Sox vs. Stripes

Damon's Fee-Fees Too Hurt To Return

2010-08-25T10:44:00.000-04:00

Apparently Johnny Damon is more concerned with competing for a losing team than getting into a playoff race. Damon rejected a return to Boston based on Detroit manager Jim Leyland telling him that he would keep playing. At least that is what he says. But I think, and a lot of people think, Damon turned the move down because of the greeting he got at Fenway when he returned in a Yankee uniform.

If you remember, after Damon said he'd never play for the Yankees and he wasn't in it for the money...he went to the Yankees for the money. Even that fat bastard Clemens had the decency to go to Toronto first. And Boggs leaving for the Yankees was kind of a mutual agreement. Yeah, we hated seeing him ride that damn horse in Yankee Stadium, but Boston fans weren't gnashing their teeth when he left. And if I remember correctly, he didn't get a bad response upon his return the next year.

But Damon played up all the things Boston fans wanted to hear and then did the exact opposite. How did guys like Shaughnessy think Boston fans would react? Yes, he busted his ass for the Sox when he played here. And then he spit in the collective eye of the Boston fanbase. Every writer short of Eric Wilbur seems to forget that Damon said, repeatedly, that he wouldn't ever play for the Yankees. That carries currency with the Boston fanbase. And when Damon turned on that...well, what exactly did he think would be the result?

And so he was booed. Told he looks like Judas and throws like Mary. And because of that, the fragile snowflake couldn't suck it up and come back to Boston for a playoff chase. Players throughout baseball history have dealt with much more vicious behavior from fans. How many black ballplayers were slandered and verbally assaulted by their own fans and teammates back in the 40s and 50s and not only persevered but flourished? Damon apparently wouldn't have lasted the front half of a day-night doubleheader back then.

At least Boston blocked him from going to Tampa or New York. And considering Damon's behavior...I'm kind of enjoying that side benefit.

Another Win And Hanging In

2010-08-19T11:35:00.000-04:00

As the Sox slowly try to field the lineup they envisioned all year long (dealt another blow by Ellsbury's glass-like ribs), they have fought to keep up with the Yanks and Rays in the AL East. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games, including last night's 7-5 win over the Angels. But Boston still finds themselves 5.5 games back of both New York and Tampa.

Still, the Sox are gutting out wins. Lackey picked up his 11th win of the year in what would usually be termed an "ugly win"; seven innings, 10 hits and five runs. But what isn't shown in those stats is Lackey's control last night. He struck out five and walked none. He threw first-pitch strikes to a remarkable 75% of batters he faced and 65.5% of his total pitches were for strikes. Those numbers are why Lackey could surrender those hits and runs and still keep Boston in the game. Lackey pitched better than it would appear at first glance.

Bard allowed two walks but pitched a scoreless eighth. And then Paps came out for one of his most dominant relief appearances of the year with three strikeouts. That gave him 30 saves on the year and makes him the first pitcher in MLB history to have 30 saves in each of his first five full seasons. Which just adds another layer of complexity to Boston having to decide what to do with Papelbon in the next year.

Speaking of tough decisions, Adrian Beltre continues to make the upcoming off-season an interesting one for Boston. Beltre was the offensive engine last night, going 2-5 with a homer and three RBI. He is hitting .328 on the year with a .934 OPS. He is in the AL Top 10 for batting average, slugging, RBI, OPS and home runs. The issue is his glove. He has 16 errors so far in 2010, tied for the most by an AL third baseman with Michael Young and Jose Lopez. But he is far and away the best hitting third baseman in the AL, and you could argue he is the best hitting third-baseman in the majors.*

The other highlight was Pedroia getting his first hit since returning from his injury. And he stole a base to boot along with scoring a run and drawing a walk.

Tonight Beckett and Santana face off. Which Beckett will we see; the dominant one from July or the run machine of August? The answer to that question will go a long way to answering not only who wins tonight, but how the Sox will finish in 2010.

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* Yes, Yankee fans, he is hitting better than A-Rod. Get over it.

Creeping Into Range

2010-08-12T09:59:00.000-04:00

With the wheels continuing to fall off the Tampa bandwagon (2-6 in their last eight games), Boston has slowly, steadily, come up right behind them. With Boston's convincing 10-1 win in Toronto last night the Sox are just 3.5 games behind the Rays for the AL wild card spot. And just five back of the Yankees for the AL East lead.

Boston's latest gain was thanks in large part to Buchholz, who pitched a fantastic game. His velocity was high and consistent, and his control was outstanding. His record now stands at 13-5 on the year and he leads the AL with a 2.49 ERA. Clay has been a pleasant surprise in a season mostly full of bad breaks.

It also helped to have Bill Hall and Adrian Beltre drive in a bucket load of runs each. Hall had two homers and four RBI while Beltre had one homer and three RBI. I was down on Hall for a while because of his glove. But he is swinging the bat well enough to mitigate any fielding issues. And with more guys coming back from injury, Hall will start less and that will reduce any fielding issues even more. Beltre has been a revelation and has created an interesting off-season issue for the Sox. Is this season indicative of future performance, or is this another 2004 season where Beltre plays great and follows it up with multiple average seasons? What the Sox decide here will determine a lot about how their off-season goes.

Despite giving up two hits, Dustin Richardson looked good in relief. He threw the ball hard and had good location (two strikeouts) in his one inning of work. I think the plan to solve Boston's bullpen issues internally is working thus far. Doubront and Richardson have been getting the job done.

This afternoon is the final game in Toronto before a final three-game set in Texas to finish this road trip. Lackey takes the mound with only one win in his last seven starts. And in more news, Saltalamacchia will get his first start of the year. It will be interesting to see how Lackey pitches to a new catcher.

Happy With A Split

2010-08-10T12:14:00.003-04:00

Anyone who is complaining about Boston's split in New York needs to have their head examined. And yes, I have heard a couple of complaints. Here's how I see it; if you are missing your two best position players and your bullpen is in shambles, and you go into the Bronx and take two from the Yankees, the fans should be pretty damned pleased.

Once again, the two young stalwarts of the Boston rotation came through. Buchholz and Lester threw two fine games and deserved their wins, the 12th of the year for each. Lackey threw an average game, but against Sabathia that isn't going to be good enough. The only game the Sox were out of was Beckett's. And that was as much a function of Beckett's bad outing as it was Boston's inability to hit Moseley.

Bottom line is that the Sox are still six back of the Yanks for first and just 4.5 back of the Rays for the wild card. With 49 games left to play, those are not insurmountable numbers. Provided the Sox get some stability in the bullpen. That will be the key.

But let's look at some positive things. First and foremost (to me) is Ryan Kalish making an argument to be with this team come 2011. He played hard and well in New York and hasn't flinched from the demands of playing on the big stage. His speed on the bases doesn't hurt either. Speaking of speed, Ellsbury is back and tied a club record with four stolen bases in Boston's 2-1 win on Sunday. I personally want him with the team next year. My take on his injury: broken ribs hurt like hell. I had four cracked ribs once and it sucked. It hurts like hell and you can't do a damned thing for it except let nature take its course. And since you aggravate it every time you breathe, it takes time for the ribs to heal. So I don't have an issue with Ellsbury taking so long to come back. I personally had more of an issue with Lowrie missing so much time from mono. I had mono. It also sucks. But I didn't need half a year to recover from it either.

I think a 2011 outfield with Ellsbury and Kalish in it would be a good thing for the Sox. Solid defense and speed. And Kalish has some power. He just needs to learn to generate it on a consistent basis without sacrificing his OBP. I would recommend taking courses at the School of Youkilis.

And then there is Big Papi, who I think has adequately silenced his critics from the beginning of the year. As of today, he is fifth in the AL in homers (24) and walks (61). He is also 10th in the AL in slugging (.529), OPS (.896) and RBI (73). He was quiet for most of the New York series but overall, he is giving the Sox a solid season at DH. 30 homers and 100 RBI is definitely achievable for him this year. Would anyone be disappointed with that?

Good And Bad

2010-08-04T11:29:00.000-04:00

Last night was a microcosm of Boston's season. The Sox won a thrilling 3-1 game over the Indians, gained a game on the Yankees, got a stellar performance from Beckett and a great reappearance from Lowell...but lose Youkilis to a freak thumb injury. An injury that could possibly result in a season-ending surgery. The Lord giveth...

But let's focus on the positive first. Josh Beckett, before his untimely ejection in the bottom of the eighth in that benches-clearing incident (more on that in a moment), looked flat-out awesome. Eight innings, one run, three hits, eight strikeouts and no walks. If this is the Beckett we have for the rest of the year, then the Boston rotation could be downright deadly. Paps pitched a clean ninth for his 25th save of the season.

Due to the Youkilis injury, Mike Lowell stepped in to play first. In his first game back, and while a massive standing ovation was still ongoing, Lowell dumped the first pitch he saw into the Monster seats to put Boston up 2-0 in the second. Lowell is, and has always been, a class act. He deserved nothing less than that kind of return. It's just too bad that it came at the expense of Youk hurting his thumb.

Youk is on the 15-day DL right now as Boston tries to figure out what the hell happened. Apparently, tearing your thumb muscle isn't an easy thing to do. So it could be season-ending surgery or minor surgery or who knows what. But losing Youk was a hard blow for Boston. It's great that Lowell had such an immediate impact. And with less than 60 games to go, Lowell should stay pretty fresh if he has to finish the year out. But losing arguably your best position player...that's tough.

Ryan Kalish quietly went 2-3 in the bottom of the order. He has played well in his four games so far; a combined 7-13 with two RBI and a run scored, and no errors so far in the field. If Kalish can continue to play like this, he will build a good case to be part of the roster in 2011 as the fourth outfielder.

So, as usual, Boston's season is in flux. Perhaps the biggest change is that Tampa now sits atop the AL East with the Yanks a game back. New York is in a bit of a skid and I don't see how Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman and Austin Kearns are going to change that. The final two months in the Al East are going to be wild.

On The Upswing?

2010-08-02T12:06:00.000-04:00

After surviving what could have been a season-killing 10 game swing out west, the Sox came home to take two of three from the Tigers. Not that they made it easy; both wins came in the bottom of the ninth. But a win is a win is a win, and now the Sox sit just 6.5 back of the Yankees and 5.5 back of the Rays.

If there was one negative from yesterday's 4-3 win, it would obviously be Papelbon blowing the lead to cost Buchholz his 12th win of the season. Clay looked as good as he has all year with eight innings of what was shutout ball until the ninth. But after allowing the first two runners on based, he was pulled for Paps. And then Paps allowed those two runs and one more to force the ninth-inning heroics, which amounted to Darnell McDonald scoring from third on a bad throw to first.

Paps now has five blown saves on the year, two more than he had in all of 2009 and the same amount he had in 2008. His all time high is six, which happened in 2006. His ERA is at 3.05 and his WHIP is 1.08. Were the season to end today, those numbers would be near his career all-time highs in those categories.

I have said repeatedly that people shouldn't be flipping out about this. But I have also said that Boston needs to think about Paps' future in Boston. With Daniel Bard allowing just one earned run in his last 17 appearances, comparisons are going to be drawn. Papelbon is on record as wanting to get paid big dollars. And that's fine because he has the past record to back that kind of demand. But Boston has to determine not only if Papelbon is worth Mo Rivera money, but can he stay on the team and not blow up the wage structure if he is worth that kind of money. And with two blown saves in the last 10 days, Paps isn't making a good argument for that right now.

Of course, the other big news was the trading...or lack thereof. The Sox finally got Saltalamacchia (spelled that without looking!) without giving up much at all. Chris McGuinness and Roman Mendez were buried somewhat in the Boston system. Salty's Knoblauch-esque throwing yips seem to be behind him, and hopefully he will develop into the major-league catcher everyone seems to believe he can become. At the least, he will be a good insurance policy behind the plate.

But what pleased me was to see Boston try to solve their problems from within. Ryan Kalish was called up to take over the outfield slot that was held by Hermida, who was designated for assignment. And Felix Doubront takes over in the bullpen for Ramon Ramirez, who was traded to the Giants for prospect Daniel Turpen.

I had the pleasure of seeing both these guys in Portland, with Kalish moving on to the Bucket earlier this year. I am glad to see Theo take this route and challenge our young talent to produce, rather than giving them away in a trade. These kids can play and I think they both have a shot to be good MLB players, maybe even All-Stars. Obviously, that won't happen today. But to trade away these kids for a stop-gap, short-term middle reliever...it would have been a waste. And I think Kalish's play over the last two days has justified Theo's faith thus far.

Armageddon Interrupted

2010-07-29T10:38:00.000-04:00

With Red Sox fans on the verge of a mental collapse and airwave pundits declaring the season all but over, Boston reminded everyone why they cannot be counted out of the post-season race. At least, not yet.

The Sox, after blowing a doable sweep in Seattle, responded by sweeping the Angels. The Sox actually finished with a winning record (6-4) from their West Coast roadtrip. For them to do that even in a normal situation would be cause for celebration. But for Boston to come out ahead with the injuries they have...the fanbase should be ecstatic over that performance.

I mean, look at the lineup they are winning with. No offense to Eric Patterson, Darnell McDonald and Bill Hall, but those guys shouldn't be starting regularly for any team in the majors, let alone the Sox. They are role players, good ones but role players. And yet they have stepped in and stepped up. Hall homered in the second yesterday and then both Hall and Patterson got on base to set the stage for Scutaro's game-winning grand-slam in Boston's 7-3 victory. And these guys have featured again and again in these scenarios. Of course, they also seem to contribute their fair share of errors (Hall especially, at least from what I have seen). But their positive impact has outweighed the negative.

I think the real trick is that Boston simply negated their biggest weakness - the bullpen - by not going to it a lot. Boston's three pitchers in the Anaheim series (Buchholz, Lackey and Beckett) all went at least seven innings. And in last night's win, when Boston needed the bullpen to step up, they actually did. Delcarmen and Ramirez each contributed one inning of scoreless work. Ramirez looked surprisingly effective, striking out two batters. He hasn't allowed an earned run in his last three outings.

The Sox are, obviously, not out of the woods yet. They are still seven back of the Yankees and five behind the Rays for the wild-card spot. But right now they stand at 11-12 for the month of July with two games left in the month at home against the Tigers. They could very well come out of July, a month where they have been without numerous starters for extended periods of time, with a record close to or over .500 for the month. That is a remarkable achievement and shouldn't be discounted. The Sox have kept themselves in contention in almost impossible circumstances. And now with Beckett and Buchholz back on the mound and Hermida and Martinez in the field, we are seeing the Sox slowly regaining their footing.

Now, unless the bullpen can straighten out then this will all be for naught. The Sox can't count on their starters going 7+ each and every outing. Nevertheless, the Sox cannot overpay for a reliever either. Every time someone mentions Kelly and Iglesias going to Toronto for Scott Downs, I want to hurl. Hopefully the situation can resolve itself internally (Doubront and Bowden) or they can find someone good, not great, who can bridge to Bard. But for now, Boston fans can ease back from the ledge a little. The season isn't close to over yet.

Disappointing Ending Shouldn't Create Blind Panic

2010-07-26T10:24:00.000-04:00

After a promising start in Seattle, the Sox saw the final two games slip away to leave them with a split. They stand at 3-4 on this road trip and are now eight games back of the Yankees in the AL East race, five behind the Rays for the wild card.

The Sox are in a bit of a bind now. Their latest glaring weakness - relief pitching - was exploited for all to see. Delcarmen and Okajima were horrendous. And now serious choices have to be made. Rob Bradford from WEEI.com has a great piece on their problem. Put simply, they either have to overpay for a reliever or they hope someone from the minors can get the job done.

And "overpay" is putting it mildly. The Blue Jays want Casey Kelley AND Jose Iglesias for Scott Downs. No, that's not a misprint. And as Bradford put it, you are talking about "a pitcher who most likely isn't even going to be the bridge to the closer, but rather a bridge to the pitcher who pitches just before the closer." Is that worth giving away two of your best prospects?

Joakim Soria would demand a similar haul. The Yankees are rumored to be looking at him and names like Jesus Montero are being bandied about as part of what the Yankees would have to give up. So say goodbye to Kelly or Iglesias at least in return for Soria.

And keep in mind that these two options would bleed the Sox farm system of enough talent that it would be next to unlikely that Boston could pursue Adrian Gonzalez (should he be available) in the 2011 season. Which then leads to the third option of recruiting from within. Felix Doubront could become a reliever/starter for the stretch run (and being a lefty doesn't hurt). Michael Bowden (despite Bradford's doubts) I think could be an option out of the pen as well.

Personally, I think the third choice is, compared with the other two, the only choice Boston can make. Let's be frank for a moment; 2010 is a season on the edge for Boston. Too many injuries to too many key players has put Boston in a hole. The question is whether it is worth it to try and "salvage" the season by impacting your competitiveness in future seasons. And my answer to that is "no."

I think Bowden and Doubront could stabilize the bullpen along with a rejuvenated Scott Atchison. And did Dustin Richardson disappoint anyone in his appearances with Boston? Between June 26 and his last appearance in Oakland on July 20, he allowed just one run. Let's bring those guys in for a month or so and see what they can do. Put Delcarmen and Okajima on the DL until the September roster expansion. At some point we need to know if our younger players can get it done or not. So why not now?

The idea of giving up Kelly and Iglesias for Scott Downs makes me want to vomit. I'd rather the Sox finish last in the AL East than make a short-sighted, knee-jerk trade like that. It's disappointing that the Sox could sweep the Mariners. But that doesn't mean it is time to make a trade so stupid it would make the Eric Gagne trade look brilliant by comparison.

Take The Win

2010-07-23T12:57:00.000-04:00

That was the ugliest win I have ever seen for Boston. Lackey comes within breathing distance of a no-hitter before Delcarmen and Papelbon combine to blow the win in the ninth (with a nice assist from a Bill Hall throwing error). And then it takes until the 13th inning for the Sox to finally win. But right now, for the Sox, you take any win you can get.

What this is going to do, though, is set the "Should we trade Papelbon" rumor machine into overdrive. And I don't know if that is even fair. Paps was handed a crap situation and he almost got out of it. And would have without that throwing error. But when Bard needed just 11 pitches to blow through the 10th...people will start making comparisons. But this game just destroyed Delcarmen's comeback from the DL. He looked horrible and you have to wonder if he is really 100%.

But the bottom line is that they got the win. The Sox are 2-2 so far on this roadtrip and I think they have to go at least .500 to keep from falling out of contention. The Yanks and Rays aren't going to do them any favors. Boston is seven back of New York right now and three behind the Rays. I think the wildcard, for now, has to be the focus. If they can stay in range of Tampa, they will be in this race to the end of the season.

600 And Counting

2010-07-19T16:11:00.000-04:00

Yes, the numbers can be misleading. But for the 600th straight home game, the Sox had a sellout.

The streak began on May 15, 2003, and has since surpassed the previous MLB record of 455, set by the Indians between 1995-2001.
...
The longest recorded regular-season sellout streak in American professional sports is owned by the Portland Trail Blazers, who had 744 consecutive sellouts from 1977-95.

Of course, this is partially the product of having fewer than 40,000 seats in a baseball-mad region. Still, better this than the sight of a place like Tampa. How fans can barely half-fill the stadium for a competitive team like that...they should be embarrassed. Or the Rays should be moved to a city that would actually appreciate them.

Limitations

2010-07-19T10:34:00.002-04:00

I think we saw this weekend Boston's big challenge right now: generating runs. Against the Rangers the Sox never scored more than four runs in one game. The last time they scored more than four runs was in a 9-5 loss to the Jays on July 10.

And while Boston still needs pitching help in the form of Buchholz and Beckett coming back, it is in the bats where Boston is hurting the most. Expecting guys like McDonald and Hall to play every day and produce every day is simply asking too much of them. Of course the Boston brass knows this, but they simply don't have a choice. Boston basically has to fight for a .500 stretch right now and pray that the Yankees and Rays don't go on a tear. It's that simple and that dangerous. But there really isn't anything Boston can do right now.

Remembering The Boss

2010-07-13T10:15:00.000-04:00

Aviv may be on here later with a more in-depth memorial for George Steinbrenner. But I wanted to just add my two cents in now on his death this morning.

George Steinbrenner was, to a Boston fan, our worst nightmare. He was the embodiment of our most bitter rival. Worst of all was that, until recently, we could never beat his Yankees when it mattered most. We cursed his name, his team, his lineage.

But the truth is that we were also a bit jealous. Jealous because for the longest time we never had an owner that loved his team the way George loved his Yankees. We never had an owner who invested in his team the way George invested in his Yankees. And that didn't change until John Henry bought the team. Perhaps it is no small coincidence that he once owned a small piece of the Yankees back in the early 1990s.

And there is another truth; Steinbrenner's relationship with Boston, and ours with him, was more tangled than perhaps both cared to admit. Steinbrenner graduated from Williams College. And every year he donated a substantial amount to The Jimmy Fund, the children's cancer-fighting charity that is as much a part of the Red Sox as Fenway Park. That is just a sliver of the overwhelming generosity Steinbrenner had towards the less-fortunate in our society, and one I wish that had been more public. As with most things, the reality of George Steinbrenner was much more nuanced that the image we liked to hold in our minds.

It has been said that a man (or in this case, a franchise or fanbase) can be judged by the quality of their enemies. And while "enemy" is too strong a word here, our judgment has been favorable. Because in George Steinbrenner, we had a rival whose passion, dedication and generosity went unmatched.

God rest, Mr. Steinbrenner. And go easy on the Big Man upstairs. I think he'd like to keep the beard.

Halfway

2010-07-12T11:26:00.000-04:00

With Boston's 3-2 win over the Jays on Sunday, the Sox reached the halfway point of the 2010 season. Last year, the Sox were in first with a 54-34 record. This year, they are five back of the Yankees with a 51-37 record. So despite all the injuries and the massive slumps, Boston is just three games off last year's pace. The larger problem is that the Yankees are playing better. And let's all thank the man above that Texas swooped in for Lee at the last second.

This wasn't the best of road trips; getting swept in Tampa was a major blow but the kind of event the Sox were vulnerable to considering their overwhelming amount of injuries. To have them take two of three in Toronto was heartening. These are the games they should win and they did.

Matsuzaka looked good last night. Which is encouraging and maddening at the same time. When he has a quality start like this and adds to it by walking no batters, you see the talent he brings to the mound. But he is so inconsistent in showing it; you never know if you are going to get the good Daisuke or the one who gave up five runs and eight hitting in five innings in Tampa. There is something to be said for consistency. At least you knew Jeff Suppan was going to disappoint you every time he took the mound.

David Ortiz continues to defy the idea he is washed up. The recent focus of Ben McGrath's most recent piece in last week's New Yorker, Ortiz hit his 18th homer of 2010 last night and it proved to be the winning run for the Sox. Right now, Ortiz is projecting for 36 homers and 114 RBI on the year. I don't know if that will happen...betting against Ortiz has proven to be a sucker's bet this year. But he could easily hit 30 and 100, and who would be disappointed with those numbers? Still, I don't know if Boston brings him back. And if they did, it would be for less than he made this year.

Another bright spot for the Sox has been the continuing maturation of Daniel Bard. His 19 holds lead the AL. He hasn't allowed an earned run since June 10 and has lowered his ERA to 1.90. He looked great last night, going two innings and allowing just one hit. Even with Paps getting his 20th save last night, expect the "Make Bard the closer" talk to continue on the airwaves.

The All-Star break is a most welcome respite for the Sox right now. Banged up and exhausted, this three-day stretch will go a long way to helping guys get their health back. But it's also worth keeping in mind that, for all their troubles so far in 2010, the Sox are not far behind where they were in 2009. They are still in the AL East hunt. And when they get back guys like Pedroia, Martinez and Beckett (who looked good in a four-inning rehab stint in the Bucket yesterday), Boston will be in great shape to make a final run for the post-season.

The Walking Wounded

2010-07-07T10:57:00.000-04:00

When Kevin Youkilis went down yesterday with an ankle injury, one that seems to be blessedly minor, were any of you really surprised? This kind of random injury is almost common-place these days. 2010 has been the Year of the Crutch in Boston.

Here is the 2010 starting lineup most people projected for the Red Sox:

C: Victor Martinez | 1B: Kevin Youkilis | 2B: Dustin Pedroia | SS: Marco Scutaro | 3B: Adrian Beltre | LF: Jacoby Ellsbury | CF: Mike Cameron | RF: JD Drew | DH: David Ortiz

Here is the lineup the Sox used last night in Tampa:

C: Kevin Cash | 1B: Kevin Youkilis | 2B: Bill Hall | SS: Marco Scutaro | 3B: Adrian Beltre | LF: Daniel Nava | CF: Eric Patterson | RF: JD Drew | DH: David Ortiz

Not too pretty, is it? Only two players, Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro, have played as many as 80 or more games at their position. Jeremy Hermida has played the most games in left this year (41) and he's injured as well. Your leading centerfielder? Say hi to Darnell McDonald (45 games). And only three starting pitchers (Lackey, Lester and Buchholz) have started 15 or more games. And Buchholz is injured now, joining Beckett on the sidelines.

It's at a point now where we have a guy named Niuman Romero playing second base and Eric Patterson playing almost as many games in left field (4) as Jacoby Ellsbury has played there all year (6). In short, it's a triage center in the Boston locker room. Which makes it all the more remarkable that Boston is still in the AL East race.

Here's the biggest difference between Boston and New York. As of Lester's win over the O's a few nights ago, Boston had lost 434 man-games to injuries. The Yankees over the same period have lost just 197. It's not a minor difference; those injuries have forced the Sox to play people out of position, make bench players starters and call up rookies for extended periods of time. And despite that, the Sox are just 3.5 games out of first place. If Boston can hang on and not fall completely out of the race, they could have a huge surge once most of these guys come back.

