« Game Story: Five-run first lifts Bats past PawSox
Main
Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Buehrle looks like a longshot »
June 25, 2007
AS GOOD AS IT GETS: The weather in San Diego yesterday -- 72 degrees, sunny, no humidity -- fits that description. So did the pitching matchup, which pitted, arguably, the best pitcher in the National League (Jake Peavy) against the best in the American League (Josh Beckett). And, from the Red Sox' point of view, that also describes the result, as the Sox methodically disposed of Peavy, driving up his pitch count and forcing him out of the game after five innings, while Beckett (AP Photo, above) pitched an eight-inning gem, leading to a 4-2 win over the Padres that closed out interleague play. (projo.com) Shutting down the San Diego offense isn't the biggest task there is -- Daisuke Matsuzaka did it Friday night, though Tim Wakefield wasn't quite up to the job Saturday -- but Beckett was particularly sharp yesterday as he raised his record to 11-1 and now leads the American League in wins and is eighth in earned-run average (3.07). Beckett is 42-20 since the beginning of the 2005 season (27-12 in Boston) and may be, as the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy says, the real ace of the Red Sox staff.
THE REST OF THE STORY: More impressive than Beckett's stifling of the Padres' popgun attack was the way the Sox offense -- which has sparked legitimate concerns about its ability to generate runs against quality pitching -- went after Peavy. Peavy called it ''one of those days'' after the loss, which dropped him to 9-2, but also gave props to the Boston hitters. (Riverside Press-Enterprise) ''I feel like I made quality pitches,'' said Peavy, who lasted just five innings in his shortest stint of the season and left trailing 3-2. "I just didn't have anything to show for it.''
AND A NEW STORY: The Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday that the Red Sox have emerged as the front-runners in the race to acquire White Sox left-hander Mark Buerhle. The Sun-Times went a little deeper this morning, saying that Chicago GM Ken Williams wouldn't deny the Red Sox' interest but adding that all the teams in the Buehrle chase -- the Mets and the Braves are also thought to be involved -- are becoming ''very aggressive''. In the second item of his notebook, Sean McAdam notes two things: 1. The Sox are unlikely to sign Buehrle to a long-term extension if they trade for him, but will instead let him hit free agency and take the compensatory draft picks, and 2. Clay Buccholz and Jacoby Ellsbury, whose names were mentioned in the Sun-Times story as trade bait for Buehrle, ''are strictly off-limits.'' The Herald's Tony Massarotti says a Buehrle-to-Boston deal isn't close, and may not happen, but it ''underscores how well-positioned the Sox are at this very moment . . . [With] a host of attractive prospects to develop or deal, [Sox GM Theo] Epstein is now in a spot to make an array of trades, big and small.''
DO SOMETHING RESEMBLING ANYTHING: It seems obvious Buehrle is headed somewhere, as Williams is disgusted with his team, which has lost 22 of its last 27 games. The Yankees are among those who have been sniffing around the carcass. (Both stories Chicago Tribune)
BATTLE OF THE PENS: The weekend Sox-Padres series featured two of baseball's best bullpens (projo.com), though the Sox were able to do a little damage against San Diego's yesterday when Jason Varitek provided a huge insurance run with a homer against Scott Linebrink in the eighth inning. (Boston Herald)
GOOD RIDDANCE: The Padres are happy interleague play is over. (signonsandiego.com) Even though the Sox went 12-6 against N.L. teams this year, so are we.
WEEKEND IN SAN DIEGO: That's about all David Murphy's going to get with the Red Sox -- that and a game tonight in Seattle -- before he's sent back to Pawtucket, and it sounds like he's resigned himself to the fact that his future in major league baseball will probably be somewhere other than Boston. (projo.com) Kason Gabbard, as you all know by now, will replace Murphy on the roster and start tomorrow night against the Mariners.
R.I.P. ROD BECK: Current Red Sox players who were here when he played for Boston from 1999-2001 were stunned by the sudden death of Rod Beck (projo.com). So were many of his ex-Cub teammates. (Chicago Sun-Times)
BACK ON TOP: The Red Sox have regained the No. 1 spot in ESPN.com's Power Rankings. FoxSports' are due later today.
