Moving

For those of you that still occasionally poke around here, I'm doing a bit of consolodating with my sports blogs. I'm going to combine KC Bean Boy and The Scarlett Letter into one blog on WordPress here.

Someday all the entries will be on the new blog, however until that time I'll keep all previous posts in this blog.

Kings of the Castle

From 2-6 to 12-6 in a week and a half. Even with some of the pitching that's been on display since coming home to Fenway. The Sox still found a way to bat their way out of losses, pushing for extra innings and hitting walk-off homers.

Last night I saw one of the more incredible plays I've seen in quite some time, a strait steal of home plate from Jacoby Ellsbury. Andy Pettitte didn't have a clue, which was shocking juxtaposed against him picking off a couple Sox earlier in the night trying to steal second.

Now comes the part where they need to find their game on the road. The next nine will start with Cleveland tonight. This weekend will be the first trip down to Tampa with a short two gamer to follow against the Yankees next Monday and Tuesday in King George's billion dollar palace.

Looks like Big Papi may have found his stroke, Youkilis-Bay-Lowell are hot, and if the Sox can figure their pitching out they should come back to Boston with a winning record from this trip. They still sit one game behind division leading Toronto, however it's a long ways from ESPN pundits entertaining the idea of the Sox being done for the year already.

Tim Wakefield will take the mound for the Sox this evening at Progressive, and the Sox lineup will lock horns with '08 Cy Young winner Cliff Lee who comes in 1-3.

Showtime

You know what time it is.

It's Red Sox, Yankees time. Lots of intrigue and drama at the Fens tonight. Will Teixeira make it from the dugout to the plate with his head in tact? I'm sure he'll be asking Johnny Damon for a few pointers. Will the Nebraska fan in me cheer for Joba Chamberlain if he has a good outing, or will my inner Sox fan curse the day he was born and wish ill upon his door? How the Hell will Jon Lester respond to the Friday night pressure of the opening Yankee game under the lights? So many questions, so many hours before the first pitch.

Boston fans are the girl you didn't call to go out with in high school like you promised. The only difference is most Boston fans on Landsdowne Street will be fully popped and have no regard for such trivialities as a classy vocabulary or a demure disposition. There will be gnashing of teeth, and seething hatred for Tex in town tonight.

I haven't checked the schedule, but if the game isn't on ESPN you can be sure I'll be squarely positioned in front of my laptop.

"Hi, I'm Doug. Would you like to see my property?"

Hey everyone. This is former Red Sox catcher, Tim Wakefield personal assistant and World Series champion Doug Mirabelli. He would like to sell you a home as part of the Coldwell Banker team, fresh from spring training. For Realtors.

I'm not bagging on the guy, because as everyone knows when you retire, you can get a legitimate job or become John Kruk or John Salley. It's just sort of weird when a player leaves the game and turns to a job your uncool uncle does or used to do. He looks about as comfortable as an unarmed and pantsless Zack Efron in a Turkish bathhouse doesn't he?

Yet another loss on the Pac coast tonight. It's nice to see people who hate Boston and who have an axe to grind get frothy at the mouth while they are in the cellar with 95 percent still left on the year. It's sort of an odd dichotomy, I want to see Boston fade from from heads of frat boys with cargo shorts and flip flops who wear pink polo shirts on ladies night. But I also want them to win another World Series. Life is pain, brother.

I never thought I would be caught dead putting this on the record either, but part of me is glad to see Beckett get suspended for trying to give Bobby Abreu a labotomy on Sunday. Good thing he's still not pitching in the National League, or he probably wouldn't be pulling shit like this.

The other part of me thinks you're fucking retarded for thinking if Beckett wanted to nail Bobby he missed his mellon because his location was a little off.

Brutality

Basically what is the Red Sox schedule in the first two months of the season. Nothing is going to come easy, and by the looks of the last few games they're going to need to get better. Fast.

Just a quick note, heartfelt pregame for the Halo's late Nick Adenhart. Classy. Surprised MLB.TV played it since they usually cut out while there is a break in the action.

