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May 8, 2008
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NOW HERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERY DAY . . . and the fact is, you shouldn't have seen it last night, either. But that rarest of baseball sightings -- a Jonathan Papelbon blown save -- was built on this house of cards: A check-swing, excuse-me, didn't-mean-to-hit-it roller into no-man's land between the pitcher's mound and shortstop that went for an infield hit; an error by Julio Lugo (above); a bunt; an infield grounder that delivered the tying run; and a shattered-bat dying quail that looped into short left field just out of the reach of the leaping Lugo. Paplebon was seen flinging his glove and kicking over Gatorade buckets in the dugout upon its conclusion, but Steven Krasner reports he was downright philosophical as he discussed the Red Sox' 10-9 loss to the Tigers last night, a defeat that stung all the more because it wasted Boston comebacks from deficits of 4-0, 5-2 and 8-4. Such losses usually demand a scapegoat -- especially around here -- and last night's wasn't hard to find: Lugo, whose error was the key play in the inning (and who now has 10 in 33 games). Terry Francona defended his shortstop (Boston Globe), but the inevitable line of media questioning, which included resurrection of his three-error game in Toronto last month, prompted a why-are-things-so-negative-in-Boston? outburst from Lugo himself. To which the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley commented: "This is a guy who has said on numerous occasions that during his days with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays he thought it would be cool to play for the Red Sox. Then again, maybe he really didn’t know what he was getting into."
And what was he getting into? A place where 10 errors in 33 games, including a crucial ninth-inning flub that leads directly to a frustrating loss despite having your all-but-invincible closer on the mound, don't go unnoticed.
MISPLACED PRIORITIES: Chad Finn says that if Papelbon was looking for something to kick after the game, he should have started with Lugo. (www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases) Hey, at least he didn't go all Mark Buerhle on the dugout heater. (Chicago Sun-Times)
STARTING OVER: The string of strong performances from Red Sox starting pitchers was broken by Clay Buchholz, who allowed 10 hits and 5 runs before being yanked after four innings. Krasner has the details in his postgame notebook, which includes items on the strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play executed by the Sox that ended the eighth inning, Dustin Pedroia's pinch-hit single in the eighth that gave Boston a 9-8 lead, and an interesting night for Kevin Youkilis.
CHANCE FOR SECONDS: Krasner's pregame notebook leads with the reason Pedroia was available for pinch-hitting duties: Jed Lowrie was given the start at second base last night. Kraz also makes note of a pretty obscure record set Tuesday night by Tim Wakefield and Mike Timlin, and details on the Mother's Day Walk In The Park at Fenway.
BUT NOT MANY MORE CHANCES: Lowrie's days in the bigs are probably numbered, since Alex Cora has begun his rehab assignment in Pawtucket and may be ready to return to Boston in a few days. Joe McDonald talked to Cora before and after his 2-for-4 performance, in which he played second base but didn't get any chances in the field. Oh, the game? Kyle Snyder got the win as the PawSox beat Durham, 12-7. McDonald has the info.
STILL PERFECT: Jacoby Ellsbury stole two bases last night, his 12th and 13th of the season (which pulls him into a tie for the league lead), and he's now 22-for-22 in stolen-base attempts as a major-leaguer. (Boston Herald)
A TAVAREZ SIGHTING: Julian Tavarez -- dubbed "Rip Van" Tavarez by the Boston Globe's Gordon Edes -- got into his first game since April 24 and allowed three runs in his only inning of work. He told the Herald's Rob Bradford that the swirling trade rumors -- the Rockies allegedly are interested -- don't bother him and that "[whatever] I get, I'll take it."
EL GOLFER: Jim Donaldson spent a day on the links with Luis Tiant.
ODDS ARE . . . 20-1 that the Red Sox will sign Mark Teixeira when he (presumably) becomes a free agent this winter, according to SI.com's Jon Heyman. The favorite? The Yankees, at 3-2.
