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.