West Coast road trips have been a killer for AL East teams for awhile. Boston has two stretches in the next two months. The Sox will play no one but division contenders and pre-season favorites until their trip to Detroit June 1st. Well, maybe not so much with Baltimore coming to town in a week.

I'm just disappointed in the pitching thus far, sans Beckett who was on fire and almost pitching in another galaxy Tuesday. Dice-K looks like his control is still a major issue. Wakefield looks another year older. I'm sure it will come around, it always does. It just sucks to start out this way and be 1-3 in the middle of a Pacific Coast swing.

For now I'll take my mind off by watching the Nationals trying to get back into the game against the Braves. Mike Gonzalez just had a grounder bounce off his glove and Washington tied it up in the top of the ninth. Good God, I'm glad it's April.

Not like they drew it up...

Well, the opener with the Rays opened with a bang and landed with a limp thud. While watching Dice-K toss more meat than a butcher on a Saturday morning, it was hard to contain my discontent while I was in class. Did I say that out loud? Of course I didn't watch baseball in class...how is that even possible? McKay doesn't even have air conditioning, let alone cable.

The Rays took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth when Boston remembered they were in the middle of an actual game. Watching them sleepwalk through the first two-thirds of the game was about all I could stand. It felt like we were picking up right where we left off last year, being out hustled and even outhit by the young bucks from Florida.

The middle of the lineup woke up with Jason Bay driving in Kevin Youkilis on a shot to dead center on a Manny double. For those of you that don't know, a Manny double is a triple, or a play that 99% of all major league hitters should get to third on, while Manny would have "hustled" for a stand up double. I don't hate Manny, if it weren't for him this team wouldn't have rings. It's just something fans have done with a half joking, half sick sort of sense of humor. Anyway...

The Sox made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth with Jason Varitek blasting a dinger to right field, but were unable to muster up enough to pull into a tie or even pull out some late inning heroics.

Boston takes their 1-2 record to L.A. to play an Angles team reeling from the tragic loss of 22-year-old pitcher Nick Adenhart. It's always sad to see someone who has their life stolen from them with everything still yet to come. Truly a sad day for the Angles, baseball, and well, pretty much everyone.

Opening Day Blahs

I've always been quick to jump on the Yankees for bad performances in April. Most of my Red Sox loving career it comes back to bite me in the ass in September, or earlier this decade, October. So, this is me not piling on.

Today, as the Sox make up their game from yesterday against the Rays, I will not point out that C.C. Sabathia pitched four and a third and gave up eight hits with six earned. I won't fan the flames on Mark Teixeira going o-fer his first day, or Xavier Nady leaving three on base and being yanked for Nick Swisher.

The only thing that makes me happy is that the subpar performance was in the new Yankee Stadium. What? It was in Baltimore? Shit, I was hoping that would make up for the ho-hum Opening Day.

Sox on at 3:05 against the newly hated Rayvals. That's a good one, copyright on the way. Hope MLB.TV has all the bugs out today.

Not wasting any time

The Sox will pick up where they left off last season, playing the American League Pennant winning Tampa Rays. Or is it Tampa Bay Rays? Just don't say "Devil." A few of the sports publications that find their way into my mailbox are predicting that both these teams will battle it out for the top spot in the East. Looks like ESPN thinks the Yankees will pull a Detroit Tigers from 2008. Remember that? Cabrera. Willis. I fell for it. Hook, line and sinker.

Number one for things that will have to work for the season to come together for the Sox will be remaining healthy. There are a couple ways this season will go, and without checking, I'm pretty sure this is the exact same prediction that I made last season.

If Boston keeps their training staff busy, it could be a long year. At least by recent standards set since around 2002 when John Henry and company took over. If the team and players like David Ortiz, not getting any younger at 33, Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell keep the injuries to a minimum the sky is the limit for this team like it was in '07.

If we have issues and have to raid Pawtuckett and call up players a bit too early, then the season could turn into '06 very quickly. Let's hope for the former. Nothing would make me more pleased than seeing the Yankees miss the playoffs. Again. I will be intregued to see if the Rays can duplicate the same success they had last year. Naturally, they can wait until next Thursday or Friday to start winning.

