Main page
« May 7, 2007
May 9, 2007 »

Greetings from north of the border

A relatively slow news day, following Monday's off-day.

Manager Terry Francona and performance enhancement coach Don Kalkstein traveled to the top of the CN Tower -- sort of the Canadian equivalent of the Empire State Building for tourists -- and Francona, no fan of heights, wasn't exactly enamored with the experience.

In his pre-game meeting with reporters, Francona spoke at length about Daisuke Matsuzaka's between-starts work and the effort being made to improve his performance with runners on base. Some mechanical flaws have been detected that the Sox hope can cut down on some of the big innings.

The lineups:
BOSTON
Lugo ss
Youkilis 1b
Ortiz dh
Ramirez lf
Drew rf
Lowell 3b
Varitek c
Crisp cf
Pedroia 2b

TORONTO
Alex Rios rf
Adam Lind lf
Vernon Wells cf
Frank Thomas dh
Troy Glaus 3b
Lyle Overbay 1b
Aaron Hill 2b
Jason Phillips c
Royce Clayton ss

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 4:41 PM | Permalink

Sox Streakers for May 8

From the Red Sox' official game notes:

Who's Hot
-Josh Beckett, six starts, six wins.
-Alex Cora, 15 for his last 33 (.455) with a double, three triples, two home runs, nine RBI and seven runs
-Coco Crisp, 15 for his last 45 (.333) with a double, two triples, five RBI, 12 runs, four stolen bases
-Dustin Pedroia, 6 for his last 9 with three doubles, two walks, two RBI and two runs
-Manny Ramirez, 11 for his last 25 (.440) with two doubles, three home runs, six RBI, two runs and two walks
-Kevin Youkilis, 16 for his last 47 (.340) with a double, a home run, five RBI, 10 runs and nine walks

Who's Not
-J.D. Drew, 4 for his last 36 (.111)
-Mike Lowell, 0 for his last 11
-Julio Lugo, 0 for his last 10 and 1 for his last 15

Red Sox vs. Victor Zambrano
-David Ortiz, 5 for 12 (.417), 2 HR
-Kevin Youkilis, 1 for 3 (.333)
-Eric Hinske, 6 for 23 (.261)
-Jason Varitek, 3 for 15 (.200), 1 HR
-Manny Ramirez, 4 for 26 (.154), 1 HR
-Mike Lowell, 1 for 12 (.083)
-Dustin Pedroia, 0 for 1
-Julio Lugo, 0 for 1
-Coco Crisp, 0 for 2

Blue Jays vs. Josh Beckett
-Vernon Wells, 7 for 15 (.467), 4 HR
-Alex Rios, 2 for 5 (.400)
-Aaron Hill, 4 for 11 (.364)
-Jason Phillips, 3 for 9 (.333)
-Royce Clayton, 1 for 4 (.250)
-Lyle Overbay, 3 for 14 (.214)
-Troy Glaus, 2 for 10 (.200), 2 HR
-Frank Thomas, 2 for 11 (.182)
-Matt Stairs, 1 for 6 (.167)

More Stuff
-Boston's six-game lead in the American League East is the largest of any division leader. It is also the franchise's largest-ever first-place lead after 30 games.
-The Red Sox' 13 for 14 in save opportunities this year makes for the best percentage (.929) in the majors.
-Boston has allowed four or fewer runs in 12 straight road games.
-The Blue Jays have won eight of their last 11 meetings with the Red Sox.
-Mike Lowell is 6 for 14 (.429) with two home runs this season against Toronto. He's a lifetime .375 hitter against the Jays, the highest batting average against Toronto of any active player with at least 100 at bats.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 3:39 PM to Projo Sox Streakers | Permalink

Projo SoxTalk: Sean McAdam on Beckett, the Blue Jays and the Yankees

Live from Toronto, Sean McAdam is the guest on today's edition of Projo SoxTalk. Click here to listen to the full audio file. Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments. Editor's Note: Tonight will be Josh Beckett's first appearance of 2007 against the Blue Jays.

On Beckett: "He has been much more consistent, and I think we're seeing a guy who's in the middle of sort of determining for himself the difference between being purely a thrower and a guy who is really learning how to pitch in his second year in the American League. And you can see some changes in his approach: not so reliant on his fastball, doesn't throw it up in the zone to challenge hitters when things get tough, mixes in his secondary pitches far better, relies more on Jason Varitek and trusts him more to call the game. So I think all those things are positive signs."

