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May 19, 2007 »

PawSox cancel their game, too; no makeup

PAWTUCKET -- Tonight's Pawtucket Red Sox game against Durham Bulls at McCoy Stadium has been canceled, the PawSox announced on their Web site.

It's the last meeting between the teams, so the game will not be made up, according to the announcement.

It's the fourth rain-out at home for the PawSox this season and the sixth overall this season.

Fans holding box-seat tickets or general admission tickets for tonight’s game can trade those in for any remaining regular-season game at McCoy, based on availabilty.

For fans holding B101 Radio and Bubel Aiken Fundraiser tickets, the raindate will be the 7:05 p.m. game on May 24 against the Syracuse Chiefs.

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 6:37 PM | Permalink

Red Sox Notes

The Red Sox and Braves will try to play two Saturday at Fenway. Game 1 is set for 1:05. The nightcap is scheduled for 7:35. Rain is expected to threaten the start of the day game, at a minimum.
The two teams thought about playing one game Saturday and one Sunday and finding a spot in the schedule to make up the rain out. Player's Association rules that insist on a certain number of off days limited that option, however.
The Red Sox will start Diasuke Matsuzaka in the day game and he'll be opposed by Anthony Lerew. Dice K was slated to face Hall of Famer in waiting John Smoltz but the Braves will hold Smoltz back until the night game when he'll face fill-in starter Devern Hansack.
The extra day off will help the Sox heal a few bruises (like JD Drew's back) and get some time for the players who went 18 innings on Thursday (like Manny Ramirez). Ramirez wasn't in the lineup for Friday's game because he played two on Thursday. The plan now is for Drew to play once Saturday and try to come back on Sunday.
Terry Francona spoke about how much more comfortable he is with the pool of pitchers at Pawtucket who the Sox can call up at a moment's notice. That wasn't the case late last year when the Sox were searching the waiver wire for pitching help (Jason Johnson anyone?) in the heat of the summer.
The Sox are still expected to call up Kasson Gabbard for Sunday's series finale but no official word will come until Saturday, if not Sunday. The Braves have former Oakland ace Tim Hudson ready to throw Sunday.
That's it until tomorrow. Let's play two.

KEVIN McNAMARA

Posted by Kevin  at 4:33 PM | Permalink

Rain puts off game against Braves until tomorrow

The Red Sox game against the Atlanta Braves has been postponed.

The game will be made up tomorrow, weather-permitting, as part of a day-night double-header at 1:05 and 7:35 p.m.

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 3:53 PM | Permalink

It's Pouring at Fenway; Game Still On

Welcome to beautiful Fenway Park for the start of inter-league baseball tonigth when the Red Sox entertain the Atlanta Braves.
Scratch that.
It's pouring here at Fenway - like it was in Providence an hour ago when Steve Krasner and myself left town. The Red Sox have NOT cancelled the game. Yet. It would be the shock of shocks if this one gets in but if you have tickets and can't wait to pay $40 to park, buy a few $7 beers and a $4 hot dog or three, the Sox would love to see you drive north this afternoon.
The weather geeks are predicting a 100% chance of rain from now until 2 a.m. But this Red Sox ownership regularly hangs in as long as possible before cancelling a game. As soon as it happens, we'll bring it to you on the blog.
Time to head for the clubhouse and count puddles along the way.

KEVIN McNAMARA

Posted by Kevin  at 3:22 PM | Permalink

Manny too discerning?

It was a mixed day yesterday for Manny Ramirez. In the opener, he collected two hits, driving in the Red Sox' first-inning run with a single and then adding a somewhat controversial single later in the game on a ball that a fan interfered with. In the second game, Ramirez went 0 for 4, striking out in his first 3 at-bats. The first two strikeouts were called third strikes from Chad Durbin. Ramirez, uncharacteristically, barked at home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman on the second called third strike.