Around the Bend

Only a few days until Opening Day, with MLB TV subscription in hand, I'll be able to get back to work on this blog this season, just like you came to love in 2007. Beware that AT&T U-verse does not have the MLB Extra Innings package. Jerks.

Outspoken

With the tease of 60 degree days, it's hard not to imagine it's April right now. This is always the toughest part of the year, convincing myself I'm an NBA fan to kill the time. I watched Texas and Texas A&M last night. I can't impart on how boring college hoops is if it's not your team or if you don't have a few bills on the game.

With Spring Training around the bend, things are moving off the stove and onto the field, thank God.

Two big questions surrounding training camp right now is the injury status of '07 World Series MVP Mike Lowell and Jason Bay (probably right about him tomorrow). Rumor is that Lowell is planning to be ready to roll for the Sox opener against the Rays April 6th. Lowell comes in probably in a strange state of mind. Coming off being a folk hero to spending a lot of last season, especially toward the end, riding the bench due to some nagging injuries was a little hard to swallow I'm sure. On top of that whole flirting heavily with Mark Teixeria thing could have made for some awkward moments.

Word is that he's not bitter about the whole thing, because he would have ended up on the block had Teixeria been signed. You have to be able to see past what he's saying. From what I read Lowell acknowledged Teixeria is a better offensive player but more goes into signing a player than numbers, basically saying he's probably an asshole and will disrupt the team's chemistry. Hey, after all the clamor of trying to resign the guy after '07 I'd be a little pissed too.

A-Rod and Bonds are both on trial. One in the all important court of public opinion and the other in real court. David Ortiz decided to use a camera and a couple microphones to sound off about the whole issue. Watching it sort of felt like what it must have been like watching Senator Larry Craig talk about how much he didn't like gay guys and gals wanting to get married. Two minutes before being busted in a Minneapolis airport playing footsie with an undercover cop in the men's room.

If he's clean, then fine. He's just being a holier than thou asshole, which is okay too because he has a point. If he's lying and he winds up on some report of him juicing, yesterday's interview will be played non-stop. My advice to players wanting to take a stand, take a stand. Just don't do it for an audience. Do it behind closed doors and under the protection (whatever is left) of your organization or the players union.

Big Papi did make a great point regarding the treatment of players who either admitted or were outed in regard to their steroid usage. Parading them in front of Congress like they are capital murderers or child rapists is ridiculous. The economy sucks, we're still fighting a war most people disagree with and my state tax refund could be held up if Missouri follows Kansas' lead. Stop worrying about fucking baseball. If the people running the show can't take care of the problem, don't want to take care of the problem or just pretend it doesn't exist. Why not follow your lead you've taken with the rest of privatly owned business and deregulate? Why baseball? Wanting attention can make you do funny things.

All ranting aside, Ortiz said they should ban A-Rod for the whole year. I agree, I want my team to win the East again.

Everyone and Their Brother

Ignoring this will make it go away, right? Because not getting involved in the self-serving, empty and greedy practices of this era in baseball will make it non-existent in my reality. It's basically the ending of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4," a complete laugh of a movie, but somewhat plausible.

If reporters and sportswriters are trying to save the game from itself by exposing the game's biggest stars, then a gold star should be reserved for the reporter privy to the report that listed Alex Rodriguez as a participant in the steroid era. Everyone knows. It has been on the front page of the paper here in Kansas City. Like it or not, it's news.

You'd be kidding yourself to think that baseball is the national past time any longer. Telling those of us that would rather watch the Padres and Diamondbacks play out an extra innings pitchers dual at 12:30am on a Wednesday night than go to bed could be difficult, but the NFL displacing baseball in terms of popularity is an argument you won't hear from me.

Of course, this doesn't diminish the cultural relevance and impact. You could spend time relating the mirrored implications between society and baseball, most of which are true. But the elephant in the room is America's willingness to cast stones at fallen superstars, yet line up to slam down their hard earned pay and watch them cheat away as the circus travels from city to city. Our propensity to knock the top 1% off their pedestal and rescue them by telling them they are just like us is as American as apple pie at this point.

