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June 30, 2008
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| YO! I have a friend who's perhaps the world's biggest David Pauley fan, and he must be pleased that Pauley raised his record to 10-2 last night with a victory over Richmond; details are provided by McDonald. But whenever I think of David Pauley, all I can picture is the hysterical Boston Dirt Dogs photoshop you see on the right.
END OF THE LINE: Tonight we bid a fond farewell to Hazel Mae, whose days at NESN are at an end. (Boston Herald) Rumors persist, however, that she'll land somewhere in Boston before too much longer. NOT OUR COLOR: The Boston Globe is sensing a growing backlash against pink hats, a term which has come to represent bandwagon fans. |  |
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: Life is good in Tampa Bay. The Rays closed to within a half-game of the Red Sox as Matt Garza allowed no hits through the first six innings before settling for a one-hitter in a 6-1 dispatch of the Marlins. (Tampa Tribune) It was, reports the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin, the sixth series sweep of the year for the Rays, a franchise record. To top it all off, Carlos Pena will return to the lineup tonight when the team plays in Pittsburgh. (Tampa Tribune)
BACKSTOPPING THE WHOLE THING: Gary Shelton of the St. Pete Times calls catcher Dioner Navarro "the most improved player on the most improved team in baseball."
DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS: Interleague play (mercifully) concludes this weekend, and in New York that means the final four games of Mets-Yankees. The New York Daily News reports the teams are coming into the series from opposite directions.
RAIN AND FURY: The Yanks were rained out last night after starting the game against the Pirates (and jumping out to a 3-1 lead), and Mike Mussina voiced the anger of many Yankees when he blasted . . . well, someone (even he wasn't sure who) for not scheduling yesterday's game in the afternoon in light of the fact the Yanks have a day-night, separate-stadium doubleheader today. (New York Daily News) The weather was beautiful all day and the game would have been played without incident, but the Pirates wanted the game to be at night for greater television ratings.
THE SWORD SWINGS BOTH WAYS: Players/coaches/managers aren't the only ones to be disciplined by Major League Baseball for on-field disputes. Umpire Brian Runge was handed a one-game suspension for his actions during a dispute with Mets manager Jerry Manuel the other night. (New York Post)
CHANGE IN PLANS: First he wanted to manage the Mets. Now, angry because they didn't hire him, Gary Carter wants to manage someone else "and beat the heck out of [the Mets]." (New York Times)
STILL FLYING: Those waiting for the annual Orioles collapse -- like me -- are still waiting. Yesterday the O's beat the Cubs, handing Chicago a rare series loss at Wrigley Field. (Washington Post)
THE SWEETEST REVENGE: Joe Posnanski says baseball has kicked the Royals in the teeth for the last 20 years, so it's time for them to kick back by signing Barry Bonds.
SHOOTING FOR THE STARS: Carlos Zambrano says he hopes to be recovered from his shoulder woes in time to pitch in the All-Star Game. (Chicago Tribune)
STAR SWITCH: If Zambrano is able to make it back in time, he'll be joined in New York by his manager, Lou Piniella, who yesterday was named to replace Willie Randolph on the N.L. coaching staff by this year's National League manager, Clint Hurdle. (Denver Post) MLB, meanwhile, is trying to figure out a way that Randolph can still participate in the activities. (New York Post)
'THE MEAT HAS AGED. IT'S BETTER MEAT': That was Charlie Finley's chortle when he raised the price on some of his players during his Kuhn-aborted attempt to sell off his stars in 1976. The present-day A's, though, might be saying the same thing about Rich Harden after his dominant performance last night against the Phillies. (San Francisco Chronicle)
HERE AND THERE: The A's and Rockies could be cooking up a multiplayer deal involving Matt Holliday (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Pirates have placed Ian Snell on the disabled list (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The Nationals swapped pitchers on the DL, putting on Shawn Hill and taking off Odalis Perez (Washington Post) . . . Ryan Church has begun to work his way back to the Mets (New York Post) . . . The Yankees may have to put Hideki Matsui on the disabled list. (New York Post)
AND FINALLY . . . Many thanks to Tim Daloisio and Paul Testa, who invited me to be a guest last night on one of their Fireside Chats on the blog Fire Brand of the American League. I had a great time, guys, and hope we can do it again soon.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 6:59 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, June 26
AP Photo
HALFWAY THERE: They hit the 81-game mark last night, the exact midpoint of the season, and while it may not seem like the Red Sox have done what former Packers running back Travis Williams once (delightfully) described as "anything fantabulous," they're on pace for 98 wins. That's how they'd finish if they repeat their 49-32 first-half record, a mark they reached with a 5-0 win over the Diamondbacks that, Joe McDonald writes, was the result of some stout pitching by Tim Wakefield and a nice performance from his personal catcher, Kevin Cash. Cash's contributions included a put-it-away three-run homer in the eighth -- for which he received congratulations in the above picture -- that put the game into the "safe" category.
As impressive as 49-32 may be, it's actually a game behind the 50-31 record they had at the midway point in each of the last two seasons; in neither year were they able to maintain that performance over the second half. But there's a big difference this time around. They played their 81st game this year on June 25. Last year they didn't play No. 81 until July 2. In 2006, it came on July 4. And that's pretty much when it always falls -- July 4 in 2005, July 6 in 2004, July 1 in 2003, etc. The fact that it came more than a week early this year means there's a lot of air built into the second-half schedule . . . time the Sox can use to a) rest their everyday players, b) get extra days off for their starters, c) better manage their bullpen, etc. Did you realize that the longest consecutive-day stretch the Sox have from now until the end of the year is 13? (They'll do that twice, from tomorrow to July 9 and then again from Aug. 8-20.) They'll be off on 10 of the remaining 14 Thursdays this year (counting today), and 3 of the remaining 13 Mondays.
These Sox aren't particularly old and creaky, but some of the regulars do show some age; the more time off they can get, the better. And Peter Gammons had a particularly telling quote on this topic during his last ESPN Radio appearance -- more on that in a moment -- when he said: "I’m still firmly convinced that the reason the Red Sox won the World Series was the 50 less innings pitched that Josh Beckett threw as opposed to C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. I think those guys just hit the wall in that series and Josh Beckett was pitching in the World Series like it was April 20."
The more rest you have now, the more energy you have later. That's why it may be easier for the Sox to continue to play at their current pace in the last three months.
IT STARTS NOW: Speaking of rest, the suddenly slumping J.D. Drew got some last night; McDonald gets Terry Francona's reasoning. Drew was replaced by Brandon Moss, and perhaps there's no more telling sign of Randy Johnson's mortality than the fact that the Red Sox were willing to start a rookie left-handed hitter against the Big Unit. Can you imagine that happening in 1997 or so?
AS FOR THE GAME . . . Steven Krasner breaks it down, with explanations of Wakefield showing why he's more than just a knuckleballer, how Manny Delcarmen benefitted from following Wake's soft tosses with some heat of his own, more failed strategy from Arizona manager Bob Melvin and a Red Sox rally that wasn't in the fifth inning.
BACK IN ACTION: Kevin Youkilis returned to the lineup last night, missing only a day after getting hit in the eye with the Mike Lowell throw on Monday. (projo.com)
STILL WAITING: The Sox have yet to receive word on the appeal of Coco Crisp's suspension. But the Boston Herald's Jeff Horrigan reports the Red Sox should be covered if Crisp's ban begins this weekend because it looks as if Manny Ramirez is good to go in left field.
THE FIRST STEP ON THE LONG JOURNEY: David Ortiz took 25 easy swings off a tee Tuesday night. Krasner reports it went as well as expected and that Big Papi is two or three weeks away from returning.
IT'S POSSIBLE: Curt Schilling thinks he'll be able to pitch again if he wants to following successful shoulder surgery. (projo.com) He's still unsure if wants to, though.
NOTHING'S OVER UNTIL I SAY IT'S OVER: If you thought the end of Schilling's season, and perhaps his career, would at least put his feud with Dan Shaughnessy on hold, guess again. Schilling updated his "Not a thing in the world to be upset about" entry on 38pitches.com to call Shaughnessy a liar over a specific piece of Shaughnessy's farewell column the other day -- in which Dan said Schilling announced his impending surgery on WEEI Radio without telling Red Sox management he was doing so -- and then went on to a number of remarkably personal insults, which, if nothing else, will play spectacularly to Schilling's target online audience.
Your serve, Mr. Shaughnessy.
THE CUTTING EDGE: Peter Gammons' latest appearance on ESPN Radio, as reported by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog, deals with the Red Sox' strengths in protecting their pitchers and in helping players adjust to the big leagues once they arrive in Boston.
KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: Clay Buchholz doesn't want his stay in Pawtucket to be a long one, apparently. Paul Kenyon reports he was dominant last night as he pitched the PawSox to their sixth straight win, 10-1 over Richmond. Speaking of the PawSox, McDonald has news that Mike Timlin will throw an inning for them tonight.
DUELING POLLS: The Red Sox are No. 1 in SI.com's power rankings, but sit third, behind the Cubs and Angels, on foxsports.com.
DEDICATED TO THE ONES I LOVE: One of Chad Finn's most entertaining features on his Touching All The Bases blog is the Random Baseball Cards. Writing for Baseball Analysts, he composes An Ode To Baseball Cards and he concludes with something I've always thought: "The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book is a literary classic and should be taught in all high schools throughout the United States and certain parts of Canada."
FISH FRY: James Shields won his first game in more than six weeks last night, but that news got lost in a barrage of hits and runs as the Rays romped to a 15-3 win over the Marlins. The bad news in Tampa Bay: Troy Percival's balky hamstring is still barking and it "could limit his availability indefinitely." (Both stories St. Petersburg Times)
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Our friend Terry Nau, the sports editor of the Pawtucket Times, is a Yankee fan. So what does it say when he writes the Rays are a bigger threat to the Red Sox this year than the Yankees?
FORESIGHT: It's a hot topic today, but Joe Maddon was warning us about maple bats back when his team was still known as the Devil Rays. I had to go to Google to get the cached version of a Tampa Tribune story from July 24, 2007, in which he raised the issue "because I really believe somebody's going to get hurt if there's nothing done about it."
JOBA RULES: "The debate is over," declares Peter Abraham (LoHud Yankees Blog), and it certainly appears that way after Joba Chamberlain pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings in picking up his first win as a starter as the Yankees blanked the Pirates, 8-0. (New York Daily News) The Yanks, point out Abraham, have won four of the five games started by Chamberlain (even though last night was the first time he got credit for the victory) and the evidence is incontrovertible that the best utilization of his skills is in the rotation. Now, he adds, all they need to do is find another starter.
THE LINE FORMS HERE First up in the audition: Sidney Ponson, who will pitch Friday night against the Mets. (New York Daily News) The New York Post says reports of Ponson's being loud and drunk in a St. Petersburg bar the night before he pitched for the Rangers against the Rays last month are greatly exaggerated.
WAS THAT HANK WHO JUST WALKED BY IN THE 'GOT RINGS?' SHIRT? After hearing Hank Steinbrenner say he might feel different about rehiring Willie Randolph had Randolph gone off to manage the Red Sox, ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra asks, "Does anyone else find it disturbing that the owner of the biggest franchise in American sports sees the world in such a simple, provincial way?" If Hank's father felt that way, we'd have been spared the sights of Wade Boggs, Don Zimmer, Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon in pinstripes. Not to mention Alan Embree and Mike Myers. Or Joe Kerrigan.
SO SORRY: Umpire Brian Runge apologized to Jerry Manuel for his actions during their argument, which led to Manuel's ejection, Tuesday night. (New York Post)
'MAYBE IT SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED': That's about as close to remorse as Shawn Chacon would get after he was suspended for grabbing general manager Ed Wade by the neck and throwing him to the ground during an argument that ensued over the Astros' removing Chacon from their starting rotation. (Houston Chronicle) The Chronicle's Jose de Jesus Ortiz, writing on his blog, thinks "[in] time, I really believe Chacon will regret his actions, but all sides agree there's no way Chacon will ever play in Houston again. On ShysterBall, Calcaterra had a more succinct reaction: "Forgive me for being a lawyer, but when I read [Chacon's comments] . . . I think 'wow, Wade's lawyer could win this one on summary judgment right now!' "
HECK, NO, I WON'T GO: There's no independent-league stint in Barry Bonds' future, according to his agent, Jeff Borris. (espn.com)
HAH? It doesn't appear as if Jim Thome will reach the 664 plate appearances he needs to guarantee his 2009 contract, but he says "stuff like that doesn't cross my mind." (Chicago Sun-Times)
'THAT'S A FIRST': So says Jim Leyland to the news Brandon Inge is headed to the disabled list because he reinjured his oblique muscle while fixing his 3 1/2-year-old son's pillow. (Detroit Free Press)
'THE AGES' IS A RELATIVE TERM: The Rockies made a comeback for the ages last year in reaching first the postseason and then the World Series. Thanks to their puny N.L. West foes, Tracy Ringolsby thinks another one could be in the offing. (foxsports.com)
ONE OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD: SI.com's John Donovan thinks the Mets may be helped by last week's change of managers, but the other two firings -- by the Mariners and Blue Jays -- won't make any difference at all.
THEY LIKE MIKE: Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports has a nice feature explaining the success of Mike Scioscia with the Angels.
IN DEFENSE OF JOE MORGAN: Joe Posnanski knows it will make him an Internet pariah, but he explains -- and defends -- Morgan's aversion to statistics.
HERE AND THERE: The Nationals have offered Christian Guzman a two-year contract extension (mlb.com) . . . Andy Phillips is the latest big-leaguer to spend time in both New York boroughs as the Mets claimed the ex-Yankee off waivers (foxsports.com) . . . The Pirates have acquired Denny Bautista from the Tigers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Francisco Liriano took another step backwards last night, allowing nine hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings in a start for Rochester against Louisville (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) . . . Scott Proctor's elbow is apparently why he was "(bleeping) pathetic" (self-description) the other day, and he's headed to the disabled list. (Los Angeles Times) Incidentally, the blog Fifth Outfielder looks into the numbers and is astounded at the love Joe Torre has shown Proctor in both New York and Los Angeles, considering what Proctor has actually delivered when he's pitched . . . Looks like all the optimistic talk was just that, as now the Mariners say Felix Hernandez will miss at least one start because of the sprained ankle he suffered Monday (mlb.com) . . . Hank Blalock's hand is still swollen and he doesn't know when he'll be able to return to the Rangers. (Dallas Morning News)
OLD FRIENDS: Carlos Pena is joining Rhode Island's Rocco Baldelli in Sarasota on rehab (St. Petersburg Times) . . . Jay Payton hit a pair of home runs off Ted Lilly (and is now 10-for-20 in his career against veteran left-hander) in the Orioles' loss to the Cubs (Baltimore Sun) . . . The Dodgers have moved Gary Bennett to the 60-day disabled list (Los Angeles Times) . . . Josh Bard is still at least two weeks away from returning to the Padres. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
AND FINALLY . . . All those "Hi Don and Remdawg!" signs don't cut no mustard in Cleveland, where Orsillo and Remy -- unable to ride Manny Ramirez' coattails, apparently -- had a tough time getting into Jacobs Field one day:
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:20 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 25
CAPTAIN CRUNCH: "It’s frequently said about [Jason] Varitek," writes Sean McAdam, "that his main contribution comes from behind — not at — the plate and that any offense he provides is purely a bonus. But this was getting ridiculous."
That it was. According to calculations from Baseball Musings' Day By Day Database, Varitek entered last night's game hitting .127 (10-for-79) in the one-month period since May 24, with correspondingly horrid on-base (.198) and slugging (.190) percentages. Those numbers didn't get any better in his first three at-bats, either, as an 0-for-3 dropped Varitek to 10-for-his-last-82 (including 4-for-his-last-47). So when Mike Lowell walked to the plate in the eighth inning with runners on second and third, two outs, and the Diamondbacks holding a 4-2 lead, a lot of people -- yours truly among them -- expected Arizona manager Bob Melvin to defy baseball dogma and intentionally walk Lowell, putting the go-ahead run on base, because the on-deck hitter was Varitek. But Melvin, writes Steven Krasner in his Inside The Game feature, didn't bite, and he paid for it: Lowell doubled off the wall, tying the game. (Had he been up on his stats, Melvin might have been even more reluctant to pitch to Lowell.) And then, reports Joe McDonald, Varitek came through anyway with a single to right (above), driving in Lowell and giving the Red Sox a come-from-behind 5-4 win.
McAdam says the relief in the stoic Varitek's demeanor was almost palpable after the game, and there's no questioning how happy Terry Francona was. You don't have to hit much when you're as valuable to a team in as many ways as Varitek, but you do have to hit something. Last night, that "something" enabled the Red Sox to come away with a victory on a night when, reports Krasner, they were baffled for the first seven innings by the soft-tossing Doug Davis.
AND THE BENFICIARIES WERE . . . Justin Masterson, who avoided being saddled with a loss after six laborious innings, and Chris Smith, who got his first major-league win with two sterling innings of relief. Krasner and McDonald have the details.
 | QUITE A SIGHT: Kevin Youkilis (left, shown in the dugout during the game) reported to the ballpark with a shiner, some swelling, and, writes McAdam, an attitude in the wake of being hit in the eye by an errant Lowell throw during between-innings warmups Monday night. He didn't start the game, but he did come and play first base in the ninth inning to finish it out.
ALSO ON THE RECOVERY LIST: David Ortiz may begin hitting off a tee today in anticipation of his return to the lineup, which is still a couple of weeks away. McAdam has the report. SUSPENSION UPDATES: Coco Crisp is still awaiting word on his appeal and McAdam notes it could cause a problem; if the suspension kicks in this weekend and Manny Ramirez is still unable to play the field because of his hamstring problems, the Sox could be short of outfielders during their three-game series in Houston. Sean Casey, meanwhile, is in the middle of his three-game ban and Krasner reports he's chomping at the bit to get back. |
SWEET: There are people around here who are getting sick of it, but the nightly Sweet Caroline chorus is really something to people -- like the Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro -- who've never heard it. Check the column on the right for his take.
IT'S REACHED THESE EARS . . . That Jerry Remy isn't too thrilled with NESN's latest hire, Heidi Watney. At least that what Baseball Musings' David Pinto is hearing; he passes it along in a post saluting Remy, who -- as you know if you watched any of last night's broadcast -- was honored by NESN and the Red Sox yesterday. You can see some pictures from the ceremony, and the game, in last night's projo.com slideshow.
HOW FAIR IS THAT?? The blog Fire Brand of the American League isn't happy about the disparity in the quality of interleague schedules for the Red Sox and Yankees; taking away their common opponents (the Reds and Astros), the Sox' N.L. foes are a combined 27 games over .500 and the Yanks' are 17 games under .500. Maybe so, but it's hard to muster much outrage since the Sox are 9-5 in interleague play this year and the Yankees are 7-5.
MINOR MONSTERS: In case you haven't noticed, the Pawtucket Red Sox are having quite the season. Rob Lee tells us about it.
HOME RUNS: Ex-Sox star Mo Vaughn is buying two threatened apartment complexes in Boston as part of his expanding campaign to preserve low-cost housing. (Boston Globe)
WALKING THE WALK: The Rays were the beneficiaries of a pair of two-out, bases-loaded walks in the eighth inning, which enabled them to take the lead, and then survived a four-walk peformance in the bottom of the ninth by closer Troy Percival as they beat the Marlins, 6-4, in a sloppy game in which some uncharacteristic Tampa Bay defensive lapses aided almost all of Florida's rallies. (Tampa Tribune) Joe Maddon wasn't basking in any all-that-counts-is-the-final-score glow afterwards, warning his young troops that "we're not going to beat the Red Sox, and the Yankees as they're coming on, and all these really good teams, if we continue to make these kind of mistakes. They've got to go away. Mistakes of assuming. Mistakes of assumption. Just mistakes (that) have to be eradicated. Mental mistakes." (St. Petersburg Times) But Maddon didn't escape criticism, either; the blog DRays Bay chided him for sticking with Percival during the closer's ninth-inning walk on the wild side.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING IN LIFE: And it appears the Rays will survive the anticipated serving of Akinori Iwamura's suspension this weekend just fine thanks to the return of Ben Zobrist and the fact that Jason Bartlett's wife will have their baby in time for him to get back to the team by Friday. (St. Petersburg Times)
SPIRIT OF '60: The Yankees hadn't played a game in Pittsburgh in nearly 48 years; the last time they were there, Bill Mazeroski was homering over Yogi Berra's head in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Seven to give the Pirates one of the most improbable World Series victories of all time. (baseball-reference.com) But there was no revenge forthcoming last night, as the Bucs -- who trotted out Mazeroski to throw out the first pitch (mlb.com) -- routed Darrell Rasner and coasted to a 12-5 victory. (New York Daily News) Joe Girardi, for one, wasn't very pleased. (New York Post)
EVER HEAR OF REASSESSING YOUR OPTIONS, JOE? While Peter Abraham admires Joe Girardi's loyalty to (or, as he puts it, "blind faith in") his players, he thinks continuing to send Kyle Farnsworth out to pitch the eighth -- in the absence of any evidence Farnsworth is actually good at that particular job -- is getting ridiculous. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME: Sidney Ponson's already tarnished reputation was marred further by recent goings-on in Texas -- prompting the pitching-poor Rangers to a) release him and b) say they were better off without him no matter how well he was performing -- but he's with the Yankees now (actually, with their Triple-A team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) and he promises "to be low key . . . a ghost if possible." (New York Post)
ON PROBATION: Phil Allard of NYYFans.com hands out his midseason Yankee report card. I doubt it's going to be pasted on anyone's refrigerator.
ONE OF US: Hank Steinbrenner says that if Willie Randolph "had left [the Yankees] to [manage] the Red Sox, maybe I would have had a problem with that." But it was only the Mets, so Hank says Randolph -- "a Yankee, and he'll always be a Yankee" -- can have a job with the Yanks any old time. (New York Post)
WELL, THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: The love-fest that seemed to be building for Jerry Manuel in Mets Nation over the weekend came to a screeching halt after back-to-back drubbings at the hands of the woeful Mariners, and now Manuel is warning that "tough decisions" are in the offing if things don't improve very soon. (New York Post) It looks one of those tough decisions may be determining the fate of hitting coach Howard Johnson (New York Daily News), whose job can't be too secure after Manuel declared the Mets are a "bad offensive club."
FIRED UP: At least the Mets -- or some of them, anyway -- are still playing with passion. Carlos Beltran got tossed for arguing balls and strikes and called umpire Brian Runge's actions "weak" and "brutal," adding that "[if] I get suspended, he also should get suspended." (New York Daily News)
KID STUFF: First he angered the Mets by appearing to angle for Willie Randolph's seat when Randolph was still sitting in it. Now he's taking on the Yankees, claiming Joe Girardi's main qualification for their managing job is "[the] pictures . . . [he] must have on Steinbrenner." (New York Post) In these politically correct times, Gary Carter is a breath of fresh air . . . or something.
COINCIDENCE . . . OR NOT: The epidemic of broken maple bats was addressed by MLB yesterday -- or at least MLB started to address it -- with a conference call in New York of baseball's Safety and Health Advisory Committee to discuss player and fan safety. Among the results: The committee will consult with bat manufacturers and experts in the field, conduct field studies, conduct laboratory tests of bats, and gather information about protective measures in Major League ballparks. And then last night, to underscore just how urgent this issue is becoming, umpire Brian O'Nora was hit in the head by a piece of a broken maple bat in the Kansas City-Colorado game and had to be taken to the hospital for observation. (Both stories mlb.com)
EVERYTHING'S OKAY IN MY WORLD: The New York Daily News has a nice piece on Astros farmhand Koby Clemens, who isn't letting his father's troubles distract him as he strives to reach the major leagues.
'GETTING RIDICULOUS': That's Pinto's take on the gap between the American League and the National League, as A.L. teams now have a 109-76, .589 edge in this year's round of interleague play.
GET YOUR CHECKBOOKS READY: With the state of pitching being what it is in the major leagues, any decent starter figures to make a killing on the open market. And so it is that Ben Sheets announced yesterday he has every intention of becoming a free agent after the season. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
WELCOME BACK: It's hard to say who was more emotional, Omar Vizquel or the Indians fans, as the veteran shortstop returned to Cleveland for the first time since his 11-year run with the Tribe ended in 2004. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
NEVER HAPPENED: Adam Dunn says that, prior to reports out of Toronto, he didn't call J.P. Ricciardi to discuss Ricciardi's swipe at him on a radio show last week. (Cincinnati Enquirer) Nor, he says, does he intend to.
HOW DARE YOU? The blogosphere, particularly in Chicago, is up in arms over Joe Morgan's insinuation on national television Sunday night that Ernie Banks' career home-run total was inflated by the "basket" placed atop the bleacher walls at Wrigley Field (Walkoff Walk blog) The "basket," they point out, wasn't put up until 1970, only a year before Banks retired, and some, like Bleed Cubbie Blue, want Morgan fired.
HERE AND THERE: It's official: Nick Johnson is out for the season (Washington Post) . . . More bad news for the Nationals: Shawn Hill appears headed for the DL (Washington Times) . . . Josh Hamilton left last night's game because of left knee inflammation, but even though it's the same knee on which he underwent surgery in 2006 the Rangers don't seem to think it's anything serious (Dallas Morning News) . . . Erik Bedard may be headed back to the disabled list because of a bad back (Seattle Times) . . . Jon Lieber, wasting away in the dustiest corner of the Cubs bullpen, is talking retirement at the end of the year (Chicago Tribune) . . . Like Curt Schilling, John Smoltz isn't quite ready to say he's all done (Atlanta Journal-Consititution) . . . The Astros' Kaz Matsui is headed for the disabled list. (Houston Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: Johnny Damon's foot hurts and he admits he may need to go on the disabled list (New York Daily News) . . . Bronson Arroyo's been talking recently like he doesn't want to leave Cincinnati, and he may not have anything to worry about anymore. His trade value is probably negligible today after he was pounded for 11 hits and 10 runs in one-plus innings as the Blue Jays routed the Reds, 14-1 (Dayton Daily News) . . . The rehabbing Eric Gagne pitched a perfect inning for the Nashville Sounds last night (oursportscentral.com) and will make one more minor-league appearance before rejoining the Brewers . . . There was a rare Andy Marte sighting in the Indians game last night, and rotoworld.com thinks Cleveland needs to figure out what to do with the one-time phenom . . . Speaking of the Indians, they signed Tony Graffanino to a minor-league deal (Cleveland Plain Dealer) . . . Phil Dumatrait, who was placed on the disabled list by the Pirates on Sunday, has been diagnosed with left shoulder bursitis (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) . . . For the second time in a month, Julian Tavarez appeared to accept, but then ultimately rejected, an assignment to the minor leagues. This time he turned down Milwaukee's request to go to Triple-A Nashville and is now once again a free agent. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:46 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 24
 |  |
FACEOFF: They say reality never matches anticipation, but that wasn't the case last night. We figured we'd get quite a pitching duel between Josh Beckett (above left) and Dan Haren (above right), and did we ever. In the end, reports Joe McDonald, Haren was just a shade better as he pitched the Diamondbacks to a 2-1 win over the Red Sox, but it wasn't easy. He escaped a second-and-third, two-out jam in his final inning, the seventh, by striking out Jason Varitek. Then, in the eighth, after reliever Tony Pena had surrendered the only Boston run on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by J.D. Drew, Manny Ramirez almost beheaded Mark Reynolds with a scorching line drive that, writes Steven Krasner, knocked the Arizona third baseman to the ground; Reynolds, however, held on for the final out, preventing the tying run from scoring.
The Diamondbacks scored both their runs in the seventh, which Krasner says was the result of a good piece of hitting by Chris Young and a good piece of strategy by manager Bob Melvin. Not to mention some good Arizona fortune; Kevin Youkilis was forced from the game in the fifth after a bounced throw from Mike Lowell during pre-inning warmups hit him in the eye (projo.com) and the inexperience of his replacement, Brandon Moss, may have been a factor in the Diamondbacks' second run. And Moss was only in there because Sean Casey last night began serving his four-game suspension for his role in the fight with Tampa Bay earlier this month. (projo.com)
In the end, it lived up to its billing. And how often does that happen?
OCTOBER IN JUNE: The Diamondbacks came to town on the heels of three straight losses to the Twins, and perhaps for that reason they were reveling in last night's win a bit more intensely than you'd expect. Or maybe it was just because it came against the defending World Series champions at one of baseball's shrines. Whatever, the Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro said that, for the D'backs, the victory "felt nearly as meaningful as any playoff victory." On his Diamondbacks Blog, Piecoro talks more about how much some of the young Arizona players were soaking up the atmosphere at Fenway . . . and he seemed awed by it himself, particularly during Ramirez' at-bat in the eighth inning.
SAVIOR: Thanks to Daisuke Matsuzaka's one (inning)-and-done on Saturday, and the 13-inning game Sunday, the Boston bullpen had a severe case of the shorts last night. The Sox needed Beckett to give them a long outing, and he delivered. (Boston Globe)
FEELING IT AT LAST: Baseball Musings' David Pinto notes the Red Sox have scored only 25 runs in their last seven games and wonders if David Ortiz' absence is finally catching up with them.
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS: You hardly ever hear anyone say surgery went worse than expected, so Dr. Craig Morgan was a true baseball traditionalist when he announced that Curt Schilling's shoulder operation "was a success." (projo.com) The Herald's Rob Bradford was in Delaware with the Schillings and has a more detailed report.
YAY, CURT! Terry Francona tells McDonald he's never really thought whether or not Schilling belongs in the Hall of Fame, but says he'd be "a cheerleader for [Schilling's candidacy] because he’s pitched for me for so long."
YEA, CURT: Tim Marchman of the New York Sun delivers another 'yes' vote in the Schilling-for-Cooperstown debate.
NOW WHAT? The news that Schilling is finished for the season, and maybe forever, prompted everyone to look back at his sterling career. Now Sean McAdam looks ahead and asks if, with Schilling gone, the Red Sox will be in the market for a No. 2 starting pitcher at the trade deadline since you can't help but wonder if they "have enough experienced starting pitching to withstand three rounds of baseball in October." This is, of course, based on the notion that Jon Lester is still battle-untested, at least when it comes to the postseason (Game Four of last year's World Series notwithstanding), and they have absolutely no idea what to expect out of the riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma that is Dice-K.
SLOW IT DOWN: On his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty talks with pitching coach John Farrell about Lester. Among the more interesting tidbits: The Sox may lessen his workload in the weeks ahead to bring down his innings total; right now he's on pace to throw 211 this year, and they think that might be too high.
FAREWELL TO THE BIG LUG: No one can accuse Dan Shaughnessy of being Curt Schilling's best friend -- or vice-versa -- but Shaughnessy gives Schilling his props in a goodbye column. (Boston Globe) And at the risk of offending "the fragile psyches of Schill-o-phants, blog-boys, and others who worship at the altar of Curt," that goodbye includes inquiries to ownership as to whether they regret the $8 million contract they gave him last November, for which they received absolutely nothing.
BEST WISHES: Also on Schilling's not-my-best-friend list is Randy Johnson, his partner at the top of the Diamondbacks' starting rotation in the early part of the decade. But the Herald's Steve Buckley reports the Big Unit also has nothing but good wishes for Schilling, and even hopes he'll be able to return so he can "go out on his own terms, like I’m doing."
THE NEW TRADITION: From here on in, we can be fairly certain a weather delay at Fenway Park will mean only one thing: A showing of the Jonathan Papelbon/Manny Delcarmen video "Blame It On The Rain." Haven't seen it? (Don't worry; you will.) Well, it you can't wait, check it out on Ian Bethune's Sox and Dawgs site.
ENOUGH, ALREADY: The nationwide backlash against Boston's recent sporting fortunes -- and, more specifically, the fans who are basking in it -- is reaching epidemic proportions, which prompted Red Sox fan Russ Smith (who lives in Baltimore) to offer a defense for his fellow Nation members. Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra thinks the bandwagon fans will abandon the Sox eventually and says "it's those marginal fans ["I spent two years of grad school in Boston, so I'm a total Sawx fan!"] who are the most annoying."
ACCURACY IN POLLING? Derek Jeter, the most overrated player in baseball according to SI's player poll, is playing like it so far this year. (New York Daily News)
MELK DELIVERY: Steven Goldman, writing for the New York Sun, thinks the Yankees may have gotten about all they're going to get out of Melky Cabrera and says they should trade him for pitching.
IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE It's possible Carl Pavano will be pitching again for the Yankees before Phil Hughes. (New York Post)
THE INSIDE STORY: SI.com's Jon Heyman takes a closer look at what went into the firing of Willie Randolph. Meanwhile, Mets owner Fred Wilpon defends the move and the man who made it, Omar Minaya. (Newsday)
WATCH YOUR MOUTH: The 'fertilizer' incident has taught new manager Jerry Manuel there are things he can say, and things he can't say, now that he's managing in New York. (New York Daily News)
CAN'T WIN FOR LOSING: Three innings after becoming the first American League pitcher to hit a grand-slam home run since 1972, Felix Hernandez suffered an ankle injury that forced him out of the Mariners' game at Shea Stadium. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) The M's still beat the Mets, though, and Hernandez vows he won't miss a start.
WHAT IT'S LIKE: Our friend Jason Rosenberg of the blog It Is About The Money, Stupid has a fascinating interview with player agent Matt Sosnick. Among the interesting tidbits in Sosnick's remarks: That there's no organized conspiracy to keep Mitchell Report players out of baseball ("the risk doesn’t equal the reward"), that the level of competition and bitterness between agents competing for players is incomprehensible ("worse than you can ever imagine") and what's the most important character trait to be a successful agent ("character, not deception"). A very good read, and well worth the time to click the link.
LAYING IT OUT THERE: Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reaches no conclusion as to whether they will or not, but he examines all the factors that would go into the Indians' deciding whether or not to trade C.C. Sabathia.
FIRST UP: As McAdam noted, there could be a lot of big-name pitchers -- Sabathia, Erik Bedard, Rich Harden, Roy Oswalt, Greg Maddux -- available next month. That being the case, expect to hear about many teams lining up to acquire them. Beating the rush and getting right in line: The Phillies (Philadelphia Inquirer) and the Cubs (Chicago Tribune).
| (11:30 a.m. update) MOVE OVER, BUCKNER: Our buddy the Tao of Stieb saved us from ourselves: The Keith Law-J.P. Ricciardi dustup we had linked to in this spot earlier in the day is a couple of years old. (Since Vernon Wells signed a long-term deal with the Blue Jays in 2006, we kinda should have known that.) Now I know why Kevin Youkilis gets so frustrated when something goes wrong; unlike Youk, however, I have no umpire to blame. Sorry, folks.
(And thanks, Tao, for the heads-up!) |  |
HERE AND THERE: It looks like Gary Sheffield's return from the disabled list will come sooner rather than later (Detroit Free Press) . . . It doesn't appear Ian Snell will need to go on the DL (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) . . . The snakebitten Nick Johnson may miss the rest of the season because of a wrist injury (Washington Post) . . . The Mariners don't expect J.J. Putz to return until the All-Star break (Seattle Times) . . . Omar Vizquel may be losing his starting job in San Francisco. (San Jose Mercury News)
OLD FRIENDS: The St. Petersburg Times lists Eric Hinske as one of the four unheralded Rays who've helped Tampa Bay so far this year . . . The Rays think Carlos Pena is still a week away from returning to the lineup (Tampa Tribune) . . . The Cardinals are moving Matt Clement to the bullpen due to his inconsistency as a starter during his rehab. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
AND FINALLY . . . Our thanks to Pinto for tipping us off to this incredible catch by a ballgirl at a minor-league game:
http://view.break.com/524970 - Watch more free videos
Word is filtering in that it's a fake, but so what? It's still worth watching.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 23
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: By the time Kevin Youkilis came to bat in the 13th inning yesterday it was pretty obvious that the Red Sox-Cardinals game was only going to end with a home run; both teams had demonstrated to the satisfaction of everyone there wasn't a clutch hit to be had on this day. (And when there was a semblance of one, like Adam Kennedy's 13th-inning single, someone in the field -- in this case, J.D. Drew and Jason Varitek -- would take care of it; more on that later.) So Youkilis pulled down the curtain on the 5 1/2-hour (rain included) day at the ballpark with a two-run shot into the Monster Seats in left-center, enabling the Red Sox to escape with a 5-3 win that salvaged the finale of the weekend series. Joe McDonald has the details of a long and unfruitful day at the ballpark, which included, among other things:
-- The Red Sox wasting leadoff doubles in the 10th, 11th and 12th innings.
-- Three members of the Sox (J.D. Drew, Alex Cora and Jacoby Ellsbury) striking out in extra innings with the winning run on third base, Drew and Cora doing so with one out.
-- The Cardinals squandering a pair of first-and-second, one-out opportunities in extra innings, one of which morphed into a bases-loaded, two-out chance.
-- There was even a little bad luck thrown in on the Sox' side, as well, as Steven Krasner relates.
But, thanks to Youkilis, the Sox were dancing at the end (above). "I know it’s a heck of a lot better hearing the music" -- the trilogy of Dirty Water, Tessie and Joy To The World that accompanies each Fenway Park victory -- "than coming in frustrated after a long day," sighed Terry Francona.
STOP THE MUSIC: But the reason the Sox missed hearing the Standells, the Dropkick Murphys and Three Dog Night about an hour-and-a-half earlier may actually have been the news of the day. Jonathan Papelbon blew his fourth save of the year, and the second in his last four chances, and this one was perhaps the disconcerting of them all. Krasner has a detailed breakdown of how it happened; it involved Papelbon abandoning the fastball that had blown away the first two hitters in the ninth and going to his splitter. The result was a four-pitch walk to .234 hitter Chris Duncan and a run-scoring double to Kennedy -- who came to the plate with a .305 on-base percentage and a .306 slugging percentage -- that tied the game. (In Papelbon's defense, Kennedy's ball, as well hit as it was, probably should have been caught by Coco Crisp, who's not throwing the leather the way he did in 2007.) The Globe's Nick Cafardo looks a little closer at the bullpen and notes, "When you couple Papelbon's blown saves and the struggles of set-up man Hideki Okajima, the concerns are clear. "
NO, KEEP THE MUSIC GOING: The Herald's Tony Massarotti, on the other hand, thinks the fact the Sox win games like this makes the question not can they win another World Series, but can anybody else beat them?
'DISGUSTING': The good news, bullpen-wise, was the five-up, five-down performance of Craig Hansen, who kept the game tied in the 11th with a three-pitch strikeout of Ryan Ludwick with the bases loaded. Krasner reports Manny Delcarmen judged Hansen's performance as "disgusting." If you think that's a bad thing, you're showing your age.
NOT SAFE AT HOME: When Hansen was lifted one batter into the 13th, the Cardinals arose. Duncan greeted Javier Lopez with a double off the wall and Kennedy followed with a single to right, prompting third-base coach Jose Oquendo to wave Duncan home. But Drew and Varitek combined to keep the score tied, Drew with a throw that beat Duncan to the plate by about 15 feet and Varitek by hunkering down and absorbing the knock-him-over, knock-it-out collision without
dropping the ball. Krasner tells us all about it, with reaction from the Sox' principles.
OTHER NOTES OF THE DAY: Crisp's defense yesterday wasn't all bad; he and Ellsbury both turned in some nice plays in the field . . . Lost in the excitement -- or whatever it was yesterday turned into -- was another fine start from Jon Lester . . . Dustin Pedroia had a four-hit afternoon and has lifted his average from .260 to .282 over the last 10 games . . . Krasner has all the details.
IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: The blog Bird Land thinks yesterday's was one of the greatest games in Cardinals history.
THE BIG PICTURE: Apparently that's a majority opinion in Cardinal Nation. Tony La Russa was proud of the way his team battled over the weekend and Bernie Miklasz -- a sometimes critic of the manager -- thinks La Russa deserves much of the credit because, as he says, "I don't know if we realize how difficult it is for a team to go into Boston and win two out of three." (Both stories St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Which, when you step back and think about it, is true; the only other series the Sox lost at home this year was to the Angels in April.
OTHER NOTES OF THE WEEKEND: The series began Friday night with the Sox honoring the Celtics for winning the NBA championship, but -- in a sneak preview of yesterday -- wasting scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity in a 5-4 loss. McDonald recaps it all . . . Saturday was a disaster, Boston-wise, as the back-with-the-big-club Daisuke Matsuzaka was routed in the second inning of a 9-3 defeat. Sean McAdam, though, tells us of Chris Smith's major-league debut, which looks pretty good in the box score but -- in true, other-than-that, how-did-you-like-the-play-Mrs.-Lincoln? fashion -- was marred by a grand slam allowed to the first batter he faced.
WHERE THEY RANK: Speaking of the Celtics and championships, Chad Finn ranks the six Boston titles of the 21st century. Not surprisingly, Red Sox 2004 comes in on top. Me, I'd put the 2001 Pats a little higher.
AP Photo
END OF THE LINE? Just about the same time we were signing off here last Friday, Curt Schilling was on WEEI Radio announcing the end of his season, and possibly his career. (weei.com) While yours truly had the news, Sean McAdam had the more important piece. He put the Boston portion of Schilling's career into perspective and demonstrated how -- with his fearlessness in big moments and willingness to tackle situations that past Red Sox teams, and players, had shrunk from -- he helped turn Boston into a place where "October isn’t something to dread, but to welcome." The bloody sock (above) is the iconic symbol of all that; it forever reminds us of a night when he limped on one leg into what Theo Epstein called "the belly of the beast" and did something -- beat the Yankees, in Yankee Stadium, in a game that meant everything -- that no Red Sox pitcher, or team, was allegedly capable of doing.
The temptation is to attribute too much credit for what's happened here since 2004 to one guy, and that's wrong because Schilling certainly wasn't alone. Nor is it accurate to whitewash Schilling into an heroic knight on a steed; he had plenty of moments when he was more blowhard than braveheart, especially since there didn't seem to be anything he could refrain from commenting on, sometimes inappropriately. But there's no underestimating what he did in Boston, either, and he's inextricably intertwined with the change-of-fortune success the Red Sox have had since 2004. Like him or hate him -- and, truth be told, most Boston fans adored him -- you can't deny him his place in this franchise's history.
As we speak today, he's undergoing shoulder surgery; his baseball future hinges on the outcome. Good luck, Curt. We'll never forget you.
'NOT A THING IN THE WORLD TO BE UPSET ABOUT': Sometime Friday afternoon Schilling took to 38pitches.com to say his own goodbyes and said that if this is end, he has no regrets.
KNEW IT WAS COMING: McAdam and McDonald report that the Sox, both in the front office and the clubhouse, were saddened, if unsurprised, by the news.
GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES: And now the Schilling-In-The-Hall-of-Fame debate begins. The first salvo is fired by The Sporting News' Sean Deveney: He says yes.
THE BEST TRADES ARE THE ONES . . . Remember how close the Sox came to picking up Todd Helton? If this story in the Denver Post is any indication, be thankful they didn't.
QUIET FINISH: A homestand that picked up steam with a sweep of the Cubs ended on a down note for the Rays, who lost to the Astros yesterday and dropped two out of three in the series to Houston. (Tampa Tribune)
HANG ON A SECOND: Yankee fans had double reason to celebrate yesterday: Andy Pettitte beat the Reds, avoiding a three-game sweep, and their favorite whipping boy, Kyle Farnsworth, hurt his finger. (New York Daily News) But the blog River Ave. Blues says Farnsworth isn't "totally useless. Yet."
THE DEAD HORSE SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE: The New York Daily News' John Harper says "there is a very real sense these Mets are in good hands with Jerry Manuel taking over for Willie Randolph. Smart, relaxed and self-assured, Manuel's ascension seems to have loosened the atmosphere around the Mets and helped them refocus on baseball." In what may or may not be a related incident, Manuel compares Mets fans to fertilizer. (New York Post)
LET'S GO BACK TO BEATING IT ANYWAY: The Daily News' Bill Madden says Randolph had no chance with the backstabbers in the Mets front office. And his former teammates, Jim Kaat, says Willie deserved better. (yesnetwork.com)
TURNAROUND: Right after being swept by the Rays, the Cubs come home and sweep the White Sox. (Chicago Tribune) The vanquished manager, Ozzie Guillen, salutes the victors. (Chicago Sun-Times)
HE DID IT ONCE (ACTUALLY, TWICE), SO . . . The Blue Jays are giving Cito Gaston the chance to do it again. (Toronto Star) Our pal the Tao of Stieb is aghast. As are we.
NUMBER ONE: The Jays won their first game for Gaston -- after two defeats -- yesterday. (Toronto Globe and Mail) One last Jays note: Matt Stairs is happy Gary Denbo was shown the door, along with John McLaren and Ernie Whitt. (National Post) Well, one really last Jays note: Whitt's firing drove the long-time Blue Jay to tears. (Toronto Sun)
NOTHING'S CHANGED: His high school graduation was covered live on national radio, and Bob Feller henceforth acted like someone who felt his high school graduation deserved to be covered live on national radio. (Which should be a lesson to all who think athletic self-absorption is a novel concept.) Shysterball reports the years haven't mellowed him any.
HERE AND THERE: The Pirates' Ian Snell has a sore elbow (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . After his latest dismal outing, the Dodgers' Scott Proctor described himself as "(bleeping) pathetic" (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Astros have lifted Shawn Chacon out of their starting rotation (Houston Chronicle) . . . Mark Teixeira had a three-homer day for the Braves yesterday (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Tigers still don't know when Gary Sheffield will return (Detroit Free Press) . . . Moises Alou's career may be over. (New York Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Bronson Arroyo has heard the rumors that have him headed to the Yankees and sounds like he's lukewarm about it, since he's come to enjoy life in baseball's slow lane (New York Daily News) . . . Justin Duchscherer has a big fan: Baseball Musings' David Pinto . . . Ken Harrelson talks about his career, and his life, with the Chicago Sun-Times.
AND FINALLY . . . It's not really baseball news, but interesting nonetheless: Newsday reports that the end may be near for WFAN's Mike And The Mad Dog show.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:04 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, June 20
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
IF THIS IS AN OFF-DAY . . . it must be time for examinations of all sorts of things that normally get lost in the normal crush of news. With the Sox not playing yesterday, we now have time to look at . . .
-- Manny Delcarmen (above), whose resurgence in the Red Sox bullpen is analyzed by our own Steven Krasner.
-- The lack of good young catchers in baseball, with the Boston Globe's Amalie Benjamin talking to people about why that's so. She also looks at Jason Varitek and notes how lucky the Sox have been not to have had to worry about their catching situation for the last 10 years.
-- Jacoby Ellsbury, whose speed, says Terry Francona, has brought the Red Sox "a brand of baseball we’re not accustomed to." (Boston Herald)
The games resume tonight and when they do the Sox will have a special ceremony to honor the Celtics for winning the NBA championship. (Boston Globe) And they may be catching the Cardinals at the right time: St. Louis is coming off three straight home losses to the Royals. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
| MYSTERY SOLVED: Ever wonder just what in the world Hideki Okajima (right) and several of the other Red Sox wear around their necks? Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald finds out what they are: Phiten titanium necklaces, brought over from Japan by Daisuke Matsuzaka to "keep the evil spirits away." Says Dustin Pedroia, who now wears two during games: "I don’t know if they do anything, but Daisuke swears by them."
WHO NEEDS 'EM? We've yet to see one on J.D. Drew, whose recent hitting exploits have gotten Manny Ramirez' attention. (Boston Globe) WELL, HOW ABOUT A.L. PITCHERS? Because Jim Donaldson thinks their inability to run bases or swing bats without injuring themselves is a disgrace. |  |
| TIME AND A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING: In Boston, dancing means the Celtics are on the verge of another victory and the dancers -- especially good old Gino (right) -- are folk heroes. (Riverside Press-Enterprise) But in New York, dancing, at least on the baseball field, is poison to old timers like Goose Gossage, who thinks the antics of Jose Reyes and his ilk are one of the reasons Willie Randolph got fired. (New York Daily News) |  |
THE HIGH ROAD: Though he thinks "I deserve better" than to be fired in the middle of the night -- or, actually, late at night on the West Coast, which is where he got the word -- Willie Randolph wouldn't rip the Mets or Omar Minaya as he met reporters outside his house yesterday. (New York Daily News)
THE LOW ROAD: But Randolph's friends think his replacement, Jerry Manuel, angled for the job by undermining Willie to Mets management, particularly vice-president of player development Tony Bernazard, whom, the New York Post reports, is "a known Randolph detractor." When asked about it yesterday, Manuel denied the charge. (As for Bernazard, Newsday's Ken Davidoff didn't hear many kind words when some well-connected friends offered their opinions of him.)
THE LOWEST ROAD: Furious at what he considers the cowardly way they fired Randolph, Mets fan Martin Silver sent five whole chickens to owner Fred Wilpon. (New York Daily News) He also says he plans to return his season tickets.
THE ROAD BACK: The Mets won their first game under Manuel, beating the Angels in 10 innings on Damion Easley's home run. (New York Post)
THE ROAD TO GLORY: Writing on sportingnews.com, David Pinto notes that Randolph was dismissed 30 years after the Yankees fired Billy Martin in midseason, lists the similarities between the situations and wonders if a Yankee-like resurgence is in the Mets' future.
ZAMBRANO REVISITED: More on Carlos Zambrano: He had to leave last night's start against the Rays in the seventh inning because of shoulder discomfort and he's flying back to Chicago to be examined. (Chicago Tribune)
THE TIME IS NOW: Saying that every major-league game "is an accident and lawsuit waiting to happen" because of the danger represented by the flying shards of broken maple bats that we see several times every night, SI.com's Tom Verducci urges MLB to ban the use of maple bats immediately.
TAXMAN COMETH: Prince Fielder has no comment on reports he owes the IRS $409,149. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
IT'S NEVER GOOD WHEN 'TOXIC' IS A WORD USED TO DESCRIBE YOUR CLUBHOUSE: But that's the word Jose de Jesus Ortiz uses in talking about the Astros. (Houston Chronicle)
LOCAL BOYS: In his second rehab game at Vero Beach, Rocco Baldelli hit two home runs. (Outs Per Swing)
WHISPERS: Jason Lloyd of the Journal-Register News Service thinks the Indians-Rockies series could help Cleveland decide whether or not to make a run at Matt Holliday or Garrett Atkins . . . Some scouts think the Giants' Randy Winn could draw some interest at the trade deadline, particularly from Atlanta (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Mariners may soon release Richie Sexson (Everett Herald) . . . Judging by J.P. Ricciardi's comments, you can be fairly certain the Blue Jays have no use for Adam Dunn. (National Post)
THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE: It's rare that a trade helps both teams, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today says last winter's Reds-Rangers deal that sent Josh Hamilton to Texas for Edinson Volquez and a minor-league prospect was, in the words of fired Cincinnati GM Wayne Krivsky, "the perfect trade, the perfect match."
