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September 4, 2007
GLASS IS HALF-FULL: Accentuate the positive. That's what Steven Krasner says the Red Sox were doing after last night's 13-10 win over the Blue Jays (projo.com), a game in which they squandered all but one run of a 10-1 lead in the sixth inning and in which Daisuke Matsuzaka was, again, disturbingly hittable . . . particularly in the sixth, when the Jays pushed across eight runs against Dice-K and Javier Lopez and had the tying run on third base before Manny Delcarmen recorded the final out. But, in spite of all that, there was positive to accentuate. Mike Lowell, for one; he reached the 100-RBI plateau and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, tying his career best. (projo.com) (Above, Lowell is congratulated by catcher Jason Varitek after the game. Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach.) Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, for another; they combined to go 5-for-10 with six runs scored from the 1-2 spots in the lineup and may have provided a glimpse of what Boston's future batting order will be like. (Boston Globe) And then, of course . . .
LABOR PAINS . . . there was the news out of New York. For starters, the Mariners beat the Yankees 7-1 (New York Daily News), increasing the Red Sox' lead in the A.L. East to seven games. But what also benefits the Sox is that the Yanks lost more than a game yesterday. We begin with the elbow woes of Roger Clemens (New York Post), which forced him out of yesterday's game in the fourth inning and will cause him to miss at least one start. And that means the gasping-for-air Mike Mussina moves back into the starting rotation (New York Daily News). They also lost Andy Phillips for the rest of the year because of a broken wrist suffered when he was hit by a pitch Sunday. (New York Daly News) Put it all together, says the New York Post's Joel Sherman, and ''the degree of difficulty in securing a playoff spot has risen dramatically for the Yankees''. One of the reasons, adds colleague Kevin Kernan, is that the Yanks have been an all-or-nothing-at-all team this season: ''When the Yankees are bad, they are really bad. Their pitchers give up tons of runs and their hitters disappear.''
JUST MY OPINION: Bob Klapisch thinks there was no way Joba Chamberlain was intentionally throwing at Kevin Youkilis. (Bergen Record)
ORGANIZATIONAL PHILOSOPHY: The Red Sox are also accentuating the positive at the minor-league level, as PawSox pitching coach Mike Griffin says that, contrary to accepted opinion, Craig Hansen made progress this year. (projo.com) It's true that Hansen's final statistics don't look nearly as bad as they were looking just a few weeks ago, though it wasn't enough get him a September callup -- something he was hoping for, as he admitted a few days ago. (projo.com)
RED FLAG: Some corners of Red Sox Nation -- I'd link to them, but there's that NSFW thing -- are up in arms over Eric Wilbur's declaration of surrender after last week's Yankee sweep of the Red Sox. (boston.com) But Wilbur's not alone in his thoughts. Red Sox fan Kevin Hench, writing on FoxSports.com, gives 10 reasons why the Yankees would beat the Red Sox in a postseason matchup . . . though, given events of the last 24 hours, he may want to rethink No. 8. (Rocket fueled)
MEMORIES . . . I know it's three days old now, but Clay Buchholz' no-hitter is worth another look, as is the defensive play that saved it. (Both stories projo.com) The blog Red Sox Monster has some video. ESPN.com's Rob Neyer, incidentally, was impressed . . . not so much by the no-hitter but by Buchholz himself.
A GOOD TRADE: The Sox acquired Buchholz as the compensation pick for losing Pedro Martinez, which prompted Martinez to comment, ''See, some things work out for the best.'' (Newark Star-Ledger)
WELCOME BACK: ESPN.com's Amy K. Nelson has a well-written piece on Martinez' successful return to the Mets yesterday.
THE LEADER: The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy wrote a fascinating piece on what Terry Francona's life is like as Red Sox manager; suffice to say, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. One of the best quotes came from Theo Epstein, who praised Francona's even-keeled public persona by noting: ''[If] you don't have a couple of beacons of reason, others in the organization, players included, can lose perspective.''
THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR: Curt Schilling returns to 38pitches.com and asks, ''Has there been a better time to be a Sox fan in the past 20 years?'' He also takes a few more shots at Shaughnessy.
HE'S ALSO BACK: We have a rare Kevin Youkilis blog sighting, as well, and he, too, is ready for September. (kevinyoukilis.mlblogs.com)
MISSING ACE: It looks like the Red Sox won't be facing Erik Bedard this weekend in Baltimore. (Baltimore Sun)
SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER: SI.com's John Donovan tells us why. So does ESPN.com's Jonah Keri.
'WORST TRAUMA I'VE SEEN': The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the career of Cardinal outfielder Juan Encarnacion is in jeopardy after he was struck in the eye by a foul ball while standing in the on-deck circle.
HOW DARE YOU? Carlos Zambrano was irate about being booed after he and the Cubs were routed by the Dodgers. (Chicago Tribune)
LONG TIME COMING: Scott Rolen thinks the seeds of the problem that led to his season-ending shoulder surgery were planted last September. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
QUICKLY: Even though everyone assumes this is Joe Torre's final year as Yankee manager, he thinks he might like to return (New York Daily News) . . . This could be free agent-to-be Andruw Jones' final month in Atlanta, but he says he's not thinking about it (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The injury to Nomar Garciaparra and the ineffectiveness of Shea Hillenbrand have combined to give Adam LaRoche a chance to play with the Dodgers (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Rockies' Aaron Cook will miss the rest of the year (Denver Post) . . . The Phillies have their eyes on Colorado's Garrett Atkins (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . Kenny Rogers says he's ready to return to the Tigers rotation (Detroit News) . . . Akinori Otsuka is hoping to avoid surgery (Dallas Morning News) . . . It appears Torii Hunter wants the same contract J.D. Drew received. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
OLD FRIENDS: Baseball Musing's David Pinto reports Wily Mo Pena is giving the Nationals pretty much the same thing he gave the Red Sox: Low batting average, low on-base percentage, but home runs whenever he manages to hit the ball.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 6:49 AM | Permalink