What would send the biggest message to Donald Fehr and the players association he presides over? By not consuming the product they put out. It's hard to imagine a game I used to play with friends as a kid as a product in the same way as I view Coke or Pepsi. If Doritos changed their flavors to just liver and onions, would you keep eating them?

It's hard to imagine not spending Saturday nights at 'the K' here in town, or beautiful summer Sunday afternoons on the couch watching the Brewers and Pirates. This latest transgression won't change my wanton desire to waste my summer away watching too many games that exceed normal human consumption. I've even put my name into the lottery to secure my Kansas City Royals Opening Day (well, home opener) tickets because they play, that's right, the New York Yankees. Not that I wouldn't do this anyway (actually, my thoughtful wife did it for me), but I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge there wasn't some special incentive.

Now we live in a world where the games top player cheated. It's hard not to recall Roger Clemens mowing down would-be Boston hitters in the third game of the 2003 ALCS after giving up two runs in the first. You remember this game even if you don't think you do. Manny takes exception to a high pitch from Clemens, the benches clear and Pedro takes Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer down to the ground. Sure we know Clemens is guilty, but who is to say some of the Sox weren't either?

It's hard to put a stamp on this and say it's over, because it's not. Not until everything that happened from the mid-to late ninties until earlier this decade is brought up and stumped to everyone under the sun. They either admit there was a problem, fix it now and move on. Or, we continue in the perpetual motion of waiting for a juicy scrap to fall from the table to bring back to the rest of the hive to buzz over. I'm just hoping that the biggest fish has been fried and we can get on.

Winter Meetings

Yeah, we are going to pretend like I haven't neglected this thing for about six months.

The Sox made some strides today (and yesterday) on making a run for free agent Mark Teixeira. The bungling Angels haven't made a formal offer yet, and it's good to see Theo and company making a move. Who is the major competition as of today? The Washington Nationals who put an eight year, $160 million offer on the table. The Orioles and the Yankees are also expected to make a little noise for the 28 year old.

Of course, you couldn't watch ESPN this week without someone talking about Florida Gator saint/quarterback Tim Tebow or the Yankee's deal for C.C. Sabathia. Good for New York, they need to pick up a pitcher for their shitty rotation. The good news is that they just signed him to one of the dumbest contracts I've ever seen. Well, one this big anyway. In essence, if he's lights out for the next three years of his deal he can opt out and become a free agent. If he tanks, the Bombers are on the hook for seven years and $160 mil. However, if he is the former I don't see anyone outspending the Yankees. If I have to watch C.C. dominate the East, might as well watch the Yanks sell the farm.

The Angles claim to be serious about retaining Tex's services, however with no real plan to keep him I'm not convinced he'll be back in Anaheim. Besides, staying on with the Halo's means that he's destined to lose to the Sox in the ALDS every year from here to eternity. On the Boston front, American League MVP Dustin Pedroia, the little second baseman who could, was awarded with a shiny new six year $40.5 million contract to keep him in red and navy.

With the possibility of Texixeira landing at Logan, and players like Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell able to recover from nagging injuries in '08, the next year looks like it could yield some positive outcomes. Some days I'm still scratching my head as to how the Sox made it to Game 7 of the ALCS with all the issues they had with the injury bug. Hopefully we can overcome this year with our new "Hanging Sox" logo (horrible name) and retro alternate unis. Hurray marketing.

Can't wait to see the frat boy d-bags out in full effect with this lid...

See You Later

So much for today being a quiet off day for Boston. Coming off a sweep at home to the Angels and harsh words from Manny Ramirez saying that "Boston does not deserve a player like me," the Boston brass obliged and sent Manny packing in a three way deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Manny heads out to the West Coast to play in another league. Good luck Joe Torre. Never thought I'd say that. The Pirates will get two minor leaguers from the Sox in Brandon Moss and right handed pitcher Craig Hansen. LA will send Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pirates. The Sox will get Jason Bay from the Bucs.