HERE AND THERE: Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit suffered a concussion after taking three foul tips off his mask (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Hideki Matsui sat out last night's Yankees-Padres game after getting fluid drained from his knee (New York Daily News) . . . The new Yankee Stadium will feature a year-round Hardrock Cafe. (AP via nj.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Even though Dave Trembley says the bleached hair makes him look like "a box of Crayola crayons," Kevin Millar delivered the game-winning hit for the Orioles in the 10th inning last night (Baltimore Sun) . . . One day after hitting a two-run homer in a rehab game for Las Vegas, Nomar Garciaparra woke up with discomfort in the strained right calf that landed him on the 60-day disabled list and didn't play yesterday. Nor will he play today (Los Angeles Times) . . . Derek Lowe bested Bronson Arroyo as the Dodgers beat the Reds. (Los Angeles Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:08 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 18
AP Photo
My apologies for the delay in posting this; as I mentioned earlier, Cox Cable's Internet access went down for about an hour this morning. But we're here, and so with no further ado . . .
'WE HAVE THE FULL PACKAGE HERE': That's Coco Crisp's assessment of the Red Sox, and last night that package included a team-record six stolen bases (including one from Julio Lugo, above). It also included shutout pitching from Jon Lester, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon -- quite a feat in the bandbox known as Citizens Bank Ballpark -- as the Sox defeated the Phillies, 3-0. Steven Krasner has the details, focusing on Lester's more-than-impressive seven-inning, 99-pitch performance. He also has a separate blog item on Papelbon, who rebounded from Saturday's blown save in Cincinnati by blowing away the three batters he faced in the ninth, striking them all out on fastballs in the 95-97 mph range. And they weren't chopped liver, either; Papelbon's victims were Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth.
They play again this afternoon as they attempt to complete the road trip with two wins in three games against the Phillies and four wins in six games overall. Check back for all the details.
INJURY UPDATES: Bartolo Colon was forced to the disabled list because of the back injury he suffered while unhinging himself with his nuclear batting swings the other night. Chris Smith was recalled from Pawtucket for the second time this year, and he'll probably be here until Daisuke Matsuzaka is activated on Saturday; let's see if he gets into a game this time. Curt Schilling, meanwhile, is headed back to Boston to have his balky shoulder checked. Terry Francona says he hopes it's just "a bump in the road" in Schilling's rehab. Krasner has both stories.
DROPPING A BOMBSHELL . . . MAYBE: I assume this is a typo and that he meant "weeks" and not "days," but Jim Rice did say he expects David Ortiz to "get back into games in the next 4-5 days. Maybe sooner." (ask14.sullivantire.com)
SIGN OF THE TIMES: It's all good when none of your players are on anybody's All-Overpaid Team, and none of the Red Sox show up on Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan's squad. Derek Jeter does, though.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The New York Times, for goodness sakes, has discovered our own Charlie Zink. He celebrated his day in the national consciousness by subduing those Iron Pigs, 5-1. (projo.com)
ONE OF THESE DAYS WE'LL FILL THE JOINT WITH OUR OWN FANS: The good news is there were 31,607 at The Trop last night, which at first glance would indicate that Rays Nation is finally getting excited about its young -- and very good -- ballclub. The bad news is about half of them were there to root for the Cubs. But the home half went home happy as Tampa Bay pulled out a 3-2 win over Chicago. (Tampa Tribune)
 | WHO CALLS ME DUMB?? The blog DRays Bay is discovering that a "team's winning percentage in directly proportionate to the amount of dumb in it's fanbase." But the blog Rays Index is personally offended at the notion that Rays fans are dumb.
I know, I know. F Troop references are a sure sign of age. Wonder if my friend Repoz still regards me as "ever-hip"? (Repoz . . . now he's hip!) |
YEAH, WE TEASE HIM A LOT 'CAUSE WE GOT HIM ON THE SPOT, WELCOME BACK: Now to further bury myself with Welcome Back Kotter references. But it fits -- I guess -- as the Rays celebrated the return of ex-manager Lou Piniella. (Tampa Tribune) The St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton was happy to see Piniella, but is happier that Joe Maddon, and not Piniella, is now in the Tampa Bay dugout.
GLAD ALL OVER: Okay, how about The Dave Clark Five? (At least this'll please Sean McAdam, perhaps the world's biggest Dave Clark Five fan.) It described the feelings of yet another ex-Rays skipper, Larry Rothschild, who's also with the Cubs these days -- as Piniella's pitching coach -- and is happy his old team is doing so well. (Tampa Tribune)
TO WHICH ALTERNATE UNIVERSE HAVE WE BEEN TRANSPORTED? Big League Stew is wondering if this Rays-Cubs matchup will prove to be a World Series preview.
IF THE RAYS ARE TO GET THERE . . . they'll have to overcome their schedule, which the blog Baseball Playoffs Now describes as the toughest in either league.
ACE AUDITIONS: With Chien-Ming Wang sidelined, the Yankees are looking for a new No. 1 starter. Andy Pettitte put in his bid with seven shutout innings, his second straight strong performance, in an 8-0 win over the Padres. (New York Post) Joba Chamberlain, incidentally, says he wants no part of the 'ace' moniker. (New York Daily News)
DUELING OPINIONS: Wang says he'll do everything he can to pitch again for the Yankees this season. (New York Daily News) But Peter Abraham, reading a report from a doctor who was contacted by Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll, says there's a good chance the next time Wang throws a baseball will be next February in Florida. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
SHAMELESS: The president of Teamsters Union Local 202 in New York is furious that the Yankees keep asking for taxpayer subsidies as they complete construction of the new Yankee Stadium, saying the money the Yanks want is "the money we've been asking for from the city to save our members' jobs from leaving the Bronx." (New York Daily News)
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CONDITION AS EXPECTED: When you fire your manager via press release at 3 a.m. Eastern time -- in New York, no less -- you can be pretty sure you're not going to be lauded for your organizational skills. So as Omar Minaya was on the Left Coast explaining that his early-morning axing of Willie Randolph was just an example of his take-charge, up-front, be-honest-with-people style (New York Times), media outlets in the Big Apple were feasting on a Minaya shishkabob. The Daily News' Bill Madden, repeating what he'd said on the radio yesterday morning, called the manner of Randolph's canning "shameful, indecent, undignified [and] ill-conceived." The Post's Joel Sherman says Mets ownership has done the impossible: "They have made Hank Steinbrenner appear the level-headed baseball owner in town." The Daily News' Mike Lupica, meanwhile, thinks yesterday's beheading of Randolph was just a warmup to the inevitable execution of Minaya, whom he doesn't believe can survive this nightmare.
CHANGE OF HEART: On Sunday, Randolph told a friend he felt like a "dead man walking." But yesterday he describing himself as "stunned" and surprised" at his firing. (New York Daily News)
WE'LL SURE MISS 'OL WHATZ-IS-NAME: Mets players were, ah, less than emotional at Randolph's dismissal. (New York Post) Randolph's friends, however, were a bit more upset. (New York Daily News)
'THIS IS DOG EAT DOG': The seeds for Randolph's fate were planted last September when the Phillies overtook the Mets and won the N.L. East. There wasn't a shred of remorse in the Philadelphia clubhouse, however, no matter how much they may like Randolph as a person.
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? Yogi Berra feels bad for Randolph but says being fired is part of the gig for a manager. (New York Post)
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: So how often is a manager fired after he's already been named to his league's coaching staff for that year's All-Star Game? Randolph's one of the few, if not the first, and N.L. manager Clint Hurdle will probably replace him with someone else. (Rocky Mountain News)
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Jerry Manuel Era started inauspiciously. Jose Reyes threw a mini-tantrum when Manuel took him out of the game after he tweaked his hamstring in the first inning -- though they appeared to kiss and make up later -- and Johan Santana got clipped around in a 6-1 loss to the Angels. (New York Daily News) It was, says the Post's Mike Vaccaro, a fitting end to the Mets' day.
ALL IS NOT LOST: In spite of all this, Michael Salfino says the Mets aren't out the playoff picture. (sny.tv)
YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME HERE: Randolph -- whom Jorge Posada apparently calls "Will-o" -- could wind up back with the Yankees in some capacity, according to Hank Steinbrenner. (New York Post)
REPLACING RANDOLPH ON THE HOT SEAT . . . is the Brewers' Ned Yost. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Michael Hunt wonders whether or not Yost will join Will-o on the unemployment line soon.
MY KIND OF PLACE: Trade rumors have been flying, but Ken Griffey Jr. says he'd like to win a championship with the Reds. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
BASEBALL'S ALGONQUIN ROUND TABLE: The Baltimore Sun's Roch Kubatko gives us a glimpse into the raconteur that is Dave Trembley.
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli went 1-for-3 with two walks and drove in two runs in his first rehab appearance for Class A Vero Beach last night (Tampa Tribune) . . . Paul Konerko is on the disabled list for the first time in his career. (Chicago Sun-Times)
MEDICAL REPORT: The Dodgers have plenty of injury issues, what with Brad Penny headed to the DL and Hiroki Kuroda headed to the doctor's office; now news comes that Rafael Furcal won't be back before the All-Star break (Both stories Los Angeles Times) . . . Alfonso Soriano hopes to be able to recover from his broken hand in time to play in the All-Star Game (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Cardinals' Chris Carpenter is give the okay to restart his rehab. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
HERE AND THERE: Jose Canseco is being sued by his lawyer (New York Daily News) . . . Freddy Garcia, who attracted some mild interest from the Red Sox this spring, may be headed to the Tigers (Detroit Free Press) . . . New Reds GM Walt Jocketty disputed a New York Post report that he's about to clean house, saying "it's not necessary." (Cincinnati Enquirer)
OLD FRIENDS: Matt Murton is back with the Cubs, though they may only be showcasing him for a trade (Chicago Tribune) . . . David Riske struck out the side in his first rehabilitation outing at Nashville and could be back with the Brewers as soon as today (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Braves will activate Mike Gonzalez today. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
AND FINALLY . . . Congratulations to the Celtics, whose 17th NBA championship is celebrated by old friend Chad Finn. (And, not to be selfish or anything, but now that the quest is finished it'll be good to have Chad back on baseball again.) The Boston Herald's Rob Bradford says talk in the Red Sox clubhouse after their game was all about the Celts . . . and he also has an interesting anecdote about a Philadelphia rooter whose bitterness at Boston's overflowing sporting fortunes was self-evident.
One last note: Joe Posnanski says the Celtics' 39-point win -- or, rather, the Lakers' 39-point loss -- should, once and for all, put an end to the Kobe Bryant/Michael Jordan comparisons.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 8:59 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 17
WHEN YOU'RE RIGHT, YOU'RE RIGHT: It's Hank Steinbrenner, so everybody laughs. His pitcher (above) gets hurt running the bases -- (much) more on that later in our show -- and Little Stein goes off on how ridiculous it is for one league to play by one set of rules and the other league to play by another set. (New York Daily News) And he demands the National League join "the 21st century."
Ha, ha. 'Ol Hank, always good for a laugh. All because his pitcher can't travel from third base to home plate without incapacitating himself.
And then it hits a little closer to home, when Bartolo Colon makes a cartoonish spectacle of himself flailing wildly at various Cole Hamels deliveries and has to come out of the game because he hurts his back on one of his corkscrew swings. (Boston Herald)
Forget the sideshows -- Hank Steinbrenner, the ridiculous way Colon was injured -- and focus on this: Nine times a season (the nine games A.L. teams have to play on the road during the interleague period), you're asking a subset of professional athletes, in this case American League pitchers, to utilize a set of skills they've let atrophy over the years. Most times they can handle it, at varying degrees of competency. And sometimes, as Chien-Ming Wang and Bartolo Colon can attest, they can't . . . at the cost of their livelihood and their team's on-field chances.
And why? Because one league plays by one set of rules, the other by another.
I don't want this to be interpreted as a big-market whine about losing a pitcher. I understand that pitchers, even if they don't have to do it very often, should be able to swing a bat or run the bases without suffering debilitating injuries. And I understand that position players get hurt doing the very same things, even though they work on those tasks daily.
Fact is, though, that neither Wang nor Colon would be injured today if they hadn't been playing in a National League park. That, in the end, winds back to what is -- and always has been -- my point: One league plays by one set of rules, the other by another. People ask me why I hate interleague play. That's why. You build your team to play the game a certain way and then, for the nine games a year you have to play on the road during the interleague period, it all goes out the window. It's utterly absurd. Do the Celtics lose players on four fouls when they play in the Western Conference? Do the Patriots have to play with 10 men on offense when they face an NFC team? Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, how is that any different than what baseball actually does?
Most times it's just annoying. And sometimes, like in the last two days if you're a Red Sox or a Yankee, it's infuriating.
I don't often hear Peter Abraham of the LoHud Yankees Blog say he agrees with Hank Steinbrenner, but he did today.
Me too, Pete.
SIDESHOW: Colon's injury didn't have much of an affect on the Red Sox game last night, except that it forced them to use Mike Timlin when the outcome was still in question . . . and that, sad to say, isn't a good thing these days. Timlin allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning and Steven Krasner has the gruesome details of the veteran reliever's 2008 season in the aftermath of last night's 8-2 defeat: 40 baserunners (29 hits, 11 walks) in 21 2/3 innings, with a 7.06 ERA.
AP Photo
AS ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS: The news of Colon's injury was tempered -- at least a little -- by Daisuke Matsuzaka's more-than-encouraging rehab start for the PawSox (above). Tom Robinson, writing for the Providence Journal and projo.com, said not only did Dice-K dominate the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs -- not allowing a hit until he appeared to tire in the fifth -- but reported that Matsuzaka had no problems with his shoulder. There was already talk Matsuzaka would start Saturday in Boston against the Cardinals; if Colon's on the shelf, that would seem to be a certainty.
It all speaks to the Sox' pitching depth, something Peter Gammons discussed on ESPN Radio as transcribed by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog.
AND YET ANOTHER CLOSES: They'll need that depth. Krasner says the news on Curt Schilling isn't good and wonders if the thin chance that Schilling would actually pitch this year has gotten "even thinner."
ALMOST IN THE SWING: A pain-free David Ortiz had the hard cast removed from his wrist and, Krasner reports, will begin some range-of-motion exercises to help in his rehabilitation. The Phillies' Pat Burrell, who had a similar injury in 2004, is glad Ortiz didn't have surgery; he decided against surgery after he got hurt and was back in the lineup in five weeks. (Boston Herald)
MR. REINCARNATION: When he was managing the Red Sox, Jimy Williams used to say that Nomar Garciaparra was such a throwback that "it's like he's been here before." Now he's a Phillies coach and he's saying the same things about Chase Utley.
PHILLY PHAVORITE: J.D. Drew -- who refused to sign with the Phillies after they made him their No. 1 draft choice in 1997 -- has always been held in a special ring of hell by Philadelphia fans. They gave him their normal venomous greeting last night but he had the last laugh when he homered.
HE'S BACK! Manny Ramirez returned to left field.
THE VERDICT: Out until September . . . at least. That's what both the New York Daily News and the New York Post are reporting about Chien-Ming Wang, who suffered a partially torn tendon and a sprain of the Lisfranc ligament in his right foot. So, naturally, the lonely eyes of Yankee Universe turn to C.C. Sabathia, but the New York Post's Joel Sherman tells them to forget it, that these Yanks aren't about to back up the minor-league prospect truck for a free agent-to-be. As of now there appear to be few external options, as Brian Cashman says there is no trade market at the moment. (New York Post) But Abraham -- the voice of reason, as always -- says there doesn't need to be, since the Yankees will only need a fifth starter four times between now and July 24. That, he says, gives Cashman some time to explore options.
BUT THE BIG NEWS IS . . . I can guarantee you Chien-Ming Wang and Hank Steinbrenner and C.C. Sabathia and God knows what else will not be Topic One on New York sports talk radio today.
And why?
Because the Mets (finally) fired Willie Randolph.
At 3 a.m. Eastern time.
After they'd won a game, 9-6 against the Angels in Anaheim. (New York Daily News)
Can you make this stuff up?
The Daily News has the down-and-dirty report of the firing -- pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto were also let go -- as does the Post, which called it "a bizarrely timed housecleaning." Mets GM Omar Minaya isn't scheduled to meet the press until 5 p.m. EDT today, so speculation and opinion will rule the day until then. And it's already started:
-- On his Matthew Cerrone's Mets Blog, Cerrone says he's "embarrassed this morning, and I feel a little dirty . . . [The] Mets took so long to make this decision that it made them look foolish, classless and disorganized."
-- The blog It Is About The Money, Stupid reports reaction from various folks, none of whom particularly praise the Mets. (The Daily News' Bill Madden, on a radio appearance, calls it the most "undignified, atrocious" firing he's seen in 30 years of covering New York sports, and that includes all of George Steinbrenner's dismissals.)
-- The blog Can't Stop The Bleeding says that "for all the credibility the Mets purchased with their acquisitions of Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana, there isn’t enough money in Flushing to erase the sort of ill will their handling of this episode will generate."
-- The blog Sportsthodoxy says Omar Minaya "has used his last bullet. He's out of cover, and the next body to hit the floor will be his."
-- The blog Sliding Into Home sums it up in succinct, NSFW fashion.
And so forth and so on, etc., etc.
Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra has the best take on it all. The Mets, he says, turned Randolph -- who he thinks deserved dismissal -- into a sympathetic figure by deliberately timing his firing until after the print media's final deadline had passed, meaning it would miss today's newspaper news cycle. But it reality it means "the bloggers, while not nearly as widely read and heard as the traditional outlets, are going to be twice as shrill as they try to fill the void; and . . . the print and radio people" -- who won't be far behind, since they all have online outlets -- "are going to level about five times as much artillery at the Mets due to the shoddy way in which this was all handled."
In fact, it's already started. Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post posted an online column in the last 15 minutes in which he absolutely eviscerates the Mets. I wanted to cull through it for the most inflammatory comments, but there are so many of them I don't know where to begin. ("Disgraceful. Utterly, completely, disgraceful" . . . "miserable cast of miscreants" . . . "sinister men, cowards" . . . see what I mean?)
Just brilliant, guys.
ONE LAST NOTE: The Mariners fired GM Bill Bavasi (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), but before you read the story after clicking this link, check the picture. All I could think was: Kevin Youkilis in 20 years.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 16
AP Photo
MISSED THE MEMO: They don't have David Ortiz, obviously, and Manny Ramirez' balky hamstring prevents him from playing the field, which keeps him totally out of the lineup in National League parks. So, naturally, you'd think the Red Sox would have trouble generating offense. Well, that may have been true Friday night, when they managed just a single run in a 3-1 loss to the Reds, but the Sox were operating on all cylinders the rest of the weekend. They got back-to-back, 10th-inning home runs from Kevin Youkilis and Coco Crisp on Saturday, erasing the pain of a particularly irksome Jonathan Papelbon blown save, as they pulled out a 6-4 victory. (Over at Joy of Sox, Allan Wood has more info on the Sox going back-to-back in extra innings.) And yesterday they got home runs from four different players -- including both Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury (above, meeting at home plate after Ellsbury's homer) -- to back the shutout pitching of Josh Beckett, David Aardsma and Mike Timlin as they ran away with the rubber game of the series, 9-0. All the games are recounted by Steven Krasner, who points out that Boston's batting exploits may have been aided by the Great American Ballpark, also known as the Great American Smallpark for how it plays. ("This place is a bandbox," writes Steve, "a pitcher’s nightmare but a hitter’s delight, especially to right-center.") But the Sox needn't worry. Now they're in Philadelphia for three nights and, writes Kraz, "[the] Phillies’ ballpark is another bandbox."
DOESN'T MATTER: Or maybe it's not the venue. David Pinto of Baseball Musings shows that the Sox' team batting average and slugging percentage have gone up since Ortiz went down.
DARE WE SAY IT? The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo wonders if these next three games might prove to be a World Series preview.
GOD SAVE US: Even if they are, Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer isn't looking forward to them because they signal the "annual invasion of the denizens of Red Sox Nation. (Motto: In Us We Irritate.) It is a nation whose currency is based on being cloying, self-important, pompous, overly loud and, regrettably, ever-present, and the economy is great. Axis of Evil? You make your list of nations that belong and I'll make mine."
GETTING SO MUCH BETTER ALL THE TIME: Francona reports Ortiz' wrist is now pain-free, and he'll be examined today to see what the next step in his rehabilitation will be. (Boston Herald)
SIDE ORDER OF SPEED: Lost amid the fireworks yesterday was Ellsbury's breaking of the franchise's 100-year-old record for stolen bases by a rookie, with details provided by Krasner. Ellsbury's on a never-before-seen -- at least by these eyes when it comes to Red Sox players -- baserunning roll, with 14 stolen bases in his last 14 starts, and the proof of just how unique it's been is in the pudding of the names he's erasing from the record book; who's ever heard of these guys? (I mean, Amby McConnell? Really.) At the rate he's going Ellsbury will finish the year with 74 steals, which won't just break the Sox' record for stolen bases in a single season (54, by Tommy Harper in 1973) but shatter it into a million pieces. As it is, he's two bags away from tying Patsy Dougherty and Tris Speaker for 10th place on the Sox' single-season list . . . and that milestone (35 steals) was last reached 98 years ago. The Worcester Telegram's Bill Ballou says Ellsbury has a chance to be "a once-in-a-generation player," but I wonder: How many generations back do you have to go to find Amby McConnell and Patsy Dougherty?
NUMBER ONE: Papelbon was one strike away from his 20th save Saturday afternoon, but Edwin Encarnacion drove a hanging splitter into the seats in left field for the game-tying home run. All that did, however, was give Craig Hansen the chance to record the first save of his big-league career, and he delivered.
NEVER LET ANYONE OUTSIDE THE FAMILY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING: Speaking of Papelbon, Terry Francona was none-too-pleased with his public pronouncement that hostilities between the Red Sox and Rays aren't over. As for the Rays, they were more surprised than anything else. (mlb.com)
IRON PIGS ON DICE-K'S MENU: Daisuke Matsuzaka will make a rehab start for the PawSox tonight in Lehigh Valley.
FATHER'S DAY TALES: The holiday gave J.D. Drew a chance to be thankful for his 2-year-old son's return to health. (Boston Herald) Closer to home, it also gave PawSox manager Ron Johnson a chance to reflect on how baseball has enabled him for forge a bond with his son, Astros farmhand Chris Johnson. Laura Meade Kirk tells how RJ -- who divorced Chris' mother when Chris was very young -- credits baseball for allowing the two to reconnect. "I do wonder sometimes, if it hadn’t been for baseball, if we’d have been able to come back around," he told her. And Chad Finn of Touching All The Bases -- sitting in seats remarkably close to where a friend and I had season tickets for 25 years -- tells a touching story of taking his daughter to her first game.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: The Rays failed to complete their sweep of the Marlins as Edwin Jackson was hit hard in a 7-3 loss. (St. Petersburg Times) Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune says that for Tampa Bay to stay a contender, Jackson -- and the Rays' other young players -- "have to step up and stay up."
NOW THAT WOULD BE A FIRST: When did you ever hear a star player -- in this case, Ken Griffey Jr. -- say he'd waive his no-trade clause to go to Tampa Bay? (Tampa Tribune) Griffey's agent, though, says there's nothing to it. (St. Petersburg Times)
BOY, WE SURE DON'T MISS YOU: The blog Rays Index is watching Elijah Dukes' latest incident with the satisfaction of knowing that he's someone else's problem now.
LOSE WHEN YOU WIN: The Yankees won 13-0 yesterday and completed a three-game sweep of the Astros, but there are no smiles in Yankee Universe this morning. Not when Chien-Ming Wang injured his right foot and had to be helped off the field. (New York Daily News) The New York Post is reporting the Yankees think it could be a Lisfranc fracture, which would probably end his season. So the C.C. Sabathia talk, which was loud enough before Wang went down (nj.com), will now begin escalating to 130-decibel levels. But Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra wants to know why the Indians would trade Sabathia at all since they're only "5.5 games out . . . I probably don't think about unloading Sabathia until the All Star break, and then not at all if the margin is around the same or smaller. Why? I know my team is better than it has shown, and I have no faith in the While Sox keeping it up all year." The LoHud Yankee Blog's Peter Abraham looks at the various options to replace Wang, Sabathia included.
MEANWHILE . . . Sabathia, still in an Indians uniform, outpitched Greg Maddux and led Cleveland over the Padres. (Akron Beacon Journal)
UH, OH: It's never a good sign when a manager begins publicly blaming players and players answer by subtly blaming the manager. But that's the scenario that seems to be unfolding in Houston in light of the Astros' three straight losses to the Yankees. (mlb.com) Phil Allard of nyyfans.com thinks Cecil Cooper, the manager in question, deserves some blame, especially for a specific tactical decision in Friday night's game.
THE NEVER-ENDING DEBATE: Now it's Jim Kaat who thinks Joba Chamberlain should have stayed in the bullpen. (yesnetwork.com)
IF IT'S MONDAY, HE MUST BE SAFE: In the minute-by-minute referendum on Willie Randolph's job performance, yesterday's doubleheader split with the Rangers means he's still on the job . . . at least for today. (New York Daily News)
STATE OF THE GAME: Many of my favorite baseball writers -- some of whom I link to on a regular basis -- participated in a "State of Major League Baseball 2008" discussion on The Biz of Baseball blog.
THE UNSPOKEN TRUTH: Peter Abraham -- one of the people who was part of that discussion -- says the end of the performance-enhancing drugs era "is changing baseball in ways both subtle and conspicuous." And, in light of the ban on amphetamines, one of them is that "young players -- the kind who don't need a prescription to have energy -- are quickly becoming the biggest factors in the game." It's a fascinating take, and well worth your time. (Journal American)
STAND UP AND BE COUNTED: Allen Barra, writing in the New York Sun, says the players he helped over the years should push for Marvin Miller to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
AT LAST, REINFORCEMENTS: Fernando Rodney has rejoined the Tigers and Joel Zumaya may be there by the end of the week. And Gary Sheffield could be just days away. (Both stories Detroit Free Press)
TRAGEDY AVERTED: It looked a lot worse than it ended up being, as the Cardinals say Yadier Molina has a mild concussion after an horrific home-plate collision with the Phillies' Eric Bruntlett. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli is recovered to the point that he'll soon begin a Class A rehab assignment. (minorleaguebaseball.com)
TRADE TALK: Suddenly there's a lot of it floating around, and not all of it involves C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees. To wit: A.J. Burnett says he'd accept a trade from the Blue Jays to the Cubs (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Angels are looking for offensive help (Orange County Register) . . . As the Pirates' season disintegrates, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette expects teams to make pitches for Jason Bay and Xavier Nady, among others . . . Now it's the Mets allegedly interested in Brian Fuentes. (Denver Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Trot Nixon is back in the majors, having been picked up by the Mets (Newsday) . . . Billy Werber, who played for the Red Sox way back when, celebrates his 100th birthday. (Palm Beach Post)
AND FINALLY . . . Tim Russert, the NBC journalist who died suddenly Friday, was a Red Sox fan and the team mourned his passing. (Boston Globe)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:55 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, June 13
Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson
ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD . . . IN BOSTON: Combatants on one Thursday, friends on the next (above); Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis making nice after Youkilis' eighth-inning home run last night is just one more symbol of the smooth seas the Red Sox are currently sailing. The journey continued with a 9-2 rout of the Orioles, recounted here by Joe McDonald. It was the finale of a 7-2 homestand, which lifted their overall Fenway record to 28-7 and increased their A.L. East lead to 2 1/2 games. But the sailing's been a lot smoother in Boston than elsewhere this year -- as their 14-20 road record indicates -- so now, says Sean McAdam, it's time for the Sox to show they can be just as successful away from the friendly confines . . . because if they can't, it's "something that could prove to be a serious obstacle to their repeating as World Series champions."
HERE IT COMES AGAIN: And that quest begins in Cincinnati, of all places, as interleague play resumes tonight and continues for the next two weeks. McDonald and McAdam report Terry Francona still isn't an interleague fan -- you're hardly alone there, Tito -- even though the Sox have been pretty successful at it in recent years; they're 31-8 against National League teams since 2006. (And that's not counting last October.) But Sean Casey (who played there) and Kevin Youkilis (who grew up there) are looking forward to visiting Cincinnati. (Boston Herald) The Reds are eagerly anticipating the Sox' arrival, too -- probably more for the crowds they'll attract than anything else -- and they warmed up for the series with a 6-2 win over the Cardinals that features that rarities of rarities: A Bronson Arroyo home run. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
REMEMBER WHEN? When the Red Sox last were in Cincinnati, Reggie Cleveland was their starting pitching, Juan Beniquez was in left field batting leadoff and Carlton Fisk was hitting cleanup. (baseball-reference.com) It was Game Five of the classic 1975 World Series, and the 6-2 Reds victory gave Cincinnati a 3-2 series lead. The Enquirer's Bill Koch remembers '75 from a Reds perspective; co-worker Joe Fenton, a New Englander, looks at it from our point of view.
THE BIGGEST VICTORY: Bernie Carbo played for both the Reds and Red Sox, and the teams' matchup gives him another chance to talk about how he overcame his drug and alcohol addiction. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
GET READY FOR ROUND TWO: Jonathan Papelbon -- saying "it is a bunch of bull what [the Rays] did" -- warns that "this thing isn’t all settled and done" between Boston and Tampa Bay, adding that "what comes around goes around." (projo.com)
DOWN ON THE FARM . . . Jed Lowrie is alive and well and riding a 14-game hitting streak for the PawSox. Mike Szostak has the details.
GRAND FINALE: The Yankees closed out their series in Oakland with a 4-1 win highlighted by birthday boy Hideki Matsui's grand slam. (New York Daily News) They play tonight in Houston and Joba Chamberlain will have a longer leash than he did in his first two starts. (New York Post)
LET'S MAKE A DEAL: The LoHud Yankees Blog's Peter Abraham wonders if the Yankees will make a run at C.C. Sabathia, even though he'll be a free agent at the end of the season. The New York Times says it could happen.
OUT FOR THE YEAR: The Yankees will be without rookie reliever Jonathan Albaladejo until 2008; he has a stress fracture in his right elbow. (New York Daily News)
THEY'RE HEARTBROKEN ABOUT THE PAST, UNENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THE PRESENT . . . and now Michael Salfino talks to a scout who examines their team's draft and concludes Mets fans have nothing to look forward to in the future, either. (web.sny.tv)
ANOTHER TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: Red Sox-Reds isn't this weekend's only World Series rematch. The Orioles and Pirates will meet in Baltimore for the first time since the 1979 Series. (Baltimore Sun)
NOT SO FAST: Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra isn't so sure the wave of talent that will eventually flow out of Cuba will be as robust as some people think.
THE LONG ROAD TO NOWHERE: Wondering how the Mariners got to be so horrible? David Cameron of Baseball Analysts says "the foundations for this failure were laid years ago" and goes over all the bad decisions that landed them where they are today.
POWER OF THE PEN: One day after ESPN publicized the job-seeking letter he sent to all 30 major-league teams, Jay Gibbons says he expects to sign with an Atlantic League team. (Baltimore Sun)
NOW THERE'S A REASON TO CHANGE YOUR REPRESENTATION: The blog It Is About The Money, Stupid talks to player agent Matt Sosnick, who says he was dropped by Josh Hamilton -- just as Hamilton appears to be on the verge of a huge payday -- because Hamilton said Jesus told him to switch agents. I can only wonder how this guy would have reacted if Vincent Chase told him the same thing . . .
YOU'RE IN THE NAVY NOW: And, so, a Cardinals draftee is going to have to pass up a baseball career. (AP via nbcsports.com)
MY GUYS: Regis Philbin has adopted the Marlins. (mlb.com)
IT'S THE WOOD, STUPID: The president of a company that makes maple bats -- the kind that are constantly shattering; the kind that MLB will discuss at a June 24 meeting with the union -- says maple is a safe ingredient for bats. He thinks companies trying to capitalize on the craze are using inferior grades of maple and that, not the maple itself, is what's causing the problem. (New York Times)
'GET TO KNOW ME': Milton Bradley says he wouldn't have fought Ryan Lefebvre had he gotten to the Royals broadcast booth the other night. He said he only wanted "to give the two TV announcers a chance to meet the person who was referred to on the air as someone who 'clearly has no control over himself.' " (Dallas Morning News)
HERE AND THERE: The Phillies have released Steve Kline (mlb.com), which may mean the veteran left-hander's big-league career is over . . . The Brewers informed Jeff Weaver they wouldn't be recalling him from New Orleans, so he asked for and received his release (mlb.com) . . . Jason Isringhausen will return to the Cardinals today and could be activated this weekend (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Indians have placed Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield on the disabled list. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Martinez needs elbow surgery and will be out six to eight weeks (mlb.com) . . . This may be Ray Durham's last year (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Moises Alou should just take up permanent residence on the DL (New York Daily News) . . . The Cubs may be interested in Scott Podsednik (Denver Post). . . The Royals have cut loose Brett Tomko. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Kevin Millar's x-rays were negative and he's listed as day-to-day after having to leave last night's game against the Red Sox because he fouled a ball off his knee. (Baltimore Sun) There's talk the Mets may be interested in Millar, but Matthew Cerrone's Mets Blog isn't so sure . . . Freddy Sanchez is hitting .239, which is bad news since rotoworld.com says he's "entirely without value when he's not hitting for average" . . . Kason Gabbard is back in the major leagues with the Rangers and will start on Saturday night (mlb.com) . . . Chris Coste is slowly wresting the Phillies' catching job away from Carlos Ruiz. (Philadephia Inquirer)
AND FINALLY . . . We haven't linked to Chad Finn much recently because he's been focusing on the Celtics. And, boy, did he ever have something to focus on last night. (www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases)
WELL, ALL RIGHT, ONE MORE: At the end of a long post in which he tried to identify The Greatest Play Ever, Joe Posnanski writes of getting completely caught up in the emotion of last night's Celtics-Lakers game and having "no idea why I’m so happy" about the Celts' win, especially since "I have despised the Celtics my whole life, going back to ‘76, when they beat the Cavaliers in the playoffs."
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, June 12
ALL SMILES: And why not? Bartolo Colon (above) improved his record to 4-1 with a 6-3 win over the Orioles last night that Joe McDonald said started with Colon's Al Bundy impersonation and ended with his resembling "his former Cy Young self." Not only that, but the Red Sox picked up ground on all their A.L. East brethren, as everybody but the Sox lost yesterday. Want more? David Ortiz became an American citizen . . . even though McDonald said he wouldn't own up to it.
But there's a bigger element in play here, and it goes beyond winning individual games. Sean McAdam has a very interesting piece about the Red Sox working to keep their starting pitchers rested and refreshed so they're better able to withstand the demands of October. He wrote it on the same day Paul Kenyon was reporting (and demonstrating) from Pawtucket how the organization has, in the words of director of amateur scouting Jason McLeod, "implemented a system, and everybody's bought into it at every level." The underlying theme -- of both stories -- is that the Red Sox' focus goes beyond winning individual games, and toward building a structure that gives the major-league team the greatest chance for sustained, and sustainable, success. And, as it happens, we simultaneously have Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News writing about the other end of this spectrum: Yankee manager Joe Girardi overusing his aging core players in an attempt to avoid falling too far behind in the postseason races, which, he thinks, creates "a worrisome situation which may grow worse by August or September, if you are inclined to think negatively."
There's a danger in thinking you've reinvented the wheel; it leads to the sort of hubris that was the backdrop to the old saying "Pride goeth before a fall." I point all this out not to laud the Red Sox for creating a revolutionary new approach to the grand old game -- other teams are pretty smart and do similar things -- but just to illustrate that sometimes we get a glimpse of a very sound organizational philosophy that usually flies pretty far below the radar. When it does surface, it's usually when the major-league team is in crisis and there's a lot of pressure to do something different.
Nice to take a calmer look at it on a day when the sun is shining.
TWO-TRICK PONY: Colon helped the Sox win last night's individual game, and Steven Krasner goes Inside The Game to show us how. David Pinto of Baseball Musings wonders what the Red Sox saw in him this spring that other teams didn't, and recommends a raise for the scout who advocating Colon's signing.
THE BAD NEWS: There's always some, and last night's revolved around the continuing struggles of Mike Timlin, as reported postgame by Krasner on this blog. He also reported that the torrid J.D. Drew shattered his bat during his fifth-inning plate appearance, and wonders if -- like Robert Redford in The Natural -- his luck will turn now that the bat is in pieces.
GETTING READY I: McAdam reports Daisuke Matsuzaka will make a rehab start for the PawSox next Monday.
GETTING READY II: Interleague play resumes tomorrow, so McDonald has details of how Sox pitchers are preparing.
WILL HE BE READY? Manny Ramirez' hamstrings are still bothering him, and there's no guarantee he'll be able to play left field when the Sox arrive in Cincinnati tomorrow night. (Boston Herald)
APPEALING: Sean Casey is officially appealing his four-game suspension for his part in last week's fight with the Rays.
MORE PLAYERS IN THE MIX? On the same day Sarasota held an open town forum to debate whether or not to build a new spring-training facility for the Red Sox, McAdam reports "at least one other Florida city has demonstrated serious interest in the Sox." No one from Arizona has come calling yet.
TURNING IT DOWN A NOTCH: In the wake of last week's shoving match with Ramirez, widely believed to be a result of Manny -- among others -- getting fed up with his emotional explosions when things don't go his way, Kevin Youkilis says he's "trying to be a little more mature about his outbursts, while not surrendering his passion for the game." (Boston Herald) Youk admits some teammates have gotten on his case about his screaming and flinging of equipment, but says others have told him not to change a thing.
THEY ALWAYS FAILED THE TASTE TEST . . . but now, reports The Boston Globe, Fenway Park's concession stands also failed preseason city health inspections. They're back up to code, as they fixed the problems and passed a May 16 inspection.
BASKETBALL? WHAT IS THIS BASKETBALL OF WHICH YOU SPEAK? Curt Schilling has another blog entry in which he doesn't mention Kobe Bryant or the Lakers. (His Monday entry turned Bryant into a Yankee fan.) In this one he talks of his Tuesday bullpen session, which he says "wasn't a great day" but one he's willing to write off to the vagaries of rehab.
NOT ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL, BUT NEVER BORING: It was quite a nine-game road trip for the Tampa Bay Rays. First there was the fight in Boston. Then there was the fight among themselves in Texas. And yesterday they turned their ire on the umpires -- Derryl Cousins, specifically -- in their 4-2 loss to the Angels in Anaheim. (St. Petersburg Times) And you wonder if more suspensions are in the offing, since, according to Times writer Marc Topkin, Rays starter Scott Kazmir "[complained] not only about missed strike calls during several key at-bats but [questioned Cousins'] reputation and integrity, accusing him of making certain calls to make up for others." Joe Maddon wasn't happy, either, and his unhappiness resulted in the eighth ejection of his career (Tampa Tribune); four of them have come against the team he once worked for as a coach, the Angels.
So the Rays finish 3-6 on their cross-country road trip. Not much of a record, but they made memories that will last a lifetime. (St. Petersburg Times)
TAKE A BREAK: Carl Crawford now begins serving his four-game suspension for his role in L'Affaire Coco, but he doesn't mind because the Rays are returning to Tropicana Field and staying off the artificial turf will ease the strain on his sore legs. (Tampa Tribune)
THE JOY OF BEING A BALLPLAYER: It's a glamorous life, eh, Troy Percival?
OH, YEAH? The Rays could take a lesson in rapid response to those nasty Torontonians from Jonathan Papelbon:
CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT: That's Peter Abraham's take on the Yankees, who fell back to .500 with an 8-4 loss to the A's that spoiled Darrell Rasner's sort-of homecoming. (New York Daily News) He grew up in Carson City, Nev., which is 3 1/2 hours from Oakland.
'YOU CAN NEVER COUNT THE YANKEES OUT': So says Tino Martinez, but he adds that "they can't dig themselves too much more of a hole then they're in right now . . . There's too many teams playing good." (New York Post)
MAY WE PRESENT . . . "Your 2008 Toronto Blue Jays: Crushing your spirit, shredding the crushed remains, then lighting the whole shredded heap into blazing inferno. Rinse. Repeat."
Think our buddy Tao is frustrated?
THE CHIPPER JONES WATCH: Pinto has one started on Baseball Musings. But both SI.com's Tom Verducci and The Wall Street Journal's Carl Bialik tell us a .400 season is unlikely.
CRISIS AVERTED: Milton Bradley attempted to confront Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre over comments Lefebvre made about him on the television broadcast of the game. He was intercepted before he got there, then screamed at his teammates and finally broke down in tears in the clubhouse. (Dallas Morning News)
JOB SEEKER: Former Oriole outfielder Jay Gibbons, who was named in the Mitchell Report, has written letters to all 30 teams saying he's sorry for his mistakes and is asking to redeem himself. "[All] I need is a chance and I will prove that I can be an extremely productive player and a great addition to your organization." (espn.com)
HERE AND THERE: Alfonso Soriano will be out four to six weeks after suffering a broken hand when he was hit by a pitch last night (Chicago Tribune) . . . Albert Pujols' calf strain will sideline him for at least three weeks (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Marlins have designated Jaque Jones for assignment (Yahoo!) . . . As if the Mariners didn't have enough problems, J.J. Putz has a sore elbow (Seattle Times) . . . Manny Acta and Elijah Dukes got into it in the Nationals dugout Tuesday night, but Acta says the incident is over. (Washington Post)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:07 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 11
Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl
LEAPIN' LIZARDS: For the longest time last night, it looked like a bull market for the Red Sox. Coco Crisp made a spectacular catch to end the fifth inning (above). Josh Beckett survived without his best stuff and, says Steven Krasner, turned in an ace-like performance without ace-like numbers. Manny Ramirez moved into sole posession of 22nd place on the all-time home-run list with No. 505, which, reports Joe McDonald, delighted Eddie Murray, the ex-teammate and friend he was tied with at 504. Krasner tells us Jacoby Ellsbury had a more-or-less successful return to the lineup. The Sox had a 6-4 lead after six innings and handed the game over to Hideki Okajima in the first step down a path that would inevitably lead to Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.
And then came the explosion.
When it was over the Sox, relates McDonald, were 10-6 losers to the Orioles but, far more importantly, a disconcerting issue was raised: Wither Hideki Okajima? He had another abysmal outing -- one-third of an inning, two hits, two walks, three runs -- and it had Sean McAdam asking if Okajima "was . . . a one-year flash in the pan?" When Okajima "can’t locate with precision," writes Sean, "his stuff isn’t good enough to overmatch hitters." He certainly didn't overmatch anyone last night, making the 2007 words of some scouts -- "who predicted [Okajima] would become more hittable the more opposing teams saw him" -- prophetic . . . and worrisome.
He wasn't the only bullpen culprit last night. Krasner reports that, at least partially due to a ninth-inning misjudgment by Dustin Pedroia, Craig Hansen had his scoreless string snapped as the Orioles tacked on three more runs. (It was part of a six-run outburst against Sox relievers, only the second time in the last 16 games the bullpen's been scored upon.) But because of the role he occupies -- Tonto to Papelbon's Lone Ranger -- Okajima's failures were the ones that raised the most warning flags.
There's a danger in overreacting to one bad outing or even a series of bad outings; it could be nothing more than Oriole hitters having Okajima's number this year. (The Baltimore Sun reports Okajima "has a 13.50 ERA and three blown leads in five appearances against the Orioles this season . . . [and] a 0.40 ERA, having surrendered just one earned run in 22 2/3 innings, against everyone else.") But when a team that had lost only six home games all year prior to last night coughs one up in such gruesome fashion -- and with such an obvious goat at the middle of it all -- well, a little overreaction is understandable.
DON'T ASK US: Oriole hitters say they have no idea why they're so successful against Okajima. (Washington Post)
ON THE OTHER HAND . . . There's always good news to offset the bad in baseball, and Krasner reports that last night's ray of sunshine was shining on the comebacking Curt Schilling. And Terry Francona threw a little sunshine at Clay Buchholz, while he was at it.
IT'S JUST A BASKETBALL GAME, FOR GOD'S SAKES: Folks in Baltimore are so phobic about Kevin Millar's not-so-secret affection for all things Boston that they come down on him for something as innocuous as attending Game Two of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers. (The Loss Column Baltimore Sports)
COMPARISON TEST: Remember when Jim Rice claimed Papelbon was the only member of the current Red Sox who could have displaced a starter on Rice's 1975 American League champion Sox? Both AOL's Josh Alper and SouthCoastToday.com's Jon Couture look at the rosters and find Rice's analysis to be a little skewed . . . specifically at first base, second base, third base and the pitching staff.
C.C. OF SURPRISE: On his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty reports ESPN's Jayson Stark threw the Red Sox into some C.C. Sabathia trade talk, saying on the Mike and Mike In The Morning radio show that the Indians are "heavily scouting" the Sox. And since they don't play Boston until September, it can't be game scouting.
DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO: Curt Schilling has long skewered media members who make categorical statements with just a surface knowledge of the situation. Then he does exactly what he claims to hate in a 38pitches.com entry about Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, even though, as he admits, "I have no idea how the guys in the NBA play or do things . . . " And that gave T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times the opportunity to tear into Schilling, saying there's "no bigger sissy than a hit-and-run blogger."
DO THE RIGHT THING: There's some controversy over who caught Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run Monday night, as two fans in Miami are claiming ownership. (Miami Herald) But Damon Woo hopes that whoever has it does the same thing he did when he caught Manny Ramirez' 500th: Return it. McDonald talked to Woo, whose life has been a whirlwind since he brought the historic ball back to Ramirez in the Red Sox clubhouse that night.
 | HE DID JUST THAT: Griffey -- widely regarded as baseball's greatest player in the 1990s -- has slowly slid into the background in recent years, partly because injuries limited his playing time but also because his numbers never shot into the chemically aided stratosphere of the late '90s and early '00s. And Griffey's clean-as-a-whistle reputation was suddenly front-and-center yesterday as Number 600 prompted the baseball world to rediscover a player it had all but forgotten. His name, wrote Hal McCoy in a story reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, "never has appeared on a police blotter, has never been listed among those who cheated to gain an unfair advantage, has never been listed on any delinquent tax lists or bankruptcy lists for flushing his money away on drugs." SI.com's Jack Wilkinson concurs, saying Griffey's achievement "was not only extraordinary, but untainted" The Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer remembers a childhood spent idolizing Junior, and notes the reality of what Griffey actually did was always better than the fantasy." Even players, like ex-teammate Todd Jones, were delighted. The Seattle Times, which covered Griffey over the early part of his career, compiles a list of his 10 most memorable home runs. And Mike Greenberg of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike In The Morning compares Griffey to Barry Bonds . . . and gives the edge to Griffey. |
Six hundred home runs is quite a milestone -- only five other players (Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa) have ever done it, and Bonds and Sosa are widely believed to have had medicinal help in clearing the bar -- and just getting there is an achievement to be celebrated. But this was more. This was the virtual rediscovery of a player deserving of the praise we'd unfairly heaped on others during baseball's blighted past.
Congratulations, Junior. You earned it.
MAINTAINING THE PACE: The Red Sox lost no ground to the Rays in the A.L. East standings, as James Shields was knocked around a bit in a 6-1 Angels win over Tampa Bay. (Tampa Tribune)
NEW MEANING TO THE TERM 'ON THE BUMP': The Tampa Bay Rays can do with more with their fists than pummel Coco Crisp:
RIGHTING A WRONG: Remembering the time Cito Gaston left him warming up in the bullpen without bringing him into the game -- and thus depriving Mike Mussina, then with the Orioles, of pitching in front of his hometown fans in the 1993 All-Star Game at Camden Yards -- Cameron Martin of ComcastSportsNet wonders if Terry Francona would select Moose to start this year's All-Star Game, which is being played in Mussina's current baseball home (Yankee Stadium).
MOOSE TALES: John Feinstein's latest book, Living On The Black, focuses on the 2007 seasons of Mussina and Tom Glavine, who were both in New York last year and were both staying in the major leagues on their brains and guile thanks to fastballs that had long since deserted them. Ken Davidoff of Newsday relates some of the Mussina stories, which include examples of his contempt for Carl Pavano and how then-pitching coach Ron Guidry stopped speaking to him when he was removed from the starting rotation last August.
BACK IN THE GROOVE: Chien-Ming Wang was his old sinkerballing self as he pitched the Yankees over the A's in Oakland last night. (New York Post)
NO, THEY'RE NOT: The New York Daily News' Filip Bondy says nobody "is talking about the Yankees as a championship team anymore -- not this year, anyway -- and that means the arrow continues to point in the wrong direction for this franchise." And he bemoans the fact that "[over] the past eight years, the Bombers have slowly devolved from perennial champions to chronic playoff disappointments, then to a wild-card team and now to a mere wild-card contender."
OH, SHADDUP: Tino Martinez has a piece of advice for those -- like Johnny Damon -- who feel the need to comment on the Joba Chamberlain situation: Zip it. (New York Daily News)
REACHING OUT: Andy Pettitte says he hasn't spoken to Roger Clemens since the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs erupted over the winter but says he hopes they'll talk soon. (New York Daily News) As for whether that will happen this weekend, when the Yanks go to Clemens' (and Pettitte's) hometown of Houston, Pettitte replied: "I have no idea. I don't know what to tell you about that."
UPS AND DOWNS: Speaking of PEDs, Yahoo! Sports' David Brown looks at how all the players mentioned in the Mitchell Report are doing this year.
WHOA! There's been a Phil Hughes blog sighting!
PROUD MOMENT FOR MY PROFESSION: The Sporting News is reinventing itself as a print/online hybrid and it's making a part-time journalist out of Hank Steinbrenner. (AOL Sports Fanhouse)
LET ME PUSH THE DETONATOR BUTTONS: Tim Marchman of the New York Sun, in an interview with the blog The Biz of Baseball, provides an antidote to the flood of tears being shed over the imminent demises of Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium by saying he's "utterly appalled" by both parks. He's particularly appalled by Yankee Stadium: "Yankee Stadium is on the merits one of the worst places in the country to watch a ballgame, and there’s really little that’s more hilarious in baseball than the pretense that this giant concrete bowl is some magnificent cathedral and monument to the glories of the game."