Of course, that's the trick. Boston has lost back-to-back one run games with the Rays. The kind of games they'd be more likely to win with an intact lineup. This is their big challenge, and it is a hard one.

Six Sox Make The Grade

2010-07-05T11:03:00.000-04:00

Well, we now have the rosters choices for the All-Star Game. And while no Sox made the starting nine for the AL, six players were named to the reserves. Buchholz, Lester, Beltre, Martinez, Ortiz and Pedroia all made the grade, and all six deserve to be on the team.

While it is disappointing no Boston players are starting, the truth is that their slow start made that likelihood all but impossible. The only players who could have made a case are Pedroia, Martinez and Beltre. Pedroia is injured, V-Mart is hurt as well and can't play defense like Joe Mauer. And while Beltre is the best-hitting third baseman in the AL, his defense has been somewhat lacking.

What is heartening is to see Boston's two youngest starters both make the team. And they deserve it. Buchholz and Lester are 3rd and 4th in the AL in ERA and are both tied for 2nd in wins. Lester could even make a claim towards starting the game; he is 2nd in strikeouts (118), third in win percentage (.769) and fifth in WHIP (1.10). David Price will likely get the start, but Lester will feature prominently.

It's six games to the All-Star break and the Sox play them all on the road. Three games with Tampa and three with Toronto. Boston is just 1.5 games back of the Yankees and it is not beyond belief to think the Sox could end up in first place at the break with a good run to end the half.

Really? Really??

2010-07-02T12:58:00.000-04:00

Did the Red Sox collectively kill St. Augustine's cat in a previous life? How else can you explain the latest bad luck to come out of Fenway?

BOSTON -- Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, who was supposed to assume everyday catching duties with Victor Martinez on the disabled list with a fractured left thumb, instead is joining Martinez on the disabled list with a fractured foot, a major league source confirmed Thursday night.

WBZ-Channel 4 in Boston was the first to report that Varitek sustained a leg injury and showed footage of Varitek's charity miniature golf event Thursday night, in which the Sox captain could clearly be seen limping.

At this point the Sox will be lucky to field nine guys at one time in the field.

Tough Month Ahead

2010-07-01T11:29:00.000-04:00

If there is a one-month stretch that will determine the fate of the Boston Red Sox in 2010, it is the month of July. By the time we hit the dog-days of August, we will have a good idea of where this team is going.

The Sox are missing Pedroia, Ellsbury, Hermida, Victor Martinez and Beckett right now. That's three starters, a key bench player and a top pitcher. Toss in a tweaked-but-playing Buchholz and a less-than-healthy Mike Cameron and the picture is even bleaker.

Then comes the news from last night that the reason Delcarmen served up a run fest to Tampa in Boston's 9-4 loss is because he has injured his elbow. The extent of the injury could be known as early as today. This is bad news since Delcarmen was, until recently, one of three reliable pitchers in the bullpen. Now it's Bard, Papelbon and cross your fingers.

So what to do? Well, the immediate answers have been to call up Gustavo Molina from the Bucket to act as Varitek's backup and to trade for Eric Patterson from the A's. Molina is definitely a stop-gap measure, but at least brings some solid defense behind the plate. Patterson is more interesting. He's a career bench player but he has a good glove and is fast. His bat isn't great but he did hit a career high .287 in 110 plate appearances for Oakland in 2009.

Theo will have to make a further decision today about the bullpen with Delcarmen's injury. We could see someone like Tommy Hottovy called up from the Bucket. I can't imagine that Theo wants to deal away more prospects, even if they are mid-level ones. But baring more trades, this is pretty much the team we will see for July. And while someone like Martinez may be back earlier, the earliest we could have everyone back is the end of July.

And once that happens? Well, if the Sox have been able to hang in the race then they'll be well-poised to make a stretch run for the AL East title. Eric Patterson could possibly be a valuable trading chip by then if Hermida is all the way back. And it wouldn't hurt that a couple of AAA guys have gotten some solid playing time.

But that's the big unknown. And in two games with the Rays...we still really don't know which way they are headed. But by month's end, we will.

Walking Wounded

2010-06-28T11:21:00.000-04:00

So just how many Boston starters can get injured on one road trip? It's great that Lester manhandled the Giants yesterday, outdueling Tim Lincecum with a brilliant complete game win. Lester allowed just one run on five hits to propel Boston to a 5-1 win, giving Boston three wins in their last four games and a .500 record on this road trip.

But the injury bug is getting a little ridiculous here. First Pedroia, then Buchholz and now Victor Martinez. V-Mart fractured his thumb on Sunday, making San Francisco the most dangerous place in the world for a Red Sox player this side of Afghanistan. And while Buchholz may miss just one start, Pedroia and Martinez could be out for an extended period of time. Those are two critical positions where Boston doesn't have a lot of depth. Playing Bill Hall and Tek every day is a very short-term answer. Very short term.

But the Sox get a day off before they return to Boston. I would guess they'll use it to decide what they need to do to cover these positions. We would have seen Dusty Brown or Mark Wagner come up as backup for Tek...but they're on the DL as well. So who knows who the Sox will bring up. I guess we could see Tug Hulett come up from the Bucket to help out at second unless the brass thinks Angel Sanchez can handle it. But are any of these legitimate options if Pedey or V-Mart are out for weeks? Or does Boston have to start looking at trade scenarios so they don't lose the ground they just made up in the AL East?

Clay Hits 10

2010-06-21T11:53:00.000-04:00

I'll be honest; I had serious doubts Clay Buchholz would ever tap into his obvious wellspring of pitching talent. I had no problems entertaining ideas about him on the trading block. He looked like the proverbial player who just never quite plays up to his ability.

Well, I was wrong. Theo Epstein kept the faith and this year he has been rewarded by a breakout season (so far) from Buchholz. Clay picked up his 10th win of the year last night with a 2-0 Boston win over the Dodgers to complete a nine-game homestand with an 8-1 record.

Buchholz had a good outing, going 6 2/3 shutout innings and allowing just three hits. But it wasn't a dominant outing; Clay threw 30 pitches in the first inning and 106 overall in those 6 2/3 innings. He threw first-pitch strikes to only half the batters he faced. But he won, and this is the kind of game he would have lost a year ago. Clay is tied with Hughes and Price for wins in the AL and is third in ERA (2.47). If you dig into some of the other, more obscure stats, Clay matches up favorably with Hughes and Price. Which is my way of saying that even if he shouldn't be the starter, Clay deserves to be on the AL pitching staff for the All-Star game.

Bard and Papelbon finished the game off. Bard got his 15th hold of the year and Paps got his 16th save. There has been talk recently of watching Bard's innings. Last year he threw 49.1 innings. So far this year he has thrown 36.2 innings. I am always of two minds about this stuff. On the one hand, all you have to do is see how Dusty Baker lays waste to talented young pitchers to know that this is a concern worth having. On the other hand...shouldn't a young pitcher be able to handle a heavier workload without counting each 1/3 of an inning like it's spun gold? All I know is that Bard has a great arm and I would hate to see him not used in key situations because of some abstract metric.

Pedroia and Scutaro scored Boston's two runs, knocked in by Youk and Papi respectively. Here we are, not quite at the break, and Papi has hit 15 homers and collected 46 RBI. He has a .260 BA and a .921 OPS. If he kept up this pace he'd come close to cracking 40 homers and 120 RBI on the season. Would anyone object to a season like that? This makes Theo's decision in the off-season regarding Papi that much harder. Is this indicative of future performance or that all-too-common "one last good season" a lot of players have before they fall off the cliff?

Boston gets an off-day today so they can travel to Colorado to face the Rockies. Hopefully their dominance of NL opposition will continue.

Knocking On The Door

2010-06-20T10:57:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else remember the blind panic back in April? The absolute fear that the Red Sox were done? Finished? Doomed to finish fourth in the AL East? Well, I think we can say that, for now, those fears have been proven hollow.

With Boston's thrilling 5-4 win over the Dodgers at Fenway on Saturday, the Sox sit just one game behind the Rays and Yankees for first place in the AL East. Depending on how the games go today, we could see a three-way tie for first in the Al East on Monday morning.

The Sox have won five in a row and nine of their last twelve games. And they are winning games now they would have lost back in April.

The pitching in these past few wins has not been the stuff of legend. Not that it has been bad, but the outings have been ones where the pitchers were visibly working. And yet the Sox have won.

Even yesterday, Wakefield pitched well enough to keep Boston in the game but it wasn't a dominant performance. But with a solid performance from Okajima and a nice ninth inning from Papelbon, the Sox got what they needed from their high-powered offense to win the game 5-4.

Dustin Pedroia's resurgence has paralleled the rise of Boston's pitching. Hitting .248 just 10 games ago, Pedroia is on a nine-game hitting streak and has two or more hits in seven of those games. In the last six games, Pedey is hitting .522 and has a 1.295 OPS. And yesterday was another example of how well he is playing. His walk-off single to win the game looked almost matter-of-fact for Pedroia.

Daniel Nava scored that winning run and it is obvious he is enjoying the limited time he has up in Boston. He actually has one of the highest OBPs on the team (.407) and has hit in five of his seven games. He also doubled in Boston's first run of the game in the second inning.

One disappointment yesterday was Boston's four errors. It looked like the defense has finally settled in and wasn't going to be having this kind of game any more. But that apparently isn't the case. If you commit four errors and win the game, you should count yourself fortunate.

Tonight it's Buchholz facing Hideki Kuroda. Kuroda has pitched well in his last two outings, allowing no runs and striking out 14 in twelve innings combined. Buchholz has allowed three runs in each of his last two outings. But with Boston going for the sweep and first place in the AL East a possibility, Buchholz should step up for the game tonight.

Tough Win Is Still A Win

2010-06-16T10:08:00.000-04:00

No, Clay Buchholz did not have his best stuff last night, scoreline and K/BB ratio to the contrary. But he did what he needed to do, the batters did what they needed to do and the result was a 6-3 win for the Sox over Arizona.

It's not often that a pitcher can exhibit the control to strike out eight batters and walk just one, but at the same time throw 113 pitches in 5.2 innings. But that is what happened with Clay last night. He had more pitches fouled off (24) than he did for called strikes (22). But even with the three runs and seven hits he allowed, Clay did another solid (if not great) job. He's now 9-4 on the year and is second in the AL in wins.

The Okajima Reclamation Project continued last night with Oki going scoreless for two-thirds of an inning for his seventh hold of the year. He has allowed just one run in his last five appearances. The Delcarmen / Bard / Papelbon trio did the job we expect out of them, closing down the last 2.2 innings of the game without allowing a hit or a run. Papelbon now has 14 saves on the year.

On the other side of the ledger the big news is the return of the Dustin Pedroia we all know and love. For the month of May he hit just .213 with an anemic .659 OPS thanks to a bum knee. But excepting for a short three-game stretch in Cleveland where he went hitless, Pedroia has hit in every other game in June. Last night he went 2-3 with three runs scored and one RBI. David Ortiz went 2-4 with a run scored and two RBI thanks to a two-run blast in the first inning. He now has 13 homers, good for 8th best in the AL. Youk went 2-4 with a RBI, but he finally committed his first error of the year. And new hero Daniel Nava struck out three times, but drew a walk and scored a run on a wild pitch in the third inning.

Tonight the D'Backs put Rodrigo Lopez on the mound against Jon Lester. Baring another random bad outing like the one he suffered in his last start against Cleveland, Lester should give the Sox a large advantage in this game.

Sox Surging At Half-Power

2010-06-15T13:15:00.003-04:00

What has been most remarkable about Boston's recent run of play is that they've been doing it while carrying a lot of injured players. How well would they be playing with a full roster?

Two-thirds of their starting outfield has been absent most of the year. Jaocby Ellsbury is still out and has played only six games in 2010. Now Jermey Hermida is out with fractured ribs, an injury that necessitated calling up Daniel Nava. It should be noted, he responded quite well. Right now their outfield is Drew, Cameron, Nava and Bill Hall. Hall is the backup player at every player position except for first, short and pitcher.

Boston's pitching has taken numerous hits. Beckett is still out with back problems. Daisuke injured his forearm in a lousy piece of timing as he was really starting to get in a groove. Now the Sox have to find a fifth starter in the short term.

And worst of all, Kevin Youkilis is day-to-day with a swollen elbow. Thankfully, he said he is playing tonight. But losing Youk would cripple this team.

But with all of that going on, the Sox are 13-7 in their last 20 games. They have a record of 37-28 and sit just four back of the Yanks and Rays, who are tied for first. At this point last year Boston was 40-25, so they are pretty much on track. And once these injuries clear up, one can only assume the Sox will be playing at an even higher level.

But they have now won their last five series. And with the way Arizona is playing, the Sox should be able to make it six. But they face (arguably) the D-Backs second-best pitcher right away in former Yankee Ian Kennedy. Boston counters with Clay Buchholz, who leads the Boston staff in wins and ERA.

Well Lookie Here...

2010-06-09T10:55:00.002-04:00

I'm almost asking myself why I am writing this. During my hiatus, the Red Sox basically turned the dial up to 11 and stomped their way up AL East ladder. Now they sit just four games out of first and just two games behind the Yankees for what would currently be the wild-card slot in the post-season. Quite a far cry from the end of April when a bunch of pink hats and airwave bloviators were ready to blow this team up.

The single biggest change? The starting pitching. As I said over a month ago, that would be the key to Boston getting back on track. Just look at the last four outings for each starter:

- Jon Lester has allowed just three runs (two earned) in his last four starts to go 4-0. He has struck out 22 and walked 12. He threw a complete game on May 20 and lowered his ERA from 3.91 to 2.73.

- Clay Buchholz went 4-0 and threw a complete game shutout on June 4 against the Orioles. He struck out 21, walked 7 and allowed three runs over that four game span, lowering his ERA from 3.46 to 2.39

- John Lackey went 2-1 in his last four starts, trimming his ERA from 4.86 to 4.72. He has allowed four runs or less in his last four starts, the longest streak of the season for Lackey.

- Tim Wakefield has been shaky but has still gone 2-2 in his last four starts, replacing the injured Josh Beckett. His win last night cut his ERA by half-a-run, from 6.02 to 5.48.

- Daisuke Matsuzaka has had the most impressive turnaround. He has allowed three runs in two starts and no runs in his other two starts, going 3-1 overall. His outing two nights ago was brilliant, an eight-inning win where he allowed no runs and four hits. He has lowered his era from 7.89 to 4.59.

No starter has worse than a .500 record over their last four starts and two (Buchholz and Lester) are undefeated. Combine that with Boston's potent offense (what power outage?) and a solidifying bullpen, and you get a team that is proving that Theo Epstein's plan was a solid one. In Boston's last 20 games, they are 16-4. No, that isn't a misprint. Boston has held their opponent to three runs or less in 13 of those 20 games. And their defense, once mired in the bottom rungs of the AL, is now 4th in the AL based on fielding percentage.

The team Theo envisioned in spring training is now the team we are seeing on the field. And if you are a Boston fan, you are liking what you are seeing. If you're a Yankee fan? Well, maybe you started talking trash just a little too soon and forgot what happened with your team in 2009.

Did Ya Miss Us?

2010-06-08T09:47:00.001-04:00

You'll have to forgive our long absence. We've been doing a lot of life- and work-related things that have taken us away from SvS these past few weeks.

But that is winding up now and soon we'll be back to talking about the Sox and Yanks. And why the Sox are better than the Yankees.

- Dave

Catching Some Rays

2010-05-26T11:44:00.000-04:00

Where are the doomsayers? Where are the complaining and prostate pink hats? Where are all the voices that were telling us that Boston's season was over before we even had a chance to grill some burgers on Memorial Day?

I don't know and frankly, I don't care. But they've been shut up by a stellar run of play from the Red Sox. They've won both series on the road against the Phillies and the Rays, and could sweep Tampa tonight if Lackey gives Boston a good outing. But these last two wins, with Buchholz leading the Sox to a 6-1 win on Monday and Lester's solid performance heading Boston's 2-0 win last night, are proof positive that Boston is anything but done.

Jon Lester has been, in a word, dominant. Even with an unusual lack of control last night (five walks) he still struck out nine and allowed just one run in six innings of work. Since April 18, when Tampa tagged him for seven earned runs in a 7-1 loss, Lester has lowered his ERA by 5+ runs (8.44 to 3.15), hasn't lost in seven straight decisions and has allowed more than two earned runs in a start just once (four in a 7-6 no-decision loss to the Tigers). He leads the AL in strikeouts (72) and probably could have tacked on a few more last night if he hadn't run up his pitch count so quickly.

And that's where the bullpen came in. Over the past four games they have been brilliant and last night was no exception. Delcarmen, Bard and Papelbon each took an inning and systematically shut the Rays down, allowing no hits and just one walk. Paps looked good picking up his 11th save and Bard now has nine holds, third best in the AL, to go along with a fantastic 0.92 WHIP.

All the hitting Boston needed last night came from the resurgent bat of David Ortiz, who has hit in eight of his last ten games. His two-run double last night was all the scoring Boston needed. He has 25 RBI on the season now, and 21 of those have come in May. His OPS is up to .878 on the season and is a remarkable 1.278 for the month of May. Whatever timing issues Ortiz was having in the beginning of the season have been resolved.

What we are seeing now from Boston is what Theo envisioned when he spoke about "run prevention". Solid pitching, timely hitting and good defense translates into winning big (8-3 against Philly on Sunday) or small like they did last night. The Sox have allowed just four runs in their last four games, three of those coming on Sunday. They haven't committed an error in their last five games, which has raised them to fourth-best in the AL for fielding percentage (.985). And their team OPS of .789 is second-best in the AL, trailing just the Yankees.

All that adds up to Boston being five games over .500 for the first time this year at 26-21. They're only 1.5 back of the Yankees in second place and 6.5 back of the Rays as we approach the end of May. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling good about the Sox right now. Tonight Boston goes for the sweep of Tampa on the road, something I didn't care consider. Hell, I'm ecstatic they took the first two. Lackey faces off against Garza, a matchup that seems to favor the Rays based on recent performance. But if Lackey can get back into form, Boston has a real chance at winning.

Rolling Through Philly

2010-05-24T06:00:00.001-04:00

After Boston's 11-9 loss to New York, people were writing off the Sox. All the pink-hats were bailing, trying to sell off their tickets because Boston has the audacity to not be in first place. Sports pundits were talking about who the Sox should trade for prospects. All before two months of the season were finished.

Since then the Sox have won five of six, including two of three in Philadelphia. The latest win was yesterday afternoon, an 8-3 whipping of the Phillies and Roy Halladay. The final score makes it sound closer than it really was. Tim Wakefield picked up his first win in nine starts, going eight shutout innings and allowing just five hits. He walked just two batters and threw about 67% of his pitches for strikes. I'm liking Wakes in the rotation right now, although once Beckett comes back it'll likely be Tim going back to the bullpen. Hard to see Daisuke going in there, especially with his near no-hitter on Saturday night.

Again, an important part of these games was the relative non-use of the bullpen. In the last two games, the Sox used just two pitchers for two innings of work. This puts them in a good place heading into a critical three-game set in Tampa. Another piece of good news is that Boston has gotten solid pitching from four of their five starters in their last go-through. And when the starting pitching is working, everything else falls into place.

It also helps to have some solid hitting, and the Sox have been getting that as well. Boston beat down Roy Halladay Sunday, scoring seven runs (six earned) on eight hits in 5.2 innings. The most damage was done in the meat of the order. Youk went 2-4 with three runs scored and one RBI courtesy of his ninth homer of the season. Youk also saw 27 pitches in five trips to the plate, a ridiculous number of pitches. In his last seven games, Youk is hitting .409 with a monster 1.364 OPS.

Really, the only downside to today's game was Ramon Ramirez allowing three runs in the ninth inning. But that's pretty much why he was allowed to pitch the ninth. You aren't putting Ramirez on the mound with the game on the line.

With the win the Sox are three games over .500 at 24-21 on the season, three games off the pace from last year. They've also finally pushed themselves into a positive run differential, scoring 233 and allowing 230. But there is a long way to go. Even with this recent string of winning, the Sox are 8.5 back of the Rays and still need to make up 1.5 wins on the Jays just to reach third place. But to look at that and decide that the season is over or that Boston is finished...if your love for the team is that weak, then go pick another bandwagon. The Sox could use a few less pink hats in the stands.

Ace High

2010-05-21T11:38:00.000-04:00

Jon Lester showed yesterday that he is the best pitcher right now on Boston's staff and might be the best left-handed starter in the majors. His complete-game, 6-2 win over the Twins was a dominant performance. A performance that reflects the fact that, with 101 starts, Lester has a better win percentage (.719) that any pitcher ever with 100 or more starts. And he's only 26 years old.

Lester's outing was phenomenal. He allowed just one run on six hits (the second came from a Pedroia error in the ninth). He struck out nine batters and walked none. Those nine strikeouts gave him 63 on the year, third best in the AL. He threw first-pitch strikes to a ridiculous 28 batters out of 32 total (87.5%). All together, 73.7% of his pitches were thrown for strikes. And his groundball/flyball ratio was 2/1 (12 and 6), which helped lead to Boston turning two double plays.

But most important was that Lester, along with Buchholz, basically gave the bullpen two nights off. In two nights, the bullpen only had one guy come out for one inning of work. That is a big deal as the Sox now hit the road again for games in Philly and Tampa.

Lester was helped by the hitting of Kevin Youkilis. He went 2-4, including a three-run blast to deep center that broke the game open (4-0) in the third inning. Youk is quietly assembling a top-notch season once again. He is first in the AL in walks (33) and runs scored (34), second in OBP (.459) and OPS (1.053), and sixth in slugging (.593). He is pretty much the hardest "out" in the AL right now along with Justin Morneau.

Really, the only thing that was bad for the Sox last night was David Ortiz blasting everything around him. I think he has some valid points to make. Two games into the season, two games, people were saying he was done and needed to be benched/traded/fired. And that is nuts. But at the same time, he complained about getting pinch-hit for later in the season. Well, if you're hitting .143 for the month of April, you're going to get hit for now and again. And that will stop once you have proven you are swinging the bat. Papi has proven that and I don't think Tito will be pinch-hitting for Papi any time soon. But after that, I would be very surprised if Papi is in a Boston uniform come 2011.

Tito has a tough job right now, placating a lot of veterans who are on their way out. Some are keeping quiet (Varitek), some are making suggestions about mutually beneficial decisions (Lowell) and some are holding court (Papi). This isn't the happy-go-lucky locker room of 2004. There is more dissension than there has been for a while. That it is still as muted as it is says a lot about Tito's abilities not only as a manager on the field, but behind-the-scenes as well.

The Sox hit the road for six games, starting tonight in Philly. John Lackey faces Cole Hamels. Both guys are under-performing right now relative to their overall talent. Hopefully, Lackey gets back on track against a NL team tonight.

Clay Brings It

2010-05-20T13:53:00.000-04:00

I thought that last night's pitching matchup was a good one for the Sox. I figured that even if Clay Buchholz got tagged for four or five runs, the Sox could get that off of Minnesota's Scott Baker. What I didn't expect was for Clay Buchholz to pitch brilliantly in a 3-2 Boston win. Over eight innings, Clay made a convincing argument that he is the second-best pitcher on this squad right now, trailing only Jon Lester.

Buchholz went eight innings and allowed just two runs on five hits. He struck out seven and walked one. He threw 65% of his pitches for strikes and first-pitch strikes to 17 or the 28 batters he faced. And his pitches were moving; that fastball was tailing away and looking fantastic. With the win Clay goes to 5-3 on the year and lowered his ERA to 3.26. But the most important thing that this win established is that Clay Buchholz can pitch, and win, against the better teams in the majors.

Now, you could point to his win over the Tigers on May 14 and say that, but he only went 6.1 innings in that game. Here he went a full eight and still threw seven fewer pitches than he did against the Tigers. This was also his best K/BB ratio in a win. He had struck out 10 and walked one against the Rangers in April, but lost that game 3-0. Hell, in about half his starts he has walked more batters than he has struck out. So to post numbers like these...it's a big deal.

Right now, there are two pitchers you can rely on and they're named Buchholz and Lester. Buchholz has the best record and ERA of any starter, Lester has the best WHIP and strikeout total. I don't think it's a correlating fact that they are Boston's two youngest starters, but it's nice to know they'll be here for a while.

The other big story from last night is the continuing revitalization of David Ortiz. Last night he went 1-4 with a two-run blast. That was his eighth homer of the season and the fourth in his last six games. He's now in the Top 20 in the AL for home runs. So right now, all the people that said he was done or on the verge of being done (and I think I can be included in the latter group) can sit down to a nice meal of humble pie. Papi is getting it done as DH and looks damn good right now.

Tonight it's Lester and Liriano. Should be a good matchup and if both pitchers perform to their talent, it'll be a low-scoring close one as well.

A non-game related item. A few days ago I talked about up-and-comers in Boston's system. One of them was Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Felix Doubront. I said he would like get a call-up to the Bucket sometime this summer. Well, summer just arrived. I really feel that Doubront could be a starter for Boston as soon as next year if his development continues at the same pace. But that would depend on there being space in the rotation. Maybe he could be the spot-starter for his first year. Either way, it is good to see Doubront getting his chance now to prove himself at the next level. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, they call up to Portland to take his place. Fabian Williamson is pitching well for Boston's single-A affiliate in Salem, VA. He's 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA. His teammate, Stolmy Pimentel, has similar numbers but is a year younger. My guess would be Williamson because he's a lefty like Doubront.

Gutsy Win

2010-05-19T13:45:00.000-04:00

For the second night in a row, the Sox found themselves in a 5-0 hole against the Yankees. For the second night in a row, the Sox came back to take a two-run lead into the ninth. But unlike Tuesday night, Jonathan Papelbon did just enough to get the save and snag a crucial 7-6 win for the Sox.