Bay is a left fielder who will probably be able to actually play left field and bring some offense to the plate. The 2006 All-Star brings a career .281 average, 140 home runs and an .890 OPS to the Sox. It's not Manny, but I think it might do for the rest of the season. I guess the best question will be is if Manny did have a stranglehold on the the clubhouse and will this trade relieve some pressure and allow the Sox to get back to business. I guess time will tell.

All in all Manny had a great run in Boston. I loved him as a hitter, but that was about it. Having to answer for him as a fan was sort of a pain in the ass. "Manny being Manny" could only take you so far. He'll be missed from what he can produce from the dish, but I doubt he'll be missed for his antics. There are some noted Boston fans that have Sox blogs that will claim Manny was pushed out, but I don't believe the hype surrounding him being defaced to the fans so they (Epstein and company) wouldn't look like bad guys jettisoning a player who helped carry them to two World Series victories. Manny was never really the face of the franchise, as David Ortiz took over that role from Nomar when he was pushed out in 2004.

I remember posting some cut outs of Manny back in 2001 after the deal was made to bring him to Boston at my desk at work. I was incredibly pumped for him to come to Boston and make an impact against the competition and the Yankees mainly. It took a few years, but he was a big part of that run over the past few years. Little did I know the rest of the baggage he'd bring along with him. That I won't miss.

Oh, by the way some other American League teams are on the move before the trade deadline. The Angels traded for Mark Teixeria, the Yankees traded Kyle Farnsworth for Ivan Rodriguez (WTF???) and the White Sox traded for Ken Griffey Jr. While we were worried about getting rid of a headache, the rest of the top teams in the AL were looking for players to put them in position to win a World Series. Does this spell doom for the Sox to not make a serious playoff run? The next month will certainly be interesting.

Sox Win, Manny Goes Too Far

Wow, so this blog thing is getting away from me again. Well, between the new job (yes, it takes up that much time), dog (she takes twice as much time) and my small town deciding to not send me a sewer bill and turn my water off (don't ask) I will from time to time run out of time to post on here. But just like that bad case of the herpes, I just won't go away. Wow, too much info, right? Right. Let's move on.

Monday night, Lester rocked the Seattle lineup to sleep coming off some extended time off. Last night Dice-K kept his stride he's had over the past four starts and not earning cheap wins as he had been getting into the habit of doing previous to this month. He walked a few last night, but was still able to strike out more and kept his pitch count down to make it through the eighth.

Yes, Manny was arrested last night. For what you ask? Jaywalking. Yes, jaywalking in Seattle gets your harassed by a traffic cop, which in the state of Washington is the equivalent of stealing an old ladies purse apparently. Look, I'm not a huge fan of Manny other than what he brings to the plate, but this is a little ridiculous. Although the cell phone thing turning a pitching change was pretty funny, even the biggest Manny haters will have to admit that.

Tonight the Sox will but Clay Buchholz on the mound to try for the sweep out in the great Northwest. However, I'm sure most fans are looking forward to Friday night's showdown between Josh Beckett and the Sox against Nebraska alumnus Joba Chamberlain the New York Yankees.

Also a stat of note that was achieved last night. Surprisingly, Jonathan Papelbon became the first Sox player to get to 30 saves in three consecutive seasons.

Hey, Nice Comeback

With my finger on the On/Off button heading into the bottom of the 8th inning last night, I was all prepared to do something other than watch the Twins beat the Sox 5-2. Then I decided that getting off the couch wouldn't be a good idea because, well, I'm sort of lazy most of the time. Good thing I didn't.

It's nice to watch some other team's bullpen screw games up rather than the healthy dose of relief issues I've been witness to this year. Even with a three run lead, I was surprised to see Twins manager Ron Gardenhire bring in Matt Guerrier rather than All-Star Joe Nathan to preserve the lead after Jacoby Ellsbury's lead off double. Even in the next two at bats when Dustin Pedroia singled and pushed Ellsbury to third and JD Drew grounding out to score Jacoby, I was still waiting for the signal from the visitor's dugout to bring in Nathan. Even with the guy who won the game just the night before coming to the plate, Gardenhire stuck with Guerrier.

