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May 21, 2008
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
WEALTH OF RICHES: Justin Masterson (above) knew the pressure was on when, in the aftermath of Jon Lester's no-hitter Monday night, a TV announcer remarked, "Justin, have fun following this one up." But the emergency starter -- while not exactly matching Lester's performance of the night before -- pitched just as well as he had in his first one-and-done appearance last month (ProJo Sox Blog) . . . and this time he was rewarded for it, as the Red Sox defeated the Royals, 2-1, for their fifth straight win. Joe McDonald has the details of the victory, which Jonathan Papelbon nailed down by striking out three of the four batters he faced; the biggest one, of course, was the fanning of Billy Butler with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth as he cleaned up yet another mess created by Hideki Okajima. Terry Francona insisted Okajima (double and two walks in two-thirds of an inning) "did OK" (Boston Herald) and the Sox are willing to blame rustiness -- he hadn't pitched in almost a week because of a sore wrist -- for his troubles. Maybe so, but the Sox are still worried about their less-than-airtight relief corps, which last night included an inherited runner allowed to score by the similarly wobbly Manny Delcarmen. So worried, in fact, that Sean McAdam reports the Sox may turn Masterson into a reliever later this year in the hopes he can fortify the bullpen in the same way Papelbon did in 2005.
THE MORNING AFTER: But the buzz at the ballpark still centered around Lester, who, as McDonald, McAdam and Steven Krasner report in their notebook, was just beginning to come back down to Earth yesterday. The Seattle Times' Larry Stone has a touching piece on how Lester's father John, back home in Puyallup, Wash., kept track of his son's no-hitter despite his superstition of not following the games when he's not at the stadium. (Hint: It revolved around listening for his wife's screams of delight.) Outside our little world, Rhode Island's Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer gets reaction from another cancer survivor, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, on Lester's feat. (Hint: He's thrilled.) Not surprisingly, Curt Schilling weighed in on Lester's no-hitter on 38pitches.com and had plenty of nice things to say. He also once again rues the decision he made to shake off Jason Varitek with two outs in the ninth inning last June 7 in Oakland. If he hadn't, Varitek might have caught five no-hitters in his career.
NOT-SO-EVIL EMPIRE: Among the people praising Lester yesterday was none other than Hank Steinbrenner. (Boston Globe)
PREMONITION: Joe Posnanski said he had the sense right from the first pitch that something unforgettable was going to happen at Fenway Monday night . . . and was he right. And, as you'll discover if you click the link, did he appreciate it. (joeposnanski.com)
THE REAL SURVIVORS: The Red Sox have four current and former players -- Jon Lester, Mike Lowell, Mark Loretta and Derek Lowe -- on Yahoo! Sports' All-Cancer Survivor Team.
SHORT-TERM FIX? Tonight, Bartolo Colon makes his Sox debut as Masterson heads back out (though this time to Pawtucket and not Portland). In his weekly ESPN radio broadcast, transcribed by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog, Peter Gammons says the Sox may only get five or six good starts out of Colon before he begins to break down but that may be all they're looking for.
SURPRISE! In their notebook, McDonald, McAdam and Krasner also note the decision of Julian Tavarez to reject free agency and accept an assignment to Pawtucket. The state of pitching being what it is around baseball, it was thought Tavarez could have snapped up a job in an instant on the open market; instead, he decided to stay put. The Rockies were thought to be a potential landing spot for Tavarez, but the Denver Post reports that -- while they still might have taken a chance if he'd reached free agency -- their interest cooled when they signed Glendon Rusch.
STALLED: In his Inside The Game feature, Krasner wonders if the pressure of being two home runs shy of 500 is affecting Manny Ramirez at the plate.
NOTHING'S CHANGED: Coco Crisp sill wants to play every day and is waiting for the Sox to make good on their promise to trade him. (Boston Herald)
GETTING BETTER: Journal food critic Gail Ciampa says this year's batch of Red Sox wines -- Captain’s Cabernet (named for Jason Varitek), Vintage Papi (who do you think?), and Sauvignyoouuk Blanc (Kevin Youkilis) -- are "an improvement over last year’s inaugural selections."
