Game 120: It's Only Worth It If You Work For It

Final Score:

Boston Red 4, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 3

After remarking on the quality of the Angels broadcasters while watching the first hour of this game, I’ve decided to try my hand at that liveblogging thing the kids are so crazy about. Enjoy:

10:59 - The Angels broadcasters have the game tonight and they're actually pretty good; calm, good insight on the little details,* not too kitschy, fairly balanced in their commentary - and the day after the Angels dealt a crushing defeat to Boston, no less. This quality is surprising for two reasons:

1. They're broadcasting for Fox Sports Net. Fox executives take note: not everyone who broadcasts for you has to suck like Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. In fact, it's better if they don't.
2. Angels fan don't have the reputation for being the best or most intelligent fans – these are the people who came up with the Rally Monkey, after all, not to mention the park has those weird flares that go up when the Angels hit a home run. Having intelligent broadcasters means that Anaheim’s fans may not be beyond hope.

11:00 - Jason Varitek just bunted – he meant it to be a sacrifice to advance Ortiz, but he placed it so well that he turned it into a hit. I'm speechless with delight. Tito’s playing small ball tonight – the first run scored after two bunts and a groundout. I think he’s come to the realization that the hits aren’t quite coming out right now – maybe he’s also banking on the Angels not expecting Boston, a team that never bunts, to try and pull the sacrifice.
11:02 – Even the competition calls Bill Mueller professional; it must be true. Of course, he just popped up on the first pitch, so looks may be deceiving.

11:07 – From what I’m hearing, Steve Finley is Anaheim’s equivalent of Kevin Millar. With twice the salary…and none of the cheerleading.

11:11 – After giving up a long single, Clement gets out of the inning with a double play, smoothly executed by Magic Helmet. The man is poetry in motion at the plate and on the field, which is why he’s so preferable to Kevin Millar.

11:15 – Researching the link to Joy of Sox in the intro, I see that the Mark Bellhorn era is officially over and that Trot Nixon managed to nail Keith Foulke in the arm this afternoon. On Bellhorn, much like with Alan Embree, I’ll chose to remember you for the really good: for the two home runs in post-season last year that really made the difference, especially the one that bounced off that girl’s jacket in left field – first ruled a double, then ruled a home run after umpire consultation. Like that ruling, you truly were a surprise last year and I wish you the best in the future.

On Nixon/Foulke: fortunately, Trot did no real damage (he hit the fleshy part of the arm) and Foulke believes he’ll be back before September 1st. Nixon plans to go on rehab assignment tomorrow and hopes to be back in the lineup by the Kansas City series. The timing is certainly very good – we’ll finally know what’s up with Foulke very, very soon.

11:27 – The Angels are threatening, with runners on first and third with nobody out and Vlad up. The announcers said that part of his success since the All-Star Break is that he’s reigned in on his free-swinging nature…but he just popped-out on the first pitch. No Pepsi commercials here.

11:28 – Vlad’s popup was the first fly-out of the game…we’re in the fourth inning. I wonder what the record is. I also wonder how hard that stat would be to find on Google.

11:30 – Clement conjures another double play to escape the threat, God bless him.

11:31 – Weinerschnitzel is a restaurant too?! I thought it was just a funny German word. Also, why are the commercials a good deal louder than the baseball broadcast?

11:35 – FSN just showed the NL Wildcard race standings – 5 teams within 2.5 games. I’m willing to bet it’s going to come down to the end, like last year. They also just mentioned that the last three World Series winners were Wild Card winners. Of course, we all know that records were made to be broken.

11:38 – Runners on first and third, one out. It’s Magic Helmet time. Assuming Lackey doesn’t throw the ball away first.

11:40 – He battled, and then Magic Helmet smacks it into center. Manny scores, then Varitek scores from first with a nice slide. I’m convinced sending Varitek was another screw up by the Moron that he happened to luck out on.

11:46 – After remarking on how Nixon hit Foulke in the arm this afternoon, FSN goes on to show the montage of hit pitchers from the past month: Clement (I still wince horribly), Wakefield and Foulke. Gabe Kapler pops out to the catcher, stranding Magic Helmet on third and The Professional on first. John Lackey, who should be out of the game by now, escapes to come back for the next inning.

11:51 – The Angels score after Casey Kotchman doubles, goes to third on a grounder and then comes home after a mental-miscue by Magic Helmet, who tries to throw out Kotchman at home but makes a poor throw.

11:54 – Manny Being Manny: Ramirez makes one of those weird plays in left that he loves to make just to scare the crap out of the fans – this time a half leaping catch to the side of the ball. If he misses, the ball goes into the corner and runs score. I think the FSN announcers just called Manny “Dr. Strangeglove.”

11:56 – With runners on the corners, Orlando Cabrera pops up towards the first base foul line. Neither Kapler nor Cora must have gotten a very good jump on the ball, as the ball almost falls for a hit until Cora makes a full extension leaping catch that makes him look like a receiver stretching for a touchdown.

12:04 – Example of good commentary from the FSN announcers: Renteria strikes out by checking his swing a little too high and thus bringing the tip of his bat across the plate. The Angels announcers point out that Renteria did exactly what you should do in those circumstances – act like you just drew a walk and trot down to first base until you hear otherwise.

12:12 – Varitek strikes out to end the top of the sixth – the Sox have now stranded 11 runners. Remember that point earlier in the year when everyone wondered why Manny wasn’t hitting? Lackey intentionally walked him this inning, but this game is starting to feel that way.

12:16 – To match Cora, Bill Mueller makes a beautiful sliding catch in foul ground on an Erstad pop-up, a ball that I disregarded because it was essentially in the Angels dugout. Word to the Professional.

12:23 – John Lackey is done for the night, pulling off a decent outing despite control problems. The FSN announcers go onscreen for their Lackey recap; Steve Physioc has a haircut that makes him look like a crested lizard. Kevin Gregg comes on in relief – he hasn’t given up an earned run in his last 11 appearances.

12:27 – Magic Helmet leads off with a single, but doesn’t get beyond first base as the Sox hit three strong fly outs in a row to end their half of the seventh.

12:43 – Edgar Renteria came within feet of his first home run since June, only to be robbed by Rivera in left. Edgah’s response: pushups in the dug out.

12:45 – Big Papi’s not looking so hot at the plate right now; swinging at bad pitches, looking foolish – and he ends the top of the ninth by striking out looking. And then gets himself tossed for arguing balls and strikes on a close call during the commercial break. Since this field is the same field where Ortiz ended up with a suspension after throwing bats on the field, it doesn’t seem like Angel’s Stadium and David Ortiz get along very well.

12:49 – Clement is done. Great line: 7 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts. The offense may not be having a great night, but Clement certainly did – Timlin on to help Matt get his 12th win.

12:55 – The Angels pull a steal with Cabrera on and a double steal after intentionally walking Guerrero. Why is Timlin not holding these runners on?

12:59 – Timlin blows it, hanging a slider on the outside corner to Bengie Molina, who drives it into the corner to clear the bases and tie the game. Again, why wasn’t Timlin trying to hold those runners?

1:02 – Casey Kotchan grounds out to shortstop, ending the inning with the score tied 3 – 3. Now would be a good time not to be down a DH.

1:17 – The Sox get runners as far as second, taking Magic Helmet out for Adam Stern (presumably to avoid the double play). All for naught, as Bill Mueller strikes out looking on a breaking ball on the corner and Alex Cora grounds to first. Curt Schilling comes in to relieve Timlin, Millar takes Olerud’s spot at first. Shoot me now. Millar, when you come up, I want a home run. Nothing less.

1:25 – Schilling strikes out two in a 1-2-3 inning to end the bottom of the ninth. This game is headed into extra innings.