OFF THE CLIFF: The Yankee offense was shuttered last night by Cliff Lee, who beat Chien-Ming Wang, 3-0, in a battle of unbeaten pitchers. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Wang, reports the New York Daily News, pitched well enough to win, but not well enough to beat the rampaging Lee, whose seven shutout innings dropped his ERA to 0.81.
SOME MISTAKES YOU JUST KEEP PAYING FOR: Sometime between pregame workouts, when Alex Rodriguez was the picture of optimism, and the end of last night's game, the decision was made that A-Rod needs another MRI, which means he probably won't be ready to return when he's eligible to come off the DL. (New York Daily News) The Post's Joel Sherman says it's all a result of the Yanks rushing him back too soon when he first suffered the injury, a miscalculation the Yankees admit.
STAY HOME: Bob Watson says that -- for all the reasons you'd think -- Roger Clemens isn't welcome on the U.S. Olympic Team. (New York Daily News)
THE RIGHT STUFF: In light of all that's happened to Clemens, Foxsports.com's Tracy Ringolsby thinks Mark McGwire's disappear-into-the-ether strategy looks pretty good.
MAKE IT, HURT: Partly as a lifetime achievement award and partly because he was the only major-leaguer to voluntarily cooperate with the Mitchell investigation, the blog Big League Stew is starting a campaign to get Frank Thomas named to the A.L. All-Star team.
SHIFT IN POWER: When I was growing up, the National League was far and away superior to the American League. Nowadays -- as starkly evidenced hereabouts by the Red Sox' last two World Series appearances -- the opposite is true. But David Pinto, writing for sportingnews.com, writes that the N.L. is actually outscoring the A.L. so far this year and that, with its influx of young talent, it may soon be No. 1 again.
LOCAL BOYS: Chris Iannetta's heroics continue, as his two-run triple helped the Rockies come from behind and beat the Cardinals, 4-3. (Denver Post) Pinto, writing on his Baseball Musings blog, thinks Iannetta should be playing four out of every five games. Elsewhere, John McDonald is making it clear he wants no part of the disabled list in Toronto. (Toronto Star)
ONE STEP BEYOND: Forget pink bats (which we'll see again on Sunday). The White Sox' Nick Swisher, John Danks and Toby Hall have all died their facial hair pink to raise awareness for breast cancer and pay tribute to Mothers Day. (Chicago Tribune)
HYPERTENSION: Yesterday's 9-0 loss to the Reds turned the mood sour in the Cubs clubhouse. (Chicago Tribune)
THE GLASS IS HALF FULL: Barry Zito didn't win, but he didn't pitch badly in his return to the Giants' starting rotation. (San Jose Mercury News)
YOUR TURN NOW: On Monday, a USA Today story sparked Ken Griffey Jr.-back-to-Seattle speculation. On Tuesday, the Reds threw cold water over the reports. Yesterday, the Mariners did the same. (Seattle Times)
HERE AND THERE: The Mariners are struggling and the effects are being felt at the box office. Tuesday night's game against the Rangers attracted the smallest crowd in the history of Safeco Field (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) . . . The rehabbing Mark Mulder has been diagnosed with a rotator-cuff strain (mlb.com) . . . Braves closer Rafael Soriano has no structural damage in his elbow, which doctors say is good news (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Mets' Angel Pagan may have hurt his shoulder when he collided with a wall after catching a foul ball yesterday in Los Angeles (New York Daily News) . . . Chad Gaudin is headed to the A's bullpen to make room in the rotation for the returning Rich Harden. (San Francisco Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: Former Red Sox farmhand Phil Dumatrait recorded his first major-league victory in the Pirates' 3-1 win over the Giants (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Cliff Floyd is close to returning to the Rays (Tampa Tribune) . . . Pedro Martinez is slowly recuperating from his hamstring strain. (Newsday)
PASSAGES: Pat Santarone, the long-time Orioles groundskeeper who planted tomatoes in the bullpen every year in a competition with his friend Earl Weaver as to who had the best plants, has died at age 79. (Baltimore Sun)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
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