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Multimedia: Sean McAdam's projo SoxTalk from Japan »
March 21, 2008
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
WELCOME TO JAPAN: As we slept, Sean McAdam (and photographer Bob Breidenbach) worked. The Sox arrived in Japan around midnight Friday Tokyo time -- 11 a.m. Eastern time Thursday -- and McAdam posted a travelogue yesterday afternoon. (Ignore the time stamp on the story; it was on the site at about 3 p.m. yesterday.) The Sox were up and about Friday morning in Tokyo, just about the time we were going to bed. McAdam was with them, and he reports the following:
-- The Red Sox say it's an honor to open the season in Japan.
-- Not everyone's all that happy. Bobby Valentine, the long-time big-league skipper who's now managing in Japan, is upset that the Sox-A's series will distract from the Japanese league season openers. Daisuke Matsuzaka, for one, thinks Valentine has a point.
(Yahoosports.com's Jeff Passan has a nice profile of Valentine, whom he calls "a made-for-Tokyo marvel, the kind of cult of personality onto whom the Japanese love to glom.'')
-- Bryan Corey, Curt Schilling, Mike Timlin and Tim Wakefield took the time to visit a U.S. Army base in nearby Kanagawa. Schilling has more about the visit on 38pitches.com.
-- McAdam calls the Tokyo Dome -- a.k.a. The Big Egg -- a cross between Tropicana Field and the Metrodome . . . which doesn't seem like a flattering comparison to me.
-- Guess we all look alike to the Japanese.
McAdam also has some team notes: Coco Crisp (groin strain) will have some availability in the two exhibition games over the weekend, Mike Timlin (cut finger) may not, and a look at how the players passed the time on the long flight over.
As our day begins, the Sox' ends . . . but they'll be back before we sleep. They play the first of their two exhibition games, this one against the Hanshin Tigers, at noon Saturday in Tokyo, which means the first pitch will be delivered at 11:07 p.m. tonight Eastern time. It won't be on TV -- though it will be on radio. Check back here often; Sean and Bob will be filing to the blog as news happens.
BEEN HERE, DONE THAT: Some players have been to Japan before as part of the frequent MLB tours. Mike Lowell's also making his second trip to Tokyo . . . but his first came 25 years ago with a Little League team. (Boston Herald)
A FAN IN JAPAN: Also heading to Tokyo, on her own dime, is Journal staffer and Sox fan extraordinaire Denise Bass. She has an amazing story: While attending the Sox' 10-1 win over the Yankees last September 15 with her husband Greg at Fenway, they struck up a conversation with a Japanese gentleman sitting next to them. His name was Rui Ishido, and by game's end they were fast friends. They stayed in contact during the offseason, and several weeks ago he informed them he had tickets for the Sox' games in Japan if they were interested in coming over. Were they! (Well, as Denise admits, "they" may be poetic license; she describes Greg as "a good husband who tolerates my baseball obsession." But he always wanted to see Japan, so he agreed to go.) Before she left, she put together an interactive feature called Fan To Fan in which Rui answers questions about Japanese baseball. She's also set up her own blog and will be filing to it once they arrive tomorrow.
A FAN IN AMERICA, TOO: If you're questioning Denise's props as a true fan, check out the outstanding slide show she put together last year on the 1967 Impossible Dream team.
AND SPEAKING OF AMERICA . . . Some members of the Sox are still there, in Fort Myers, and Joe McDonald is still with them. Jon Lester stayed back a day to get in some work in preparation for his Game Two start against the A's, and McDonald reports on the five perfect innings he threw in a Double-A intrasquad game. Lester leaves for Tokyo today. McDonald was also impressed with the Sox' No. 1 pick last year, Nicholas Hagadone, in that game, and will have more on him this weekend.
MORE MINOR-LEAGUE TALK: Baseball-Intellect calls Jed Lowrie the second-most underrated prospect in baseball.
THE MAYOR: Before the team left for Japan, McDonald talked to Sean Casey, for whom playing in Boston is a dream come true.
CASH POOR: Chad Finn warns that Doug Mirabelli -- while he's hardly sorry to see him go -- is "Johnny Bench at the plate compared to the salami bat [Kevin Cash] who is replacing him."
DIFFERENT KIND OF STRIKES: Metrobostonnews.com reports that J.D. Drew says bowling is helping to ease his chronic back pain. Funny, it always exacerbated mine.
HE'S NO DOCTOR, BUT HE PLAYS ONE ON THE INTERNET: Projo.com's fantasy columnist, Michael Salfino, says not to worry about Josh Beckett's back, at least as far as fantasy leagues are concerned.