NINETEEN SEVENTY-WHAT? The 1978 chortles have died down considerably after the Yankees completed a horrific, five-losses-in-six-games swing through Colorado and San Francisco with a 7-2 drubbing at the hands of the Giants yesterday. (New York Daily News) They're now back under .500 (35-36), in third place in the A.L. East (11 1/2 games out) and the New York Post's George King wonders ''What will a dark October feel like?'' The Yanks haven't had one in a long time; the last time they missed the playoffs in a non-strike season was 1993. There's still a lot of time left but there's also a lot of ground to make up, not only in the division race but also in the wild-card hunt (where they trail by 6 1/2, and five teams are ahead of them).
IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS: Say what you will about Roger Clemens, but when the team needs him, he's there. (New York Post) Not that it did much good, but . . .
NOT AGAIN: Almost as tiresome -- I take that back; make that more tiresome -- as the Clemens-working-his-way-back-to-New York stories became in May are the daily Will-he-go-on-the-DL-or-won't-he? dances surrounding Johnny Damon. (New York Daily News) Excuse me, Mr. Torre, I'll make this real easy for you: He's hurting. He's never going to heal completely unless he shuts it down for a time. He doesn't want to. You're going to have to force him. If you don't, he'll hobble around at half-effectiveness for the rest of the year. So put him on the disabled list, for God's sake!
You're welcome. I'm sorry this was so difficult for you.
WE'RE IN AGREEMENT: Peter Abraham says the same thing on the LoHud Yankees Blog -- honest, I wrote the above blurb before I read Abraham -- saying this whole situation ''passed tiresome a week ago and is now tedious.'' Abraham has other suggestions for the Yanks, one of which is to convince Joe Torre to retire.
NO, DON'T! Seth Mnookin wouldn't like that, because he's convinced Torre is ''a secret agent for the Red Sox'', based on his (mis)management of the Yankees. (sethmnookin.com)
GIANT CRUSH: Sounds like the Giants were batting their eyes at free-agent-to-be (maybe) Alex Rodriguez over the weekend. (New York Daily News)
EVER VIGILANT: Marvin Miller thinks the Players Association should be fighting all attempts to investigate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. (New York Daily News) To wit: ''Miller says he recognizes the public pressure on the players and the union, but he says the union's job is to stand for its principles regardless of the public mood. 'I'm not going to minimize the fact that some of this might be coming from the players themselves,' he says. 'There is this undertone which reaches the public once in a while of players who say, ''Look, I don't use steroids and amphetamines and don't want to be labeled as such. Let's do what we can to be rid of this, to hell with civil liberties.'' I would say there's insufficient recognition on the part of today's players of how destructive this can all be.' ''
I WANNA GO HOME: Ken Griffey Jr. would like to retire as a Mariner. (Cincinnati Post)
BREAKDOWN OF A BREAKDOWN: Joe Posnanski examines why the Milton Bradley-to-the-Royals deal fell through. (Kansas City Star)
NOT QUITE NUMBER THREE: Dustin McGowan just missed pitching baseball's third no-hitter this year (Toronto Sun)
MEDICAL REPORT: It looks like the White Sox' Jermaine Dye is headed for the disabled list (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Twins' Justin Morneau remains hospitalized because of a bruised right lung (Minneapolis Star-Tribune).
WHISPERS: The Pirates allegedly have inquired about young Braves catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The Yankees have their eyes on first baseman Mark Teixeira and relievers Eric Gagne and Akinori Otsuka from the Rangers (Newsday).
AND FINALLY . . . : A Florida woman says she was scammed out of $1 million by a man she was dating, whom she thought was Pedro Martinez. (New York Daily News) A question to this woman: Through 2006, Pedro Martinez had earned $120,444,000 since becoming a major-leaguer. Why would he need money from you??
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 7:03 AM | Permalink