1:33 – Scot Shields, owner of 25 holds, comes on in relief of K-Rod. After singles by Kapler and Damon, Renteria strikes out looking on a close call. Petagine comes to bat in place of Ortiz.

1:39 – After a 10 pitch battle, Shields walks Petagine to load the bases. It’s so time for Manny Being Manny, as the active grand slam leader steps to the plate.

1:42 – Well, not quite what I was hoping, but after getting to 2 and 2 without a swing, Manny chops a ball to short. Chone Figgins’ only play is to first and Kapler scores. 4 to 3, Boston. Varitek hits into the exact same force out to end the top of the 10. Let’s wrap this up, bullpen.

1:52 – Schilling strikes out two more batters and gets Darin Erstad to pop out to Renteria end the game; Sox win 4 to 3 in a nearly 4 hour grinder that saw the Sox leave 16 men on base, half in scoring position. With the exception of Timlin, Boston’s pitching was excellent tonight – Schilling had a perfect two innings to get his fifth win of the season. Clement should have gotten his twelfth win; the blame for his no-decision can, I think, be placed just as squarely on the hitters not coming up big in the clutch as on Timlin’s mistake to Molina.

Guns and Corn tomorrow afternoon against The Lesser Santana (Ervin). GO SOX!!!
* - To the point where even though Lackey was struggling through the first inning, I was still worried about what he was going to do, because these two announcers focused on the strategy of throwing the right pitches at the right time and avoiding challenging the dangerous Boston offense with the fastball.

tags: baseball | red sox | roberto petagine | manny ramirez | kevin millar | john olerud | curt schilling | keith foulke | trot nixon | matt clement | david ortiz

Game 119: ...And Fall

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 4, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 13

“It must be tough pitching with a huge fork sticking out of your back.”
- Joy of Sox on Mike Remlinger

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it over and over again: I hate West Coast road trips.  Hate ‘em.  Schedules should be set up so that the Sox have to go out West once a year – a nine game road trip against Seattle, Oakland and Anaheim and then back into time zones closer to Boston’s for the rest of year.  If the Sox happen to be playing in NL West during Interleague, they can make that a separate trip, but we should only have the pleasure of 10:00 starts once a year.

As Soxholics pointed out though, if Boston was going to choke, at least they did it early.  And boy did they choke.  Colon was masterful.  The offense wasted opportunities, especially in the 2nd when they could have tied up the score 1-1 but stranded a runner at third.  The defense made costly errors.  Wake had the misfortune of taking a Casey Kotchman line drive off the meaty portion of his lower leg and had to leave the game, although X-rays revealed nothing more than a contusion and Tito had one of his usual pitching brain farts by bringing in Mike Myers to pitch to a righty, Juan Rivera, who promptly hit a three run homer to put the score out of reach.  Is the bullpen really in such tough shape that Francona is forced to bring in a LOOGY against a righty?  Doesn’t that go against basic common sense?  Maybe not, as Mike Remlinger went on to prove once again in the 7th that he’s not in any sort of shape to be throwing pitches, except maybe to his kids: two innings, six hits, five runs, including a homer.  I gave up after the top of the fifth with a headache and a growing sense of despair, but if you want to read the details of the whole sordid mess, Joy of Sox took the time to liveblog it.

Last night’s failures are a showcase of what’s wrong with this team right now: we’re holding onto the wrong players.  Kevin Millar and Mike Remlinger should not be playing for the Red Sox; they should be dusting off their resumes and looking for other lines of work.  It’s frustrating not because the problems exist, but because the solutions are right there, on the team right now.  Both John Olerud and Roberto Petagine can play first base and they can both hit for more power than Kevin Millar has generated at any time in the past several months.  Manny Delcarmen may not be a left-hander, but he gets guys out and he doesn’t give up runs to the extravagant level that Mike Remlinger does.  And if you don’t want him, you’ve got Jon Lester, who’s got the double fortune of being a southpaw and a good pitcher.  The keys are there; Theo and Tito need to make the switches and do so before the Sox enter a major slump and start to slip out of contention.  Thank God the Hansen promotion seems to be closer to reality every day.

I think if both Johnny Damon and Theo Epstein deny the steroid rumors as being not only patently false but deliberately inflammatory, they’re probably not true.  Not to mention denials by both the players union and major league baseball.  At least I hope so; I don’t think I could stand that kind of news or being lied to straight out, especially in the middle of a pennant race.  I think I understand a bit how Baltimore fans feel right now.  I guess In Theo We Trust is starting to get a bit too close to home at the moment.

Trot Nixon faces off against Keith Foulke today to determine whether or not the right fielder is ready to go and do a rehab assignment.  Remy and D.O. mentioned last night that Nixon has had a very quick recovery from his oblique injury, which is just as well, since he hurt himself through such aggravating and pedestrian circumstances.  The Sox pushed Wade Miller’s next throwing session back to next week in Kansan City.  I know I’ve read several stories where Miller denies that the injury is particularly serious or close in severity to the shoulder problems he had last year, but it’s a bit odd he’s getting this much rest.  Perhaps because Papelbon is proving himself such a boon to the pitching staff (and pitching about the same number of innings per game as Miller), the Sox are willing to give Miller some extra time to recover.  David Wells has started to recover from his stomach problems.

Honest Abe tonight versus John Lackey, hopefully minus Millar and Remlinger, but we’ll see.  GO SOX!!!

tags: baseball | red sox | roberto petagine | jon papelbon | manny delcarmen | mike remlinger | manny ramirez | kevin millar | john olerud | craig hansen | tim wakefield

Games 117 - 118: Stumble

Final Scores:

Game 117: Boston Red Sox 10, Detroit Tigers 7
Game 118: Boston Red Sox 5, Detroit Tigers 6

A game won because Alan Trammell had a mental-miscue and took out his young pitcher, who was shutting down the Sox and brought in his weak bullpen to get beat up and a game lost because Tito sent out a still-sick David Wells to get beat on for four innings. Because the Yankees are now 4 and 9 versus Tampa Bay this year, Boston picked up a game and as the Herald kindly reminds us, in the AL this year, it’s no one’s race just yet. Even in on the South side of Chicago, where they have the best record in the American League and still only get about 70% attendance, 13th overall, things aren’t completely set for a pennant.

On a totally unrelated note, statistics are your friend.

I tuned in to Tuesday’s game just as the 10th inning rally started and had the satisfaction of seeing only good things come off of Red Sox bats. I even saw Mike Remlinger get his first outs as a Sox reliever, despite giving up a grand slam to Magglio Ordonez in the same inning. Yesterday, I caught the final two innings, after the damage to Wells and, just as importantly, the offense had grounded into four of its five double plays. Remlinger pulled a complete reversal by giving up one hit and no runs in 1 and 2/3rds innings, Gonzo continues to impress with another two innings of scoreless relief – maybe he should have started instead – and Older Dude returned from the DL just where he left off, going 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run. In the end, though, even though the human clutch machine, the Big Papi, the Ortizzle, saved the game for the Sox on Tuesday with his long ball power, he wasn’t able to deliver this time around, grounding into double play number five. Not the best way to play against a team that Sox should have had no problems taking out and not the way to go to California to play the Angels, but fortunately the State of the Nation and more importantly of the players is to be able to shrug a blow like this one off without too many problems. Well, maybe the players can. The fans, from what I’ve been reading, seem to be prone to the same irrationality they’ve always had, God love ‘em.