No one will ever mistake Paps for a Yankee killer. For whatever reason, New York seems to be able to get to him. But Paps somehow cobbled together the three outs for his 10th save, the last out a strikeout of Randy Winn with runners on second and third.

It took a little bit of luck for Paps to even have that opportunity. First, Joba Chamberlain imploded as the Sox rallied back to tie the game at five. I always said Joba wasn't a starter...who knew he wasn't a reliever either? Then Marcus Thames went from hero to zero in 24 hours, dropping a Scutaro fly ball to put runners on first and second in the ninth. Which was followed one out later by Mo Rivera looking human and giving up a two-run double to Jeremy Hermida that put Boston up 7-5. Not for nothing, but Mo has looked off in his last two outings. Could Father Time actually be catching up to Mariano?*

Not that everything was smiles and sunshine for Boston. First and foremost, Beckett had a rough outing...again. But at least we have an idea it might be his back...again. Remember when the big concern was his developing a blister on his hand? Don't you miss those problems? Backs are tricky as hell...who knows what it could be or how long it could last. Beckett's whole night whipsawed between looking good and then surrendering crucial hits.

Then there was Marco Scutaro committing two errors. One of the big reasons for him coming to Boston was because of his glove. Well, that glove has rung up six errors so far and we aren't through May yet. I'm not saying he is destined for a Renteria type of year, but we aren't getting the glove we thought we were. At least not yet.

And then we have David Ortiz admiring a home run...that turned into a single...that turned into him getting thrown out at second. Look, I am thrilled, truly, that Papi has turned it around. In May he is hitting .376 with a 1.162 OPS. His overall OPS for the year has risen to .821. He's back in a groove. But that doesn't mean he should get back into admiring every long ball he hits, either. That was a hot dog move that backfired.

But that all pales to the fact that Boston won in the Bronx and climbed back up to .500 overall. But it doesn't get any easier; the Sox get Minnesota at home for two before seeing the Phillies and the Rays on the road. All in all, this is one of Boston's toughest stretches of the season. But they get two nice matchups with Clay Buchholz facing Scott Baker tonight and then Lester drawing Liriano tomorrow. Those are pretty even and that is about all Boston can hope for right now when it comes to their pitching.
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* No. No he isn't. I'm pretty sure Rivera is fueled by some advanced nuclear reactor or possibly the harnessed energy of a supernova. He'll probably register 30+ saves when he's in his mid-50s.

Here Comes The Crazy

2010-05-18T14:44:00.000-04:00

Get ready for it, Boston fans. After last night's down/up/down tilt with the Yankees that ended with Boston losing 11-9 on two two-run blasts in the bottom of the ninth, all hell should be breaking loose on the Intertubes today. And most of it will focus on Jonathan Papelbon and Theo Epstein.

I'm not saying people don't have a right to be pissed. The Sox caught Hughes on an off-day and survived another Daisuke Inning From Hell, only to watch the win slip from their hands. Hell, I'm pissed off about it too. But the over-reaction to it will be epic because the loss happened in the Bronx.

What was most disappointing, to me, was Daisuke. After a great outing against the Jays, he reverted to getting the one-inning yips. It's not easy allowing five runs in the first inning, but somehow he did it. And I think we really have to discuss where he goes from here on out. Especially after Wakefield looked awesome in relief, allowing only one hit over 2.1 innings. Can the Sox afford to keep an uneven Daisuke out on the mound when Wakefield has been pitching well over the last 10 days? It's not that I don't think Daisuke can pitch. He most definitely can; in his first two years (2007-08), Daisuke had the fourth highest win total (33 wins) of any pitcher in the majors over that span. More than Jake Peavy, Cole Hamels or Johan Santana. But after the World Baseball Classic, Daisuke got totally derailed and it is clear he hasn't recovered from that. With Boston needing every win it can get (we're two weeks from June 1), putting Daisuke on the mound right now is flirting with an automatic "L" almost every time.

As to Paps and Epstein, let's take them in reverse. People will call today bitching about Epstein's "run prevention" plan and how it was a crock because the Sox are losing and he needs to make a trade or get fired or something because THESOXAREINFOURTHPLACEANDLOSINGTOTHEYANKEESOHMYGODITSTHEAPOCALYPSE!!!!

I'm not thrilled with Boston's play so far either (although against the Yanks, they are two wins ahead of where the Yankees were last year). Still, the problem is not Theo's idea of run prevention, That was the right plan, especially since Boston's offense is trucking right along. The problem is that the pitching just hasn't been there, and no one can say that Theo didn't address pitching in the off-season. The pitching staff simply hasn't held up its end of the deal. Hell, even their defense has improved to be among the middle of the pack in the AL. But Boston's team ERA is dead-last in the AL. The Sox are one of three teams in the AL without a complete game to their name. Their 18 quality starts are second-worst in the AL. Boston's seven blown saves are second-worst in the AL. And it doesn't help that the two of the best teams in every category happen to be the Yankees and the Rays.

As for Paps, people will forget that he didn't allow a single earned run in his last seven starts. Or that this was just his first blown save of the year. All they will see is that he got rocked by the Yanks. Again. And the truth is, he isn't good against the Yankees historically. It also won't help that Daniel Bard pitched a solid eighth inning. And so the talk will begin of making Bard the closer.

Forget that Paps has been, overall, having a season more akin to those early in his career. Forget that his home run rate and blown save numbers aren't any worse relative to last year (although it's hard to see that based on last night). It's just plainly obvious that he must be traded NOW!!!!

No. Now, it's not that I haven't talked about trading Papelbon before. I made the suggestion that if Theo wanted to do so, now would be the best time because his value would be highest. But you cannot do something that big in a blind panic. You would have to be 110% sure that Bard could handle the closer's role. I don't think we're at that point yet.

So my answer to all this is a very un-explosive "Don't change anything." But really, what is there to change? Do you think the Sox could trade for a better starting pitcher than what they have now? I suppose they could shoot the moon for Cliff Lee in Seattle, but who do you get rid of? Remember that Daisuke has a no-trade clause and Boston already has one starter in the bullpen. What has to happen is simple: Boston's pitchers have to pitch to their level. Once that happens, the ship will right itself. But right now it's a perfect storm of too many pitchers having sub-par seasons, the anti-Tampa staff if you will. As long as that continues, Boston will struggle.

Tonight it's Beckett and Sabathia. If Beckett ever wants to get going this season, this would be one hell of a game to pick.

Motor City Breakdown

2010-05-17T14:23:00.001-04:00

I wish I could do a proper post but work has been (and continues to be) hellacious. Suffice it to say, a promising start went south in a hurry.

The bullpen imploded on Saturday (although Papelbon was stellar). But Sunday was worse, with the Sox stranding 10 runners in scoring position against Galarraga and Company while Lackey allowed five runs. And just like that the Sox are stumbling into the Bronx for two games. And God only knows what will happen tonight. It goes without saying that Daisuke has to replicate that great outing against the Blue Jays if the Sox are to stand a chance tonight against Phil Hughes. Who, I will admit, looks pretty damn good and should be the front-runner for AL starter in the All-Star game. A starting pitcher with a .92 WHIP? That's just mean.

One good piece of news? Looks like Ortiz may have rediscovered his swing. Boston will need it.

A Look At The Youngsters

2010-05-14T11:54:00.001-04:00

With the Sox having the day off, I thought it might be nice to see how some of the big names in the system are doing so far. These are guys whom you may have heard mentioned in trade rumors, talked about as future stars and the like.

Casey Kelly: Kelly is the recognized #1 prospect in Boston's system. He had top-flight potential as a shortstop but an even higher ceiling as a pitcher. Kelly decided to focus solely on pitching entering 2010. He has started six games for the Portland Sea Dogs and is 0-2 with a 3.48 ERA. But before you go "Is that all there is??" you need to know those numbers are deceiving. He's throwing limited innings (only allowed two innings of work in the season opener) and so when he gives up a couple of runs, it looks worse than if he had been allowed to go seven or eight innings. He's up to five innings in a game now. In his last start he allowed three runs on five hits, but he struck out seven and walked just two batters. He'll only get better as the season progresses.

Ryan Kalish: Kalish is one of the top two outfield prospects in the Boston system (the other being Josh Reddick) and may show up in Boston during September callups. He is also playing in Portland and having a very solid season. He's hitting .255 with an .817 OPS. He has a hit in eight of his last 10 games and is riding a four-game hitting streak. He is the Eastern League Top 20 for RBI and OPS, the Top 10 for runs scored and walks, and is fourth in steals. His K/BB ratio is fantastic at .62 so far. That's right, he walks more than he strikes out.

Anthony Rizzo: You probably knew him before as the kid who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2008 and then declared cancer-free late that year. You should know him now as the possible future first-baseman for the Red Sox. He hit Single A Greenville at 18, was promoted to Advanced A Salem at 19 and at age 20 was just recently promoted to Portland. That is the kind of steady progression you love to see in a prospect. He's played three games so far, has hit in all three, tallied four RBI and has an OPS of 1.212. That's not a bad start. You have to see him play to appreciate his potential.

Jose Iglesias: Jose is the future shortstop of the Red Sox baring massive injury or an asteroid destroying the earth before 2011-2012. He electrified Boston's spring training with his fantastic glove. He in major-league ready now as far as his defense goes. But it turns out the kid can stroke the ball as well. He's hitting .310 on the year and a .782 OPS, but .381 with a .910 OPS over his last 10 games. If there is one thing Jose needs to work on is being patient at the plate; his K/BB ratio is 3.6 and that's a little high.

Felix Doubront: Casey Kelly may be the pitcher with the highest ceiling, but Doubront is the best pitcher in the system right now. He is 3-0 for Portland with a 3.00 ERA. He has a 2-1 K/BB ratio and has a BAA of .246 so far. He has struggled in the past with leaving the ball up and allowing too many home runs. But so far in 2010 Doubront has yet to allow a homer. He hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in his last three starts. I would be shocked if Doubront wasn't promoted to the Bucket sometime this summer.

Will Middlebrooks: I figure at least one guy shouldn't be from Portland, so who better than the guy people see as either Boston's future third baseman or as a top-flight trading chip. Middlebrooks plays in Salem right now and is swinging the bat well. He's hitting .343 with a .989 OPS and 16 RBI. He has a strong arm and great range at third. He meeds to work on taking pitches and recognizing what is coming his way, but it's entirely possible he could be in Portland soon. But also consider that 1B/3B is kind of clogged. With Youk definitely taking one of those slot in Boston for at least the next five years and the the other kids (Rizzo, Yamacio Navarro, Lars Anderson) in the mix, Boston can't hold onto all these players indefinitely. And Middlebrooks is the kind of youngster that other organizations want to get in a trade.

Sox Come Up Short

2010-05-13T10:58:00.000-04:00

I don't like it when people complain about an umpire's strike zone as if it cost their team the game. There are always other, larger factors involved. But I think it is fair to say that in Boston's 3-2 loss to Toronto yesterday afternoon, Dale Scott sure didn't do Boston any favors late in the game.

One only need to look at the F/X pitch chart for Dale Scott, created by Brooks Baseball and brought to the public's attention by the Globe's Peter Abraham. Here is the chart:

Red triangles are strikes thrown by Toronto. Red squares are strikes thrown by the Sox. As you can see, Toronto was playing with a much looser zone. And that did matter late in the game.

With Boston down 3-1 in the ninth and a runner on second with one out, David Ortiz was called out on a 3-2 pitch that was closer to Ipswich Street than the strike zone. It should have been runners on first and second with one out when Beltre hit that single. Now I am not saying that the Sox would have won or even tied. Frankly, they should have scored at least one or two runs by that point. But the point is that they never even had that chance to find out because of a horrific strike call from Dale Scott.

You basically know an umpire screwed up when you talk about them. It happened with Angel Hernandez and Joe West in the opening series with New York. And it happened last night. Every fan of every team has a horror story to tell about the bad call that cost them the game. Some are epic, like Don Denkinger's blunder in the '85 Series. Most are like Scott's; a bad call that minimizes a team's chance to win but doesn't single-handedly alter the outcome. I mean, all McDonald needed to do was hit a single and that game was tied. Or if Wakes hadn't given up that homer in the seventh, Beltre's RBI single would have won it. So to say Scott "cost Boston the game" isn't true. But it didn't make trying to win it any easier, either.

Wakefield threw a good game but ultimately didn't get the support he needed. One bright note was that he recorded his 2,000 career strikeout. He has 2,002 now, placing him 63rd all-time in the majors. But the end result is that Boston is now 18-17 on the year and 12-11 at home. However, after 35 games last year Boston was 21-14. So they're only three games off the pace of a season where they won 95 games. What makes it look worse than it is would be the stellar start both New York and Tampa have had. But both teams have stumbled slightly as of late. Which is to be expected only because the law of averages runs against those two teams playing that hot all season long.

The Sox get today off and then don't have another break until Memorial Day. During this stretch they will play the Tigers, Yankees, Phillies and Rays on the road for 11 games out of 17 in total. So it won't get any easier for them. At that point last year (after 52 games), the Sox were 30-22. To match that, the Sox will have to go 12-5. Not impossible, but not likely either. If they can just go 10-7 (and I think they can), they'll be two games off their 2009 pace. After their rough start, that would be a good place for Boston to be in come June 1.

Blown Away By Daisuke

2010-05-12T10:50:00.000-04:00

Ummm...where has this Daisuke been hiding for the past 1+ years? I like this model; he pounds the strike zone and goes after hitters. He doesn't walk batters. And he makes it very, very easy for the Red Sox to blow past the Blue Jays 6-1 and go two games over .500 for the first time this season.

Daisuke did the one thing he has had trouble doing with Boston; he avoided the bad inning. There was not one bad inning for Daisuke last night. Frankly, you cannot complain about anything he did last night. He went seven innings and allowed just one run on three hits. He struck out nine and walked none. And no, that is not a misprint. He threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 24 batters and 67% of his pitches overall were for strikes.

And they were good strikes, not gimme calls from the ump. Daisuke attacked the strike zone with a fervor I haven't seen from him in...well, ever. And his fastball was amazing. His trick isn't to throw it fast (he was hitting 92-94), but to have pinpoint control with it. And he did, while also using his cutter and slider to great effect. When those two pitches are working for him, that makes his fastball even deadlier. When it all clicks...well, you get an outing like last night.

Ramirez and Okajima cleaned up. Oki threw a clean ninth, marking five straight appearances without allowing a batter to reach base. Whatever trouble he was having recently may be behind him. But Boston has to keep an eye on him. Oki's ERA and WHIP have climbed slightly each year he has been in Boston*, so you don't want him to start falling off again.

It didn't help Toronto that Dana Eveland had another bad outing against Boston. It's to the point where if Eveland is on your staff and you are playing the Red Sox, you should move your pitchers around so Eveland doesn't face them. Before this year, Eveland was 0-2 in three starts against the Sox with an ERA of 17.36. This year, he is 0-1 in two starts against Boston with a 16.71 ERA. So you figure out the math to add those up, but it equals the fact that Eveland sucks against the Red Sox. The Sox rang him up for six runs on six hits in four innings. Oh, and he walked four. Then Scott Camp, who relieved Eveland and pitched the next two innings, walked four. Toronto walked eight batters. Add that to the debacle from Monday night and Toronto has walked 15 batters in two games. Which is great for Boston so I hope Toronto's pitchers keep up the good work.

Boston's offense was spread out, with six batters each ringing up one RBI. The most impressive of the lot was Varitek's solo shot in the second that cleared the Monster and likely dented someone's hood in the parking garage across Lansdowne. He went 2-3 with two runs scored as well. Tek has put Boston management in an interesting spot. He is not an everyday player anymore, but he is incredibly productive in his occasional starts. He has six homers in 38 at-bats and 10 RBI. His OPS is 1.287 so far. With this kind of production off the bench from a backup catcher/pinch-hitter, can you really let him go at season's end? But at the same time, will Tek want to continue being a backup or does he think he can do this full-time (which would be a mistake, in my opinion)? Will Boston have to overpay Tek to keep him here? Should Tek DH if he isn't catching? And then what would that mean for Victor Martinez? Once again, catcher will be a very interesting spot for the Sox in the off-season, if not sooner.

So it's an afternoon tilt today, with Wakefield and Shawn Marcum facing off at 1:35. Fingers crossed for Wakes, who stands just 18 wins away from being the winningest pitcher in Boston history and really deserves to have a shot at that record (looking your way, Theo). Marcum did a good job against the Sox back in April, allowing just one run on four hits in seven innings of work, but he was outpitched by Buchholz. So Boston's hitters will have to try and get after Marcum quickly and not allow him to dictate the pace of the game. If they can get into Toronto's over-worked bullpen, even better.

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* Conversely, Oki's post-season ERA and WHIP numbers have declined each successive year. Very odd.

Walking To A Win

2010-05-11T13:36:00.000-04:00

Well, last night's game did nothing to argue against the reputation Al East games have for being long. The first two innings in Boston's 7-6 win over Toronto took over an hour and twenty minutes thanks to control problems from both starting pitchers. But at the end of the day, Boston's pitching was better by just enough to grab the "W".

Still...what an ugly start. Spotted a 2-0 lead, Lackey walked a pair of batters in the bottom of the second and allowed four hits. The first six batters of the inning reached base safely and a 2-0 lead became a 4-2 deficit. Apparently, Toronto's Brendan Morrow wanted to top that display and he did with flying colors.

Morrow walked five of the eight batters he faced in the bottom of the second and four of the first five. That's right, Morrow loaded the bases with walks and then walked in a run. A bad throwing error, one single and another walk later, it was 6-4 Boston and Morrow was done for the night.

Lackey allowed another two runs in the fifth but he held it together through six innings on a night where he didn't have his best stuff and picked up his fourth win of the year. But I don't think he'll be bragging much about this one. With the exception of Lester, every Boston starter has allowed five or more earned runs in their last start.

What saved his bacon and his win was the stellar play of the bullpen. Hideki Okajima pitched a brilliant seventh. Since that horrible three-game stretch in late April where his ERA went from 1.59 to 7.04, Oki has pitched relatively well. His ERA is now down to 5.23 and maybe he is finally finding his groove. Bard looked good in the eighth despite allowing a walk. He seems to not be showing any ill effects from that rough outing against the Yankees. And Paps got his ninth save of the year. His WHIP is still a little high based on his previous work, but Paps seems to be settling into a good place.

Boston's batters obviously did a great job of making Toronto's pitchers work; they saw 175 pitches in total while the Jays saw only 128. Kevin Youkilis stood out in this regard; he saw 33 pitches in his five at bats. Victor Martinez saw just 17 pitches in his five at bats but drove in three runs with a two-run single in the first and a fielder's choice in the second that resulted in a Toronto throwing error and the Sox taking the lead. And David Ortiz went 1-4 with two strikeouts but did get his 11th RBI of the year. He has an OPS for 1.001 for the month of May, but it remains to be seen if Papi can maintain this new level of productivity.

The win pushed Boston back over .500 overall (17-16) and at home (11-10). Tonight it's Daisuke facing Dana Eveland. Eveland is 3-1 with a 3.82 ERA, but the Sox beat him like a pinata on April 26, chasing him after tacking seven runs on him in three innings. But when Daisuke is on the mound...you know he's off to a rough start when giving up five runs in 5.1 innings is his good start. If Daisuke can just keep it close and possibly get a lead, Boston's bullpen should be able to step up and seal the deal. But Daisuke getting to that point...there's the trick.

Patience...Or Panic?

2010-05-10T12:16:00.000-04:00

I am utterly grateful to Jon Lester for a couple of reasons. First, he dominated the Yankees and led the Sox to a 9-3 win that they desperately needed. Second, in winning that game and avoiding the sweep, Lester spared me and millions of others a week of "OHMYGODTHESKYISFALLINGFIRETITOANDTHEOWHYDIDNTWESIGNTEIXEIRA!!!!!!" crap on sports radio. I was really in no mood for that.

It was a rough weekend, no doubt. The Yankees slapped around Boston in the first two games by a combined score of 24-6. Boston's starters looked bad compared to New York's until Lester's performance Sunday night. Boston was outhit, outhustled and outplayed. Which made Sunday's game all the more perplexing. It's obvious that Boston can play with New York, so why didn't they until the final game of the series?

It didn't help Friday when Josh Beckett started the game looking like he was going to throttle the Yankees and then one three-run homer later starting channeling some horrid combination of Jeff Suppan and Brian Rose. Then on Saturday you had Teixeira treating Boston pitching like his personal hand-puppet and Scott Schoeneweis making people wonder why Boston let go of Alan Embree. Combine those two events with a total power outage from the Boston bats, and you could almost hear the semi-pro whiners and wailers getting ready to flood the phone lines after Boston got swept.

But they got derailed somewhat last night. Lester got it done while Boston beat AJ Burnett like a pinata. Lester went seven innings and allowed just two runs on four hits while striking out seven. He is 3-0 in his last four starts with a 0.98 ERA in those starts. Whatever was bugging him at the start of the year is long gone and he is once again asserting himself as the best starter on Boston's staff.

Boston's batters used the double to beat down New York, hitting five doubles and scoring four runs with them. Most of their production came from the back end of the lineup. Beltre went 2-4 with a pair of RBI and Jeremy Hermida (who looks like a very astute pickup by Theo) went 2-4 with three RBI.

Not only does yesterday's win help stem the tide of worry somewhat, but it should remind people that in seven games against Anaheim and New York, Boston went 5-2. That's good no matter how you cut it. Now Toronto comes into town for three and who knows what could happen there? Lackey is going tonight and he has been sharp in his last two starts.

But make no mistake, there will be some people calling for heads on the radio this morning. They will decry Theo's "run prevention" plan, his choice of free agents to sign (or not sign), Tito's managing and anything else they can drudge up so that we can all know that this season is OVAH!

And they would all be wrong. What Theo understood is that Boston really doesn't have a power problem to begin with. The Sox are third in the AL in runs scored, second in slugging and second in OPS. Run prevention was the right plan, was where Boston needed to improve. The problem has been the pitching hasn't been up to snuff. The staff ERA is 5.04, 12th best in the AL. They are 11th in allowed OPS, 10th in WHIP and 11th in quality starts. It's hard to prevent runs when your pitchers are serving them up in bucket-loads.

Now, that problem has begun to mitigate itself somewhat. But with New York rocking Boston twice, that has become a cause for concern again. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of callers go after Beckett. He's an easy target, truth be told. His ERA is 7.46, he has only two decisions in seven starts and has allowed seven or more earned runs in three of his last four starts. Add that to the big contract extension he signed recently and Beckett has a big ol' bullseye painted on his backside.

Personally, I think Beckett will sort himself out. I think whatever his problem, it's a mental one and not physical. He looked devestating in the first three innings against the Yankees. It only fell apart after Swisher hit that three-run homer. That is a mental problem.

The bigger issue for me is the bullpen. Delcarmen, Bard and Papelbon are the only reliable relievers (I still think of Wakes as a starter who isn't starting rather than a reliever). But our lefty relievers (Schoeneweis and Okajima) have executed poorly for large parts of the season. Which again begs the question of why Embree was released.

I think it also needs to be asked whether or not we need to start tapping the youngsters in the minors for the bullpen. Dustin Richardson was projected early on in his career as a starter but has effectively moved to the bullpen. The lefty is looking good in the Bucket so far this year. Why not bring him up, especially when Schoeneweis has been so inconsistent?

These games matter. And it sucks that Boston lost two of three to New York. But it's still May. There are still over 120 games of baseball to be played. And the talent level of Boston leads a level-headed person to believe that the Red Sox will be competing alongside the Rays and Yankees at season's end.

Bigger Than A Win

2010-05-08T07:00:00.069-04:00

In a few months, and we hope a few years, when the details of Friday's 10-3 New York Yankees' victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway back fades into the recesses of our memories, it will be remembered vividly by one special kid.

Earlier in the day Nick Swisher visiting the Boston Children's Hospital -- a place that can be described only as special, as Dave can attest to. Swisher told YES' Kim Jones on the postgame show that he was there to brighten the day of a young fan.

Swisher is one of the good guys in sports. Actually, most athletes are like Swisher in this way, willing to take time out their days to do some good for some worthy cause. That's easy to forget when the headlines go to those athletes, such as Ben Roethlisberger and Lawrence Taylor, who manage to get themselves in trouble.

But as much as Swisher's visit likely helped lift that kid's spirits, it's what he did in the game that made that kid's day.

Swisher broke open a scoreless game with a three-run homer off Josh Beckett in the fourth inning. The blast turned what had been shaping up as a pitchers' duel between Beckett and Phil Hughes into a Yankees route.

Beckett started out by striking out five of the first six batters he faced and was looking to be on top of his game. Fortunately for the Yankees, Hughes (4-0, 1.69 ERA) continued his brilliant start to the season, matching zeros with the Red Sox's ace through the first three innings.

But that all changed in the fourth. With one out, Mark Teixeira drew a walk after falling behind 0-and-2, and moved to second on Alex Rodriguez's single. Beckett bounced back to strike out Robinson Cano and jumped ahead of Swisher 0-and-2. Swisher managed to get the count back to 2-and-2 before delivering the big blow to center give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. It was Swisher's sixth homer of the year.

New York Daily News

And with the way Hughes was dealing, you sensed the Sox wouldn't be able to get back into the game, despite scoring a run in the bottom of the inning on David Ortiz's sacrifice fly.

But what was surprising was how the Beckett and the Red Sox fell apart. Beckett lost his control and surrendered six runs in the sixth, meanwhile the Red Sox seemed to lose all interest.

Beckett ended up allowing nine runs on nine hits, three walks and two hit batters in 5-1/3 innings in one of the worst starts of his career against the Yankees.

Hughes, meanwhile, passed his latest test in his maturation as a major league pitcher, allowing two runs on seven hits and one walk in seven innings. He struck out seven an threw 70 of 101 pitches for strikes.