LEADING THE WAY: In the latest installment of Ask 14, Jim Rice talks about clubhouse leadership in general and clubhouse leadership on the 1970s Red Sox in particular.
ROCK BOTTOM: That's where Joe Girardi hopes the Yankees are -- with nowhere to go but up -- after last night's 12-2 pounding by the Orioles, a loss that rendered even Hank Steinbrenner speechless. (New York Daily News) The game marked the return of Alex Rodriguez but, as the Daily News' Filip Bondy points out, "there are only so many leaks that Rodriguez can repair." The New York Post's Larry Brooks concurs, pointing to problems such as a Johnny Damon blunder in left field and Robinson Cano's lackadaisical play at second base (which led directly to the Derek Jeter throwing error that opened the door for the Orioles' first-inning explosion), and concludes: "Rodriguez would have to be a miracle worker in order to turn around this structurally flawed team."
STARTING WITH . . . Perhaps the biggest leak is on that big bump in the middle of the diamond, especially with the first guys the Yankees put out there every night. Last night the first guy was Mike Mussina, but he didn't get out of the first inning, departing after getting only two outs and putting the Yanks in a 7-0 hole. (New York Daily News)
'AT LEAST THE YANKEES LEAD THE LEAGUE IN SOMETHING': That something, points out Peter Abraham on the LoHud Yankees Blog, is suspensions, especially since another one may be in the offing after LaTroy Hawkins threw twice at the Orioles' Luke Scott -- the last time at his head -- in apparent retaliation for Derek Jeter being hit on the wrist a few innings earlier by Daniel Cabrera. (Both stories New York Post) The Orioles had no use for Hawkins throwing high at Scott (Baltimore Sun), especially since, as Abraham points out, Jeter a) dives over the plate on every pitch, b) has been hit 132 times in his career and c) if "the Yankees retaliate every time Jeter gets hit, they’re going to run out of pitchers." Hawkins will soon join Melky Cabrera, Shelley Duncan and Kyle Farnsworth as Yankee players who have been suspended this season . . . and Farnsworth also was nailed for throwing at an opposing batter's head.
What's that you were saying there, Goose Gossage, about Yankee class and dignity?
SPIRITUAL HEALING: Scott, who can regularly be seen reading the Bible in the Orioles clubhouse, said of Hawkins: "The Lord says to forgive those who wrong you. And I forgive him." (Washington Post)
THOSE WHO FORGET THE PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT: With a ton of money coming off the books at the end of the year -- among the bloated contracts that expire are Mussina's, Jason Giambi's and Bobby Abreau's -- the Yankees are expected to make a big splash in the free-agent market this winter as they prepare to head into the new Yankee Stadium. But the blog River Ave. Blues points out that handing, say, Mark Teixeira the seven-year (or longer) contract he'll undoubtedly be seeking means you'll soon be facing the same problem with him that you have with the Giambis now; to wit, paying a ton of money for a player whose skills are deteriorating.
DEAD OR ALIVE? The Yankees are one of five struggling teams examined by ESPN.com's Rob Neyer and Jonah Keri in an attempt to determine if their seasons are beyond salvage.
PILING ON: Now it's SNY.tv's Michael Salfino making a Rays-Yankees comparison that, ah, doesn't favor New York.
TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK . . . Bob Klapisch says that while all the attention in New York is focused on Willie Randolph, the clock is also ticking on Girardi. (northjersey.com)
THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT: Randolph hinted there are racial overtones in the criticism he's receiving from Mets fans when he talked to the Bergen Record's Ian O'Connor. But yesterday, as controversy over the remarks began to rise, he backtracked from the race angle. (New York Times)
KEEP ON COMING: Of course, the criticism won't get any softer in light of the Mets' losing a doubleheader to the Braves. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH: That's what Mindy McCready says she told about her relationship with Roger Clemens in an upcoming documentary. (New York Daily News)
OKAY, OKAY, I GET THE HINT: Mike Piazza, who spent seven months on the free-agent market without a nibble, announced his retirement yesterday. (mlb.com) Baseball Musings' David Pinto has a nice retrospective of Piazza's career, which should land him in Cooperstown in 2013.