According to The Boston Globe, Ramirez has been called out on strikes 18 times this season, after being called out 23 times all of last season. Certainly, Ramirez's struggles have nothing to do with his swinging at bad pitches. He ranks 12th in the American League in percentage of pitches taken, at 62.6 percent. That puts him right behind the famously patient Jason Giambi. Teammate Kevin Youkilis is ninth.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 2:51 PM to Projo Mannybeingmanny | Permalink

Video: Jerry Remy's air guitar bit

The Remdawg proves to be multi-talented in this pregame performance that NESN's cameras captured. (mlb.com)

Posted by Art Martone  at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Projo SoxBlog with McAdam: Giambi not a good one to lecture

Sean McAdam is Art Martone's guest for today's version of Projo SoxTalk. Click here to listen to the full audio file.

McAdam says that the Red Sox' remarkable double-header sweep shows how they are getting contributions from everyone -- even the Julian Tavarezes and Eric Hinskes on the roster. He's not too concerned about J.D. Drew missing time, and he thinks the indications on Josh Beckett coming back in a couple of weeks are good.

He also sounded off on Jason Giambi's comments in USA Today. Giambi more or less admitted to being a past user of steroids, and said the players and the owners should have apologized to fans long ago for widespread drug use.

Sean says the steroid era will be a dark chapter in the game's history, but he finds Giambi's statements hard to swallow. Here is, in part, what Sean had to say:

"I'm of mixed mind about it. Giambi has nuanced this thing to death ever since his testimony in the Balco case first became public record, issuing that vaguest of apologies a couple of years ago without quite clarifying what it was that he was apologizing about. And it's clear that the reason he was so careful in how he worded things was that he didn't want to have his contract voided, as was being threatened by the Yankees if he had ever used the 's' word, which could have been grounds for termination of his contract. Well, it seems to me that a guy who's so worried about whether his contract is going to be ratified, or invalidated, shouldn't be telling others what they should and should not be apologizing for."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:32 AM | Permalink

Baseball Today: Friday, May 18

IT'S ALL GOOD: Webster's definition of "You're going good": You win one game when your No. 5 starter pitches seven innings of four-hit, one-run ball against the defending league champions. You win another when your No. 1 starter somehow gives up only two runs despite allowing seven doubles, a home run, and four walks in six innings, and your third-string right fielder (right, Journal photo by Kris Craig) a) makes a catch for the ages and b) breaks a month-long slump with a game-winning home run.

Yes, Mr. Webster, the Red Sox are going good.

Eric Hinske was the star of the nightcap, as he first saved Curt Schilling's bacon with what Steven Krasner described as a ''sensational, face-first, head-banging diving catch on the hard-packed dirt of the warning track in the right-field corner,'' and then hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to give the Sox a 4-2 win over the Tigers. Julian Tavarez took the No. 1 star in the opener as he stifled Detroit and, with late help from Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, nailed down a 2-1 victory. (All stories projo.com)

The result? A 9 1/2-game lead in the American League East. Yankee fans like our good friend Lou DiLullo will tell you they're not worried (yankeetradition.com), and at this time of year -- mid-May, more than 120 games left -- I'd usually agree with them. But there comes a point where this stops being a hot streak and starts being a sign of the way things are. (On the Joy of Sox blog, Allan Wood has a message for the Yankees.) I don't know if we're there yet . . . but I don't know if we're not, either.

BREAKS OF THE GAME: You need things to go your way in baseball, and Steven Krasner points out in Inside The Game that the wind was Curt Schilling's friend last night. (projo.com) Schilling needed all the friends he could get, calling last night ''as weird and as frustrating as any game I’ve thrown in the last four years'' in his detailed breakdown on 38pitches.com.

SCHILLING'S NOT THE ONLY ONE: The Tigers' Curtis Granderson also has his own blog, and in his latest entry he talks about the difficulty in trying to hit Tim Wakefield and why some fans -- in Boston, but also elsewhere -- confuse him. (espn.com)

LOOKING AHEAD: The Sox placed Josh Beckett on the disabled list after last night's game, and -- as we reported in mid-afternoon yesterday on this very blog -- recalled Devern Hansack to pitch tonight against Atlanta. Beckett was placed on the DL retroactive to last Monday so he'll be eligible to be reactivated on Tuesday, May 29, and Terry Francona said last night that Beckett will pitch that night against the Indians. If all goes according to plan, Beckett will only miss two starts: tonight, and Wednesday in New York against the Yankees. The Sox also need a starter for this Sunday, and, as Kevin McNamara reported in his PawSox game story, all signs point to Kason Gabbard. (This, of course, is contrary to the conventional wisdom of yesterday morning, when it was thought Gabbard would start tonight.) If it all sounds convoluted, it's because Wednesday's rainout forced a juggling of the rotation; the Sox pushed Tim Wakefield back a day and will start him Monday in New York to avoid having to use Hansack and Gabbard in two of the three games at Yankee Stadium next week. Of course, more rain is on the way this weekend and that may force even more changes, so stay tuned.