Manny took the day off yesterday, opting to take off yesterday’s game instead of one of the games against the Angels. He was available to pinch and would have come in at two different junctures, but the Sox ended both innings before he could come up. Terry Francona told the press that Manny told him he was “beat” before the game – the Herald cites his recent fielding mishaps as perhaps being the root of Manny’s request. Yes, Manny is 5 for 8 against Bonderman, yesterday’s pitcher, but as 12eight points out, not counting the two games Francona sat him around the trade deadline, the only Sox who’s played in more games this year is David Ortiz. Besides, Manny’s absence is a big deal only because the Sox lost and Boston should blame that loss on five double plays, not a lack of Manny. Not that the media blowing something out of proportion is surprising…

Kevin Millar may be a hitting bum who hasn’t a home run in 175 at-bats and was in a 0 for 13 slump until a single last night in the eighth, but he does love to play. With Francona saying that there’s no need to settle on a division of playing time at first base between Millar, Olerud and Petagine, which I can only imagine means Olerud getting most of the playing time at first, I’m curious as to how Millar will get the chance to find his swing again. I’ve suggested making him team cheerleader in the past – Red’s idea of firing The Moron and making Millar the third base coach in his stead seems a viable way to make it happen.

Speaking of losing out on chances to make good, the Mark Bellhorn-in-Boston-era may be drawing to a close, with Tito finally naming Tony G. as his second baseman. Assuming no one claims him off of waivers after his rehab period expires, Bellhorn would have to agree to a minor league contract to stay with the Sox and then come back up after September 1. If he refuses the contract, which the Herald says is likely, he’d be DFA’d, where he’d most likely end up as a free agent - $725,000 in remaining salary being too steep for another team to want to trade for him. Not that I think he should start, but it’s still sad to see an important member of the 2004 team fall so far so quickly.

Craig Hansen’s high 90s low-in-the-zone fastball is all the rage right now, to the point where the talk of bringing him up to the Show before the end of the year is becoming fairly prevalent. With Ricky Bottalico struggling (8.31 ERA in 4 and 1/3rd innings/4 games) and Matt Perisho having mixed success (2.84 ERA in 6 and 1/3rd innings/6 games) in AAA, especially when compared with Hansen’s perfect efforts so far – 9 strike outs and 6 hits in 7 innings/5 games in the rookie league and AA – it’s not hard to see why having Hansen up to bolster the bullpen seems so attractive, along with Mini Manny and Jon Papelbon. Even if Remlinger goes on to prove that yesterday was not a fluke performance, Theo’s homegrown talent may be the biggest part of this year’s end of the year effort…how exciting is that?

The Stopper versus Colon tonight at the ridiculously late 10:05. GO SOX!!!

tags: baseball | red sox | roberto petagine | jon papelbon | manny delcarmen | mike remlinger | david ortiz | manny ramirez | kevin millar | john olerud | craig hansen

Game 116: One That Got Away

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 6, Detroit Tigers 7

Must go to my happy place, must go to my happy place...

The irony of Schilling blowing a game and admitting afterwards it's because he's still working on his pitches is that while we were watching the game last night, I defended Schilling's results to my friend Mike, who hates Schilling and thinks he should be shown the door. Clearly I was right for the wrong reasons.

In truth, though, it seems like the atmosphere of the whole night was a bit of whack for the BoSox. Damon, coming off a short break for a slightly strained hamstring, went 0 for 4 with a walk, snapping his league-leading 15 game hitting streak. RBI Guy Petagine grounded into a double play with the bases loaded, killing an opportunity for the Sox to blow the game open. Guns and Corn, his pitches missing their usual bite, danced around disaster all evening, including a bases loaded situation in the fifth when Jason Varitek made a lunging grab to snag a pop-foul about to fall into the Red Sox dugout, providing a crucial second out. And when I say grab, I mean web gem quality - I didn't someone, especially wearing that much equipment, could stretch that far and still hold on to something.

Hopefully the Sox don't let last night's disappointment get into their heads, get back out there tonight and dominate a sub .500 team like the Tigers the way they should. Schilling may sit for a day or two, like he did after his first loss against the Yankees, or his first blown save against Chicago, or he may be back in it tonight, like he was after losing to Tampa Bay to start this most recent success streak.

Speaking of streaks, it's the one year anniversary of the super stretch drive of 2004, which, as the Herald reports, started out with a loss too - to Chicago. Success of that magnitude (20 wins in 22 games) is not required, but the first AL East title of 10 years is calling...and the Yankees, despite our best efforts to beat them off and back into the realms of wildcard oblivion, are crawling back like the restless dead. Time to bring out the shotgun and take out those zombies with a string of wins.

Jon Papelbon is today's mystery starter after all, AAA bullpen assignment or no - the Herald now has him in Pawtucket to save his arm, rather than to become a reliever for the expanded rosters. To free up a roster spot, Mini-Manny's first stay with the big leagues is over, but with only one problem appearance, he'll definately be back in a few weeks. John Olerud is eligible to come off the DL today, but will most likely return tomorrow to go against a righty instead of a lefty. Kevin Youkilis will most likely be making his way back to Rhode Island on Olerud's return. Trot Nixon and Keith Foulke are both making excellent progress towards their respective returns.

Papelbon versus Nate Robertson tonight at 7:05. GO SOX!!!

tags: baseball | red sox | curt schilling | roberto petagine | jon papelbon | bronson arroyo | manny delcarmen | keith foulke | trot nixon

Games 114 - 115: Keep On Rollin'

Final Scores:

Game 114: Boston Red Sox 9, Chicago White Sox 8
Game 115: Boston Red Sox 7, Chicago White Sox 4

The great thing about washed-out games (like the one yesterday afternoon, cancelled after a combined total of 4 hours of rain delay before the game went the requisite 5 innings) is everything gets erased from the record books, like the game never happened. The White Sox may have been winning 5 - 2 and hitting Clement pretty hard after the first delay, but it doesn't matter - the game is gone forever. A mulligan for Clement, who is struggling to avoid becoming the poor second-half pitcher he was last year. If yesterday's stats had held, Honest Abe would have a 8.39 ERA in the 8 starts since July 1.

For the rest of the weekend, however, playing through a mid-August heat wave, everything came up Boston. Although effected by nasty cold symptoms, Golden Buddha managed to keep the game close through 7 innings on Friday, giving up 5 runs (3 earned - 2 White Sox scored in the first after an error by Ramirez) on 9 hits and striking out 5. Mark Buerhle, who is 0 and 1 this year against Boston, with 11 runs (9 earned) and 22 hits in 13 innings, couldn't hold the line and BoSox scored twice in the third and once in the fourth before a swing of Jason Varitek's bat dropped a ball over the Monster seats and tied things up 5 - 5 in the fifth. Big Papi broke the tie in the seventh with a solo shot and made the difference four runs in the eighth with a three run homer off of power reliever Bobby Jenks, sent out to keep the game close for the run producing ChiSox offense. I was on the phone at that point, "watching" the game with my father and sister back in Boston and serving as stats guy, thanks to ESPN.com.

After Jenks came out:

Me: "This guy has a .112 opposing AVG against lefties."
Jenks then strikes out Renteria and Ortiz comes up.
My father: "Eric, how well does Ortiz hit with two outs and runners in scoring position."
Me: "He's got a .329 average and 1.098 OPS with two outs and men on and a .368 average and 1.085 OPS with runners in scoring position. He also has .305 average and a .887 OPS against lefties...why is [Jenks] still out there?"
My father reports these facts to my sister, who says something to the effect that Ortiz is going to hit a home run here...and of course, he does. It was pretty much preordained after those numbers, though.
My father: "Your sister wants you to know that she called that."