But the hero on this night was Nick Swisher.

Just ask that kid at Boston Children's Hospital.

Swept Away

2010-05-07T15:50:00.000-04:00

It didn't look good at the beginning of yesterday's 11-6 win over the Angels. Daisuke had gotten the pattern exactly backwards, having his worst inning right off the bat. Putting the Sox in 4-0 hole to start the game...I thought he was done. But then, somehow, the old Daisuke reasserted itself and that led to Boston improbably sweeping the Angels in a four-game set and laying the stage for a huge weekend series with the Yankees.

When you see Daisuke issue three walks, two hits and four runs in the first inning, you almost decide to write off the game by default. That is usually the sign he simply doesn't have it going. So for him to turn it around and then go 4.1 innings allowing just three hits and one run...it was impressive. All totaled, that may be the ugliest win ever registered by a Boston starter. But it is a win.

It also didn't hurt that Scott Kazmir, one-time pitching wunderkind, had a worse game. He made it just 4.1 innings and allowed seven runs on six hits while walking 5 and striking out three. So not only did Daisuke settle down, he was the better pitcher overall.

Delcarmen looked human, allowing that two-run shot that gave Daisuke five earned runs on the night and himself one. But Delcarmen still earned his third hold and looked confident. His breaking ball has improved immeasurably from last year and was using it to good effect last night. It was also good to see Oki throw a clean two-thirds of an inning.

On the other side, Victor Martinez had a hell of a night. He went 2-4 with four RBI, courtesy of a two-run blast in the third and a two-run double in the fifth that tied the game at four. Jeremy Hermida pinch-hit for Bill Hall in the fifth and proceeded to go 1-3 with three RBI, the last one coming on a fielding error from Howie Kendrick. Pedroia got his average over .300 with a 2-4 night that included three runs scored. He's now hitting .303 with a .908 OPS. Overall, a good sign for Boston was that they saw more pitches overall (197) than Anaheim (170), despite Anaheim getting that extra half-inning. That means they were making Anaheim's hurlers work, wearing them down and getting into their weak bullpen.

You cannot understate how important this sweep was for Boston. Not only are they over .500 for the first time since Opening Day, they also have a winning home record for the first time since Opening Day (9-8). Combine that with just dominating the Angels, and Boston could not be in a better spot for facing the Yankees.

The matchups are not easy. Tonight it's Hughes and Beckett. Hughes has (unfortunately) been pitching like a pro. 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA, Hughes has come into his own. Beckett is coming off a disastrous game in Toronto where he allowed eight runs in three innings.But it's a big game, and you have to think that Josh will step up to the occasion. I think we'll see a real pitcher's duel tonight. Which probably means it'll turn out to be a run-fest.

Gaining Steam

2010-05-06T14:53:00.000-04:00

The Red Sox have now taken three straight from the Angels, including last night's 3-1 victory. In the process, Boston's starters have allowed just six runs in those three games. They've nailed the Angels on two of three steal attempts. The law firm of Delcarmen, Bard and Papelbon have allowed zero runs. And Boston has outhit Anaheim in all three games. They aren't out of the woods yet, but Boston may have finally found the trail.

Last night was perhaps the most impressive of Boston's three wins. In a close contest, the Sox never spit the bit. Their infielders made some amazing plays, especially Scutaro. The pitching was aggressive and in control. They got some timely hits and would have had a larger victory except for one bad call by the third-base coach.

First, the pitching. It was the best John Lackey has looked all year. Pitching against his former team, Lackey went seven innings and allowed just one run on two hits. He got ahead 0-1 in the count on over half the batters he faced and induced ground ball after ground ball. It was vintage Lackey and he deserved the win to go to 3-1 on the year. Not a week ago, Clay Buchholz was the only starter with a sub-four ERA. Now there are three, with Beckett and Matsuzaka still above the line.

Bard and Lester looked fantastic and in prime form for the huge Yankee series this weekend. Yesterday they completely shut down the Angels in the eighth and ninth. No runs, no hits and no walks. Bard got his sixth hold of the year (3rd best in the AL) and Paps earned his eighth save (best in the AL). Papelbon has looked especially good lately. While his WHIP is still high relative to his career (1.20) it's better than where it was a week ago.

Overall, the best pitching stat for Boston was this: only two Angels batters came to the plate with runners in scoring position. And both batters were put out.

While Boston only got three runs for their 11 hits, they looked very confident and calm at the plate. David Ortiz looked to tone down the nay-sayers with a 2-3 night that included a solo shot in the fourth. He's still only hitting .171 with a .680 OPS but he is slowly improving. Can Boston wait to see if he replicates 2009? I don't know...maybe? If the rest of the lineup keeps producing, they'll have that luxury.

Which brings us to Adrian Beltre, who is have a phenomenal season at the plate. Last night he went 3-4 with two RBI courtesy of a two-run shot in the eighth. Beltre leads the Sox with a .340 batting average, is second on the team among starters with 15 RBI, and third among starters with a .844 OPS. He has really come home starting with that away series at Toronto and it doesn't look like he is slowing down any time soon. Now if he could limit the errors...

Tonight Daisuke goes against Kazmir. Let's be honest, it's going to be hard for Boston to get the sweep with this matchup. Until Daisuke proves he can be consistently good (and I think he can) then people are just going to wait for that inning where he explodes.Which makes for a more interesting game...until he actually blows up and then it all goes downhill. But maybe tonight's the night! Maybe...

In Case You Missed It ...

2010-05-05T11:22:00.001-04:00

We made our Internet radio debut last night on This Call To The Bullpen hosted by Steve Keane of the Ed Kranepool Society blog.

You can hear the interview in its entirety here.

Book Review: Red Sox by The Numbers

2010-05-04T13:01:00.000-04:00

Red Sox by The Numbers is, as the cover says, "A Complete Team History of the Boston Red Sox by Uniform Number." Written by Bill Nowlin and Matthew Silverman, it takes what could be a very dry topic and turns it into an enjoyable read through Boston's past and present.

Nowlin has written numerous books on the Sox and Silverman has a long history in writing and editing sports-related books. That experience is clearly on display here. The format is simple; the take each uniform number, provide a list of every player to wear said number and then give us a few pages highlighting the players themselves. It's a simple but effective way of presenting the information. It doesn't hurt that it's interesting and enjoyable to read as well.

Each number/chapter has a title referring to that number's best-known or best-performing player. So #23 is titled "El Tiante" for Luis Tiant, #39 is called "Greenie" for Mike Greenwell and so forth. If a number has a lot of famous wearers (or none at all), you get a title like "Flowers, Flash, Penny, Cash" (#34) or "Monster, Marty and Marvelous Mel" (#17). But what I like best of all is that each chapter also has a box dedicated to the most obscure player to wear a particular number. So when they cover #14, we know we're talking about Jim Rice. But we also get to learn about Joe Mulligan, a Holy Cross grad who pitched for the Sox in 1934. He appeared in 14 games, went 1-0 with a 3.63 ERA, and walked as twice as many batters as he struck out. He was out of the game after the season ended. And I never would have heard about him without this book.

Red Sox by The Numbers is full of extra information like that. You can find out who hit the first homer for Boston wearing #23 (It was Bill Conroy on April 20, 1942). Why certain numbers matter to certain players (Daisuke took #18 because it's considered the "ace number" in Japan). And which Hall of Famer was it that played eleven games with the Sox in 1974?* It's the little things like this that make Red Sox by The Numbers a great reference book. It also makes it a great "bathroom book". I mean that as a compliment. You want something interesting to read in there, and this fits the bill just fine.

Red Sox by The Numbers is a great reference book for any Sox fan, trivia lover or general baseball aficionado. I heartily recommend it.

You can find Red Sox by The Numbers online at Amazon, Borders and Barnes and Noble.

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* It was Juan Marichal, who went 5-1 in 11 appearances for the Sox in 1974.

A Good Start

2010-05-04T08:30:00.005-04:00

Well, you can't complain about too much for one game when your team posts 17 runs. Even if they did get sloppy in the ninth. But compared to the last series, it was a joy to watch the Sox beat up on the Angels 17-8 and begin this critical homestand with a resounding win. Whatever was said in that pre-game meeting was epic.

Every Boston starter had at least one hit and five of them had two or more. Every Boston starter scored at least one run and, again, five of them had two or more. Seven of the nine starters had at least one RBI; only Scutaro and V-Mart missed out on the fun.

And even with all that hitting and scoring, some performances stood out. JD Drew had a great game, going 4-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. I give him a lot of grief because he doesn't play to his potential/ability all the time and he's paid a ton to do just that. But he came through tonight and has for the past week. In his last six games Drew is hitting .304 with a 1.190 OPS. It would be great if he would keep playing like this.

Adrian Beltre is continuing to swing a hot bat. He went 2-5 with three runs scored and three RBI. He is batting .333 with an .805 OPS and notched his first homer, a two-run shot in the sixth with one out. That helps to mitigate his fielding, which has been somewhat disappointing. Beltre already has six errors on the year, which is not what the Sox were expecting from him.

Clay Buchholz's pitching wasn't great today, but it was enough to get the Sox in a position to win. Clay went 5.2 innings and gave up four runs on eight hits, walked three and struck out two. Not great, but enough. What was impressive was Delcarmen's 1.1 innings of relief. He went 1.1 scoreless innings and didn't allow anyone to reach base. His ERA is now 1.42 and his whip is a minuscule 0.71 on the year. Even Ramon Ramirez pitched well with a clean eighth inning. And sure, Schoenweis gave up four runs in the ninth, but by then the game was beyond out of reach. Although you have to wonder if Embree should have stayed up instead...that was an ugly inning.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is that Boston got their homestand off to a great start. Hopefully that will continue tomorrow when Lester goes against Ervin Santana. Lester got off on the wrong foot but hasn't allowed a run in his last two starts. But Boston has done this before; played well only to fall apart the next day. If they can follow this resounding win with another one, Boston fans may actually allow themselves to start being optimistic once again.

Radio Nowhere

2010-05-04T07:30:00.002-04:00

Video may have killed the radio star, but talk radio is alive and well, especially on the Internet.

Tonight, we will be making our radio debut at 10 p.m. when we join The Ed Kranepool Society's Steve Keane on his Blog Talk Radio show "This Call To The Bullpen."

We will be discussing the Yankees, Red Sox, their upcoming series this weekend and the AL East race.

Be sure to check it out.

A Winn-Winn

2010-05-04T07:00:00.062-04:00

Brian Cashman brought in Randy Winn to be the Yankees' 25th man -- a guy who might play a couple of times a week, pinch run, serve as defensive replacement, maybe get 250 at-bats for the season.

The thing is, on a good team, the 25th man is actually important.Winning teams get contributions from everyone on the roster.

Monday, Winn made his contribution.

Winn's two-out, three-run home run in the fourth inning gave CC Sabathia all the support he would need as the Yankees rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium.

Winn has struggled to adapt in his limited role during the first month of the season, going 1-for-14, but with Curtis Granderson out for up to six weeks with a groin strain, the Yankees are going to need Winn and Marcus Thames to produce.

Monday was Winn's turn to start in left and he delivered in a big moment.

McClatchy-Tribune

With the Yankees trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Alex Rodriguez led off with a single and moved to second on Jorge Posada's one-out groundout to second. Nick Swisher tied the score with a single to right and Brett Gardner followed with another single to bring up Winn.

Winn's not known as a power hitter -- he hadn't homered in 491 previous at-bats. He's hit 20 homers just once, in 2005, in his 13-year career and has 107 career homers. But when he gets a pitch to drive, he know how to handle it.

After taking a 93 mph fastball for ball one from Jeremy Guthrie, Winn turned on another fastball and crushed it into the bullpen. There was no doubt about the shot ... and there was no doubt the Yankees would win this game.

Sabathia (4-1, 2.74 ERA), after laboring in the first four innings and allowing Matt Wieters' leadoff homer in the second, settled down to improve to 11-1 lifetime against the Orioles. The big lefthander allowed one run on six hits and two walks, pitching into the eighth inning for the fourth time this season. He struck out just two, but threw 67 of 106 pitches for strikes.

Joba Chamberlain finished up with his first save since 2007 and second of his career, filling in for Mariano Rivera, who reported some tightness in his side. Rivera is expect to be back as soon as today.

Up Next
Today vs. Orioles, 7:05 p.m., YES
Brian Matusz (2-1, 4.40) vs. A.J. Burnett (3-0, 2.43)

Flailing

2010-05-03T11:45:00.000-04:00

When your back is against the wall, you either toughen up and get going or you fall down. The Sox haven't fallen down yet. But they are on their knees and with a seven-game stretch against the Angels and Yanks, they have to find a way to get going.

Getting swept by the Orioles in Baltimore for the first time in 36 years is a pretty damned humiliating thing. Doing it by losing three games you were in control of is even worse. And when you do it by pitching your closer more than an inning...

Look, I have said it here a million times: You can not and should not throw a closer more than an inning. In rare cases, getting the last out of the eighth to lead into the ninth is workable. But once again, Tito had Paps work a full inning and then come back again. And once again it didn't work.

I love Tito. I want him to coach in Boston for as long as he wants. He has a tough job this year juggling a lot of veterans who aren't getting regular playing time. But he has to stop this 1+ innings thing with Papelbon. It simply doesn't work. I mean, Paps single-handedly allowed the winning run: single + blown pickoff + double = game over. That's a one-man show.

And once again, some good things were overshadowed by the crap. Beckett pitched a solid game: seven innings and two runs allowed on six hits. He walked none and struck out six. He was keeping the ball down in the strike zone. The Sox also nailed Lugo stealing. The Boston catchers are actually catching people now when they try to steal a base. Even Drew is starting to hit.

But it just seems like whenever the Sox are on the edge of getting things straight, they somehow find a way to lose the game. If it isn't the starting pitching, it's the fielding. If it isn't the fielding, it's the bullpen. If it isn't the bullpen, it's the hitting. It's a vicious cycle of suck and it won't stop until the Sox go on a run.

It'd be beyond great if that run began against the Angels and Yankees. The season so far would argue against that happening. But sooner or later, the talent on this Boston squad will assert itself. I just hope it happens in May instead of in August.

Phil Hughes Growing Up

2010-05-03T07:00:00.044-04:00

Phil Hughes entered the season as the Yankees' No. 5 starter.

He's pitched like anything but.

Sunday Hughes allowed four hits and one walk while striking out six in seven shutout innings as the Yankees routed the Chicago White Sox 12-3 at Yankee Stadium to win their seventh series of the season in eight tries. Hughes threw 69 of 99 pitches for strikes and had it not been for the Yankees' five-run seventh inning that took about a half hour to complete, he probably could have gone back out for the eighth.

In four starts this season, Hughes is 3-0 with a league-best 1.44 ERA and .122 batting average against. He's clearly been the Yankees' best starter so far this season, which is saying something, considering the only starter with an ERA above 3.12 is Javier Vazquez.

Associated Press

Hughes has pitched about as well as anyone could have dreamed and it is tempting to declare that he has fulfilled the potential that the Yankees and scouts saw in him when they drafted him out of high school in 2005. But that would be jumping the gun.

Let's remember Hughes is still young, turning 24 in June, and it's a long season. Four starts do not make a season and there is going to come a stretch when Hughes struggles for three of four starts. How Hughes responds to that adversity will teach us a lot more about him.

But what we have to like so far is that Hughes clearly is building off the success he found as a reliever last season. He is pitching with a ton of confidence -- and when it comes down to it, isn't that the biggest key to success?

He believes in his fastball, curve and splitter, and is developing confidence in his new changeup. He has developed some poise and he is growing up.

And all of that is reason to believe that Hughes is on his way to becoming the type of pitcher we've all heard he can become.

Up Next
Today vs. Orioles, 7:05 p.m., YES
Jeremy Guthrie (0-3, 4.70) vs. CC Sabathia (3-1, 3.12)

Guthrie had better have some better command or else some of his teammate could end up with some bruises. Guthrie has hit 17 batters in his career, nine Yankees -- and while the Yankees know he isn't throwing at them intentionally, the hitters have to be protected.

Blindsided

2010-05-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

We've all been there. Things are going along just fine and then -- WHAM! -- something catches us completely unawares and floors us.

Well, that's what happened to Daisuke Matsuzaka yesterday in Boston's 12-9 loss at Baltimore. For four innings, Daisuke looked like the 2008 model that went 18-3 and was a Cy Young finalist. Then the fifth inning showed up and -- WHAM! -- 2009 Dasiuke showed up and cracked him with a 2x4.

The box score says it all. In the first four innings, Daisuke allowed one run on one hit, walked two and struck out four. Boston was ahead 4-1. In the fifth it was six runs on six hits (including two homers), five of those runs coming with two outs. Boston was down 7-4. And while the Sox made a game of it, they could never come all the way back.

What does this mean for Daisuke? Will he be able to bounce back in his next start? Or will he get gun-shy, start pitching around the edges of the plate and revert to his 2009 form?

Tim Wakefield came on in relief and allowed those five other runs, which came off of three home runs. The only solid arm last night? Manny Delcarmen, who pitched a clean eighth. He hasn't allowed a run since April 16th and only one hit in that same period. The kid looks really good right now.

As usual, Boston's bats were not enough to trump the starting pitching implosion. Not that they didn't try; nine runs on twelve hits is usually enough to win a baseball game. Hell, David Ortiz went 2-4 with two RBI, courtesy of a pair of solo shots in the second and ninth innings. But once again, it was wasted because Boston's starters could not get the job done.

This is beginning to get a little worrisome now that we are a month into the season. Boston can obviously hit; that concern about a power outage was misplaced. The relief corps is starting to settle down; you know the best three are Delcarmen, Bard and Papelbon. But the starters...the only reliable starter right now is Clay Buchholz. Although one hopes with his last outing that Jon Lester is coming back into form. But it's been a real crapshoot so far, and now with Daisuke coming back and blowing up, who knows how he will react in his second start?

The Sox now stand on the verge of being swept by the Orioles. It's Beckett and Millwood today. It's another game the Sox could win going away or end up getting blown away. But a win would be nice since starting tomorrow Boston has a seven-game homestand against the Angels and Yankees. Some people will say that homestand will decide the season. I think it's a little early to call the season over by May, but it may very well define Boston's season.

Reassessing Priorities

2010-05-02T07:00:00.081-04:00

From time to time, life has a way of reminding us what's important.

Sports are not life and death, no matter how devoted we are to our teams. They are a diversion.One that can lift us up and even help us heal. Something that provides us some fun. But nothing more.

For three hours a day (four if the Yankees and Red Sox are playing each other), we are taken on a ride as we watch our teams compete. And for seven months a year we are taken on a journey as they vie for a championship. When our teams win, we get a few hours, or maybe days, of joy. When teams win in thrilling fashion or players do something we have never or rarely seen, we are thrilled. And when they lose, there is disappointment.

But in the end life goes on and there are always more important things we need to attend to.

It's a lesson that we were reminded of in the aftermath of 9-11 and brilliantly captured in the HBO documentary "Nine Innings From Ground Zero."

A week ago Friday, life's reality came crashing through my door as I was laid off from my job of four years at The Hartford Courant, the result of Tribune Co. emerging from bankruptcy and its decision to mass produce its national pages (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, National news, etc.) in Chicago for the entire chain. Six of us lost our jobs that day -- all on the copy/page design desk.

For me it was devastating. All I had ever wanted to do since I was junior in high school was work in the sports department of newspapers. And for about 15 years, I did, taking a wild ride along the way.

But now I'm left with a myriad of questions. Where do I go from here? How am I going to provide for my family? What do I want to do next? What's the next step? What now?

In the nine days since my layoff, I still don't have the answers, but I'm confident I'll land on my feet, doing something even better -- and more lucrative -- than what I had been doing at the Courant. I will emerge stronger from all this.

But as I figure all this out and search for the next step in my career, I'm looking to the Yankees to provide me a respite for three (or four) hours a day. Give me some thrills, some drama. Give me something I haven't ever seen before (a quality start from Javier Vazquez, for example).

I don't need them to win it all -- though that would be nice. I just need them to take me on a ride, help me smile from time to time as I send out resumes and cover letters.

Mostly, I just want them to give me plenty to write about as I continue to share my thoughts and have fun doing this blog with my friend Dave.

I'll be back to my normal programming tomorrow and will kick into full gear by the time the Yanks and Sox play next weekend.

In the meantime, I mostly want to thank you for your patience.

Only Second?

2010-04-30T14:56:00.000-04:00

Interesting story in the Wall Street Journal the other day about how the Boston Red Sox are the second-most hated team in baseball.

Contrary to popular belief, the Yankees are only the fifth-most despised team in the majors, according to an Internet algorithm built by Nielsen Co. that analyzes how people feel about certain things. This service typically uses various keywords to find out whether people have positive, negative or neutral reactions to different brands and products. No team registered a negative mark on Nielsen's "sentiment scale," which ranges from -5 to 5, but the Yankees (1.8) were one of only six teams to score lower than 2. The Mets finished four spots higher, making them the ninth most-hated team.
...

The good news for the Yankees is that their low score is better than the only team that really matters: The rival Boston Red Sox, who are the second most-despised team.

Now, I find this last sentence interesting. I would think that Yankee fans would be pissed they aren't dislike more than the Red Sox.

It's the top dog that is hated. The success story. The guy who gets on top and stays there. This country makes a habit out of building up heroes and them cutting them off at the shins. If I was a Yankee fan...well, it'd be hard to write this at all considering my state of constant mental impairment. But I'd be pissed that people didn't hate me the most, and that the Red Sox were even more notorious. Hey, if I watched Boston win a pair of titles in six years and become a model franchise while my team couldn't do anything, I'd hate them too.* Which means maybe more people see Boston as a successful franchise in recent years than the Yankees?

All that said, what makes no sense at all is that the most hated team on this scale is the ... Cleveland Indians.

Really? Who hates the Indians besides fans of the Indians? They're just sad. Their ownership constantly trades off their best talent to keep the team in perpetual rebuilding mode. For the rest of America, we just feel bad for Cleveland.

So the Sox are the Black Hats of the major leagues. I'm comfortable with that. I always liked how the Yankees played the "Imperial March" from Star Wars when introducing the Boston lineup.

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* I am referring to fans from lesser franchises like the Jays and Royals looking at the Sox, not the Yankee fans. Let's hold off on the "We've won 27 rings!!" spiel until you really need it.

Clay Comes Up Big

2010-04-28T11:51:00.000-04:00

Every pitcher has a team he loves to see. Roger Clemens enjoyed destroying the Royals (25-7 lifetime). Pedro salivated whenever he pitched against Seattle (13-1, 1.57 ERA, 0.854 WHIP). El Tiante? A perfect 9-0 lifetime against the Blue Jays.

Which fittingly leads us to Clay Buchholz. In his short career, Clay seems to enjoy pitching against Toronto more than any other team. He made that clear once again last night by leading the Sox to a 2-1 win over the Jays. The win pushed the Sox past Toronto into third place even though they are both at 10-11 (thanks, alphabetical order!) and they are three back of the Yankees for second place. Baby steps...

The Boston pen needed a breather and Buchholz gave it to them and then some. Clay went eight innings and allowed just one run on seven hits and that run came in the first inning. He struck out four and walked two. Clay threw over 68% of his pitches for strikes and got first-pitch strikes on 23 of the 33 batters he faced. Clay was locked in last night and looked every bit of the phenom Boston fans have been hoping he would become. Even better, Ramon Ramirez pitched the ninth inning in a tight game and actually didn't allow a run, earning his first save of the season.

Clay needed to be on his game because Shaun Marcum was on his. He held Boston to one run over seven innings, something that helped make this one of Boston's fastest games of the year (2:49). But Marcum came out for Scott Downs in the eighth. Downs loaded the bases with two outs and then walked in Lowell for the winning run. For those of you keeping track, Boston has won six of their last eight games and all the wins have been by a single run. The last time Boston won by two or more runs was on April 14 when they beat the Twins 6-3.

The hitting was sparse, as it tends to be in a pitcher's duel. But Pedroia went 2-5, scored a run and boosted his average over .300 as that mini-slump is now a thing of the past. And David Ortiz went 0-2, but drew a walk in the second and scored Boston's first run on a single from Hermida.

The Sox are now 5-3 on the road and have another chance to reach .500 overall if they can win tonight. Jon Lester is taking the mound against Brett Cecil. The Sox beat the holy hell out of Cecil in two matchups last year, leaving him 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA against the Sox for his career. Sounds like an easy win, but with Lester's early struggles you can't be sure of anything right now.

Slugging For Cover

2010-04-27T11:44:00.000-04:00

The most important thing about yesterday's 13-12 win by the ~~Patriots~~ Red Sox over the ~~Argonauts~~ Blue Jays is that they did, in fact, win. They are now 9-11 on the season and sport a winning record on the road (4-3). They are a game back of the Jays for third and 5.5 back of the Rays.

Another good thing is that the Sox finally outhit their opponents for the first time in five games. And wonder of wonders, there were no errors committed in the field. But no one should look at this win and think that everything is better in Boston.

Boston's primary problem is pitching right now. Last night Josh Beckett got lit up like the Ginza district in Tokyo after dark.He made it just three innings, giving up eight runs on nine hits. He now has an ERA of 7.22 and a 1.74 WHIP, which is bad but still not as bad as the 1.80 Javier Vazquez is lugging around. He just didn't have his stuff at all last night.

Now, some people are going to start in on the new contract and how it was a major mistake. Well, you're wrong. I am not white-washing the struggle that Beckett is having right now; he looks lousy. But he has also been one of the top pitchers in the AL since he came to Boston in 2006. The numbers bear that out. He will get it figured out...I just hope it's sooner than later.