On the last-place Toronto Blue Jays: "I think they are looking at this homestand that starts tonight with three against the Red Sox as a pretty key series, or a pretty important stretch for them, even though it is only the second week in May. They have some ground to make up in the American League East already. They're seven and a half games in back of the Red Sox and should they get swept, they could be double figures behind the front-runner by the end of the week, and you certainly don't want to be in that situation on May 12."

On the Yankee bullpen, the day after Mariano Rivera's latest blown save: There aren't a lot of other reliable arms in there. In fact, Scott Proctor looks to be one of the few guys that Joe Torre can trust, and for the second year in a row he runs the risk of really running Proctor into the ground in the first couple of months in the season, because he doesn't have anyone else he can trust. So that may be one of the rude awakenings that Clemens discovers when he comes back late this month: that it is not Mike Stanton and (Jeff) Nelson and some of the guys that they had working as ace setup guys to get to a younger Mariano Rivera. Now it is an untested bullpen -- sort of patched together -- and an aging Mariano Rivera who is having difficulties.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:58 AM to Martone , McAdam | Permalink

Manny being . . . ?

Manny Ramirez' fondness for Julian Tavarez on Sunday was pretty apparent . . .

Best quote: Don Orsillo's "Make him stop!" Delivered in a fit of laughter, of course.

(The video was posted by Ian Bethune on http://randomthoughts.ianbethune.com. Thanks, Ian!)

Posted by Art Martone  at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Ortiz unsure if he's used steroids

While Curt Schilling might not agree, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz says in today's Boston Herald that fans should loudly cheer Barry Bonds when Bonds' Giants visit Fenway Park next month.

In a more surprising comment, Ortiz tells the Herald that he is not 100-percent confident that he has never used steroids -- but that if he has used them, it was when he was much younger.

“I tell you, I don’t know too much about steroids, but I started listening about steroids when they started to bring that ... up, and I started realizing and getting to know a little bit about it,” Ortiz said, according to the Herald's Michael Silverman. “You’ve got to be careful. ... I used to buy a protein shake in my country. I don’t do that anymore because they don’t have the approval for that here, so I know that, so I’m off of buying things at the GNC back in the Dominican (Republic). But it can happen anytime, it can happen. I don’t know. I don’t know if I drank something in my youth, not knowing it.”

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments 2

Schilling kind to Roger, blasts Bonds

Curt Schilling, a guest this morning on the Dennis and Callahan radio show (with Dale Arnold sitting in Gerry Callahan's chair), said that fans should not embrace Barry Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron's major league home run record. Click here to listen to the full audio from WEEI.

Schilling said Bonds had admitted cheating on his wife, his taxes and steroids. He said race had nothing to do with his opinions, saying he did not care if Bonds was black or green or purple or yellow -- a nod perhaps to a recent poll that showed vastly different opinions among blacks and whites toward Bonds.

Schilling was much kinder to Roger Clemens, whom he called the greatest pitcher of all time. He said that while the Red Sox' pitching staff would continue to do well without the 44-year-old right-hander, Clemens has always succeeded in the past and that fans predicting his failure in New York were off-base. He said he could see more and more aging pitchers coming back for partial seasons, as Clemens has done. When asked if he would be interested in doing so, Schilling said he has not thought much about it, but indicated that it would be a possibility.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 8:58 AM | Permalink

Baseball Today: Tuesday, May 8

There's got to be a morning after for those of us on Rocket overload . . .

COCO FOR THE DEFENSE: Talk about bad timing. Just before Roger Clemens brought the baseball world to a screeching halt, Bill James sent out an e-mail to a group of his friends pointing out that Coco Crisp "has been just unbelievable in center field". David Pinto was the first to note the e-mail publicly (baseballmusings.com), posting a chart of Crisp's putouts that demonstrate "he's catching balls close and far". In a subsequent post, David noted that Crisp has "caught nine balls (this season) that weren't caught last year"

Seth Mnookin shared more of the e-mail (sethmnookin.com), including a very interesting observation from James: "If Coco had been 11-for-20 with the bat over the last week, everybody would be talking about that. If he’d had a few good games as a reliever, like Okajima, everybody would be talking about that. But he’s just had this unbelievable streak in center field, and . . . nobody has noticed."