As it turns out, all of Ortiz's career-high six RBI were necessary - Curt Schilling came on in the ninth and did his usual cardiac closing job, giving up home runs to Tadihito Iguchi and Paul Konerko, prompting discussions about how save opportunities are generated, before finishing things out. By the second home run, my sister was loudly calling for Schilling's head, but I have a theory on why his closing situations are generally so fraught with tension: every time he comes in with a decent sized lead to protect, he takes the opportunity to experiment with some of his less used pitches; pitches he'll need to start, but which aren't necessarily as appropriate for a closing situation, like the splitter. I'm not entirely sure of the logic of why certain pitches don't work well for a closing situation - I guess you want as much heat as possible to overwhelm the hitter instead of giving them more finesse pitches you could make a mistake on. You need those finesse pitches as a starter because you can't throw just fastballs for seven innings without your arm falling off. Every time Schilling makes a mistake on one of those finesse pitches he's working on, the ball ends up somewhere it shouldn't. Fortunately for Boston, he's only made mistakes bad enough to lose games twice and both of those situations were about a month ago.

After the game, the Ortizzle, decked out in a Manny Being Manny shirt and a white hat with a Puerto Rican flag on it, explained to reporters just why his average against lefties has improved so much this year: he worked on fixing his problems with lefties in the off season with the help of three friends. In so many ways, he's SO Papi.

On Saturday, the BoSox continued to make White Sox starting pitching look foolish, hitting AL win leader Jon Garland hard - 5 runs on 9 hits in 5 and 1/3rd innings, including Roberto Petagine's first home run since 1998. The RBI-guy now has eight and is batting .333 since joining Boston. The Stopper, meanwhile, picked up win number 12 with his fourth quality start in a row, going 7 and 2/3rds with 2 runs on 7 hits and 5 strike outs. Gonzo and Schilling both had good relief appearances, while Mike Remlinger continues to struggle, giving up a walk, a double and a hit. He had yet to record an out in a Red Sox uniform and I heard a rumor from Robin this morning that he'll be the next to feel the axe in favor of Jon Papelbon, who will make Tuesday's start against Detroit, despite his recent training in Pawtucket as a reliever. Who knows, but Remlinger certainly proving himself less than helpful to Boston's staff.

As Tony G. continues to put up obscenely good numbers - he's batting .314 on the season and went 9 for 16 over past seven days with 8 RBI and 7 runs - and Mark Bellhorn continues to struggle in AAA, the current rumor has it that the Sox will release Bellhorn, re-claim him off waivers, option him to Pawtucket, then call him back up to be a part of the extended post-season roster. It's a clever way to be loyal and effective at the same time, if extremely odd.

Boston goes off on a three city road trip with its thirteen game home win streak, the longest since Boston won 24 games straight at home in 1988, intact; the BoSox have the best home record in the majors. Boston plays the first of three against Detroit tonight at 7:05, Guns and Corn versus Sean Douglass, looking to maintain or expand the 4.5 game lead in the AL East. GO SOX!!!

tags: baseball | red sox | curt schilling | roberto petagine | matt clement | mike remlinger | tim wakefield | jon papelbon | david ortiz

Game 113: Bad Odds For The Gambler

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 16, Texas Rangers 5

"And now after all this pumpitude, after an absolute piledriver of a game, we get... an off day. I guess they deserve a bit of rest. They're only human. Except, of course, for Mike Timlin, who we all know is a fully functional werewolf who, after the games, slips off his human costume and goes back to haunting the hills and back alleys of Chelsea."
- Surviving Grady

"People are just plain stupid, man. They've been walking me to pitch to [Manny]. Hang with it.''
- David Ortiz on Manny's monster RBI total

Booya.

It took four innings, but the Sox broke open the game on Kenny Rogers, thanks mainly to Manny's three run blast. Guns and Corn was on fire (seven and 1/3rd innings, seven hits, four runs, four strike outs, one walk), running into real trouble only in the eighth after he gave up back to back doubles for the second time in the game and hit Teixeira. The Boston starter also made the return to the cornrows of years past, causing my girlfriend to wonder if he thought that hairstyle looked attractive. I have a feeling it might have more to do with superstition (where's the stat on pitching with a certain haircut?) than anything else. Apparently August 10th is a good day for Arroyo to pitch: a perfect game for Pawtucket in 2003 and his fifth win of the season against Tampa Bay in 2004 to go with yesterday's victory.

The bullpen had a meltdown for the second night in a row, with Myers being mainly responsible for a four run Rangers eighth, but Texas was unable to tie things up this time around and the Sox more than made up for the difference with an offensive explosion in their half of the ninth, getting nine runs off of a combination of Karsay, Shouse, Gryboski and some defensive miscues by the Rangers. Manny Delcarmen came on to finish the night, giving up a single and striking out two. Full game recap at The Joy of Sox. Johnny Damon's hit streak is now at fourteen games and Tony Graffanino (I LIKE him) continued his hot hitting after returning to the lineup last night. going two for five with two runs and three RBI. Manny continues to be Manny; he's now on pace to knock in more runs than any Red Sox in the past 56 years.

In today's atrocious piece of umpiring, Gabe Kapler managed to hit a home run that hit off the top of the wall, but still had it called as inside the park. Trot Nixon was so incensed by the rediculous call (it was very, very obviously off the top of the wall and thus out of the park, the Sox were down one to nothing at the time and the umpires chose not to reverse their decision) that he did what every Sox fan wanted to do, but couldn't: he walked up and down the length of the dugout, taunting third base umpire Derryl Cousins (who made the call) until first base umpire Bill Miller ejected him. About as good revenge as you're going to get, really - the guy who can't play takes all the licks. Not that I don't doubt for a second that he'd be doing the exact same thing if he was healthy and in the lineup...but that's how we like 'em in Boston. Half-crazy.

Keith Foulke had his second throwing session off the mound yesterday, going 35 pitches in the latest part of his rehab. The closer said he was much happier with today's session than the one he had on Monday:

"After my bullpen [session] on Monday, I wasn't real happy. I wasn't real happy with how I felt or how I threw, but today I go out there and pretty much from my first pitch off the mound, I had a little crispness on the ball. Breaking balls were good, and I'm starting to mess with the forkball again. And I'm happy."

Foulke, who was originally against the idea of doing a minor-league rehab assignment, says he's now open to the idea. Foulke was originally scheduled to do another session off the mound tomorrow, but will do a flat-ground session instead and do another mound session on Saturday. The implication is that he's stretching himself a bit too much, but if he's going to do back to back sessions, maybe he's regaining strength quicker than expected. There is still no timetable on his return - nor should there be; Schilling's doing just fine as the closer (two wins and six saves since July 26) and it looks like Wade Miller's stint on the DL may not last longer than the required fifteen days, fixing the starter issue with minimal need for outside coverage. It's starting to look like a rested Miller, a rejuvanted Schilling as starter and, God willing, an effective Keith Foulke will all be back in action by September as the Sox, now 5.5 games up on first place, prepare for the final stretch drive.

Off day today; tomorrow night The Golden Buddha faces off against Mark Buerhle in the White Sox only regular season trip to Fenway this year. GO SOX!!!

tags: baseball | red sox | manny delcarmen | manny ramirez | johnny damon | tony graffanino | kenny rogers | wade miller | bronson arroyo | curt schilling | keith foulke | trot nixon

Game 112: Survivor

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 8, Texas Rangers 7

"I don't think Bottalico sounds like the name of a cheap cologne...I think it sounds like the name of a dive bar. Like the sort of place you'd wear Remlinger to."
- Alan

When I got back from seeing The Dukes of Hazzard last night (seen without any expectations, it wasn't half bad), the score was seven to two in the seventh. Matt Clement had pitched a masterful six innings, giving up two runs on six hits, walking two and striking out six, limiting the dangerous Texas lineup to a mere whimper of offense. He came out in the sixth only because a ground ball struck him in the back of the leg and although he struck out Barajas to end the inning, Boston decided not to take any chances. New Red Sox acquisition Mike Remlinger was coming on to make his first outing in a Boston uniform. Meanwhile, the Sox hitters were on the ball, with RBI-man Petagine picking up two more to start out a five run fifth, Johnny Damon extending his hit streak to thirteen games (he's also gone an incredible fifty games with a hit or a run), Manny being Manny (two hits and an RBI) and Bill Mueller's second home run in twenty at-bats. 'Well,' I thought, 'I'll turn this on, but it should be a pushover - no way Texas mounts enough of a come back to make this one interesting.'