'L' BEFORE 'W': The New York Daily News reports the Mets had a players-only meeting before last night's game against the Diamondbacks and passed around a sheet that contained such inspirational phrases as "team above self" and "We B4 I." Then they went out, blew a four-run lead and lost to Arizona, 9-5. Even so, Moises Alou says the Mets "definitely" are a playoff- team. (New York Post)
PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND: With the Mets' season swirling down the sink, focus is beginning to shift away from Willie Randolph and onto Omar Minaya. (New York Daily News)
AND FOR MORE THAN JUST THE TEAM'S ON-FIELD PLAY: John Delcos, on the LoHud Mets Blog, rips into Minaya and the Mets for their "shameful" handling of Ryan Church's concussion. "Just dumb and arrogant from top to bottom," he concludes.
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? As low as Class A if you're Dontrelle Willis. That's where the Tigers sent him in an attempt to see if he can regain his lost pitching skills, which have deserted him to the tune of a 10.32 ERA. (espn.com) Baseball Musings' David Pinto wishes Willis the best because baseball "can use characters like him."
BI-POLAR: Last winter, Peter Robins-Brown of Bugs and Cranks admits he "joined the chorus of cheers" when the Tigers traded for Edgar Renteria and was so euphoric about acquiring Willis and Miguel Cabrera from Florida that he "made an allusion to taking the deal itself out for a fine dinner and trying to make love to it. Or something like that." Now, on June 11, his tune is a little different: "They’re done. Stick a fork in ‘em. And all those other cliches. The 2008 Detroit Tigers can no longer be considered a team with any chance of making a run to the playoffs."
AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM . . . : SI.com's Jon Heyman says this year's Philadelphia story will be as good, if not better, than it was in 2007.
JET LAG: The Washington Post has results of a study that shows teams lose 60 percent of games played in a time zone three hours from the time zone they just left, and 52 percent of games in time zones one or two hours away. But the study also shows teams "only rarely have to play games right after traveling across the country . . . In fact, for only about 16 to 20 times a season did [all MLB] teams [combined] have to travel three time zones and then promptly play a game."
R.I.P. Eliot Asinof, author of the essential Eight Men Out -- the story of how the White Sox threw the 1919 World Series -- has died at age 88. (AP via Yahoo!)
HERE AND THERE: Albert Pujols had to be helped off the field after straining his calf in the Cardinals' win at Cincinnati last night, and the team fears he'll be out a while (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Orioles, as expected, designated Steve Trachsel for assignment (Baltimore Sun) . . . Tom Glavine, who avoided the disabled list for the first 20 years of his career, is headed there for the second time in three months because of a strained left elbow (mlb.com) . . . It doesn't look as if the Dodgers' Rafael Furcal will even be starting a rehab assignment for at least two weeks (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Francisco Liriano had another strong outing in Rochester as he tries to make his way back to the Twins (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) . . . Troy Tulowitzki has begin his rehab assignment (mlb.com) . . . The Braves say there are "a lot of unknowns" concerning John Smoltz' future after his shoulder surgery (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Juan Uribe's buried on the bench, but he says he still wants to stay with the White Sox (Chicago Tribune) . . . Gregg Zaun's about ready to return to the Blue Jays. (Toronto Star)
OLD FRIENDS: Anibal Sanchez, recuperating from shoulder surgery, is close to being able to pitch in a rehab game (Miami Herald) . . . Because of Furcal's injury (see above), Nomar Garciaparra is going to play some shortstop (Los Angeles Times) . . . Trot Nixon has 10 home runs in Tucson and rotoworld.com wonders if it isn't time for someone, like the Mets, to give him a look . . . Wilfredo Ledezma has been designated for assignment by the Padres (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Cliff Floyd can't get back into Tampa Bay's lineup. (St. Petersburg Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 10
NOT SO HOT: They say that into each life some rain must fall, and -- record-setting temperatures to the contrary -- it's pouring in Clay Buchholz' world right now. All the talking in the world (above) couldn't stem the tide of a three-inning, six-hit, two-run struggle against Buffalo at McCoy Stadium last night that, Paul Kenyon reports, was a) abruptly cut short by PawSox manager Ron Johnson and b) then explained by Johnson in the middle of the game's local television broadcast. The heat and humidity was part of it, Johnson said, but so was the fact that it took a Matsuzaka-like 73 pitches for Buchholz to labor through those three innings. Buchholz was singing a happier tune afterwards -- he felt better physically than he has all year, he feels "it won’t be much longer" before he's ready to return to Boston -- but with the Red Sox' starting rotation clicking on all cylinders at the moment, it'll take more than three-inning/six-hit/two-run performances to punch his ticket back northward. So I guess the message is, fear not if you weren't able to get out to McCoy to see Buchholz last night; odds are you'll have more chances this summer.
YIN AND YANG: Buchholz was part of a good-news/bad-news smorsgasbord at McCoy last night, according to Kenyon. Among the good news: Chris Carter continues his torrid hitting. Among the bad: Bobby Kielty (strained oblique) is back on the disabled list.
LABOR DAY: Buchholz' former Red Sox teammates had a break in the schedule yesterday, but that didn't stop a few of them from getting some work in at Fenway Park anyway. (projo.com) Most notable: Matsuzaka playing long-toss in preparation for a Wednesday bullpen session as he works his way back from his rotator-cuff strain, and Jacoby Ellsbury taking batting practice in advance of a return to the lineup, perhaps as soon as tonight.
OH, WHAT A RELIEF: Craig Hansen has allowed just one hit and no runs in his last six appearances and Jim Donaldson explains why.
JUST LIKE THE WEATHER: J.D. Drew's hot streak was the subject of off-day stories by the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman and the Boston Globe's Amalie Benjamin.
BEYOND THE NUMBERS: Josh Beckett's 6-4, 4.07 record heading into tonight's start seems a comedown from his 2007 season, when he won 20 games and put himself in position to be remembered as one of the all-time great postseason pitchers. But he tells the Herald's Rob Bradford that very little has changed for him since last year.
MOVE YOUR CLOCKS BACK: Just as they did last Thursday, the Red Sox have pushed the starting times of tonight's game and Thursday's game back to 6:05 p.m. to avoid conflict with the Celtics in the NBA Finals. (projo.com)
ANOTHER FIRST: The Rays continue to do a lot of things they've never done before. Last night they hit back-to-back-to-back home runs -- Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar and Dioner Navarro -- for the first time in franchise history in a 13-4 win over the Angels, which also was Joe Maddon's first victory at Anaheim in three years at Tampa Bay's manager. (St. Petersburg Times)
LESSON LEARNED? The Times' Gary Shelton thinks Sunday's dugout scuffle between Navarro and Matt Garza will prove to be a good thing if it makes Navarro more assertive and forces Garza to grow up . . . two things the Rays want to see happen.
'A BASEBALL NECROPOLIS': That's how the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro describes the Big Apple, what with the Yankees sitting at 32-32 at 64 games and the Mets at 30-32 after 62. The Yanks are back at .500 after yesterday's 3-2 loss to the Royals, a game decided on a ninth-inning Jose Guillen home run off Mariano Rivera. (New York Daily News) The homer was a continuation of two factors: Guillen's astounding four games in the Bronx (Daily News) -- 9-for-16, 4 homers, 11 RBI -- and Rivera's inexplicable struggles in tie games this season, as related by Peter Abraham on the LoHud Yankees Blog. The good news for the Yanks was the continued excellence of Mike Mussina (New York Post), who continues to make monkeys of those -- like me -- who thought his days as an effective pitcher had passed. And, for those who want to continue to avoid looking in the mirror, there was umpire Ed Montague, with whom the Yanks had their second dispute in four days. (New York Post) But accentuating the positive and blaming the umpires would obscure some hard truths, as laid out by the Daily News' John Harper: "Monday's loss dropped [the Yankees] to .500 for the 22nd time this season, which tells you they haven't been a team of ups and downs so much as one playing to its level." Harper notes the Yanks have recovered from slow starts before -- particularly last year -- but can't help asking: "Is this the season the magic runs out?"
If it's not, Mussina has some sage advice: "We've been saying for a month that [a takeoff] is inevitable . . . If it's inevitable, it better happen soon." (New York Post)
AP Photo
NUMBER 600: There are better venues to celebrate baseball history than the sparsely populated Dolphin Stadium, but the 10,000 or so who were there last night were witness to a great moment: Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th career home run (above). (Cincinnati Enquirer) The Dayton Daily News' Hal McCoy said Griffey was rendered nearly speechless by becoming only the sixth player in history to reach the 600-homer plateau. Four of the other five are still alive; Griffey said he's heard from Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, but not from Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa. FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry says, as great as this achievement is, he can only wonder what Griffey would have accomplished had it not been for all his injuries. Joe Posnanski, focusing on what Griffey did and not what he might have done, has a very nice tribute to Junior in a short (for him) 600 or so words.
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: The Daily News yesterday linked Roger Clemens to yet another performance-enhancing drug: Viagra. How is that a PED -- baseball-wise -- you ask? The newspaper also explains.
FOOD COURT: The New York Times has a great interactive map, showing the best and the worst food at each major-league ballpark. I must say, I never even knew the Red Sox sold what the Times considers to be the best Fenway has to offer. Under Section 7, eh?
SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE: Tigers manager Jim Leyland says he plans ro alternate Ivan Rodriguez and Brandon Inge at catcher on a daily basis. (Detroit Free Press)
OH, PLEASE: Shysterball presents "Great Moments in Melodrama," Detroit-style.
WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? To all those wondering how the pitching-starved Rangers could cut loose Sidney Ponson, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jim Reeves has another question: Why didn't they do it sooner? And then he runs through the incidents that led Texas to cut ties with the erratic right-hander.
MEASURE THIS: The Huffington Post's Dave Hollander -- while claiming he's not anti-analysis and that you need to understand statistics to understand baseball -- says there are certain baseball intangibles that simply can't be measured and holds up Cliff Floyd as an example of someone whose "presence" makes his teams better. I'd laugh at this argument anyway; I'm laughing harder because I didn't see where Floyd's "presence" did a damn thing for the 2002 Red Sox, who brought him in at the trading deadline to bolster the postseason drive and went 30-26 the rest of the way (compared to 63-43 before they got him), falling from a tie for the wild-card lead to finishing six games out of a playoff spot.
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli went 1-for-4 with a sacrifice fly in an extended spring-training game. (draysbay.com)
MEDICAL REPORT: David Pinto has a breakdown of the day's injuries on Baseball Musings.
HERE AND THERE: The Mariners replaced hitting instructor Jeff Pentland with Lee Elia (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), then went out and beat the Blue Jays (Seattle Times) . . . The Brewers deny a report that they're interested in the Orioles' Brian Roberts (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Blue Jays' interest in Erik Bedard is said to be cooling (Seattle Times) . . . The Royals' Gil Meche, who has a no-trade clause, laughs at rumors that have him heading to the Cubs (Kansas City Star) . . . Noah Lowery says he hopes to pitch again this year, contrary to what the Giants said the other day. (San Francisco Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: Doug Mientkiewicz nearly got into it with Randy Johnson yesterday (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Ponson's release may mean a return to Texas for Kason Gabbard. (rotoworld.com)
AND FINALLY . . . At last, a baseball promotion you can actually use: A woman at a minor-league game won a free funeral. (cbs11tv.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:03 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 9
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
ON THE BALL: How wonderful to be talking baseball again; we weren't doing much of that when last we spoke. And J.D. Drew is giving us a lot to talk about. His sixth-inning home run (above) delivered the winning run in yesterday's 2-1 win over the Mariners, which, Steven Krasner notes, also featured a Drew RBI in the third and a Drew run-saving catch in the second. This on the heels on what Sean McAdam pointed out could have been a five-hit game on Saturday when Boston buried Seattle, 11-3; as it was, two of his line drives were caught, so he had to settle for a 3-for-5 afternoon in which he tripled and homered. It is, Krasner wrote Saturday, "a great illustration of hitting the ball where it’s pitched, an approach that, given the compact, flawless mechanics Drew has been showing at the plate recently, puts the Sox' right fielder in a position to succeed every time he’s in the batter’s box." He's been succeeding just about every time he's in the batter's box, too, hitting .519 in his last eight games and .400 in his last 16. I don't think I have to point out Drew's resurgence couldn't have come at a better time because, as McAdam reports, David Ortiz may be feeling better but he'll still be sidelined for the next several weeks. Nor are the other walking wounded much farther along than they were Friday, though Krasner says Jacoby Ellsbury hopes to be back tomorrow and Manny Ramirez may return to left field Friday when interleague play resumes. But as long as Drew continues this torrid streak, hey, who needs 'em?
CALM DOWN, WILL YA? I know, I know; let's get real. It's hardly a one-man show. Even yesterday, Drew wasn't the only hero. McAdam has the details of another superb outing from Justin Masterson, and puts it into an interesting context: "There’s not enough pitching [in the major leagues today], and for what little exists teams gladly overpay. Then there’s the Red Sox." Daisuke Matsuzaka -- the 8-0 Daisuke Matsuzaka -- goes down, and Masterson steps in so ably that the Sox don't miss a beat. (And his games are certainly more esthetically pleasing than some of the walk-a-thons authored by Dice-K.) Krasner reports that Craig Hansen continued his stretch of lights-out relief. And Steve goes Inside The Game to laud Dustin Pedroia, hitless again yesterday -- and now 10-for-his-last-70 -- but who may have had the key at-bat in the victory, a nine-pitch walk that led to the tying run and helped drive up Erik Bedard's pitch count to the point that he had to be lifted from the game in the sixth. It was in the sixth inning, against Bedard's replacement, that Drew delivered the game-winning homer.
INTO EACH LIFE, SOME RAIN MUST FALL: The bad news from the weekend: Kevin Youkilis' record streak of errorless games at first base came to an end Saturday. McAdam and Krasner tell us all about it.
THE REAL CULPRITS: The weekend actually started with a bit of Rays hangover (which, reports Joe McDonald, manifested itself in a lifeless 8-0 loss Friday night), along with the inevitable fallout from the testosterone fest. It didn't take long for MLB to hand down its suspensions for Thursday Night At The Fights -- McAdam broke the story, at least in regards to the Red Sox penalties, at about 4:30 Friday afternoon and updated it with reaction and news over the next hour-and-a-half -- and most of the media reports centered what the Sox and Rays thought about it. (The Rays continued to salute themselves for their noble reaction to the evil Coco; Joe Maddon told Marc Lancaster of the Tampa Tribune they were "sincerely aggressive in a good way, and I liked it.") But McAdam had a different take: He blamed the umpires for not taking charge of this thing Wednesday night, specifically when Maddon and Crisp began screaming obscenities at each other in the middle of the diamond, and as a result "invited the players to implement their own brand of frontier justice." And so they did. (Sean also takes Crisp to task, saying he "clearly overreacted" to Jason Bartlett's dropping of the knee.) You get the sense MLB agrees with Sean about the umpires; after all, it suspended Jon Lester for acts -- hitting Carl Crawford, throwing behind Willy Aybar's legs, coming up and in on Cliff Floyd -- the umps didn't even deem worthy of a warning, let alone an ejection.
In any case, let the suspensions begin and let's get on with life. It's over.
At least until June 30 in St. Petersburg.
DON'T MISTAKE SILENCE FOR ACCEPTANCE: Jon Lester may have been relatively quiet about his suspension -- which he chose not to appeal, mainly because the timing was such that the Red Sox won't have to bring up another pitcher to make a start in his place (thanks to today's off day) -- but that doesn't mean he agrees with it, or isn't angered by it. (Boston Herald)
THEY SAID IT: Best quotes from the whole thing:
-- "I believe that. I will agree with him. It’s true." -- Crisp, when told James Shields described his actions as "bush league" (projo.com)
-- "I don't think I had a very good case to appeal" -- Jonny Gomes, on why he accepted his five-game suspension (Tampa Tribune)
WHAT, DID YOU SLEEP THROUGH 2004? Last year the Red Sox skated through the season with relative ease, health-wise, and no one said a word. Now they've had some injuries so Bill Chuck of Foxsports.com's Dugout Central trots out "The Curse" as an explanation.
PROBLEM? WHAT PROBLEM? MAYBE YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM, BUT WE HAVEN'T GOT A PROBLEM: As expected, the Sox arrived at Fenway Park Friday insisting all was well between Ramirez and Youkilis, one day after their dugout contretemps was caught by the television cameras for all the world to see. Curt Schilling, in the middle of a newsy post that touches on a number of topics, calls the showdown "a TOTAL non-issue and an event that happens far far more than you ever see or hear about." (38pitches.com) Most of you agree. (Stories and surveys via projo.com)
Even so, Allan Wood says that if reports are true -- that it started because Ramirez was tired of Youkilis' complain-about-every-call, scream-obscenities-when-things-don't-go-his-way, slam-down-the-equipment-in-disgust-when-he-makes-an-out act -- then he's with Manny. "Yook's Paul O'Neill impersonations have always grated on me," he writes. (joyofsoxn.com)
PROBLEM? WHAT PROBLEM? MAYBE . . . OH, YOU ALREADY HEARD THIS: The Rays were saying the same thing after yesterday's battery, pitcher Matt Garza and catcher Dioner Navarro, exchanged words and then shoves in the dugout in the middle of their 6-3 loss to the Rangers. (St. Petersburg Times) The blog DRays Bay thinks the Rays are right in keeping things under wraps, and also comes to the same conclusion as everyone else: The culpable party here was Garza.
CELEBRITY IMPERSONATOR: My wife calls Joe Maddon "Spencer Tracy" because of the way those glasses make him look. Me, I'll start calling him "William Buckley" if he continues to say things like "The strike zone was slightly amorphic today." (St. Petersburg Times) (It probably was; the normally placid Eric Hinske got tossed for arguing a call with the plate umpire, James Hoye.) But the blog Ryan Goes To ASU is calling him "A.L. Manager of the Year."
BOSTON EAST: The Rays now head to Anaheim, and they've historically struggled there as much as they have at Fenway Park. (Tampa Tribune)
A DREAM COME TRUE, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE: Chris Carter's major-league debut Thursday -- as the Red Sox left fielder -- meant more to him than anyone could have known. He told McDonald that his father grew up as both a Red Sox fan and a Ted Williams fan, and his grandfather -- who's now blind -- was in the stands Thursday as his grandson played for his son's favorite team, in the position that was made famous by his son's hero.
BACK FOR SECONDS: Joba Chamberlain lasted almost twice as long in his second start as he did in his first and this time the Yankees won the game, 6-3 over the Royals. (New York Daily News) Not that Chamberlain had a whole lot to do with it -- the score was tied, 3-3, when he was lifted with one out in the fifth, having reached his pitch-count limit -- and the New York Post's Larry Brooks is looking forward to the day when pitch locations mean more than pitch counts. One good thing: Now Johnny Damon thinks Joba as a starter isn't such a bad idea, after all. (New York Daily News)
THE ORACLE: Jim Bouton once wrote that, in baseball, the more successful you are on the field the more people listen to you. They're hanging on Damon's every word now after he became only the second Yankee in history to get six hits in a nine-inning game in Saturday's wild 12-11 victory. (New York Daily News)
PARDON ME, DID YOU SAY SOMETHING? The Royals, on the other hand, are 24-39 so no one's paying attention when they speak. Good thing, because Yankee Universe might be a little rattled by their postgame review of Chamberlain: "Nothing special," "Just a guy throwing hard" and "Nothing we haven't seen before." (New York Post)
TAKE YOUR MEDICINE: Um, all you folks who were ready to bury Jason Giambi in April? Your order of humble pie is ready. (New York Post)
THE BLUEPRINT: Peter Abraham says the Yankees have been handed "an engraved invitation" to make a move in the A.L. East, and tells us why. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
'WE DON'T DO THAT HERE': And making a move is something Jorge Posada expects, because he says "rebuilding" is what they don't do. (yahoo.com) But the writer, Jeff Passan, isn't so sure. And another writer, Joel Sherman of the New York Post, says the Yankees better start wheeling and dealing if they hope to win this year.
THE BEAUTY OF THE INTERNET: About 60 folks who spend time on the LoHud Yankees Blog had a gathering with Abraham in Scranton the other day in which they watched Kei Igawa stifle the Syracuse Chiefs and raised some money for a cancer charity. "It was a real privilege for me to attend," said Pete.
AH, THAT HOME COOKIN': The Red Sox aren't the only team with a skewed home-and-road record. The New York Daily News reports that all across MLB home teams are winning at a record pace.
ALL IS FORGIVEN: We called out Jim Rice for abandoning his blog the other day, so what happens? He apologizes, then looks at home-road split from the other angle: How difficult it is to play on the road. And, no, before you get the wrong idea, I don't think I had anything to do with it.
LET'S SEE: Mark Cuban gets a look at the Cubs' books today as his bid to buy the franchise -- which may or may not be derailed by Bud Selig at the some point in the process -- continues. (Chicago Sun-Times)
HERE ARE WORDS YOU NEVER WANT TO SEE ATTACHED TO YOUR RESUME: Saying he "had disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations that were unbecoming of a teammate" -- don't quite know what that means, but it sure doesn't sound good -- the Rangers abruptly released Sidney Ponson late last week despite the fact that he was 4-1 with a 3.88 ERA and Texas, last in the majors with a team ERA of 5.10, isn't exactly rolling in pitching. (Dallas Morning News) Manager Ron Washington doesn't care; he says the team is better off without Ponson (Canadian Press), which makes you wonder exactly how onerous his behavior was. My guess: Very.
SO WHAT? HE CAN PITCH! None of that has stopped the Houston Chronicle's Jose de Jesus Ortiz from advocating the Astros snap up Ponson before someone else does.
SEASON-ENDERS: Like maybe the Indians and Tigers, both of whom are looking for pitching after Jake Westbrook (Tommy John surgery, story by Akron Beacon Journal) and Jeremy Bonderman (blood clot of the axillary vein due to thoracic outlet compression syndrome, story by Detroit Free Press) were declared finished for the year. The Free Press' Drew Sharpe says it's "important to look at [Bonderman's] injury less as another thing going wrong in a bad season and more that he's a lucky young man that a potentially life-threatening circumstance was discovered before something truly disastrous occurred."
LOCAL BOYS: The blog Outs Per Swing has labeled Warwick's Dan Wheeler 'Cardiac Dan' as he continues to close games for the Rays in Troy Percival's absence.
REALLY LOCAL BOYS: Three Rhode Islanders -- including one from the old alma mater, Cranston West -- were selected in the second day of the baseball draft. (projo.com)
THIS IS WHY YOU ALWAYS READ JOE POSNANSKI: Because in the middle of a post, he'll drop in a great story . . . like this one about how, in writing about a Kansas City golf tournament, he once inadvertently offended Jamie Farr and received three angry messages -- and a subsequent apology -- from Farr. (joeposnanski.com)
RARITIES: Barry Zito got the victory as the Giants beat the Nationals in Washington. (San Jose Mercury News)
WHISPERS: The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers thinks the Mariners may shop Erik Bedard.
HERE AND THERE: Juan Rincon's job in Minnesota may be in jeopardy (St. Paul Pioneer Press) . . . As is Steve Trachsel's in Baltimore, especially after, the words of the Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec, Trachsel "failed to close out an eight-run Orioles lead and appeared incredulous when Dave Trembley came to the mound to take him out" . . . Moises Alou says he's ready to return to the Mets' lineup on Tuesday (Journal-News) . . . Tuesday is also the day Matt Holliday returns to the Rockies (Rocky Mountain News) . . . Jake Peavy wasn't pleased with how his 61-pitch simulated game went last week, but he's still on pace to return to the Padres rotation Thursday (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Knee surgery will sideline the A's Mike Sweeney for four to six weeks (Costa Contra Times) . . . Chipper Jones' quest for .400 has been halted for a day or two by a slight tear in his right quadriceps. (espn.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Tony Clark's eighth-inning home run off Billy Wagner enabled the Padres to complete a four-game sweep of the Mets (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Eric Gagne isn't the only ex-Red Sox reliever struggling in the Milwaukee bullpen. But just as he did with Gagne, Brewers manager Ned Yost is standing behind Guillermo Mota. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, June 6
SWING SHIFT: Let's start with the fight. (projo.com) That's what caught most everyone's attention.
Or maybe we'll start with the wrist injury to Jacoby Ellsbury, which is what most concerns the Red Sox.
No? How about the intramural dustup between Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis in the dugout, which had the Sox circling their wagons afterwards?
Oh, and there was a game in there: A 7-1 Boston rout that completed the Sox' second consecutive three-game sweep of the now second-place Rays.
On a normal morning, any one of those things -- accounts of each were written by Steven Krasner -- would be headline news. This time around? Take your pick.
Safe to say that on a night the Celtics and Lakers were across town, playing the opening game of the NBA Finals, the Red Sox and Rays did everything they could -- and then some -- to shift the spotlight away from the North End and back to the Fens.
The brawl, of course, is what's on everybody mind, and if we'd been paying attention -- actually, most of us were, so we did see it coming -- we'd have know what was in store after Wednesday night. Coco Crisp was defiantly unapologetic about his eighth-inning rumble into second base, claiming his actions were justified by the knee block of Tampa Bay shortstop Justin Bartlett in the sixth . . . something the Rays felt just as strongly was unworthy of Crisp's over-the-top reaction. The lack of any pregame conciliatory words from either corner -- when asked directly by Joe Castiglione if his team was "moving on," Rays manager Joe Maddon gave a non-answer that would have done a politician proud -- indicated that trouble was brewing.
It arrived in the second inning, when Rays starter James Shields plunked Crisp in the thigh with his second pitch. Crisp, who obviously came into this game loaded for bear, charged the mound, ducked a Shields punch, took one of his own (above), and we were off. Bob Breidenbach captured much of it in a series of photos.
Crisp absolutely got the worst of it, pinned by catcher Dioner Navarro, pummeled by a piling-on Jonny Gomes and punched, pinched and scratched at various points by Carl Crawford and Akinori Iwamura (among others; they were the ones we saw). He finally emerged with a cut on his cheek, bruises on his face and cheers in his ears, as the Fenway Park crowd reacted the way most fans do to these demonstrations of tribal solidarity: With great affection for their combatants and hateful contempt for the enemy. (Boston Herald) Ian Bethune's essential Sox & Dawgs has video of both the fight and of Crisp's postgame comments, in which he didn't exactly turn down the heat; he claimed the Rays fought "like a bunch of girls."
(So far, this is the only amateur video I've seen of the fight:)
As for the Rays, they were patting themselves on the back for standing tall and standing together. (Tampa Tribune) Shields all but guaranteed himself a suspension, and probably a lengthy one, by admitting he threw at Crisp intentionally, but he didn't care. "We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and that’s not going to happen any more," he declared.
Well . . . maybe. They may have been losing for the last 10 years, but they've always been pretty feisty, especially against the Red Sox. (ProJo Sox Blog) And they, too, were lauded by their fan base, such as it is. The blog Rays Index crowed that Crisp "got what he deserved." Rays television announcer Joe Magrane piled on a bit, as well. (Joy of Sox)
But there was some sanity sprinkled into the madness. The cognoscenti at Sons of Sam Horn entitled their discussion "Coco Crisp Is Completely Insane." Also lost amidst the testosterone fest was the fact that the Rays pretty much ensured their defeat -- and a complete of the sweep in what they were calling a stand-up-and-be-accounted-for series against a rival they've never been able to beat on the road -- by having Shields throw at Crisp; his ejection meant the game had to be turned over to the bullpen for the last seven innings, with predictable results. DRaysBay pointed all that out, calling it "truly the lowest moment of the season, and for more than the result in the boxscore." The St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton agreed, noting: "Yep, the Rays showed those infernal Red Sox that they weren't going to take any guff. On the other hand, they also gave away their best shot at retaking first place. Forgive me for wondering, but isn't that the thing that is supposed to matter?" He also pointed out that Shields, Gomes and Crisp were all thrown out of the game and asked, "In what world would you ever trade Shields and Gomes for Coco Crisp?"
Good question. As a Red Sox partisan, that's a deal I do every time it's offered.
What was most interesting, to me, was what the Red Sox had to say -- and not say -- about Crisp's actions, both Wednesday and Thursday. Terry Francona, who normally stands shoulder to shoulder with all his players, couldn't back away fast enough Wednesday night, deflecting all questions by saying he was "in the bathroom" (he even mentioned something about his zipper) when the shouting match between Maddon and Crisp erupted. And he was just as vague when asked about the fight last night; the only thing close to pro-Red Sox/anti-Rays commentary out of him was when he mentioned that Crawford seemed a little overenthusiastic in the midst of it all. Both times, he tried to deflect attention off the topic by making some sort of joke about Brad Mills.
It's always dangerous to interpret people's words without really knowing what they think, but, hey, when has that ever stopped me? My take: It's not hard to conclude that the Red Sox actually agree with the Rays that Crisp shouldn't have done what he did, on either night, but can't say it -- and have to back him -- for obvious, team-related reasons. Take it for what it's worth.
So now what? We can be sure that suspensions -- and long ones, if the punishment to Matt Kemp for his row with Yorvit Torrealba is any indication (Los Angeles Times) -- will follow. To who? Crisp and Shields certainly. Gomes most likely (ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra expects Gomes "to see more Rays games via HD-TV than from the inside of a stadium for the foreseeable future"). Maybe even to Crawford. And others. Who knows?
And the funny thing is, that wasn't even the news of the night.
No, that -- from the Red Sox' point of view -- was the injury to Ellsbury, who rolled his wrist while making a diving catch in right-center field. (And not to beat a dead horse or anything, but if Crisp hadn't been tossed he'd have been in center field and Ellsbury would be just fine this morning.) The Sox didn't know last night exactly how serious it was; the hope is that it's not too bad and he won't be out more than a day or two, if at all. (Boston Globe) But it's potentially serious enough that they summoned Brandon Moss immediately after the game, shipping out Chris Carter moments after his two-hit, major-league debut. (projo.com) And long-term help could be rounding into shape, as Bobby Kielty looks like he's getting his stroke back after an injury-induced layoff. (projo.com) We'll know more today; check back this afternoon when news begins filtering in from Fenway.
As for Youkilis v. Ramirez, well, good luck trying to get anybody to say anything about that. Sox & Dawgs has video.
In the end, though, the Red Sox won and they're back in first place and that, says Julio Lugo, is what everybody should be focusing on. (Boston Herald)
It'd be a lot easier, Julio, if you guys would just stay on point.
(VERY) QUICKLY: Krasner calls days like yesterday "My Cousin Vinny days" -- "Let's see. How much [crap] can we pile on?" -- and Mr. Gambini would have been proud since it was also Draft Day. And one of the Red Sox' draftees was none other than our own Ryan Westmoreland, the pride of Portsmouth High. Joe McDonald has all the draft news, and projo.com's HS Gametime has plenty of news on Westmoreland. In the last month, John Gillooly has reported on how he became a hot item to major-league scouts, on an arm injury that knocked him off the pitching staff and his winning the Rhode Island Gatorade Player of The Year award for the second consecutive season.
AND FINALLY . . . Just as Sean McAdam reported two days ago, surgery is unlikely for David Ortiz. (Boston Herald)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, June 5
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
HAPPY TO BE HOME: At Fenway Park? Or in first place? Whichever one the Red Sox consider to be their true address doesn't really matter, because they're enjoying a bit of dual occupancy after last night's 5-1 dispatch of the Rays, which, as Sean McAdam notes, was their 12th straight win at Fenway . . . a streak, incidentally, that started with a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay on May 2-4. The Sox' home record is an incredible 23-5; more than anything, that's why they also sit atop the A.L. East standings this morning. Their road record being what it is (a not-so-incredible 14-20), it's hard to get worked up over being in first place, and by only half-a-game, at this stage of the season, especially since they still actually trail the Rays by a game in the loss column. (Baseball Musings' David Pinto, writing for sportingnews.com, examines why the Sox are so much better at home than on the road.) But you can only win the games in front of you; fixing their road woes is another task for another time. For now, it's home sweet home. In either location.
NOW, IF YOU WANT TO GET WORKED UP ABOUT SOMETHING . . . The juices were flowing last night not over the change in standings, but over a couple of plays at second base involving Coco Crisp that resulted in a clearly profane, on-field shouting match between Crisp (in the dugout) and Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon (on the mound for a pitching change). McAdam has the details of the incidents, which left Crisp with a bruised thumb and an angry disposition. (You can see video of it all at the blogs Sox & Dawgs and Bugs And Cranks.) The Rays weren't too happy, either (Tampa Tribune), though the Tribune's Carter Gaddis thinks Maddon's outburst was at least slightly calculated to light a fire under his sagging troops. In any case, both the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo and the Boston Herald's Karen Guregian think this could be the start of a true Red Sox-Rays rivalry.
WELCOME TO LIFE IN THE FAST LANE: To this point, the rivalry's been a bit one-sided; after the Rays "got [the Sox'] attention," in the words of Carl Crawford, with a three-game weekend sweep in St. Petersburg on April 25-27, the Red Sox have responded with five straight Fenway wins over the Rays and none of the games have really been that close. "Do woodsheds really come with leftfield walls this large?" asks St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton, who worries that "the last 48 hours look like a dandy piece of evidence for those who doubt whether this Rays' team can hold up over the summer, don't they?" Gaddis concurs, calling yesterday "one of the toughest days the Tampa Bay Rays have experienced during this coming-of-age season." It wasn't just the game defeat; the Rays also lost first baseman and middle-of-the-order bat Carlos Pena, who suffered a broken finger in Tuesday's game. (St. Petersburg Times)
AD INFINITUM: The list of blown home-run calls by umpires continues to grow, and the Sox were the victims last night. Steven Krasner relates how they missed a first-inning homer by Dustin Pedroia, huddling together before calling foul a ball that clearly passed to the left of the foul pole. Note to Bud Selig: Instant replay can't get here fast enough.
(Late note: Pinto, back on Baseball Musings, isn't sure the replay is as cut-and-dried as I've made it out to be. I don't know, David; I thought the ball disappeared as it went past the pole.)
TOUGH NIGHT ALL AROUND: Crisp's problems weren't limited to his dustups with Maddon, Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura. As Krasner notes in his Inside The Game feature, he also committed a baserunning blunder in the sixth inning -- though, to be fair, he may still have been steamed over the incident with Bartlett a batter or two earlier -- that may have cost the Sox a run. Kraz also went inside the game to look at how locked in at the plate Manny Ramirez is at the moment, a pretty hit-and-run play executed by Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek, a rare stolen base by Eric Hinske that was the result of his familiarity with Josh Beckett, and how a couple of Tampa Bay hitters fared when they correctly guessed what Beckett was going to throw.
AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: McAdam has news of Curt Schilling throwing off the mound for the first time, a day earlier than planned.
JUST LIKE THEY DREW IT: It's taken over a year, but the Red Sox are finally seeing the J.D. Drew they thought they were signing. (Boston Globe) And in the nick of time, too, what with David Ortiz on the shelf.
NOW WHAT? Speaking of Ortiz, his injury has thrown into question his Home Run Derby participation at the All-Star Game in which a fan would get to call where Ortiz would hit the ball. (New York Times) MLB is seeking alternatives to save the promotion.
STAYING PUT: Krasner reports Justin Masterson will be sticking around awhile, presumably until Daisuke Matsuzaka comes off the disabled list. In the meantime, Clay Buchholz continues working his way back to Boston; last night he threw five solid innings in the PawSox' loss at Charlotte. (projo.com)
JUST LIKE HE WAS AS A PLAYER: All of sudden Jim Rice is silent on his blog.
DRAFT DAY: Used to be the annual baseball draft was the anonymous selection of no-names who, if they were lucky, might make it to the major leagues in four or five years . . . and it was treated as casually as one might expect. Not anymore. SI.com's Tom Verducci explains that "[given] the growing inefficiency of the free-agent market . . . the demise of the late-30s ballplayer, and the trend to tie young players to long-term contracts, you'd better get the draft right if you want to build a sustainable winner." And players picked now are making it to The Show far faster than ever before, as the 'Ol Towne Team -- bolstered by such recent picks as Masterson, Pedroia, Jacoby Ellbsury and friends -- can attest. And the 'Ol Towne Team has built itself into a sustainable winner mainly through the draft.
Which is why, as we mentioned yesterday, today might be the most important day of the year for a baseball organization. Baseball Analysts has a draft primer for the uninitiated. The best place to follow it is on MLB.com.
WE'RE NOT SAYIN': This year's first pick belongs to the Rays -- they choose in inverse order of last year's standings -- and they're mum about who they'll take. (mlb.com)
MAKING AMENDS: Dave Winfield had an idea to honor the last living members of the Negro Leagues, and MLB embraced it. In today's draft, each team will draft a former Negro Leaguer -- 30 in all -- and pay them a small stipend, thought to be about $5,000. (yahoo.com) It's a way to pay tribute to players who were barred from the big leagues in their primes, and SI.com's Jon Heyman says it's great.
MOVE OVER, MICK: Derek Jeter -- with what John Sterling called "a Jeterarian hit" to right-center -- passed Mickey Mantle and moved into third place on the Yankees' all-time hit list. (New York Daily News)
ANOTHER COUNTY HEARD FROM: Now it's Johnny Damon saying he doesn't think moving Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation is such a good idea. (New York Daily News)
HOW CAN YOU LAUGH WHEN YOU KNOW I'M DOWN? Hank Steinbrenner channels Paul McCartney as he discusses the Yankees' state of affairs. (New York Post) But that won't stop him from talking contract with Brian Cashman. (nj.com)
COMINGS AND GOINGS: Jorge Posada is back, Bob Sheppard is about to return, but Jason Giambi is sidelined, at least temporarily, in the latest installment of As The Yankees Turn.
THE BOILING POINT: It was reached -- and passed -- in Seattle yesterday, where Mariners management staged a series of tirades that would have done Ozzie Guillen proud before and after the Mariners' 5-4 loss to the Angels. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) First the team president yelled at the coaches before the game. Then equipment, and a garbage can, were tossed around in the clubhouse after the game. Finally, manager John McLaren delivered an X-rated monologue in his 45-second postgame press conference that was reminiscent of someone asking Tommy Lasorda what he thought of Dave Kingman, or Larry Bowa about Cubs fans, or Earl Weaver about Terry Crowley. Still, the Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer thinks McLaren's outburst was "too thin, too late and too inconsequential . . . forced . . . a strange, calculated event." And it remains to be seen if the Mariner players -- accused by one of the newest team members, Carlos Silva, of being too selfish and only playing for themselves (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) -- respond in any way to all the theatrics. The Times' Larry Stone talks with general manager Bill Bavasi, who attempts to explain the depths of the organization's frustration.
NEVER SAY DIE: Season-ending shoulder surgery at age 41 would seem to spell the end. But while John Smoltz admits he may never pitch again, he also says he's going to do everything he can to try and get back on the mound. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
If he doesn't -- and the odds are pretty steep against it -- then one of the greatest pitchers of our generation has reached the end of the trail. A tip of the hat, John, for a wonderful career. If we don't see you in Atlanta next year, see you in Cooperstown in five.
GOING THE FULL NINE: Francisco Rodriguez says he wants to play nine more years, until age 35. (mlb.com) Or, rather: He wants to be a closer for nine more years.
CARRY ON WITHOUT US: ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra looks at teams that may be ready to assume the symbol-of-futility cloak if the Cubs actually win it all this year, then gives a forum to a Philadelphia writer who felt slighted that his team, and his city, weren't mentioned. Having retired from that discussion in October 2004, all I can say is: Thank God we don't have to think about things like that anymore.
ON THE MOVE: A few weeks ago the Brewers were floundering and Ned Yost's job security was in question. But now they're flying high, completing an 8-1 homestand with a 10-1 rout of the Diamondbacks. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
LOCAL BOYS: Paul Konerko hit a walkoff home run last night to give the White Sox a 15-inning win over the Royals. (Chicago Tribune)
HERE AND THERE: With the Padres going nowhere, a Chase Headley Watch may soon begin (Portland Tribune) . . . Esteban Loaiza is back with the White Sox (yahoo.com) . . . Former Royals first baseman Willie Mays Aiken is being released from prison (Kansas City Star) . . . The Giants now wonder if Noah Lowry, who underwent surgery in March for exertional compartment syndrome in his left forearm, will pitch at all this season (rotoworld.com) . . . The Cardinals may send Jason Isringhausen on a rehab assignment next week (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Troy Tulowitzki thinks he's close to returning to the Rockies. (Denver Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Yesterday we were celebrating Casey Fossum's return to the major leagues. Today we're mourning the fact that he gave up four runs without recording an out in his Tigers debut (rotoworld.com) . . . Lenny DiNardo's been outrighted to Sacramento by the A's (rotoworld.com) . . . Nomar Garciaparra says doctors believe an unidentified blood-flow problem to his legs may be the cause of his frequent calf pulls (Los Angeles Times) . . . Our pal the Tao of Steib is learning to love David Eckstein.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 4
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES: The mood in Red Sox Nation was one of despair yesterday at this time, but things look a lot brighter -- the weather notwithstanding -- today. First and foremost, Sean McAdam reports that the worst-case worrries of David Ortiz' wrist injury may be unjustified, as the Red Sox fully expect that Ortiz will heal with rest and may be back in action in a month. And that good news was followed by a 7-4 win over Tampa Bay in the opener of a three-game A.L. East showdown with the Rays. Steven Krasner has the details of the victory, which featured some unlikely heroes . . . like Coco Crisp (above, delivering a key two-run double) and Dustin Pedroia, both of whom have been slumping. Yet more reason to smile: Craig Hansen continued to pitch well, and may have been the key to the win by wriggling out of a two-on, no-out mess he inherited from Javy Lopez in the eighth. Krasner fills us in on all of that, along with the news that Daisuke Matsuzaka may begin throwing again this weekend.
They say if you don't like the weather in New England, wait 10 minutes. Sometimes, in baseball, the same sentiment applies.
EVEN DEFEAT TASTES SWEET THESE DAYS: The Rays were disappointed they came up short in what they considered to be their first real test of the season (Tampa Tribune), but the St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton says "This is the way defeat is supposed to feel" . . . a real sting, rather than just one of another in a long list of losses that can be shrugged off. Jim Donaldson talks with Warwick's Dan Wheeler, a mainstay in the Rays' bullpen this year, about how different things are in Tampa Bay.
MANNY BEING CAUTIOUS: Crisp was a late addition to the lineup; Krasner reports that, originally, Jacoby Ellsbury was in center field with Manny Ramirez in left and Sean Casey as the DH. But Ramirez' legs have been bothering him, so Terry Francona pulled Casey. made Manny the DH, shifted Ellsbury to left and put Crisp in center.
DON'T PUNCH THAT BALLOT JUST YET: After taking a closer look, msnbc.com's Ted Robinson says he's not sure Ramirez is the slam-dunk Hall of Famer he originally thought.
WHERE'S THE BEEF? The world -- at least hereabouts -- went crazy when Manny hit his 500th home run. So Adam Dunn wants to know why there's no buzz about Ken Griffey Jr. closing in on 600. (Dayton Daily News)
LEFT IS ALL RIGHT: The blog Batter's Box challenges its readers to come up with a stronger single franchise position than Red Sox left fielders, whose run of excellence started with Duffy Lewis and ran through Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice all the way to Ramirez. (Do they take points away for Troy O'Leary . . . ?)
WELCOME: McAdam and Krasner have the details of Chris Carter's first day in the big leagues. His promotion was first reported yesterday morning on this very blog by Joe McDonald.
KEI ZONE? Among the many interesting tidbits from Peter Gammons on his weekly local ESPN radio appearance -- as transcribed by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog -- is that the Red Sox were prepared to claim Kei Igawa if the Yankees put him on waivers.
HE'S GOT A POINT: Jason Varitek complained recently that the Red Sox' lack of speed at certain positions has hurt them offensively (Boston Globe) -- "We've got a lot of big donkeys who clog up the bases," he said, and I assume he includes himself in that assessment -- and Baseball Musings' David Pinto says that may be a reason the Sox are scoring fewer runs than could be expected under the runs-created formula.
DRAFT NOTICE: McAdam reports on the Red Sox' strategy in tomorrow's amateur draft, which -- because the players selected are getting to the major leagues so quickly these days (think Pedroia, Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Justin Masterson, et al) -- is perhaps the organization's most important day of the year.
THEY SAY THE ROAD MAKES BUMS OF US ALL: And McDonald's experience with a, ah, unique Baltimore cabby on his way to the airport yesterday may be one of the reasons why. (ProJo Sox Blog)
THE VIEW: Television won't show you the sometimes hilarious goings-on when a fan runs onto the field during the game. But we will. (Projo Sox Blog)
YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS . . . Or maybe you didn't since, as the Jays' Shannon Stewart so delightfully observed, "I thought [Babe] Ruth had come back." (New York Post) No, Shannon, it was just Joba Chamberlain's first start that turned an evening in early June into World Series time at Yankee Stadium. (New York Daily News) But both Bill Madden of the Daily News and Joel Sherman of the Post made the same point: This was spring training, not October, as the whole point was to begin the process of stretching out Chamberlain as a starter. Too bad for the Yankees it wasn't spring training, since then you could shrug off Chamberlain's two-run, four-walk, 2 1/3-inning performance and yet another bullpen meltdown (Projo Stats) in a 9-3 loss as a step toward the future rather than a stumble in the present. Not in New York you can't, at least not when it comes to the relief corps. (New York Daily News) And maybe it shouldn't since, as stated so well by the blog River Ave. Blues, what this game really was, was "more of what we know and hate from the 2008 Yankees. The bullpen couldn’t get outs, and the offense was inconsistent."
At least Harlan Chamberlain had a good time. (New York Daily News)
THE LIGHTNING ROD: The mood at Yankee Stadium last night was sour enough; thankfully, Joe Girardi didn't bring in Kyle Farnsworth or the joint might have collapsed five months before the wrecking ball is due to arrive. The blog It Is About The Money Stupid is so fed up with Farnsworth that its author has actually begun an I Hate Kyle Farnsworth group on Yahoo! and is urging Yankee Universe to "come and join."
SEARCHING FOR . . . WHAT? I want to thank ShysterBall for tipping me off to the Farnsworth item. And, Craig, I'm also baffled by one of the two top search requests on your blog.
(P.S. Thanks for the link!)
STAY FOCUSED: Peter Abraham admits that the education of young pitchers is "painful to watch at times" but insists that it's the proper, and only, course for the present-day Yankees. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
THERE'S ALWAYS GOOD NEWS SOMEWHERE: Jorge Posada provided it for the Yanks yesterday with another strong outing in extended spring game, meaning he might be activated as soon as tonight and could play again tomorrow. (New York Post)
TROUBLE WITH A CAPITAL 'T': Having compared them to the Red Sox and Rays during all three teams' trips to Camden Yards, the Baltimore-based blog Birds In The Belfry concludes: "The Yankees Are In Real Trouble. Not 'wishful thinking' trouble. REAL trouble."
AMAZIN': Across the country, in San Francisco, the other New York team had much more success with its starting pitcher. Pedro Martinez, making his first big-league appearance since pulling a hamstring muscle in early April, worked six strong innings as the Mets beat the Giants. (New York Post) The Daily News' Adam Rubin summed it up neatly: Joba Chamberlain got the hype. Pedro Martinez got the win.
REMEMBER ME? Jane Jarvis, the organist at Shea Stadium from its opening in 1964 until 1979, is now 93 and heartbroken that they're tearing down Shea. She'd love to be part of the farewell ceremonies but isn't sure the current management even knows who she is. (sny.tv)
JUST ANOTHER DAY IN OZZIELAND: So let's see. Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams have their meeting, after which Williams declines to speak publicly and Guillen says he regrets some of the things he said -- specifically, the stuff that was interpreted as criticism of Williams -- and was just trying to get the team back on track. (Chicago Tribune) Guillen puts his normal lineup on the field and it scores nine runs in a rout of the Royals. (Chicago Sun-Times) The Tribune's Rick Morrissey says it's all typical Guillen: A lot of sound and fury signifying virtually nothing.
But there was some collateral damage: The long friendship between Guillen and former-teammate-turned-current-hitting-coach Greg Walker, which appears to be ruptured thanks to Guillen's comments about Walker during his Sunday evening rant. (Chicago Tribune)
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE: You'd think this would be a 3-and-0 cripple for Jay Mariotti. But, having vented his spleen against Guillen on Tuesday, he was too busy yesterday waxing poetic about the Cubs and wondering if this could be the year they "fathom the unfathomable" and win the World Series for the first time since 1908. (Chicago Sun-Times)
NAH, THIS IS CUBS NATION. WE CAN'T: But on the same day Mariotti is thinking the unthinkable, Moises Alou drags out Steve Bartman again. (espn.com)
WHY NOT? The good times continued to roll last night with a 9-6 win over the Padres. (Chicago Sun-Times)
TWO STRIKES, TWO OUTS, BOTTOM OF THE NINTH . . . and it looks like it'll take a miracle to save Tiger Stadium. (Detroit News)
DEAR CECIL: The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice likes Cecil Cooper and wants him to succeed as Astros manager. So he's posted some advice for Coop on his blog, advising him to lighten up, end the public mood swings and begin to exude a facade of public confidence.
YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT: The Brewers say they're not inclined to grant Bill Hall's trade request. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
ENOUGH! The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Art Thiel says it's time for the Mariners to cut loose Richie Sexson.
HERE AND THERE: The Denver Post reports the Yankees could soon ask about Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes, who was Colorado's version of Eric Gagne -- Boston-style -- in last year's World Series . . . John Smoltz' shoulder is "pretty sore" after his first relief appearance (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Randy Johnson moved past Roger Clemens into second place on the all-time strikeout list. (Arizona Republic)
OLD FRIENDS: Casey Fossum, who was tearing up the International League with Toledo, has been called up by the Tigers (mlive.com) . . . Scott Hatteberg, designated for assignment by the Reds 10 days ago, becomes a free agent today, but Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal says there doesn't appear to be a significant amount of interest in him . . . The peripatetic career of Kent Mercker may finally have come to an end as the Reds placed him not on the 15, but the 60-day disabled list because of a bad back (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Matt Clement pitched for the first time in nearly two years yesterday, going six innings for the Palm Beach Cardinals (minorleaguebaseball.com) . . . Edgar Renteria, who came to the plate last night with 12 men on base, went 0-for-5 with a walk and rotoworld.com muses that if the Tigers could go back in time, they probably wouldn't have traded for him . . . Tomo Ohka beat the PawSox last night. (projo.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 3
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
BIG PROBLEM: David Ortiz normally points skyward in thanks, usually after hitting a home run (above). Now he -- and the Red Sox -- may instead be pleading for help. Yesterday's MRI revealed "a partially torn ECU (or extensor carpi ulnaris) tendon sheath in his left wrist," reports Joe McDonald, which placed Ortiz on the disabled list for what the team says is an indefinite period. But the co-author of Ortiz' autobiography, the Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti, lays out a grim scenario: A month's immobilization of the wrist, with season-ending surgery a possibility if rest fails to correct the problem. The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo has a slightly more optimistic take, saying Ortiz will need two weeks in a soft cast and could be back in the lineup two weeks after that; he mentions surgery only as an after-the-season possibility, quoting Terry Francona as saying an operation in the near future is "highly unlikely."