After Manny's homer I was certain that a pitching change was to be made. You have take your guy out when he's drowning like that, especially in the middle of a raucous Fenway crowd. Right? Nope, Gardy stuck to his guns with the score now tied, even less likely to bring Nathan in now I guessed. I couldn't help but laugh as the Sox took the lead off another double by Youkilis and the eventual go-ahead RBI hit by Brandon Moss.

The Sox and closer Jonathan Papelbon did try and make it interesting with Nick Punto of all people smacking a lead off double and eventually moving to third with only one out. Jason Kubel ended up striking out and Alexi Casilla grounded to Pedroia for the final out of the game. I don't believe the Sox won this game in as much as the Twins coaching staff mis-managed it away. I have to think that Nathan after not being used since Sunday would be capable of pitching for two innings to put the game away. Easier said than done, considering that Gardenhire has been making some poor game time decisions regarding the usage of his pen. Not that I care, a win is a win at this point with the Rays still up by a few games in the division. I'm sure Francona and company will take it any way they can get it.

Random Thoughts

- For those of you that watch SportsCenter, does anyone else think that the "TitleTown USA" contest they are running on their website is much better than last year's "Who's Now?" poll? This is what I hate about ESPN. They take the nickname from a community that is very proud of their team and it's rich history(Green Bay), and trivialize it by having places like Lawrence, Kansas as a finalist for TitleTown. Kansas? Really? Their football team has one good season by playing one of the weakest schedules in all of college football and go to their first major bowl since my Mom was in the 5th grade and now they're at this point?? I understand their basketball program is one of the cornerstones of men's basketball and just coming off their first title in 20 years puts them on the map, but labeling them "TitleTown?" Give me a break. The same goes for Knoxville, Tennessee. And Parkersburg, West Virginia.

- Memo to Brett Favre, please stay on your swamp farm down in Mississippi and shoot some more Wrangler commercials. If I were a Packer fan I would be pissed that one player (albeit a legend) had my entire organization over a barrel. While I was getting ready for work today ESPN analyst John Clayton was talking about how the guys who run the organization don't want to be responsible for running Favre out of town if he wants to come back. Hello! He left town on his own, right?!? I know the Packers are a unique organization, but what a bunch of pussies. General Manager Ted Thompson and company need to grow a sack and tell Favre that the Aaron Rogers era started the day he cried his way out of his retirement press conference. I'm not the guy to tell professional athletes when to retire, but if you say you're gone, then be gone.

All-Star Roll Call

In my exasperation after last night's 1-0 win over the Minnesota Twins, I failed to mention all of the players that were voted on to this year's All-Star team. As we know, the outcome of the game itself determines which league will have home field advantage for the World Series. The Sox haven't had much need for it during their championship campaigns sweeping the Cardinals in '04 and the Rockies in '07, although it could be argued that opening the series in Fenway for two games did set the tone for the next two on the road both years.

Along with the Chicago Cubs in the National League, the Sox will send seven players to the Bronx for the final All-Star game in Yankee Stadium, more than any other team besides said Cubs. I'm usually game for all the festivities surrounding the break, however this year will be ESPN's goodbye love letter to all things Yankees. I may need to keep a bucket next to my couch for when it gets a little deep.

The Sox will send two outfielders in JD Drew and Manny Ramirez, only one pitcher in the way of Jonathan Papelbon, one surprising (but not really) DH selection with the injured David Ortiz and position players Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek. I'm not sure how deserving Manny is for this year, however leave it to the fans to vote the guy in. I guess he gets points and entrance to left field (which is sort of a joke) for being a character.

Ortiz obviously won't play in an exhibition game while only taking his first BP since going on the DL June 3rd, but I'm sure his presence will be felt as it is everywhere while playing or not. I wouldn't expect to see Papelbon closing the game in a save situation as the nod would more than likely go to either the Twins' Joe Nathan, the "Mexecutioner" Joakim Soria of the Royals, or most likely Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels who just broke John Smoltz's save total record for the first half of the season with 35.

