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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Yankees coming to town »
April 11, 2008
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
ON THE BALL: With the Yankees arriving tonight, it would have been easy for the Red Sox to be looking ahead -- at least a little -- last night instead of focusing on the task at hand. But Joe McDonald reports that the Sox, with key hits from Sean Casey (above), J.D. Drew, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis, were able to take care of business with a 12-6 win over the Tigers in a 3-hour-and-44 minute drag-a-thon that featured 23 hits 18 walks, seven pitching changes and 386 pitches thrown. Still smiling at the end of it all was Casey, whose 2-for-5, 3-RBI night is recounted by Carolyn Thornton.
COMINGS AND GOINGS: There were plenty of those at the old ballyard. Before the game we had Mike Lowell placed on the 15-day DL because of a sprained left thumb, with Jed Lowrie being summoned from Pawtucket to replace him. McDonald and Paul Kenyon have the details. McDonald also reports on a pregame injury to Alex Cora, the severity of which is still unknown; the Sox are hoping for the best. Then, when it was all over, Kenyon has news of Bryan Corey being designated for assignment to make room for Mike Timlin, who will come off the DL today.
AND NOW . . . We turn our attention to the Yankees. Kenyon talks to Clay Buccholz, who'll get his baptism in the rivalry tonight.
RATE OF RETURN: The rest of the country complains mightily about ESPN's Red Sox-Yankee phobia, but Newsday's Neil Best explains why the worldwide leader -- and Fox -- can't get enough of baseball's greatest rivalry: It delivers viewers. "One of the few certainties in television is the Yankees and Red Sox," said Len DeLuca, ESPN's senior VP of programming and an old schoolmate of mine from Cranston West.
AH, THOSE SCRAPPY $209,081,579 UNDERDOGS: The New York Post's Mike Vaccaro says we should all be fearing the invasion of the Yankees because the Giants' beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl proves the mettle of "the feisty little overachieving cow town that could, the one that dares dream fine, innocent dreams of one day approaching your sporting fiefdom."
$209,081,579? Come on. You don't know? That's what it costs to pay the 25 members of the feisty little overachieving cow town's American League baseball team. Scrappy hustlers aren't as cheap as they used to be, apparently, since that number is $70,396,382 higher than the payroll of the second highest-paid team, the Tigers ($138,685,197). The $70-million difference, incidentally, is higher than the entire payrolls of 11 other teams, including the defending National League champion Colorado Rockies.
AND WHAT'S $133,440,037? That's what the sporting fiefdom is paying its team.
A MORE TRADITIONAL VIEW: Other Red Sox-Yankee previews from down south -- those of the Daily News, Post and Newsday -- don't mention football. Or payrolls.
QUIET STRUGGLES: David Ortiz is in the worst slump of his career and, like Cosmo in Moonstruck, he doesn't want to talk about it. (Boston Globe)
LIFE IN THE FISHBOWL: Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis are two of the players mlb.com talked to in an interesting feature about how life in the digital age has forced players to more zealously guard their private lives.
EXPLAIN YOURSELF, PLEASE: Dennis of Narragansett asks SI.com's Tom Verducci why he thinks the Red Sox have more question marks than the Yankees or Tigers. Verducci gives his reasons.
THE FEUD NEVER ENDS: A Red Sox fan working on the construction crew for the new Yankee Stadium buried a Red Sox T-shirt in the concrete underneath what will be the Yankee clubhouse in order to "jinx" the Yanks. (New York Post)
LOOKING ROYAL: Andy Pettitte halted the Yanks' slide with a strong performance in a 6-1 win at Kansas City. (New York Daily News) The New York Post's George King also credits Joe Girardi's revamped lineup, which had more Morgan Ensberg and less Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi. But tonight's lineup is likely to be sans Derek Jeter. (New York Post)
AND SPEAKING OF LINEUPS . . . Steven Goldman thinks the Yankees would be far better served with Jorge Posada at DH, Hideki Matsui in left field and Johnny Damon on the bench. (New York Sun)
KEEP THOSE HANKIES HANDY: Maury Allen anticipates a flood of tears when Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium are closed. (thecolumnists.com)
IT'S NOT JUST FOR BIG LEAGUERS: Pitch counts are an organizational edict with many teams, including the Red Sox. Which is why, reports Mike Szostak, David Pauley was pulled from yesterday's start against the delightfully named Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs with one out and nobody on in the fifth inning while holding a 2-1 lead.