But just as problematic as the starting pitching is the bullpen. Scott Atchison has been struggling and Hideki Okajima looked like he never saw a baseball last night, allowing two runs on three hits. Last night marked the third straight relief appearance where Oki allowed at least one run. Since getting the win against Texas on April 24, Oki's ERA has ballooned from 1.59 to 7.04 with a blown save against the Orioles thrown in for good measure.

But there may be some good news. Manny Delcarmen looked great for two scoreless innings yesterday, giving the Sox time to find their legs and take the lead for good. In Delcarmen's last five outings, he has thrown 6.1 innings and has allowed no runs. Another good sign was Bard and Papelbon combining to close the game out in the last two innings. Both pitchers looked solid, which Boston desperately needs considering the runs they have been allowing.

But the real story was Boston's hitting. Thirteen runs on eighteen hits. Every starter except for Bill Hall had at least one hit, and five players had three hits apiece. Jason Varitek, obviously benefiting from a reduced schedule, went 3-5 with two runs scored and four RBI. Beltre went 3-5 with two RBI and boosted his average to .309. Pedrioa continued to break out of his mini-slump, going 3-6 with three runs scored and two RBI, giving him 15 so far this year. Youk tore it up with a 3-4 night with two runs scored and a RBI. Over his last seven games he is hitting .419 with six RBI and a 1.083 OPS.

But again, as good as all this is, Boston cannot win a title by trying to outslug every other team in the game. No team can win it all when their pitching is sub-par. Pounding on the pitching in Toronto is one thing, but trying to do that against New York or Minnesota is another thing altogether.

With the heavy usage of the pen, I wouldn't be surprised if Boston calls up a fresh arm from the Bucket for relief duty. And Buchholz is going to have to go long again. It's not fair that he has to do it twice in a row, but those are the breaks.

One last thing, and it's Jays-related. The attendance for last night's game was 13,847. That is 28% capacity for the Rogers Centre.

What the hell is wrong with you, Jays fans? Your team is actually competitive right now. You are blessed to even have a major-league franchise. And in a city with a population around 2.5 million, and a metro area with over 5 million people, you can't scrape together 30,000 to watch a baseball game? Jesus wept... It's not like your hockey team is doing anything right now besides playing golf.

A Tale Of Two Games

2010-04-26T11:08:00.000-04:00

Two games. Identical 7-6 scores. Boston was outhit by Baltimore in both games. Boston had an error in both games.

Boston won the game on Saturday. Boston lost the game on Sunday. But there was very little difference between the two.

Both games featured solid starting pitching for Boston. Lackey went seven innings and allowed just three runs on Saturday. Wakefield gave up just two runs on seven hits in his 6.2 innings of work on Sunday.

Both games saw the bullpen implode. Boston relievers allows three runs on Saturday and a whopping five runs on Sunday.

Both games saw the Orioles hit at will. They rang up an amazing 31 hits in the two games. But if not for Boston's 'pen imploding in the seventh and tenth innings of Sunday's game, they would have been swept.

All in all, what these two games told us is that we still don't know what the identity of the 2010 Sox is going to be. They are hitting well and generating power. Boston is third in the AL with 24 homers and sixth in OPS, which was supposed to be a problem. Their pitching, which was supposed to be a strength, has been something of a liability. Boston's staff has the third-worst ERA in the AL (4.70). Their starters are allowing batters to hit at a .288 clip (second-worst in the AL) and have the third-worst ERA (5.06). Only Clay Buchholz has an ERA under three (2.70).

And then there is Boston's defense. It was supposed to be the hallmark of their season. Granted, injuries to Cameron and Ellsbury have taken away two solid gloves. Nevertheless, Boston has the third-worst fielding percentage in the AL (.981) and trail only Detroit and Kansas City for most errors. This was not the defense Boston fans were told to expect in 2010.

So right now, we have a team that can hit, is shaky in pitching and whose defense has been noticeably subpar. Basically, we have the mirror opposite of what we expected. It's the Bizarro Red Sox.

Actually, it's more like the 1996 Red Sox.

In 1996, Kevin Kennedy led a team that could hit well (top six in the AL in homers, OPS, hits, runs and RBI). It was also a team whose pitching was sub-standard (third-worst in hits allowed and runs allowed, second-worst in WHIP) and atrocious when it came to fielding (AL-worst .978 fielding percentage, 135 errors, defensive efficiency rating of .665*). The 1996 Red Sox started the season 7-19 in April and finished third with a record of 85-77.

Now, the odds are that the 2010 Sox will not end up like this. For one thing, the Sox don't have guys like Wil Cordero and Arquimedez Pozo** in the field. The pitching talent is above the level of guys like Aaron Sele and Joe Hudson. But it goes to show you that big bats and power are not the way to win. We already tried that. It failed.

What's happening now isn't Theo's fault. Nor is it Tito's. Theo's concept of pitching and defense being paramount is the right idea. Tito can't pitch and field for his players.

What needs to happen is that Boston's players need to stop channeling the '96 Sox. They need to remember who they are and what they can do. That could start tonight in Toronto. Josh Beckett goes up against Dana Eveland. Right now, Eveland is having the better season (2-0, 1.93 ERA). But if Beckett is on...well, let's hope that's the case. The Sox need to get back on track against the Japs and Orioles...because next week they have the Angels and Yankees at Fenway.

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* This is not a good number. At all.

** How do you like that random reference? Pozo hit one homer in 1996 with the Sox, a grand-slam against the Twins. He was back in the Bucket in 1997-98 and then went to Japan in 1999.

Turning A Corner?

2010-04-24T08:34:00.000-04:00

Granted, Boston's three wins in their last four games have been against Texas and Baltimore. And two of them were of the "come-from-behind" variety. But beating Texas or Baltimore is the same as beating Minnesota or New York when it comes to wins and losses.

So last night's 4-3 win over the Orioles wasn't the prettiest game played in Fenway, or the easiest. But it was a win. And that is something that had been in short supply for the Sox at home for most of the early 2010 season.

Once again the Sox got respectable pitching from their starter. And while Lester wouldn't brag about his performance (which saw him surrender four walks) he also struck out seven and allowed just four hits. He left the game holding a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, the bullpen gave up three runs and left Lester with the ND.

But this was the second night in a row the Sox got a solid outing from their starter. Even in a 3-0 loss to the Rangers, Clay Buchholz looked great. If not for the previous two marathon wins that exhausted the bullpen, Buchholz probably wouldn't have been out long enough to surrender those three runs. So there's something to hope for there as well.

Even David Ortiz is showing signs of life. He hit his first homer of the year to put Boston up 1-0 in the second. I'm not holding my breath that this changes everything. But he also showed the patience to draw a walk in the eighth that led to Beltre's game-winning walk with the bases loaded. Maybe he is finally seeing the ball a little better. It will be something to watch in the days ahead.

And this win came despite the fact that the meat of the order (Pedroia, Youk, Martinez) went a collective 0-10 with two walks (both from V-Mart). Pedroia is actually in a mini-slump, hitting just .103 with a .405 OPS in his last seven games. He'll turn it around soon enough, and it doesn't hurt that the Sox have been winning despite it.

Tonight it'll be Lackey facing Brian Matusz. Hopefully this time Lackey won't pitch the way he used to over the years in Fenway. I think tonight we'll see more of the pitcher who beat Minnesota and not the one who got shellacked by Tampa Bay.

And the word has come down that Daisuke will get a start next weekend in Baltimore after throwing a simulated game in Toronto on Monday. This would put Wakes in the bullpen, which I don't like but I understand. Buchholz is simply pitching better and you have to see what Daisuke can give you at this point. And maybe by going to the pen now, Wakefield's back won't act up in the latter half of the season.

On a more literary note, I am almost finished with Red Sox by the Numbers and I should have a review up in a few days. I will say this right now; it's a great book for reading on a plane ride or to learn lots of random facts about the Sox. I am enjoying it quite a bit. But I'll have the proper review soon.

Who Are You, Dallas Braden?

2010-04-23T07:00:00.081-04:00

Yes, I'm paraphrasing Pedro Martinez's infamous rant about Karim Garcia from the 2003 ALCS.

Who exactly are you, Dallas Braden, to be yelling and screaming at Alex Rodriguez about a dubious at-best infraction of baseball's unwritten rules during the Yankees' 4-2 loss to the A's Thursday in Oakland, Calif.?

It all happened in the sixth inning when A-Rod went first to third on Robinson Cano's foul ball. On the way back, he cut across the diamond and the back of the pitcher's mound to first.

Apparently that's a baseball no-no at least in Braden's universe.

“I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or the 25th man on the roster, if I’ve got the ball in my hand and I’m on that mound, that’s my mound,” Braden told the Journal News. “He ran across the pitcher’s mound foot on my rubber. No, not happening. We’re not the door mat anymore.”

In an interview with Karl Ravech on ESPN, Braden said that he learned about this alleged unwritten baseball rule at Texas Tech. Braden said in that interview he was taught there is a reason the pitcher's mound is in the middle of the baseball diamond and that when he has the ball on that mound, he is the center of the universe.

The center of the universe? Really? And here we though A-Rod had an overinflated ego. Wow! I'm not sure Braden and his ego could fit into the Empire State Building. The Golden State Bridge might collapse under the weight of Braden's ego. My goodness!

Here's one problem: It appears Braden is the only person to be aware of this unwritten rule.

A-Rod certainly didn't know about it.

“He just told me to get off his mound,” Rodriguez said. “I was a little surprised. I’d never quite heard that. Especially from a guy that has a handful of wins in his career.”

And ESPN, in its stable of former players, had trouble finding anyone who had heard about that unwritten rule. Rick Sutcliffe said he was unaware of it -- and he's a guy who pitched in the majors for 18 years.

But here's the big problem: who the heck are you, Dallas Braden? I mean, really. This is a guy in his fourth year in majors with career record of 17-21 with a 4.52 ERA and a fastball that can barely crack a pane of glass (85 mph).

And he's spouting off to Alex Rodriguez, a player in his 17th year with 585 career homers. C'mon!

Look, A-Rod is no saint. He's made plenty of mistakes in his career both on and off the field. He's an enormous talent who's beyond difficult to like, much less embrace and love.

He's done plenty wrong in his career.

But this in not one of those things. He did nothing wrong.

Dallas Braden needs to shut up and calm down. He pitched a great game against the Yankees Thursday, but on this issues, he's the one who is way out of line. My soon-to-be 4-year-old son doesn't have temper tantrums as bad as the fit Braden threw.

And who are you, Dallas Braden? You won't even be a footnote in A-Rod's career.

Up Next
Today at Angels, 10:05 p.m., YES
A.J. Burnett (2-0, 2.37 ERA) vs. Ervin Santana (1-2, 4.35)

Just In Case You Haven't Seen It ...

2010-04-22T18:36:00.000-04:00

The Yankees turned their first triple play since 1968 Thursday.

Video: Watch the play here

Unfortunately, the play came in a 4-2 loss to the A's in Oakland, snapping a six-game winning streak.

CC Sabathia pitched eight innings, but struggled with his control, allowing four runs, three earned, on four hits and six walks. He struck out just two, which explains why he threw just 97 pitches, only 51 for strikes.

Associated Press

While the loss was disappointing, it was nice to watch a bit of history. With two on in the sixth, Alex Rodriguez fielded Kurt Suzuki's hard grounder just wide of third. A-Rod raced to third to tag the bag, fired to second where Robinson Cano took the throw and made the quick relay to Nick Johnson, just nipping Suzuki at first.

The last time the Yankees turned a triple play was on June 3, 1968 -- as span of 6,632 regular season games -- with Mickey Mantle recording the final out on a ball hit by Minnesota's John Roseboro.

Pitcher Dooley Womack snagged a liner by Roseboro, threw to third baseman Bobby Cox to get the second out. Cox relay was in time to Mantle at first.

Vazquez Moving In The Right Direction

2010-04-21T14:51:00.000-04:00

It is easy to get caught up in the moment, especially in New York.

Witness Javier Vazquez's second start of the season, during which he was booed mercilessly.

Was that start (4 ER in 5-1/3 IP) even close to acceptable? No shot.

Was the derision expected? In New York, yes.

Was it fair? Debatable at best.

Was it short-sighted? Absolutely, because when taken in the larger view of the season, we see Vazquez making progress.

Associated Press

Vazquez allowed three runs in 5-1/3 innings Tuesday as the Yankees defeated the A's 7-3 in Oakland, Calif., to begin a nine-game trip. Vazquez allowed six hits and three walks. He struck out six and threw a respectable 72 of 107 pitches for strikes to earn his first win of the season.

Now this is not by a quality start by any means. It also is not going to get the job done over the course of the season.

But when taken context of Vazquez's first three starts of the season, it clearly represent a solid step forward.

Vazquez's first start was miserable in his season debut, allowing eight earned runs in 5-2/3 innings. He second start was better, though still not good.

Tuesday would have to be classified as adequate. His offspeed pitches were sharp and he maintained the velocity on his fastball deep into the game. He did benefit from some strong defense and some key double plays, but good teams, such as the Yankees, make plays in the field and all their pitchers benefit from that.

Vazquez did make two mistakes, one a homer by Travis Buck in the fifth and the other a two-run homer by Kurt Suzuki in the sixth.

Associated Press

To be fair, had Alex Rodriguez not hit a monster three-run homer in the fifth to give the Yankees a big lead, a clearly tired Vazquez would not have been sent back out there in the sixth. But with some margin for error, Joe Girardi rightly sent Vazquez back to the mound.

Look, you don't want to routinely ask your bullpen to get 12 outs in a regular season game, and with Phil Hughes set to pitch tonight, there is a decent chance the Yankees will need their relievers to put in some extra duty again.

Vazquez was able to deliver one more out, and as he left the mound, we knew he looked more like the pitcher who won 15 games for the Braves last season than he had in h is previous two starts.

"He's going to be fine. We're not concerned about Javy, man," A-Rod said, according to The Associated Press. "He gave us a good shot. It was important for him to get a nice win and hopefully get some rhythm going from here."

But Vazquez still is going to need a lot of help from pitching coach Dave Eiland. Vazquez has all the talent in the world and a strong arsenal of pitches, but has not been able to pitch at an elite level. Why? Because of his mechanics.

"My mechanical stuff still is off but it was an improvement from my first couple starts," Vazquez said. "That's my weakness, mechanics, through my career. I just need to get it back. The first two games were tough. I can't hide that, but it's still early in the season and there are still a lot of games to be played."

Now Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell is one of the better pitching coaches in the baseball with a keen eye for a pitcher's mechanics. Clearly Vazquez responded to him in going 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA last year.

Eiland is going to have to be just as sharp.

So far this year, that relationship seems solid. We just have to hope Vazquez continues to make progress and can produce the results we all expect.

Up Next
Tonight, 10:05 p.m., YES
Hughes (1-0, 3.60) vs. Ben Sheets (1-0, 2.65)

Did Somebody Say McDonald?

2010-04-21T10:54:00.001-04:00

Well, I was right about the Sox needing to mix things up. I was also right about Reddick being a part of it. En route to Boston's comeback 7-6 win over Texas, Reddick's two-run double in the sixth cut the deficit to 6-4.

What I didn't see coming, what no one saw coming, was a 31-year-old journeyman Triple-A lifer, a former first round pick who never quite made it, coming in to pinch-hit and possibly stopping Boston's slide.

Darnell McDonald was drafted by the Orioles in the first-round in 1997. Since then he has been a part of at least six organizations, including the Red Sox. In those 12+ years, he has played a total of 68 major league games. But in his first game with Boston, McDonald made himself one of those instant heroes that always seem to crop up in Fenway.

With Varitek on base and no outs in the bottom of the eighth, with Boston still down 6-4, McDonald put a two-run blast over the Monster to deep center-left to tie the game at six. And then, with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, McDonald came up again and put a ball off the scoreboard to bring in the winning run. And just like that, the Sox had come back from a 6-2 deficit to win the ballgame.

The bullpen looked good. They bailed out Wakes from a rough start and held Texas scoreless over the last three innings of the game. Especially impressive was Okajima's getting the final out of the eighth inning with the bases loaded. Granted, he put two of those guys on base. But he held the line. And Papelbon had a solid ninth, getting his first win of the season in the process.

But this one win doesn't mean everything is hunky-dory in Sox Land once again. First, we have to talk about the stolen bases. No, not the zero stolen bases Boston had, but the nine stolen bases Texas had. Look, I know the stolen bases go up when Wakes is pitching. It's a by-product of the knuckler. Fair enough. But nine? That's a by-product of V-Mart's catching. His arm is starting to become a liability. Yesterday he went 3-4 with a RBI, and that is a good thing. But is it enough to excuse his defense?

Second is that the starting pitching was weak once again. With the exception of Josh Beckett recently, Boston's starters have been remarkably hittable. They are collectively too good to continue this path. But you'd hope someone else would start to step up and lay down a few solid consecutive outings.

The final thing is something we may not fully figure out for a while. In the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and third with two outs, Tito pinch-hit Mike Lowell for David Ortiz. This is the kind of situation Ortiz feasted on in earlier days. Last night he was yanked for Lowell and he was not pleased. I don't see how this can end well. With left-handers pitching for the Rangers tonight and Thursday...do we even see Ortiz with a bat again in this series? How will this play out in the dugout? But it's late April, we're almost 10% of the way through the season and Ortiz is hitting .146 with a .491 OPS. I don't see how the Sox can continue to ride those numbers. Of course, Drew's are even worse. But he has Theo's undying love and an injury-racked outfield to keep him in right.

So tonight it's Beckett taking the mound. If he can lead the Sox to a win, it'll be the first two-win stretch in Fenway where Boston is winning the games. The comeback has to start somewhere. This is as good a time and place as any.

No

2010-04-20T13:10:00.000-04:00

I'm not discussing it. What is there to discuss? The Sox looked like some double-A backwater crew against the Rays. How to sum it up? Tito had Dustin Pedroia lay down a bunt. Pedroia, the only consistent batter and fielder on the Sox. The only guy hitting for power and average and on-base percentage.

He bunted.

That was in the first inning, and right there you knew it was over for the game. And it was.

The season so far has been a mess with injuries decimating the outfield, the starting pitching struggling to be consistent and the defense acting more porous than your common-variety sponge. It's easy to get nervous right now, though we'd all do well to remember that the Yanks stunk it up out of the gate in 2009. And we know how that horror-show ended...lousy SOBs.

But something has to happen. The first step occurred today when Mike Cameron was assigned to the DL and Josh Reddick was called up. That gets Bill Hall out of the outfield, which is a good thing indeed. Sadly, it also means J.D. Drew stays in the lineup. How are those metrics making him look this year, Theo?

But I think the Sox have to get a little more aggressive here. Victor Martinez is killing the Sox with his mediocre offense, which looks great compared to his abysmal defense. Why not move Martinez to DH and bring up Dusty Brown to be the catcher for the short-term? His hitting has been average in the Bucket, but at least he can throw a guy out who is trying to steal second. And yes it means someone more established has to go down. You know what? I don't care. Outside of Pedroia and Youk to a lesser extent, no one has stepped up at all this year.

The Sox start a three-game set against the Rangers. Anyone want to bet how this will turn out? If you guessed on batters striking out in key situations and at least one boneheaded error per game, you're probably right.

Anyway, let's end this on a better note. Over the next few days I am going to try and get a couple of book reviews up on SvS. The first one is "Red Sox by the Numbers". The second is Doug Glanville's new book "The Game From Where I Stand". I might try to do that one first. But either way, both reviews should be out before the end of the week...I hope.

I've Got Nothing

2010-04-19T11:08:00.000-04:00

I'm not even writing about that abomination of a game yesterday. Five hits? Another error? Just one run, and that one in the ninth? The 3-5 batters go a collective 0-9? Oh, and now JD Drew is batting .132 with a .444 OPS. Tell me again how this guy is worth $14 million. Please, I'm all ears. Break out the UZR, VORP, and every other acronym to somehow convince me that JD Drew isn't killing this team.

Feh! The Sox are now 4-8 on the year and 1-5 at home. One measly win! Hopefully, John Lackey can stop the bleeding. But the Sox need to figure out what is going wrong and fast. Because contrary to popular belief, games in April actually count.

Unfriendly Confines

2010-04-18T11:24:00.000-04:00

I never thought I would see the day when Boston did better away from Fenway Park. But 11 games into the 2010 season, the simple truth is that Boston wins more on the road than at home. The Sox are 3-3 on the road and 1-4 at home. Yesterday's double-whammy with the Rays contributed a lot to that abysmal home start.

What makes it worse is that the losses are never blowouts. In their two losses against the Yankees and their two losses against the Rays, the Sox haven't lost by more than two runs in any game. They are in the games right to the end but cannot seem to find a way to win.

Yesterday's games are a perfect example of that. Finishing up the first game, a continuation of Friday's suspended match, the Sox were tied with Tampa at 1. In the bottom of the eleventh inning, the Sox had the bases loaded with no outs. You almost have to try to fail in this situation in order to not score a run. But Ortiz grounded into a fielder's choice that got the force out at home. And then Beltre hit into a double play and just like that the Sox threw away their best chance to win. Tampa capitalized with a homer in the 12th and Boston lost 3-1. In the process they wasted a fantastic start from Josh Beckett, who went seven innings and gave up just one run and four hits over seven innings. He struck out eight and walked just one. A silver lining would also be the performance of Daniel Bard, who went two clean innings and struck out two.

Then yesterday's real game took place. Clay Buchholz didn't do his team any favors, putting the Rays in position to score four times in the first inning. But that's also on Mike Cameron, who flubbed a catch that would have been the third out. But to Clay's credit, he didn't let that affect him. This is the kind of thing that would have melted him down a year ago. Instead, Clay buckled down and allowed just one hit and one walk over the next four innings. He also retired eight batters in a row. So from bad things can come an encouraging sign.

Then Scott Atchison came on in the sixth and was undone by an error as well. Marco Scutaro's third error of the season (more on this in a moment) allowed BJ Upton on base and to steal his way over to third just in time for Jaso's ground-rule double that scored Upton and put the Rays up 5-1. Without that error, the double does nothing. Instead, it allowed that homer in the seventh to be the winning run.

In short, two errors accounted for five of Tampa's six runs in their 6-5 win. Boston should have won this game going away. And the result was that Boston's four run seventh, punctuated by two-run blasts from both Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, came up just short.

There are going to be two things to watch from here on out. One, David Ortiz's production. Peter Abraham made the point recently in the Globe that J.D. Drew is actually having a worse season at the plate than Ortiz. And he's right. But there isn't as much scrutiny on Drew, which you can chalk up to low expectations and the protection that provides. But Papi doesn't have that. And if he doesn't start hitting more as we approach the end of the month, the pressure will mount for Lowell to take over at DH.

The other thing to watch is Boston's sudden propensity for errors. One of the keys for Boston's success this year was to be run prevention. When that fails, as it did yesterday, the results are clear. Well, the Sox now have eight errors in 11 games, fourth-highest in the AL. That's above the league average of seven and something that simply wasn't supposed to happen. And it would be remiss not to mention that Scutaro is responsible for three of those errors. He leads AL shortstops with three errors and has the worst fielding percentage (.939) of any shortstop in the AL. Extrapolate that out, and he's on target for a Renteria-esque 30+ errors. I am not saying that will happen. Nor am I comparing him to Renteria. But his fielding thus far makes one wonder if the revolving-door at shortstop is still going to be in operation after the season, or if Boston will (mistakenly) try to rush Jose Iglesias along in the minors.

Today it's going to be Jon Lester and Matt Garza. Garza is off to a fantastic start in 2010 and Boston will have to be at their best to get a win today.

Time To Take A Deep Breath

2010-04-18T07:00:00.097-04:00

April has never been Mark Teixeira's month.

A career .240 hitter in the season's first month, Tex is accustomed to slow starts.

But this April has been beyond slow, even by Teixeira's standards.

The first baseman went 1-for-4 with an RBI to raise his average to .100 as the Yankees rolled to a 7-3 victory over the Texas Rangers Saturday at Yankee Stadium behind seven shutout innings from A.J. Burnett.

Even Tex's one hit was less then impressive -- a broke-bat, run-scoring, infield single in the second that made it 2-0. He's now 4-for-40 with five RBI.

Mark Teixeira is struggling badly, but that's no reason to panic. I'm confident that not only is this guy going to hit, but he's going to put up some monster numbers.

It's going to happen. Give it time.

But right now, it isn't happening for Teixeira and he could use a little help.

The switch-hitter just isn't right at the moment. Mechanically he is dropping his back leg too much, throwing off his swing. That's something that will get corrected. He is working in the cage and he and hitting coach Kevin Long will get that sweet swing straightened out.

What's more concerning is that it also appears that he's pressing. With the Yankees getting off to a fast start by winning their first four series to start a season for the first time since 1926, Teixeira clearly wants to join in the fun and contribute. With each passing day, it seems as if he's putting more pressure on himself with the hits not falling.

Of course, it could be much worse. The Yankees are 8-3 and getting contributions from everyone. Brett Gardner had three infield hits in Saturday's win. Derek Jeter homered, and so did Alex Rodriguez, who hit his first of the season. That takes a lot of pressure of Teixeira right there.

But this is where Joe Girardi has an opportunity to give Tex a helping hand.

Associated Press

With a day off Monday as the Yankees head to California to start a trip in Oakland, Girardi can provide Teixeira with a bit of a respite.

Girardi should not start Teixeira today.

Now, let's be clear. I'm not calling for Teixeira to be benched. I'm not saying he shouldn't be playing. Teixeira is too good to be benched.

What I am saying is that a little break could help the guy.

All players go through slumps. They have their hot streaks, and they have their cold streaks. You never want to take a hot player out of the lineup, but sometimes when a player is slumping, sometimes all he needs is take a step back and pause.

By sitting Tex today or using him off the bench late, Girardi would give his All-Star first baseman two days to relax and unwind. It would be a chance to gather himself. And it could help get him back into a better frame of mind.

