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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: That hot-starting Youkilis »
May 9, 2008
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HIT MAKER: We'd love for him to reflect in depth what he thinks about all this, but apparently he left his blog-updating equipment in Tokyo. So while Kevin Youkilis talks about his offensive emergence at the postgame-interview-soundbite level, others explain it all for us:
-- Our own Steven Krasner marvels that Youkilis can hit, and produce, almost anywhere in the lineup . . . a Terry Francona luxury that virtually no other manager enjoys. Last night it was the cleanup spot; placed there when Manny Ramirez was given the day off, Youkilis hit his fourth home run in five games, a two-run shot in the fifth inning that led the Red Sox to a 5-1 win over the Tigers.
-- The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes wonders if we're not seeing a Youkilis transformation from on-base machine to power hitter.
-- The Worcester Telegram and Gazette's Bill Ballou notes that Youkilis -- now with seven home runs this season -- didn't hit his seventh last year until May 28 (an inside-the-parker against the Indians, to boot) and didn't get No. 7 in 2006 until June 4.
-- The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley says you can call Youkilis anything you want but he doesn't want you to call him a power hitter. Seeing as how he's on pace for 31 homers and 121 RBI, though, perhaps he'd better get used to it.
Youkilis is well-known for his demonstrative outbursts -- a reader of the blog Shysterball caught his NSFW blast last week -- but now he's becoming known for his baseball skills, as well. The Twins blog Twinkie Town, previewing the upcoming Sox' weekend series in Minneapolis, waxes poetic -- kind of -- about Youk and says its one wish would be for Youkilis to be hitting behind Joe Mauer. (It might have happened, too. Remember those 2005 trade rumors that had Youkilis and Anibal Sanchez going to Minnesota for J.C. Romero? That would have been one for the ages, eh?) And he's one of the reasons Dan Lamothe at Red Sox Monster thinks everything's beginning to fall in place for the Sox.
TOP OF THE HEAP: The Detroit Free Press' Michael Rosenberg agrees. In the midst of a lament about the state of the Tigers, he calls the Red Sox the best team in baseball.
NO ARGUMENT HERE: MSNBC.com's Michael Celizic not only agrees, he goes further than that. When he looks at the Red Sox, he sees a team "that could keep right on riding roughshod over the division for years to come."
LONGEVITY AWARD: Josh Beckett pitched seven strong innings last night and recorded his 1,000th career strikeout along the way. Krasner reports Beckett, while pleased, wasn't overly excited about the milestone. ("It means you've been around for a while . . . ") That was the top item of a notebook that included bits on an obstruction play involving Dustin Pedroia and Tigers shortstop Rafael Santiago, Ramirez' rest day, Curt Schilling's second game of catch, and other game notes. Beckett's performance is looked at in more detail by the Globe's Amalie Benjamin and the Herald's Rob Bradford.
OH, DO I REMEMBER: The obstruction play with Pedroia -- in which the Sox argued, to no avail, that Pedroia should be allowed to score; instead, he was only awarded third base -- reminded Francona of the 2003 ALDS. To wit: Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller got in the way of the A's Miguel Tejada, which gave Tejada third base, but Tejada mistakenly thought he was entitled to the next base, as well; he sauntered home and was tagged out. "It's why I'm here," Francona told Ballou.
Translation: Francona was the A's bench coach at the time and Oakland lost the series in no small part to that play. Not sure I quite follow the reasoning -- the Sox' managerial job opened because they lost the ALCS to the Yankees, not because they beat the A's in the ALDS, and the Oakland staff didn't get fired after losing to the Sox -- but it sounds good.
INCHING FORWARD: Buckley described Schilling's throwing session yesterday as another baby step in his recovery.
BACK TO NORMAL: Youkilis isn't Boston's only hot bat. Bradford reports on the reawakenings of David Ortiz and Mike Lowell.
EDGE, ELLSBURY: While the team record in games they start is nearly identical, the Sox score a startingly higher number of runs in games when Jacoby Ellsbury starts in center field (6.4) than when Coco Crisp starts (3.8). (Boston Globe)
WATCH THIS: If you watched last night's game on NESN, you heard Jerry Remy talk at length about stolen-base attempts -- specifically, an attempt by Ellsbury -- being determined by the time of the pitcher's delivery to the plate. The Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro breaks down that strategy from the Diamondbacks' point of view . . . and Arizona, remember, is run by former Theo Epstein assistant Josh Byrnes.
SYMPATHY FOR THE . . . ALL RIGHT, WE WON'T CALL HIM THE DEVIL: The blog Shysterball empathizes with Julio Lugo, failing to see why reporters needed to question him about his crucial error Wednesday night. "[Lugo] basically just screwed up. He knows it. The reporters know it. The fans know it. What else is there to add on a primary source reporting basis?"
SORROW AND JOY: There's no empathy for Lugo in the Sox blogosophere, as the blogs Center Field, Soxaholix and Papel-Blog demonstrate. The Yankee blogosphere, as represented by IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS . . . caught, regards Lugo as its favorite Red Sox player.