LUCKY SEVEN: The Indians signed Fausto Carmona to a seven-year, $48 million deal. (Akron Beacon Journal)
LOOKING AHEAD: Peter Abraham wonders if Carmona's contract is the first step on C.C. Sabathia's journey to New York. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
WE HAVE A DEAL: The New York Times reports that Major League Baseball and the players' union "have tentatively agreed to have an administrator oversee the sport’s drug-testing program as they move toward adopting many of the recommendations in the Mitchell report, according to two lawyers with knowledge of the pending deal." And with an overall agreement in sight, the Times also reports players named in the Mitchell Report are unlikely to be disciplined.
INSIDER'S VIEW: If Roger Clemens' behavior since he was named in the Mitchell Report is incomprehensible to you -- as it is to me -- then ex-major leaguer Doug Glanville's guest column on Clemens in the New York Times is required reading. "Maybe," writes Glanville, "by insisting on his innocence, he thought he was pushing against a downhill-rolling snowball to get it back to the top of the hill; instead, he may have unleashed the worst avalanche of his life . . . To those outside Clemens’s protective shell, he seems to be fighting ghosts. We must understand that he stopped listening to the outside world a long time ago, partly because ignoring those voices was integral to his survival."
Fascinating, not just on the specific topic of Clemens but on professional athletes in general. As I say: Required reading.
THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE: Jose Canseco tells espn.com's Sam Alipour that, when it comes to the steroids issue, MLB and its players are "liars, liars, liars, liars and liars. That's all they are. Major League Baseball and all of the players say, 'If we get together and tell a huge lie, it's thousands against one guy.' But the truth stands."
NOT SO FAST: SI.com's John Donovan says it's not a slam dunk that Johan Santana will dominate the National League in the way most people expect.
GET ME REWRITE! Mike Salfino says the Mets' Willie Randolph manages completely by the book. Only problem is, "it's not like Willie's script is Godfather II. It's more like Porky's II." (sny.tv)
MAKE GOOD: The blog Rays Index speculates that Tampa Bay may seek compensation from the Twins if it can prove Minnesota knew of a preexisting nerve condition that has forced Matt Garza to the disabled list. In best Sgt. Schultz fashion, the Twins say they knew nothing, nothing of any problems Garza had. (mlb.com)
I EAT, THEREFORE I AM: The Costa Contra Times' Pat Casey visits the all-you-can-eat section at McAfee Coliseum, and finds his "paltry four dogs, one order of nachos, a bag of peanuts, an ice cream sandwich and a bag of popcorn" over seven innings pales in comparison to the big-league munchers who have embraced the A's newest promotional tool.
MILESTONE CITY: The Rangers are over .500 for the first time since Ron Washington became manager. (Dallas Morning News)
AND DOWN SOUTH IN THE SAME STATE . . . The Astros say they're not panicking over their 3-7 start. (Houston Chronicle)
SAY AGAIN? Foxsports.com's Tracy Ringolsby is amused by the Diamondbacks' boasting that their April sweep of the Rockies in Denver is 'payback' for Colorado's four-game sweep of Arizona in last year's NLCS. "Yeah, right, winning three games in April alleviates the sting from [losing the National League pennant]," writes Ringolsby. "Just exactly how much beachfront property did the Diamondbacks buy in Arizona?"
LET'S BE BUDDIES: After years of proclaiming the metro area couldn't support two teams, Orioles owner Peter Angelos is now saying he hopes the Nationals are a success in Washington. (Baltimore Sun)
HERE AND THERE: Remember when the Phillies said they weren't interested in Steve Kline? (Philadephia Daily News) Never mind. (delawareonline.com) . . . Randy Johnson will make his season debut Monday for the Diamondbacks (Arizona Republic) . . . Rich Harden has been placed on the DL by the A's. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Dave Roberts has been diagnosed with a condition called condromalatia, so his knee surgery will be more complex than a normal arthroscopy and he'll be sidelined longer than usual (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Wily Mo Pena's recovery has progressed to the point that he'll play back-to-back games at Class AAA Columbus this weekend (Washington Post) . . . Eric Hinske has found a home in Tampa Bay. (Baseball Musings)
AND NOW, FOR A SHORT BREAK IN THE ACTION: It's vacation time, so the next installment of Baseball Today will come on Monday, April 21. Have a good week, and see you in 10 days.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
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