Such reporting variance usually means the outlook is muddled and that no one really knows what the future holds. (Sean Casey, whose playing time figures to increase, worries that it won't hold good things for Ortiz, telling the Globe's Gordon Edes how important the wrists are to a hitter. And ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra notes that a similar injury ended Ken Caminiti's career.) But nature, and Red Sox Nation, abhors a vacuum, so my friends at Sons of Sam Horn and Royal Rooters -- along with our own Your Turn board and the folks at The Baseball Think Factory's Sox Therapy -- are discussing the issue as we speak, and one name continues to pop up, over and over and over:
Barry Bonds.
The blog LyfLines lays out the case for Bonds ("a perfect fit"), but wonders if the Sox have the "guts/brain/nerve/common sense/chutzpah/arrogance/what-have-you" to sign him. Lyford, I'd say that the attributes you lay out are mutually exclusive. Do they have the guts, the chutzpah, the arrogance? Sure. You'd need all that, and more, to sign Barry Bonds. But brains and common sense? Those gifts tell you to avoid Barry Bonds at all costs, at least for now.
First things first. We just don't know a) how long Ortiz will be out and b) how affected he's going to be by all this. Suppose Cafardo is right and Ortiz is back in the lineup, good as new, in a month? Then what do you do with Bonds? Bench him? Platoon him? (With who?) Release him? The only position Bonds can possibly play is left field, and that would give you a three-into-two LF/DH quandry with Bonds, Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. One of them would have to sit out every game. You might be able to do that in Strat-O-Matic or a fantasy league, but in real life? How do you think that's going to go over?
But here's a far more important piece. You'd have to be a Bill James Online subscriber to read them, but Bill James did two Bonds columns last week, pre-Ortiz injury. In the first of them, he states: "I don’t want anything to do with Barry Bonds. Why? Simple: I don’t believe in his future, I’m not convinced of his value in the present, and I’m not interested in the past." And the reason he doesn't believe in Bonds' present: "Bonds, in my view — like [Babe] Ruth in 1934 — has reached a point of such extraordinary narrowness of his skills that there is an imminent danger that the structure will simply collapse at any moment — as it did on Ruth in 1935."
Then, when called out on it, James explained further a few days later:
"[When] a player reaches the point where ALL that he does is hit, he is normally very near to the end . . . .if you look at old players who have a very high OPS and essentially no other skills, what happens to them is that they suddenly collapse. They go from 'valuable' to 'out of the game' or 'still in the game, but worthless' in one year." And he lists examples: Mark McGwire. Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell. Henry Aaron. Willie Mays. Stan Musial. Ted Williams. Jackie Robinson. Joe DiMaggio. Hank Greenberg. Mel Ott. Indian Bob Johnson. Edgar Martinez. Even Jason Giambi, who, he points out "had an OPS of .971 [in 2006], one of the highest in baseball. In 2007 he suffered a dramatic dropoff. He may not be finished; maybe he’ll come back, but. . . . it wasn’t a good experience."
(It's all available in great detail in Bill James Online. If this doesn't convince you that the nominal subscription fee -- I believe it's $1 a month -- is worth it, nothing will.)
And one last thing: Bill James is a member of the Red Sox baseball-operations staff, so you know this viewpoint will be heard in organizational meetings in the days ahead.
Signing Barry Bonds right now, at this moment, is a panic move and we've seen where panic moves have gotten the Red Sox in the past. It led them to trade Josh Bard and Cla Meredith for Doug Mirabelli. It led them to bring in (the other) Javy Lopez as a backup catcher. One of the best things about the last two years is that the team has built such organizational depth that it's lessened the need for panic moves. Thanks to that depth, the Sox have other options; the blog Sox and Pinstripes lays them out.
Maybe it'll all change. Maybe two weeks of Sean Casey as DH, or of an everyday outfield of Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp and J.D. Drew (with Ramirez as the DH), will demonstrate the need for more offense. Maybe the news on Ortiz will get worse, and the team will decide it needs to find another big bat. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Don't make decisions based on maybes. It's June 3. There's plenty of time to decide what the right path should be.
Right now, Barry Bonds shouldn't be on that path.
AP Photo
AND IN KEEPING WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE NIGHT . . . Thanks to Hideki Okajima (above), the news about Ortiz didn't dampen the joy of a thrilling, come-from-behind victory. Instead, it merely deepened the gloom as Okajima, entrusted with a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, allowed three singles, two walks and a bases-clearing double to the seven batters he faced and handed the Orioles a 6-3 victory. (projo.com) Why Francona left him in for seven batters when it was pretty obvious after three -- at the most -- that it wasn't his night is a matter that was trampled by the postgame news about Ortiz; nevertheless, that didn't stop our friends at SOSH from discussing it. Okajima told the Japanese media afterwards -- apparently, he didn't talk to American reporters -- that he was disappointed in his performance. (Boston Herald) That makes all of us, Hideki.
NO REST FOR THE WEARY: The Sox don't get the option of mourning Ortiz' loss. Tonight starts an A.L. East showdown with the Rays, who are anxious to prove themselves worthy of the first-place position they've been holding for the last week or two. (St. Petersburg Times) They're being fueled by their pitching (Tampa Tribune), and who thought we'd ever be able to say that about a Tampa Bay team? Orioles manager Dave Trembley told the Herald's John Tomase that the Rays are in it for the long haul -- "They're not going to go away . . . They're a good team" -- which means this is actually the first of several showdowns the Sox will be facing in the next four months. (They go to Tampa on June 30-July 1-2, and Sept. 15-17; after this series, the Rays make their final visit to Fenway on Sept. 8-10.) And even though the attendance figures at The Trop don't yet show it, excitement is mounting in central Florida if the blog Rays Index is any indication; they're already talking magic numbers. After last night's Red Sox loss, it's down to 99.
MASTERING THE MOMENT: McDonald reports that Justin Masterson, still unbeaten in the major leagues, will get the start for the Sox tonight.
GET THIS MAN A SCHEDULE: When Coco Crisp was seen packing his bags after Sunday's game, the whispers started. Had he been traded? Was he finally sick of his situation and jumping the team? It was none of that, McDonald discovered: Coco merely thought it was a three-game series and that the Sox were heading home Sunday night.
AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: Ortiz is hurt. Sox cough one up in the late innings. And now comes word that Hazel Mae is leaving NESN. (projo.com)
NO HELP HERE: Don't count on Kyle Snyder to bolster the bullpen any time soon. Last night he apparently reinjured the groin strain that had him on the DL from May 16-27. (projo.com)
WHY, IN MY DAY . . . In his Historical Baseball Abstract books, Bill James used to run a series of quotes from retired players in each decade (heading: Old Ballplayers Never Die) saying how much better the game was when they played and how modern players couldn't hold a candle to the old-timers. Jim Rice made his bid for the next edition in a speech Monday when he trashed Manny Ramirez and said Jonathan Papelbon was the only member of the current Red Sox who could have cracked the starting lineup of the 1975 team. (watertowndailytimes.com)
IT'S STARTING: The angst about Joba Chamberlain's move to the starting rotation -- the "Who's gonna pitch the eighth??" wail from the keep-Joba-in-the-bullpen crowd -- is growing this morning after the dastardly Kyle Farnsworth turned a tie game into a Yankee loss in five pitches as Minnesota rallied past the Yanks, 6-5. (New York Daily News) Peter Abraham says don't blame Farnsworth; blame, instead, the guy who put him out there in the eighth inning despite the mountain of evidence that proves irrevocably that you can't trust Farnsworth to pitch with the game on the line. (LoHud Yankees Blog) Besides, says Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, the real culprit last night was Andy Pettitte, who couldn't hold leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 5-4.
TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT: The guy who didn't pitch the eighth last night will be out there in the first tonight, making his starting debut. The Daily News' Mike Lupica says Joba Chamberlain now starts his attempt to live up to the hype. "They ask an awful lot of this kid," Lupica concludes. "Time will tell if they have asked too much."
HERE AND THERE: The focus on Ortiz kept me away from my normal Web-surfing spots and the deadline to upload this is here, but two last items: Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams will attempt to clear some very thick air between them sometime today (Chicago Tribune), and Bill Hall has asked for a trade from the Brewers. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:46 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 2
AP Photo
TRIPLE THREAT: Pitching. Offense. Defense. That just about covers it in baseball, and when you have all three working then your problems -- which seemed so insurmountable at times last week -- melt away. Yesterday Bartolo Colon (above) took care of the pitching and his teammates took care of the rest as the Red Sox won their third straight in Baltimore, 9-4. Joe McDonald has the details of an afternoon in which things went so smoothly that even Julio Lugo ("Yes," writes Joe. "That Julio Lugo.") contributed with the glove. The Boston Herald's John Tomase focuses on the field work of Dustin Pedroia, who "made a trio of stellar defensive plays that left his uniform a nice shade of dirt ." They play the series finale tonight and, as the Boston Globe's Gordon Edes notes, a victory will enable the Sox "to break even on a 10-game trip that had appeared to be a disaster in the making when they lost five out of six on their first two stops."
Tomase reports that as Colon was walking back to the dugout after being lifted in the seventh inning, Orioles coach Juan Samuel told him, "You've got your (expletive) back." So, it appears, do the Red Sox.
AP Photo
THE DARK CLOUD AROUND THE SILVER LINING: But it's not all blue skies with the Sox these days, not with David Ortiz sitting on the bench, his left wrist in a brace. He said he felt a "pop" in the wrist when he fouled off a pitch in the ninth inning Saturday night (above) and the pain was such that he couldn't continue the at-bat. Nor, obviously, could he play yesterday. McDonald reports x-rays were negative but Ortiz will return to Boston for an MRI today. The Herald's Rob Bradford talks to J.D. Drew, who had a wrist injury in 2005, and who says, "Hopefully it’s nothing major. Wrists are tricky, man."
AP PhotoHISTORY MAJOR: But the big news of the weekend was Manny Ramirez, who finally reached the 500-homer plateau Saturday night in Boston's 6-3 victory. (projo.com) He'd said he wanted to do it at home, but with so many Sox fans at Camden Yards (above) it was the next-best thing. (When I called McDonald in the press box Saturday night after he'd done it, Joe was laughing. He reported that as Manny took the field in the middle of the seventh after hitting No. 500, the P.A. system starting playing Sweet Caroline and the scoreboard read something like, "Here's a treat for all you Red Sox fans here tonight." And then the music stopped abruptly and the scoreboard flashed: "NOT!") McDonald has many details from the milestone moment, including an interview with the Woo brothers, who caught the historic homer; the reaction of Sean Casey, who's now seen three players hit their 500th homer, and how Ramirez' teammates felt afterwards.
We even got to know how Ramirez felt about the whole thing because -- unlike years past -- he talks to reporters nowadays. And that, reports the Herald's Rob Bradford, is because of a decision Ramirez made over the winter to be more approachable and accessible. ("I decided that talking to the media wasn’t going to hurt.") The result is that the public now sees what only his teammates and friends used to see. Which is, as Kevin Millar told Tomase: "He’s got a uniqueness about him that’s easy to like when you get to know Manny. He’s very soft-hearted and a warm guy. Fans see that side of him now more than they did earlier in his career."
AND NOW? Baseball Musings' David Pinto believes Ramirez can reach 600 career homers, but wonders -- because "the [offensive] falloff we saw from Manny in 2007 appears to be real" --- if he'll still be with the Red Sox when he does.
THE REST OF THE STORY: This news-filled weekend began with a slump-busting, 5-2 win in 13 innings Friday night that, McDonald reports, had many facets besides seven scoreless innings from the bullpen (which he recounts in the game story): The contributions of Mike Lowell, both offensively and defensively; a running attack which set a franchise record for steals in a game, and even a defensive gem -- yes, again -- from Lugo. It wasn't all good, though; McDonald relates a busted suicide-squeeze attempt that cost the Sox a run and, it sounds like, swore Terry Francona off the play forever.
MOVING FORWARD: Craig Hansen delivered a scoreless inning in yesterday's game, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Prior to yesterday he had been the subject of a McDonald profile, in which Joe concluded: "[It] appears the hard-throwing right-hander has finally arrived."
FALLING BACK: Clay Buchholz, on the other hand, is back in the minors for a while, after his second rehab start for the PawSox didn't go too well. (projo.com)
THE VERDICT IS . . . It's old news now, but for the record: Daisuke Matsuzaka has a mild rotator-cuff strain. (projo.com)
REALITY STINKS (OR SOMETHING): The blog Oriole Post notes that the ratio of Red Sox fans to Oriole fans at Camden Yards was something like 80-20 this weekend, but puts the blame for it right at the organization's doorstep. ("[Ten] losing seasons, bad drafts, Peter Angelos, bad ushers at the Yard & horrible baseball have perhaps relegated a lot of Baltimore fans to stay home.")
MY HERO: Canadian high schooler Brett Lawrie, who's projected to go in the top 15 in Thursday's draft, says Dustin Pedroia is his role model. (baseballanalysts.com)
TOOL SHED: Joe Posnanski has a post about "how scouts judge players’ tools (hitting, power, speed, defense, arm) on that famed 20-80 scale" and does a Royals-Red Sox comparison that, ah, definitely favors Boston. (joeposnanski.com)
TREADING WATER: But the Sox, despite their string of success in Baltimore, haven't been able to gain any ground on the first-place Rays, who -- reports Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune -- are riding the destiny train after Gabe Gross' 10th-inning homer gave them their third straight win over the White Sox. Making it especially special for Gross: His parents and grandmother were there to see it. (Tampa Tribune) One reason for the Rays' success, writes the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin, is the team's unprecedented amount of depth.
SLOW DOWN THAT BANDWAGON, I WANT TO JUMP ON: Joel Sherman, writing on foxsports.com, is the latest to declare the Rays are for real.
THINK AGAIN: Ozzie Guillen went off after yesterday's loss, telling the media to expect changes before the White Sox' next game Tuesday because "[if] we think we are going to win with the offense we have, we are full of [bleep]." (Chicago Sun-Times) And, of course, when Ozzie Guillen says something controversial, can Jay Mariotti resist the temptation to unload? (Chicago Sun-Times) (That, folks, is Webster's definition of a rhetorical question.)
BULLET DODGED: It looked far worse than it actually ended up being; when Nick Blackburn lay spreadeagled on the mound after taking a Bobby Abreu liner off the face, you couldn't help but fear the worse. But Blackburn was okay -- he had to come out of the game, but didn't suffer as much as a broken bone (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) -- and the Twins went on to beat Darrell Rasner and the Yankees, 5-1. (New York Daily News) Abreu was relieved Blackburn wasn't hurt badly (LoHud Yankees Blog), as were we all.
CHANGES: When last we saw Morgan Ensberg, he was doing a guest spin on Phil Hughes' blog. Today he's an ex-Yankee, designated for assignment so the Yanks could recall Scott Patterson. (New York Daily News)
MARTYRDOM: Let's see. Scott Proctor threw at Kevin Youkilis' head last June and got away with it. Joba Chamberlain threw twice at Youkilis' head last August and was suspended. Chien-Ming Wang hit Youkilis in the wrist last September and knocked him out of the lineup for over a week. Kyle Farnsworth threw at Manny Ramirez' head in April and got suspended. But the blog IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS . . . caught says the pro-Red Sox/anti-Yankee persecution reaches all the way down to the minor leagues.
MARK IT DOWN: Willie Randolph thinks last month's Yankees-Mets rainout will be made up on Friday, June 27 as a day-night, Yankee Stadium/Shea Stadium doubleheader. (New York Daily News)
I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, BUT I'M SORRY I DID: Even though Gary Carter continues to insist he wasn't politicking for the Mets' managing job, he says he plays to apologize to Willie Randolph for the controversy his comments caused. (Palm Beach Post)
LATE THUNDER: The Rays weren't the only team to win in their last at-bat yesterday. Both the Angels (Los Angeles Times) and the Tigers (Detroit News) did it, as well.
SAY AGAIN?? According to Cecil Cooper, home runs when you're trailing in a game are rally-killers. (Houston Chronicle) Our friends at Fire Joe Morgan are speechless.
ON THE MOVE: Tigers manager Jim Leyland has decided to shift Carlos Guillen from third base to left field on occasion to get Brandon Inge more playing time. (Detroit Free Press)
HOLLIDAY TIME NEARS: The Denver Post's Woody Paige, declaring the Rockies' season to be over, says the Rox should trade Matt Holliday because if they don't, they'll get nothing in return when he leaves via free agency at the end of 2009.
HERE AND THERE: Mark Prior will undergo his second season-ending shoulder operation in two years. (San Diego Union-Tribune) Pinto believes it's time for Prior to hang up the spikes and start a new career . . . John Smoltz is altering his arm angle and moving to the bullpen because he says that, at age 41, he knows time is running out on his big-league career and these are the only things he can do if he wants to keep pitching (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Giants' Shawn Estes fractures the thumb on his pitching hand when he tripped on the stairs between the visiting clubhouse and dugout Friday night, and will be out indefinitely. (San Francisco Chronicle)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:17 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, May 30
ONE AND DONE? Justin Masterson's stay in Pawtucket might not be a long one, not with the Red Sox probably in need of another starter next Tuesday. If so, his first appearance at McCoy Stadium -- which he made last night against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (above) -- might be his last, at least for a while. And he made it a memorable one, reports Shalise Manza Young, throwing six strong innings in what everyone assumes was a tuneup for a start against the Rays at Fenway Park next week. Masterson and PawSox manager Ron Johnson review the performance (favorably, of course) and Johnson, for good measure, also gives a thumbs-up to a batch of butterscotch-oatmeal cookies baked by Masterson's wife. She apparently enjoys delivering cookies to the clubhouse of whatever team her husband is with; she could be dropping some off in Boston in five days.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Rumors are flying that Jeff Bailey might be joining the Red Sox for their weekend series in Baltimore; Joe McDonald reported them Wednesday and the Boston Globe's Gordon Edes repeated them today. We'll find out this afternoon sometime whether or not they're true, and if they are Bailey made his farewell to McCoy -- temporary though it may be -- one for the books. Young relates he had his second two-home-run game of the homestand in the PawSox' 5-2 win, and also had two pitches thrown behind his head by Scranton/WB starter Dan McCutchen. That little bit of Red Sox/Yankee nastiness earned McCutchen and his manager, Dave Miley, the 'ol heave-ho.
NOT SO MIGHTY 'PEN: Both the Globe's Amalie Benjamin and the Boston Herald's Jeff Horrigan look at the Red Sox' bullpen deficiencies. Benjamin's story is centered entirely on the relief corps, while Horrigan examines them as part of a review of the entire pitching staff.
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF: Javy Lopez, however, has been doing his job as a LOOGY -- Left-Handed One-Out GuY, for those of you unaware with the term (though I doubt many people here fit that description) -- to perfection. (Not that Terry Francona only uses him for a batter at a time, but he's been much better against left-handers this year than he was in 2007.) He talks about his season with Joe Haggerty on the Hacks With Haggs blog.
NO JOSHING AROUND: The Herald's Michael Silverman says now that Daisuke Matsuzaka may be sidelined for a while, it's time for Josh Beckett to step up and start pitching like an ace again.
WRONG COUNT: Baseball Musings' David Pinto examines Matsuzaka's game logs and concludes the Red Sox are "more interested in limiting his innings than his pitches," since Matsuzaka's highest pitch-count games have come in those instances when he's walking a lot of batters. Pinto sees walks as a sign that a pitcher's mechanics may be off; bad mechanics, he adds, may be a sign of fatigure, and fatigue can lead to injury.
HOP ON BOARD, BREWERS FANS: You may have seen this yesterday on this very blog, but Julian Tavarez forgot his World Series ring in his locker at Fenway Park after being let go by the Red Sox (Madison Times). Deadspin's Will Leitch, who's a Cardinals fan, says Sox and Cards fan alike have "ridden the Julian Tavarez crazy train."
UNFRIENDLY CONFINES: Baltimore -- where he hasn't hit a home run since May 16, 2006 -- might not be the best place right now for Manny Ramirez as he sits one homer away from No. 500. (Boston Herald)
'OUR JOB IS KEEPING THEM QUIET' That's new Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail challenge to his players since "so many people [come to Camden Yards] rooting for the Yankees and Red Sox." (Baltimore Sun) So far, so good; the O's are 6-2 against the Sox and Yanks in Baltimore this year, with Boston in town for a four-game series starting tonight.
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY: Word came down yesterday that Troy Percival's hamstring injury isn't considered serious. But the Rays placed him on the disabled list anyway (St. Petersburg Times), and the Tampa Tribune's Joe Henderson says it's a good idea "because that's what a team looking at the long haul does".
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW THIS? Trying to figure out when national baseball columnists, like the Philadelphia Daily News' Paul Hagen, were writing about the Rays at the beginning of June? "Never" would be my guess.
OR THIS? The blog Rays of Light is guiltily, but giddily, looking ahead to potential playoff previews.
NOT TO ME, THEY'RE NOT: The Hardball Times' Geoff Baker doesn't include the Rays in his look at early-season surprises.
TAKE YOUR PICK: You can either choose to believe that the Yankees' pilot light has been extinguished (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) or that they're just a hot streak away from another late playoff run. (New York Observer) The Star-Tribune's case, I have to say, would carry more weight if it hadn't described the Horace Clarke Era as being in the mid-1970s. As we well know around here, Clarke was long gone by then and the Yankees won the pennant in 1976 and the World Series in 1977 and '78.
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: The New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand warns that Joba Chamberlain won't "rule their starting rotation - at least not yet."
STOKE YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Jorge Posada says he's almost ready to rejoin the Yanks. (New York Daily News) And Hank Steinbrenner says he still has high hopes for Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. (New York Post)
KID TROUBLES: The Yankees are having more disciplinary problems with 19-year-old Trenton outfielder Jose Tabata. (nj.com)
'RUE-LESS JOE': Love that New York Post headline about Joe Torre, who's back in the Big Apple with the Dodgers and who couldn't have made it clearer that the Yankees are in his rear-view mirror. The blog River Ave. Blues makes it just as clear that the feeling is mutual on the other side of the fence: "I loved Joe in New York, and I think it’s too bad that he couldn’t still be around to manage the team into the new stadium. But I still think it was the right move for him and the Yanks to part ways."
WAKE UP, SMELL COFFEE: It appears Willie Randolph may be ready to pull the plug on Carlos Delgado, at least as an everyday player. (New York Post)
WAVING THE CAP: In a fascinating look at the salary-cap structure in the four major sports, Mark Cuban concludes MLB and the NFL can survive without a salary cap, but it's necessary in the NBA and NHL. (blogmaverick.com) Why? Because for a sport to survive without a cap "it must be a [sport] where it takes more than 1 or 2 players to lead a team to a championship. Otherwise, the richest teams can just buy those 2 players, with a 3rd as insurance, which means the competitive balance of the league is purely dependent on finances. That is not a good position to be in." While you may dismiss these as simply the musings of an NBA owner, ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra thinks Cuban may end up owning the Cubs when all is said and done.
LOSS LEADER: It's now 11 losses in a row (and counting) for the Royals, and as a result Joe Posnanski is back writing for the Kansas City Star. (His editor is one smart cookie; I'll have to remember her tactics.) The losing streak has resulted in Billy Butler being sent to the minor leagues and Jose Guillen offering to step into the role of Team Leader, which must have heads shaking and tongues wagging from Anaheim to Washington to Seattle. (Both stories Kansas City Star.)
THE RACE IS ON: It appears Jake Peavy will get back to the mound faster than Chris Young as the two Padre aces recover from their respective injuries. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
SO WHO'S WILLIE AND THE DUKE? The Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon says Josh Hamilton is the modern-day Mickey Mantle, from his on-field talents to his substance-abuse problems.
LOCAL BOYS: Pinto fingers the struggling Paul Konerko as one of the reasons that offense in the American League is down. But he had a good game last night against the Rays, and if he begins to hit more like Paul Konerko that bodes very well for the surprising White Sox.
HERE AND THERE: Time to start a Chipper Jones Watch? He's now hitting .420 after going 2-for-4 yesterday (mvn.com) . . . John Smoltz says his rehab is coming along nicely (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Wrigley Field is one of the spots under consideration for an outdoor NHL game between the Blackhawks and Red Wings (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Aaron Harang's four sterling innings in the 17-inning game at San Diego Sunday came back to bite both him and the Reds yesterday (mlb.com) . . . Randy Johnson tied Roger Clemens for second place on the all-time strikeouts list last night (mlb.com) . . . The Mariners eventually plan to put Brendan Morrow in the starting rotation, but his bullpen success so far means in probably won't happen this year. (Seattle Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Phil Dumatrait pitched what was, perhaps, the game of his career as he led the Pirates over the team that released him last year, the Reds (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Rudy Seanez may not have pitched forever -- it only seems that way -- but it's been 17 years in the big leagues now and he credits martial arts for his longevity. (Philadelphia Daily News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:51 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, May 29
AP Photo
JOURNEY TO NOWHERE: Not that it's a state secret or anything, but we introduced some numbers last week showing that the Red Sox are a different team offensively away from Fenway Park than they've been in Boston. Just six days later, it appears there's as much "insight" in that observation as in noting that the sky is blue, or rain falls down. These Sox appear to be on nothing less than a season-long quest to redefine the term Offensively Inept On The Road, as evidenced by last night's 1-0 loss to the Mariners. It was the second time they'd been shut out in the six games of this road trip -- record in those six games: 1-5 -- and Sean McAdam trots out some ghastly statistics: 14 runs scored in the six games, .169 batting average, grand total of three hits in the two shutout losses. I can trot out some ghastlier ones: a road OPS that's exactly 100 points lower (.757 to .857) than it is at home, an OPS-plus of 114 at Fenway Park and a Manny Alexander-like 88 on the road. (baseball-reference.com) Surviving Grady's question from last Sunday still rings true today.
Or maybe it's best to be philosophical about the whole thing. Like The Soxaholix.
THE GOOD NEWS: The offense should get a boost when they resume play tomorrow in Baltimore because Kevin Youkilis will return to the lineup. His recovery from some right-hand inflammation is at the top of McAdam's notebook.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS: It's a day later and the Sox still don't know exactly what's wrong with Daisuke Matsuzaka's shoulder. So, reports McAdam, they're sending him back to Boston for an MRI.
NO, IT IS GOOD NEWS: The Boston Herald's Michael Silverman says a little time off would be a good thing for Matsuzaka, as indeed for almost any pitcher. And he points out the team has been superb in managing their workloads because "[saving] bullets, so their pitchers still have some and some with pop, for a seven-month season is the name of the game for the Red Sox."
THE DOMINO EFFECT: With Matsuzaka almost certain to miss his next start -- even if Francona wouldn't say so -- the Sox began some organizational shifting to get ready. Joe McDonald reports Justin Masterson's first start at Pawtucket is being pushed up two days, from Saturday to tonight, which would put him in line to pitch Tuesday in Boston. Matsuzaka's next scheduled start is Monday but, because of today's off-day, Tim Wakefield can pitch Monday on normal rest.
GO WITH THE FLOW: McDonald talked to Masterson about the whole thing and he expressed confidence in the way the team has handled him so far. "They know what they’re doing," he said of the Red Sox’ philosophy. "You have to buy in and know what they’re doing is to help you." That was in contrast to, say, Jon Lester, who chafed at the organization's pitch-count restrictions while he was working his way back to the big leagues last year. (McDonald quotes PawSox manager Ron Johnson as saying taking Lester out of a start when he'd reached his pitch-count limit "was never a delightful situation. It was like sticking a finger in your eye.")
MASTERSON? WHY NOT CLAY BUCHHOLZ? Because his next scheduled start is Friday, and he won't be ready to pitch either Monday or Tuesday.
STOLEN MEMORIES: I know it's been a long time since I thought of Patsy Dougherty or Heinie Wagner. But Jacoby Ellsbury brought them back to life last night when he stole his 20th base of the season, tying him for fifth place on the list of most steals by a Red Sox rookie. (projo.com)
DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY: Manny Ramirez remains as carefree as ever one home run away from No. 500. (Boston Globe)
STILL GOING: The Rays, meanwhile, increased their lead to 1 1/2 games with a 5-3 win over the Rangers that was tempered somewhat by a hamstring injury to closer Troy Percival. (Tampa Tribune)
ALWAYS SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT: You'd think a team that's enjoying first-time success, like the Rays, would be basking in compliments. But the blog Beyond The Box Score is wondering what's wrong with Carl Crawford.
THAT DAMN OPEC: More W's in the standings have yet to translate into more fannies in the seats for the Rays, and a AAA spokesman thinks high gas prices are to blame. (newsadvance.com)
PRESENT . . . Andy Pettitte got the win and Mariano Rivera got the save -- just like old times -- in the Yankees' 4-2 win over the Orioles. (New York Daily News)
. . . AND FUTURE: All signs point to Joba Chamberlain making his starting debut for the Yanks next Tuesday. Guess Graig Nettles didn't get the memo; he wants to keep Joba in the bullpen. (Both stories New York Post)
SPORTS PARENTING: Ian Kennedy, as expected, is headed to the disabled list (New York Daily News), where he joins fellow phenom Phil Hughes. But the Post's George King says this still isn't necessarily a lost year for them. It all goes to show, points out Peter Abraham, that "[this] 'develop the kids' stuff is hard work." (LoHud Yankees Blog)
SETTING A DATE: Bob Sheppard, giving an interview to BustedHalo.com, says he hopes to be back behind the Yankee Stadium microphone by July 1.
SEE, SOME GOOD DID COME OUT OF IT: If nothing else, the Yankees' signing of Kei Igawa has bolstered Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's starting rotation. (projo.com)
PICK SIX: The Yankees are letting fans vote which six games should be included on the soon-to-be-released Essential Games of Yankee Stadium DVD. And no, don't think you can flood the ballot box with votes for Games Six or Seven of the 2004 ALCS; the games have been pre-selected and you have to choose from a list.
YANKED AROUND: A self-proclaimed "diehard Yankees fan" says the team reneged on its promise to give him 15 All-Star Game tickets in exchange for a pair of home-run balls he caught during a game last year. (New York Post) The Yankees say they promised nothing of the sort.
BRING IT ON, ROCKET: ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra explains in great -- and glorious -- detail why any defense lawyer with two brain cells firing would be drooling in joyous anticipation at sinking his or her teeth into Roger Clemens' "intentional infliction of emotional distress" claim in Clemens' defamation lawsuit against Brian McNamee.
AND IN THE MEANTIME . . . Mindy McCready is singing to the FBI. (New York Daily News)
I BEG YOUR PARDON? The Daily News' Filip Bondy can't believe some of the crowd totals being released by the Mets, who, he says, have "successfully . . . taken over the lead [from the Knicks] for fabricating attendance figures."
HOWEVER MANY WERE THERE SURE ENJOYED THIS ONE: Regardless of the actual attendance, the fans at Shea were smiling at the end of last night's 12-inning win over the Marlins. (New York Times)
WE DID HIM RIGHT: Omar Minaya defends the Mets' handling of Ryan Church. (New York Times)
LIEUTENANT INTANGIBLES: Derek Jeter's the captain of that outfit, so we'll have to assign the lower rank to David Eckstein. He's back in action with the Blue Jays (Toronto Star), even though the Tao of Stieb didn't particularly miss him and didn't seem to want him back in any hurry. And Baseball Musings' David Pinto points out that the Jays are 13-18 when Eckstein plays and thinks certain members of the Toronto media are "Jeterating" Eckstein.
Come on. You remember.
DEFEND YOUR POSITION: Joe Posnanski put forth the opinion the other day that Ron Gardenhire is the best manager in baseball. When the inevitable protests arrived, Joe admitted that Gardenhire may only look good in comparison to the Royals managers he's been watching up close for the last 12 years. Particularly Trey Hillman.
TOP OF THE HEAP: Foxsports.com's Tracy Ringolsby. on the other hand, throws some love to Bobby Cox, one of the most overlooked great managers of all time.
IT WAS COMING: The Royals' recent run of frustration continued last night when they blew a five-run, ninth-inning lead and lost to the Twins (Kansas City Star), which prompted the first blowup of the season from the tightly wound Jose Guillen. (royalsblog.kansascity.com)
YOU CAN'T FIRE ME, I QUIT! Even though neither one of them is playing at the moment, both Bret Boone and Sammy Sosa announced their retirements yesterday. (Both stories espn.com)
CHUMP CHANGE: Pete Rose now says he wagered "like $2,000 . . . that's it" on every Reds game while he was their manager. (si.com)
AND IN THE "THERE'S ALWAYS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING" CATEGORY . . . A minor-league game in Omaha was suspended because of a hydrochloric acid leak. (AP via Yahoo!)
KONG AVERSION: The Sporting News' Gerry Fraley thinks the Phillies are doing the right thing by not signing Ryan Howard to a long-term contract because he's "increasingly becoming a Dave Kingman-esque, one-note player."
HERE AND THERE: The Twins may be shopping Livan Hernandez (St. Paul Pioneer Press) . . . The struggling Vladmir Guerrero was given the day off by Mike Scioscia (Los Angeles Times) . . . Mark Cuban may be able to buy the Cubs, after all. (Chicago Sun-Times)
OLD FRIENDS: The Cleveland-based blog WaitingForNextYear thinks it's time for the Indians to find out what they have in Andy Marte . . . Pedro Martinez threw six innings in a rehab start for Port St. Lucie last night. (New York Post)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:41 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 28
AP Photo
THERE ARE LOSSES, AND THEN THERE ARE LOSSES: The routine ones -- like last night's 4-3 defeat at the hands of the bottom-of-the-heap Mariners -- you can live with, no matter how gut-wrenching they may be . . . and, as Sean McAdam reports, this one was pretty gut-wrenching. (To wit: Losing on a two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth single.) But the big loss for the Red Sox last night wasn't in the standings. It was Daisuke Matsuzaka (above) having to leave the game in the top of the fifth inning because of "shoulder fatigue." Bill James once wrote that caution flags should fly when teams describe injuries in such vague terms, because what it actually means is, "He's hurt and we don't know why . . . and if we don't know why, we can't fix it." They'll attempt to get a more specific diagnosis today, but both Matsuzaka and Terry Francona were saying last night that Dice-K's next scheduled start -- at least -- is in question.
So what does it all mean? Well, for one thing, it looks like Clay Buchholz' stay in Pawtucket will be a short one. And for another, it just goes to show that the old saying -- the minute you think you have too much pitching is when you should go out and get some more -- rings true every time.
AP Photo
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE . . . No one would ever accuse ex-Red Sox television broadcaster Sean McDonough of being a FOU (Friend of Umpires). He would routinely lambast the men in blue, more over their imperious attitudes than their actual job performance (though he didn't like that, either), and during a broadcast on May 31, 1998, he articulated his complaint against them in 23 words:
"In addition to being incompetent at their jobs, they're also combative, arrogant, and they create more problems than they solve on the field."
(Back in a former life, when I was the author of a daily blog known as Art's Notebook, I wrote it down.)
With all that in mind, may we present Angel Hernandez.
It's not that Hernandez is incompetent at his job -- he's actually known as a pretty good umpire (though the blog spudart.com might disagree) -- but combative? Arrogant? Creating more problems than he solves? Hernandez is a three-tool ump in those categories, and they were all on display last night in his inexplicable mid-inning ejection of Julio Lugo, which was followed soon afterwards by the tossing of Terry Francona (above). McAdam reports Lugo insists he did absolutely nothing to warrant getting thrown out -- he said Hernandez was staring at him, and gave him the thumb when he asked why he was looking at him -- and Francona (an "exasperated Francona," according to McAdam), said, "I wouldn't know where to begin" when asked for an explanation of what happened.
McAdam notes that Hernandez and Lugo have a history -- in April 2007, Hernandez denied Lugo's routine request for time out while he was in the batter's box and the Orioles' Daniel Cabrera delivered a strike after Lugo had stepped out; Lugo made some harsh comments afterwards (Boston Herald) -- and it couldn't be that Hernandez still remembers that. Could it?
The incident is already drawing commentary -- none too complimentary towards Hernandez -- in the blogosphere, on sites such as Sports of Boston and bleacher report. One of the more, ah, interesting takes on the incident is bleacher report's conclusion that subsequent in-game successes by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were a result of their wanting "to take a stand for their Latin American teammate and friend!" Uh, yeah, whatever.
In any case, I'm sure we'll hear more about all this. But maybe all we needed to know was said almost 10 years ago to the day:
"In addition to being incompetent at their jobs, they're also combative, arrogant, and they create more problems than they solve on the field."
Protesters to the contrary? Your point of view was made a lot harder to defend last night.
LOOK OUT BELOW: Worried about Julio Lugo's defense but heartened by his offensive resurgence? Allan Wood says that train's about to come rolling to a stop, too, and tells us why on his Joy of Sox blog.
NOT HERE: McAdam has an interesting piece on why the Red Sox aren't following the crowd in the new baseball practice of tying up young players to long-term deals.
STAR POWER: The Red Sox have the leading vote-getters at five of the nine positions as the first results of All-Star voting were released yesterday. McAdam reports Francona thinks it's "kind of a reward for the team’s success and their personal success."
The game, of course, will be played at the soon-to-be-closed Yankee Stadium and Francona probably hits the nail right at the head when he muses, "I can’t imagine a lot of (New York) fans will be thrilled that I’m sitting in the dugout." As for the Yankees, they hope their fans will start stuffing the ballot boxes soon so as many Yanks as possible can start in the game. (New York Post) Well, okay, they didn't use those words exactly, but that's what they meant. Wait a minute, I take that back; Derek Jeter did use those words. (New York Daily News)
DUSTIN FOR THE DEFENSE: Baseball Musings' David Pinto uses a nice play by Dustin Pedroia Monday night as a jumping-off point for a discussion on defensive range and positioning. On a somewhat related defensive note: I'm a subscriber to Bill James Online and among the treasure trove of information available are in-season fielding statistics from John Dewan's The Fielding Bible. Those stats rank Pedroia as the fourth-best defensive second baseman in baseball, through Monday's games. More accurately, it ranks him fourth in "the number of plays the player made, above/below the number that the average fielder would make."
POWERFUL FEAR: The sudden death of former Red Sox and PawSox pitcher Geremi Gonzalez when he was struck by lightning prompted Joe McDonald to ask some Pawtucket players about their experiences with lightning on the playing field. Some of them, like Charlie Zink, head to the dugout as soon as they see the first bolt in the distance.
DIRT DOG UPDATE: Trot Nixon is toiling away in Tucson, hoping someone notices and gives him a big-league job. (AP via Canadian Press)
NASTINESS IS ITS OWN REWARD: Joe Posnanski discovered that only three teams -- the Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies -- have not had an eight-game losing streak since 2002 and, noting that the teams play in the three most intense baseball cities in the country, wonders if "booing fans, the angry media, the intensive talk shows, the angry Internet boards . . . keep the players a bit more on edge."
OR AT LEAST THEY HOPE SO IN WISCONSIN: Sounds like Brewer fans are emulating their Boston/New York/Philadelphia brethren, if their letters to SI.com's John Donovan are any indication.
THE FIRST SIGN OF SUCCESS: The Rays are beginning to attract bandwagon followers. Among the first: The blog RaysGeek, previously known as MetsGeek. ("Unlike the Mets, we’ll never let you down. Because if the Rays’ season takes a turn for the worse, you can bet that we’ll be ready to jump ship again.") Its readers are thrilled, mainly because, as one wrote, "Finally I can root for [Scott] Kazmir without a guilty conscience."
SOMETHING'S IN THE AIR: The Red Sox weren't the only team who lost a pitcher last night. Ian Kennedy strained his right lat muscle in his start against the Orioles (New York Daily News), which may force the Yankees' hand with Joba Chamberlain. And the Sox weren't the only team suffering a gut-wrenching loss, either. The Yankees gave up two runs in the bottom of the 11th, after taking the lead in the top of the inning, and lost to the O's, 10-9, in a rain-delayed affair. (New York Post) Whipping boy LaTroy Hawkins was the loser (New York Daily News), but Peter Abraham says there was plenty of blame to go around in this one. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE? The blog Bugs and Cranks lists the only possible reasons Hawkins is still a Yankee. Me, I vote for "accepting money under the table from other A.L. East teams."
IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS . . . CAUGHT: There's actually a Yankee blog named for John Sterling's occasional misspeaks, and it must be proud today. Newsday's Neal Best reports Sterling had a memorable Memorial Day weekend when it came to on-air blunders. It started with the understandable, and forgivable, flubbing of the end of a recent game against Seattle when plate umpire Larry Vanover mistakenly rang up Jose Vidro for the final out when, in fact, it was only the second strike of the at-bat. (What was that we said a few steps back about "incompetent at their jobs" . . . ?) But I would have loved to have heard this one:
"Here is Molina. Matsui at second with two out. The pitch swung on and hit in the air to right center. Ichiro going back, a way back in deep right center. It lands for a base hit! How do you like that? Matsui scores, Cano goes to second with a double. Oh, it's a ribbie double by Robbie Cano, don't you know, and the Yankees take the lead! A ribbie for Robbie! . . . Excuse me, that's Molina. What am I talking about?"
Late update: Here's the audio, spliced into the game video, via dailymotion.com:
I don't mean to be harsh on Sterling; I actually think he's a good announcer and he makes the game entertaining. But when he begins trotting out his catch phrases ("Robbie Cano! Doncha know!") for the wrong guy, it sort of like setting off fireworks at the wrong time. All you can do is laugh.
ROCKET'S MAN: Roger Clemens may be gone, but he's still texting pitching advice to the grateful Joba Chamberlain. (USA Today)
THE SAGA CONTINUES: Clemens is now accusing Brian McNamee "of intentionally inflicting [him] with emotional distress." (Houston Chronicle)
THIS IS WHY WE GOT HIM: The Daily News' Filip Bondy lauds Johan Santana for coming through last night when the Mets most needed him.
YOU DON'T RIDE A HORSE TO WORK, DO YOU? No? Then why, asks FoxSports.com's Michael Rosenberg, should anyone want to stand in the way of progress and be against instant replay in baseball?
QUIT WORRYING: Red Sox fan Russ Smith, writing on the blog splicetoday.com, says all this talk about instant replay and long games is all a bunch of hooey. Baseball, he asserts, is "continually evolving . . . and interest hasn’t diminished."
FROM PROSPECT TO . . . Utilityman. That's the career path the Dodgers seem to have for Andy LaRoche. (Los Angeles Times)
THE BEST REVENGE: Bill Hall, angered about losing playing time with the Brewers, came off the bench and was the hero in the bottom of the ninth last night as Milwaukee rallied past the Braves. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
MEDICAL REPORTS: Ex-Yankee reliever Luis Vizcaino, rehabbing an injured shoulder, is inching closer towards rejoining the Rockies (Denver Post) . . . That's not the case with the Rangers' Hank Blalock, who's recovering slowly from carpal-tunnel syndrome (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Mets' Ryan Church is still feeling the effects of last week's concussion and the team is being criticized for bringing him back too soon (New York Times) . . . The latest players headed to the DL: Arizona's Eric Byrnes (mlb.com), Detroit's Gary Sheffield (AP via Yahoo!) and Atlanta's Matt Diaz (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Joe Torre says Jason Schmidt's velocity is down, and may remain so all season. (Los Angeles Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Julian Tavarez joined the Brewers yesterday. (mlb.com) He also pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, though none of the game accounts I saw mentioned anything about it . . . Steve Lyons is still bitter about his firing by Fox during the 2006 postseason (Chicago Tribune) . . . Kent Mercker is alive, kicking, and pitching a perfect rehab inning for the Reds' farm club in Louisville (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Orlando Cabrera is developing a me-first reputation in the White Sox clubhouse -- for instance, he's twice called the press box to complain about errors that were charged to him this season -- and Ozzie Guillen is warning him to straighten up and fly right (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Scott Hatteberg has been designated for assignment by Cincinnati (mlb.com) . . . It looks like Pedro Martinez will pitch for the Mets on Tuesday. (New York Daily News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, May 27
TIMING IS EVERYTHING IN LIFE . . . and there's probably no better time to come to Safeco Field than right now, considering the Mariners had lost 19 of their last 24 prior to last night. (And looked pretty pathetic in the process, especially lately: They were outscored 31-13 in losing three straight at Yankee Stadium, directly on the heels of getting outscored 30-14 in losing three straight at Comerica Park.) But you'll forgive the Red Sox -- losers of seven straight road games before they arrived in Seattle -- if the needle on their sympathy meter didn't jump a whole lot, since they had their own ship to steady. And steady it they did, as Bartolo Colon (above) pitched seven strong innings and the Sox bats finally came alive against Felix Hernandez in the eighth in a 5-3 win that, as Sean McAdam reports, gave them their first victory away from home since May 10. The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo talked to some of the players about their away-from-Fenway struggles and lays out some pretty startling home-and-road statistics that perfectly explain how the Sox are 21-5 in Boston and 11-17 outside of it. David Pinto of Baseball Musings goes even deeper into the numbers -- comparing them to Tampa Bay's home-and-road stats -- and warns that a "falloff from [the Sox'] current .808 home winning percentage may mean trouble, as Tampa's home/road record looks sustainable." But these days Seattle is a pretty safe port in a storm (Seattle Times), and the Sox are resting comfortably there this morning after some rough seas prior to their arrival.
TROUBLE BY THE BAY: The waves were particularly harsh in Oakland, where the Red Sox lost 8-3 on Friday night, were almost no-hit in losing 3-0 on Saturday night and concluded their weekend of distress with a 6-3 loss on Sunday afternoon. Masochists are invited to click the links to any of McAdam's game accounts.
CHANGING TIMES: Used to be that managers under fire claimed they didn't read the newspapers. Now, if you're the Mariners' John McLaren, you claim you don't read the blogs. (USA Today)
PERSPECTIVE: The difference between real-life problems and what pass for problems in baseball was never demonstrated more starkly than on Sunday, when cancer survivor Jon Lester told the world that his father is also suffering from a form of lymphoma. (projo.com) He spoke optimistically about John Lester's chances of beating the disease, saying his father "will die with [cancer], not from it." Here's hoping that's true, Jon.
'MY FRIEND': Driving that point home further was the shocking death of former Red Sox and PawSox pitcher Geremi Gonzalez, who was struck by lightning in his native Venezuela on Saturday. McAdam has reaction from the Red Sox and Joe McDonald relates the comments of PawSox manager Ron Johnson, who was "absolutely crushed" by the news. Curt Schilling adds some thoughts on 38pitches.com.
THE COMEBACK TRAIL: Lester's no-hit twin, Clay Buchholz, had an impressive first outing with the PawSox on Sunday as he rehabs from his torn fingernail. Paul Kenyon has the details.
WHAT A SHORT, STRANGE JOURNEY IT'S BEEN: Bill Reynolds first met Buchholz in the McCoy Stadium clubhouse last August. He caught up with him again on Sunday and they talked about how different life has become since the no-hitter.
TALKING BASEBALL: Joe Haggerty provides the transcript of his Sunday interview with Buchholz on his Hacks With Haggs blog.
'RATHER WORK WITH HIM THAN POINT A FINGER AT HIM': That's the Red Sox' philosophy regarding the defensively challenged Julio Lugo, whom they're hoping will regain his glove skills by extra work with infield coach Luis Alicea. (Boston Globe)
SPEED KILLS: I admit, I'm puzzled about baseball's new speed-up rules. On Friday night we saw Dave Magadan kicked out of the game when umpire Tim Tschida wouldn't allow J.D. Drew to put pine tar on his replacement bat (projo.com), but I saw at least three -- and maybe more -- instances in other games over the weekend where a batter broke his bat, went and got a new one, and then retired to the on-deck circle to apply pine tar with no ejection, no warning, no nothing. But regardless of how the rule is enforced (or not), David Ortiz thinks it's stupid. (Boston Globe) So does Kevin Youkilis (Boston Herald) The Joy Of Sox' Allan Wood finds clips that point out baseball has been talking about speeding up games for at least 80 years, and then makes some tangible suggestion -- like cutting down commercial time between innings, or calling the strike zone as the rule book lays it out -- that would actually make things go quicker.
AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: As those of us hereabouts fret about the Sox -- and let's face it, the fretting came pretty easy this weekend -- baseball writers around the country continue to marvel about the 'Ol Towne Team. Rany Jazayerli of Baseball Prospectus, writing on his blog Rany On The Royals, says "I'm not sure there has ever been an organization that so towered above every other baseball team in every way -- financial, player development, statistical analysis, creative thinking, what have you -- as the Red Sox do right now." And on the heels of the Sox' arrival at Safeco, the Seattle Times' Larry Stone said they "might be the model franchise in baseball." He adds: "You don't hear much about the Curse of the Bambino these days."
See? There is a God!
THERE SURE IS: Back in November and December when the Johan Santana rumors were flying, Chad Finn pretty well articulated the reservations some had about emptying the minor-league shelves for him. The Sox resisted the temptation and now, Chad gleefully reports, it looks like they made the right decision. (Touching All The Bases)
ONE FOR THE BOOKS: Think you've heard of every obscure record in baseball? Bet this is a new one for ya: The Rays are the first team since 1900 to have the best record in baseball through Memorial Day after having the worst record in baseball the previous year. (Tampa Tribune) They got there with a 7-3 win over the Rangers, coupled with a Diamondbacks' loss to the Braves.
CLOSET STATHEAD: Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon wants to see if there's a way to determine how many runs a player costs his team defensively, which can then be added to the runs he produces as a hitter to create a baseball plus/minus rating. (St. Petersburg Times)
WHERE ARE YOU, MARINERS? The Yankees were hoping they were back on track after their weekend sweep of Seattle, but the Orioles brought them back to Earth with a 6-1 victory that featured five runs off Yankee relievers in the seventh inning. ShysterBall, noting the worrying that Joba Chamberlain's move to the rotation has sparked about who'll pitch the eighth inning for the Yanks, says forget that; what about the seventh?