THEY SAY THE BEST MOVES . . . are sometimes the ones you don't make. The blog SportsHubLA thinks the Angels' non-trade for Miguel Cabrera fits into that category.
COMING OUT SWINGING: Jim Leyland told Bob Nightengale of USA Today this has been the most exasperating of his 17 seasons as a big-league manager, and that exasperation apparently grew when ex-Tiger Jason Grilli said some of the team's offseason moves -- such as the jettisoning of Sean Casey -- "broke up our team chemistry". Leyland fired back at Grilli's seemingly innocuous remarks, basically telling him to mind his own business and worry about himself. (Detroit Free Press) "You’ve got to be (kidding) me," said Leyland. "We lost Sean Casey. I mean, please. Come on . . . I miss Sean Casey. But Sean Casey has nothing to do with the fact that the Tigers are where we’re at.”
WHAT?? When asked for comment at his present baseball address -- Colorado -- Grilli seemed as surprised as the rest of us at Leyland's reaction. (mlb.com)
THE (ABUSE OF) POWER OF THE INTERNET: You may have heard there was a blog report Monday that the Brewers were about to fire Ned Yost. I didn't link to it because there were about 84 smell tests it didn't pass -- at its worst, you could assume it was just a guy throwing something out there with no attribution whatsoever -- but some media outlets either reported it or attempted to follow up on it. Well, it wasn't true (duh!), and a furious Yost has some harsh words for the organizations that did repeat the rumor. (mlb.com)
DAMN STRAIGHT: Braves announcer Skip Carey chimes in on bloggers during a game broadcast. (www.cantstopthebleeding.com)
WARNING! WARNING! The Cubs are naturally concerned that Carlos Zambrano has stiffness in his right shoulder/right neck area. (Chicago Sun-Times)
DOUBLE WARNING! DOUBLE WARNING! Lost amid the euphoria of Edinson Volquez' fast start is the fact that he's been running up some high pitch counts (Middletown Journal)
WELCOME HOME: Rick Sutcliffe, who was diagnosed with colon cancer this spring, returns to the ESPN broadcast booth tonight. (AP via Chicago Tribune)
BACK ON THE AIR: Harold Reynolds, fired by ESPN in 2006 "based on accusations about his behavior that were never publicly detailed," talks to the New York Times about his dismissal, why he fought against it so vigorously, his current stint at SNY in New York, and his potential future in broadcasting.
INSTANT REPLAY: One night after they blew a home-run call on national television on a ball hit by Carlos Delgado at Yankee Stadium, major-league umpires did it again on a smaller stage Monday night, making an incorrect call on a home run by the Cubs' Geovany Soto in Houston. The New York Times reports MLB is working on a limited instant-replay proposal that may gain the approval of long-time replay opponent Bud Selig.
IF YOU CAN'T GET IT RIGHT, I'M NOT GOING TO TALK TO YOU: John Smoltz says he's finished giving medical updates about his injured shoulder because the media misinterpreted comments he made over the weekend. (mlb.com)
HERE AND THERE: Chone Figgins-to-the-White Sox rumors are surfacing (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Twins have lost Matt Tolbert for five to six weeks because of a torn ligament in his thumb (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . The Marlins' Josh Willingham has a herniated disc in his back and could be out for a month or more (Miami Herald) . . . The Brewers have lifted Carlos Villanueva, last seen getting cuffed around by the Red Sox, from their starting rotation (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Padres have put the ailing Jake Peavy on the disabled list (mlb.com) . . . Andruw Jones has fluid and a torn cartilage in his knee. (Los Angeles Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez will throw a bullpen session today (New York Daily News) . . . It's always something: Now Eric Gagne's shoulder hurts (mlb.com) . . . The Dodgers have placed Gary Bennett on the disabled list (Los Angeles Times) . . . Lenny DiNardo is back with the A's. (Costa Contra Times)
-- ART MARTONE
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