REUNITED: Jim Rice says the Red Sox do a wonderful job of keeping their former players in touch with each other. (ask14,.sullivantire.com)
WELCOME ABOARD: The Globe's Nancy Marrapese-Burrell has a nice feature on NESN's new Red Sox reporter, Heidi Watney.
STAY AS LONG AS YOU LIKE: The rehabbing Alex Cora was joined in Pawtucket yesterday by Sean Casey, and PawSox players were delighted: Cora and Casey treated their minor-league teammates to a big-league food spread after the game, as is the tradition for major-leaguers when they arrive. Joe McDonald has all the details, along with the recap of David Pauley's 3-2 win over Durham.
CLIMBING BACK UP THE LADDER: In more minor-league news, Benjamin's weekly notebook begins with an item on Daniel Bard, who's rebounding from a disappointing 2007. And Michael Bowden pitched 6 2/3 innings of one-hit ball Wednesday night at Portland. (rotoworld.com)
DANGER ZONE: The sight of Placido Polanco's bat shattering as he looped the game-winning hit into left field Wednesday night is all-too-familiar these days; maple, which is becoming the wood of choice for many players, has a tendency to splinter. Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan notes that the flying shards are extremely dangerous -- Pirates coach Don Long was hit in the face with one a few weeks ago and suffered nerve damage -- and, comparing it to the foul ball that killed base coach Mike Coolbaugh last year, says "neither Major League Baseball nor the MLB Players Association can afford to wait for another tragedy when it could take preventative measures. Were officials from either party to meet with Long . . . they would understand the issue must be resolved immediately."
UNHAPPY NEW YEAR: With last night's loss, Tigers starter Jason Verlander now has as many defeats -- six -- as he did all last year. (Detroit Free Press) And Miguel Cabrera, off to a slow start with the struggling Tigers, admits he misses the Marlins. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
THE ANSWER: The Detroit News' Rob Parker says Barry Bonds is the cure for what ails the Tigers.
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ALL JOBA, ALL THE TIME: No matter what, every Yankee game seems to revolve around Joba Chamberlain. The other night he was despondent after surrendering a game-losing home run to David Dellucci. Yesterday he was jubilant (right) after striking out Dellucci in a key spot. But unlike Frank Thomas, who seemed unruffled by Chamberlain's normal post-K histrionics last month, Dellucci was fuming; he all but called Chamberlain a bush-leaguer and noted, "My home run (off Chamberlain) was in a much bigger situation, more a key part of the game and I didn't dance around and scream." (New York Daily News) Chamberlain, of course, insisted he meant no disrespect, and Peter Abraham came to his defense: "Joba is a good kid and he acts the same way in the clubhouse as he does on the field. He’s brash, loud, confident and it’s genuine. He’s not acting on the mound; the emotion is who he is. Take that away and he’s not in the majors" (LoHud Yankees Blog) | 
AP Photo |
WEIGHING IN: We haven't had a story on whether or not Chamberlain should be in the starting rotation in a few days, so here's Steven Goldman of the New York Sun. He wants Chamberlain to start.
BETTER TIMES AHEAD: The Yankees salvaged the finale of the three-game series with the Indians, and both Bill Madden of the Daily News and Mike Vaccaro of the Post see the glass as half full in the Bronx.
REALLY BETTER TIMES AHEAD: The blog Sliding Into Home has video of Keith Olbermann raving about the new Yankee Stadium.
BRING ME BACK: David Wells has a cure for the Yankee starting-pitching woes: Himself. (New York Post)
WORKING THINGS OUT: Neil Best of Newsday says Joe Girardi's relationship with the New York media is at the growing-pains stage.
HITCHIN' A RIDE: While riding the subway to Yankee Stadium Wednesday night, Rich Lederer of Baseball Analysts was stunned to be sharing the train with that night's Indians starter, Cliff Lee.
CAN'T WIN IF YOU CAN'T HIT: SI.com's John Donovan says the Padres' postseason chances are being killed by an offense that's downright offensive.
LOCAL BOYS: John McDonald, suffering from an ankle sprain, was placed on the disabled list by the Blue Jays. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
HERE AND THERE: The Rangers designated Ben Broussard for assignment (mlb.com) . . . Leo Mazzone wants back in baseball (AP via USA Today) . . . John Smoltz hopes to return to the Braves by the end of May (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Nationals catchers Paul LoDuca and Johnny Estrada are both headed to the disabled list (Washington Post) . . . The Royals' Jose Guillen isn't playing because of a sore neck (Kansas City Star) . . . Rangers manager Ron Washington is safe until at least the All-Star break (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Brewers have placed former closer Derrick Turnbow on irrevocable waivers. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Kason Gabbard had to leave the game because of bruising in his legs suffered when he was charged by Richie Sexson after throwing a pitch close to Sexson's head in the Rangers' game at Seattle last night (Dallas Morning News) . . . Say what you will about Johnny Damon, but you can do nothing but admire his frankness. Prior to yesterday's game he called himself out for not hitting. (mlb.com) And then he stepped up and led the Yankees to victory (New York Post) . . . Alex Gonzalez, who suffered a compression fracture in his knee earlier this year, is coming along slowly (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . David Eckstein is on the DL in Toronto. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 6:38 AM | Permalink
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