THE DEBATE CONTINUES: Put down Phil Pepe as a 'no' in the Should Joba Be A Starter? poll. (yesnetwork.com)
HE'S NOT ALONE: Remember the complaints about Chamberlain's on-the-mound histrionics after recording key outs? The White Sox are now grousing about Frankie Rodriguez doing the same thing. (Chicago Tribune)
DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES: Joe Posnanski wants to like Derek Jeter. He really does. But he's so fed up with the empty veneration of Jeter -- for instance, as a great defensive shortstop when in fact he may be the worst in baseball -- that he's come up with a new verb: "Jeterate -- to praise someone for something of which he or she is entirely unworthy of praise." And what set this off wasn't even his defense. It was his getting caught in a rundown and staying in it long enough for the other runners to advance to the next base a few nights ago, which apparently set off a five-minute Sterling/Waldman lovefest on the Yankee radio broadcast. ("He waved them to the next base! What a leader! What a man! Who else in the world could have gotten caught in a rundown long enough to get runners to move up?") And then, writes Joe, "when Hideki Matsui singled to score both runners, they took it up another step and canonized Jeter."
And so did he, with a new word. Jeterate. Write it down.
RETHINK YOUR DECISION: A few hours after Mets management stated emphatically that Willie Randolph wouldn't be fired, fans at Shea started a "Fi-re Wil-lie!" chant in the waning moments of a 7-3 loss to Florida. (New York Post) But the Post's Joel Sherman thinks the fans should focus their anger elsewhere, saying, "Maybe this is not about the leader as much as it is about the led."
KID STUFF: Gary Carter is blaming the media for misinterpreting comments he made about the Mets' managing job that sounded as if he was campaigning to replace Randolph. Former teammate Keith Hernandez is a member of the media now -- color analyst on the Mets' TV broadcast -- and he called Carter "indelicate [and] graceless." (Both stories Newsday)
THINK THE BAR IS HIGH ENOUGH? The blog Driveline Mechanics breaks down Dodger phenom Clayton Kershaw and concludes he "exhibits all the performance of a Sandy Koufax without the mechanical flaws." O-kay.
START SHREDDING THE CONFETTI: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Mark Bradley likes what he sees regarding the Braves.
HERE AND THERE: Brewers third baseman Bill Hall is losing playing time and he's not happy about it (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . It looks like top prospect Jay Bruce is about to be recalled by the Reds (mlb.com) . . . John Smoltz may need another rehab appearance (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Alfonso Soriano has been catching some heat in Chicago, but yesterday he was defending by the Cubs (Chicago Tribune) . . . Chone Figgins may be headed to the disabled list. (Los Angeles Times)
OLD FRIENDS: There's been a Pokey Reese sighting! Even though he hasn't appeared in a big-league game since 2004 and hasn't been with a big-league team since spring training 2006, the Nationals signed him to a minor-league contract. (Washington Post)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:44 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, May 23
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
HOME WARRIORS: We'll remember this for a while. A no-hitter. Another impressive start by a rookie hopeful. A just-as-impressive beginning from a veteran being counted on to bolster the rotation. And yesterday, two grand slams in one day, one of them from Mike Lowell (above). Yes, this series -- and this homestand -- was one for the memory books.
What may fade over time are the details, which is just as well because, as Joe McDonald reports, yesterday's 11-8 dispatch of the Royals -- which completed a four-game sweep of Kansas City on the heels of a three-game wipeout of the Brewers -- was hardly a thing of beauty. And the wart of the edge of the nose was, once again, Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose sterling 8-0, 2.40 record (Projo Stats) gives no hint to the agonizing manner in which he got there. Steven Krasner examines yesterday's 5 2/3-inning, six-walk, six-hit, two-wild-pitch 118-pitch torture session, which seemed to wear down even the eternally upbeat Terry Francona, based on comments he made during his postgame session with the media. Kraz reports Dice-K had a built-in excuse this time: It was his first game with Kevin Cash, who handled the catching chores as Jason Varitek was given the day off. (And, indeed, that fifth-inning exchange where Matsuzaka shook off Cash, what, 71 times as grass began growing through cracks in the grandstand cement speaks to that unfamiliarity.) Whatever the reason, Matsuzaka himself was less than pleased with the whole thing (Boston Globe), though pitching coach John Farrell was more upbeat about it. (Boston Herald) Still, there's no arguing with the results: 11th Red Sox pitcher since 1956 to begin 8-0; Sox victories in each of his last 12 regular-season starts, dating back to Sept. 22, 2007; first eight-game winner in the American League. Could be worse. A lot worse.
The reason it wasn't, at least yesterday, was the offensive show put on by his teammates, led by the grand-slam duo of Lowell and J.D. Drew. Paul Kenyon has their reaction to the whole thing, plus the slew of milestones -- first two grand-slam game since Bill Mueller in 2003, first time two Sox hit grand slams in the same game since 1995, first time two of them did it at Fenway since 1984, etc. -- they matched along the way. (Gordon Edes of the Globe has an interesting one: There have been 245 no-hitters since 1876, but only 72 two-grand-slam games.) It speaks to a bigger point, says Krasner: Namely, the relentless, 1-to-9 lineup that keeps producing as a whole no matter which of the individual parts -- like Manny Ramirez at present -- is misfiring.
Of course, that's mostly true at home, where they have a higher batting average (.303 to .286), a higher on-base percentage (.383 to .347), a higher slugging percentage (.474 to .450) and score more runs per game (6.0 to 4.54) than they do on the road. (baseball-reference.com) And, not coincidentally, they're 21-5 at Fenway and 10-14 on the road. Now they head out to Oakland, Seattle and Baltimore for a 10-game trip. Let's see if they can make those numbers even out a bit.
SHORT AND NOT-SO-SWEET: The flip side of the Sox' fireworks show: It led to a truncated Banny Log on joeposnanski.com.
MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW: Not doing anything Sunday? Head out to McCoy Stadium to see Clay Buchholz make a rehab start for the PawSox. McDonald and Krasner tell us all about it in their notebook, which includes items on Varitek's day off and various game notes.
NO, IT'S NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS: I'm sure many of us know someone who attended both Buchholz' and Jon Lester's no-hitters. Edes found a guy who not only went to both of them, but they were the only two times he's ever been to Fenway. Not only that, he's from Utah. In addition, Gordon reports that -- unlike the reward Tom Yawkey gave to Mel Parnell for his 1956 no-hitter -- John Henry had no bonus for Lester, and he answers a question I get all the time: What's the difference in salary between the major leagues and minor leagues? He gives us Masterson's numbers.
FINITO: It appears Kevin Youkilis' days as a blogger are over.
BIG DEAL: Writing in Slate, Pat Jordan says most athletes' blogs "are essentially self-aggrandizing and masturbatory . . . [and] reveal nothing genuine about the writer." It's part of a bigger piece in which he talks how the new celebrity status of athletes has put a moat between subject and follower -- a moat which reporters, once seen as allies in their achievements but now viewed as adversaries, are not allowed to cross -- and led to an angrier, less-forgiving relationship between player and fan.
YOU'RE NOT CALLING ANYTHING: The New York Times reports the Yankees -- hosts of this year's All-Star Game -- were unaware of a promotion in which a fan can predict where David Ortiz will hit the ball during the Home Run Derby (Biz of Baseball), with Ortiz getting one chance to hit it to that spot. And -- considering the damage Ortiz has done to them over the years -- they're not happy about Big Papi playing Babe Ruth in their ballpark and may attempt to stop it. Before Red Sox fans get all high and mighty, the blog YFSF makes an interesting point: "I am pretty sure (actually, I KNOW) that Sox fans wouldn't like A-Rod being the focus of an All-Star game gimmick at Fenway Park."
BE PREPARED: Jim Rice has an interesting Ask 14 entry on the way various players he's known -- Nomar Garciaparra, Wade Boggs, John Valentin, Manny Ramirez -- prepare for games.
WON'T BE LONG NOW: The Mets' fourth straight loss in Atlanta (New York Post) has everyone -- Mets fans such as those who run the blog The Musings and Prophecies of Metstradamas and media professionals like Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Consitution -- talking about what a mess they are. Considering that David Wright is publicly questioning the team's effort (mlb.com) -- though he later said he did nothing of the sort (New York Daily News) -- and team owners aren't returning his phone calls (New York Post), can Willie Randolph's head possibly be saved?
10:30 THUNDER: The Yankees -- energized, perhaps, by Joe Girardi's first ejection of the season -- scored a run in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Orioles, 2-1. (New York Post) It was set up by a good six-inning performance from Ian Kennedy (New York Daily News), though Baseball Musings' David Pinto thinks Kennedy was more lucky than good.
BUT THERE'S ONLY ONE STORY IN THIS TOWN: Still, all the talk in New York -- at least the American League side of it -- is on Joba Chamberlain's move to the starting rotation. (New York Daily News) It makes sense, says the New York Post's Kevin Kernan, because "Chamberlain was not put on this earth to be an eighth-inning setup man." And since the Yankees are "thinking about 2009 and beyond more than [they are] about 2008," according to the Daily News' John Harper, it's time to transition Joba into the rotation. Even so, Peter Abraham can't fathom what the excitement is about since Chamberlain is "a really good pitcher . . . [and you] know what you do with the really good pitchers? You start them." (LoHud Yankees Blog)
UH OH: While they're still saying his right-calf injury is minor, the Yankees have pushed Chien-Ming's Wang's next start back by a day. (New York Post)
AS EXPECTED . . . : LaTroy Hawkins was suspened for throwing at Luke Scott's head the other night. (New York Daily News). And, as expected, he appealed the penalty.
WE'RE NOT ALONE: Annoyed by the at-times-subterranean level of intelligence displayed by sports talk-show callers? Apparently they're no smarter in Canada, as our pal The Tao of Stieb tells us. Because, yeah, Ernie Whitt's time as first-base coach makes him the obvious choice to replace J.P. Ricciardi as Blue Jays general manager.
(Watch out, Theo. You're in Luis Alicea's cross hairs!)
'BLAND LIMBO LAND OF NOTHINGNESS': I hate it when my friends don't get along, so I wonder how Tao will take ShysterBall's none-too-flattering take on the Jays.
CENTRAL DEBATE: Today it's the Royals' turn in the "Someone Has To Win The Central" series on the blog WaitTillNextYear. In a totally unrelated post (I think) on Baseball Prospectus, Joe Sheehan makes a case for the White Sox.
AND WHY NOT? The White Sox completed a sweep of the Indians last night and now have won six in a row. (Chicago Tribune)
THE CLUB IS GROWING: The Indians, on the other hand, are floundering and Pinto wonders if Eric Wedge will soon be joining Randolph and Ned Yost in the Managerial Hot Seat Derby.
SPEAKING OF SWEEPS . . . Those surprising Marlins completed one of the Diamondbacks. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
YOU KNEW IT WAS COMING: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports baseball's first dip of the toe into the instant-replay waters will come this year in the Arizona Fall League, and it could be instituted in the majors as early as next season. ShysterBall isn't sure it's such a good idea. Not Joe Girardi, though; he loves it. (New York Post)
NO, NO, IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND! The blog Big League Stew says that good health will be a key to a potential Chipper Jones run at .400 this year. But Pinto has a study that demonstrates the chances of hitting .400 go up if you play less.
I LOVE THE THINK FACTORY: One of my stops every day is The Baseball Think Factory's Baseball Primer Newslog, and one of the reasons is Repoz, a poster who first caught my eye with a Rich McKinney reference several years back. At least once a week he makes me laugh out loud; he did it today when he mentioned Fred Harris and Brendan Boyd. Because a friend and I can still recite some of their lines verbatim. ("Hey, Mac, you wanna buy a hot Buick?")
VOTING PREFERENCES: It appears the Omar Vizquel-to-the-Hall of Fame debate has been decided in Omar's favor. The question now, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman, is whether or not he'll make it on the first ballot.
MY DAY'S COMING: Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Bert Blyleven's candidacy has been a hot topic for some time now. But in an interesting -- and sometimes hilarious -- interview with Big League Stew, he says he thinks he'll make it.
MINE'S NOT, IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT: Marvin Miller, on the other hand, wants no part of being in the Hall of Fame because of "the voting mechanism and what he feels are conflicts of interest that stack the deck against any labor executive who spent a career battling management." (New York Times)
STAR POWER: Bud Selig is expected to announce today that the Angels have been awarded the 2010 All-Star Game. (Los Angeles Times)
HERE AND THERE: Surprise, surprise: Moises Alou is headed to the DL (New York Post) . . . The Dodgers may soon summon phenom Clayton Kershaw to Los Angeles (mlb.com) . . . The Nationals will be without Austin Kearns for about a month (Washington Post) . . . Josh Hamilton's amazing season continued as he led the Rangers past the Twins, and Texas is trying to sign him to a long-term contract (Both stories Dallas Morning News) . . . The Angels shot down rumors that Chone Figgins is headed to the White Sox. (Los Angeles Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez denied reports that he's considering retirement (New York Post) . . . Eric Gagne has rotator-cuff tendinitis and will be sidelined indefinitely. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
AND FINALLY . . . Many thanks to Craig Calcaterra of ShysterBall for his kind words concerning this very blog. Believe me, we're aware of the changing landscape and are trying to adapt to it.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, May 22
LOOKING GOOD: Granted, these are the flea-swinging Royals, so you probably should take it all with a grain of salt. But Bartolo Colon won his Red Sox debut last night (details provided by Joe McDonald), and there's more to it than that. Steven Krasner says Colon was better than his pitching line of 5 innings, 6 hits and 2 runs; he goes Inside The Game to break down Colon's performance and notes that every one of Kansas City's six hits was either a blooper, a bunt or a seeing-eye grounder. It's part of a pitching upswing that's explained by McDonald, Krasner and Paul Kenyon in their notebook, which also includes items on J.D. Drew, Manny Ramirez, Brad Mills as third-base coach, a suddenly rejuvenated bullpen, and more.
Before ordering the champagne and balloons, however, listen to Kraz:
"The Royals entered last night’s game 14th — dead last — in runs scored this year. They were 12th in slugging percentage and 12th in on-base percentage, and Kansas City had been shut out 12 times, the league’s second-highest total of whitewashes. The Royals also were 14th in home runs, 13th in total bases, 14th in RBI, 13th in walks and 7th in strikeouts . . . Just consider this information a dose of perspective."
Considered, Steve.
MAYBE SO, BUT . . . The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo talks to baseball people who think Colon will help the Red Sox this year.
ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL: Kenyon catches up with Brandon Moss, who's recovered from his emergency appendectomy and is headed to Pawtucket to begin playing again.
ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION, BOB? I have this friend who probably wouldn't qualify as the world's biggest Jason Varitek fan. So I strongly urge him to click this link, where Baseball Musings' David Pinto talks of 'Tek's offensive "renaissance".
NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES: Chad Finn declares that David Ortiz' slump is over and that he's not worried about Josh Beckett among Celtics tidbits in his latest Touching All The Bases entry.
OH, THAT'S WHAT THAT IS! The Boston Herald's Michael Silverman reports that the blue thing in Ramirez' mouth these days is a high-tech mouthpiece called a Pure Power Mouthguard.
THEY'RE THE TOPS: The Red Sox are now 19-9 when Jacoby Ellsbury leads off and Dustin Pedroia bats second. (Boston Herald)
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: In light of Jon Lester's no-hitter, Justin Masterson's two strong starts and Jacoby Ellsbury's overall play, Sportingnews.com's Sean Devaney says Twins GM Bill Smith "badly misplayed his hand by not jumping at" one of the two trade offers the Red Sox made for Johan Santana.
MORE NO-HIT MEMORIES: The Globe's Gordon Edes tracks down Mel Parnell, the last Sox left-hander to throw a no-hitter prior to Lester, and he talks about his own gem on a 1956 afternoon that started in rain and ended in sunshine . . . literally and figuratively. And in the Unbelievable Coincidence department, Parnell was diagnosed in 2002 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the same blood cancer Lester had. Thankfully, Parnell's -- like Lester's -- is in remission.
HISTORY LESSON: Baseball Analysts' Patrick Sullivan reminisces about the night Grady Little destroyed Byung-Hyun Kim's career.
HANGING UP THE PEN: At the bottom of an examination as to whether or not Mike Piazza was the greatest everyday player in Mets history, Joe Posnanski has a tidbit about Carl Yastrzemski, newspaper columnist. And that's all I'm giving you; if you want more, click the link.
SAVING GRACE: Writing for Sportingnews.com, Pinto explains why the Royals' signing of closer Joakim Soria to a long-term deal was a good move.
FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET, MORE POWERFUL THAN A LOCOMOTIVE . . . and able to leap the A.L. East standings in a single bound. Sports Illustrated (above) has taken notice of the Tampa Bay Rays. And who wouldn't notice Carl Crawford tossing Derek Jeter like a rag doll, I ask?
MISSTEP: After winning the first two games of their series in Oakland, the second-place Rays -- still sounds a little funny, doesn't it? -- dropped the finale of their road trip to the A's, 9-1 (Tampa Tribune), a loss the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin called easy to explain but not to excuse.
IT'S OFFICIAL: The Yankees are beginning the process of transitioning Joba Chamberlain from the bullpen to the starting rotation. Brian Cashman said Chamberlain "looked me right in the eye and said 'I want the opportunity to start,' '' so last night he pitched two innings in the Yanks' 8-0 win over Baltimore. (New York Post) But while Cashman made it sound as if Chamberlain got things moving, Joe Girardi says the move comes not as a reaction to anything that's happened recently; this, he asserts, was the plan all along. (New York Daily News) The news took the spotlight away from Darrell Rasner, who continued making his bid for this year's Aaron Small Award by improving to 3-0 since his arrival from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. (New York Daily News)
SO LET THE DEBATE BEGIN: Peter Abraham, who's been pushing for Chamberlain to start, says it's all good because "the Yankees will have a top-notch young starter and those are the most valuable commodities in baseball." (LoHud Yankees Blog) The New York Post's Joel Sherman presents the opposing viewpoint, the "whadda we gonna do in the eighth inning??" wail. (The blog It's About The Money, Stupid feels strongly both ways.) In any event, the Daily News' Bill Madden says it's a symbol of changing times in the Bronx. And that change should stay in the Bronx, says Pinto; writing back on Baseball Musings, he doesn't buy the notion that Chamberlain needs to go to the minors to be stretched out.
RED FLAG: The Yankees' one reliable starting pitcher (if you don't count Rasner) is Chien-Ming Wang, and he has a strained right calf. (New York Post) As of now, the Yanks are still calling it minor.
THE HOT LIST: Coming on the heels of Tuesday's 12-2 pounding at the hands of the O's, the Daily News recounts the worst Yankee regular-season losses of the last five years. One Red Sox game is among them.
KEEPING THE FAITH: Hank Steinbrenner says he's "very down" about the Yankees' slow start but is confident things will get better. (mlb.com)
MUST-SEE TV: Earl Weaver's long-ago tirade against Terry Crowley -- "He's lucky he's in (bleeping) baseball" -- was recorded on tape by someone and has been kicking around the Internet for years. Last night, somehow, someway, it actually got on the air during the YES broadcast of the Yankees-Orioles game. The blog NYY Stadium Insider has the video clip. [Warning: They didn't bleep it out, so keep your speakers down if there's someone you don't want to hear it.]
THAT'S THREE IN FOUR DAYS . . . AND COUNTING: The umpires did it again last night -- and did it again at Yankee Stadium -- as they blew yet another home-run call, this time on Alex Rodriguez. (New York Times) After this, their nationally televised blunder on Carlos Delgado Sunday night and their less-publicized miss of the Cubs' Geovany Soto's home run Monday night in Houston, expect the instant-replay train to start chugging down the track.
FROM EXPLANATION TO APOLOGY: Willie Randolph took that step yesterday as he said he was sorry "for his remarks on race and his feud with the Mets' TV network." (New York Post)
FROM THE PENTHOUSE TO THE OUTHOUSE: After sweeping the Yankees in the Bronx last weekend, the Mets proceeded to Atlanta, where they fell to .500 after their third straight loss, 11-4, last night. (New York Daily News)
LOCAL BOYS The blog MLB Trade Rumors says Chris Iannetta's surge in Colorado may make Yorvit Torrealba expendable.
IF YOU PLAY A BALLGAME IN MIAMI AND NO ONE SEES IT, DOES IT COUNT IN THE STANDINGS? The Marlins handed Brandon Webb his first loss of the season last night with a well-played, fun-to-watch 3-1 victory over the Diamondbacks. (Miami Herald) Pinto, however, notes with sadness that the Marlins aren't exactly a hot ticket in south Florida and urges the fans to better support the franchise. (Baseball Musings)
THE MODEL TO EMULATE: Miami fans can take a lesson from those in Houston, where the Chronicle's Jose de Jesus Ortiz says Astros fans rock. And he explains why.
MAKE YOUR CASE The Cleveland blog WaitingForNextYear . . . when maybe someone other than Boston will kill our title dreams -- it's an all-sports blog, so the Celtics' dispatch of the Cavaliers ranks up there with the Red Sox' ousting of the Indians -- has asked fellow A.L. Central bloggers to explain why their team will win the division. First up: Detroit, on the Mack Avenue Tigers blog.
'MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN': Jim Leyland works in Detroit (and his boss owns the Red Wings). But he comes from Pittsburgh. So he's conflicted about this year's Wings-Penguins Stanley Cup final. (mlb.com)
WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: This is a recording. Major League Baseball is instituting measures to speed up games. (New York Times) This is a recording.
YOU WANT FASTER GAMES? Put Sidney Ponson in the mound. (Dallas Morning News)
OLD? OR WASHED UP? That's what the Chicago Sun-Times' Greg Couch is trying to determine about Jim Thome.
HERE AND THERE: Albert Pujols was shaken after hitting a line drive that broke Chris Young's nose and later causing injury to Josh Bard on a collision (more on that below) in the Cardinals' game against the Padres last night (mlb.com) . . . Braves manager Bobby Cox thinks John Smoltz, Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez will all return within the next two weeks (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Both Carlos Zambrano and Lou Piniella say the Cubs' ace is just fine (Chicago Tribune) . . . Ryan Church, who suffered his second concussion in two months on Tuesday night, hopes to be playing again for the Mets by week's end (New York Times) . . . Dontrelle Willis is back with the Tigers but he's headed to the bullpen. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez has left the Mets to be with his ailing father in the Dominican Republic (New York Daily News) . . . Josh Bard sprained his left ankle in the Padres' game against the Cardinals (signonsandiego.com) . . . David Eckstein's hip is still sore, meaning his activation by the Blue Jays has been delayed (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Brewers don't know when the sore-shouldered Eric Gagne will pitch again. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:36 AM | Permalink
Sox reaction to Colon's work
The first impressions Bartolo Colon made on his pitching coach and his catcher were positive last night. Here is what John Farrell, the Red Sox pitching coach, and catcher Jason Varitek had to say about Colon’s effort in the 6-3 Red Sox win.
Farrell:
``We came in tonight thinking he was going to go about 75 pitches. It was apparent that in the fifth inning it looked like he was starting to tire a little bit.’’ Colon threw 74 pitches, 46 for strikes.
``What was most impressive is that we used his fastball very well tonight. The two-seamer got a lot of ground balls with some early contact. I think it was a very good step in the right direction for Bartolo. We’re looking at him for 85 or 90 pitches the next time out.’’
Of the 74 pitches, only about 10 were off-speed, Farrell said.
``When you can throw the two and four-seam on both sides of the plate to some effect it gives you four different pitches. Tonight his approach was very similar to what he’s been accustomed to his entire career. He’s going to mix in some change-ups and sliders on occasion but he’s primarily a fastball pitcher.’’
``One thing he’s never had an issue with is throwing strikes. You look at his entire career path and it’s been one that he’s commanded the strike zone Even when he came into spring training he showed right away that his delivery was repeatable. When you look at a compact body like that there are not body parts that are going to get out of whack too often. Because of that regardless of the amount of time off he’s going to be pretty efficient with his strike throwing ability.’’
Even with Boston’s pitching riches, Farrell made it clear he expects Colon to be part of the rotation.
``He’s a very accomplished pitcher. We’re fortunate to have him in the rotation,’’ Farrell said.
Varitek:
``He did good. He did really good,’’ Varitek said.
``We saw some 94s (on the radar gun) up there. You’ve got to remember it’s his first outing. We’re still building strength. We can make this a good starting point for building strength. . . He’s going to help us.’’
Varitek felt Colon’s numbers could have been even better.
``They had a soft liner for the first run hit in the right place for the first run and he broke a bat on the other one.’’
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 11:15 PM | Permalink
Boston sending help to Pawtucket
The fight for jobs with the Boston Red Sox is about to become a major benefit for the Pawtucket Red Sox.
When Terry Francona held his usual pre-game meeting with the media this afternoon, three of the players he talked about are not on his team right now. Brandon Moss, Justin Masterson and Julian Tavarez all are expected to be with the PawSox when red-hot Pawtucket (winners of 10 of its last 13) opens an eight-game homestand tomorrow night against Rochester.
Here’s what is up with them:
BRANDON MOSS
The rookie outfielder/first baseman is in Fenway today. Some 18 days after undergoing an emergency appendectomy, he is on the field as the Sox take batting practice. He will receive one final check from doctors tonight before heading to Pawtucket.
``He’s made some kind of recovery,’’ Francona said. ``It’s pretty cool. He’s all jumping around.’’
``I feel great,’’ Moss said before heading out.
Moss had 15 at-bats over the weekend in Florida and played two games at first base and one in the outfield.
On May 2, Moss hit a home run and threw a runner out at the plate as the Sox beat Tampa Bay. The next night he was undergoing surgery.
``At first I didn’t think (the recovery) was going to be as quick as it was, because it was really sore the first two or three days,’’ he recalled. ``Then, they told me the more I did, with moderation, the better it would get and the quicker it would get better.
``I started doing things. Even though it hurt, I kept doing it and it got better a lot faster. The progression was really good.’’
With Boston healthier than it has been in some time, Moss is not even sure what will happen after his rehab in Pawtucket.
``I don’t know what they’re going to do,’’ he said. ``I might stay there. I don’t even know. Whatever happens happens. I’m just glad to be able to play again.’’
JUSTIN MASTERSON
Francona spoke about the possibility of the young righthander pitching in relief in Boston later this season. For now, though, it appears all but certain Masterson will be in Pawtucket’s starting rotation for the time being.
``Yeah, he could probably help us in the pen,’’ Francona responded to a question about using Masterson in relief. ``I think the starters’ innings are really, really beneficial (right now). Where that takes him the rest of the year, I don’t know.’’
Masterson pitched the Sox to victory over Kansas City Tuesday night, then was told that rather than going back to Portland, he was being assigned to Pawtucket. It is expected he will start for the PawSox Sunday or Monday.
JULIAN TAVAREZ
The veteran reliever cleared waivers and has accepted assignment to Pawtucket. It is not sure how long that will last or even what role he will fill for the PawSox.
When Francona was asked about the situation, he said he was not aware of what would be done, that it would be an organizational decision.
``If I said something I’d be making it up. I’d rather not do that,’’ he said. But he did make a prediction when asked if he was surprised Tavarez had cleared waivers.
``You know what, I never try to manage another team, let alone be a general manager,’’ Francona said. ``I think I feel better saying he is going to pitch in the big leagues. He’ll be in the big leagues (before the season is over).’’
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:19 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 21
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
Posted by Art Martone at 6:43 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, May 20
NO NO? The pitcher was Jon Lester, the opponent was the Kansas City Royals, the site was Fenway Park . . .
YES YES! . . . and the result was the fourth Red Sox no-hitter in the last eight seasons, and the second in 8 1/2 months. (ProJo Sox Blog) It's funny; I came in from walking the dog as the Royals were batting in the sixth inning and I knew right away -- just by the tone of Don Orsillo's voice and the phraseology he was using -- that Lester had a no-hitter. (I'd left the house in the second, and knew from cell-phone updates that the Sox were ahead 5-0.) We all have our superstitions during no-hitters -- the Boston Globe found out what some of the fans' were -- and so, while my wife rocked anxiously and kept saying things like, "This is so nerve-wracking!", I was careful, like Orsillo, not to comment on what we were watching. Even when I was conducting business, such as when I talked on the phone to Sean McAdam in the press box in the bottom of the seventh, I didn't say what I thought was going to happen.
Because what I thought was: This is in the bag.
I really did. Sean has an excellent piece on the future of the Red Sox' young pitchers -- it's pretty rare when two members of your starting rotation, and the two youngest members to boot, both have no-hitters -- in which he talked extensively with Theo Epstein, and I was intuitively impressed, even just by watching from the sixth inning on, with what Epstein articulated: "Stuff-wise, [Lester] was very special. I was more excited about the stuff than the result. For the first time since 2005, he had that good velocity, up in the zone."
Lester looked better last night than I've ever seen him. Steven Krasner has an excellent breakdown of Lester's repertoire in his Inside The Game feature, and the Royals talked about it as well in the notebook, written by McAdam, Krasner and Paul Kenyon. Making it all the more remarkable is that, as the Boston Herald's Rob Bradford notes, Lester had a terrible bullpen session prior to the game.
Obviously, no no-hitter is guaranteed -- it was just as likely that he'd make a bad pitch, or someone would bloop something somewhere, or even that someone would just put a good at-bat on him and hit a pitcher's pitch into the gap -- but I was pretty confident he'd finish it off. And he did. Kenyon provides the game details.
THE REST OF THE STORY: Lester's medical history obviously makes this more than your run-of-the-mill no-hitter (if there is such a thing). Fellow cancer survivor Mike Lowell provides some insight in Gordon Edes' game recap. (Boston Globe) Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports quotes one of Lester's teammates when he comments on the pitcher's recovery to the point where he can throw such a dominating game: "Un-(bleeping)-believable. Unbelievable." But on Red Sox Monster, Dan Lamothe says we "short-change Lester and make this wonderful moment all about cancer . . . He deserves to be able to bask in the spotlight as what he now is: A growing talent who is quickly carving a longterm career for himself as a Major League starter."
THE SUPPORTING CAST: The lone defensive gem of the night was provided by Jacoby Ellsbury. (Boston Herald) And McAdam notes that Jason Varitek has now caught four of these things, a major-league record, and all of them for the Red Sox.
OUR TIME: The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy wonders"what New England sports fans did to deserve this glut of riches."
I REMEMBER MEL: If you're of a certain age, you remember Mel Parnell as the ace left-hander of the '40s and '50s Red Sox. If you're of another age, like me, you remember him as the likeable (if quiet) color commentator on the '60s radio and TV broadcasts. (You may have heard his inelegant call of the final out of 1967's season-ending win over the Twins: "Little soft pop up, Petrocelli will take it, HE DOES! The ballgame's over!" It paled in comparison to Ned Martin's "And there's pandemonium on the field!" declaration on radio.) If your memory doesn't stretch back any father than the '70s, you probably don't remember him at all. But, as Baseball Musings' David Pinto notes, Parnell was the last Red Sox left-hander to pitch a no-hitter prior to Lester . . . and that was back in 1956.
PUT IT ASIDE FOR A NIGHT: On the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham -- who notes that we've all been touched by cancer, either personally or through a friend or family member -- says everyone, "even if [the cap you're wearing] has an interlocking N and Y on it," should cheer Lester. "Sometimes it’s OK to root for the other team," he concludes. Most of the commenters agreed, though some -- while not wishing Lester ill -- said they couldn't root for a Red Sox pitcher to throw a no-hitter no matter what the circumstances. But poster "seriously" has perhaps the best take of all: "Robinson Cano had 18 [no-hit] games this season, Lester only one. Don’t worry,we’re still the winner."
VIDEO ENTRIES: Already, amateur videos of the final out are popping up on YouTube. This videographer had wonderful seats just to the right of home plate:
While this one was in Conigliaro's Corner on the right-field roof:
And this one -- who had terrific fan reaction immediately after the last out -- was in the upper boxes on the third-base side:
Quite a night.
THE FLIP SIDE OF THE COIN: Rany Jazayerli, the remaining half of Rob and Rany On The Royals (it's now, of course, Rany On The Royals), wasn't quite as thrilled as we were up here, though he says if the Royals had to be no-hit by anybody, he's glad it was by cancer survivor Jon Lester. Blogger Mark Laflamme, a Royals fan who lives in New England, describes it as hurting as much as "a bicycle crossbar to the crotch." Ouch. In the mainstream media, Joe Posnanski -- saying "[there] are not many places in the world that are quieter than the losing clubhouse after a no-hitter" -- gets the post-mortems from the no-hitees. (Kansas City Star)
TEMPORARY SETBACK: Despite behind no-hit by Lester last night, Hall of Famer George Brett thinks the Royals can contend in the A.L. Central this season. (Kansas City Star)
THE LAST WORD: ShysterBall says: "It figures. The first night in what seems like forever where the national game isn't the frickin' Red Sox, and a no-hitter happens." You know, I thought that myself.
DOWN ON THE FARM: Newly promoted Daniel Bard had an auspicious debut for Portland. (rotoworld.com) Bard is one of the players examined by Baseball Analysts in a Prospects-Or-Suspects? analysis, and says he's still a prospect.
NEARING THE END? Pedro Martinez' contract with the Mets is up at the conclusion of this season and he says he may retire to go home and take care of his 78-year-old father, who is suffering from brain cancer. (New York Daily News)
WELCOME BACK, NOW GET GOING: Alex Rodriguez returns to the Yankee lineup tonight and -- with an offense performing at 1990 levels (New York Daily News) -- both the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro and the Daily News' Mike Lupica say he needs to jump-start the Yankee attack.
'HE'S PLAYING THE HAND HE'S BEEN DEALT': Hank Steinbrenner had praise for the card-player (Joe Girardi) but not for the dealer (Brian Cashman) as he discussed the Yankees' slow start. (New York Times) Still, the Daily News' Bob Raissman says Cashman needn't worry; he believes Hank -- or "Hankenstein," as he calls him -- is more hot air than fire, unlike his father.
CASH MAN: The blog River Avenue Blues defends Cashman.
WILL THE INDIGNITIES NEVER END? First it was Gary Shelton in the St. Petersburg Times saying the Rays are better than the Yankees. Now it's Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun saying we may be heading back to the days when the Orioles were one of the most stable organizations in baseball and the Yankees one of the most volatile. (He's talkin' about you, Hankenstein.)
THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO JINX A YANKEE: That construction worker/Red Sox fan who buried a David Ortiz jersey at the new Yankee Stadium -- which the Yanks dug up at enormous cost, to break a potential Big Papi hex -- is now telling friends he also buried a program from the 2004 ALCS there. (New York Times)
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Old pal Rob Neyer tries to get to the bottom of one of the Thurman Munson legends -- the one where he becomes infuriated by an item in that day's press notes that he had two fewer assists than arch-enemy Carlton Fisk, so he deliberately dropped three third strikes in order to throw the batters out at first and pass Fisk in the assists category -- and concludes there's nothing to it. (ESPN.com, printing an excerpt of Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends)
WE NEED FURTHER REVIEW: After the nationally televised fiasco of Carlos Delgado's home-run-that-wasn't on Sunday night (New York Daily News), Abraham says it's time for a limited form of instant relay in baseball. (LoHud Yankees Blog) The Washington Times' Dan Daly agrees, but has almost no hope MLB will pull its head out of the sand long enough to do what needs to be done.
FEELING THE PAIN: Willie Randolph admits he's hurt by the never-ending stream of criticism he's hearing from Mets fans. (Bergen Record)
BACK UP THE TRUCK: Padres general manager Kevin Towers is promising "wholesale" changes to his bumbling team because "I’m certainly not going to watch this for another four months." (yahoo.com)
HERE'S HOW TO MAKE A GOOD THING BETTER: Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan starts off by saying he likes interleague play, then makes five suggestions to improve it.
WHY BOTHER? IT'S GOOD ENOUGH AS IT IS: SI.com's John Donovan takes up the MLB mantra that increased attendance proves that fans love interleague games and so it's here to stay.
VALENTINE'S DAY: Bobby Valentine is a hero in Japan, leading SI.com's Jon Heyman to wonder why no team in the United States is willing to give him another shot at a managing job . . . and if Valentine would accept if they did.
THE FALLOUT: Ryan Braun says he didn't think the Brewers went into Boston expecting to win last weekend -- and they didn't -- and general manager Doug Melvin believes it's a matter of confidence. Milwaukee had it last year, he thinks, and now the players have to get it back. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
CHANGE IN PLANS: The Toronto Star's Richard Griffin says things haven't exactly gone as planned during J.P. Ricciardi's term as Blue Jays general manager. The Jays, he says, have not become the player-development machine -- to coin a Theo Epstein phrase -- Ricciardi promised when he took over seven years ago.
FATHER TIME: The Hardball Times salutes the career of Julio Franco . . . and puts his never-ending career in historical context.
MUST READING: SpliceToday's interview with Craig Calcaterra, author of the always entertaining ShysterBall blog.
HERE AND THERE: Dan Uggla says he's not upset that the Marlins signed Hanley Ramirez, and not him, to a multiyear contract (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) . . . Mark Mulder has suffered another setback in his rehab and will be sidelined for 10 to 14 days (mlb.com) . . . Shane Victorino says he's "disappointed" at being benched by the Phillies. (phillyburbs.com)
OLD FRIENDS: The Cubs have placed Chad Fox on the disabled list (yahoo.com) . . . Nomar Garciaparra's comeback has stalled and the Dodgers are sending him for more tests. (Los Angeles Times)
AND FINALLY . . . Many, many thanks to our good friend Allan Wood for the callout on his terrific Joy of Sox blog. We appreciate it!
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:18 AM | Permalink
Lester does it
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
Jon Lester deals in the first inning of his historic start tonight.
He did it!
Jon Lester has fired a no-hitter as the Red Sox have beaten Kansas City, 7-0, tonight at Fenway.
With the crowd of 37,746 roaring, Lester walked Esteban German to lead off the ninth. He retired Tony Pena on a high bouncer to third, with German moving to second. He went to 2-2 before getting Tony Pena on a grounder to first that Kevin Youkilis handled alone.
Lester got ahead of Alberto Callaspo with two quick strikes. He threw one ball, got a foul ball and then, on his 130th pitch of the night, fired a fastball. Callaspo swung and missed.
As so often happens with a no-hitter, the game included an outstanding defensive play to keep it going. This one was provided by Jacoby Ellsbury, who raced in and toward right, dove and caught a fly ball by Jose Guillen in the fourth.
Lester struck out nine, a season high.
It is the 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history. Lester is the first lefty to get a no-hitter since Mel Parnell on July 14, 1956.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 9:27 PM | Permalink
Three outs away
Jon Lester has turned a cold night in May into the most exciting game of the Red Sox season thus far.
The lefty has a no-hitter through eight innings as the Red Sox lead Kansas City, 7 -0. Lester has allowed only one base runner, a walk to Billy Butler in the second. He has struck out a season high eight.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 9:23 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, May 19
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
STANDING TALL ONCE AGAIN: When last we spoke, the Red Sox had lost four in a row and fallen behind Tampa Bay into second place in the A.L. East. But then along came the Brewers . . . or, perhaps more to the point, along came interleague play. Sean McAdam tells us that's been a boon to Boston in recent years and this weekend was no different, as the poor Brew Crew soon discovered. The Sox beat them Saturday afternoon, they pretty much beat themselves Saturday night, and the Sox overpowered them yesterday. (All stories projo.com.) So now it's Monday morning, the four-game losing streak has turned into a three-game winning streak, and the Red Sox once again lead the division. Hate interleague play (which, I'm ashamed to admit, was our stance last Friday)? Forget that. We're counting the days until June 13, when it resumes.
PAPI KNOWS BEST: Yesterday's double-and-two-homers afternoon would seem to indicate that David Ortiz (above) is finally, definitively, back on the beam (as they might have said in the 1940s). Steven Krasner goes Inside The Game to examine Ortiz' at-bats yesterday, and Joe Haggerty talks with Red Sox hitting instructor Dave Magadan, who tells how Ortiz has worked his way out of his early season slump. (hackswithhaggs.com)
WELL, THAT EXPLAINS IT: We all know the Red Sox have won two World Series in the last four seasons and we all know the roles Ortiz and Manny Ramirez have played in hanging those two flags. Makes sense, then, that SI.com's Jon Heyman would rank the signings of Ortiz and Ramirez as two of the five greatest free-agent acquisitions of all time -- Ortiz at No. 1 and Ramirez No. 5. And how I wish I could somehow travel back in time and show the piece to all the folks back in December 2000 who thought the free agent the Sox should should have signed back then was not Ramirez, but Mike Mussina.
THE WAITING GAME: The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes points out that Ramirez has stalled -- at least in terms of hitting home runs -- as he approaches No. 500.
STRAIGHTENING IT OUT: Friday's rainout threw a monkey wrench in the Red Sox' pitching plans, and McAdam, Krasner and Paul Kenyon report the fallout: Justin Masterson starts Tuesday and Bartolo Colon starts Wednesday.
THE BAD NEWS: The weekend wasn't all peaches and cream. Jacoby Ellsbury was caught stealing for the first time in his major-league career. (Boston Globe)
WELCOME ALWAYS: Kenyon chronicles the return of old friend Gabe Kapler.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: The Bleacher Bar inside Fenway Park, a year-round operation that you can enter on Ted Williams Way, opened Friday. Just don't drive your car there. (Both stories Boston Herald)
HERE THEY COME: MLB.com's Dick Kaegel takes a close-up look at the Royals, who'll be in town for the next four days.
UP IS DOWN, BLACK IS WHITE . . . and a journalist -- in this case, the St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton -- is actually writing that the Rays are better than the Yankees . . . a reasonable assertion, actually, if you look at the standings. (Projo Stats) Or is it? Bugs and Cranks says "it is way too soon for chest-thumping [and] gloating" and goes over Shelton's position-by-position comparison, agreeing with all the ones that favor the Yankees and disagreeing with several that favor the Rays. The Bronx Block puts it out there for its readers to discuss. But the Red Sox-oriented blog Wicked Clevah is, in its own words, terrified of Tampa.
PROOF POSITIVE: Shelton's argument -- while not necessarily advanced by the Rays' 5-4 loss in St. Louis (Tampa Tribune) -- was certainly bolstered in the Bronx, where the Mets completed a rain-shortened weekend sweep with an 11-2 pounding of the Yanks last night. (New York Daily News) And in the change-a-minute world of New York baseball, that means Willie Randolph is off the hot seat and Joe Girardi's on. (New York Daily News)
JOE COOL: That's Girardi, even though the Yanks are floundering. (New York Post) Still, he's blaming the Yanks' struggles on himself. (New York Daily News)
LATE TO THE PARTY: The Jason Giambi/thong story, which has gotten play far beyond its importance, is explained by Peter Abraham. (LoHud Yankees Blog) As is true of most hot items of this type, it's much ado about nothing.
'HEY': That Phil Hughes' greeting on his blog after three weeks of silence. He doesn't say much beyond that, either.
REFRESHING CANDOR: Umpire Bob Davidson admits -- in colorful terms -- he messed up in calling Carlos Delgado's shot off the left-field pole, which should have been a three-run homer, a foul ball. (New York Daily News)
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: Alex Rodriguez should return to the Yankee lineup tomorrow. (New York Daily News)
'FATALLY FLAWED': NBCsports.com's Mike Celizic takes a look at the Yankees and Mets and concludes there's much to dislike in both Queens or the Bronx.
RICH IN OTHER WAYS: They may seem weak on the field at the moment, but the New York Daily News' Juan Gonzalez examines just how strong the Yankees are financially.
FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE: The New York Post reports former Yankee pitcher Dock Ellis -- who kicked drugs and alcohol nearly 30 years ago and became a drug counselor -- has cirrhosis of the liver and is deteriorating rapidly.
MEET THE MUSINGS MAN: I link to an item or two in Baseball Musings almost daily, so you know I'd in interested in Statistically Speaking's interview with David Pinto. His choices for the players he'd build his team around: Hanley Ramirez and Cole Hamels.
UNIT OF STRENGTH: Randy Johnson may no longer resemble the Big Unit of old, but -- as he demonstrated yesterday against the Tigers -- he's still got something left in the tank. (Arizona Republic)
'WE HAVE A LOT OF ISSUES': Of course, beating the Tigers isn't the world's biggest trick these days, and manager Jim Leyland -- who admits he's "totally out of answers" -- plans to meet with general manager Dave Dombrowski today to discuss what can be done to fix things. (Detroit Free Press)
SUGGESTION NUMBER ONE: The Free Press' Michael Rosenberg thinks the repairs should start with a reduction in playing time for the rotting corpse that is Gary Sheffield.
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN': Writing on his always readable Sporting News blog, Todd Jones describes the differences in clubhouse life from the time he broke into the major leagues to today.
PITCH COUNTS, MY EYE: The blog Seamheads.com says it's a lack of quality pitchers, not modern strategies by health-conscious managers, that's led to the decline in the number of 20-game winners.
YOU GOT ME: The season's now one-quarter completed, and the San Francisco Chronicle's Ray Ratto admits he still doesn't know what to make of the A's.
WHAT'S THE BIGGER ACHIEVEMENT? The fact that the Reds' Edinson Volquez has an Adjusted ERA as good as Bob Gibson's record 1.12 ERA in 1968, or the fact that a mainstream media outlet actually built a feature around Adjusted ERA? (Cincinnati Enquirer)
COLLATERAL DAMAGE: The Orioles' woes have hurt attendance not only at Camden Yards but also at the nearby Sports Legends Museum. (Maryland Daily Record)
GROWING CONCERN: More and more attention is being paid to the constant shattering of maple bats and the dangers they post. The Washington Times' Mark Zuckerman reports commissioner Bud Selig is considering banning them.
THEY HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN: He may be 87 years old, but Stan Musial is still The Man in St. Louis. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
MEDICAL REPORT: The Astros may lose Roy Oswalt to a groin injury (Houston Chronicle) . . . The Padres' Jake Peavy has a sore elbow (mlb.com) . . . John Smoltz is still feeling shoulder pain and thinks he could be out a lot longer than he originally thought (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya will begin throwing this week for the Tigers. (Detroit Free Press)
HERE AND THERE: Hank Blalock is moving to first base (Dallas Morning News) . . . It took a while, but the Rockies' Jeff Francis finally won a game in 2008 (Denver Post) . . . The imminent return of Doug Davis means the Diamondbacks have a decision to make regarding rookie phenom Max Scherzer (Arizona Republic) . . . Jacque Jones is about to join the Marlins (Miami Herald) . . . The White Sox have fired scouting director David Wilder and two scouts amid reports they were skimming bonus payments to Latin American signees. (Chicago Tribune)
OLD FRIENDS: David Eckstein is close to returning to the Blue Jays (National Post) . . . The Marlins have signed Hanley Ramirez to a long-term deal. (espn.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:32 AM | Permalink
Schilling keeps improving
Curt Schilling is in the Red Sox clubhouse today, joking with teammates and enjoying himself. He has reason for optimism.
Manager Terry Francona reported in his pre-game meeting just now that Schilling continues to make progress in his bid to return from shoulder problems.
``You know what, he’s doing OK,’’ Francona said. ``Everything that’s been asked of him, as far as throwing, he’s handled it, I would say, with enthusiasm, which is a good sign.’’
``He’s been upping the amount of throws, the first couple time it was 60 feet with 25 throws, now it’s maybe 90 feet with 30. The whole idea is to build up arm strength and not go backwards,’’ Francona said.
The next step will be to have Schilling do some long tossing at 120 feet.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 1:42 PM | Permalink
Lowell out, Casey in for first game
Welcome to Fenway. Let’s play two today!!!!
The sun is peeking in and out of the clouds right now, but there should be no problem getting both games in after last night’s postponement.
The Red Sox have made one change from the lineup they were planning to use last night against Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan. Sean Casey will start at first base, Kevin Youkilis will move to third and Mike Lowell will get the afternoon off.
``We have three games in 20 hours or 22 hours or whatever it is,’’ said Sox manager Terry Francona. The plan will be to get a number of players one game off. Lowell has not had success in the past against Suppan and Casey has, so it is a matter of going with the numbers, Francona said. Lowell is 0-for-11 against Suppan, Casey 6-for-18.
The Brewers are staying with the same lineup they had listed last night against Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Here are the lineups for the 3:55 game:
MILWAUKEE
Weeks 2b
Cameron CF
Braun LF
Fielder 1b
Hart RF
Hardy SS
Dillon DH
Hall 3B
Kendall C
Suppan P
BOSTON
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Youkilis 3B
Drew RF
Varitek C
Casey 1B
Lugo SS
Matsuzaka P
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 1:25 PM | Permalink
Sox had few options on scheduling
The Red Sox had almost no options in rescheduling tonight’s game.
It is Milwaukee’s only trip to Boston. Today’s game is locked in at 3:55 p.m. because it is a nationally televised Fox game. Tomorrow was not a possibility for separate admission games because rules dictate that no game can begin after 5 p.m. to avoid conflict with ESPN’s Sunday night national telecast. The only way to play two on Sunday would be as a single-admission doubleheader, a situation that would cost the team much money.
As it is, the situation is touchy. If the first game tomorrow goes long, the second game might not start at 8:35, as planned. Workers need about 45 minutes to an hour to clean up sufficiently after a game, said John Blake, the team’s vice president for media relations.
Thus, if the opener tomorrow goes four hours and does not end until 8 p.m. it likely will be closer to 9 p.m. before the second game can begin. If it goes even longer, fans will simply be asked to wait outside, after the first game ends, to allow workers to do some cleaning.
Tickets for tonight’s game will be used for the 8:35 game tomorrow.
The Sox have been placed in a similar situation once before, in May of 2005. They split that doubleheader with Seattle. The Mariners won the nightcap 6-4 on a grandslam by Richie Sexon off Cla Meredith.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 9:37 PM | Permalink
A different return for Kapler, Gagne
There rarely is any middle ground when a former Red Sox player returns to Fenway in an opposing uniform. Today is a dramatic example of that, at least it is in the case of Gabe Kapler and Eric Gagne.
Gagne, the relief pitcher who struggled so much for the Sox last season, was not around very much, if at all.
While Gagne is not likely to receive a warm welcome from the Boston fans, Kapler is the opposite.. Rarely has any player been more popular with both the team and the Boston fans.