Teixeira is an important cog in this Yankees machine. There is going to a two- to four-week stretch this season when he carries this offense.

The Yankees just need to give him a little jump-start to get him going first. A break today might be all that he needs.

Up Next
Today vs. Rangers, 1:05 p.m., YES
Rich Harden (0-0, 2.79 ERA) vs. Andy Pettitte (1-0, 0.75)

Francisco! That's fun to say! Francisco. Frannncisco.

2010-04-16T11:01:00.000-04:00

Actually, it's not fun at all. I tried hard to channel Buddy the Elf after Francisco Liriano led the Twins in a 8-0 beatdown of the Red Sox. But it's hard to have good cheer and a bright attitude when a team that is supposed to have great defense commits three errors and a pitcher that the Sox have hit with regularity looks Gibson-esque.

The Sox have made Liriano their personal hand-puppet over the past couple of years. But yesterday Liriano flipped that relationship on its head. His seven innings of four-hit ball with two walks and eight strikeouts meant the Sox never got going. He threw about 67% of his pitches for strikes. Unless I counted it wrong, Liriano found himself down to a batter by two balls or more in a count only four times. He was, in a word, dominant. Only Dustin Pedroia was able to work him, getting two of his three hits off Liriano.

That made for a deadly combination with Tim Wakefield's knuckleball that wasn't really knuckling. The Twins jumped him for six runs (five earned) and 10 hits in 5.1 innings. It wasn't that Tim lost his control; he actually threw more of his pitches for strikes than Liriano (68%). But when that knuckleball lays flat...it's like batting practice. And all too often yesterday it wasn't moving the way it usually does. That's the way it goes with a knuckleballer; every so often they have a game where it just doesn't work. Hopefully, this is the last one Wakes has for a while. And Scott Schoeneweis had a forgettable inning of work (two runs on three hits) before Ramon Ramirez sopped up the rest. Because why would you waste a good arm in that spot?

Not that it was all their fault. The Boston defense was abysmal yesterday with three errors. Boston's batters went 0-6 with runners in scoring position. It was a giant mess all the way around. And when you play a team like Minnesota, you cannot screw up like that because they'll make you pay.

The roadtrip ends with Boston going 3-3. So for all the losing, they still went .500 on the road and that is what you want your team to do. They now come back home for a long homestand, starting with four against the Rays. That includes the traditional 11:05 AM start on Patriots Day this Monday. Beckett takes the mound tonight against Wade Davis. Davis lost his last start against the Yankees. And that is all I am saying. Apparently I can't talk any kind of smack against an opposing pitcher without them crushing the Sox.

And there is one more thing; the Sox now have a depth problem in the outfield. Mike Cameron is now likely to be out with a kidney stone, which is probably as men ever get to experiencing the pain of childbirth. And Ellsbury is still not back yet. So the speediest fielders on the team are now being replaced with Hermida and Hall. Which isn't a bad thing per se; Hermida has been crushing the ball and Hall has a good eye (he drew both walks against Liriano). But who is on the bench now? What if Scutaro gets hurt and Hall needs to take over there? I would guess Josh Reddick would come up. I like Reddick. But I wish his callup wasn't because we're running dry on outfielders.

Robinson's Day

2010-04-16T07:00:00.098-04:00

There's something about Jackie Robinson Day that brings out the best in Robinson Cano.

A year ago, Cano went 2-for-4 with a double, homer and two RBI against the Rays.

Thursday he took it a step further.

McClatchey-Tribune

After presenting Jackie's widow Rachel and daughter Sharon with flowers in a pregame ceremony, Cano went 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBI in a 6-2 victory over the Angels at Yankee Stadium. Both homers were off Scott Kazmir, marking the first time Cano has homered twice in the same game against left-handed pitching.

While the anniversary for Robinson breaking the color barrier is not only a special day for baseball, but for all of society, it clearly takes on an extra special meaning for Cano, who was named for Robinson and wears 24 in honor of Jackie, who wore 42, retired throughout baseball with only Mariano Rivera the only active player still allowed to wear it every day.

“If it wasn’t for him, who knows where I would be,” Cano told the Journal News.

Fortunately, there was Jackson Robinson, Cano is a Yankee, and he led the Bombers in a big way Thursday.

McClatchey-Tribune

With Phil Hughes starting for the first time this season, the Yankees were looking for a solid outing to win their third straight season to start season against three of the top teams in the American League -- Red Sox, Rays and Angels

Hughes delivered, pitching into the sixth, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out six. He threw 66 of a career-high 108 pitches for strikes, throwing only five of his newly developed changeups against a team scouting reports said had left-handed hitters that were good changeup hitters.

The only cause for concern was that Hughes did walk five batters. But his fastball was lively and his curve and cutter sharp, allowing to work his way around those free passes.

And really, he made just one mistake all game -- though it was one mistake Yankees fans did not mind seeing as Hideki Matsui led off the second inning and turned on a 1-and-0, 92 mph fastball and put it into the stands in right, his first hit in 10 at-bats in his return to Yankee Stadium to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

Yankees fans had been waiting for that moment, and while some jumped all over the fans for booing Javier Vazquez and his miserable outing Wednesday, those same people today ought be praising the classy and dignified way those fans paid tribute to a player in Matsui, who gave them everything he had and actually brought home a World Championship.

But the Angels' lead didn't last long, thanks to Cano, who led off the Yankees' half of the inning with a laser into the front rows in right to tie it.

McClatchey-Tribune

The Yankees grabbed the lead in the third as Derek Jeter led off with Jeterian homer.

From there, the Yankees just went to work against Kazmir, who allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks in four innings.

Curtis Granderson hit the first of his two triples to drive in Marcus Thames in the fourth before scoring on Derek Jeter's double to push the lead to 4-1.

Cano then put the hammerlock down the Angels, crushing a two-run homer in the fifth to make it a 6-1 lead the Angels would have no shot at overcoming.

McClatchey-Tribune

At that point, it was up to the bullpen to close it out. Joba Chamberlain finished the eighth with a double play after Damaso Marte allowed a single to Torii Hunter, but with a chance to pick up his first save since Sept. 23, 2007, Chamberlain couldn't close the door.

Mike Napoli led off with a walk and Erick Aybar hit a grounder that Jeter couldn't come up with for a single. That meant that with everyone wearing No. 42 on this day, it was time to go to the only player who wears 42 every day.

And of course, Rivera finished it off with ease.

Up Next
Tonight vs. Rangers, 7:05 p.m., YES
C.J. Wilson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. CC Sabathia (1-0, 3.46)

No One's Lackey

2010-04-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

It's early in the season, but so far John Lackey has been worth every last one of his 80+ million dollars that's he'll receive from his new contract.

Lackey pitched a solid 6.2 innings today and helped lead the Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Twins in Minnesota Wednesday afternoon. The win gave Lackey his first victory of the year and brought the Sox back up to .500 with a 4-4 record. They're 1.5 games back of the Rays with a game in hand.

Lackey wasn't perfect today; he walked more batters (4) than he struck out (2). But he allowed just two runs on seven hits and was able to limit Minnesota's run production by getting several timely outs. In the third inning, after allowing the the Twins to tie the game at two and having runners at first and second with two outs, Lackey got Morneau to fly out. In the fourth, with runners on first and second with one out, Lackey got Hardy and Punto to fly out. The result is that Lackey is now 1-0 in two starts with a 1.42 ERA.

Lackey didn't do it alone. Okajima came on in the seventh after Lackey recorded the second out and got Morneau to pop out with the bases loaded. In the eighth, after Daniel Bard surrendered a solo shot to make the score 6-3, he escaped without further damage. And Papelbon got his third save of the year despite walking two batters in the ninth, the last out coming with runners on second and third. The game could have gone south for Boston's pitchers at more than one point. But they held firm and kept Boston in the game.

And not to slag on Paps after he got his third save, but this year is feeling a lot like last year. He has three saves but those go along with a 4.15 ERA and a WHIP of 1.38. I don't doubt that, baring an injury, Paps will get his 35+ saves. But that high WHIP will kill him in the post-season, just like it did last year.

On the batting side of things, Dustin Pedroia continued his power-hitting ways. His solo shot in the fifth put the Sox up 3-2 and was Pedroia's fourth homer of the year. Pedroia said at the beginning of the year that he was going to hit 20 homers this year. Well, we're eight games into the season and he's 20% of the way there. Like Muhammad Ali said, "It ain't bragging if you can back it up." Well, Pedey is backing it up.

Marco Scutaro went 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI. His run scored came in the first to put the Sox up 1-0. This was a nice contrast to Monday's game, where he got picked off and wasn't there to come around on Pedroia's double. Yesterday he stayed on base, Pedroia hit a double and...voila!

And in substituting for Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida has really stepped up for the Sox. Today he went 1-4 with a bases-clearing double in the eighth that put the Sox up 6-3 and the game out of reach from the Twins. He's hitting .357 for the season so far with a 1.186 OPS. That likely won't hold for the season but Hermida is looking like a solid signing for the Sox thus far.

The series closer is tomorrow, with Wakefield going against Francisco Liriano. I like this matchup for Boston, because Liriano is very hittable. The Sox have dominated Liriano the past few years, winning both of his starts and posting a .405 batting average against him. Liriano's ERA against Boston between 2007 and 2009 was 13.50, the worst team ERA he had for any team over that three year period. If the Sox can get the win, they'll be back over .500 for the first time since their Opening Night win.

Open Season On Javier Vazquez

2010-04-15T07:00:00.077-04:00

Javier Vazquez's second stint with the New York Yankees has begun just like the first one ended: as a nightmare.

Vazquez was hammered by the Rays in his first outing of the season.

His second start was slightly better, but still well below par by any standard.

Vazquez allowed four runs on six hits and two walk in 5-1/3 innings Wednesday as the Yankees lost to the Angels 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Vazquez is now 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA in his two starts this season.

Now two starts into the season is hardly enough to draw any sweeping conclusions about a pitcher, but Vazquez is not just another pitcher, is he?

In his first tour with the Yankees in 2004, Vazquez went 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA. The numbers alone aren't terrible, but they don't tell the full story. In 10 starts in August and September, he went 2-4 with a 6.75 ERA. Then to top it off, he allowed two homers, including Johnny Damon's grand slam, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

He knows what New York is all about ... and Yankees fans know what he's all about. That means there isn't much leeway for the righthander. He needs to perform well, and needs to do it immediately.

Instead, we have seen a pitcher incapable of maintain and repeating his delivery and release point.

Associated Press

Wednesday he escaped a shaky first, but got hammered in the third, allowing a leadoff single to Brandon Wood, and RBI single to Erick Aybar and an RBI double by Bobby Abreu to make it 2-0.

After Nick Swisher got a run back in the fifth with an RBI triple, Vazquez came undone in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double to Torii Hunter and a one-out RBI double to Kendry Morales. That was it for Vazquez, and he left to boos. Morales came around to score on Maicer Izturis' single off Alfredo Aceves.

The fans clearly have not forgotten what happened in 2004 ... and they won't until Vazquez starts winning.

But here's the thing that's puzzling: For the past 10 seasons, Vazquez has been one of the most consistent and durable pitchers in the majors. He's pitched 200 innings in all but one season -- 2004 when he pitched 198 for the Yankees. All of that speaks to a pitcher who is mechanically sound and able to easily repeat his delivery.

But in New York that hasn't happened. In 2004, it turns out Vazquez had a sore shoulder -- not that Vazquez has ever used that as an excuse.

So what's going on now? Is Vazquez hurting? Is the pressure of getting off to a fast start proving to be more stress than he can handle? Does he just need a win to get on track? ... Or is Javier Vazquez simply a player who just can't make it in New York?

Again, it's not fair to draw conclusions off two start, but all those questions will be answered in time.

Just hope Vazquez can put it together and perform as we've seen him perform with other teams.

If he can't, well, it will be open season on the Vazquez and boos will continue to rain down.

Up Next
Tonight vs. Angels, 7:05 p.m., Local TV (check your listings), MLB
Scott Kazmir vs. Phil Hughes
Both pitchers are making their first starts of the year, but the Yankees are quite familiar with Kazmir, who was traded from the Rays to the Angels last season. The lefthander has been quite tough on the Yankees in the past.

A Perfect (Almost) Opener

2010-04-14T07:56:00.000-04:00

This was a day we've been waiting for since early November, when the Yankees captured World Championship No. 27.

When it comes to celebrating accomplishments and history, there is no team in sports that come close to matching the Yankees. The pomp, the circumstance, the celebration of the past, no one can compare --no matter how hard the Red Sox try.

And Tuesday was no disappointment.

Associated Press

From the banners from the previous 26 championship ringing around Yankee Stadium, to the flag raising of No. 27 and the ring ceremony, and all the way to Mariano Rivera recording the final out to save a 7-5 victory over the Angels, it was just a perfect (almost) home opener.

Associated Press

The day began with the team welcoming back two people. One was trainer Gene Monahan, who has been away from the team as he battles cancer.

Until you actually see it for yourself, it is hard to emphasize just how important trainers are to the athletes and a team's success.

These are the people who help the players get through every bump and bruise and injury that would render a normal human to the couch, curled up in pain. Monahan has been with the Yankees since the days of Mickey Mantle, and the fans at the Stadium did a terrific job of recognizing just how important Monahan has been and continues to be to this team.

The other big moment was the return of Hideki Matsui, the World Series MVP. In an era when the Yankees made bad signing after bad signing, Matsui stands alone as one that Brian Cashman and the front office got 100 percent right.

Matsui wasn't just a great Yankee, he was a perfect Yankee. Since signing before the 2003 season, Matsui gave us everything he had and had a knack for coming up with big hits and bigger homers. We never got the sense that he took even as much as one pitch off. It was as if he was born to wear pinstripes.

So it was great that Matsui not only received a wonderful ovation from the fans, his former teammates came out to hug him as he received his World Series ring.

Associated Press

The things is, as wonderful as the flag raising, ring ceremony and returns of Yankee dignitaries such as Bernie Williams, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford was, it was also the epilogue to last season. The final word.

There was a game to be played and once the ceremony ended, it was time for the Yankees to fully place their focus on this season and the Quest for 28.

And Andy Pettitte made sure the Yankees got the kind of start they needed to get the victory. Pettitte put together a second consecutive strong start, pitching six, beautiful shutout innings, striking out six, walking three and allowing five hits. He threw 59 of 100 pitches for strikes and is looking like a guy who shouldn't be considering retirement.

And when a starter gives that kind of effort, well, is there any doubt the Yankees will get the win? Not with this offense.

Reuters

Nick Johnson got things started with a homer in the first. Derek Jeter made it 3-0 with a homer in the third and an RBI single in the fourth, and Alex Rodriguez sent the Yankees well on their way to the win with a two-run single in the sixth.

Everything seemed perfect ... and then Joe Girardi went to Chan No! Park, who labored through two innings, throwing 36 pitches and allowing Kendry Morales' two-out homer in the eighth to spoil the shutout.

Unfortunately, David Robertson was even worse in the ninth, allowing three straight singles to start the inning before giving up a one-out grand slam to Bobby Abreu. But with Rivera ready to go in the bullpen, the win would not escape the Yankees' grasp.

And while the last two innings left a little bit of a bitter taste, it could not spoil the day.

It was, after all, a perfect (almost) opener.

Up Next
Today vs. Angels, 1:05 p.m., YES, MLB

Joel Pineiro (0-1, 4.50) vs. Javier Vazquez (0-1, 12.71)
Vazquez was disastrous in his first start of the year against the Rays and needs to rebound with a strong outing today. Yankees fans have not forgotten his first stint with the team and will let him know about it if he doesn't pitch well today.

Twin Killing

2010-04-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

Remember when Carl Pavano sucked? When he would get injured all the time and get chased out of a game in five innings or less? Those were some good times.

Sadly, Pavano seems to have forgotten all about them. He helped lead Minnesota to a 5-2 win over the Sox today in the grand opening of Target Field.*

Pavano allowed just four hits and one run over six innings. And by that time the Twins had jumped all over Jon Lester. Pavano threw 62% of his pitches for strikes, which is where a pitcher wants to be. It shows he has his control working, and Pavano surrendered just one walk.

Lester, obviously, had a much rougher outing. He threw just 55% of his pitches for strikes, which resulted in three walks, nine hits and four earned runs in five innings of work. The Twins' batters were solid, putting up three runs in the first two innings and working from a position of strength the whole game. And that allowed Pavano and Company to run from the front and attack Boston's lineup.

Not that Boston's lineup helped itself much. Right from the first inning, Scutaro got picked off first after a lead-off single. Pedroia doubled next and it could have been 1-0 had Scutaro stayed on base.

And then in the eighth inning, down 5-1, Pedroia gets Hermida across to make it 5-2 with one out and a runner at first. And then V-Mart grounds into a double-play to kill the rally. And that was pretty much it.

One thing must be noted: David Ortiz hit a RBI double for Boston's first run. It was his only hit of the game and he did strike out two more times (he leads the AL with 11 strikeouts), but it is always good to see Ortiz drive in a run. Now he just needs to sustain that production over a stretch of games.

Hopefully Boston will bounce back on Wednesday afternoon. John Lackey takes the mound and he has been Boston's best starter so far in this short season. But Minny's Kevin Slowey is no scrub. Despite an ERA of 4.86 and a WHIP of 1.41 in 2009, he went 10-3 in 16 starts. Boston has to come out and attack him from the start.

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* It's about damn time Minnesota got a new field. The whole process has taken almost two decades. At one point the Twins were almost sold to a jackass from North Carolina who wanted to move the Twins down South. Bud Selig tried to contract them before the Minnesota Supreme Court stepped in. And they played in a stadium more suited for a wrecking ball that a major league franchise. So yes, I don't root for the Twins. But I am very, very pleased to see them in Target Field.

Escape From Kansas City

2010-04-12T08:00:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it isn't pretty. Sometimes it isn't easy. But as long as you have more runs that the other team when that last out is recorded, that's all that matters.

What looked like a runaway win for the Sox Sunday afternoon turned into a bit of a nail-biter thanks to Ramon Ramirez and his remarkable ability to surrender runs. But by the end, the Sox got away with an 8-6 win and got back to .500 (3-3).

There was another escape as well. The big story coming out of this game could have been Jacoby Ellsbury getting injured in a collision with Adrian Beltre. Luckily for Ellsbury and the Sox, that wasn't the case.

"He kneed me right in the ribs," Ellsbury said. "I was worried about, a broken rib. I'm sure there is quite a bit of swelling in there cause it is a little tough to breath. It didn't feel too good initially.

"They got good enough X-rays. They'll just probably blow them up on a bigger monitor (Monday) and make sure there is nothing like a minor break. There was nothing obvious on it."

So thank the powers that be for that one, although even without a break he may be out for a game or two.

Clay Buchholz picked up the win with a workman-like performance; three runs (two earned) and seven hits over five innings. It wasn't great but it got the job done, especially since Gil Meche got hammered early and often. The KC starter lasted just 3.1 innings and gave up seven runs on eight hits, including another homer from Dustin Pedroia.

Lost in all the excitement was a solid two inning performance from Manny Delcarmen. He went two innings and allowed just one walk. He has yet to allow a run this year and has a WHIP of 0.67 so far. With Ramirez's struggles, he may get even more work as a bridge to Bard and Papelbon.

Speaking of Ramirez...he has to be either benched or examined for a hidden injury, because he is pitching like crap right now. He has given up five runs in three appearances, has a WHIP of 4.50 and a 33.75 ERA. He was completely ineffective today, unable to record even a single out in the eighth while allowing the Royals to cut the lead to 8-6.

But Bard and Papelbon were both on their game. They combined for two scoreless innings of work, with Bard getting his second hold of 2010 and Papelbon picking up his second save in two games. This is the kind of pitching Sox fans expected to see from these two from game one. As long as they are throwing like this, the Sox will win a lot of games.

And the strong bats don't hurt either. Beltre is continuing to make Theo look brilliant. He went 3-5 with three RBI today, boosting his average to .400 and his OPS to .831 so far this season. And Pedroia is being...Pedroia. 4-5 with a run scored and a RBI. Pedroia's three homers are fourth best in the AL and he is sporting a gaudy 1.193 OPS. I know this won't hold over 162 games, but it's great to see someone that Boston fans love (and the fans of the other 29 teams hate) taking off like this early in the season.

If there was one down note, it was David Ortiz day at the plate. He was 0-4 with four strikeouts. And that's the problem. Batters have 0-fers all the time. It's to be expected. I mean, this is a job where having a 30% success rate at the plate guarantees you lifetime employment. If I was that efficient at my job, they'd can my ass in about two minutes.

But usually those batters make outs with contact. They'll pop it up or ground to short or something. But to miss the ball for four outs is ... not good. I don't think it's time to discuss Ortiz being benched; there is still a lot of baseball. But expect more questions about Ortiz and his future in Boston as long as his slump continues.

But for now, the Sox escape KC with a series win and head north to Minnesota to help the Twins open their new baseball stadium. Should be quite an event. Right before Lester pitches the Sox to another win.

Burnett Makes It A Solid First Week

2010-04-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

As Yankees fans, we know not to make too big of a deal about what happens in April, especially the first week.

We've seen this team get out of the gates slowly, yet still make the playoffs. Heck, last year the Yankees started 13-15 and still won 103 regular season games and their 27th World Championship.

Still it's nice to get off to a good start, and taking each of the first two series against the Red Sox and Rays -- the two teams the Yankees figure to be battling for the AL East and/or the wild card -- makes this a particularly good first week.

After a shaky start Sunday, A.J. Burnett got back on track, Jorge Posada hit a big two-run home run and Curtis Granderson did a little bit of everything to lead the Yankees to a 7-3 victory over the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., propelling New York the series win and a 4-2 first week.

“You try to win every series,” Joe Girardi told the Journal News. “That’s our goal going in. I don’t think you can be satisfied being even. Some people might say you hung in on a tough road trip, but our goal was to win both series.”

But early on it seemed as if the Yankees would heading back to New York and their home opener at 3-3, as Burnett began the game by allowing two runs on two hits, two stolen bases, a walk and a sacrifice bunt. Burnett clearly did not trust his stuff and it looked like for all the world that the Yankees would be run out of Tropicana Field.

And a year ago, that might have been the case. Last season we saw that when Burnett didn't think he had a good fastball or curve, he'd struggle ... typically leading to friction with Posada over pitch selection and usually an ugly outing. He was that fragile.

Getty Images

That didn't happen Sunday. After Burnett walked Evan Longoria to put runners on first and third with one out and a run in, pitching coach Dave Eiland came to the mound, where he and Posada told the righthander that he had good stuff, to trust his pitches and attack the hitters.

That always solid advice, but on this day, it sunk in. Burnett got Carlos Pena to groundout, bringing in a run to make it 2-0, and then ended the inning by getting B.J. Upton to fly to center.

The only other trouble Burnett ran into the rest of the way was in the sixth, when he escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam by getting Upton to pop to Mark Teixeira.

Burnett's line ended up looking quite good as he allowed just the two runs on six hits and three walks in seven innings. He struck out just one, threw 49 of 92 pitches for strikes, and effectively spotted his newly developed changeup.

But perhaps the most important development was the way Burnett and Posada worked together. There was no evidence of the discord that plagued the pair at times last season. Burnett seemed to trust Posada more and it showed as the game wore on.

Most importantly, by trusting his stuff and Posada, Burnett was able to limit the damage and give his offense a chance -- and really, with that offense, that's all a Yankees pitcher has to do.

Associated Press

The Yankees cut the deficit in half in the second as Alex Rodriguez led off with a single, advanced to second on Robinson Cano's groundout and scored on Granderson's two-out double.

But that was just the beginning for Granderson. While we saw just how much power Granderson has in the first series in Boston, Sunday we saw just how versatile and well-rounded the center fielder is.

He flash some leather in the fifth. After Pat Burrell singled to lead off, Granderson made a diving catch of a sinking, hit-and-run liner by Dionner Navarro, popped to his feet quickly and gunned out Burrell at first for the double play.

That set the stage for Posada in the sixth. Cano's one-out double chased stater James Shields, who ended up allowing two runs on four hits and three walks and five strikeouts in 5-1/3 innings.

Associated Press

Unfortunately for the Rays, it still looks as if their bullpen remains their biggest weakness as Randy Choate came on and promptly severed up a meatball for Posada to crush into the stands in left to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

Granderson then used his legs to produce another run. He followed Posada's homer with a single to left, stole second, took third on a soft tapper by Nick Swisher up the first base line and scored when pitch in the dirt squirted away from Navarro to make it 4-2.

The Yankees then pounded the Rays' weak bullpen. A-Rod crushed a two-run double to left in the seventh and against Lance Cormier and Swisher crushed a homer to right against Andy Sonnanstine in the eighth.

And just like that, the Yankees were on their way to the series win and as good a first week as could be expected.

Up Next
Tuesday, home opener vs. Angels, 1:05 p.m., YES, MLB
Ervin Santana (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Andy Pettitte (0-0, 1.50)
The Yankees will receive their World Series rings, as will Hideki Matsui, who returns to Yankee Stadium for the first time since signing with Angels in the offseason.

Sox Start To Right The Ship

2010-04-11T10:31:00.000-04:00

It's one thing to lose two close games to the Yankees. That's a heavyweight bout between two opponents of great size and stature. It's another to lose a close one to Kansas City, which is like having Lennox Lewis lose to some scrub by unanimous decision.

So thankfully, Josh Beckett matched defending Cy Young winner Zach Grienke while Boston's bats propelled them to a 8-3 win over the Royals. With the win, the proper order of things has begun to reassert itself.

Yesterday's win was not only the first one for a Boston starter in five games, it was the first decision recorded by a Boston starter in five games. The last time it took this long for a Boston starting pitcher to record a decision to start the season was...actually, I don't know. I checked the records back to 1995 and then decided I could be here all day trying to find such a random factoid. So it's been at least 15 years. But if any of you enterprising readers want to take a crack at it, your reward is my gratitude. And since I am a misanthrope, that's something worth getting.