Foolish me.

As Robin has put it several times this season, the 2005 Red Sox are the team where no lead is safe and vice-versa.* Remlinger went on to give up four runs (two earned) on two hits and a walk, without getting an out. A controversial call, one of many this series,** left Remlinger with the bases loaded, just as a fan was taking a daredevil plunge fifty feet out of the Upper Deck in Yankees Stadium into the backstop net (unrelated yes, but odd timing all the same): on a double play ball to third with the overshift on, Mueller tossed to Renteria, who dropped the ball on the transfer. The umpire disagreed, saying Renteria had some how held the ball but missed it entirely, giving Renteria his second error of the day. Bradford and Myers went on to get Boston out of the dreadful inning, but only after Bradford had blown the save with two more hits.

The Sox couldn't get anybody past first base in the next two innings - once because the first base umpire called Kapler out at first even though Teixeira was pretty clearly off the bag in the replay, prompting Francona's second explosion of the night - but Timlin and Schilling picked up the slack, cruising through the eighth, ninth and tenth with a combined one hit and three strike outs.*** In the tenth, Texas reliever Kevin Gryboski, who was about all Buck Showalter had left to throw at Boston besides closer Francisco Cordero, gave up a single to left to Bill Mueller. Alex Cora followed up with a beautiful sacrifice bunt that dribbled right in front of the batters box, putting Mueller in scoring position. After Gryboski fell behind Damon two and zero, Texas chose to intentionally walk the centerfielder. Up came Renteria, looking for vengeance and a chance to make up for those costly errors. After working a three and two count, Renteria smacked a double past third baseman Hank Blaylock (who's hit, ironically enough, was the source of Renteria's last error), scoring Mueller and winning the game. And it was good.

After Kevin Millar made a comparison between himself and Tom Brady - not a lot of runs/points, but full of intagibles - Theo Epstein made a poster-sized blowup of the Globe article and put it, along with Brady's full uniform, in Millar's locker. Millar chose to wear it, along with a "Theo" head band, to batting practice. The Idiots live on.

Turns out neither Mini Manny nor Gonzo is Pawtucket-bound just yet - instead, the Sox put Wade Miller on the fifteen day DL with reaccuring shoulder stiffness, using his roster spot to pick up Remlinger. Because the Sox, with the day off, don't have to worry about having a fifth starter until next Tuesday against Detroit, the Front Office hasn't announced who will fill Miller's spot, but Tito made it clear last yesterday that it won't be Schilling. My guess is that Gonzo might be heading back into the rotation for a game or two - he's already started for the Sox once this year (back in the West Coast trip against Oakland) and he's on the active roster, so no moves would have to be made. The other two options, Abe Alvarez and Jon Papelbon, both have their own problems: Alvarez still hasn't proven himself majors-quality material and Papelbon is back in Pawtucket learning how to be a reliever. Going back to my thoughts on fifth starters yesterday, I'd say Gonzo's got the goods - he's proven he can pitch innings in long relief, even though he's not the most intimidating presence on the mound.

Tony Graffanino hurt his pinkie sliding into home during Monday's game. He was listed as day-to-day and was out of the lineup last night; I have a feeling he'll be back tonight.

The Sox traded Jose Cruz, Jr. to Los Angeles (the real Los Angeles team, not Anaheim) for a player to be named later.

Sox go for another sweep tonight, Guns and Corn versus that asshat The Gambler. With any luck, the boos should distract him even more than the Red Sox bats teeing off on his cameraman-tossing ass and the terrible streak of Sox errors will end. GO SOX!!!

* - Yes, no safe is lead. Apparently one of my close friends is Yoda in disguise.
** - The umpiring in this series has been so bad that NESN did a quick recap of the bad calls made to both sides...and then went on to examine every bad call made the rest of the night. It was pretty terrible. I really hope that someone sits the whole umpiring crew down after this series and points out every single mistake they made.
*** - One of those outs was a trademark Manny over-the-shoulder catch, the kind that makes your heart stop momentarily. There's nothing funnier than hearing D.O.'s reaction to those catches - they ALWAYS catch him by surprise.

tags: baseball | red sox | manny delcarmen | mike remlinger | manny ramirez | roberto petagine | matt clement | johnny damon | tony graffanino | kenny rogers | kevin millar | wade miller

Frickin' WEAK

A bit off topic, but ESPN announced that an arbiter had Kenny Rogers reinstated after serving thirteen of his twenty game suspension and that his $50,000 fine will be converted into a charitable contribution. The arbiter, Shyam Das, made the decision in Chicago after a hearing on Monday. Not surprisingly, the players union head, Donald Fehr, was happy about the decision, calling the original ruling "out of line." Also not surprisingly, Commissioner Bud Selig said he was upset by the decision, saying:

I strongly disagree with arbitrator Das' decision today. It sends the wrong message to every one of our constituents: the fans, the media, and our players." "There is a standard of behavior that is expected of our players, which was breached in this case. The arbitrator's decision diminishes that standard and is contrary to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. In my opinion, the decision is seriously ill-conceived.

Personally, I think the Commissioner is right, even if he's too weak to enforce his will. What Rogers did is wrong, period. Physical violence is not supposed to be a part of this game any more than gambling or steroids and Rogers went much farther than bumping an umpire or getting into a fight with another player in a brawl: he attacked a cameraman, who did nothing to provoke the assault...and now he's getting out without serving punishment. Rogers will be pitching tomorrow night versus Arroyo; I hope the fans boo him every time he comes out on the field - I certainly would.

baseball | kenny rogers

Bottalico Update

The Boston Globe has confirmed the Bottalico deal is go - Ricky's been assigned to Pawtucket. Robin's take:

"REMLINGER and BOTTALICO sound like cheap cologne names: 'Ooh, you smell like a musty garage! Is that REMLINGER?' 'No, no my friend... it's BOTTALICO.'"

If nothing else, our newest two relievers go well with the bullpen nicknames:

• Manny "Mini Manny" Delcarmen
• Chad "Hanging Chad" Bradford
• Mike "I Shot Him Six Times" Myers
• Mike "No Inheritance...Please" Timlin
• Jeremi "Gonzo" Gonzalez

High comedy, all of it. A more serious question: are the Sox going back to twelve pitchers? I doubt it - they just ditched an outfielder yesterday and they're still technically down a player with the Kapler/Stern/Millar combo taking up the slack. Is Mini Manny AAA-bound after all?

baseball | red sox | manny delcarmen | ricky bottalico | mike remlinger

Game 111: Tony G.

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 11, Texas Rangers 6

Ladies and gentlement, let me introduce to you Boston's newest sensation: Tony Graffanino. He can play defense (no errors since he joined the Sox), he can hit (.306 AVG, climbing from .298 when the Sox acquired him), he doesn't strike out (only twelve Ks since joining the Sox on July 20) and he's making a big bid to be Boston's second baseman for the rest of the season, if not beyond. Last night, he was one of the parts of the lineup, going three for three with three runs and four RBI, scoring from second on an infield single, scoring from third on a close pass ball and hitting a big three run home run in the fifth that made the difference in the game. Oh and lest I forget, Texas walked him intentionally. Yeah, I'd say he's doing pretty well.

When playing for a manager like Tito, known for his loyalty to his players, Graffanino's enormous efforts to win the job may be the thing that makes the difference. It hasn't hurt that Bellhorn hasn't had much luck recovering his swing in Pawtucket, although I have a feeling the Sox will still give Mark a chance when he comes off the DL.