Hopefully, they'll start now.

RETURNING THE SERVE: Curt Schilling doesn't mention him by name, but he's obviously answering Dan Shaughnessy -- among others, I would guess, though I don't know who -- in today's unscheduled edition of 38pitches.com.

(Late edit: My bad. He does mention Shaughnessy by name -- at least by the nickname he uses for him -- and, in best Bill Parcells/Terry Glenn fashion, even refers to him as "she". Whew. Forget Red Sox/Yankees. The best show this summer may be Schilling/Shaughnessy.)

WALKING TALL: This is why the Red Sox wanted Todd Helton. (Denver Post)

OKAY, OKAY, BACK TO THE SHOW: Sean McAdam offers some interesting thoughts on the Clemens situation, and Bill Reynolds hopes Clemens gets what he deserves . . . and let's just say that doesn't mean riding off into the sunset (or at least riding on a horse some late October night at Yankee Stadium) with another ring in tow. Old friend Allan Wood collected the covers from the New York (and one of the Boston) newspapers on Monday (joyofsox.blogspot.com). (And thanks, Allan, for the plug!)

SKUNK AT THE GARDEN PARTY: Acquiring Roger Clemens is all well and good, but the New York Daily News' John Harper points out that "Clemens won't be the savior for this ballclub that his grand unveiling would lead you to believe. Undoubtedly he'll fill a significant hole in the starting rotation, but Clemens is a six-inning pitcher who is sure to be worn down by the return to the American League, which means he'll need help from the so-far underwhelming bullpen" . . . which lost again last night when Mariano Rivera surrendered yet another ninth-inning home run. (New York Post)

AND ANOTHER: Not everyone was as excited as Suzyn Waldman over Clemens' return. (www.wcbs880.com) The Daily News' Bob Raismann questions "Clemens' motives, [and] the lengths the Yankees have gone to sign him and spin the move."

AND STILL ANOTHER: Gerry Callahan's voice problems have kept him off the radio, but not away from the computer. In today's Boston Herald, Callahan says the Yankees "essentially bought the most expensive car on the lot, the most expensive house in the neighborhood, the most expensive athlete in team sports -- and they paid above the listed price. Talk about brilliant front-office maneuvering . . . "

THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS: David Wells, of all people, and Greg Maddux of the Padres don't think it's right that Clemens has a flex schedule. (espn.com)

WELL, I'M HAPPY ABOUT IT: Andy Pettitte is delighted to be reunited with the Rocket. (New York Daily News)

WHAT IT REALLY MEANS: Baseball Prospectus' Joe Sheehan, writing on SI.com, examines every angle and, because Clemens is going to the Yankees and not the Red Sox, boils it all down to being "worth four to six wins, which makes it both economically sensible and gives it a greater potential to impact what should be a very good race in the AL East. The real winners here are the fans, who get a couple dozen more chances to see the greatest pitcher of our lifetimes. Who says the Yankees are bad for baseball?"

THANK YOU, ROCKET: The Post's Joel Sherman says Alex Rodriguez probably heard cash registers ringing when he saw the contract the Yankees gave Clemens. (New York Post)

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? As low as Class A if your name is Kei Igawa. (New York Daily News)

IN OTHER NEWS . . . Everyone was worried about the combustable mix of volatile young personalities on the Devil Rays, but things seem to be working out so far. (Tampa Tribune)

GOTCHA: Baseball's drug cops nailed another major-leaguer, though you probably haven't heard of him. (Tampa Tribune)

I'M IN YOUR CORNER: David Ortiz shows Barry Bonds some love. (Boston Herald)

ME TOO, SORT OF: The Press-Register's Paul Finebaum defends Bonds, in a way, by saying he's "showing no less class than [Hank Aaron], who just can't let bygones be bygones. He continues to wear his bitterness on his sleeve after all these years and will likely sulk all the way to the grave."

RELAPSE: Ron LeFlore -- once the subject of a television movie of the week for getting to the major leagues after being in prison -- is going back to jail. (Detroit Free Press)

INJURY REPORT: The Tigers have lost Joel Zumaya for 12 weeks (yahoo.com).

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:06 AM | Permalink