy. Let's review my predictions...

1. DiceK getting shelled? Check. Giving up 5+ runs? Check. Combined 4+ BB/HBP? Check. Pitches barely into the 6th inning. WRONG. He threw 7+ innings.

2. Chase Wright pitching with the luck of the Irish? Check - worked out of MANY men on base. Lasts 4.2 innings? WRONG. Only 3 - so kinda of half right there. Gives up only 3 runs? WRONG - gave up 4. K's for Manny and Papi? NONE. Sweeet but wrong Swami. Leaves with the lead? WRONG - but then who would predict back-to-back-to-back-to-back HRs? YIKES. Oh yeah... check out #3 - hee hee.

2a. Red Sox grounding into a DP in a key spot versus a reliever? Check! David Ortiz in the 6th.

3. Team or league history made? WOW!! Check!! Something about back-to-back-to-back-to-back HRs for the first time in Red Sox history and the fifth time in MLB history - EVER. That's fewer than the number of perfect games thrown. Fewer than the number of World Series clinching walkoff HRs.

4. Huge homer hit by both teams? WOW! Check!! Jeter to tie it in the 5th and Lowell to "win" it in the 7th. WRONG on the order and who would win... although Axel-Rod could have done it in the 9th except for THE most dominant closer in baseball right now.

5. Big time 2R+ error by a Red Sox? WRONG. In fact, two stellar line drive snags by Dustin Pedroia actually saved the day.

6. A non-Axel-Rod yank having a big day at the dish? Check! Was is Jason Giambi? CHECK!!

Final score: NY 8 Boston 7? WRONG but was I ever close. Boston wins 7-6.

Swami Stats: 9 right, 8 wrong. On the surface it seems like you could have flipped a coin to get the same results.... but only if you only have two possible outcomes. Let's just say that I started doing the statistical analysis and figured out I could have made a LOT of money in Vegas tonight. Swami rests his case.

And now I will rest my fingers and my brain... after all, my heart is shot. Not to mention we all know I cannot rub it in after my Lady Vols post a few weeks back. Besides - it's only a game and it is only April. Last year when the Red Sox built up a HUGE lead over the yanks in the AL East I predicted WEEKS prior to the All-Star break that the lead would not only vanish, but that it would have a more than 15 game turnaround by year's end and we would be at least 10 games out of first place. So what was the total flip-flop by the pinstripes to take the AL East in a waltz? 19 games - and we were 11 games out at year's end.

This sweep accomplishes only a couple of things... first, it sets the pace for the rest of the league to follow. And second, it does make it a bit tougher on the yanks to win the season series... hmmm... we'll see if it is even close enough in September to worry about stinking tie-breakers, especially since we play an even 18 games with the bombers this year instead of the customary 19 of late.

So let's all take a deep breath, prep for yankee Stadium next weekend, and realize this is April baseball. Only for psychos and not the faint of heart.

Round 2 - TKO

Game 2 was NOT classic but who needs 18 heart attacks in one season right?

My Red Sox are 1 win away from a 3 game sweep of the New York yankees... and I have to say that I don't feel all that good about our chances in the finale. WHAT?! The obvious things can get overstated sometimes but here they are:

1. Dice-K versus WHO? Uh, Chase Wright.... who won his first major league start thanks not to his talent but due to the 6 run second inning his offense gave him to work with. Dice-K is 1-2 but with absolutely horrible run support (1 run total in last two starts) and pretty dominating stuff. Take away the 4th inning against the Blue Jays earlier this week and he's running away with Rookie of the Year... in April.

2. Red Sox offense: it has been surprisingly consistent and more like the offense that we became used to the past few years.

3. yankee pitching: the weak point by far this series as the offense has been almost scary although a little lacking in the clutch... ok, REALLY lacking.

So why the pessimism?

Well - this is still the Red Sox who have NEVER done well when 1 win away from anything significant (sans 2004 WS). I won't waste your time detailing that one - if you're reading this you probably already know.

Second, the yanks have yet to have one of those "scored more runs than they got hits" sort of games where one of our pitchers walks the ballpark and gives up only hits with men in scoring position. I expect to see that tonight.

Third, everything in this series as far as pitching is concerned has gone against the expectations. None of the Red Sox starters have looked good at all. The yanks have broken even in this department and been extraordinarily poor in the bullpen - an expected strength in NY and a weakness in Beantown. I expect a strong NY bullpen (they'll be needed) tonight, ridiculously good pitching from Wright along with the occasional dose of Ruthian luck. Matsuzaka will have his first implosion of the year, be yakked about and cursed all week long heading into yankee Stadium and everyone will wonder why anyone would pay over $100 million for this guy.

Fourth and finally - the Red Sox's ability to leave runners stranded on base inning after horrid inning will finally come back to haunt them. They really should have blown out these guys in the first two games, but with poor hitting numbers with men in scoring position we've barely eeked them out. I see LOTS of Red Sox base runners tonight (I'm guessing an average of close to 2 per inning), but AGAIN no significant run support for Matsuzaka.

Predictions:

1. Matsuzaka looks very rookie-like and gets shelled for at least 5 runs and a combined 4 BB/HBP. Pitches barely into the 6th inning.
2. Wright pitches with the luck of the Irish and escapes MANY jams through 4.2 innings of shaky baseball. Gives up only 3 ER, walks 4, strikes out Manny and Papi at least once each, and leaves with the lead
2a. The BoSox promptly ground into a double play in a key situation versus a reliever.
3. Somebody will make team or league history tonight - either something weird (like consecutive errors or a cycle) or Axel-Rod with his homer/RBI streak in April.
4. Somebody on each team WILL hit a huge homer (Grand Slam/3R or just plain clutch) - the second will be by a yankee and will win the game in the top of the 8th or 9th.
5. Somebody on the field will commit an error allowing at least 2 yankee runs to score.
6. Somebody OTHER than Axel-Rod will have a HUGE day at the plate... I'm guessing Jason Giambi.


NYy 8 (on 7 hits) Boston 7 (on 13 hits)

Pardon the pessimism - but since I am writing this mostly for my own benefit, I don't expect a lot of backlash if I'm dead wrong. But if you've been privy to this rivalry over the years, you know exactly what kind of game I'm talking about...

GO Sox!!!