The Man cranks the homer that made the difference

The rest of the offense wasn't quiet either: Ortiz hit home run number twenty-six in the first, helping to limit Texas starter Rodriguez to 2/3rds of an inning, the Sox took advantage of six walks and did some clever base running (for once) to score runs. Roberto Petagine went two for three with an RBI and Johnny Damon extended his hit streak to eleven games. Manny Ramirez hit so well last week that the MLB named him player of the week for the third time this year. Nothing like a little trade-deadline stress to get you going.

Meanwhile, Wade Miller had another poor outing - 104 pitches in four and a 1/3rd innings, surrendering five runs (four earned - Petagine committed the Sox' ninth error in the past five games. Eight runs have scored off of those nine runs) and admitted afterwards he felt tightness in his shoulder that may have interfered with his control, especially in the first inning, when the Rangers scored three runs on fifty pitches. Miller did go on to add that the tightness is nothing serious, or he wouldn't be out there pitching. For a fifth starter, he's ok - his main problem is that he doesn't get enough innings. He does get an average of 6.7 runs per game in run support in the games where he pitches (which has saved him from a loss decision more than a few times), but 2005 is clearly not Miller's year for strong pitching.

My friend Micah and I had a discussion last year about the value of the fifth starter. We didn't research it heavily, but came to the quick conclusion that all a team needs to do well on the pitching side is to have a dominating first and second starter. If starter number three is particularly good, it's a bonus - numbers four and five just need to eat innings. Match that with a powerful offense and you should have enough to get you to the playoffs. If your first three guys can pitch well on short rest, you can power your way to the championship. For the 2005 Sox, then, having Miller as the fifth starter is a bit problematic: he's got the run support, but he can't pitch the innings. Miller's personal record may be four and four, but the Sox have a (slim) winning record when he's on the mound: nine and seven. Most of those losses came in a month long stretch between June and July when the Sox lost four in a row with Miller pitching - since then they've won his last three outings and their run support went up a run. If we're looking at the equivalent of a 2005 Wade Miller hot streak, I'll take it - especially if Boston keeps winning with him on the mound.

After Miller came out in the fifth, Gonzo came on and did surprisingly well, getting an inning-ending double play to kill a Rangers' rally and going on to pitch an additional scoreless two innings with two hits and a strike out. Timlin and Bradford come out to finish the final two innings, Timlin giving up a rare run on a baserunner of his own creation.

Off the base paths, there was a flurry of activity as well - almost as if the trade deadline had never happened: Bill Mueller came out of the lineup after suffering back spasms during batting practice. Although the Sox list Mueller as day to day, Francona decided he didn't want to replay the throwing antics of the last series. Accordingly, the Sox called Kevin Youkilis back up from Pawtucket, leading to this amusing mental picture:

As for Youkilis, he had completed batting practice with Pawtucket upon being informed of his promotion. Driving in his uniform, Youkilis left Pawtucket at roughly 5:40 p.m. and arrived at Fenway at 6:30 p.m., fearing he'd be late when he hit traffic after exiting the Mass Pike in Copley Square. Among those blocking Youkilis' path? The duck boats.

To make room for Youkilis, the Sox DFA'ed Jose Cruz, Jr., trusting in the combination of Millar, the Hebrew Hammer and Adam Stern to fill the offensive and defense hole left by Trot Nixon's injury. Cruz was three for twelve with no RBI in his time in Boston.

Also on the trade docket: Boston picked up Mike Remlinger, DFA'ed by the Cubs on August 5, trading minor-league pitcher Olivo Astacio in exchange. Although he's a lefty, Remlinger has had much more success against right-handed hitters in the past two years, which is fine...except RedSox.com is touting him as an Alan Embree successor. Embree, when he was good, was an effective pitcher from both sides (with nearly similar stats, especially opposing batting averages, in 2004), while Remlinger sounds like a left-handed version of Chad Bradford. ESPN does mention in their announcement that Remlinger was "one of the more reliable and durable lefty setup men in recent years," but that doesn't account for the discrepancies in OBA. However, there's a rumor going around that the Sox also picked up Ricky Bottalico from the Brewers, who DFA'ed him on July 28, a righty who, surprise, surprise, has Embree-in-2004 style stats over the past three years, although he has a bigger discrepancy between the number of lefties and righties faced than Embree did. Allen at Joy of Sox pegs Bottalico and Remlinger to replace Delcarmen (to Pawtucket) and Gonzo (DFA) in the bullpen, which would make Bottalico the long reliever and Remlinger the setup man. I'd like to see some confirmation of the rumor one way or another, but it would be a shame to lose Little Manny.

Keith Foulke and Trot Nixon both worked out yesterday, Tony Massaroti describing Foulke's workout as "uneventful." Nixon is still working off a tee and does not have a timetable for his return, but feels much better overall. John Olerud's hamstrings are also feeling much better, but there's no word on when he'll be back or what will happen to Petagine when Olerud returns.

Game two tonight: Honest Abe versus Joaquin Benoit (another converted reliever) at 7:05. GO SOX!!!

baseball | red sox | manny ramirez | roberto petagine | keith foulke | manny delcarmen | matt clement | johnny damon | tony graffanino

Games 108-110: Mistakes Were Made

Final Scores:

Game 108: Boston Red Sox 0, Minnesota Twins 12
Game 109: Boston Red Sox 3, Minnesota Twins 4
Game 110: Boston Red Sox 11, Minnesota Twins 7

"Take the win and get the hell out of here. This place, I hate coming to this place. Balls bouncing everywhere. We were probably to blame. We needed a win today. We got the win. Let's go home."
- Terry Francona on the Metrodome, 8/8/05

I'm not sure if it was the Metrodome, some twisted desire to keep the AL East race as close as possible or an enormous mental collapse, but almost everyone in the Red Sox infield (Arroyo included) forgot how to throw properly this weekend.

Friday:

A first inning miscue by Johnny Damon (who still hates the roof, apparently) led to Lew Ford ending up on third base with what was scored a triple. Then, four batters later, Kevin Millar found himself in possession of the ball after an infield grounder by Jacque Jones...with no one covering first base. With the bases now loaded, Arroyo went on to compound the problem by catching Justin Morneau's chopped ground ball and throwing a sinker to second base (instead of trying to get the runner at home) - Renteria couldn't handle the throw and the ball skipped into left field, allowing three runs to score. By the time the Sox escaped, it was four to nothing Twins and Arroyo had thrown 40 pitches. He lasted until the fourth, when a throwing error by Bill Mueller led to three more runs.

Meanwhile, Brad Radke was pretty much unhittable, helped in large part by centerfielder Lew Ford, who seemed to be channelling the spirit of the injured Torii Hunter - he robbed Kevin Millar of his first home run in forever with a leaping catch, made some other difficult catches and generally had an excellent night. By the sixth, Tito went into his "we're not going to win" mode and brought in the scrubs. I couldn't find come from behind wins stats, but I'm wondering how effective Tito's long view strategy is versus that of say, Joe Torre (I know the Yankees had a lot of come from behind wins last year), who seems to leave everyone in on the off chance they'll stage a comeback. More of a query than a criticism, though.

Saturday:

The Golden Buddha was practically flawless through five innings, then gave up five straight singles in the sixth before Tito pulled him. I'm with Allen of Joy of Sox on this one: this slow hook thing has to go. The Sox, who were up three to nothing on Santana, suddenly found themselves in a three to three tie until the bottom of the ninth, when two straight throwing errors - one by Bill Mueller, who wasn't able to plant his feet properly and the other by Timlin, who threw a sinker to second base (seeing a pattern here?) - cost the Sox the game.