``I just got a chance to spend a little bit of time over in the Red Sox weight training facility,’’ Kapler related. ``It was good to see some old faces, shake some hands and give some hugs. I don’t know how emotional it is, but it certainly feels good. All I’ve ever felt being here is warmth, so it’s nothing new.’’
Kapler retired last year and managed Boston’s Class A team in Greenville. He said he decided late last season to try to return as a player. He is hitting .284 in 67 at-bats for the Brewers, with four home runs and 13 RBI. Kapler made no effort to hide his pleasure in being back at Fenway.
``I feel like the Red Sox always have my best interests at heart,’’ he said. Sox officials were not upset, he said, when he told them he wanted to return to being a player again.
``I think they understood it was a heartfelt decision, an intuitive decision,’’ Kapler said. ``They respected that.’’
The Sox obviously respect Kapler.
``I don’t know that Gabe will ever do something that’s he not successful at. Whatever he does does he throws himself into it,’ said Sox Boston manager Terry Francona. ``He’ll be good at whatever he wants to be good at.’’
Kapler and Gagne are two of four Milwaukee players, along with Jeff Suppan and David Riske, who were in uniform for the Brewers in the team’s first visit to Fenway since Milwaukee moved to the National League.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:50 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, May 16
TWO TO GO: Let the countdown really begin. Manny Ramirez is two home runs away from 500, something he could accomplish in a single night. The anticipation began building during the last homestand -- the Sox stuck that '496' banner on one of the left-field light towers, but never got to update it as he went homerless against the Blue Jays and Rays -- and it'll be a nightly (or daily) thing now, starting this evening when the Brewers come to town. Joe McDonald looks at Ramirez' career and talks to ex-Red Sox pitcher Ken Ryan about facing Ramirez. "I thought I was Superman," Ryan said when recalling a long battle in Cleveland that ended with a Manny walkoff home run, "but I quickly realized who Superman really was.”
ENOUGH, ALREADY: Alex Rodriguez has a message for Yankee fans outraged that he taped a congratulatory message that will be played when Ramirez hits his 500th home run: Get over it. (New York Daily News)
IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN: Yes, yes, mention of the Brewers means that dreaded monster -- interleague play -- is back with us. I know most of you hate it, but ESPN's Steve Phillips "digs" it (Orlando Sentinel) and Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News says the Mets-Yankees series alone gives it some redeeming value. Bloggers Steve Lombardi and Matthew Cerone handicap that series on sny.tv.
A NEW PLAYER IN THE RACE: Speaking of the Brewers, they're in the market for pitching (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) and ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports they've entered the hunt for Julian Tavarez, making "as serious a run . . . as Colorado."
SUPERMAN'S PAL: God bless the Internet. The blog The Lost Ogle tracked down the Red Sox fan in Baltimore who high-fived with Manny after Ramirez made his great catch Wednesday afternoon. Turns out he's a native of Oklahoma -- Barry Switzer's nephew, no less -- who became a member of the Nation in 2003 because his best friend at Oklahoma State was a New Englander who turned him onto the Sox. Despite the ruckus it caused in the media, he said no one sitting around him even realized he had high-fived Ramirez except for a husband and wife sitting next to him (though they had a radio and told him it was the talk of the Orioles broadcast for the next few innings). He was actually preparing to catch Ramirez, whom he assumed was doing a Lambeau Leap into the stands -- now that would have been a Manny Being Manny moment, a Lambeau Leap while play was still going on -- and added, "I’m not sure I’d call [what they did] a high-five. Maybe more of a slap 4."
Like I said: God bless the Internet.
A QUIET CORNER OF THE INTERNET: Bet you didn't know Manny has his own Web site. Doesn't look like it's been updated since last October, though, and some of the corners -- like the one which celebrates his first home run of 2007 -- are even dustier.
A BUSIER CORNER OF THE INTERNET: Curt Schilling makes a chatty appearance on 38pitches.com in which, among other things, he tells us he loves the ESPN commercial parodying the bloody sock and warns us the Rays are for real.
FIRST-QUARTER DEFICITS: That was the headline over Steven Krasner's review of the first quarter of the season, but since I wrote it I figured I could use it here, too. Kraz says the Sox have three areas of concern; click the link to see what they are.
SECOND-QUARTER PROFIT: Bartolo Colon had a dominating performance in Buffalo yesterday (projo.com), and, considering Clay Buchholz is on the disabled list, could be in Boston soon. Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe says it will be next Tuesday, when Buchholz' turn in the rotation comes up. But Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports that because he threw so few pitches (64), Colon will probably need one more appearance for the PawSox, which means Tuesday's start could be made by David Pauley or Charlie Zink. Don't count on Justin Masterson; he's pitched poorly since returning to Portland after his spot start in Boston. (rotoworld.com)
SUNK COST: The blog Driveline Mechanics does a detailed analysis of Craig Hansen and concludes "I don’t like Hansen’s chances to stick in the major leagues for very long."
MYSTERY GUEST: Puzzled by the fact that Daisuke Matsuzaka has such dominating statistics and yet still struggles so with his command and his control? So are the Red Sox. (Boston Herald)
THEY'RE NOT SAYING BOO, THEY'RE SAYING . . . Lou, as in Merloni, as in NESN's newest analyst. (Boston Globe)
MONBO: The Globe's Stan Grossfeld has a touching piece on ex-Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette -- one of the few beacons of light during the very dark days of the early 1960s -- who's battling leukemia.
BACK IN THE FOLD: Kevin Millar irritated quite a number of people in Baltimore last fall when he recorded a bit for Fox urging Red Sox fans to keep the faith, and then threw out the first ball before Game Seven of the ALCS. But now he's back in their good graces with this, ah, inspiring version of Orioles Magic.
HO HUM: First place is becoming a permanent residence for the Rays, who now have the best record in the American League after beating the Yankees yesterday (Tampa Tribune). Baseball Musings' David Pinto says with each passing day, Tampa Bay is looking more and more like a real contender.
FLIP SIDE: The Yanks had high hopes they'd be seeing a new Ian Kennedy when he took the mound yesterday, but it was the same old same old as the team dropped into last place with the 5-2 loss. (New York Daily News) Now they get to see the pitcher they wouldn't trade Kennedy for -- Johan Santana -- when the Mets come to the Bronx tonight. (New York Daily News) A bad weekend might spark another outburst from Hank Steinbrenner, and that's okay by Tino Martinez. (New York Post)
ON THE HOOK: But a good weekend -- for the Yanks -- may cost Willie Randolph his job. (New York Post)
GOOD NEWS AT LAST: Alex Rodriguez may return to the Yankee lineup Tuesday. (Newsday)
MO INCREDIBLE: Peter Abraham has a fascinating tidbit on Mariano Rivera's athletic ability, which was on display during batting practice yesterday. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE: That's Mark Feinsand's summation of the opening quarter of the season for the Yankees, who received a 'C' grade in his Daily News blog report card.
LIFE'S SIMPLE PLEASURES: In an interview with the blog Portfolio.com, Jason Giambi says life after baseball will be just fine as long as he "can have a fast boat and a margarita machine and can light my hair on fire."
COULDN'T RESIST: At NYU's graduation ceremony held at Yankee Stadium, one grad simply had to run onto the hallowed field. (New York Daily News)
FACE THE MUSIC: Last year, you may recall, then-Met Paul Lo Duca ripped his Hispanic teammates for using the language barrier as an excuse to duck talking to the media. Yesterday, current Met Billy Wagner -- while leaving race out of it -- went into a similar rant about teammates who refuse to speak to reporters, leaving the burden to players, like him, who don't duck into the trainer's room or out the door. (New York Daily News) Wagner called out Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado by implication -- though the New York Post reports Beltran actually did speak -- and promised the situation "will be reconciled [Friday]."
DON'T ASK, BECAUSE I CAN'T TELL: Paul DePodesta says that he'll talk about many things on his blog, but his days as Dodgers GM isn't one of them.
PERFECT NINE: The Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb is now 9-0 after Arizona's win over the Rockies last night. (Arizona Republic)
PAPER TIGERS? Pinto breaks down Detroit's offense this season and wonders if something is seriously wrong.
BLOCKBUSTER AHEAD? Matt Holliday on the trade block? Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal says that, with the Rockies struggling and Holliday due to hit free agency after the 2009 season, it could happen.
WHY NOT US? Brian Sabean says the Giants can contend this year. The blog ShysterBall says Brian Sabean is delusional.
RIGHT THERE UNDER OUR NOSES: Baseball Analysts says Chipper Jones has had a Hall of Fame career and very few people have noticed.
NOBLE BY COMPARISON: In an online-only piece, the Arizona Republic's Dan Bickley thinks the steroids era actually was a boon to players like Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., who achieved greatness without artificial help and will be applauded for it.
AND FOR THOSE FOUR PEOPLE LEFT WHO STILL DON'T THINK HE'S CLUELESS . . . Astros owner Drayton McLane says Roger Clemens is still up in the air about actually being retired. (mlb.com) Can you imagine the crowd reaction if Clemens ever walked onto a field again?
I'M WITH YOU, SIR: Yesterday, President Bush was singing Chase Utley's praises. Today it's Mike Schmidt. (USA Today)
HERE AND THERE: Nick Johnson has a torn tendon sheath in his wrist that the Nationals say will sideline him for four to six weeks (Washington Post), though I recall Nomar Garciaparra missing most of 2001 because of that injury . . . The Reds' Jeff Keppinger, who has a broken kneecap, will also be out four to six weeks (Dayton Daily News) . . . Jason Isringhausen's troubles, which continued yesterday, might be traced to treatments he's been receiving for an arthritic hip (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Griffey paid off a debt to teammate Josh Fogg with 150,000 pennies (AP via yahoo.com) . . . Carlos Zambrano has made nice with his new teammate, Jim Edmonds. (Chicago Tribune)
OLD FRIENDS: The Brewers have placed David Riske on the disabled list (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Exhibit A in the It Takes A Certain Mentality To A Closer case: Rafael Betancourt, so dominant for the Indians in the setup role, has a 7.31 ERA since taking over the injured Joe Borowski (Toledo Blade) . . . Joe Torre may use Nomar Garciaparra at shortstop in the absence of Rafael Furcal (Los Angeles Times) . . .
AND FINALLY . . . It's got nothing to do with baseball, but I couldn't stop reading -- and laughing at -- Joe Posnanski's tale about going to an Italian restaurant recommended by Dan Le Batard. (joeposnanski.com)
Posted by Art Martone at 6:41 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, May 15
BUT FIRST . . . There are serious, disconcerting issues facing the Red Sox on this morning, but I don't know. When your left fielder makes a running catch with his momentum carrying him up onto the wall, high-fives a fan (above), comes down, and fires the ball into the infield to start a double play . . . well, how bad can things be? Check out Ian Bethune's Sox and Dawgs blog for a video clip of the play, which kicks off a three-minute reel of ESPN's favorite Manny being Manny moments, some of which (the sprawling cutoff of Johnny Damon's throw while he was in dead center field) I remember and others (calling Edgar Renteria off a pop up, then letting the ball drop and having it carom off his knee into right field) I'd forgotten.
We all laughed when Manny anointed himself as the best defensive left fielder in Red Sox history, but you ever see Yaz or Ted or Jim Rice do that?
AND NOW BACK TO OUR SHOW: All you can do is laugh, because the alternative is pretty grim. The Sox blew a 3-0 lead for the third consecutive game yesterday and their season-long Achilles heel -- the bullpen -- never looked worse than it does now. Steven Krasner has the details of a frustrating afternoon in Baltimore, where a lead that was down to 3-2 by the seventh inning evaporated in the span of four batters with two outs and nobody on. Craig Hansen poured the gasoline and Hideki Okajima lit the match, continuing a horrid stretch in which Krasner reports Okajima has allowed 11 of 14 inherited runners to score and blown four of his five save opportunities. So that makes it four losses in a row, and five in the last six games. As Krasner notes, today's off day couldn't come at a better time.
WHAT, US WORRY? Okajima had nothing to say about the game-losing grand slam he surrendered to Jay Payton, or anything else for that matter, leaving his teammates to do his talking for him. To a man, they say they're not concerned. (Boston Globe) Good, because Red Sox Nation is concerned enough for all of them . . . and then some.
MORE MANNY: You can read Ramirez', and his teammates', reaction to his one-for-the-ages catch in Krasner's notebook, which also tells us that J.D. Drew is feeling better, Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo aren't, Brandon Moss is working out in Florida as he recovers from his appendectomy, and that Jacoby Ellsbury is now 23-for-23 as a big-league base stealer.
FRIENDS TO THE END: Ramirez is this close to 500 home runs, and he asked four of his buddies to make a commemorative video that will be played at Fenway Park when he reaches the milestone. One of those buddies? Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod agreed to do it, but said he kept it short because he's aware of the savage booing that will erupt when his face pops up on the scoreboard. (New York Post)
ONE MAN'S FLOOR IS ANOTHER MAN'S CEILING: A torn fingernail sent Clay Buchholz to the disabled list, and if that sounds like a pretty flimsy reason to be disabled, well, it probably is. Fact is, with Drew and Crisp sidelined the Sox needed another outfielder toot sweet, so they used Buchholz' roster spot to summon Jonathan Van Every. Krasner has the details of Van Every's first day in the major leagues after eight years in the bushes, in which he also recorded his first big-league hit.
WHAT'S THERE TO TELL? Jim Rice gives a matter-of-fact accounting of going into the stands at Yankee Stadium in 1986 after a fan had stolen his hat. (ask14.sullivantire.com)
MORE OF THE SAME: It seems like the Orioles start out reasonably well every year, and they claim they have a new attitude every year. So why should this year be any different? (Washington Post)
SPRINGING AHEAD: As Sarasota begins formulating plans to convince the Red Sox to move their spring-training base there (mysuncoast.com), an editorial in the Fort Myers News Press urges its community leaders not to break the bank to keep the Sox.
'CONTENDER. SERIOUSLY': So says Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal about the Rays in a look at whether or not the early season surprise teams are contenders or pretenders.
RETURNING ORDER TO THE UNIVERSE: Maybe they are, but for one night things were back to normal as Mike Mussina pitched the Yankees to victory over the Tampa Bay upstarts. (New York Daily News) Since it came after a) Hank Steinbrenner had called them out and b) Joe Girardi held a closed-door meeting before the game, many will credit the brass for "motivating" the players out of their slump. But a postgame clubhouse poll by Peter Abraham indicates otherwise. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
THE HOT SEAT: It's where Brian Cashman is sitting these days. (New York Times) Don't believe it? Listen to Hank Steinbrenner for five minutes, even though he never mentions Cashman by name. (New York Daily News)
CAN'T LOSE IF THEY DON'T SCORE: No one's paying much attention -- not even in Cleveland, where folks are riveted on the Cavs and Celtics (projo.com) -- but the Indians recorded their fourth shutout in five games last night as C.C. Sabathia blanked the A's, 2-0. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) And, as Sheldon Ocker points out in the Akron Beacon-Journal, it's exactly what they needed since the Indians have scored only nine runs themselves over that span.
LOOK AT THE FACTS: I've become a big fan of Craig Calcaterra's blog ShysterBall for many reasons -- one of them being his daily roundup of games under the heading "And That Happened," in honor of John Mayer -- and today he lays out the reasons why Barry Bonds' continued unemployment isn't necessarily a case of collusion. It came in response to Dave Zirin of the blog The Starting Five calling the Bonds saga a "case of blackballing so obvious it would shame a Dartmouth frat house."
OH, NO! The blog Big League Stew has checked around and discovered that Cubs Nation isn't too thrilled about the impending acquisition of Jim Edmonds. Cubs GM Jim Hendry disagrees, but ace Carlos Zambrano sides with the fans . . . though probably not for the same reasons. (Both stories Chicago Tribune)
CHANGE AT THE TOP: The blog The Biz of Baseball reports Peter Magowan will step down as managing partner of the Giants.
HAIL FROM THE CHIEF: If President Bush could choose any player with which to start a baseball team, he says he'd pick the Phillies' Chase Utley. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
'PAUL FROM FAIRFAX, YOU'RE NEXT ON THE 'FAN: Ex-Met Paul Lo Duca, now with the Nationals, called WFAN yesterday just to chat, and discussed a number of topics . . . including his inclusion in the Mitchell Report. (New York Daily News)
ROCK ON, METS: The blog Mets By The Numbers has a fascinating interview with perhaps the world's unlikeliest Mets fan: George Thorogood. A Delaware native, he tells why he abandoned the Phillies for the Mets, and also has a fascinating theory -- and one I'd never thought of -- on how the Mets really won Game Six of the 1986 World Series against the Red Sox.
NO GOING BACK: The old-timers don't like it -- at all -- but they're all in sad agreement: On-field celebrations are here to stay. (espn.com)
ON SECOND THOUGHT . . . The blog Athletics Nation is wondering if picking up Frank Thomas was such a good idea, after all.
HERE AND THERE: Mark Prior says he cut off his latest rehab attempt after 10 or 15 pitches because he felt "a firecracker going off in [my] back" (espn.com) . . . Nick Johnson's wrist hurts and he may be lost to the Nationals for a while (Washington Times) . . . Tom Glavine won his first game as a Brave since 2002 last night (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Rays have signed Scott Kazmir to a long-term extension (St. Petersburg Times) . . . John Smoltz thinks he'll be back with the Braves in about 10 days (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Both the Brewers (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) and the White Sox (Chicago Sun-Times) may be looking for help in the trade market soon . . . Gary Sheffield is back to being a DH because of a sore shoulder (mlb.com) . . . Jake Westbrook and Joe Borowski are ready to begin rehab stints for the Indians. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
OLD FRIENDS: We hate to keep harping on Eric Gagne, but he keeps making news. Now it appears his struggles -- at least partially -- were caused by his tipping his pitches, which he apparently has rectified. (mlb.com) The Brewers are in town this weekend, so we shall see . . . Pedro Martinez threw a 55-pitch simulated game in his recovery from a hamstring pull (New York Post) . . . David Riske has a hyperextended right elbow (rightfieldbleachers.com) . . . The suddenly hot Bronson Arroyo has allowed just one run in his last 15 innings. (rotoworld.com)
Posted by Art Martone at 6:40 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 14
AP Photo
PREMATURE CELEBRATION: We've been treated to a score of Red Sox-are-the-best proclamations in the last week, in places like the Boston Globe, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Detroit Free Press and msnbc.com. Lost in the huzzahs is the fact that a) the Sox have lost four of five after last night's 5-4 beating in Baltimore, b) they now trail those amazing Rays in the A.L. East standings (more on that in a moment), and c) their players are dropping like flies. Steven Krasner touches on all three topics in his accounting of last night's doings, which includes a heavy emphasis on the game's turning point: The pitcher-to-home-to-first double play grounded into by Manny Ramirez with the bases loaded and no out in the seventh inning, enabling the Orioles to maintain their at-the-time 5-3 lead.
DOCTOR, DOCTOR, GIVE ME THE NEWS: After David Ortiz was ejected in the ninth inning for arguing a third-strike call by plate umpire Laz Diaz, the Sox were down to one healthy non-pitcher on the bench: Backup catcher Kevin Cash. They started the night knowing that Julio Lugo was unavailable, although Krasner reports he seems to be recovering nicely from his mild concussion and could be ready to play again soon, perhaps as early as today. Then the game started, and soon joining Lugo on the sidelines were right fielder J.D. Drew, who sprained his left wrist while trying to catch a looping fly ball hit by Freddy Bynum in the third (above), and center fielder Coco Crisp, who had to leave in the sixth when he began suffering symptoms consistent with a migraine. (Attention all of you who made Coco jokes after NESN reported he took himself out because of an "upset stomach": the line for apologies starts here.) Krasner has the postgame medical updates, and it looks like Drew -- like Mike Lowell last month -- may be out for a bit.
NO JOSHING: Like Clay Buchholz the night before, Josh Beckett was staked to a 3-0 lead before he ever took the mound. Like Clay Buchholz the night before, Josh Beckett gave the whole lead back . . . and then some. Unlike Clay Buchholz the night before -- he was rather subdued and philosophical -- Josh Beckett gave an X-rated critique of his performance that laid the blame for last night's proceedings right on his own shoulders. (Boston Herald) Even so, Jason Varitek thinks Beckett is "really close" to once again start clicking on all cylinders. (Boston Globe)
JUST WHAT THEY NEED: As if the Sox didn't have enough troubles, they'll be facing Daniel Cabrera this afternoon. In an item in his weekly notes column, Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the talented but eccentric right-hander is finally get his act together, which may create a do-we-trade-him-or-do-we-keep-him? quandry for the rebuilding Orioles.
RELAX: Despite their recent slide, the Sox are still No. 1 in Foxsports.com's Power Rankings.
THE BIG VICTORY: Forget these little setbacks. The Herald's Howie Carr says the Sox (and the Patriots) pulled off the mother of all upsets: They took down the Boston Mafia by bankrupting the bookies with their run of success.
TRADE BAIT: Jim Rice examines the future of Jed Lowrie and -- since Dustin Pedroia is entrenched at second and both Lugo and Lowell are signed to long-term contracts -- wouldn't be surprised "if the Red Sox shop their prized prospect to other teams." (ask14.sullivantire.com)
OUR SYMPATHIES: Condolences to Terry Francona, who'll miss the series in Baltimore because of the death of his mother-in-law. (ProJo Sox Blog)
NOT AT THAT PRICE: The Denver Post reports the Rockies are still interested in Julian Tavarez "but aren't about to give up pitching prospect Brandon Hynick" for him.
THE NEXT BIG THING: ESPN.com's Jim Caple is calling 21-year-old Japanese phenom Yu Darvish Dice-K 2.0.
RAYS OF POWER: They're already figured out the magic number -- 122 -- in St. Petersburg as the Rays moved into first place with an 11-inning win over Mariano Rivera and the Yankees last night. (St. Petersburg Times) They're beginning to make believers out of people, like the Times' Gary Shelton. And Tampa Bay players who've experienced success before (on other teams, of course), like Cliff Floyd and Troy Percival, say they're seeing the signs of a team coming together. (Tampa Tribune) Now to get the fans on board. There were less than 17,000 at The Trop last night and David Pinto of Baseball Musings tells the folks in the Tampa Bay area to come out and support their suddenly successful franchise.
HERE TO STAY: If you think the Rays are a fluke team bound to fall, Baseball Analysts urges you to think again.
CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK: You could always count on the in-his-prime George Steinbrenner to weigh in whenever the Yankees were struggling. Now it's Hank Steinbrenner's team, so now it's Hank Steinbrenner's turn. (New York Post)
SHORT MEMORIES: While I don't recall them thanking the offense for carrying them to the playoffs last year, Yankee pitchers, reports Peter Abraham on the LoHud Yankees Blog, are quietly blaming the hitters for the team's struggles this season.
THE CAVALRY ISN'T IN SIGHT: The Yankee attack will no doubt pick up when Alex Rodriguez returns, but there's still no word when that will be. (New York Daily News)
THE ILLS OF SOCIETY: Goose Gossage is beginning to town down his criticisms of Joba Chamberlain, saying Joba's showboating antics aren't really his fault because "no one is passing the torch today (to the rookies)." (New York Daily News)
I THOUGHT THAT WAS HIM . . . Gossage said last week that Orioles outfielder Al Bumbry was one of only six batters he intentionally hit during his career. But baseball-reference.com looked it up and discovered Gossage never hit Bumbry.
PREPARING THE GUILLOTINE: Our buddy The Tao of Stieb says John Gibbons' time is almost up in the Blue Jays' managerial chair, and tells us why.
A GIRLS SOFTBALL LEAGUE WOULDN'T LOOK SO BAD RIGHT NOW: One day after he ragged on the Nationals for acting like "a bunch of softball girls" in their dugout while he was pitching, the Mets designated Nelson Figueroa for assignment. (New York Daily News)
FIXING THE CASE: Prosecutors have rewritten their indictment against Barry Bonds, as ordered by the judge, and baseball's home-run king/pariah now faces 15 felony counts. (AP via projo.com) The blog ShysterBall says there's nothing really new here and that his original handicapping of Bonds' chances in court still stands.
NEW PERSPECTIVE: Last week Pinto, writing for sportingnews.com, examined why the National League is outscoring the American League so far this year and concluded that, with its influx of young talent, the N.L. may soon be the better league once again. William Burke and Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus take their own look at their issue and conclude that A.L. scoring may be down because of A.L. personnel decisions; to wit, choosing defense over offense at some positions.
PETCO SOUNDS: Padres exec Paul DePodesta takes a look at Petco Park in his latest blog entry and says the fact that Petco is an extreme pitchers' park shouldn't obscure the equally true fact the team's greatest run of success in history has occurred since it moved there.
'PEDRITO': The Reds' Edison Volquez idolizes Pedro Martinez. More importantly, says espn.com's Amy K. Nelson, he's pitching like him this year, too.
FACT OR FOLLY? The Seattle Times' Larry Stone, who admits he bought into the "last year's 88-win record plus this year's addition of [Erik] Bedard equaled a championship run" notion, thinks the time of reckoning may soon be here for the stumbling Mariners.
NO QUIT IN HIM: Jay Mariotti's frontal assault on the White Sox continues, as he uses Ozzie Guillen's admission that he was thinking about stepping down as manager as a jumping-off point for an attack on someone he calls "a crazed, bitter man . . . [whose] stupidity . . . has turned the franchise into a national farce."
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli, sidelined since spring training after being diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder, took batting practice yesterday and says he still hopes to play this year. (mlb.com)
HERE AND THERE: The Brewers' Chris Capuano will soon have the second Tommy John surgery of his career (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Reds' Jeff Koppinger suffered a broken patella when he fouled a ball off his leg (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Jacque Jones would like to join the Marlins. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
OLD FRIENDS: Guess he was right about needing a quick mental-health break. Eric Gagne got the save for the Brewers last night (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Nomar Garciaparra says he's not ready for a rehab assignment just yet. (insidesocal.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:50 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, May 13
AP Photo
CLAY-MAKER: Bob Gibson was 3-6 with a 5.61 ERA in his first full season in the major leagues. Sandy Koufax was 2-4, 4.91. Greg Maddux was 6-14, 5.61. The list goes on and on, even among contemporary stars -- Josh Beckett (6-7, 4,10), Ben Sheets (11-10, 4.76), Tom Glavine (7-17, 4.56). The education of a young pitcher is like the education of anything else: In most instances, it takes time.
And thus we come to Clay Buchholz. No matter how well he pitched last September -- and pitch well he did, even beyond the no-hitter (Projo Sox Blog) -- he's a) 23 years old, b) in his first full year in the big leagues, and c) still learning his craft. What he learned last night was that when you don't have command of your fastball you don't have a whole lot, a lesson the Twins pounded into him over 4 2/3 innings in a 7-3 Minnesota win. Steven Krasner reports that the inconsistency in locating his fastball "soon spread to [Buchholz'] other pitches, resulting in five walks, three of them leading off an inning, always a recipe for disaster." By the time Terry Francona ended his evening (above), his record was on its way down to 2-3, his ERA on its way up to 5.53 (Projo Stats), and the Bartolo Watch, which we alluded to yesterday, was probably on its way to the starting line (and with reason; if the option is losing Colon, then sending Buchholz back to Pawtucket makes all the sense in the world). Our pals over at Sons of Sam Horn are already talking the talk.
A no-hitter in your second major-league start is what they call an indicator of ability, but turning that ability into skill isn't an overnight process. We're told the same thing over and over -- we even said it at the very beginning of all this -- and it bears repeating: It just takes time. Ask Bob. And Sandy. And Greg.
UNHOLY TRINITY: Sick of ESPN's Red Sox/Yankee-centric view of the world, Shysterball is taking at least a little delight in the struggles of Buchholz, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.
ODD MAN OUT: Considering the haphazard way he was used all season, not to mention how poorly he pitched when he did get to the mound, it came as no surprise when word arrived yesterday afternoon that Julian Tavarez had been designated for assignment. Krasner reports Tavarez' departure means Craig Hansen gets to stay a while. Kraz also has some postgame notes, including a Julio Lugo medical update.
HEAD TO THE ROCKIES: The Denver Post reports the on-again/off-again trade discussions between the Red Sox and Colorado regarding Tavarez are on again, and a deal could be struck within a matter of days.
MAN-SIZED INSPIRATION: Some look to the Bible. Others to philosophers. But Arnold Schwarzenegger is the wind beneath Craig Hansen's wings. (Boston Herald)
THEY NOTICED! Krasner reports Kevin Youkilis was named American League Player of the Week.
TWO TO GO: Manny Ramirez clubbed home run No. 498 last night, and Krasner has his postgame reaction on that . . . and some other topics, too.
NO OFFENSE: Jim Rice says he's not at all irritated by Manny Ramirez' claim that he's the best defensive left fielder in Red Sox history, but then he basically asserts that Manny is full of beans. (ask14.sullivantire.com)
JINX THIS: Baseball Analysts includes Dustin Pedroia, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima in its look at 2007 rookies seeking to avoid the sophomore jinx in 2008. It has nice things to say about all of them, particularly Pedroia.
CREAM OF THE CROP: Even though three losses in four games in Minnesota may have dimmed the shine a little bit, almost everyone agrees: The Red Sox are the class of the A.L. East, and probably of the entire American League. (Boston Globe)
WHAT WE WORRY ABOUT: Remember all the fretting about how, between the Tokyo trip and the tough April schedule, the Sox would be lucky to be around .500 at this stage of the season? Boston.com's Eric Wilbur reminds us how silly all that was.
IT'S ALL THE SAME TO ME: In his last game with Boston, Jed Lowrie homered. Last night, in his first game with Pawtucket, he homered again. Joe McDonald tells us all about it.
'BEATING THE EVIL EMPIRE IS AWESOME': So said the Rays' Jonny Gomes after Tampa Bay's 7-1 smackdown of the Yanks. (St. Petersburg Times) Somewhere Larry Lucchino is smiling.
NOT YET: The New York Times reports Alex Rodriguez won't be ready to return in time for this weekend's series against the Mets.
TRADE DEFICIT CONTINUES: Baseball Musings' David Pinto notes that last night's hero for the Rays, Dioner Navarro, not only was traded away by the Yankees (for Randy Johnson), but that he'd look awfully good in pinstripes right now, since Jorge Posada is on the disabled list.
SPECIAL KEI: At least he is to Ian Kennedy. Igawa's meatball special Friday night in Detroit was enough to convince the Yankees to summon Kennedy back from the minors. (New York Daily News)
CLASS AND DIGNITY, MY FOOT: The blog Bugs and Cranks takes Goose Gossage to task for admonishing Joba Chamberlain to "act like a Yankee." It points out that acting like a Yankee over the years has included the Fritz Peterson/Mike Kekich wife-swap, not to mention Reggie Jackson standing at home plate admiring his home runs, and concludes: "The Yankee way is winning. Period."
OFF THE CLIFF: The Red Sox were shut out, but Cliff Lee cleaned up, in Dayn Perry's '25 Percent Awards,' which he gives at the season's quarter pole. (foxsports.com)
'SO'S YOUR MOM'???? One of the things I learned very early in the cyberspace age is, never send anything -- and I mean anything -- via e-mail that you don't want millions of people to see. Apparently, Carlos Delgado's agent missed the memo. (nj.com)
'R, B, RBI, HIT THAT BALL AND MAKE IT FLY': The Mets' Nelson Figueroa called the Nationals "a bunch of softball girls" for the "cheerleading" they were doing in their dugout during Washington's 10-4 win at Shea Stadium last night. (New York Daily News) No word if the Nats responded by telling Figueroa they wanted a pitcher and not a glass of water.
HOME SWEET HOME: Johnnie LeMaster -- who can forget his "Johnny Disaster" nickname? -- had some great stories to tell when he returned to San Francisco as part of the Giants' 50th anniversary celebration. (The Guardian's San Francisco blog)
GOODBYE, HISTORY: Asdrubal Cabrera turned an unassisted triple play for the Indians against the Blue Jays last night, and then flipped the ball into the stands as he returned to the dugout. (mlb.com)
HERE AND THERE The Astros' Shawn Chacon has tied a major-league record by starting a season with eight consecutive no-decisions (Houston Chronicle) . . . Shannon Stewart says his current situation with the Blue Jays "is like a bad dream" (Toronto Star) . . . Mark Teixeira had to leave last night's game because of back spasms (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Cubs are expected to sign Jim Edmonds and demote Felix Pie, which would seem to eliminate them as a possible landing place for Coco Crisp. (Chicago Tribune)
OLD FRIENDS: One day after removing himself from the closer's role, Eric Gagne says the little mental-health break did him a world of good; now he's tanned and rested and ready to start finishing games for the Brewers again. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . In the meantime, Guillermo Mota got the save for Milwaukee last night (rotoworld.com) . . . Ramon Vazquez hit a walkoff home run for the Rangers last night, a pitch or two after play-by-play announcer Josh Lewin predicted he would (Dallas Morning News) . . . Nomar Garciaparra will work out with the Dodgers in Milwaukee today (Los Angeles Times) . . . Pedro Martinez is frustrated by his slow recovery from the hamstring pull that sidelined him in early April. (New York Post)
Posted by Art Martone at 6:44 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, May 12
AP Photo
NOT GROUNDED FOR LONG: They don't go down easy, these Red Sox. Jacoby Ellsbury looked as if his night might be finished when he was hit in the knee by a pitch in the third inning (above), but he stayed in the game, scored a run by sprinting home on a sacrifice fly, and later made a running catch in right-center field. He was sort of a symbol of his team, which found itself on the short end of 5-0, 7-1 and 9-6 scores at various points during the evening and still came this close to pulling out an improbable win over the Twins. There was no Mother's Day Miracle this time, however, as pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez grounded out with the tying run in scoring position. Steven Krasner has the details of what Terry Francona called "as exciting a game [as] you can have and not win."
MORE OF THE SAME: Excitement was the buzzword of the weekend, though not always the way the Sox planned. Jonathan Papelbon provided a little Friday night -- for the Twins -- when he blew his second consecutive save opportunity; as Krasner reports, this time there were no checked-swing rollers, infield errors and broken-bat bloopers to blame. But he made the adjustments he had to make and was back to his old self Saturday night, saving the victory for a suddenly quick and efficient Daisuke Matsuzaka. Krasner tells us all about it.
Just as he'll tell us about tonight's finale of the wraparound weekend series in Minneapolis. Come back tomorrow for more.
WILDLY EFFECTIVE: David Pinto of Baseball Musings reports Matsuzaka is walking 5.7 batters per nine innings and his ERA of 2.45 is the lowest in history for a pitcher with a walk rate that high.
ERUDITE EMPIRE: That's what Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune is calling the Red Sox, whom he admires for their skill and their intelligence. Souhan says the Sox are "a super power . . . [who have] surpassed the Yankees as the dominant franchise in baseball."
(He also makes a Chuck Knoblauch/Dustin Pedroia comparison that, I have to admit, occured to me at some point last night while Pedroia was fouling off Nick Blackburn pitch after Nick Blackburn pitch.)
RIGHT BACK ATCHA: The New York Daily News' Bill Madden throws a little loving at the Twins, who don't seem to miss Johan Santana very much.
OUT OF POSITION: Ramirez pinch-hit in the ninth because a tight right hamstring kept him out of the starting lineup.
IN POSITION: The Herald's Rob Bradford reports Ramirez believes he's the best defensive left fielder in Red Sox history.
HOMEWARD BOUND: Bryan Corey's days in Boston are over; Krasner has word of the reliever's trade to San Diego. Corey says his part in last year's World Series run was "special," but admits he's happy to be moving closer to his home in Mesa, Ariz. (mlb.com)
IT'S NOT HOW MANY, IT'S WHEN: Ramirez' final-out grounder threw the spotlight on a recent Sox problem: The inability to hit with runners in scoring position. Krasner has some startling numbers.
BALANCING ACT: The Globe's Nick Cafardo talks to scouts who say the Red Sox have "done it right" when it comes to lineup construction. "They have guys who can wear down the pitcher, guys who can drill the ball in the gap, they have guys who can run and take the extra base and they have guys who can take it out of the yard," says one. "I don't understand why there aren't more lineups like Boston's in the league, because they've got it right."
HARDWARE WATCH: Krasner thinks Kevin Youkilis is in line for Player of the Week honors. Pinto looks at Youkilis' contract status and explains why the Sox shouldn't, and probably won't, sign him to a long extension.
CRISP AND EFFICIENT: He still wants to play every day, and he knows that -- when everyone's healthy -- it's probably not going to happen here. But for now, reports Cafardo, Coco Crisp is "going with the flow" . . . and the Sox are reaping the benefits.
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? Saying that Bob Watson has "mishandled" much of what he's done as baseball's discipline chief, Curt Schilling expressed no surprise that Kyle Farnsworth's suspension for throwing at Manny Ramirez' head was reduced from three games to one. (Boston Herald)
AP Photo
GOING OUT WITH A BANG: Jed Lowrie was all smiles Saturday night (above) when he hit his first major-league home run (which, coincidentally, proved to be the winning run). And he was still smiling yesterday when he got the inevitable tap on the shoulder to bag his packs and head back to Pawtucket. "I understand the role the team has for me," he told Krasner. His role: Fill in until Alex Cora returns.
COMING BACK WITH A BANG: Cora returned yesterday -- hence Lowrie's demotion -- and went 3-for-4 as he filled in for the ailing Julio Lugo, who suffered a mild concussion Friday night. (Both stories projo.com) Things aren't going well for Lugo (Boston Globe), as everyone knows, but the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley says he's maintaining his sense of humor.
WHO'S THAT IN THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR?? The second-place Rays completed a sweep of the Angels yesterday and say the feeling in Tampa now is that, in the words of Cliff Floyd, "we're going to win." (Tampa Tribune)
NEXT! Bartolo Colon may soon hop onto the well-traveled Pawtucket-to-Boston shuttle. He pitched well Saturday night in his first appearance since suffering an oblique strain in April and Joe McDonald reports the Sox will be faced with a perplexing decision. To wit: We can assume Colon isn't going to accept an extended stay at Pawtucket, especially with so many teams -- such as the one 160 miles to the south -- in need of starting pitching. So whenever the new opt-out day in his contract arrives, the Sox will either have to promote him or let him go. And if they let him go, they'll know they rehabbed him and nursed him back to health so he could pitch against them for somebody else . . . like the Yankees.
If all that sounds to you as if One Ben Mondor Way will -- barring unexpected injury to someone else in the rotation -- be the summer address for Clay Buchholz, I'd say you've got good ears.
CHANGE IN TITLE: Paul Kenyon says Charlie Zink isn't just a knuckleballer any more.
NEW KID IN TOWN Jose Vaquedano has joined the PawSox bullpen from Portland, and Kenyon reports he had an "interesting" debut.
THE RULE: Having read the book, I can say I totally agree with Chad Finn's glowing review of Red Sox Rule by Michael Holley. (I also agree with his criticisms of Patriot Reign, for the exact reasons he states.) Holley talks about the Sox book with the Boston Globe.
ENOUGH, ALREADY: It's one thing for opponents to be irritated by Joba Chamberlain's pumping and screaming and dancing. But now Goose Gossage is telling him to knock it off and act like a Yankee. (Bergen Record)
MISSED CHANCE: Yesterday's rainout in Detroit cost Derek Jeter a chance to hit cleanup. (New York Daily News)
JUST TRYIN' TO CAPTURE THE SPIRIT OF THE THING: It isn't often that a newspaper reporter will start a story with the letters "P.U.", but the New York Post's George King did in describing Kei Igawa's performance Friday night in Detroit. (New York Post)
END GAME? The Newark Star-Ledger's Dan Graziano notes the Mets entered the weekend with a 71-71 record since last June 1 and that management is preparing to reevaluate Willie Randolph.
ONE FOR WILLIE: Randolph had a shining moment yesterday, though, when he caught the Reds batting out of order in the ninth inning. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE . . . The Reds and Mariners have spent the better part of a week denying there's anything to these Ken Griffey Jr.-back-to-Seattle reports, but the Dayton Daily News' Hal McCoy reports the M's "desperately" want him back and have sent one of their executives to check him out. Pinto says that while Griffey would be an improvement over Seattle's current crop of DHs he's not nearly the player he used to be, and wonders why they wouldn't simply sign Barry Bonds instead.
I GET IT, DAVID: You have to be of a certain age, I suppose, to understand Pinto's reference in a short recap of the Astros' 8-5 win over the Dodgers.
THE DISEASE MARCHES ON: The Padres released Jim Edmonds, but the San Diego Union-Tribune's Tim Sullivan says he was a symptom, not the cause, of San Diego's problems.
NEXT STOP: CHICAGO: The Cubs may be interested in Edmonds. (Chicago Tribune)
WELCOME TO THE ETHER: Speaking of the Padres, team executive Paul DePodesta -- the former GM of the Dodgers and ex-Billy Beane assistant in Oakland -- has started a blog. His first topic: Greg Maddux' 350th career victory Saturday night. (San Diego Union-Tribune) Thomas Boswell calls Maddux and his two former Braves teammates, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, "great players who did it right."
'I DON'T CARE': That was Andruw Jones' repeated phrase to the Los Angeles Times' T.J. Simers, who observes that Jones is both "a Tubbo and clueless, which really isn't a very good combination for the player with the highest annual salary in Dodgers history."
HERE AND THERE: Richie Sexson's suspension for charging Kason Gabbard last week has been reduced to five games (Seattle Times) . . . Kevin Millwood, who has a strained right groin, is headed to the DL (Dallas Morning News) . . . Mark Prior, now with the Padres, is experiencing more discomfort with his shoulder (mlb.com) . . . Vernon Wells, as you've probably heard by now, has a broken wrist (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Cardinals have taken the struggling Jason Isringhausen out of the closer's role (espn.com) . . . John Smoltz is optimistic he'll be returning to the Braves by the end of May after throwing Sunday for the first time in two weeks (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The A's Eric Chavez is ready to begin a minor-league rehab stint seven months after back surgery. (San Francisco Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: Orlando Cabrera says he's a "hired gun," brought in by teams to fix their problems and, once things are settled, allowed to move on (Chicago Tribune) . . . Since the Brewers seemed incapable of recognizing what was staring them in the face, Eric Gagne took it upon himself to step down from the closer's role (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Brian Shouse is a member of the committee that will replace Gagne and yesterday he recorded the fifth save of his career. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:36 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, May 9
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.
| 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
Baseball Today: Thursday, May 8
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 at 6:52 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 7
AP Photo
THE VIEW: Ask the Tigers and they'll tell you they're in a slump. (Detroit News) Ask the Red Sox and they'll tell you Tim Wakefield (above) was brilliant. There's truth on both sides, and Steven Krasner tells us how the Sox saw last night's 5-0 whitewashing in Detroit: As a brilliant pitching performance by the 41-year-old Wakefield, who scattered two hits over eight innings (retiring 17 in a row at one point) without walking anyone. He had help, ranging from personal catcher Kevin Cash, who, reports Krasner, had a good night both offensively and defensively; to Manny Ramirez, who moved one home run closer to career homer No. 500 (Boston Herald); to David Ortiz, who homered one pitch before Ramirez hit No. 497. (Boston Herald). And not that it means anything, necessarily, but the Sox now have the largest lead of any first-place team in baseball, at 3 1/2 games. (Projo Stats)
BACK TO WORK: Krasner reports on Curt Schilling's first throwing session of the season, which consisted of playing long toss with John Farrell. Schilling himself talked about it before it happened on his blog (38pitches.com), then said afterward that, basically, it was the first step in a thousand-mile journey. (Boston Herald)
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW: Alex Cora and Sean Casey will be making rehab appearances in Pawtucket later this week. Krasner has the details. As for the PawSox, Shalise Manza Young reports they wasted a fine pitching performance by Davern Hansack in a 3-0 loss to Durham. She also has a feature on surprise leadoff hitter Jeff Bailey.
LOST IN AMERICA: Krasner reflects on Julian Tavarez, who hasn't pitched since April 24.
ON THE FLIP SIDE OF THE COIN . . . Jim Leyland exploded at the Tigers when they were floundering a few weeks ago. But now that they're floundering again, he's taking a different tack. (Detroit Free Press)
FABULOUS FREDDY: Joe Posnanski, who has consistently come out against Jim Rice's Hall of Fame candidacy, makes the case for Fred Lynn being enshrined. (joeposnanski.com)
NOW THAT'S A PIECE OF MEMORABILIA: Bob Feller and Carl Yastrzemski once wore the same uniform jersey -- for the Raleigh Caps -- and one of the team's former batboys now owns it. (Charlotte News and Observer)
AP Photo
BREAKING THE RULES: "Cut into Joba Chamberlain's skin," writes George King of the New York Post, "and he bleeds." It might not have seemed that way through his whirlwind first few months as a big-leaguer, but Chamberlain proved as human as anybody else last night as -- for the first time in a regular-season game -- he blew a late-inning lead, allowing a three-run, eighth-inning homer to David Dellucci that gave the Indians a 5-3 win over the Yankees. (The picture above captures his reaction.) His only previous blown save had come in the playoffs last year in Cleveland; this time, though, there was no swarm of midges to blame. What's to blame, writes the New York Daily News' John Harper, was a change in pitching philosophy as, in his own words, Chamberlain "didn't attack the zone as much as I should have." He was mixing in sliders and curveballs -- even though Dellucci did hit a fastball for the home run -- and Harper wonders if the expansion of his pitch repertoire was the first step toward a move into the starting rotation, where you can't just fire fastball after fastball at hitters for six or seven innings. Kevin Kernan of the Post says now we'll see how well Chamberlain reacts to the inevitable failure that, though it had eluded him to this point, every big-leaguer experiences. The reaction at Yankee Stadium was inevitable: Some of the fans actually booed Chamberlain, for which they were taken to task by Peter Abraham. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
JOBA TO THE MAX: SI.com's Tom Verducci says the Diamondbacks may have the new Joba Chamberlain -- he's already old?? -- in Max Scherzer.
MINOR MIRACLE: Down on the farm, Ian Kennedy transformed himself back into the prospect the Yankees think he is with 7 1/3 one-hit, shutout innings in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's win over Charlotte. (New York Daily News)
NO 42 MEDIUM: MLB has retired Jackie Robinson's No. 42 in honor of the player who broke baseball's color line, but SI.com's Bryan Armen says the best player in history to wear the number is Mariano Rivera.
GROWING UP: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman thinks that, unlike most, Chein-Ming Wang is still evolving -- as a pitcher, that is -- at age 28.
'DADDY DEAREST': That's the New York Post headline over its story on Koby Clemens, who stands by his embattled father and says his family remains strong and united in spite of all the recent negative press.
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: Suzyn Waldman, who was a target herself last year after her over-the-top reaction to Clemens' re-signing with the Yankees, says the only thing that surprises her about this year's Clemens Saga "is the glee with which people are going after Roger." (Newsday)
HELLO, DOLLY: Under the category of There's No Molehill Small Enough That We Can't Make Into A Mountain, MLB expressed its displeasure over the White Sox' inflatable-dolls-in-the-clubhouse incident. (Chicago Sun-Times) The White Sox brass didn't exactly apologize, though it called the whole thing "a little bit of a disappointment" and promised the issue was being "addressed." Ozzie Guillen, however, continues to be defiantly unapologetic (Chicago Tribune), and the Sun-Times' Rick Telander, an ex-athlete himself, says that's no surprise; ballplayers, in his words, "are adolescent boys," and always have been, and tells us "major-leaguers throughout history have done ludicrous things to break slumps." But he also tells us we're in a different era and Guillen has to watch his step, because "this beast . . . has the power to eat him up and spit him out." It was all a batting-practice fastball to the Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti, whose anti-White Sox venom bubbles in the calmest of times. Now, it's spilling onto a whole new plane.
SORRY, BUT THAT CAN'T BE IT: Refusing to believe they're unemployed simply because no one wants to deal with the baggage they carry, the MLBPA is opening an investigation into whether a collusion case can be made for Barry Bonds, Kenny Lofton and a few other still-unsigned free agents. (ESPN.com)
I WANT TO GO HOME: Ken Griffey Jr. all but told USA Today he wants to finish his career where he started, in Seattle, and the Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Dougherty thinks the Reds should grant him his wish and trade him to the Mariners. But new Reds GM Walt Jocketty called Griffey trade talk "premature." (espn.com)
I WANT TO STAY HOME: The suddenly resurgent Pat Burrell is a free agent at the end of the year, but he'd love to re-sign with the Phillies. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
LOCAL BOYS: Chris Iannetta lifted his average to .362 with a homer and a double in the Rockies' 6-5 loss to the Cardinals (Denver Post), and the Rocky Mountain News' Dave Kreiger calls Iannetta's surge one the few rays of sunshine in Colorado. That's the good news. The bad news is that ex-Providence College star John McDonald had to be taken off the field in a golf cart after hurting his ankle in the Blue Jays' loss to the Rays. (National Post)
BACK FROM EXILE: The Giants are moving Barry Zito back into the starting rotation. (mlb.com)
YESTERDAY'S BEST: Lost in the noise of inflatable dolls was news that Gavin Floyd nearly no-hit the Twins for the White Sox (mlb.com) . . . Sidney Ponson made his third consecutive strong start as the Rangers beat the Mariners (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Astros came from behind no fewer than four times to beat the Nationals (Houston Chronicle) . . . Scott Olsen just missed pitching the Marlins' first complete-game one-hitter in almost five years, but he was still good enough to lead Florida to a shutout of the Brewers. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
WHISPERS: Josh Fogg -- "rotting in the Reds bullpen," according to the Denver Post -- could be headed back to Colorado . . . The Marlins are interested in Jacque Jones, who was cut loose earlier this week by the Tigers. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Not only do the Brewers have no plans to replace Eric Gagne as closer, they claim they're not at all worried about his five blown saves, 6.14 ERA and .382 batting average allowed (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Wil Ledezma is moving into the Padres' starting rotation (mlb.com) . . . Justin Duchscherer pitched a strong game for the A's (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . They're not crazy about ex-Blue Jay Eric Hinske in Toronto -- the fans are angry he never lived up to what they thought was his potential after he won the 2002 A.L. Rookie of the Year award with the Jays; their feelings about him are summed up rather nicely by our pal the Tao of Steib -- and he continued to give them reason to hate him by homering in Tampa Bay's 5-4 win at the Rogers Centre (Tampa Tribune) . . . Nor are they crazy about current Blue Jay David Eckstein (National Post), who's been struggling this year; he had to leave the same game because of a strained right hip flexor. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:49 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, May 6
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: The numbers -- or at least most of them -- scream "ace." Record: 5-0, the second-highest number of wins in the league. ERA: 2.43, fourth-best in league. Batting average allowed: .158, second-best in the league. (All this, incidentally, is courtesy of the invaluable Projo Stats.) Daisuke Matsuzaka (above), by most measurable accounts, should be considered one of the best pitchers in the American League, indeed in all baseball.