Sidetrack: A Simple Request

I encourage everyone to vote for Royals outfielder Jose Guillen for the final vote in player. Not because of his baseball acumen and playing ability, but because he's a giant asshole and does a good job of giving my hometown team's fans fits. It's a constant talk radio topic with Guillen either fighting with pitching coach Bob McClure, or telling the fans to fuck off and calling it motivation. The team sucks, and it's sucked especially hard for the past, well, couple of decades. The fans are complacent save for a few diehards and the community needs some sort of kick in the pants, even if it's from this jackass. I'm not defending Guillen by any means, the guy is clearly a jerk of epic proportions and has played for something like nine teams while only being 31 years of age. But the guy needs to be an All-Star in a Royals uniform, just for that reason alone.

In order to counter balance the picture at the top of this post, I give you my favorite stunt perpetrated by Sox fans at Fenway last year when A-Rod was going through a previous martial indiscretion while being photographed with the award winning exotic dancer in the category of "Best Man to Appear as a Woman Stripper." Enjoy.

The Hard Way

The Boston Red Sox, losers of their last seven of nine, entered into tonight's contest against the Minnesota Twins who are arguably one of the hottest and most surprising teams in baseball up to this point. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect with the Sox seemingly going impotent against the Yankees this past weekend in the Bronx.

Luckily for the Sox, Dice-K had one of his better performances of the year. He was able to keep his pitch count down and battled his way to his 10th win on the season. One thing that was pleasing to my eyes tonight was the fact that no matter how hard Hideki Okajima tried to give the game away (as the bullpen has been doing this year) in the eighth, the Sox along with Okajima managed to see their way to the bottom of the inning with the games still knotted at 0.

Seeing that the pen has been a major disaster this season so far, Theo has decided to sent Justin Masterson down to the PawSox in exchange for Clay Buchholz entering back into the rotation this weekend. Sending Masterson down for the week to next 10 days isn't without a purpose. Epstein is planning on the young hurler having bullpen work take up 100% of his time while in Rhode Island with the idea he comes back to Fenway to help the floundering pen in the bigs. I think it's a smart move as the Sox really are sort of stagnant when it comes to arms for their middle relief. We'll see if it pays off likely after the break.

Speaking of bolstering middle relief, it's hard to say where or which direction the Sox will take, if any, before the trade deadline at the end of the month. I didn't think the Sox had a realistic shot at landing Sabathia, and I'm almost glad they didn't for the same reason I was happy they didn't sign Johan Santana. I'm still of the mind a trade for Dan Haren would have been a boon for the rotation now that Schilling seems to have been sent out to pasture, at least in Boston.

The next two nights the Sox will have their two best starters on the hill with Jon Lester getting the go tomorrow against Nick Blackburn and Josh Beckett closing the series against Livan Hernandez. The better game will probably be tomorrow night, but who doesn't want to see the battle of the dueling fatties on Wednesday? I know I do.

The New Style?

As if you didn’t know already, the Tampa Bay Rays are for real. I know some people who still think they are playing above their heads and are waiting for the reality that they are the Rays to settle in as they fade down the stretch. As much as I would like that, I don’t see it happening any time soon. I’m expecting that they battle all the way down to the wire or run away with the division if Boston can’t get healthy or New York can’t find their way.

Last night was the first game after the infamously embarrassing brawl started by Coco Crisp and Rays pitcher James Shields. For me, it was just flat out frustrating to watch given the fact that even though it was close for most of the night, the Sox just never seemed like they were in it. Plus the annoyance of the wondering if some Busch League antics were going to transpire.

So now with the Rays one and a half games in first, each time the put more distance between them and the second place Sox (gulp) it’s going to get more attention considering the Rays come All-Star Break are generally around 25.5 games back. If Boston continues to lose when the play at Tropicana Field I may give up watching Sports Center in the morning, as it will probably lead off each and every day with nothing going on in terms of anything interesting going on in sports.