Sunday:

Retribution time. The Sox came out of the gate with all guns blazing (how's that for mixing metaphors?) and scored five runs on six hits in the first, three runs in the fifth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth, including a Gabe Kapler solo shot and a Manny two-run blast (part of a four for four day). The Manny home run had the special distinction of being a called shot - the previous pitch by J.C. Romero, the guy we're glad we didn't trade for, almost hit Ramirez. I turned to Robin and said, "you know what happens when Manny almost gets hit by a pitch, right?" Man-Ram now dominates both leagues with 103 RBI - eleven more than Texas' Mark Teixeira and thirteen more than Milwaukee's Carlos Lee. Even Petagine, who had been hitless through yesterday, knocked in three runs with a bases-clearing double...although he was then thrown out trying to take third by about six feet. Would have been more important if the Sox lost - for now, the important thing is the hit.

All those runs were necessary, though, because even though Tim Wakefield lived up to his Stopper nickname and pitched a fantastic eight inning game (including a career high eleven strike outs), there were two big rough patches: in the third, the Twins managed to put together a three run rally and in ninth, Manny Delcarmen got two outs then fell apart, issuing two walks and three singles to load the bases. Schilling came on to close the game out (and get his ninth save), getting Jacque Jones to strike out after walking in a run. Little Manny lost his perfect ERA in the process, but it was that sort of weekend.

Francona gave Bill Mueller the day off yesterday, opting, for whatever reason, to play Alex Cora in his place. Alex Cora, who's never played a game at third, but has played plenty at second...while Tony Graffanino, conveniently playing second base, has put in plenty of time at the hot corner. Cora, of course, was not up to the task, committing two throwing errors on fairly routine plays. In what world does not switching these two guys this situation not make sense? It's not like Graf is going to hit any better or worse by playing third base and if it did, it might help Cora to play second, because he was the only Red Sox to not get a hit. Maybe it was just the weekend.

Keith Foulke throws off the mound for the first time today. If it goes well, additional sessions will follow on Wednesday and Friday and then Foulke will start throwing to hitters. There's some contention about whether or not Foulke will make a minor-league rehab start; Foulke says he doesn't want to, Francona says he will if the club tells him to. Foulke should be back in about two weeks if all goes according to plan and even then, it remains to be seen if he can get people out like he did last year. It's odd to think that the rest of the season may very well hinge on the effectiveness of Foulke's rehab: if he can close, Schilling will go back to the rotation, Arroyo will shore up the bullpen and the Sox can go into the post-season with a decent rotation. If not, Boston will either have to go with what it has now, or try to dig up another effective starter. Even if Foulke comes back strong, a lot depends on David Wells' effectiveness when the weather gets cold again - I've heard a few people blame his early season problems on stiffness in his back brought on by the cold and he's supposed to take the place of Derrek Lowe or Pedro Martinez in this year's version of the post-season rotation.

I had idly wondered since the All-Star Game how many players were in the MLB today, after ESPN mentioned that 91 of those players came from the Dominican Republic alone - I was curious as to whether or 91 was as large a number as it seemed, especially for such a small area of the world. Thanks to Gordon Edes, I know: it's about 750, with Dominicans making up a decent twelve percent of the total. Add in an additional 100 or so players from other Latin American countries and that many of the games biggest stars hail from Latin American countries and it becomes even more obvious what an idiot Larry Krueger is.

Sox are back home tonight to start a three game set against Texas - Wade Miller versus Ricardo Rodriguez. Let's hope they keep the channeled spirit of R. Lee Ermey in mind and start throwing the ball at the professional level again. GO SOX!!!

baseball | red sox | manny ramirez | roberto petagine | curt schilling | keith foulke | tim wakefield | kevin millar | terry francona | manny delcarmen

Game 107: Eight Is Great

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 11, Kansas City Royals 9

It's not often we go 8 segments before mentioning the opposing team's starter, but that's what happens when the Kansas City Royals are in town! - Tom Caron

I dont know [D.J. Carrasco]. His numbers are ok, I guess...but he doesnt strike people out...but I guess is stuff is pretty good or he wouldn't be in the big leagues. - Dennis Eckersley

The Cap'n, Post-Grand Salami Numero Uno

Eight is great for the offense, anyway. On the day of a rough outting for Matt Clement (five innings, six runs, five hits, four walks, five strikeouts on 103 pitches), Boston's bats not only recovered from a four run deficit, but overcame it handily to over come the Royals for the third time in a row, the first time Boston has swept six games at home since 1988. The majority of the runs came in an eight run outburst in the fourth with two outs, when two errors by the second baseman Gotay, five walks (one intentional) by two pitchers, a double by Edgar Renteria and Jason Varitek's first career grand slam put the Sox on top nine to five. KC starter Carrasco lasted three and 2/3rds innings, giving up five runs on one hit with seven walks. As my boss put it, the Sox pulled off some Yankee-style wins (good hitting, poor pitching) over the past two games, which is bad itself, but hopefully just a product of two pitchers coming off of minor injuries and not a symptom of failings in the pitching staff.

Although Renteria felt well enough to play last night (well enough to go three for four with two doubles and four RBI), Manny Ramirez was scratched with eye inflammation. He will be in tonight's game, batting in his usual spot. In Manny's place, Roberto Petagine batted fourth, leading to three David Ortiz walks (including the intentional one in the fourth) and went zero for three with a walk. Petagine hit the ball very hard, but had a lot of first pitch swings - presumably the result of nervousness. I have a feeling Tito will give him a few more chances to settle down before figuring out what to do with the platoon of Millar, Olerud (who's traveling with the team) and Petagine.

Sox start a three game set against Minnesota tonight at 7:05, Guns and Corn versus Brad Radke. GO SOX!!!

baseball | red sox | manny ramirez | roberto petagine | matt clement | edgar renteria | jason varitek

Game 106: Lucky Number Seven

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 8, Kansas City Royals 5

"Watching the Royals is kinda like watching a Little League game. I swear, we could give them 7 runs, make it 0-7 KC and we could get it back...well, maybe not always but we could make it close and would still only get 5 RBI due to runs scored off of errors."
- Robin

So Wade Miller's got a posse, in the form of the Red Sox offense. Miller didn't have the greatest return after his ten days between starts, giving up five runs on six hits (including two home runs), handing out three walks and striking out five in six innings with 105 pitches. After Miller had a 1-2-3 inning in the first, the Sox roared in against Kyle Snyder, quickly getting Johnny Damon into scoring position. When Big Papi smacked a single to mid-center, the Moron sent Damon around to score...where he was easily cut down. Manny mananged to assuage the bitterness with the next pitch, though, smashing a three run dinger into the Monster Seats by Pudge's Pole. The three RBI upped Manny's season total to 100; he's hit eight in the past three days. In the top of the next inning, Manny pulled the second half of his Manny Being Manny for the evening - with two outs, Ruben Gotay hit a bloop to shallow left field. Manny and Renteria converged on the ball as it fell and Manny either neglected to call Renteria off, or wasn't loud enough, because the two collided, spinning off each other and falling to the ground to lie motionless for several moments, as the hearts of all of Red Sox Nation stopped completely. Fortunately, not only did Manny manage to catch and hold on to the ball for the final out, but both players left the field under their own power, Manny with a grin on his face. Manny left the game with a bloody nose and will not be in today's lineup; Renteria stayed in until the seventh, then left with a sore wrist and ribs, but will play today.

Although the Royals managed to pull ahead in the top of the fourth, Boston picked up two additional runs in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a double by Millar, a grounder by Mueller, a single by Graffanino (who continues to impress the way Bellhorn does not) to score Millar, a single by Jose Cruz, Jr. for his first hit as a Red Sox, a single by Johnny Damon to knock out the starter Snyder, then a sacrifice fly by Renteria to make it 6 - 4 Boston.