LOOKING WAY AHEAD: Bud Selig was in Boston yesterday and laid out his vision for the future of major league baseball. (projo.com) He didn't lay out his plans for honoring Barry Bonds when Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's home-run record; he has steadfastly refused to address the subject, and he steadfastly refused -- though in a polite way -- again last night.

I'M SORRY, SO SORRY: Another subject Selig has skirted over the years is steroid use. But in an interview with USA Today, Jason Giambi says baseball should have apologized years ago for its widespread drug problem, and -- for the first time, I believe -- admitted publicly that he was a user, saying, ''I was wrong for doing that stuff.'' The New York Daily News has more.

YOU LIKE ME! YOU REALLY LIKE ME! Seth Mnookin reports that lots of people liked the 2004 Red Sox. (sethmnookin.com)

YOU DON'T LIKE ME! YOU REALLY DON'T LIKE ME! Oh, ESPN's Scoop Jackson says he likes Roger Clemens. But in the same piece he also calls The Rocket a self-absorbed, beyond-arrogant, bigger-than-the-game, I-have-no-respect-or-honor-for-the-concept-of-team, I-only-pitch-when-I-feel-like-it, any-team-should-feel-blessed-to-have-me, Randy-Johnson-will-never-be-on-my-level, the-world-revolves-around-me, kiss-the-ground-I walk-on, worship-who-I-am-because-I-am-the-me-myself-and-I-in-MLB pimp.

Whew.

WORTH THE MONEY: Slate's Jordan Ellenberg says Clemens might be worth every penny the Yankees are spending on him.

OR NOT: The Village Voice's Allan Barra says it doesn't matter whether or not signing Clemens for $28 million makes economic sense, because, when push comes to shove, George Steinbrenner's ''aim doesn't fit into any economic model: All he cares about is winning.''

THE DEBATE CONTINUES: But this time, it's a Yankee player -- Kyle Farnsworth -- admitting publicly that he's not crazy about the Yanks allowing Clemens to come and go as he pleases. (New York Daily News)

MEANWHILE . . . The Yankees are floundering and now face six straight games with the Mets and Red Sox. Some of them think that might be the way out of their funk. (New York Post)

ANY YANKEE FAN WILL TELL YOU . . . that God roots for the boys from the Bronx. (Except, maybe, in 2004.) The blog ShysterBall offers up proof.

NEW LINE OF DEFENSE: WFAN's Sweeny Murti uses Derek Jeter's considerable offensive skills to justify his defensive ones. (wfan.com)

WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY UP HERE: When the Yankees were struggling, they fired their strength-and-conditioning coach. When the Blue Jays were struggling, they extended the contract of theirs. (yahoo.com)

GOOD RIDDANCE: Cubs broadcaster (and ex-third baseman) Ron Santo won't be shedding any tears when the wrecking ball takes down Shea Stadium. (Chicago Tribune)

GET READY: The Baseball Network is on its way. (Washington Post)

TIME TO MOVE ON? If the St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton is any indication, the locals in Tampa are ready to part with the oft-injured Rocco Baldelli.

OLD FRIENDS: Angels manager Mike Scioscia isn't giving up on Shea Hillenbrand despite Hillenbrand's offensive struggles (Riverside Press-Enterprise) . . . Ramon Vazquez is in . . . Todd Walker is out . . . So is Donnie Sadler (Arizona Republic) . . . Justin Duchscherer is hurting (mlb.com) . . . Tom Gordon is recovering (Philadelphia Inquirer).

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:53 AM | Permalink