Back to the game. Beckett needed to get this win. Had the Sox lost two in a row in KC, the pressure would have been on Buchholz to salvage something. But Beckett stepped up in a big way. Except for a Rick Ankiel run-scoring single in the first, Beckett held the Royals down until the seventh. Then the wheels came off a little as the Royals collected four hits, two runs and a near-decapitation of Beckett when David DeJesus' run-scoring single with two outs grazed the back of Beckett's head. But Josh came right back and got the next batter out to finish the inning. Then Okajima and Ramon Ramirez got a little redemption with a clean eighth and ninth inning respectively to seal the win.

But as good as that was, Boston's bats were better. The Sox are continuing to prove that they can still hit the long ball as the lineup cranked out five home runs.* And even more note-worthy was that Jason Varitek was responsible for two of them.

I can't imagine that this will begin a "Jason should start!" movement among Sox fans. But if it does...just stop now. Last night was a remarkable hitting performance from Jason, to be sure. But Varitek is historically at his best in April and May. And he is old...for baseball. He can't start and be this effective. But as a sub he may be able to stay effective over the whole year. And if Jason could do this on a spot-start basis in September? That would be a huge benefit for the team.

Another bright spot was Jeremy Hermida's first start of the year in the outfield. He combined with 'Tek for consecutive homers in the fifth off Greinke. Youk and Pedroia collected the other two homers for the Sox, with Pedroia's being a two-run shot in the ninth. And Ellsbury continues to rebound from a poor Opening Night performance. Jacoby went 3-5 with two runs scored and a RBI. All in all it was a good night all the way around for Boston.

This afternoon the Sox wrap up their KC trip with Buchholz taking the mound against Gil Meche. If you look at their numbers from last year, you could definitely argue that Buchholz was a better pitcher. But it is a new year and we'll have to see if Clay continues to exhibit the maturity and consistency he finally found last year. One thing to note: KC papers are reporting that Meche is being limited to 100 pitches today. If the Sox can work the counts and knock Meche out early, they can get to a Royals' bullpen that has already been heavily worked the past two games.

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* For those of you playing at home, Boston currently has more homers (8) than the Yankees (4). What power outage?

Girardi Was Ready With The Right Call

2010-04-11T06:45:00.022-04:00

The decision had been made.

No matter what Kelly Shoppach did, CC Sabathia wasn't going to face another hitter. Forget about the no-hitter, Joe Girardi had a season to consider.

Shoppach, however, lined a single with two outs in the eighth and Sabathia ended combining with David Robertson in a 10-0 victory over the Rays Saturday at The Trop in St. Petersburg, Fla.

It was easily Sabathia's best regular season start for the Yankees since signing with them before last season. The lefthander struck out five and walked two in 7-2/3 innings before allowing that single to Shoppach. He threw 69 of 111 pitches for strikes.

But as the eighth inning wore on, it was clear that Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland were going to face a tough decision. Sabathia started the inning at 102 pitches, and had this been August, that wouldn't have been a big deal. We've seen the big lefty throw 120-125 pitches in a game.

But this is April and this was Sabathia second start of the season. Everyone would have wanted to see the ace throw the what would have been the Yankees' 11th regular season no-hitter.

But that wouldn't have been wise, and Girardi and Eiland had the good sense to realize that.

Associated Press
“Shoppach was his last hitter no matter what,” Girardi told The Journal News. “He did not know that going out, but he knows now. I told him when he came out because, big picture. It’s not something you want to do, but you have to think big picture. I told Dave (Eiland), 110 to 115, that was it.”

Said Eiland: “You have to look at the big picture and not the small one, get caught up in everything that’s going on out there. That’s our job to make those tough calls. It’s for the betterment of him and the betterment of the team. CC would have fought us on it, but he would have understood. I think anyone with any baseball sense would have understood.”

As this game was progressing, I couldn't help but flash back to a game started by David Cone.

It was Cone's first start back with the Yankees in September of 1996 after undergoing surgery to repair an aneurysm.

Cone pitched seven no-hit innings in that game, but rather than let him go back out for the eighth and further stress that surgically repaired shoulder, Joe Torre lifted Cone. It was the right move. The moment would have been great, but at what cost? To have let Cone continue would have been a big, foolish gamble.

The key here that this was Sabathia second start of the season. While he's certainly strong enough to go deep into games, his arm strength is not 100 percent. Very few pitchers are at this point. So why risk it? Especially with a guy who is as important to the Yankees as Sabathia.

So if Sabathia had gotten Shoppach it would have been a great moment -- and I would have been celebrating the accomplishment. But I'd also be worrying, wondering how Sabathia would fare in his next few starts if he finished at 125 pitches. And we would have been killing Girardi if Sabathia came down with a sore arm afterward.

Thank goodness we won't have to find out. Let's just enjoy this win and try to escape Tampa today with a series victory.

Up Next
Today at Rays, 1:40 p.m., YES
A.J. Burnett (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. James Shields (0-0, 4.50)

Piling On West

2010-04-09T12:19:00.001-04:00

Aviv more than covered the problems surrounding umpire Joe West's tirade directed at the Red Sox and Yankees over the amount of time it takes them to play a game. But I want to get my two cents in as well.

From the unnecessary language to the blind spot surrounding the umpires' own culpability in games going too long, West took aim at a legitimate target but went completely wide of the mark.

If you watched the game Opening Night, you stayed up to midnight to watch the whole game. You also got to watch Joe West call a strike zone that was about the size of a deck of playing cards one moment and then without boundaries the next. Perhaps if pitchers knew they were going to get consistent calls, they would be more apt to deliver timely pitches. Instead, they have to figure out which strike zone West is going to call. Will it be wide or narrow? Short or tall? Perhaps some form only found in non-Euclidean geometry? But no, West should really ignore that part of it.

Also take into account that these are the two top teams in the game today. When they go up against one another, it's not like having a Pittsburgh/Houston tilt. They have the bats to tag the other side's pitching, pitching that tends to overwhelm lesser teams. It's like Ali-Frazier; those guys would wade through lesser opponents with ease but then have to beat the living hell out of each other for 15 rounds. You want a game that goes three hours or less? Go watch the Jays.

As Aviv pointed out in his post earlier today, Boston and New York have to answer to their fans first. We want winners and - unlike most other fanbases - we get winners. And the style that New York and Boston employ to win (working pitch counts, controlling the pace of the game) tends to eat the clock. Yeah, that does get annoying after a while. No one likes staying up past midnight to watch a game. But I'd rather suffer that problem now and again, and have the Red Sox win, than get in bed by 11 while my team goes 70-92 for another year.

Then there is the language West employed, calling the way Boston and New York play "pathetic and embarrassing" and "a disgrace to baseball". If a player used this kind of language to describe, say, Angel Hernandez's atrocious play-calling at first base on Opening Night, they would be levied a hefty fine. If a manager called Joe West "a disgrace to baseball" back in 1990 after he slammed Dennis Cook to the ground while breaking up a brawl, they would have likely been suspended. It goes without saying that using this language will not help the games go any faster and may result in a backlash from the teams.

The truth is that yes, Boston and New York play a style of baseball that takes longer. But the umpires also contribute to this problem by calling uneven and constantly morphing strike zones, and missing calls on a semi-regular basis. To be blunt, crap umpires like Angel Hernandez are a bigger problem in baseball than the fact that Jonathan Papelbon takes a few extra seconds between pitches.

Joe West had a legitimate gripe about game time. But the language he used completely overshadowed that gripe and rendered it pointless. Combined with his ignoring the role umpires play in this problem, he only helped to point out that the problem is larger than just two teams on the East Coast.

Crossing The Line With Joe West

2010-04-09T06:45:00.042-04:00

Joe West really has really put people in a tizzy.

Then again, as an umpire, West is used to taking some heat.

It all started with some comments West made to the Bergen (N.J.) Record. The comments were made in response to questions about umpire Angel Hernandez, a member of West's crew, who refused to grant timeout on at least three occasions in the Yankees' 6-4 victory on Tuesday.

"They're the two clubs that don't try to pick up the pace," West said. "They're two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest?
"It's pathetic and embarrassing. They take too long to play.
"The commissioner of baseball says he wants the pace picked up We try. And [Tuesday night's game] still almost went four hours.
"All of baseball looks to these two clubs to pick up the pace. Angel did everything he could. The players aren't working with us.
"This is embarrassing, a disgrace to baseball."

OK. Let's be fair here. Some of what West said is accurate and fair, but he also crosses a very big line in called the Yankees and Red Sox pathetic, embarrassing and a disgrace.

Yankees-Red Sox games do take too long. Sunday's took three hours, 46 minutes, Tuesday's 3:48 and Wednesday's 10-inning game 3:21. Now I love baseball, but that is far too long. The only saving grace is that most Yankees-Sox games are good games -- dramatic and riveting.

And yes, the umpires are responsible for picking up the pace of the game. Angel Hernandez was under no obligation to grant timeouts in those spots and there was nothing wrong with what he did. In general -- not just Yankees-Sox games -- there is too much stepping out of the batter's box and many pitchers take too long between pitches.

And yes, the style of ball the Yankees and Red Sox play lends itself to longer games. Both lineups love to work the pitchers and the pitchers know they will pay for any mistake, so the tend to be too fine at times.

All of that is fair. All of that is accurate, though it should be noted that despite these long games, the two teams do generate baseball's best TV ratings.

Associated Press

West had every right to defend Hernandez and the tactics used to speed things up. That part is fine.

The problem lies in the way West characterizes and attacks the teams. It's out of line.

The Yankees' and Red Sox's first obligation is to win -- for the owners who have invested millions to win championships, and the fans who have supported them so well.

It is not to the commissioner's office. It is not to the whims and desires of Bud Selig and Bob Watson. And it certainly is not to the umpires.

No one on either team defied the umpires. No one broke any rules. They played the game and abided by the umps rulings, even the incorrect ones. Angel Hernandez didn't call time and pitches that were delivered did count. Again, Hernandez did nothing wrong, and just as importantly, no one on the Yankees or Red Sox have made even so much as a peep about Hernandez's refusals.

Another problem is that players, managers and teams are not allowed to criticize the umpires, lest they face a hefty fine. And as we have seen in last year's playoffs, the umpires are far from perfect. At the very least, the umpires should be held to the same standards when it comes to discussing players, managers and team. West should be facing a fine.

But the big problem, and the most important problem is that while the speed of the game is the umpires' responsibility, it is far from the most important issue facing our games' arbiters.

If umpires want to improve the game, they need to start by getting the calls right. The playoffs last season were an embarrassment. There were far too many blown calls, and yes, that damages the integrity of the game far, far more than the length of Yankees-Red Sox games.

And yes, Angel Hernandez -- the very same Angel Hernandez who refused to grant time -- made some of the most egregious calls.

I'd rather see games go closer to 3:30 in length with the umpires conferring and checking instant replay to get the calls right than see a 2:45 game in which the umps blew calls and possibly altered the outcome.

So Joe West, go ahead, discuss the need speed up the game. Talk about ways to do it. But until you and your colleagues become much more accurate and get more calls right, stay away from calling the World Champion Yankees, the archrival Red Sox -- and any other team for that matter embarrassing -- pathetic and and disgrace.

The blown calls you and your colleagues have made have been far more embarrassing, pathetic, disgraceful and damaging to the game.

Bad Breaks and Dumb Luck

2010-04-08T11:21:00.002-04:00

What did I say last year? What did I say over and over again? What one move that Tito occasionally does is the one that throws me over the edge?

In case you missed it, I'll say it again: Don't pitch your closer more than one inning! The only time it is even remotely acceptable is when you use your closer to get the last out in the eighth and then have them pitch the ninth. But even then it's a dicey move.

Associated Press

But to have Jonathan Papelbon throw the ninth and then come out for the tenth?! Tito, you are the best manager in the history of the Red Sox. I hope you stay here for years to come. But you have got to stop pulling this move.

Was anyone really that surprised that Papelbon lost it in the tenth, and the Sox lost the game 3-1? I wasn't. That's not a dig on Paps, just an acknowledgment of the reality that he is a one-inning closer. And that's not a bad thing. Maybe Tito should have thrown Scott Atchison in the ninth to save Paps for the tenth. He definitely should have brought Atchison out to start the tenth.

All I know is that as Curtis Granderson's homer cleared the wall, I was not all that surprised. And man, did the Yankees do a nice piece of work in getting him. Joel Sherman should be embarrassed for himself after jumping all over Granderson for not getting a winning hit in Game One. All the kid does is track down any ball hit near him and swing a good bat. I doubt too many people are missing Melky Cabrera right about now. I have to wonder if Sherman and Dan Shaughnessy are related, since they both act like fragile snowflakes after a game or two because someone doesn't get a hit.

And speaking of hits, it was nice to see Ortiz get that RBI single in the third. Pettitte left that ball inside and Ortiz was able to turn on it. Those are the kind of pitches he can still get wood on with regularity. Granted, that was his only hit of the night. But it was also Boston's only run, so at least Ortiz was carrying his weight. That should stifle Shaughnessy for a day or two. Meanwhile, Teixiera is still hitless for the Yankees. Someone get Sherman to catch the vapors on this, stat!

Another thing...how the Hell does Chan Ho Park throw three scoreless innings?? Especially when he was giving up fly balls left and right that looked ready to carry out of Fenway? I don't think I have even seen such a continual string of dumb luck in my life. If half those balls get hit down the line, they're homers. Instead, they all go to center or just off-center for deep fly outs. Park still sucks. And you know I'm right because Aviv says the same thing in his post today. Park is like the guy in a movie who is way out of his depth and stumbles into a gunfight, gets shot at a thousand times but somehow escapes unscathed. He's still out of his depth; he just got extremely lucky.

If any Sox fans want some positive news out of last night, look no further than the starter. John Lackey had a very solid debut in Boston, despite being the third straight starter for Boston to be saddled with a "ND" on their line. Six innings, three hits, three strikeouts and no runs allowed. It was nice to finally see someone stay on top of New York's lineup.

So the Sox dropped two of three to New York. All three games were won by a two-run lead. All three games saw inconsistency in both the starting rotations and the bullpens. Both games saw a bit of power from the lineups. As always, the matchups between Boston and New York will hinge mostly on key moments because they are the two behemoths in the MLB. I think both squads will be happy to not see each other for a while (the Yanks come back to Fenway for three starting May 7).

A Grand Start

2010-04-08T10:29:00.000-04:00

Curtis Granderson got his Yankees career off to a good start on Sunday with a home run in his first at-bat.

It didn't take him much longer to secure a big spot in the rivalry and win the hearts of Yankees fans everywhere.

Granderson led off the 10th inning against Jonathan Papelbon on Wednesday with a home run to lead the Yankees to 3-1 victory against the Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, giving the Yankees the 2-1 series victory.

Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi believed they were getting a special player when they made the trade for Granderson in the offseason. Granderson is 29, has hit 30 homers in a season while playing at Comerica (National) Park in Detroit, has speed and plays a very good center field. By all accounts, he's a good guy in the clubhouse and is great with the media.

Really, the only question with Granderson is how he'll do against lefthanders, against whom he entered the season with a .210 career batting average.

And while it is foolish to draw any conclusions off three games, it certainly appears that Granderson is not about to overwhelmed by the bright lights or this rivalry.

"Just trying to help the team out," Granderson told the Journal News. "That's all I want to do is just be another small piece of this puzzle. Trying to go ahead and help get this team back to continue to win ballgames. Happy to get a chance to be a part of that."

Associated Press

With the score tied at 1 entering the 10th, Granderson stepped to the plate against Papelbon, who was entering his second inning of work, and ripped an 0-and-1, 94 mph fastball into the stands in right.

It didn't get much better for Papelbon from there. After striking out Nick Swisher, Papelbon walked Brett Gardner, who then stole second. Derek Jeter walked before Scott Atchison came on and walked Nick Johnson to load the bases. Mark Teixeira rolled a soft grounder to short to bring in Gardner and make it 3-1.

Now look, three games into the season it would be foolish to draw any sweeping conclusions about whether Papelbon is being affected by his blown save in last season's ALDS. It would be stupid to even make that suggestion.

But what is fair is to question whether Terry Francona should be pitching Papelbon for more than one inning -- especially in the third game of the season. Dave has questioned that tactic in the past because we have seen numerous times that when a closer conditioned to pitch one inning at a time goes back out for a second inning of work, he loses some of his effectiveness.

Heck, at this point in the season, Joe Girardi wouldn't dream of pitching Mariano Rivera for more than one inning.

Whatever Francona's reasoning, it worked out for the Yankees and I can't complain about that. It allowed Rivera to come out and record save No. 2 of the season with relative ease.

It was great ending to what was a terrific pitchers' duel between Andy Pettitte and John Lackey.

Pettitte, who threw about 8 innings in spring training games because of weather, was surprisingly strong, allowing one run on on six hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out four and threw 54 of 94 pitches for strikes. The Sox scored that run in the third on a David Ortiz single to right.

Lackey, however, was better. Another newcomer to the rivalry, Lackey pitched six shutout innings, allowing three hits and two walks. He struck out three, but despite those impressive numbers, still had to work hard, throwing 58 of 100 pitches for strikes.

The Yankees, though, broke through against the Red Sox bullpen in the seventh as Jorge Posada hit a one-out double against Scott Schoeneweis and Nick Swisher grounded a two-out single to right that Posada scored on only because the throw from J.D. Drew was up the third-base line a bit and bounced past Sox catcher Victor Martinez.

New York Daily News

Then Girardi decided to gamble. With the score tied, Girardi called on, ugh, Chan Ho Park ... and got lucky. Park pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out one, but anyone watching knows Park wasn't that good. Seven of the outs Park recorded were on fly balls, four or five of which were hit loudly enough to raise a collective, "No! No! No! ... Phew!" from Yankees Universe.

I wrote it two days ago and I'll write it again: Park doesn't belong in pinstripes.

The Yankees just happened to get lucky with him on the mound this time.

Up Next
Friday at Rays, 7:10 p.m., YES
Javier Vazquez vs. David Price

Mirror Image

2010-04-07T12:35:00.005-04:00

As the game progressed last night, as a Sox fan you got the sinking feeling you had seen this all before. The pitching problems, the fielding miscues, the back-and-forth scoreboard.

The problem was, you sensed you were watching it from the other side.

New York's 6-4 win over the Sox last night was very similar to Boston's 9-7 victory on Opening Night. Both starting pitchers struggled (both Lester and Burnett went just five innings) and the lead changed hands numerous times. But other pieces were reflections of Opening Night. Cano's fielding miscue on Sunday opened the door for a Boston win. Last night, Marco Scutaro's errant throw in the 8th set off New York's final push for the win. Sunday night saw New York's bullpen fail at a critical moment. Last night, it was Hideki Okajima walking in what proved to be the winning run.

But that's the nature of this series. Boston and New York, built as no two other teams are in the majors today, basically beat the piss out of each other for 18 games. The season series always ends up tied or with one team winning just a game or two more. It's not surprising at all to see these teams split the first two games. Hopefully, the Sox pick up the rubber match tonight with Lackey taking the mound. He's had decent success against New York over the last three years.

Even with the loss, there was some positive news. Manny Delcarmen looked more mature on the mound. Last year with runners on, he would have panicked. Last night he buckled down and got out of the sixth without allowing a run. Ellsbury went 2-5 with two runs scored, a stolen base and a nice running catch in left. Adrian Beltre continued to make Theo look like a genius early in the year with a 2-4 night. And V-Mart went 2-3 with a walk and a two-run blast in the third, showing that he can be the big bat that Jason Bay was in 2009.

But then there is Papi.

It must be said that it is just two games. And other batters are starting just as slowly as David Ortiz (Mark Teixeira is also sporting a .000 average right now). But the fact is that because of last season, he is going to be questioned about his slow start, fair or not.

And that means he can't lose his cool like he did last night.

BOSTON -- After going hitless Tuesday for a second straight game to start the season, Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz lashed out at reporters when reminded that his struggles last April and May would be a hot topic if he was slow at the start of this season as well.

"Good," he said, turning to face the reporters encircling him. "You guys wait till [expletive] happens, then you can talk [expletive]. Two [expletive] games, and already you [expletives] are going crazy.

"What's up with that, man? [Expletive]. [Expletive] 160 games left. That's a [expletive]. One of you [expletives] got to go ahead and hit for me."

Is it fair to Ortiz to ask these questions? Maybe, maybe not. People seem to remember his slow start a hell of a lot more than the fact he ended the year with 28 homers and 99 RBI, numbers that put him in the top 20 in the AL for both categories. It was a categorically lower season for Papi, but one a lot of players would kill to have.

With that in mind...personally, I think he's struggling a little. His bat speed looks to be just a bit off, and that is resulting in him fouling off pitches he used to crush two or three years ago. But I am certainly not going to call for him to be replaced on the basis of just two games. That's a knee-jerk reaction. If he is still struggling like this come the end of April? Then Francona is going to have a tough choice to make. Because Mike Lowell is sitting on that bench. And while his defense has gone downhill, his bat hasn't.

It just doesn't make sense to judge Ortiz on the basis of facing two pitchers like Sabathia and Burnett, any more than it would make sense to judge Teixeia after facing Beckett and Lester. Everyone calling for a change needs to take a breath and chill out. But Ortiz needs to take a breath as well. Those questions won't stop coming until he starts hitting the ball. So rather than rant at the press, I would hope Papi uses that dissent and doubt to fuel his bat.

MLB Does Yankees, Red Sox No Favors

2010-04-07T10:55:00.004-04:00

Two games into the season and this much is clear, the MLB schedule makers did the Yankees and Red Sox no favors by having them open the season against each other.

For the second straight game neither starter managed to get through the sixth inning, but this time the Yankees bullpen got the better of the Red Sox bullpen in a 6-4 victory Tuesday at Fenway Park.

The beginning of the season is tough enough for pitchers. A good first start for most starters typically is about six innings. For most, the arm strength just isn't there yet to go much further.

And we all know what Yankees-Red Sox games do to starting pitchers. Under normal circumstances, if either team's starter gets to the seventh, that team stands a pretty good chance of winning. These offenses are so disciplined, force pitchers to throw so many pitches, that these are high-stress outings for starters.

Well, to start the season with this series, well, is it really any surprise that the starters for both teams have been subpar?

New York Daily News

Tuesday night, A.J. Burnett allowed four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and one walk in five innings. He struck out five and allowed a two-run homer to Victor Martinez in the third inning.

Jon Lester allowed four runs on five hits and three walks in five innings, while striking out four.

On Sunday CC Sabathia allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in 5-1/3 innings, recording four strikes. Josh Beckett surrendered five runs on eight hits -- including two homers --and three walks in 4-2/3 innings. He struck out just one.

No matter what side of the rivalry we're on, we all know these four guys are much, much better than that, but coming out of spring training, there's no way they're ready to perform well in these types of games. It would be a shock if they were.

But the reality there is nothing that can be done about it. The MLB schedule makers have a tough job. Creating a schedule for all 30 teams is a complex task in a normal year. This year, figuring out that schedule was made more complicated because of this summer's U2 tour, according to the Journal News' Sam Borden.

It is what it is and Tuesday night, it was a Yankees win, helped in large part by Dave's beloved improved Red Sox defense.

After the teams' traded runs in the first two innings to make the score 1-1, Martinez jumped on a one-out Burnett fastball to give the Sox a 3-1 lead.

But Lester couldn't make that stand up. The Yankees broke through in the fifth as Mark Teixeira had an RBI groundout, just beating a relay from Dustin Pedroia to avoid the doubleplay, before Alex Rodriguez smacked a double to tie it. Robinson Cano brought in Teixeira with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3.

The Sox, though, tied it up as Pedroia singled and Martinez doubled off Burnett in the bottom half.

New York Daily News

And like that, the starters were out of the game. It was once again, a battle of the bullpens ... and on this night, the Yankees' pen came out on top.

Alfredo Aceves pitched two scoreless innings (and why didn't Joe Girardi go to him to start the sixth Sunday?). Damaso Marte got David Ortiz to fly out in the eighth and Joba Chamberlain showed some emotion and aggressiveness in striking out two, setting up Mariano Rivera's first save of the season.

The Sox matched zeros in the sixth and seventh with Manny Delcarmen and Daniel Bard (Dave, why was Bard pitching in the seventh instead of the eighth as he did Sunday?), but the Yankees took advantage of some poor defense and Hideki Okajima's control problems in the eighth.

Jorge Posada led off with a ground-rule double before Nick Swisher grounded out to short and Brett Gardner lined a soft single to left on which Posada didn't advance. Derek Jeter then grounded a routine grounder to short that Marco Scutaro fielded, but misfired on the throw to first to load the bases.

That proved to be all the opening the Yankees needed as Nick Johnson drew a walk off Okijima to take the lead. Cano added an insurance run with a homer off Scott Atchison in the ninth.

New York Daily News

So it's Yankees 1, Red Sox 1, and no matter what happens tonight, the thing we have to remember is that this series is not representative of what there pitchers or teams are. Don't draw and sweeping conclusions off this series. We'll have a better idea come August.

Up Next
Tonight at Red Sox, 7:05 p.m., YES, NESN, ESPN
Andy Pettitte vs. John Lackey

Where's Joba's Fear And Arrogance?

2010-04-06T06:45:00.007-04:00

"You be cocky and arrogant, even when you're getting beat. That's the secret. You gotta play this game with fear and arrogance."

-- Crash Davis

That was the last piece of advice Crash Davis gave Nuke LaLoosh as the fireballer was leaving for the show in "Bull Durham."

Maybe Joba Chamberlain ought to sight down and watch that baseball classic because he seems to forgotten an important part of Crash's teaching.