The Sox are now officially on a slide being the owners of a three game losing streak. Hopefully they can get off the deck tonight against Matt Garza. They won’t get any freebees from him, so they’ll have to earn the W and try to avoid a forth straight loss and the prospect of being behind the Rays by two and a half games. Let’s see if Tim Wakefield can go back to his traditional modus operandi of owning the Rays in Tampa.

Is This Thing On??

Ah, long time no see, right? Well, a move into a new house and a career change will do that to you. Now that time is a bit more on my side I think I’ll be able to start getting back at it again. Yes, I’ve been keeping up with watching games and keeping tabs on how the season is going in my absence. I’m not convinced that the first place lead in the American League East is Boston’s to lose in any way shape or form.

To this point the Rays are still hanging around, the Yankees have just turned it around which means that no one has really wanted it enough to challenge the Sox for the lead. The Rays have flirted with it, however that’s as far as it’s gone and they haven’t been able to get over the hump the past couple weeks. It sort of reminds me of earlier this decade where the Sox would always win when the Yankees won and lost each time the Yanks lost to where they could never make up any ground. The 7,237 fans that show up each night to Tropicana Field when the Rays are in town must be frustrated.

All kidding aside, the baseball players formerly known as the Devil Rays look to be legit and not just a charming early season nuisance. They have a real rotation and stout line up that can put runs on the board. Last week they took the team with the best record and baseball and chewed them up and spit them back to the Windy City, which despite my greatest efforts to ignore, loved watching. I hate the Cubs, but mostly I hate their fans.

Next time I post, I’ll get into all the crappy things I want to bitch and moan about (Ortiz being out, Youk turning into a clubhouse moron). Excited? I know I am. While scoring games in my underwear whilst eating hot wings the past several weeks I’ve scratched some notes on things I’d like to have written about, but have not had the time to do so. So, here’s to getting back on board with my blog a few weeks shy of the All-Star Break. Timing was never my thing…

No-No on the Back Bay

No more than eight months after Clay Buchholz threw the 17th no hitter in Boston Red Sox history, Jon Lester tossed the 18th tonight against the Kansas City Royals. He's also the first lefty in half a century to accomplish the feat for the Sox as well. Also a statistic of note, this is only the second time in Royals history they've had a no hitter thrown at them. You have to go back to within the first five years of the franchise in 1973 when Nolan Ryan pitched one for the California Angels.

Lester ended up walking only two batters in the entire game, which included a ninth inning walk Esteban Herman who managed to find his way to third base via a pair of ground outs to third thanks to Tony Pena Jr. and to first by David DeJesus. Lester ended the game with his ninth strike out of the night against Alberto Callapso.

Hopefully tonight will serve as a confidence booster for the young lefty, as his start to the season has been a little inconsistent at times. Now with Buchholz on the DL, the Sox are going to have to rely on Lester a bit more while Dice-K and Josh Beckett shoulder the main responsibility in the rotation. Something Beckett has struggled with as well through the first 50 games.

Not to be outdone tonight and over the weekend's sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, the offense is lighting things up after returning home to Fenway. The Sox have scored 30 runs in the past four days and lead the AL with 253 runs. They also happen to be the only team in the AL currently flirting with .600 as well. It hasn't been taken care of by your usual cast of characters, even though Ortiz is starting to get his act together a bit while Lowell is finding his groove after returning from the DL.

Go down any list of stats for the Sox at the moment and you'll find that the only two everyday players batting above .300 are Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Manny Ramirez. Do I think more than three should be? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not quite so naive as to think you'll have a lineup with four of five hitters above .300, but last year did spoil us all a bit. Youk and Manny are pulling down amazing numbers besides what they are batting for average as well with an OPS of 1.003 and .920 respectively. Manny is still sitting at 498 and may not get to 500 at home while playing against a Royals staff that, for the most part, has been pretty solid the first month and a half.

The Sox will get to enjoy three more games against the Royals at home before getting out on the road for a normally sticky West Coast trip. Boston will set up shop in Oakland for the weekend before traveling up the coast to play the last place Seattle Mariners. After the trip the Sox will travel cross country the weekend after to play a four game series with Baltimore.