THE NIGHT BEFORE: Who was that guy pitching for the Red Sox in the fourth inning last night, and what did he do with Daisuke Matsuzaka? Unlike last week's shutdown at the hands of Felix Hernandez, the Sox had their chances, but a combination of bad luck, plays not made, and a surprising fourth-inning meltdown by Matsuzaka -- made even more surprising by his absolute dominance in the other five innings he pitched -- doomed them. At least it was a record-setting night for Dice-K in one regard. (All stories from projo.com)
WELCOME BACK, LARRY: A few years back, I made a delightful discovery: The Replacement Level Yankees Weblog, the work of a very good writer named Larry Mahnken. He wrote entertainingly and insightfully on the Yankees, and the RLYW was a daily stop for me.
Over the course of the last few years, life interferred -- among other things, he lost most of his possessions in an apartment fire -- and Larry began writing less and less; the bulk of the blog work was being done by other people. I missed him, and found myself becoming a less frequent visitor.
So imagine my surprise -- and delight -- when the season began and Larry was back in the forefront of RLYW, on the new and improved Replacement Level Yankees Weblog.
He's able to put the Yankees in perspective better than anyone I know, including those in the mainstream media. He's a Yankee fan through and through, and it shows, but he's not a blind Yankee fan; he acknowledges their faults and pokes fun at the absurdity that can sometimes surround New York baseball. (I wish I did as well at the absurdity that can sometimes surround Boston baseball.) It's a wonderful place, a combination of the serious (like the bullpen counter in the left rail, which projects usage for Yankee relievers over the season), the funny (the second-by-second counter across the top listing how long it's been since the Yankees last won the World Series) and the absurd (a list of all the newspaper covers featuring A-Rod this year). It's a great place to visit, for Yankee fans and non-Yankee fans alike.
This isn't meant as a knock at anyone doing the work there while Larry was away; they did a fine job. But I missed Larry's voice, and what he brought to the site.
And I, for one, am glad he's back.
NEXT TARGET: 'YOU JUST CAN'T PITCH ANY BETTER THAN THAT': Tim Marchman gives the New York take on the baseball cliche "that's a good piece of hitting". (New York Sun) Locally, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis get credited with that quite often. Coco Crisp and Wily Mo Pena never do.
THE DOCTORS SAY, HE'LL BE OKAY: Vladimir Guerrero could be back in the lineup by Friday. (Los Angeles Daily News) Sure didn't look that way when he was being led off the field Monday.
HERE'S HOW IT'S DONE: The Tigers' Todd Jones, who's been writing his own stuff for years (first in newspapers, then online), has a primer for managers on how to handle closers. (sportingnews.com) It has local interest because a) it was the Dan Wheeler/Brad Lidge controversy in Houston that apparently moved him to comment on this issue, and b) I still can't my arms around the fact that Todd Jones, the guy banging around the back of the Red Sox bullpen in 2003 on what we all thought was his last legs, is not only still around but has saved 84 games since the beginning of the 2005 season. Stranger than fiction, I'm telling you.
YOU WANT IT, YOU GOT IT: Let me get this straight: The radio guy wantedCharlie Manuel to blow? (Philadelphia Inquirer)
YOU'RE MY IDOLS, DODGER FANS: I never thought I'd ever type his name, but the fact that Sanjaya got booed at Dodger Stadium makes me think there's hope for the republic yet. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
LET'S CALL THE PIZZA MAN! I added this to yesterday's post at about 11 a.m. yesterday, and you have to see it in case you missed it. And if you didn't click through to John Tomase's story yesterday, do it now. This is one we'll be talking about for a long, long time.