With the exception of three starts following the All-Star break last season, we've seen Joba pitching only with fear. The arrogance, the hair-on-fire, uber-aggressive, attack the batter persona has been nowhere to be found.

It certain was nowhere near Fenway Park in Sunday's 9-7 season opening loss.

Now, Joba certainly wasn't terrible -- that's a description was seized by the fugitive pitcher from the Island of Misfit Toys, Chan D'oh! Park -- but he was far from the sensation that took the league by storm as a rookie in 2007.

Joba allowed one run on two hits and a walk in 1-1/3 innings, throwing 33 pitches.

McClatchy-Tribune

It was a performance that left us wondering: What has happened to that rookie phenom? Where has his arrogance gone?

This isn't a physical problem; Joba's fastball was hitting 96 mph, according to mlb.com's Gametracker. This is about what's going on in Joba's head -- and you can see it in his pitch selection. Chamberlain has fallen in love with his offspeed pitches, especially his slider.

While Gametrack failed to register 10 of Joba's pitches (likely curves and changes), it did pick up 13 sliders and only 10 fastballs.

Umm, hello? Does anyone else see something painfully wrong with this?

Instead of pitching with fear and arrogance, Joba's pitching with "fear and ignorance." (LaLoosh's witty retort to Crash)

There is a reason the fastball is called No. 1. It is the pitch that sets up everything else. It is the pitch that makes every other pitch more effective.

It also is Joba's best pitch.

We saw that when he came up in 2007. His fastball was so dominant, so lively that the hitters had to gear up for it and start their swings early. That made the slider deadly because hitters couldn't look for it and couldn't lay off it.

But Joba doesn't pitch like that any more. For some reason, he believes the slider is his best pitch, his out pitch.

And he's just wrong.

By throwing his slider so much -- and Sunday's 39.3 percent is way too much -- he's actually making that pitch less effective. He's giving hitters too much of an opportunity to see, identify and layoff that pitch.

In other words, he's allowing hitters to get comfortable at the plate.

It's time for that to stop. The Yankees need the old Joba back. The one who as a rookie wasn't afraid to challenge and attack hitters with his fastball. The one that had fun blowing hitters away.

The one who played this game with fear and arrogance.

Up Next
Tonight at Red Sox, 7:05 p.m., YES, NESN, MLB Network
A.J. Burnett vs. Jon Lester

Josh Beckett Gets A Well-Deserved Extension

2010-04-05T23:17:00.003-04:00

Josh Beckett has signed a four-year, 68 million dollar extension with the Red Sox. For all you playing at home, that works out to $17 million per year.

Beckett gets a $5 million signing bonus and yearly salaries of $15.75 million. The deal was agreed to a few days ago but by waiting until after Opening Day, the Sox will not be taxed by MLB on the signing bonus.

Trust Theo to find an extra angle to help the team out. Beckett also got limited no-trade protection until he hits his 10/5 status.

Now, some people will make the requisite jokes about Beckett signing this extension after last night's poor performance. That is to be expected. But other people have made the claim that Beckett does not deserve this contract. That he is over-rated. One wag in a message board called him barely better than Gil Meche.

Ummm....no. Not even close. That is so fundamentally wrong it makes my head hurt. Let's settle this once and for all.

Josh Beckett joined the Sox in 2006. Over the next four years he was consistently one of the best starting pitchers in the American League. Here are some stats and where Beckett ranks among starting pitchers with a minimum 60 decisions in the AL between 2006-09. Everyone got that?

65 wins: 2nd

65-34, .657 win percentage: 4th

4.05 ERA: 14th

116 ERA+: 9th

723 K: 3rd

792 IP: 6th

6 complete games: 7th

1.205 WHIP: 3rd

3.56 K/BB ratio: 6th

I trust you're getting the picture here. Beckett has unarguably been one of the best starters in the AL during his first four years in Boston. The stats back that up. With the exception of ERA, Beckett is top ten in every major category over the last four years. How can you not want him in your rotation? Beckett has more than earned this extension.

Chan Ho Park, Just A Bad Fit

2010-04-05T06:45:00.004-04:00

Every so often, the Yankees will break from spring training with one guy on the roster who just doesn't seem to fit.

LaTroy Hawkins ring a bell?

Ladies and gentleman, meet this season's fugitive from the Island of Misfit Toys: Chan Ho Park.

Park was called on in the seventh inning of Sunday's season opener at Fenway Park in Boston after the Yankees had just taken a two-run lead and promptly gave up three runs to take the loss in a 9-7 defeat.

Park has had some good moments in his career, mostly early on during his time with the Dodgers. For the last several years, he's been nothing more than a journeyman, splitting time as a starter and a reliever.

Last season, the Phillies caught lightning in a bottle with Park, getting a good season out of the righthander, who went 2-2 with 2.52 ERA in 38 appearance.

Associated Press

Certainly a nice season. Enough to considered a legitimate option for the Yankees? Not when you look at his career relief numers 7-9, 3.95 ERA in 136 appearances.

So when Brian Cashman signed the 36 year-old South Korean near the beginning of spring training, it left many scratching their heads. You can never have too many arms in the bullpen, but this guy? Really?

And in Sunday's Season Opener, we saw exactly why the Yankees would have been better off steering clear of Park.

After retaking the lead in the top half of the seventh Sunday, Joe Girardi turned to Park, who promptly allowed a single to Marco Scutaro before striking out Jacoby Ellsbury. And then up to the plate stepped Dustin Pedroia and out went the ball and the Yankees' lead, as that pain-in-duff pounded a 2-and-1 pitch over the wall to knot it at 7.

It didn't get much better after that.

After Victor Martinez grounded out, Kevin Youkilis ripped a double to center and Park's night was done. Damaso Marte followed, but looked nothing like the guy who was so dominant in October, throwing a wild pitch to move Youkilis to third before crossing up Jorge Posada for a passed ball that allowed the go-ahead run to score.

And like that, Park and the Yankees were on their way to an Opening Day loss.

Associated Press

Now look, losing on Opening Day is not that big of a deal. Fifteen teams lose their season openers every year and that doesn't mean their seasons will be disasters or that they can't win the World Series. There is a long way to go.

Heck even losing a game to the Red Sox in April really isn't that terrible. Since 2001 the Yankees have played an April series in Boston seven of the nine years. They have not even split any of those series.

But what is frustrating is that this is a game the Yankees could have and should have won, especially after jumping out to a 5-1 lead after four and knocking out Josh Beckett in the process.

Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson hit back-to-back homers in the second to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead, Granderson's coming in his first at-bat as a Yankee.

New York then seemed to take control in the fourth as Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter had two-out RBI singles before pulling off a double steal that plated Gardner.

Getty Images

Meanwhile CC Sabathia was strong into the fifth. Boston scratched out a run in the second after Youkilis led off with a double and then plated another on Scutaro's two-out single.

By that point, Sabathia's pitch count was at 90. In midseason, that wouldn't be a concern, but in the opener, it was clear the big lefty was running out of gas. He was starting to struggle with his command, and possibly was a bit tentative, nibbling too much.

Instead of going to long relievers Alfredo Aceves or Sergio Mitre, Girardi sent Sabathia back out for the sixth -- and paid the price. Pedroia led off with a walk and went to third on Martinez's double before Youkilis plated both with a triple that should have been held to a two-run single. Had Nick Swisher taken a proper route, he could have cut the ball off before it could reach the fence. Youkilis eventually tied it a 5 on an RBI single by Adrian Belte off David Robertson.

Still, the Yankees' offense got the lead right back as Mark Teixeira led off with a walk and went to third on Alex Rodriguez's double. Robinson Cano brought in one with a groundout and Posada drove in the other with a single, to give the Yankees a 7-5 lead.

That should have been enough. The Yankees should have been able to close it out from there.

But Park is not worthy of Pinstripes.

He's just a bad fit and by June, he'll be long gone.

Opening Night Blow By Blow

2010-04-05T00:28:00.004-04:00

Pre-game

- As the little kid giving the "Miracle" speech says about the Yankees: "Screw 'em!"

- Nice seeing Pedro throw the first pitch. Wish he had scaled it into the Yankee dugout instead.

Top of the First

- Scutaro throws out Jeter on a first-pitch grounder. He's already better than Renteria.

- 1-2-3 inning. Yeah, that "defense-first" idea really sucked...

Bottom of the first

- Is Sabathia somehow even fatter this year? 10 more pounds and the baseball will start orbiting him between pitches.

- That said, he puts his weight behind it. Easy out with Ellsbury flying out to center.

- Pedey chases a fastball about a foot over his head for the second out. Granted, that is chest-high for you or me, but he knows better.

- CC is pitching well, can't deny that.

- Rem-Dawg talking about the Gold Gloves won by the Yankee fielders. Impressive number, until you remember the only one Jeter should have won was in 2009.*

- V-Mart hanging tough with CC. But he bounces it off the first base bag for the third out.

Top of the Second

- ARod up. Surprised he finds time to hit in between giving testimony about doctors who supply PEDs.

- Beckett looking sharp. Makes it hard for Youk to get ARod out on the grounder with a lousy throw. But Youk shows why he is one of the best first baseman in the game. He made that out look easy.

- Cano out on two pitches.

- Just a thought: you think the Marlins are regretting canning Girardi?**

- Up comes Gramps Posada. He joined the Yanks in the first Reagan Administration, right?

- And the old man makes me STFU. Beckett hangs a high fastball for Posada to ding off the Pesky Pole. 1-0 Yanks.

- Here's newcomer Granderson. You think he's thrilled to get out of Detroit? He hit 30 homers last year and only racked up 71 RBI. How is that even possible?

- Beckett goes full against Granderson. And then allows another solo shot. 2-0 Yanks.

- Just a thought: the run-prevention defense is the right idea. But you need to allow the defense to actually have a chance at the ball.

- Beckett gives a single up to Swisher. And he looks shaky as hell all of a sudden. NESN had a poll about which pitcher should be considered Boston's ace. Beckett was running away with it. I would have chosen Lester in about a half-second. Not that Beckett isn't a good pitcher, but Lester doesn't have these kinds of moments.

- Single to Gardner. On the upside, maybe CC's arm is getting cold from sitting down for so long.

- Here's Jeter with runners at first and second. Beckett's breaking stuff looks weak right now. And Jeter is fighting off Beckett's fastballs.

- Jeter grounds to Scutaro for the force at second. Scutaro is now officially better than Lugo.

- The bad news: Boston is down 2-0 going into the bottom of the second. The good news: it could have been worse.

Bottom of the Second

- What do you think CC eats in the dugout between innings? A whole grinder? Bowl of pasta?

- Youk with a double off the scoreboard. Helps when CC puts a fastball over the middle. Probably didn't get all the mayo off his fingers.

- And here comes Papi. No pressure, Big Guy, but if you can't get back to normal you're going to kill us. Good luck.

- CC runs it to 3-1 on Papi. You know a fastball is coming now. What's Papi going to do? Foul it to the back, that's what. Three years ago, that ball would've broken someone's windshield on Lansdowne.

- Papi grounds out to first but moves Youk to third. A real "kissing your cousin" moment.

- The first appearance of Adrian Beltre. Be nice to see him get Youk across the plate. He should do well in Fenway with the Monster.

- Beltre flies out to Granderson in center, but gets it as close to a homer as you can without doing it. Nevertheless, Youk crosses the plate and its 2-1 New York.

- JD Drew goes 0-2 in two pitches. You're kidding? Really? What a shock.

- Well, the Sox haven't been hitting CC per se. But they've been making him work. He's sweating already. That must be encouraging to Yankee fans. At this rate he'll need a defibrillator by the fifth.

- JD Drew strikes out to end the second. Color me completely unsurprised.

Top of the Third

- Between innings I've decided to call CC "Black Homer Simpson" (BHS) from now on. If he gets any chunkier he'll need a pitching wand because his fingers will be too fat to grip the ball.***

- Meanwhile, the much more svelte Beckett walks the first batter of the third. Beckett is doing a dead-on impression of John Wasdin right now. Sadly, it's not Halloween.

- Beckett had Teixeira at 1-2 and now runs the count full. But he gets Teixeira to chase ball four for a fly-out to shallow center. Better to be lucky than good, baby.

- And here's ARod. Who promptly grounds into a classic 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Nice...

- The once-upon-a-time Toyota spokesman got old and looks like he was stung in the face by 100 bees. Not good...

Bottom of the third

- BHS is breathing like he just finished the Ironman. It's the third inning. C'mon, man...that just isn't right.

- CC walks Cameron. Both pitchers just losing their stuff after the first inning.

- Remy and Orsillo tell us we have a "special" musical guest coming up later between the top and bottom of the eighth. What are the odds on it being Ronan Tynan? 5-1? 4-1?

- Wow. Scutaro lines out to ARod who picks Cameron off first for the double-play. Well, he sure made up for his weak-sister act to end the Yankee third. Of course, on the replay its obvious Cameron was safe. But such is life.

- Ellsbury up. Be nice to see him get on base so he can put his speed to use. I think he has it in him this year to hit 80 stolen bases.

- Ellsbury grounds out to end the third. But BHS hits 50 pitches after three innings. The sweat glands must be working overtime. Nothing a few sandwiches can't help.

Top of the Fourth

- Cano hits it into the left-field corner for a double. Ellsbury mis-times his jump for the ball. Left field in Fenway is not easy in the corner with the Monster and complete lack of foul territory. He'll make those outs in time, but it's a process.

- Posada grounds out and moves Cano to third.

- Beckett gets Granderson to ground out to first for the second out and keeps Cano at third. At the risk of jinxing the Sox, it looks like Beckett is slowly re-finding his groove.

- Too slowly. Swisher is looking to get Cano home and Beckett's breaking stuff is still all over the place. It's starting too far off the plate and not breaking enough to the left.

- Still, Beckett gets Swisher to chase a fastball to run the count full. But he misses with a third breaking pitch for the walk.

- Falls behind on Gardner 3-1. Beckett either has to get cracking on the breaking stuff or just pound the fastball. Beckett grabs the corner for a full count.

- Gardner gets the single and drives home Cano for the 3-1 lead. BHS is happy because he gets to chow down some more.

- Beckett goes inside on Jeter. I only wish he had meant to do that.

- Jeter gets a seeing-eye single past Scutaro to bring home Swisher home for the 4-1 lead. Forget that whole groove thing I wrote earlier.

- Remy bitching about Joe West not giving Beckett the corner. That's true to a point, but Beckett's stuff has just been mediocre tonight. His breaking stuff is crap.

- Good lord. Yanks pull off a double-steal to perfection and get their fifth run. But hey, Beckett gets the strikeout to end the fifth right after. Now that's what I call timing.

- The Yankees are now right where they want to be. Last year, once they got five runs they were near unstoppable. It will be interesting to see how Boston responds to this inning.

Bottom of the Fourth

- 21 minutes and six cannolis later, BHS takes the mound.

- Pedroia leads off the second.

- Pedey grounds to first and looks like he beats the flip to BHS on the bag. Replay shows Pedey beats the tag by a hair. But hey, looks like Joe Hernandez wants to screw the Sox over tonight. That's two calls he's screwed up at first that have gone against the Sox. I don't agree with the West criticism tonight, but Hernandez has been atrocious at first.

- By the way, Pedroia is not a speedster. So let's not get all excited about BHS lumbering over to first. Speed is relative, people.

- That blown call at first just sucked the life out of Fenway. At this point, as long as Yankee pitching doesn't throw a rod, the Yankees should win this.

- 1-2-3 fourth. Thanks Hernandez. Want to kick some babies in the larynx between innings to top it all off?

Top of the Fifth

- Look, Josh. West isn't giving you the corner tonight. He isn't giving it to BHS either. So adapt already, okay? God damned stubborn Texans...

- First Heidi Watney sighting of 2010. She's looking very...blonde.

- Josh gets the first two outs and then Cano lashes a hit to deep right that hits so hard that Drew gets it back in to hold Cano to a single. Love those.

- Beckett goes 2-0 on Posada as he hits 90 pitches in the fifth inning. Wow. It's like the Brian Rose Era all over again.

- Does it make anyone feel better that Beckett was lousy last April as well (2-2, 7.22 ERA)? Me neither.

- Hey, Beckett doesn't get the corner again and walks Posada. Who saw that coming? Oh, right, everyone!

- And here comes Scott Schoeneweis. 4.2 innings for Beckett along with five runs on eight hits...so far. Let's see if Scott can close this inning out.

- Well, a muffed pitch by V-Mart allows runners to move to second and third with two out. Not exactly a great Opening Night for Sox fans thus far.

- But Schoeneweis gets the strikeout to end the fifth without any damage.

Bottom of the Fifth

- Word is that between innings, Joe Hernandez drowned a couple of kittens in the Muddy River out in the Fens. And laughed while he did it.

- BHS wakes up from his nap for the fifth inning. It's fun to joke and all, but Chubsy-Ubsy is throwing a one-hitter through four and working with a nice lead. Still, it hasn't been a dominating outing for BHS. But when Beckett goes Wasdin, you don't have to be dominating.

- Papi pops out on a 3-1 fastball. That's two he has missed. It's not a good sign when your slugger can't tee off on a fastball.

- Beltre chases a low change-up for out number two. You can almost hear the grass growing in Fenway right now.

- Drew gets a two-out single. He makes it look so easy. WHY CAN'T YOU DO THAT MORE OFTEN????

- Cameron runs the count full and gets a single off BHS. Runners on first and second with two outs.

- Scutaro gets Boston's third single in a row. Drew comes home on a crap throw from Gardner that allows Cameron and Scutaro to advance a base. Second and third, two outs and Ellsbury coming to the plate with Boston down 5-2.

- Ellsbury has had a rough night. No hits and a botched fly ball in left.

- West suddenly decides to start giving the corner. BHS uses it twice to go 0-2 on Ellsbury. Thanks, West. Could have used that decision about three innings ago.

- Ellsbury leaves the runners on base with a called third strike. Still, Boston grabs another run and makes BHS sweat through his shirt.

Top of the Sixth

- Schoeneweis gets two quick outs and comes out for Ramirez, who gives up a first-pitch single to Jeter. Look, I understand the whole "left-right" thing. But Schoeneweis was rolling. Why not give him the third out?

- Nick Johnson flies out to end the inning. Wow...a pain free inning. Haven't seen one of those in over an hour.

Bottom of the Sixth

- BHS comes out to start the sixth and is approaching 90 pitches. This is when I believe they wheel out the portable oxygen tank.

- Pedroia walks on five pitches. Now, I think it's clear that BHS is starting to fade. How long with Girardi wait to go to the pen? Why risk your lead? On second thought...good plan, Joe!

- V-Mart laces a double down the left-field line. Runner on second and third with no outs. One cannoli too many for BHS.

- Youk comes up and Girardi leaves BHS in. Could this be a major mistake? The Fenway crowd is warming up. I don't know, but I am wagering that Aviv is screaming at Girardi through his TV screen right now to take out BHS.

- Youk calls time to get sweat out of his eyes. That's the downside of going bald - no natural mop-up material.

- YOUK!!!!!! A triple down the right-field line makes it 5-4 as Swisher seems to lope after it. Thanks, Girardi! Everyone could see BHS was on his last legs except you.

- And then Youk almost gets picked off third on a passed ball. Luckily, ARod wasn't on the bag so there was no throw.

- Another fastball, another foul from Papi. And BHS is still in the game. What is Girardi waiting for?

- Broken-bat ground out from Papi that keeps Youk stranded at third. And Girardi finally pulls BHS. Because this was the obvious time to do so...if you're clinically insane.

- Beltre with the single and we have a tie ballgame folks! Never doubted it for a second! Forget all that other talk.

- The Yanks escape without any more damage. But it's 5-5 going into the seventh. Now we see which bullpen can carry the day.

Top of the Seventh

- The happiest guy in Fenway right now? Beckett, who gets a no-decision for the night.

- Steven Tyler in the house for "God Bless America". He is officially in the "Creepy Looking Old Dude" phase of his life.

- Ramirez walks the first batter and then gives up a monster double to ARod. Second and third with no outs. Way to piss away the tie, Ramon!

- In the Battle of the Bullpens, New York takes the lead.

- Yanks get 6-5 lead on sac grounder. Right play by Pedroia.

- 7-5 with a single from Posada. Oki seems to have Ramon Ramirez Disease. Boston's pitching (with the notable exception of Schoeneweis) has pretty much failed them tonight.

- Good lord, Joe West's strike zone is about the size of a deck of playing cards.

- 5-4-3 to end the inning. Very nice. A good example of what Boston's defense can do. That wasn't an easy DP and it looked easy.

- Steven Tyler sings "God Bless America'" and shows why Steven Tyler shouldn't be singing "God Bless America"****

Bottom of the Seventh

- And Chan Ho Park starts off by almost decapitating Scutaro. This should be fun!

- Scutaro with the single. I missed you, CHP.

- Ellsbury goes 0-2. Rough, rough night.

- Strikes out. Oof.

- Neil Diamond in the eighth inning. If you care. Which I don't.

- PEDROIA!! Two-run blast for the 7-7 tie. Who can hit? Pedey can hit!

- CHAN HOOOOOO!!! Love you, baby.

- Full count to V-Mart. Suddenly, Francona's decision to throw Ramirez out instead of Atchison looks good.

- Youk wall-balls a double off the Monster. And Girardi once again waits too long to pull a pitcher.

- That outing was Chan-tastic!

- So that Youk... he can play, huh?

- Marte goes wild and Youk moves to third. A single puts Boston in front. C'mon Papi!!

- Again!! Another wild pitch and Youk comes home for the 8-7 lead. Another unpredictable Boston-New York matchup.

- As a pitcher, Marte is mediocre. But he could clean up on the lawn bowling circuit.

- Here's comes Joba, the Reliever Who Wanted to Be a Starter.

- Joba gets the third out, but Boston leads 8-7.

Top of the Eighth

- It's Boston's next closer, Daniel Bard.

- Neil Diamond singing before Boston's half. If you care. Which I don't.

- Bard gets Gardner to ground out for the first out.

- Bard 2-0 to Jeter. Big at-bat here.

- Bard gets Jeter for the second out.

- Johnson walks. Once again, the Sox cannot close the deal with two outs.

- Teixeira up. Big moment for Bard. And he comes through. Bard showing some maturity here.

- Bard is the 21st Century version of Dick Radatz. Except his slider won’t end his career early.

- And Diamond comes out to kill momentum. I blame you pink hats for this garbage.

- He has a blazer that says "Keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn." How very timely. I’m going to start petitioning to make sure the Braves don’t leave Boston.

Bottom of the Eighth

- Peter Abraham just twittered that the biggest cheer of the night was for Diamond. Kill. Me. Now. God damned pink hats...

- Papelbon warming up for the ninth. I don't feel particularly comforted by that fact.

- Cameron works Joba to get a single. Man on first with one out.

- Joba goes 3-2 on Scutaro. Cameron going on the pitch.

- Walk.

- Ellsbury... NOW is the time.

- Guess not.

- Pedroia gets the insurance run with a single as Cameron turns on the jets to score. Joba picks up relieving where he left off starting.

- What power outage?

- Joba double bluffs on the pickoff. Best part of his game.

Top of the Ninth

- Here comes Paps. By the way, Joba Chamberlain needs to get his head straight. What a mess.

- ARod up first. Paps gets the grounder to third on two pitches.

- Ellsbury hoovers up a Cano fly to left-center. Two outs.

- Posada gets a single. Crafty grandpa.

- Granderson could make it interesting.

- 0-2. Finish it, Paps.

- Beltre shows his awesome fielding powers for the final out. Sox win a doozy 9-7. And it isn't even midnight yet!

- Beckett looked bad and the bullpen was mixed, but the fielding was good and Boston’s hitting was damned solid. And not every umpire will call a strike zone as small as Joe West’s. In other games, Beckett will get those strikes. Bottom line, the Sox beat the Yanks to kick off 2010. Works for me.

-----------

* Go on, defend one of the other ones. You Yankee fans know he got the early ones on name recognition.

** It's still one of the most baffling managerial decisions made in recent memory. Of course, Girardi did a lousy job of managing the pitchers tonight...

*** The only way this could get better is if Sabathia broke out a mumu. Or just starts eating things between pitches.

**** If you missed this, I cannot describe just how bad Tyler was. It was embarrassing. Just a painful experience all the way around.

And Now A Word From George Steinbrenner

2010-04-04T06:15:00.010-04:00

Last June, as the Yankees hit rock bottom following their eighth straight loss to the Red Sox, I held a seance and contacted the "spirit" of owner George M. Steinbrenner III.

With the 2010 season and the quest for Championship No. 28 set to start tonight at Fenway Park, The Boss' spirit has asked to address the team and Yankee Universe yet again.

He is, afterall, the Boss, so here you go:

...

Men, a season ago you made me, our fans and our city very proud. Despite a difficult start to the season, you dug deep, fought hard and showed the perseverance that has become synonymous with our great city.

The result was World Championship No. 27 in the Yankees' illustrious history.

But a new season is upon us and it is time to put the glory of last season in the past. We are the New York Yankees and the expectations don't change. Your mission, men, is to bring back to New York yet another championship.

This is what I expect, what our fans expect and what our city expects. Anything less is unacceptable.

Our general manager, Brian Cashman, has gone out an improved our team, providing you with all you need to bring back that title. Cash has improved our defense, provided more pitching depth, strengthened our bullpen, and has done it all without weakening the best offense in the game. Make no mistake, men, you have all the talent and tools to win it all again.

And under the leadership of our manager Joe Girardi, our fans and I expect you will put those tools to good use and to maximize your talent.

Men, I have great faith in you and I expect you to go out and show the world what this team is made of. Go out and make us proud.

Let's get going. The season is about to begin. Let's go out and bring World Championship No. 28 back to New York. That's what I want.

...

And there you have it. A missive from The Boss (sort of), at his inspirational best.