WE SPOKE TOO SOON: Yesterday we noted that Schilling hadn't weighed in on the strange happenings on the last day of camp in Fort Myers. But he did once the team arrived in Tokyo, giving a very detailed account of the players' point of view. His conclusion: "I am proud as hell to be a part of a group of men who were absolutely 100% willing to not step on this plane and make this trip, knowing full well we would be in violation of our contracts, we’d potentially be forfeiting games and much much more, to stand behind a group of people that have very few supporters. Yes you could argue that doing that would have been disrespectful to the game, and fans, but we disagreed. In our minds anyone who had in mind to do what was right would have make the exact same decisions we did."
TAKE THAT, HANK: The New York Observer, in China for the recent Dodgers-Padres exhibition series, reports "traces of Yankees influence were hard to find on this side of the Pacific. Among the expats at the game, Boston hats outnumbered Yankees hats by a wide margin."
LOST IN NEW YORK: Red Sox TV reporter Tina Cervasio, who left NESN when her contract expired this month, has landed a job with the MSG Network, which is closer to her New Jersey home. Old friend David Scott reports NESN is still searching for her replacement as Red Sox sideline reporter, and says a) it will be a woman and b) the Sox hope to have someone in place for the home opener on April 8.
WHOA! Our old friend The Baseball Crank, using Established Win Shares Level as a basis for anaylsis, predicts the Red Sox will finish 88-74, 13 games behind the Yankees. Before you dismiss it as the numbers-twisting of a Yankee lover, know that the Crank, a Mets' fan, is an honorary member of Red Sox Nation when it comes to Yankee Antipathy. In fact, he's labeled them "The Hated Yankees" in his lead-in.
WHAT A JOBA! BY JOBA! Sorry, but I couldn't get that absurd Sterling-ism out of my mind after Joba Chamberlain made a triumphant return to the bullpen yesterday. (New York Post)
GET READY TO BE BOMBARDED BY THE MYSTIQUE-AND-AURA CROWD, SHAUN: Dugout Central's Shaun Payne looks at the numbers and concludes "the idea that the Yankees wouldn’t be anywhere near the same team without [Derek Jeter] seems somewhat overblown." That's mainly because, he concludes, baseball "is not a game in which an individual can often impact. Clearly one player does not a great team make."
WHAT?!? The Reds have sent uber-prospect Jay Bruce back to the minor leagues (mlb.com) Baseball Musing's David Pinto is the reasoned voice of the statistical community, while Voros McCracken is more visceral; needless to say, they don't approve.
DOUBLE WHAT?!? The Rays, as noted here earlier, may make the same decision on Evan Longoria. Raysindex.com reacts about the same way as Pinto and McCracken.
I DON'T SEE IT: Foxsports.com's Tracy Ringolsby listens to people talk about the A's as the model for small-market franchises and can't help but disagree.
THE SPORTS RADIO LEADER: WEEI suddenly finds itself in the middle of the Roger Clemens mess -- sort of -- as the New York Times reports Jose Canseco, who would hurl steroids accusations without hesitation during his frequent appearances on the station, suddenly began refusing to go on 'EEI once Clemens' name was mentioned in the Mitchell Report. While Canseco denied that Clemens had anything to do with his not accepting the station's invitation, the appearance of impropriety is impossible to avoid when a) Canseco hung up the phone after the Times reporter asked if Canseco had ever spoken to Clemens' lawyers and b) Clemens' lawyers and agents did not respond to phone messages or e-mails asking if they had talked to Canseco.
AND AT THE OTHER TABLE . . . : Brian McNamee passed out while driving and crashed his car into a bus in Far Rockaway. (New York Daily News) Thankfully, no one was hurt.
HERE AND THERE: Roberto Alomar says he wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Blue Jay (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . Kenny Lofton is still looking for work, though he's not likely to find any if he keeps turning down offers like the one the Rays made (foxsports.com) . . . The White Sox now think a Joe Crede trade is unlikely (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Juan Uribe apparently was claimed on waivers Thursday, so the White Sox pulled him back in order to facilitate a trade. (Chicago Sun-Times) But with Danny Richar now sidelined four to six weeks, they may have to keep him. . . Fernando Rodney thinks he'll be back sometime in April. (Detroit News)
OLD FRIENDS: The White Sox apparently have been talking contract extension with Orlando Cabrera (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Dodgers have expressed interest in Mark Loretta now that Nomar Garciaparra is sidelined (foxsports.com) . . . The Tigers' Edgar Renteria is suffering from back spasms (mlb.com) . . . Kevin Millar will be batting cleanup for the Orioles. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 8:32 AM | Permalink