Boston picked up another run in the fifth with an example of the Little League style play by the Royals: Varitek singled to extend his hit streak to 10 games, stole second unopposed, went to third when shortstop Angel Berroa bobbled a ground ball from Graffanino, then scored on a pass ball.

Meanwhile, after Miller finished for the day, Myers, Bradford, Timlin and Schilling combined for three innings of perfect relief, Schilling picking up his sixth save in the process. With the Globe reporting that Keith Foulke will throw off the mound on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to determine if he needs a rehabilitation start (expected return date in mid-August), it looks like Schilling will return to the starting rotation by the 15th or so. Schilling threw mostly fastballs last night, in an effort to build up his velocity and arm strength.

The Red Sox put John Olerud on the 15 day DL to heal up his twinged hamstring and called up Roberto Petagine to fill his spot...bloggers rejoice. Unfortunately, Olerud was starting to heat up again at the time of his injury. Petagine, who's having a very strong season in Pawtucket (.327 with 20 homers and 69 RBIs in 74 games) came up to fill the roster slot. He'll be batting cleanup today. Petagine was a guy who the Sox tried out a good deal in Spring Training until he hurt his knee and Remy just described him in the pregame show as looking like a good long swinger at the plate, so I'm excited to see him play. Theo's really running out the stops on the farm system, which makes for an interesting team composition for the stretch run - 11 out of the 25 players on the 25-man roster didn't start the year with the Red Sox and more than a 1/3rd of today's lineup came onto the team during the season. Yes, it's Moneyball writ-large, but the exciting part for me is seeing all of these minor leaguers I've heard about over the year come up and prove themselves in the big time.

This blog post on Fire Joe Morgan (and the article it talks about) are hillarious. Especially since Jay Mohr seems to be entirely serious. I think the worst part about it is that Mohr basically admits he's not a Yankees fan...he's a fan of whoever's winning. Nice loyalty there, Jay.

Matt Clement makes his return, nine days after getting hit in the head, against D.J. Carrasco today at 1:05. Either Clement's crazy, or he's got brass balls the size of the Zakim Bridge. Either way, he's out there to prove that a.) he's recovered sufficiently from the injury to avoid the DL/missing any more starts and b.) he's going to pull out of his post-All-Star Game tailspin and avoid a repeat of last year's numbers. Carrasco's a new guy, so the Sox offense needs to avoid the bafflement of the unknown that they've suffered this year. GO SOX!!!

baseball | red sox | manny ramirez | curt schilling | john olerud | roberto petagine | wade miller | keith foulke

Game 105: Manny Being Manny

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 6, Kansas City Royals 4

Most definately the picture of the day:

Manny Ramirez tells the press just what he thinks of them

Manny had the above sign out of the left field wall before the start of the game, then retrieved it in the top of the ninth to give to a fan. Several Red Sox players, including Kevin Millar, made the sign up before the game. I think if anyone needed a sign of how much, when all is said and done, Manny's teamates are behind him, this sign proves it. Of course, something like this situation might prove it too.

Manny, who made his first start last night since the end of Mannygate, went two for four with four RBI, including a three run home run. Tim Wakefield had a rough start, giving up home runs to Matt Stairs and former Sox prospect Chip Ambres (yes, the guy we traded for Tony Graffanino) but went on to pitch four scoreless innings and set down fifteen of his last sixteen batters, getting thirteen in a row and his 10th win on his 39th birthday.

Can you say back for the playoffs? The Red Sox not only optioned Jon Papelbon to Pawtucket to make room for Jose Cruz, Jr., they also assigned him a new role: get ready to pitch in the bullpen. Papelbon, who was a closer at Mississippi State, will be gearing up to take the place of the reliever the Sox did not acquire before the trading deadline. Assuming he does well in Pawtucket, Papelbon will become the second rookie reliever in the Sox bullpen in time for the playoffs, if not the end of the stretch drive. There's also the interesting implication that the conversion is taking place because the Sox need Papelbon, but don't want to overpitch a young arm that's still in development. In the meantime, the Sox are back down to the more sensible elevens pitchers and with Papelbon's return to Pawtucket, it seems that Wade Miller does not have anything permanent wrong with him.

Keith Foulke continues his rehab process, as Curt Schilling made his sixth save last night under another set of charmed circumstances. Foulke apparently feels that he needs to prove himself ready as a closer to Terry Francona, which is probably just as well - not that I think Curt will be closing as soon as Foulke is ready to go, but it's good to know that Keith knows the closer spot isn't a guarenteed item. Foulke has no time table on when he's coming back.

Wade Miller makes his start tonight against Kyle Snyder, who started the year as a reliever and is now 0 and 2 with 8.59 ERA in two starts. GO SOX!!!

baseball | red sox | manny ramirez | jon papelbon | tim wakefield | kevin millar | terry francona | keith foulke

Games 102 - 104: Cruisin'

Final Score:

Game 102: Boston Red Sox 8, Minnesota Twins 5
Game 103: Boston Red Sox 6, Minnesota Twins 2
Game 104: Boston Red Sox 4, Minnesota Twins 3

And all of the sudden we've won five in a row, with our first sweep since taking three from the Phillies June 24 - 26. The furor and uncertainty of the trade deadline ended on Sunday with no deals made by the Red Sox except for picking up Jose Cruz, Jr. from Arizona for two minor leaguers, a result made conspicuous because last year's mid-year trade was so big. As Theo put it, though, you don't buy $5 milk for $100. Or something like that. Suffice it to say, no J.C. Romero, no A.J. Burnett, no Mike Cameron, no Aubrey Huff and (thank all that's holy) no Manny in a Mets uniform. The Sox will be making due with what they can grow on their own, including Jon Papelbon, who made an excellent major league debut on Sunday, giving up two runs on four hits in five and 1/3rd innings, striking out seven and walking five and Manny Delcarmen, who continues to impress - a walk and two strikeouts over an inning and 1/3rd.

Mannygate is gone: the slugger was booed on Friday, given the day off by Tito on Saturday to "clear his head" (with Jon Olerud, who hit a grand slam the night before to put the game firmly in Boston's corner, stepping up again by knocking in an additional three runs) and insisted he did not want to be traded in an impromptu press conference before Sunday's game, before coming in to a standing ovation and chants of "Manny! Manny!" in the eighth to drive in the game winning with a single over the pitcher's head into centerfield. It was big, it was beautiful, it was exactly what this team needed to start a real groove and solidify its hold over first place. Oh and Gabe Kapler's back and making wacky catches in right field. It's on, baby.

The Sox start a three game series against Kansas City today, but the team still needs to worry about the holes that were not filled by the trading deadline. The Herald has a good piece on the team's needs; the Sox also need to decide if they're going to stay with 12 pitchers or send someone in the bullpen back to Pawtucket. Part of the resolution depends on whether or not Wade Miller has something more than bicep tendinitis; if he does, then the only move may be to put Miller on the DL and put Papelbon in his spot. Hopefully that's not the case; Miller had his best start in a long time his last time out and it wouldn't help if he comes out now with shoulder trouble. Papelbon could also take Clement's spot if the 10 game winner doesn't recover fully from his shot to the head, although Clement feels well enough to pitch for tomorrow's start. According to Francona, he should be able to make his return on Thursday. Also, even though it's looking like Schilling is closer and closer to returning to the rotation and Keith Foulke should be back by mid-August, there are still questions about Foulke's effectiveness once he comes back. If the closer situation isn't dealt with through trades, I'm willing to bet it's because the Sox see something in Foulke's rehab that makes them think Keith will be back to form this year - without him, just like without a healthy Schilling, the team is in 2003-land all over again.

Wakefield versus Runelvys Hernandez tonight at 7:05. GO SOX!!!

baseball | red sox | matt clement | curt schilling | manny ramirez | jon papelbon | manny delcarmen | terry francona | theo epstein