Except . . .
Steven Krasner, writing the story of last night's 6-3 Red Sox win over the Tigers, lays out the case against Matsuzaka in eight simple words: Ball one. Ball two. Ball three. Ball four. He does not throw strikes, at least not with any consistency, and too many games resemble the water-dripping-on-the-forehead torturefest of last evening. By the time Terry Francona took us all out of our misery and lifted him after five excruciating innings, Matsuzaka had taken nearly two hours to throw 109 pitches, walk eight batters, and escape disaster through a combination of his admittedly superior skills (he allowed only one hit in those five innings), clutch pitching (a two-on, one-out strikeout of the sublime Magglio Ordonez in the fourth), and some luck (hard-hit balls that were caught, such as the two-out, two-on liner snared by J.D. Drew for the final out in the fifth, preserving a 4-1 lead). His performance was put into some historical perspective by Chuck Waseleski via the Boston Globe's Extra Bases blog.
Francona, noting that Matsuzaka was still suffering the aftereffects of last week's bout with the flu, chose the glass-is-half-full approach -- as he nearly always does -- in his postgame comments, lauding Matsuzaka's heart and competitive spirit. (Maybe Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press captured that dichotomy perfectly when he noted that, through three innings, Matsuzaka was on pace "for the never-seen 210-pitch no-hitter.") In the Boston Herald, Rob Bradford pointed out that while Matsuzaka often pitched like this last season, this time around he's winning these games.
Baseball -- especially professional baseball -- is a bottom-line business, and there's more than something to be said for someone who wins mosts of his starts, style points be damned. The problem, as articulated by Baseball Musings' David Pinto, is that Matsuzaka is a strange hybrid "of being wild, but at the same time very tough to hit." The troubling question: At what point will it become more important that he's wild than it is that he's tough to hit?
AUTHOR, AUTHOR! Just as his book Deep Drive, written with Bradford, is about to hit the shelves, Mike Lowell broke out of his season-long slump with a 3-for-5 night that included a home run and a double (and a near-homer in the seventh inning that was snared near the fence by Tigers left fielder Gary Sheffield). (projo.com) "Talk about a cheap publicity stunt," cracked the Herald's Steve Buckley, noting Lowell is set to do a series of book interviews today.
NEVER MIND: Remember when news of Curt Schilling's arm woes first surfaced in February? And how his personal physician, Dr. Craig Morgan, stated that "the percentage of [Schilling] being able to pitch effectively [without undergoing Morgan-recommended surgery] is probably between zero and five percent"? And the whispers that Schilling, while never saying so publicly, agreed with Morgan and was angry with the Red Sox for forcing him to undergo more conservative treatment? Well, Schilling is about ready to start throwing again and now he's saying the Red Sox were right all along. (Boston Globe)
HERE AND THERE: The rest of Krasner's notebook contains items on the bullpen, specifically the problems of Hideki Okajima when he enters games with runners on base and how Craig Hansen didn't help himself last night in his quest to earn a more prominent relief role; the continued offensive resurgence of David Ortiz, and Bartolo Colon's performance in a rehab stint in Florida.
LET'S MAKE A DEAL: The Sox' bullpen could be short a man soon; according to the Denver Post, the Rockies are trying to trade for Julian Tavarez.
IT'S AS IF DOM DeLUISE WON THE 100-YARD DASH: Bet you can't guess which team is tied for the league lead in stolen-base differential and leads in stolen-base percentage. (www.yfsf.org)
PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY: Baseball Analysts' Rich Lederer tells us about his morning and afternoon at Fenway last Sunday.
I REMEMBER CLELL: A stroll through the SI Vault led to Chad Finn reminiscing about Butch Hobson. (www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases)
BEEN THERE: The Sox will miss the struggling Jason Verlander in this series, and ex-Tiger Jack Morris, now working part-time as a Twins broadcaster, says he knows why Verlander is struggling: "His shoulder. There's something wrong with his shoulder." (Detroit News) Morris had bursitis in his own shoulder and thinks Verlander, based on the way he's throwing, is suffering from the same pain.
HOT TICKET: $850 for a seat behind the dugout. That's just one example of the sticker shock Yankee fans are in for when the team moves into its new stadium next year. (New York Daily News)
JOBA RULES: The Yankees may be prowling for starting pitching, but Joba Chamberlain is staying in the bullpen. (New York Daily News)
STAY THE COURSE: They also plan to stick with Jason Giambi at first base, at least for now. (New York Post)
WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? You can almost hear the Bronx accent of ESPN.com's Bill Byast as he bellows that the Yankees start slow every year, and they always make the playoffs every year, so whaddya worried about now??
HE CALLED IT: The Daily News' Mike Lupica remembers that one of Brian McNamee's lawyers, Earl Ward, said, "Brian knows a lot about Roger's moral character. And if some of the stuff were to come out, Roger Clemens would look very, very bad." And he remembers when he said it: In January. Ward looks positively visionary these days.
NICE TRY: Still, the blog Sports Law Blog says these titillating disclosures of Clemens are all well and good, but none of it -- unless the judge is missing a few brain cells -- will be admissible into his lawsuit against McNamee.
REUNITED: The paths of Joe Torre and Willie Randolph, who spent so many years together in the Yankee dugout, are passing again this week at Dodger Stadium. Yahoo.com's Tim Brown reports that they're in different places . . . and not just geographically. Speaking of geography, things have gotten so bad at Shea Stadium -- Mets fans can't get past last September -- that Randolph says the team prefers to be on the road. (New York Post)
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT 'TIL IT'S GONE: The New York Observer's Howard Megdal says current Mets whipping boy Oliver Perez is a lot more valuable than he's being credit for and his "loss would be staggering" if the teams allows him to hit free agency.
ANNOUNCERS, THUMBS UP: The blog Basebology gives Tim McCarver a little loving "for his refusal to play along with Joe Buck's idiocy in regards to jinxes and curses during the Cubs - Cardinals game on Fox Saturday afternoon."
ANNOUNCERS, THUMBS DOWN: Jeff Brantley -- who's already made a name for himself in the Reds' broadcast booth this year -- is now irritating some of the Cincinnati players with his on-air remarks. (mlb.com)
STRANGE BREW: The Sporting News' Gerry Fraley thinks the Brewers have deficiencies that need to be fixed before they can consider themselves contenders.
NEW PARK, OLD PROBLEM: Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan examines the Nationals' low attendance figures, even though the recently opened Nationals Park is a jewel.
REMEMBER WHEN? The Chicago Sun-Times has a 10-year anniversary piece, including video, on Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game.
TONED DOWN: Ozzie Guillen was less profane, but no less passionate, as he pleaded with White Sox fans to be patient with his team. (Chicago Tribune)
NEVER ENDS, DOES IT? But just as the controversy over Guillen's foul-mouthed tirade had subsided, word comes that the White Sox were doing nasty things to some blowup dolls in their Toronto clubhouse Sunday in a light-hearted attempt to break their slump. For this, Guillen offers no apologies. "One hundred percent of the people in the clubhouse are 18 years old, and that's a private thing," he told the Chicago Sun Times. "If the players do it in the dugout where everyone can see or in the hotel lobby -- we did it in our clubhouse, and a lot of things happen in the clubhouse."
HERE AND THERE: Jimmy Rollins went 4-for-4 in a rehab game Monday (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . The Braves picked up Greg Norton from Seattle (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Orioles' Adam Loewen has no structural damage in his pitching arm (Washington Post) . . . Mark Mulder continues to struggle in his Triple-A rehab assignment for the Cardinals (rotoworld.com) . . . Francisco Liriano, on the other hand, pitched well in Triple-A last night (rotoworld.com) . . . Good news for the Blue Jays: B.J. Ryan's been given clearance to pitch back-to-back days (mlb.com) . . . Ken Griffey Jr. played last night despite the fact that his best friend died of cancer earlier that day (frontier.cincinnati.com) . . . The Indians have dropped Jason Michaels (blog.cleveland.com) . . . Steve Traschel's spot in the Orioles rotation could be in jeopardy. (Baltimore Sun)
OLD FRIENDS: Nomar Garciaparra, recovering from a pulled left calf muscle, resumed baseball activities yesterday (mlb.com) . . . Bronson Arroyo says there's nothing wrong with him except that he's pitching terribly (mlb.com) . . . Keith Foulke pitched well in a rehab stint and is about ready to rejoin the A's (mlb.com) . . . The Brewers plan to stick with the embattled Eric Gagne as their closer. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:50 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, May 5
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
YOU'RE RIDIN' HIGH IN APRIL, SHOT DOWN IN MAY: Ol' Blue Eyes could have been singing right to the Rays, whose sweep of the Red Sox at the Trop during the last weekend in April is yesterday's news after the Sox (above) returned the favor -- in far more convincing fashion -- at Fenway over the first weekend in May. It started with a rain-delayed 7-3 win Friday night that didn't end until 12:48 a.m, continued with a 12-4 thumping Saturday night that made a winner of Josh Beckett, and concluded with yesterday's 7-3 series wrapup behind more strong pitching from Jon Lester. (All stories projo.com.) That's a 26-10 runs differential, compared to the 10-5 combined scores that the Rays posted in their three wins in St. Petersburg. If a similarity strikes you -- the 10 runs scored by the Rays in both series -- you're right; the difference in the two weekends is that the Sox bats, silenced in the heat of central Florida, came alive in the cold and drizzle of the Northeast. Steven Krasner noted the offensive explosion in his Inside The Game feature Sunday, and it continued yesterday.
The Sox' fans, accustomed to far greater success than the long-suffering Rays followers, reacted a lot more sedately than the Tampa Bay crowds; no brooms, no gloating, no talk of redemption. (Even our old friend Steve Silva, who can be hilarilously over-the-top in times like these, kept it toned down.) As for the Rays themselves, they took the three losses in stride, saying in both the St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Tribune that, in the words of manager Joe Maddon, they didn't see the weekend "being devastating to this group at all." Probably not; the Rays, in the words of Baseball Prospectus, are "swimming in prodigious young talent these days" and the long-term future is very bright. But the blog Shysterball thinks that, for this year anyway, "I have this feeling [the Rays] won't be getting much closer" to the Sox than the three games they trail by as we speak.
WELL-ARMED: Lost in the fireworks provided by the bats is the shutdown pitching of the Sox' starters, extending back well beyond this series. Sean McAdam takes a closer look at it all and some of the numbers are astounding: An overall 2.69 ERA for the starting pitchers (including emergency callups David Pauley and Justin Masterson) and a 1.92 ERA in the last eight games. Curt Schilling agrees with McAdam. (38pitches.com)
NOT SO WELL-ARMED: Good thing the starters are going go well, because -- as Sean notes -- the bullpen, save for Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima, hasn't been nearly as reliable as the rotation. McAdam specifically mentions the struggles of Manny Delcarmen at the end of the column, which leads us to . . .
ANOTHER CHANCE: The recall of Craig Hansen, reported today in the notebook by McAdam and Paul Kenyon. His roster spot is that of Brandon Moss, who underwent an emergency appendectomy Saturday night and was reported yesterday to be comfortable and recovering. (projo.com) But the job Hansen may take is Delcarmen's. If you click back to the earlier McAdam column, you'll see where Sean notes the Sox are looking for an effective bridge to the Okajima/Papelbon tandem -- opponents are hitting .500 off Mike Timlin and Delcarmen has been scored upon in 9 of his 16 appearances this year, including 5 of his last 6 -- and Hansen will probably get a real shot to fill that role. On a transcript of his ESPN Radio appearance on the Hacks With Haggs blog, Peter Gammons says the Angels were raving about Hansen after he pitched against them two weeks ago.
The notebook also contains items on David Ortiz' ailing knee, the emergence of the stolen base as a Red Sox offensive weapon (who'da thunk?) and the continuing offensive struggles of Mike Lowell.
THE REAL MONSTER: Speaking of Papelbon -- which we were, a few steps back -- the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo has a nice feature on the Sox' closer, whose dominance is sparking memories (among those, like me, old enough to rememeber) of Dick Radatz.
TOUGH TALK: He's a players' manager through and through, which means any problems he needs to address will be taken care of out of the public eye. Every so often, though, Terry Francona will send a message to his players via the media . . . and that's what he seemed to be doing Friday night, when he talked about the "responsibility" of playing through minor aches and pains. Krasner related his comments, which appeared to be aimed at J.D. Drew and Jacoby Ellsbury; coincidentally or not, both were soon back in the lineup.
WHAT'S THIS? The Sox are now headed to Detroit for the beginning of an 11-game road trip, and they may not recognize what they see when they get there. Jim Leyland, "shocked" by his team's inconsistent offense, is promising a complete change in the batting order tonight. (Detroit Free Press)
THAT'S ONE ON ME: I didn't even know the Red Sox had Matt Miller. Well, they did, and they traded him to the Pirates. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
MOVE OVER, ICHIRO: Jeff Bailey is hitting like a fiend since PawSox manager Ron Johnson made him the team's unlikely leadoff man. (projo.com)
A BEGINNING: Okay, says the New York Daily News' Bill Madden, it's time to face facts: The Phil Hughes/Ian Kennedy Era is over, at least for now with Hughes on the DL and Kennedy on his to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. (New York Daily News) But it didn't matter yesterday, as the Yankee offense continues its own resurgence and led the Yanks to an 8-2 romp over the Mariners in the first game post-Hughes/Kennedy (New York Daily News), completing a weekend sweep and making a winner of Darrell Rasner, who was summoned as one-half of the replacement team for Hughes and Kennedy. (New York Post) The other? Kei Igawa. (New York Post)
AN ENDING? Rhode Island's Jim Salisbury, the national baseball writer for the Philadephia Inquirer, thinks the Yankees' struggle could set in motion of a series of events that will culminate in Brian Cashman being named Phillies' GM.
CROSSFIRE: Willie Randolph is becoming a polarizing figure in Mets Nation. Some, like Tim Marchman of the New York Sun, think he should go; others, like the blog Mets Today, disagree. It's my experience that once a manager gets to this point in the public arena, his departure is only a matter of time.
CINCO DE MAYO: He actually wrote it on May 2, but what better day to highlight Chad Finn's Random Lists of Five, which includes the five Red Sox players he hated the most (and all of whom played for "the reprehensible 2001 team"). I also enjoyed the Five True Yankees Of The New Millennium. (www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases)
ADIOS, JULIO: Finn also has a love letter to Julio Franco, who finally hung them up -- at age 49 -- this weekend, but who "very likely [is] still a couple of years younger than Miguel Tejada."
WHAT A BABE: Tejada's been the butt of a lot of jokes lately, and not without reason. Even so, he deserves props for delivering on his Ruthian promise to hit a home run for a child with muscular dystrophy. (Houston Chronicle)
IT'S A START: Roger Clemens finally apologized -- to his "family and fans" for "mistakes in my personal life" -- but continues to insist he never used performance-enhancing drugs. (New York Daily News)
WHAT ABOUT THEM? Ozzie Guillen wonders -- in the purplest language imaginable -- why the White Sox, who won the World Series in 2005, are so criticized in Chicago while the Cubs, who haven't won in 100 years, get a pass. (Chicago Tribune)
PACK YOUR BAGS THEN, SORI: Lou Piniella compares Alfonso Soriano to Bobby Bonds. (Chicago Tribune)
WHADDYA WORRIED ABOUT? Stop fretting about the Rockies' 12-19 record. The Denver Post's Woody Paige points out that it's only one game off last year's 13-18 mark at this point, and the Rox made it to the World Series in '07. So I guess those 20 wins in 21 games at the end of last season is something we can expect every year, then.
TURNAROUND IS FAIR PLAY: The Miami Herald notes the off-center characters in the Marlins' bullpen aren't spooked by opposing fans. In fact, it's the other way around.
MEDICAL REPORT: The Giants' Matt Cain has a hamstring problem (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Rockies' Kip Wells will undergo surgery to remove blood clots from his pitching hand (Denver Post) . . . The Tigers' Dontrelle Willis has had a setback in his rehab from an injured knee (Detroit News) . . . The Royals' John Bale broke his hand after punching a door (Kansas City Star) . . . The Braves' Peter Moylan may need season-ending surgery. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
OLD FRIENDS: Joel Piniero has a bad back and may miss his scheduled start tonight (rotoworld.com) . . . Eric Gagne "has become a crap shoot when the Brewers summon him to close games," according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; yesterday he suffered his fifth blown save of the year . . . Derek Lowe got hammered in Denver yesterday (Los Angeles Times) . . . But Bronson Arroyo was even worse, and Reds manager Dusty Baker suspects he may be injured (Springfield News-Sun) . . . Kason Gabbard made a strong rehab start for the Rangers Saturday and may start for Texas on Thursday night. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:48 AM | Permalink
Moss on the move again
Not even a Red Sox player is exempt from the desire to get patients in and out of hospitals as quickly as possible these days.
Brandon Moss is the case in point. The Red Sox outfielder was taken to the hospital last night for an appendectomy. He complained of feeling ill about an hour before the game began, was examined and taken to the hospital. Sox officials reported about 11:15 p.m. that he was out of surgery and doing well.
Now, he is about to be released from the hospital.
``He’ll be out of the hospital in about an hour, which is unbelievable to me,’’ Sox manager Terry Francona reported at about 10:30 a.m. ``He’s doing OK.’’
The plan was to have Moss brought to his apartment to let him rest there.
``From there we’re still trying to sort out what’s in his best interests,’’ Francona said. ``We’ll probably let him to go home for 10 days or so.’’
Moss, who is from Georgia, likely will be sent to Florida when he regains his health. He will do some rehab work there before being activated.
The current plan, Francona said, is to delay a decision on replacing Moss on the roster, at least for today. The Sox pitching situation is excellent after Josh Beckett’s eight-inning performance Saturday night. The only concern is being shorthanded in the outfield.
``We’d like to get through today and see where we stand,’’ Francona said. ``We just don’t want to get in a situation where we call somebody up, something happens and we have to option somebody. I think we’re better off waiting until the end of the day.’’
For the time being, Julio Lugo is the emergency outfielder.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 11:09 AM | Permalink
Francona makes a promise
Good morning from Fenway.
Two items before we get to the lineups.
We already have a promise for the day. Terry Francona just had his pre-game meeting with the media and he promised there would be a game today. It is raining now and looks and feels miserable. But the manager obviously has been told the weather will clear.
He did not guarantee it would clear soon enough to begin on time. He just said there would be a game.
Secondly, a note on pre-game activities. As mentioned, it is raining. It is very wet. As we speak, workers are going through the park hosing down the seats. It just seems weird to see a crew out spraying water in the rain. Obviously, they are doing some cleaning. It just looks out of place…
Here are the lineups:
TAMPA BAY
Iwamura 2b
Crawford LF
Upton CF
Pena 1b
Longoria 3b
Gomes DH
Hinske RF
Riggans C
Bartlett SS
Kazmir P
BOSTON
Crisp CF
Pedroia 2b
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Lowell 3b
Youkilis 1b
Drew RF
Varitek C
Lugo SS
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 10:49 AM | Permalink
FRIDAY NIGHT GAME STORY: Red Sox 7, Rays 3
BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- A long night at Fenway turned out to be well worth it for the Red Sox.
The Sox, led by their young hitters, broke out of their offensive slump and beat Tampa Bay, 7-3. The game ended at 12:48 a.m. Saturday morning after beginning two hours and 27 late because of a persistent rain.
Boston’s young players, most notably Brandon Moss, didn't mind staying up so late.
Moss started a five-run Sox fourth inning with a drive into the bleachers in center for his second home run, added a hit and scored a run with a nice slide on a close play in the eighth, and threw a runner out from right to keep the game scoreless in the second.
Dustin Pedroia added three hits, scored once and drove in three, and Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit and two walks, scored one and drove in one as the Sox had 13 hits and a total of 18 base runners.
Another of the kids, Clay Buchholz, got the victory. He struggled a bit with his control (four walks), but allowed only one run in 5 1/3 innings. Even with a four-run lead, Jonathan Papelbon closed it out after Javy Lopez, Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima protected the lead.
"We needed it,'' Terry Francona said of the victory over a team that had swept the Sox in Florida last weekend.
Tampa is the young team on the rise, but it was Boston’s recent Pawtucket graduates who were the stars. Moss was the biggest on offense.
"I think you can tell we have no qualms about playing him. He does a good job,'' Francona said of Moss, who started in right with J.D. Drew still out because of a quad problem.
Moss was asked what part of it he most enjoyed.
"The home run,'' he responded. "But it always feels good to play good defense and help the team out.’’
His defense kept the game scoreless in the second inning. Gabe Gross was on second when Jason Bartlett lined a single to right.
"I was playing Bartlett in a bit. It got to me on one hop,'' Moss noted. "When I got it [Gross] was rounding third, so I had time to set my feet. As soon as I let it go I knew it was a good throw. I was just hoping he didn’t beat it.’’
The Sox took the lead with a run in the third when Julio Lugo doubled and Pedroia doubled him home.
The offense really got going in the fourth and it was Moss who sparked it. With two outs and no one on -- Boston already was leading 1-0 thanks to a two-out RBI double by Pedroia in the third -- he crushed a 2-and-0 pitch from Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson to the bleachers in dead center.
"There were [other] balls hit to center that didn’t go anywhere,'' Francona said. "He was all over that ball.'' The shot landed on top of the canvas that protects the camera in center.
That opened the floodgates. Jason Varitek singled, Lugo walked and Ellsbury singled to center, scoring Varitek and sending Lugo to third. With Pedroia at the plate, Ellsbury took off and easily stole second, his ninth of the year and 18th straight in his career -- he has never been thrown out.
Both runners came home when Pedroia singled to left. Pedroia took second on the throw home and scored on a single by David Ortiz, making it 6-0. The five third-inning runs were more than the Sox had scored in their last five games combined.
Tampa Bay got as close as 6-3, but the Sox put it away in the bottom of the eighth when Moss singled and came all the way around on a drive off the top of the wall in left-center by Varitek.
Buchholz did the rest.
"I thought his stuff was phenomenal," Francona said. "His command at times got him into a couple jams but he had the stuff to pitch out of it.''
While he was happy with the victory, Buchholz feels he has to improve his control.
"I hate walking people,'' said Buchholz, who walked the first two hitters in the second before Moss made his big defensive play. "That usually kills you . . .
"It comes down to making them swing and make contact instead of being too fine with my pitches."
He is a young player getting better, as are Moss and Ellsbury and Pedroia, the others who helped the Sox move back into sole possession of first place.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 1:32 AM | Permalink
Game time set for 9:30
The tarp is being removed at Fenway Park.
Game time has been set for 9:30, barring any more rain.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 8:54 PM | Permalink
Fenway Action By 9:30?
Despite weather forecasts to the contrary, it is still raining at Fenway.
The latest forecast given to Red Sox officials is that the rain is expected to end by 8:45 or 9 p.m. That means a best case scenario of a start around 9:30.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 8:32 PM | Permalink
We are delayed at Fenway
A light but steady rain has been falling for some time at Fenway, bad enough to cause a delay.
A Red Sox official said the rain is likely to remain in the area until about 8 p.m.
For now, the tarp remains on the field and very few fans are in the stands. We will update as warranted.
For what it's worth, the Sox are not as excited as they have been in the past to play the Rays. Boston is 61-23 all-time against the Rays at Fenway. The Rays swept the Sox last weekend in Florida and have won four in a row going back to last season, equalling their longest winning streak ever against Boston.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 6:47 PM | Permalink
Schilling making major progress
BOSTON _ Curt Schilling could be back throwing a baseball again soon.
``Very soon,’’ Schilling said today after he completed a workout at Fenway.
The veteran, who at one point was feared to be lost for the season, was upbeat as he spoke about what he has been doing and what his immediate future could be.
``I feel strong. I feel great. I feel everything I’m supposed to feel,’’ Schilling said.
The 41-year-old right-hander signed a one-year $8 million deal with the Sox in November. But a major problem with his throwing shoulder was discovered before the start of spring training. There even was some discussion about the Red Sox possibly voiding the deal.
Today, though, all was positive both from Schilling and manager Terry Francona, who reported that Schilling is set to be measured, as he described it, this weekend.
``That may lead to him starting to throw the ball,’’ Francona said. ``We’ll see.’’
Schilling received a cortisone shot in February, rather than undergoing surgery. He reported all has been on the improve ever since. He has undergone numerous tests.
``We’ve done a bunch of them. They’ve continued to improve on every single time,’’ Schilling reported.
``Today is like a light day,’’ he said. ``We’re alternating heavy and light days. The heavy days just got immensely heavy, so the light days are much lighter. We’ve come to realize a ways through this that every time I have an off day I’m immensely better the following day.
``The workload on my heavy days is excessive. There is no pain. No stamina issues. No strength loss. No lingering effects, which is a huge plus.’’
There is one more step to take.
``I haven’t thrown yet. That’s the big piece of this,’’ he said. ``I don’t envision, with the amount of work that we’ve done and things that we’re doing, that I’m going to come back and start throwing and it’s not going to work. I think we’re set now to go for an extended period of time with me throwing and getting more amped up on the throwing side of things to see how far we can take it.’’
Most days, Schilling has done his work early in the day and been gone by 2 p.m. when his teammates arrive.
``I’m here and done most days by like 2,’’ he related. ``It’s weird. It’s very uncomfortable. I try and impact the guys on this team that I’m close with at time when we can talk away from everybody, then I go do my thing.’’
The goal is not just to be able to pitch, but to be effective.
``It’s not just about me getting healthy and coming back. I have to be good,’’ he said.
``Last time I looked, this rotation didn’t have a hole it in. There are a lot of different scenarios that might come about, with innings limits for guys and things. But I’ve got to come back and be good. I can’t just get healthy and come back and expect to come back and have a spot.’’
Schilling has enjoyed watching the way the Sox rotation has developed this season, even without him.
``These guys are all very good to great,’’ he said.
Schilling spoke about how he would not be putting himself through the process if he did not have confidence he would be able to pitch again.
``I’ve never thought otherwise,'' he said. ``If I didn’t believe absolutely that I’d have the ball in a World Series game I wouldn’t be doing this.’’
_PK
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:02 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, May 2
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
THIRD TIME'S NO CHARM: There was no late-night magic at Fenway Park last night, even though it seemed for a moment that -- thanks to umpire Bruce Dreckman -- there might be. (Which, as Sean McAdam notes, would have been the last straw for the stumbling Blue Jays.) But Paul Kenyon has the details of a comeback, minor as it might have been, snuffed out in what wound up being a 3-0 Toronto victory.
So the stark reality that's been somewhat masked by the ninth-inning miracles of the previous two nights is now staring the glum Red Sox (above) in the face: They ain't hittin' (Boston Herald). (Check out the linescore of the last 50 innings from Joy of Sox.) As Rob Bradford points out in the Herald piece, Sox batters have struck out almost as many times (33) as they've reached base via hit or walk (37) in the last five games. The "You have to tip your hat to the opposing pitcher" rationale is wearing thin after five consecutive games in which they've scored four runs.
What's surprising, to me, is the lack of discussion about it; I thought my pals at Sons of Sam Horn would be all over it, but as of now this is the only thread regarding the offense (and a tepid one it is). Part of it, of course, is that we know -- or at least we're reasonably sure -- this team will hit; no less an authority than Jim Rice says so. (ask14.sullivantire.com) The recent blackout can't obscure the fact that the Sox actually performed very well offensively through the season's first month. (Baseball Analysts) And the team's recent run of success has somewhat curbed the knee-jerk regional panic that once would have accompanied such a stretch of offensive wretchedness.
But four runs in five games? Only four more baserunners than strikeouts? That's a team slump.
APRIL IS THE CRUELEST MONTH: It certainly was for the Blue Jays, who had dreams of glory when the season started but who find themselves looking up at the pack after a wretched start. (projo.com) It had our buddy the Tao of Steib doing some hard soul-searching yesterday afternoon, but the Toronto Star's Richard Griffin says the happy Jays are confident that their April showers will bring May flowers . . . or something. (Man, what a wretched phrase.) In his Inside The Game feature, Steven Krasner notes the Blue Jays didn't help themselves last night with yet more basepath blunders and some overaggressive baserunning that may have stemmed from manager John Gibbons' attempts to break the team's bad karma (though I'm sure Gibbons didn't use those words).
DRAMA KINGS: Can't say April (or the two days in March in which they also played games that count) was too cruel for the Red Sox, though. It started on Opening Day -- Night? Morning? -- in Tokyo when Brandon Moss' ninth-inning homer off A's closer Huston Street sparked the Sox to a come-from-behind, extra-inning win, and it continued all through the end of April as Boston won no fewer than eight games by scoring runs in the eighth inning or later. Our own Mike McDermott yesterday put together a slide show of all eight games.
MONTH OF NOTHING: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark doesn't mention the Sox, positively or negatively, in his April recap.
HO HUM: He does mention the Rays, though, who arrive in Boston tonight for the beginning of a three-game series. They're fresh off two wins in three games against the Orioles but, unlike their euphoria over sweeping the Red Sox last weekend, they're taking this bit of success in stride. (Tampa Tribune) They may not have B.J. Upton in the lineup tonight, though (Tampa Tribune)
ON THE CLOCK: McAdam and Kenyon report that word on the Sox' potential spring move to Sarasota may come sooner rather than later. It's the lead of a newsy notebook that includes items on David Ortiz' ailing knee, other injury details, Terry Francona praising Brandon Moss, and a kudo for the Sox' farm department.
COMRADES IN DIFFERENT UNIFORMS: Blue Jays hitting coach Gary Denbo first got to know Mike Lowell when he was working as a Yankees minor-league instructor and Lowell was a New York farmhand. They've stayed close through the years -- in fact, Denbo worked with Lowell on his swing in the 2005-06 offseason, prior to Lowell's joining the Red Sox -- and he wishes he could help his friend now as the Sox' third baseman struggles to get back on his feet offensively. (Boston Herald)
I NEVER SAW IT: As I said the other day, for what it is -- a forum to answer questions and quickly address issues -- Jim Rice's blog consistently delivers interesting material. Today he tells us he never experienced the type of racism Torii Hunter described during his visit to Fenway last week.
HOSPITAL VISIT: John Henry went to Children's Hospital to sit with, and bring gifts to, the 8-year-old boy who was hit by a foul ball at Fenway the other night. (Boston Herald)
MINOR STUFF: Joe Haggerty has a nice feature on Red Sox farmhand Daniel Bard. (hackswithhaggs.com)
AND THEN I MET A MAN WHO HAD NO FEET: And you think the Sox have got it bad.
The Yankees lost to the Tigers 8-4 last night, completing a three-game Detroit sweep. (New York Daily News) The Yanks also announced that not only is Phil Hughes indeed injured -- some (guilty as charged) were skeptical after the clumsy way they handled things Wednesday -- but that he'll be out until at least July because of a rib fracture. (Daily News) The Yanks' other kid starter, Ian Kennedy, is struggling, too (New York Post), and the only white knight riding to the rescue at the moment is Darrell Rasner. (Daily News) Not only that, but the Yanks' offense -- while not currently at Red Sox subterranean levels -- isn't scoring enough to pick up the slack. (Newsday) Joe Girardi is starting to catch some heat from the media for his "testy [and] secretive and confrontational" public persona. (New York Daily News) And Yankee fans, true to their I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it-and-I-deserve-it! DNA, are a) booing Kennedy (one night after booing Hughes) and b) writing to Peter Abraham and suggesting the Yanks sign Barry Bonds, David Wells and Mike Piazza as a means of righting the ship. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
There is good news, though. Bobby Murcer returns to the YES broadcast booth tonight. (New York Daily News)
CALM DOWN: Newsday's Ken Davidoff says the Yankees are in transition, not crisis.
MECHANICALLY SPEAKING: The blog Baseball Digest breaks down Hughes' pitching mechanics.
UNFUL-PHILED: Our own Michael Salfino, writing for sny.tv, says the Yanks have handled Hughes poorly.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, COME TO YOUR SENSES: The Daily News reports the pals of Roger Clemens -- today's bimbo revelation: a former stripper in Detroit -- are pleading with him to drop his defamation lawsuit against Brian McNamee, disappear from the public eye, and try to put together the pieces of his shattered life and reputation. Clemens' actions to this point, according to Peter Keane, a constitutional law professor at Golden Gate University, have been "like watching a lemming heading for the waves."
SEEN THIS ACT BEFORE: Paul Janszen, who had a front-row seat to Pete Rose's self-destruction 20 years ago, says Clemens "is Pete Rose to a T." (Cincinnati Enquirer)
NOW THE SEASON HAS REALLY BEGUN: Lou Piniella had his first volcanic eruption of the year after the Cubs blew a ninth-inning lead and lost to the Brewers. (Chicago Sun-Times)
HE'S NUMBER ONE: SI.com's Jon Heyman makes the case that the Angels' Mike Scioscia is the best manager in baseball.
SO'S HE . . . . IN A DIFFERENT WAY: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman makes the case that the Mets' Willie Randolph should be the first managerial dismissal of the year.
WHAT I MEANT WAS . . . Vin Scully clarifies his "I may retire" comments to the Los Angeles Times' Bill Plaschke.
THUMBS UP: The Washington Post's Thomas Boswell says that after the first month, we can conclude Nationals Park is a winner.
'BECAUSE HE'S A [BLEEPED BY REQUEST]': In a comprehensive Q-and-A with Big League Stew's David Brown, Tigers coach Andy Van Slyke discusses many topics . . . including former teammate Barry Bonds.
R.I.P.: The L.A. Times remembers former Dodger, Padre and Angel executive Buzzie Bavasi, who died at age 92.
FORGET IT: Director Ron Shelton says there are no plans for a sequel to the sublime baseball movie Bull Durham, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
HERE AND THERE: With Troy Tulowitzki sidelined until until perhaps the All-Star break, the Rockies are expressing interest in free agent Juan Castro (both stories Denver Post) . . . The Phillies' Ryan Howard is coming alive at the plate (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . Jose Canseco lost his house to foreclosure (AP via yahoo.com) . . . Derrick Turnbow's roster spot in Milwaukee may be in jeopardy (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Reds may put Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn on the trade block. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Eric Gagne got his ninth save (and Brian Shouse got the win) in the aforementioned Milwaukee win over Chicago. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
CONGRATULATIONS . . . to our own Joe McDonald, who's in Salisbury, N.C., this weekend to pick up his award as Rhode Island's 2007 Sports Writer of the Year for his work on the Red Sox and PawSox, among other assignments. And kudos to PawSox play-by-play man Steve Hyder, named the R.I. Sportscaster of the Year.
AND FINALLY . . . Thanks to Ian Donnis for the callout in his Providence Phoenix feature on the changing media landscape in Rhode Island.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:53 AM | Permalink
Moss makes an impression
Brandon Moss is likely to be with Boston only temporarily. It is very likely that when the team's health situation improves, Moss will be back in Pawtucket.
Still, in the long run, Moss could benefit from his experiences with the parent team this season.
Moss had one of the hits in the ninth inning in Wednesday night’s victory. The lefty singled up the middle against southpaw Scott Downs. Moss, who was recalled when Sean Casey went on the disabled list, is at .286 (4-for-14), including a home run in the Tokyo Dome.
``He’s an interesting player,’’ manager Terry Francona said when asked about the 24-year-old who was Pawtucket’s MVP last season. ``He’s a good outfielder. Actually, he can play center, although I don’t think that’s his every day position. You can put him there. He can play the corners. He’s fine. Can he play first base (the position the Sox want him to play in Pawtucket this season)? All of a sudden you’ve got a young left-handed hitter who can play three or four positions and hit a fastball. That’s pretty valuable.’’
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 6:12 PM | Permalink
Moss makes an impression
Brandon Moss is likely to be with Boston only temporarily. It is very likely that when the team's health situation improves, Moss will be back in Pawtucket.
Still, in the long run, Moss could benefit from his experiences with the parent team this season.
Moss had one of the hits in the ninth inning in Wednesday night’s victory. The lefty singled up the middle against southpaw Scott Downs. Moss, who was recalled when Sean Casey went on the disabled list, is at .286 (4-for-14), including a home run in the Tokyo Dome.
``He’s an interesting player,’’ manager Terry Francona said when asked about the 24-year-old who was Pawtucket’s MVP last season. ``He’s a good outfielder. Actually, he can play center, although I don’t think that’s his every day position. You can put him there. He can play the corners. He’s fine. Can he play first base (the position the Sox want him to play in Pawtucket this season)? All of a sudden you’ve got a young left-handed hitter who can play three or four positions and hit a fastball. That’s pretty valuable.’’
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 6:12 PM | Permalink
Scouting pays off
The Red Sox have made no secret of their focus on developing their own players. The scouting department has a big reason to be smiling right now.
The team did research on what took place last week, when Craig Hansen was briefly recalled. He was drafted in 2005. So were Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and Jed Lowrie. They were all taken in the first four rounds.
According to the researchers, it marked the first time any team has ever had its top four draft choices in the majors together, and all appearing for at least one game, within three years of the draft.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:11 PM | Permalink
Today's medical report
Terry Francona sounds as much like a doctor as the Red Sox manager in his pre-game press conferences these days. Today was a perfect example.
``Doctor’’ Francona had mostly good news to report on his ``patients.’’
Jacoby Ellsbury is not yet ready to start, but he is out on the field doing some work as we speak. He has had a groin problem.
``He feels it getting better. We’ll know more when he runs around,’’ Francona said.
J.D. Drew also was on the field testing his ailing quad.
``He’s doing some shagging,’’ Franconca said. ``We’ll see where that leads.’’
And then there is David Ortiz’ knee.
``He’s on the elliptical right,’’ Francona related. ``He’s OK. I think he’s just sore. He knows he can't just come and play the game any more. He doesn't have that freedom. He knows that.’’
Ortiz is learning, the manager said, that he has to do pre-game work to get himself ready. At his age and size, he is simply going to have to deal with some aches and pains in his knee.
``He can’t come and just play the game,’’ Franconca said of Ortiz putting in work before the game.
Coco Crisp, who also had knee concerns, will play.
``He’s a little sore,’’ Francona said. ``He’s OK to play or we wouldn’t play him. We would do something different.’’
Two lineup moves tonight are not medically related. Since Tim Wakefield is pitching (he was working on a crossword puzzle just now) Kevin Cash will catch. Also, Julio Lugo is 3-for-17 in his career against A.J. Burnett the Toronto starter. Jed Lowrie needs work, so Lowrie will play short.
``It just seemed like a good day to do it,'' Francona said, for once sounding more like a manager than a doctor.''
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 4:48 PM | Permalink
A night off for Lugo
Jed Lowrie will play shortstop for the Red Sox tonight. Coco Crisp will play center even though he is not 100 percent and Jacoby Ellsbury is still not ready to start.
Those are the first developments of the day. We'll explain the development soon, but here are the lineups to get us started:
TORONTO
Rios PF
Eckstein SS
Stairs DH
Wells CF
Hill 2b
Stewart LF
Barajas C
Scutaro 1b
Burnett P
BOSTON
Pedroia 2b
Youkilis 1b
Ortiz DH
Ramirez RF
Lowell 3b
Moss RF
Crisp CF
Lowrie SS
Cash C
Wakefield P
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 4:25 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, May 1
AP Photo
TAKE TWO: Twenty-four hours had passed, and the situation was almost identical: Great pitchers' duel. Tie game. Runners at first and second. Bottom of the ninth. But this time, as Sean McAdam writes, it took two singles to center, not one, to drive in the winning run. After pinch-runner Jed Lowrie was thrown out at the plate by Vernon Wells on Brandon Moss' first attempt to end things, Jason Varitek (above, being congratulated by first-base coach Luis Alicea) delivered Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox had their second straight walkoff win over the Blue Jays, 2-1. The postgame celebration, writes the Globe's Amalie Benjamin, mirrored the one from the night before, even if the principles were a little different. Lost in the afterglow was another good starting-pitching performance, this one from Daisuke Matsuzaka (seven innings, two hits, no runs), whom Jim Rice thinks is poised for a 20-win season (ask14.sullivantire.com) and whom Tom Hanks thinks would be a great subject for a movie. (afp.google.com)
They're still not hitting or scoring much -- yesterday's two-run output was their highest since last Friday, and they've scored a grand total of four runs in their last four games -- but their pitching has been lights out; how else could they be 2-2 over that span? And how else could they be back in first place (projo.com) despite such feeble production? Goes to show that when you can pitch -- and the ProJo Fantasy Sports Blog's pitcher rankings show the Sox can pitch, all right -- you've always got a chance.
ANOTHER WEAPON: You've also got always got a chance when you've got a Jonathan Papelbon at the back end of your bullpen, and Papelbon appears to have expanded his skill set by mastering something he barely used last year: A pickoff move. We all remember how he nailed down Game Two of the World Series with his unexpected, eighth-inning erasure of Matt Holliday (projo.com), made all the more surprising by the fact that he hadn't picked off a runner -- or, indeed, thrown over to first base very much -- all year. He did it again last night, nailing ex-Providence College star John McDonald in the ninth inning to help preserve the 1-1 tie. (Boston Herald) The Jays think Papelbon's move is a balk but they didn't argue the call; McDonald, to his credit, said simply, "[You] can't get picked off in that situation." (Both stories Toronto Star)
SPRING AWAKENING? The offensive catalyst at last was David Ortiz, who homered in the seventh and kick-started the game-winning rally with a single in the ninth. The Herald's Alex Speier says "he’s showing signs [of] coming around" despite the .184 batting average he takes out of the month of April.
GO FIGURE: Terry Francona didn't run for Ortiz on Tuesday night and the big guy managed to lumber home from second base with the game-winning run on Kevin Youkilis' single. Francona did send in Lowrie to run for him last night, and Lowrie got nailed at the plate. That dichotomy, and the reason behind it, is the lead item in Steven Krasner's Inside The Game, which also includes items on Manny Delcarmen's continuing struggles and a brain cramp by Marco Scutaro that could have cost the Jays in the eighth. The online-only version contains an item on Dustin Pedroia sterling defense at second base. (ProJo Sox Blog)
STAR POWER: Our pal the Tao of Steib isn't a big fan of Kevin Youkilis (caution: that distaste mainfests itself in some NSFW language), but MLB apparently is. For the first time, it has Youk on the All-Star ballot. (Boston Globe)
LOOKING FOR NEW DIGS: The news that the Sox may move their spring-training base to Sarasota -- their spring home for most of the 1930s, '40s and '50s -- when their deal with Fort Myers expires after 2011 is the lead item in McAdam and Krasner's notebook. The ABC7 Sports Blog in Fort Myers says not to worry, the Sox aren't going anywhere, but seems to base that bravado solely on the team's string of sellouts -- something that would probably happen anywhere they played -- while almost completely ignoring the fact that the Sox a) would like to house their minor-league spring operations together with their major-league program, which they can't do in Fort Myers because of a lack of land, and b) have their Florida State League affiliate play at their spring-training facility, which they also can't do at Fort Myers because the Twins own the territory.
IT'S NOT QUITE THE SAME AS FINDING A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK: So you bought something at Jordan's Furniture in the hopes of cashing in if the Red Sox sweep the World Series? The Wall Street Journal puts the odds of you winning this "bet" at between two and five percent.
HOLD OFF ON THAT TRIP TO COOPERSTOWN JUST YET: Everyone was singing Justin Masterson's praises after his one-shot in Boston last week -- including us -- but he had a crashing-back-to-Earth moment in his first start back with Portland last night. (Portland Press-Herald)
STRONG VOICE: Seacoastonline.com has a nice feature on Red Sox radio announcer Dave O'Brien.
DON'T JUST SIT THERE, DO SOMETHING! The struggling Blue Jays need something to shake them up, but general manager J.P. Ricciardi says the only thing anyone ever asks for in trade talks is pitching . . . so therefore he's not about to make any trades. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
NEW ERA: Tough times in the Bronx. Not only do the Yanks continue to stumble -- last night it was Andy Pettitte getting beat by the Tigers (New York Post) -- but the calm, in-control aura the team always exuded under Joe Torre is crumbling a bit, too. The news that Phil Hughes is headed to the disabled list because of a mysterious oblique injury (New York Post) -- mysterious because no one had heard a word of a potential Hughes injury until the announcement that he was headed to the DL came in the middle of the game -- was handled "about as adeptly as Jason Giambi handles grounders to his right," according to Newsday's Wallace Matthews. Peter Abraham noted the graceless way Joe Girardi handled routine media inquiries about Hughes prior to the game (LoHud Yankees Blog), leading to the Post's Joel Sherman to decry Girardi's "absurdly secretive nature . . . [which] would make Dick Cheney jealous." Sherman declares Girardi "is a hoodie away from being Bill Belichick . . . minus any success." That's off-the-field stuff. On the field, we have the unknown length of Alex Rodriguez' absence (New York Daily News) and a catching situation so dire that, as Abraham notes, Chad Moeller seems like a savior. Steven Goldman, writing for the Yes Network, says many of the Yanks' preseason plans are in ruins. Yes, tough times indeed.
OLD HURTS: Things aren't much better across town, where the Daily News' Mike Lupica says the stench of last September still reeks at Shea Stadium.
THE REAL RIVALRY: Forget Red Sox-Yankees. ESPN.com's Page 2 says the series between the Orioles and the Rays represents the future battle for A.L. East supremacy. (The Rays I can see, but I'm going to need to get a little more evidence before I sign off on the Orioles.) Pinto, writing for sportingnews.com, says Tampa's improved defense is leading to its sudden pitching success.
GOOD NEWS AT LAST: The ABC7 Sports Blog is the first to defend Roger Clemens -- sort of -- when it points out that it's highly unlikely Clemens met Mindy McCready at a Fort Myers bar when she was 15 in 1991, as reported by the New York Daily News and confirmed by McCready herself. The Red Sox still trained at Winter Haven at the time and it's extremely unlikely he made the Sox' only trip to Fort Myers that spring. (He didn't pitch in the game against the Twins, and starting pitchers almost never travel with the team to away games -- especially those that are 2 1/2 hours away -- if they're not working.) Whether it's a case of McCready lying (as the blog insinuates) or simply a matter of being off by a year or two on the timeframe (as McCready's mother indicates) remains to be seen.
RESUME FIRING: But Clemens and his defenders had almost no time to enjoy this rare bit of relief, as the Daily News now links him with John Daly's ex-wife.
AND A BABE SHALL LEAD YOU: Speaking of Clemens, David Pinto of Baseball Musings thinks Braves farmhand Jordan Schafer -- suspended for use of performance-enhancing drugs -- is doing just what Clemens should have done: Answering "No comment" to any and all inquires about his penalty and his use of PEDs.
COULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM MY LIBRARY: I've read -- and own -- most of the titles in the Bronx Banter's list of essential baseball books. As a personal aside, I think You Know Me Al, which I've just been rereading, should be listed a little higher . . . although I don't know if it's as much "essential" as it is "enjoyable."
THE DEBATE: Two members of the mainstream media with strong online presences -- Joe Posnanski and Peter Abraham -- weigh on in Bob Costa's HBO special about sports media, specifically the part about bloggers and Buzz Bissinger's full frontal attack on Deadspin's Will Leitch, which Leitch chronicles here. Abraham does a great job of explaining the integration of new media by traditional media outlets and why it so angers/frightens many traditionalists. Posnanski -- as usual -- is insightful and elegant as he points out that many of the old writers Bissinger used in his anti-online diatribe would probably be writing blogs today if they'd come of age in this era: "Newspapers are shrinking. Magazines are shrinking. Opportunities in the mainstream are shrinking. Shrinkage is the word. But the Internet is wide open. If [W.C.] Heinz was young, he would be writing words on the Internet just like everyone else, and he would probably have his own blog, and it would be wonderful, and cranky old people would be screaming about Heinz in pajamas."
Great stuff. And must-reads if you're at all interesting in the changing information landscape.
HERE AND THERE: Mike Hampton had to leave his rehab start with Richmond because of pain in his left pectoral muscle (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Oliver Perez lasted only 1 2/3 innings in his start for the Mets yesterday and was blasted by Billy Wagner for taxing an already overtaxed bullpen (nj.com) . . . When John Smoltz is healthy enough to pitch again, he says he's willing to go back to relief (espn.com) . . . Nationals closer Chad Cordero has a torn muscle in the back of his shoulder (Washington Post) . . . Mets catcher Brian Schneider is out of the hospital but still shaken by the staph infection in his thumb (New York Post) . . . Still no word as to when Jimmy Rollins will return to the Phillies (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . Paul Konerko's hand hurts and he doesn't think it's going to get better soon (Chicago Tribune) . . . Jason Grilli's leaving Detroit for Colorado (Detroit News) . . . Alfonso Soriano returns to the Cubs today and says he can still finish the season with 30 stolen bases. (Chicago Sun Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Jorge de la Rosa has hooked on with the Rockies. (Denver Post)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:51 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, April 30
Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl
'WHAT A GAME': Those were the words out of Jerry Remy's mouth less than two seconds after David Ortiz had crossed the plate with the only run of the night, and how true they were. A 0-0 battle between the grizzled vet and the up-and-coming youngster; a game-saving defensive play with two outs in the top of the ninth; a game-winning rally started with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth. Baseball, as the old saying goes, like it oughta be.
Paul Kenyon provides the details, with heavy emphasis on Jon Lester (above, who scattered one hit over eight innings) and Dustin Pedroia's ninth-inning dive to snare the headed-up-the-middle shot by Vernon Wells, which turned what would have been a run-scoring single into an inning-ending out. ("Superman at second base," is how Wells described Pedroia in the Toronto Globe and Mail.) Gretchen Ertl has the story in pictures, and we've been remiss in not pointing to these brilliant nightly slideshows; from now on, you'll see more of them. Sean McAdam details the hard-luck night of Roy Halladay, a throwback to the days when pitchers finished when they started; this was his fourth straight complete game (though, unfortunately for him, he's lost three of them). And Steven Krasner goes Inside The Game on a number of topics, including why the Sox didn't run for Ortiz in the ninth, Pedroia hurting his shoulder on his ninth-inning play (hint: those two items are related), and J.D. Drew's 2007 imitation.
Quite a night. Like we said: Baseball like it oughta be.
HE'S BACK: Last night also marked the return of Mike Lowell, chronicled here by Kenyon and Krasner. The notebook includes the latest health news, including Drew having to leave the game because of a quad strain.
Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl
TIP OF THE HAT: Kevin Youkilis (shown hitting the ninth-inning single that scored Ortiz) had nothing but praise for Halladay after the game: "[He's] going to be a Hall of Fame pitcher."
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE . . . "You know we always get up to play the Red Sox," said Gregg Zaun on his blog prior to last night's game (www2.sportsnet.ca), but being up for the game didn't prevent the struggling Blue Jays from suffering their 15th loss in 26 tries. It's getting so bad that John Gibbons' grandmother, who lives on Boston's North Shore, asked him if he was going to be fired. (Toronto Star)
IT HAPPENS: Hey, it's like Jim Rice said on his Ask 14 blog: Sometimes you just get outplayed. Look at the Sox last weekend in Tampa.
BUMP IN THE ROAD: Craig Hansen hadn't allowed a run in Pawtucket all season, but he gave up three in last night's 9-3 loss at Rochester. (projo.com)
TOO EXPENSIVE: Padres general manager Kevin Towers has asked about Coco Crisp, but says the Red Sox' asking price -- Triple-A left fielder Chase Headley -- is too high. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
SMOKIN': Luis Tiant has introduced "El Tiante" cigars to the South Shore. (wickedlocal.com)
AD MAN: Joe Haggerty reports Manny Ramirez spent Monday's off-day filming a series of commercials at ESPN. (hackswithhaggs.com)
PHIL OF DISASTER: Somewhere Hank Steinbrenner is seething. Phil Hughes was shaky yet again and the Yankees fell to 2-9 in games started by Hughes and fellow rookie Ian Kennedy as the Yanks lost to the Tigers, 6-4. (New York Daily News) The Post's Joel Sherman is the first to call for Hughes to be sent back to the minor leagues, and the Daily News' John Harper thinks it will take a minor miracle to save Hughes' season.
IN THE GOOD-NEWS DEPARTMENT . . . Joba Chamberlain's father is out of the hospital. (New York Post)
IN THE BAD-NEWS DEPARTMENT . . . When they were struggling early last season, Baseball Musings' David Pinto continually expressed the opinion that the Yankees would break out of it and make a run at a postseason berth . . . and he was right. This year, though, he thinks the Yanks "just [don't] have it."
A-LIST: The dreaded strained quad has forced Alex Rodriguez to the disabled list. (New York Post)
LUCKY DRIVER: Johnny Damon gave Gary Sheffield a ride to Yankee Stadium yesterday. After Sheffield slammed a two-run homer last night, he's going to ask Damon for another ride today. (New York Post)
ON THE RISE: ProJo's Fantasy Blog thinks Damon is turning the corner and starting to play better.
LOOKING TO THE STARS: The Yankees and MLB announced plans for July's All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. (mlb.com) If you'd like to be there, bring your wallet . . . and maybe somebody else's, too. (The Journal News)
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: We expressed the sentiment yesterday that Roger Clemens -- had he an ounce of self-awareness, which is questionable -- should rue the day he decided not to admit to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, ask for forgiveness (which he would have gotten, same as everyone else), and disappear into the sunset. Today, the Globe's Nick Cafardo writes the same thing, especially since Clemens' bullheaded insistence on fighting an unwinnable fight is leading to his reputation -- and who knows, maybe his personal life -- being shattered into a million pieces. Today's Daily News revelation: He had extramarital relationships with plenty of women other than Mindy McCready. (And just to bring it even deeper into the gutter, the Boston Herald reports that Clemens also hit on the wife of former wrestler Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake.) As yahoo.com's Tim Brown said yesterday, none of this would have been looked into had Clemens' against-all-odds exhortations that he's telling the truth, and everyone else is lying, invited -- indeed, demanded -- further examination into his affairs. Mike Lupica tears Clemens and his lawyer, Rusty Hardin, to shreds: "Clemens and Hardin were going to bully everybody and roll over everybody, and how has that worked out for both of them?" (New York Daily News)
Not too well, Mike. Not too well.
JUST WAIT: Doug Mientkiewicz, who played with him in Minnesota, says Mets fans haven't seen the real Johan Santana yet. (Newsday)
DECISION COMING? Vin Scully, who's been broadcasting Dodger games since 1950, says he'll talk to his wife when his contract expires at the end of the season and see if she wants him to retire. (New York Times)
END OF THE LINE: Matt Morris, released by the Pirates on Sunday, told his hometown newspaper that he's decided to hang 'em up. (Times Herald-Record) Across the continent in San Francisco, Giant pitching hopefuls Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum remember their ex-teammate and mentor fondly. (mlb.com)
YEAR TO FORGET: Travis Hafner is hitting .243 since last May 1, including the postseason, and he and the Indians can't figure out why. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
THE GREAT DEBATE: USA Today examines the spate of long-term contracts signed by younger players that appear to work in favor of the club, and frames the issue in the words of two agents whose philosophies appear to be diametrically opposed:
Paul Cohen: "To me, it's a no-brainer. Unless you want to live in the middle of Beverly Hills or Fifth Avenue, you're set for life. If you just get 5% of your investment, you never have to work another day in your life."
Scott Boras: "These deals are strongly club-oriented. I can only speak for our clients, but almost every client has benefited substantially from not signing those deals."
What a shock that Boras came down on that side of the argument, eh?
LOCAL BOYS: Chris Iannetta, pressed into action at a strange position (third base) because of a spate of Rockie injuries -- one of which is mentioned below -- had a game "I'll remember . . . for the rest of my life" as he homered and doubled and led Colorado over the Giants, 3-2 (mlb.com) . . . The White Sox' Paul Konerko, whose mother is a Rhode Island native and whose grandparents still live here, became a 10-5 man yesterday and how has the right to veto any trade. (Chicago Tribune)
MEDICAL REPORT: The Rockies may lose Troy Tulowitzki for a while because of the dreaded quad strain (Denver Post) . . . The Rangers' Jason Jennings had to leave last night's start in the third inning because of pain in his surgically repaired elbow (mlb.com) . . . Bobby Cox is happy that John Smoltz just needs rest, and not shoulder surgery (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Remember those worries that Moises Alou had a broken ankle? Well, he doesn't, and the Mets may reactivate him Friday (New York Post) . . . The A's Rich Harden will make a rehab start Thursday. (San Francisco Chronicle)
HERE AND THERE: The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner wonders if Ken Griffey, allegedly unhappy with the going-nowhere Reds, wouldn't be a good fit for the Cubs . . . Jason Botts, designated for assignment by the Rangers, wants to make a new start somewhere else (Dallas Morning News) . . . Ryan Freel is frustrated that he's not playing more in Cincinnati (frontier.cincinnati.com) . . . Mike Cameron had three hits in his Brewer debut (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Everyone says otherwise, but it sure looks like Shane Victorino has lost his starting job with the Phillies. (Philadelphia Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Joel Piniero allowed only one hit over seven innings as the Cardinals beat the Reds. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) As a last tribute to Bob Lobel: Why can't we get players like that?? (Boston Globe) . . . Todd Jones celebrates his 40th birthday by reminiscing about his long career on his blog. (sportingnews.com) He also got the save in the Tigers' win at Yankee Stadium last night (mlb.com) . . . Cliff Floyd, recovering from knee surgery, may be activated on the Rays' next homestand (St. Petersburg Times) . . . Bret Saberhagen's son Drew is playing well at the University of Tennessee. (tricitiessports.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:46 AM | Permalink
A slight delay at Fenway
The grounds crew just drew applause as it began the process of removing the tarp. Still, tonight's Red Sox-Toronto game will begin slightly late, at 7:15 p.m.
The rain, which was supposed to have gone away several hours ago, lingered. The tarp has covered the field all afternoon, although players from both teams have gone out to do some light work as the rain has lightened.
Jon Lester, the Boston starter, is doing calisthenics now but has yet to begin throwing. Roy Halladay, the Toronto starter, has yet to head to the bullpen to warm up.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 6:44 PM | Permalink
Lowell Activated; Corey Designated (again)
As expected, third baseman Mike Lowell was activated from the disabled list today and is in the starting lineup tonight for the game against the Blue Jays.
To make room for Lowell, the Red Sox designated right-handed reliever Bryan Corey for assignment. It was the second time this month Boston has designated Corey.
Lowell had been placed on the DL on April 10 because of a sprained left thumb. He had a three-day rehab assignment with the PawSox that ended on Sunday. On Monday, he worked out at Fenway Park on an off day for the Red Sox, and satisfied manager Terry Francona that he was ready to be activated.
"There's no concern on our part," said Francona this afternoon. "He looks good."
Lowell, who was 3 for 13 with 3 RBI for the PawSox, is looking forward to returning to the lineup.
"I don't think anybody's 100 percent now, but I'm back and ready to play," said Lowell this afternoon. "I felt like I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. I'm excited to play tonight."
``I was most anxious to be seeing pitches. I was able to do that the three days I was there. I felt comfortable,'' Lowell said. ``I'm glad I did it. I'm even happier to be here.''
Lowell has had a special insert made for his glove to protect his thumb.
``I think even if I feel fantastic, I'm going to wear it the rest of the year,'' he said. ``It holds the joint from going where they don't want it to go. It doesn't really bother me, so I think I should wear it. If I don't wear it one day and then I test it and I hurt it again I'm going to feel like I'm an idiot for trying that.''
``Like anything, it takes some time getting used to,'' he added. ``But I feel comfortable enough you could say so I don't think it's going to be a major problem.''
Lowell's return helps solidify the Red Sox' lineup, especially with first baseman Sean Casey on the DL because of a strained right hip. Lowell, who usually bats fifth, will hit sixth tonight because Kevin Youkilis, in the fifth slot, has been solid. Lowell's return allows Francona to slide down slumping J.D. Drew to the seventh spot. Drew is in a 4-for-30 skid.
Corey first was sliced from the Sox' roster on April 11, eventually re-signed and assigned to Pawtucket. Corey was recalled last Friday and pitched in one game over the weekend on the road against Tampa Bay(on April 25, a scoreless 1 2/3-inning stint. The Lowell-for-Corey swap reduces the roster to 12 pitchers.
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner at 4:26 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, April 29
AP Photo
TAKE A BEAT: And on the 21st day, they rested. Or, shall we say, most of them rested; Joe McDonald reports that Bartolo Colon somehow threw a bullpen session through the raindrops at Fenway, and six other Sox came in to work out. (Projo Sox Blog) But the remainder were elsewhere, enjoying (we presume) a day away from the ballpark for the first time since Monday, April 7. Which for those us who write baseball for a living, or read baseball as a vocation, means . . . it's off-day story time! Today's batch includes . . .
-- McDonald's piece on Jacoby Ellsbury, whose base-stealing prowess (as evidenced above) led the Rays' Carl Crawford to exhort the Sox to give the young man the green light whenever he's on the bases. McDonald also talks to Tommy Harper, who helped Ellsbury hone his baserunning skills as a Red Sox consultant and who believes his former pupil will break his Red Sox single-season stolen-base record of 54, set in 1973.
-- The Globe's Gordon Edes catches up with Manny Ramirez' march toward 500 career home runs. The Herald's Rob Bradford examines how Ramirez' rigorous offseason workouts helped him get off to such a fast start.
-- Bradford notes that opposing hitters have swung and missed at an astounding 41.5 percent of Jonathan Papelbon's pitches this year and analyzes why that is (beyond pitching coach John Farrell's summation that Papelbon "throws the heck out of the ball").
-- The Herald's Michael Silverman does a statistical comparison that shows the '08 Sox pitching staff isn't performing as well as it did in '07.
-- Edes leads his notes with an item on Jon Lester, tonight's starting pitcher, from whom the Sox are hoping for more consistency.
-- Ian Brown of mlb.com has a feature on the Sox' consecutive sellout streak.
-- Away from the sports pages, the Globe talks to Dustin Pedroia's wife Kelli, who was diagnosed with stage two melanoma at age 18 and now, at age 24, is taking her anti-tanning message to teenagers. She also gives us a glimpse into life with Dustin. Back in sports, Silverman notes that her husband is avoiding the sophomore jinx in '08.
-- This isn't really an off-day story -- he writes these types of pieces all the time -- but Chad Finn's 10 free throwaway lines include, among several Sox items, a defense of Terry Francona, the worry that David Ortiz is morphing into Mo Vaughn, and happiness that Coco Crisp is still in Boston. (boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases)
(To address Chad's worry about Big Papi: Jayson Stark's poll of big-league managers identified the two-headed Ortiz/Ramirez monster as a proud member of the All-Guys You'd Least Want to Pitch to Team.)
-- Even somebody else's off-day stories have a Red Sox tinge. In Los Angeles, Derek Lowe compares playing on the West Coast with playing in the East and concludes: "Some people who have played this game for a long time say there is a certain mentality out here, that it's more about entertainment than winning . . . I'm not saying that's true, but a lot of people say that about Southern California." (dailybreeze.com)
Back to baseball tonight: 7:05 p.m. vs. Toronto. And we can wait until May 15, the next scheduled day off, for more stories like this Wall Street Journal feature on the financial and emotional worth of a baseball signed by each and every member of the 1948 Red Sox.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Blue Jays come to town having snapped their six-game losing streak and they have their ace, Roy Halladay, ready to throw at the Sox tonight. (mlb.com) They'll also have a lineup that will look different than the one the Sox faced the first weekend of the season in Toronto, as manager John Gibbons struggles to find a combination that clicks. (London Free Press) Jeff Blair of the Toronto Globe and Mail, meanwhile, wants Vernon Wells to step up and assume the role of team leader. And ex-Jay Jesse Barfield, on his cbc.ca blog, says Toronto's struggles stem from a lack of clutch hitting.
LOOKING BACK: The Rays -- or at least the people who've watched them for these last miserable 10 years -- are still pinching themselves over the weekend sweep of the sox. (Bradenton Herald) And the good news just keeps on coming, as Scott Kazmir pitches 5 1/3 strong rehab innings in Durham and pronounces himself good to go (Tampa Tribune). He's scheduled to make his season debut with Tampa Bay on Saturday night against the Red Sox at Fenway. And now, says the Tribune, the Rays suddenly have too much pitching. (This, of course, is the giddiness that comes with the rush of first-time success; as Terry Francona and Theo Epstein always say, the minute you think you have too much pitching is the time you should go out and get some more, because you never, never, never have too much pitching.) But the St. Petersburg Times says there's no question the Rays have plenty of good pitchers in their bullpen, which, as anyone who played them 18 or 19 times a year knows, had been a toxic waste dump prior to this season.
AND LOOKING AHEAD: Baseball Musing's David Pinto points out that all the Rays are doing is exactly what many people expected them to do this year.
GO FIGURE: Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that of the 16 "new" managers the Red Sox have hired in franchise history, only four ever were hired again . . . but almost all of them did well with the Sox. "They come. They win. They disappear," he concludes. Among the familiar names on this list (at least to me) are Joe Morgan and Eddie Kasko.
HURTS SO GOOD: The Yankees finished the never-ending road trip with a victory in Cleveland, but Alex Rodriguez re-aggravated his strained right quad muscle and is headed back to the sidelines. (New York Daily News) This on the same day that Jorge Posada landed on the disabled list. (Daily News)
IT'S TIME: Peter Abraham on the LoHud Yankees Blog says Joba Chamberlain's continues dominance in relief actually demonstrates the need to get him into the starting rotation.
IF YOU AIN'T WITH US, YOU'RE AGIN' US: Judging from the parenthetical comments on his game thread, it sounds like Abraham is getting fed up with fans who take any negative comments as a personal affront from the Our Yanks Right Or Wrong crowd. Boston media members who attempt to comment on Manny Ramirez' foibles feel his pain.
THINK IT THROUGH: The Yankees' Morgan Ensberg does a guest spin on Phil Hughes' blog and admits that players not only hear insults shouted from the stands, but laugh at the really good ones. However, simply shouting "You s---k" means "we know that you don’t know what to say and you probably aren’t very funny. To us it is like saying 'um'. We hear it all the time and it is just a sound with no meaning." His advice: "Take your time and don’t get caught up in the moment."
CONFIRMED: Country singer Mindy McCready said the New York Daily News story of her long-time affair with Roger Clemens is true. (Daily News) Yahoo.com's Tim Brown wonders -- as do I -- if Clemens "regrets not following the Andy Pettitte path of disclosure and apology and getting on with his life. His denials, his roundabout explanations, his circling of the truth, have only fueled further examination" -- which probably led to this McCready news -- "because there is no way to listen to him and conclude he is innocent."
SEE YA: The blog My Pinstripes presents a litany of complaints against Yankee TV announcer Michael Kay under the misleading heading "Michael Kay, Yea or Nay?" (Misleading because it's all Nay with no Yea.)
STORY? WHAT STORY? MAYBE IT'S A STORY TO YOU, BUT IT'S NOT A STORY TO ME: Adam Rubin of the Daily News prints the transcript of an interview with Carlos Delgado in which the Mets' first baseman says his decision not to acknowledge the fans' pleas for a curtain call Sunday was not a snub, but that he's not surprised the story has grown to apocalyptic importance in New York.
LET'S GET REAL: Baseball Prospectus' Joe Sheehan lists five things we know are real after one month of the season.
THE UPSTAIRS HOT SEAT: SI.com's Jon Heyman lists seven general managers who could join Wayne Krivsky on the unemployment line. Krivsky, meanwhile, discusses some of his decisions as Reds' GM. (Dayton Daily News)
AND FURTHERMORE . . . : Foxsports.com's Shaun Payne notes that Andruw Jones' disintegration is not only hurting the Dodgers but also damages his Hall of Fame chances.
LESSONS LEARNED: The Cardinals say Josh Hancock's death last year in an alcohol-related traffic accident has had a long-range impact in how the team deals with alcohol. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
WASHED UP? HAH! Frank Thomas answered his critics by by falling a home run short of the cycle -- Frank Thomas, hitting a triple?? -- in the A's 14-2 rout of the Angels. (San Francisco Chronicle)
HERE AND THERE: To no one's surprise, the Giants have sent Barry Zito to the bullpen (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Mike Lieberthal will retire as a Phillie (mlb.com) . . . The Rangers' Hank Blalock is headed to the disabled list (mlb.com) . . . Gary Sheffield says he plans to play through the pain (Detroit News) . . . Tom Glavine will make his first start since April 13 tonight, and is concerned about being rusty (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Mike Cameron has completed his 25-game suspension for the use of performance-enhancing drugs and will return to the Brewers tonight (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Trade time may soon be approaching in Pittsburgh. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
OLD FRIENDS: Wily Mo Pena is front and center on Rich Lederer's list of April Fools (i.e., the players who have put up the worst numbers in the season's first month (Baseball Analysts) . . . Rich Garces will be back with the Nashua Pride this year . . . The Reds' Bronson Arroyo finally pitched well after a string of bad starts. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
NEW FRIENDS: Rotoworld.com has short updates on Red Sox farmhands Lars Anderson and Daniel Bard.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:58 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, April 28
TAMPA TAKEDOWN: It started with a beyond-frustrating loss Friday night, in which they had two men on base with one out in the 9th, 10th and 11th innings, failed to score any of them, and gave up the winning run in the bottom of the 11th. And then the lights went out: Eight hits and one run over the next 18 innings, leading to a crushing defeat for Clay Buchholz Saturday night and a less dramatic, though no less disappointing, 'L' hung on Josh Beckett (above) Sunday afternoon. Joe McDonald has the details of the Red Sox' three days from hell in St. Petersburg, which ran their losing streak to five games and knocked them out of first place. (projo.com)
In the looking-for-scapegoats department, Beckett's blaming the schedule-maker (projo.com) and the Globe's Amalie Benjamin points out that it's been an epic week of illness and injury, leading to no fewer than 10 roster moves since last Tuesday. Others, like old friend Allan Wood, point the finger for at least some of what happened at Terry Francona, whose managerial decisions were debated, and debated, and debated some more. (Sons of Sam Horn) Safe to say that everyone -- players, fans, everyone -- can use this day off, the first since April 7 (the day before the Fenway opener), to regroup. Next up for the Sox? The Blue Jays, who broke a six-game losing streak of their own with a win in Kansas City yesterday. (Toronto Star)
RAYS OF ECSTASY: When you consider these two factoids -- Tampa Bay has never been three games over .500 this late in a season and never been in first place this late in a season (and yes, April 28 is is the correct date) -- you can understand the euphoria that would prompt the blog DRaysBay to break out the brooms and then, four hours later, rub the Sox' face in it with an online version of Sweet Caroline. Or the blog Rays Index to headline its latest entry Peter Gammons Is Rolling Over In His Grave. (I suppose it would be impolitic to point out that Peter's still alive, but, as Boon said in Animal House, forget it, he's rolling.) After all, The Trop has long been considered Fenway South by the hordes of Red Sox fans who fill it whenever the team goes to central Florida -- Shields implored Rays followers to "counteract" Red Sox (and Yankee) partisans after Friday night's game (Tampa Tribune) -- so to win three straight in front of the northern invaders (and against the defending World Series champions, to boot) was . . . well, pretty satisfying. The pros, like Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune and John Romano of the St. Petersburg Times, certainly enjoyed the moment, but both make a point to stress that, in Fennelly's words, "It's April, it's April, it's April." April schmapril, say the Rays, who think these were three games they can build on. (St. Petersburg Times) Coming as it did on the heels of three straight wins over Toronto, Carl Crawford called it "[one] of the best weeks in franchise history." (Tampa Tribune)
And maybe the best weekend.
I'LL GO FURTHER THAN THAT: On Saturday night, even before the finale, Baseball Musing's David Pinto was saying it "may turn out to be one of the most important series in Rays Tampa Bay history."
I'M NOT A BELIEVER: Even so, the blog Big League Stew says the Rays are something that people still don't believe in.
THERE'S ALWAYS SOME GOOD NEWS: Kevin Youkilis set another defensive record at first base. McDonald tells us which one. And Mike Lowell finished his third rehab game with the PawSox and pronounced himself ready to return to Boston. (projo.com)
RETURN FROM LIMBO: McDonald had an interesting chat Friday with Bryan Corey, who gives a glimpse of what it's like in the no-man's land called Designated For Assignment and how it is he wound up back in Boston.
SCHOOL DAYS: On his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty passes along ex-Mets GM Steve Phillips' recollections of scouting the teenage Manny Ramirez . . . which included a psychological test that indicated Ramirez didn't "have the most self-esteem and confidence in the world."
OH, THOSE SIDEWINDERS: Jim Rice identified Dennis Eckersley and Dan Quisenberry as the two pitchers who gave him the most trouble in his career. (ask14.sullivantire.com)
YIN AND YANG: The Yankees' 1-0 victory over C.C. Sabathia yesterday (New York Post) was tempered by the news that Jorge Posada is headed to the disabled list for the first time in his career. (New York Daily News)
MY MIND'S MADE UP: The New York Post's Joel Sherman talks to people who saw him in the minor leagues and comes to the conclusion that Joba Chamberlain should be a starter.
FEELING STRONGER EVERY DAY: As for Chamberlain, he was back on the mound yesterday after suffering a slight hamstring strain Thursday in Chicago. (New York Daily News)
WIN WHEN YOU LOSE: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Bud Shaw says Sabathia's dominant outing yesterday is more important than whether or not he won the game.
DENIED: While Roger Clemens and his representatives admit to a long-term friendship between the pitcher (and, they say, his family) and country star Mindy McCready, they strongly deny reports that it was a decade-long sexual affair that began when McCready was 15 and Clemens was with the Red Sox. (New York Daily News) The newspaper reports the revelation could impact Clemens' defamation lawsuit against Brian McNamee, which it says is based on "claims of [Clemens'] unsullied character," but that also is denied by Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin: "The character trait that you put in issue should be the character trait that the defamatory statement was made about." The blog Shysterball, while admitting that "much more in the way of confirmation needs to happen before we can take the 'allegedly' off" these reports, lays out where public opinion of Clemens is headed if this proves to be true.
STEINBRENNER JUNIOR: Joe Posnanski says that if he owned the Blue Jays, he'd have fired John Gibbons on the spot Friday night when Gibbons ordered an intentional walk to Tony Pena Jr.. (joeposnanski.com)
VICIOUS CYCLE: Barry Zito got rocked again yesterday (San Francisco Chronicle), and the Costa Contra Times' Rick Hurd wonders how the beleaguered lefty will extricate himself from his present situation.
TAKE THAT: Mets fans have made the slumping Carlos Delgado their whipping boy this year, so the Daily News' Bill Madden lauded the veteran first baseman for refusing to acknowledge them when they implored him to take a curtain call after his home run yesterday.
TOUGH LOVE: The Newark Star-Ledger Dan Graziano wonders how the Mets and their fans -- still embittered by last September's epic collapse -- can repair their fractured relationship.
'DON'T WORRY ABOUT HIM': Dusty Baker says he's spoken recently to Barry Bonds and that Bonds is "doing fine." (Dayton Daily News) As for whether or not Bonds will return to baseball, Baker thinks "the longer he is out, the less likely he will come back. And the longer he is out, who knows, the less likely he may want to come back."
MY GUY: Jim Leyland came out in defense of the slumping Gary Sheffield. (mlb.com) But Fox' Dayn Perry says it doesn't really matter if Sheffield starts hitting or not because the pitching-poor team is too flawed.
NICE TRIP: The Angels are proud of themselves for their 4-2 swing through Boston and Detroit. (Los Angeles Times)
HERE AND THERE: Mets GM Omar Minaya says Moises Alou, attempting to return from hernia surgery, may have broken his ankle during his rehab stint at Port St. Lucie (Newsday) . . . John Smoltz says his shoulder hurts (Atlanta Journal-Consitution) . . . Brett Myers can't explain why his fastball, which once reached 95 mph, can no longer crack 88 (Philadephia Inquirer) . . . As rumored, the Pirates cut the cord with Matt Morris (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . A relieved Troy Glaus hit his first home run as a member of the Cardinals. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
OLD FRIENDS: Scott Hatteberg would welcome a trade out of Cincinnati (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Phil Dumatrait will replace Morris in the Pirates' rotation (rotoworld.com) . . . Freddy Sanchez says his surgically-repaired shoulder isn't the reason he's hitting .213 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Keith Foulke is recovering nicely from the neck soreness that landed him on the DL (San Francisco Chroncile) . . . The Red Sox released Dan Kolb, who had been at Pawtucket. (rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:34 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, April 25
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
MASTERFUL: Baseball Musing's David Pinto has the headline we almost used for Justin Masterson's performance yesterday in his emergency start against the Angels, and it certainly fits. Because, in the words of Paul Kenyon, "A few years from now, or maybe even in only a few months, not many people are likely to remember that the Red Sox bullpen blew a lead yesterday and the Sox lost to the Angels, 7-5. It is very likely, though, that many will remember they were there the day Justin Masterson made his major-league debut." Steven Krasner gives his first-day impressions in Inside The Game. And on his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty has a quick Q-and-A with Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen about Masterson.
The skunk at yesterday's garden party was the bullpen (Boston Herald), which turned a 3-1 seventh-inning lead -- and a potential Masterson victory -- into a 7-3 ninth-inning deficit that was only made more respectable by David Ortiz' two-out, two-run homer in the ninth (described here by Krasner). But a loss in the 24th game of the season, no matter how it happens, is backpage news when a pitcher performs as well as Justin Masterson his first time on the big stage. He's going back to Portland now -- Bryan Corey is replacing him on the roster -- but we'll no doubt be seeing more of him. And perhaps very soon.
M*A*S*H NOTES: Krasner notes that Josh Beckett looks okay to make his Sunday start, but the flu-ridden Daisuke Matsuzaka will stay home this weekend and miss the series in Tampa.
MANNY BEING MANNY: You can't say a bad word about Manny Ramirez to some people, and Krasner acknowledges that he may catch some heat from the Manny Can Do No Wrong You Mediot You crowd, but he still takes Ramirez to task for not hustling on wind-blown, second-inning popup that fell in for a hit, a hit that should have been a double but was only a single because he "lolly-gagged his way down the first-base line." Kraz also chronicles the first rematch between Ramirez and Francisco Rodriguez since Manny won Game Two of the ALDS with a home run that just recently touched down somewhere over the Canadian border; K-Rod won this battle though Ramirez did drive the ball to the triangle in center.
COCO BEING COCO: Krasner and Kenyon detail a successful return to the lineup by Coco Crisp, and Krasner breaks down Crisp's fourth-inning steal of third.
JUNK TO YOU, TREASURE TO ME: The David Ortiz jersey that was buried under the new Yankee Stadium proved to be a $175,100 windfall for the Jimmy Fund. (New York Daily News)
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY: Casey Kotchman missed Game Three of last year's ALDS because of food poisoning. But even though he's pretty sure he got it from something he ate on the plane ride from Boston to Los Angeles after Game Two, he avoided all food, except for a few protein bars, at Fenway Park during the just-concluded series. (Los Angeles Times)
ASK 14: Jim Rice's blog is certainly no 38pitches.com, but for what it is -- a forum for Rice to answer questions from readers -- it continually delivers. Today he refutes an assertion that the Sox were too conservative in keeping him out of the 1975 World Series by stating, "I couldn’t play. I couldn’t grip a bat."
DOWN ON THE FARM: Mike Szostak has an interesting conversation with PawSox knuckleballer Charlie Zink.
DON'T BOTHER: A Roy Oswalt-to-the-Yankees rumor began circulating yesterday (mlb.com), but he's already told the Houston Chronicle the only three teams to whom he'd accept a trade are the Red Sox, Cardinals and Braves.
THE PATRIOTS CAN TELL YOU HOW TOUGH IT IS TO BE PERFECT: Joba Chamberlain suffered his first major-league loss last night as the White Sox pushed across a run in the ninth and beat the Yankees, 7-6. And if that's not bad enough, the next stop for Joba (and the Yanks) is Cleveland, where a swarm of midges derailed their postseason hopes last October. (New York Post) Phil Hughes was last night's starting pitcher but was lifted after two innings because of a rain delay. The Daily News' John Harper says that was the right move by manager Joe Girardi.
GIVE HIM A MINUTE, WILL YA? The blog Bugs and Cranks thinks it's absurdly early to be giving a thumbs-down, or a thumbs-up, on Hughes.
EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING: At least that's how most Yankee fans are probably responding to the news that Kyle Farnsworth hurt his elbow last night. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
REACTION TIME: Writing in the New York Sun, Steven Goldman says both the Yankees and Mets have been slower to address their problems than their competitors.
HANG IN THERE: Jim Kaat says that while the current Yankees "don't compare to the ones of the late 1990s", they can still win the East if they stay in contention all season and put themselves in position to make a run by Labor Day. (yesnetwork.com)
ACE WILD: Francisco Liriano's recovery from elbow surgery isn't going well -- as yesterday's "nine-batter beatdown" in an 11-2 loss to the A's demonstrates -- and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire all but said after the game that the left-hander, now 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA, will be sent to the minor leagues next week to get the rehab work he needs. (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Pinto, who wonders if Liriano is worried about reinjuring himself, thinks that's a good idea.
STAGE FRIGHT: The blog The Good Phight lists the seven stages of sports star appreciation in Philadelphia, and notes with worry that Ryan Howard is in Stage Five, from which "[most] players do not recover." But Pat Burrell, said to be buried in Stage Six, was a hero for the Phils again yesterday. (Philadephia Inquirer)
AND THE WINNER IS . . . Oakland. The A's are the team that landed Frank Thomas. (San Jose Mercury News)
COUNTING DOWN TO AN EXPLOSION: The Bucco Blog is furious at the way the Pirates are handling Tom Gorzelanny, and says he needs to be shut down. Perhaps the Bucs could take a cue from the Japanese high school coach who forfeited a game that his team trailed 66-0 in the second inning because he was afraid his pitcher's pitch count would reach 500 by the fourth inning. (Reuters)
REPAYING HIS DEBT TO SOCIETY: Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes spent 25 hours last week cleaning out cages and mopping at a Tampa zoo as way of getting his probation on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge reduced by five months. (St. Petersburg Times) Dukes had the time because he's on the disabled list due to a hamstring pull.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Remember Statman, the guy who provided so much entertainment when he revealed himself to be Dan Duquette's statistical analyst in the spring of 1997? He's back, and he's calling on all fans "bombard their team owners with letters and emails and petitions demanding that their team hire Barry Bonds." The blog Big League Stew has done just that -- sort of -- to the Indians, but Royals fans need not bother; their team isn't interested. (Kansas City Star)
SOUND FAMILIAR? It's probably just a coincidence that they made this announcement two months after Dr. Charles Steinberg joined them from the Red Sox, but the Dodgers yesterday announced ambitious plans to renovate Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Times), and they want to have it finished by the stadium's 50th anniversary in 2012 . . . the same year the Sox say they'll be finished with their renovations of Fenway Park, which that year will be celebrating its 100th anniversary.
THE REAL CURSE: The Sporting News' Gerry Fraley calls it "the curse of the Mitchell Report," and says it's struck Jason Giambi and Eric Gagne particularly hard.
AMNESTY MEANS AMNESTY: Bud Selig says that just as players named in the Mitchell Report face no discipline from MLB, neither do team executives who were implicated. (New York Daily News)
STICK TO THE SPONSOR: NJ.com reports players aren't allowed to drink water in the dugouts at Chicago's US Cellular Field. They can only take Gatorade, which is Major League Baseball's "official sports drink."
OH, FOR A MULLIGAN: FoxSports' Tracy Ringolsby lists 12 deals general managers wish they had back. No Red Sox transactions made the list, though the Yankees (Carl Pavano) had one.
GAME OF THE DAY: Tim Lincecum outdueled Chris Young as the Giants beat the Padres, 1-0. (San Jose Mercury News)
I GOT A BASEBALL JONES: SI.com's John Donovan looks at the one-time Braves tandem of Chipper and Andruw Jones, who have gone their separate ways both geographically and career-wise.
THE WRIGHT STUFF: The blog Big League Stew has an interesting sitdown with the Mets' David Wright.
FIRST OF MANY? Ron Washington could the inaugural managerial casualty of 2008 if the Rangers don't turn things around soon. (Dallas Morning News)
BROKEN: On his blog earlier this week, Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun said his team's road trip "could make or break our April." With three straight losses to the Rays, guess we know which way it's going.
HERE AND THERE: Harold Reynolds is joining the studio team at the Mets' network, SportsNet New York (New York Daily News) . . . The Orioles' 8-7 win over the Mariners was tempered by the news that Adam Loewen has forearm discomfort (Baltimore Sun) . . . Gary Sheffield says he doesn't know what's wrong with his shoulder (Detroit Free Press) . . . The Giants have no intention of skipping a start or two of the struggling Barry Zito. (San Francisco Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: Another ex-Red Sox reliever blew a game in relief for the Brewers yesterday, but this time it was David Riske and not Eric Gagne (Wisconsin State Journal) . . . Dave Roberts, who'll be out three months because of knee surgery, says he knows he may have lost his job to Fred Lewis but he understands that's how it goes (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Justin Duchscherer will return to the A's rotation Saturday. (rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:53 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, April 24
NOT SO CLOSE! In the infectious ward that is the Red Sox clubhouse, the kind of intimacy being enjoyed by Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez prior to last night's game is a dangerous thing. The flu that's making the rounds is flattening the team, and it may have contributed to the Sox' 6-4 loss to the Angels. Daisuke Matsuzaka, the scheduled starter, came down with it yesterday afternoon and had to be scratched about 2 1/2 hours before gametime (Projo Sox Blog), leaving the team with almost no options as to who would pitch. Terry Francona said in his postgame press conference that they'd just about decided to go with Julian Tavarez -- with the understanding that Tavarez would max out at about three innings and they'd have to completely run through the bullpen -- when Jon Lester, originally scheduled to go today, volunteered to work on three days' rest. They took him up on it, and Paul Kenyon reports he did about as well as you'd expect after throwing 107 pitches four days ago -- five innings, nine hits, four runs. “It was different," Lester said afterwards. "No pain or soreness or anything like that. It didn’t feel like the normal five days. That’s not an excuse. . . It was just different.” The score was 4-4 when he left, and yesterday's callup, Craig Hansen, surrendered the game-winning home run three batters into his appearance. Kenyon and Steven Krasner report that Hansen was shipped back to Pawtucket immediately after the game to make room on the roster for today's starter, Justin Masterson, who's being called up from Double-A Portland for a one-shot deal. The Portland Press Herald got some quick comments from the excited Masterson last night as he packed for his in-and-out trip to Boston.
He's healthy, anyway. The last, ominous note in Kenyon's game story: Tomorrow night's starter, Tim Wakefield, was seen coughing and hacking as he left the clubhouse last night,
A LITTLE PUSH: In his Inside The Game feature, Krasner chronicles the resurgence of Julio Lugo and wonders if the splashy arrival of Jed Lowrie has lit a fire under the veteran shortstop. That link is to the newspaper copy of ITG; you can read an expanded version here on the Sox Blog (and it's available almost immediately after the end of each game).
SOMETHING TO BUILD ON: Tuesday night's emergency starter, David Pauley, is back in Pawtucket -- he was replaced by Hansen, who's now being replaced by Masterson, and someone will go up tomorrow to replace Masterson -- and Carolyn Thornton has Pauley's reaction to the whirlwind events that led to him being at Fenway.
ON A RUN: The blog Wicked Good Sports reports that Jacoby Ellsbury -- "running around like a virgin on prom night," whatever that means -- is threatening to break a major-league record: Most consecutive stolen bases at the start of a career. The record is 27, set by Tim Raines between 1979 and '81, and Ellsbury is currently at 17. (Thanks to Baseball Musing's David Pinto for finding this.)
MR. HATFIELD, MEET MR. McCOY: Orlando Cabrera is beloved in Boston for his role as the free-spirited, high-energy shortstop on the 2004 World Series champions. Edgar Renteria is reviled for his lumpy, 30-error performance in the one year he spent here as Cabrera's replacement, a year that ended in a first-round playoff ouster. Now we find out the two men, both natives of Colombia, can't stand each other . . . though it has nothing (or almost nothing) to do with their shared Boston experience. (ESPN The Magazine)
EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON: The David Ortiz jersey buried under the new Yankee Stadium by a Red Sox fan working on the construction crew is proving to be a windfall for the Jimmy Fund. (New York Post) The Yankees donated the shirt to the charity organization, which put it up for auction on eBay, and the bidding has reached nearly $90,000.
SEE? I WAS RIGHT! Mike Mussina turned in his strongest performance of the year in a 6-4 win over the White Sox (New York Daily News), one day after Hank Steinbrenner said he needed to start pitching more like Jamie Moyer. The Daily News' John Harper thinks the Baby Boss deserves some of the credit for Mussina's outing.
TRY PITCHING LIKE JOSH BECKETT: Let's see what advice Hank has for the struggling Phil Hughes, who will try to complete the three-game sweep in Chicago tonight. (New York Daily News) Joe Girardi believes Hughes may have Alex Rodriguez behind him at third base, though its more likely A-Rod won't play until the weekend. (New York Post)
THE NUMBERS GAME: Having opened the topic yesterday with his rant about Yankee fans booing LaTroy Hawkins for wearing Paul O'Neill's number, Joe Posnanski digs deeply -- as only he can -- on the retired-number practice of every team. (joeposnanski.com) He breaks the decisions into the following categories -- Greatness, Emotional, Importance, Bizarre and Utterly Inexplicable. (There are only two entries in the latter two categories: The Reds' retiring Willard Hershberger's No. 5 in 1941 after he committed suicide is Bizarre, though they did recant and begin reissuing the number a few years later, and it eventually landed on Johnny Bench's back. And the Pirates' retiring Billy Meyer's No. 1 -- after he managed the team for five seasons, four of them with losing records and one with 112 losses -- is Utterly Inexplicable.)
FRANK-LY SPEAKING: The A's are mum on rumors they're about to sign Frank Thomas (Costa Contra Times), and yahoosports.com reports another, unnamed team has gotten into the bidding. (If he doesn't like these options, the Toronto Sun says the Joliet Jackhammers are preparing an offer.) The Twins aren't one of those unnamed teams. (mlb.com) As for his old club, Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi says Thomas' snit over being benched -- culminating in his refusal to join the postgame celebratory handshake on Saturday -- clinched the Jays' decision to release him. (National Post) "You’re either part of the team or you’re not," Ricciardi said. "It’s not real hard to go out there and shake hands. I don’t think that’s a tough thing to do."
YOU'LL BE SORRY, J.P.: Thomas' hometown newspaper, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, says the Big Hurt has something left in the tank.
SECOND CHANCE: Writing for SportingNews.com, David Pinto notes it's been 82 years since a second baseman won a home-run title . . . a drought the Phillies' Chase Utley has a chance to break this season.
THIS PROBABLY SAYS SOMETHING, THOUGH DARNED IF I KNOW WHAT: On the same day the Web site True Blue L.A. is declaring sabermetrics to be dead -- because its truths are now so ingrained in the mainstream that "there’s very little competitive advantage to be gained from stats based analysis" -- the Kansas City Star reports Royals manager Trey Hillman is displeased with his team's on-base percentage.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Wayne Krivsky is out as Reds' general manager (Cincinnati Enquirer). One view: Richard Justice, writing for SportingNews.com, says Krivsky's replacement, Walt Jocketty, should bring October baseball back to Cincinnati. Another view: Scott Miller of CBSSports.com says firing Krivsky shows how clueless the Reds really are.
DEEPER PROBLEMS: Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com says the Tigers' decision to move Miguel Cabrera to first base makes sense on the surface, but it also reveals some fundamental problems in Detroit's organizational strategies.
'ROAR FROM 34': Orioles fans with a knowledge of the team's past recaptured the spirit of the late Wild Bill Hagy for one night and the result was magical. (Baltimore Sun, video included)
L.A.'S FINE, BUT IT AIN'T HOME. NEW YORK'S HOME, BUT IT AIN'T MINE NO MORE: Joe Torre is finding that scoring runs is much more difficult with the Dodgers than it was with the Yankees, and being saddled with the rotting carcass that is Andruw Jones isn't helping. (yahoo.com)
THE 'C' WORD: Barry Bonds' agent is again talking collusion as he finds zero interest for his client. (si.com)
IN MEDICAL NEWS . . . Scott Kazmir, sidelined since suffering a left elbow strain on Feb. 25, will make his first start of the season May 3 at Fenway Park against the Red Sox (mlb.com) . . . Nationals closer Chad Cordero won't need shoulder surgery (Washington Post) . . . The Rangers' Luis Mendoza says his shoulder hurts (Dallas Morning News) . . . A strained left intercostal is sending the Indians' Jake Westbrook to the disabled list (cleveland.com) . . . Orlando Hernandez will remain in a boot for two more weeks and his return isn't anywhere in sight (New York Daily News) . . . The Cubs say Alfonso Soriano won't need a rehab stint and will be ready to play when he comes off the DL next week. (Chocago Sun-Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez, recovering from his hamstring strain, can return to the mound in 10 to 14 days (Newsweek) . . . Eric Hinske continues his resurgence in Tampa; last night he helped the Rays to a come-from-behind victory over Roy Halladay (Tampa Tribune) . . . The one thing that could always be said for Derek Lowe was that he was never injured. But last night he had to leave his start after five innings because of tightness in his elbow (mlb.com) . . . For the fifth straight time this season, Bronson Arroyo struggled, this time lasting only 3 2/3 innings with his velocity topping out at 88 (Springfield News and Sun) . . . Kason Gabbard, who hurt his back when he slipped on the mound at Fenway Monday, is being placed on the disabled list by the Rangers. (Dallas Morning News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:42 AM | Permalink
Angels make changes
Hope no one used a pen when they wrote down the lineups for tonight's game. We have more changes.
With the Red Sox scratching Daisuke Matsuzaka (he has the flu) and replacing him with lefty Jon Lester, the Angels have rearranged their lineup. Here is the new one:
Figgins 3B
Matthews Jr. LF
Guerrero RF
Hunter CF
Anderson LF
Aybar SS
Mathis C
Katchman 1B
Izturis 2B
Garland P
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 6:18 PM | Permalink
Youkilis will sit tonight; others near return
Kevin Youkilis is being given a night off because of a minor problem with his back.
Youkilis felt some discomfort in his lower back when he went deep behind third base to make a play in Tuesday night’s game, manager Terry Francona reported.
``He called me this morning and told me he was feeling it,’’ Francona said.
Jed Lowrie will start in his place and bat eighth. The red-hot Julio Lugo moves up to the seven hole and Kevin Cash will hit ninth. Cash will be starting for the fourth straight game in place of Jason Varitek.
The good news for the Sox is that Varitek is feeling better, so much so that he just finished taking early batting practice. Francona said he hopes not to have to use him tonight. With a day game tomorrow, it is possible Varitek could play then. That would work out well since Tim Wakefield is scheduled to pitch Friday, meaning Varitek would be able to get that day off since Cash handles Wakefield’s knucklers.
In other Sox news, Josh Beckett, who missed his start last night because of a stiff neck, is feeling better and has been penciled in to pitch Sunday, which would be his normal spot in the rotation.
Mike Lowell not only took more batting practice, he did some work in the field for the first time since going on the disabled list. Depending on how he reacts to today’s work he could be on rehab assignment soon.
Bartolo Colon did some throwing from 120 feet today and seems to be progressing. A tentative schedule has been planned, one that would have him back with Pawtucket pitching on rehab assignment on May 5. That would be exactly one month to the day when he hurt his oblique.
Coco Crisp also is feeling better, could play if needed tonight and likely will return to the starting lineup tomorrow.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 4:41 PM | Permalink
Craig Hansen promoted
Craig Hansen, who has yet to allow a run this season, has been promoted from Pawtucket and is ready to pitch tonight when the Red Sox host the Angels.
``They called about 11:30 last night,’’ the big right-hander said. ``They called RJ (Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson) and he called me.’’
Hansen had just returned from a quick trip back home to New York on a day off for Pawtucket. The trip home was enjoyable, he said, except for one thing. His dog was too happy to see him.
``He jumped all over me. You can see the scratches,'' said Hansen, who has several scratches near his left eye.
Hansen, Boston’s first-round draft choice three yers ago, has pitched in eight games for Pawtucket. He has gone 12.1 innings and allowed three hits with four walks and 13 strikeouts withot allowing a run. For the season, hitters are 3-for-43 against him
``He’s been throwing the ball great,’’ said Sox manager Terry Francona. ``And he has some flexibility.’’
Manny Delcarmen, one of a number of Sox players who has been ill, is feeling ``so so,’’ Francona reported, so his status for tonight is questionable. It makes Hansen a prime candidate for work tonight.
Hansen replaces David Pauley, who started last night. That means the Sox keep 13 pitchers on their 25-man roster.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 4:24 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, April 23
 |  |
GOLD DUST TWINS: Jacoby Ellsbury's two-homer night -- and his mad dash home from first base with the winning run in the eighth inning (above right) -- got most of the attention, but he shared the spotlight with Dustin Pedroia in the Red Sox' come-from-behind 7-6 win over the Angels. Paul Kenyon's game story not only chronicles Ellsbury's night, but also the four-hit, three-double performance of Pedroia (above left), who knocked in Ellsbury with the run that broke the 6-6 tie. Steven Krasner goes Inside The Game to take a closer look at the eighth-inning climax, showing how just the threat of Ellsbury stealing second base helped secure the victory.
NOW WHAT? The big news before the game was the stiff neck that forced Josh Beckett to miss the start and led to the emergency callup of David Pauley. Pauley only lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs, and was immediately sent back to Pawtucket, meaning the team will need to make another roster move before tonight's game. Krasner and Kenyon note it will be a position player if Jason Varitek is feeling better, or a backup catcher if the flu bug that has flattened Varitek and a few other members of the club is still strong enough to keep the captain away from the park.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Kenyon has a nice pregame vignette on Pauley, showing that while the young pitcher may have had a big-league roster spot for a day, he didn't cop a big-league attitude.
THIS THING OF OURS: Every so often, Steve Silva makes me laugh out loud.
CURSE THIS: The Angels are 14-25 at Fenway Park since Mike Scioscia took over as manager in 2000, including 7-21 in their last 28 games here, but they don't want to hear any talk about a Fenway jinx. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)
LIKE NO PLACE ON EARTH: Matt Hurst, the Angels' beat writer for our Belo cousins in Riverside, Calif., talks to Angels players about what it's like to be an opposing player in Fenway Park. (Riverside Press-Enterprise) Some elements of the piece are disturbing, like Torii Hunter and Gary Matthews Jr. telling how they've heard a few racial taunts -- which prompted the Boston Herald to look further into the subject -- but what comes across, mostly, is the passion, positive and negative, the fans have for the Red Sox and for baseball . . . passion so unlike other cities that the players really don't know how to process it. "There are no fans like theirs," said Garret Anderson. And Hunter told the Herald that, in spite of everything, he wanted to join the Red Sox as a free agent last winter. “I did want to come here," he said. "But it didn’t work out."
MANNY BEING MYTHIC: SI.com's Tom Verducci profiles Manny Ramirez in a piece that not only puts his bat into historical perspective but also notes that he's become a mythic figure at a time when the white-hot glare of multi-platformed media scrutiny almost precludes athletic myth. "It's like telling a story about Babe Ruth," Verducci writes. "It may or not be true, but just the plausibility of it is enough."
HAPPY TO SEE IT: On his Ask 14 blog, Jim Rice says he was thrilled at the reception Bill Buckner received on Opening Day.
POINT, MR. CASHMAN: The Joba's-Place-Is-In-The-Bullpen crowd had a good night, as Chamberlain rescued the Yankees from a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the seventh inning and helped the Yanks beat the White Sox, 9-5. (New York Daily News) Johnny Damon cast his vote in the debate: He likes Chamberlain as a reliever. (New York Post)
NEXT TARGET: With the Joba Chamberlain contretempts settled -- for now -- Hank Steinbrenner turned his attention to another member of the Yankee pitching staff: Mike Mussina. The Baby Boss says he wants Moose to pitch more like Jamie Moyer, advice Mussina seemed to accept with equal parts humor and resentment. (New York Daily News) But on the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham has numbers that show Mussina does pitch like Moyer.
A MATCH MADE IN . . . WELL, SOMEWHERE: Mark Gonzalez of the Chicago Tribune talks to Ozzie Guillen about what it would be like if Guillen managed the Yankees of Hank Steinbrenner.
A-DAD: Alex Rodriguez' wife Cynthia gave birth to the couple's second daughter. (New York Daily News)
STILL SOMETHING LEFT: On the Replacement Level Yankee Weblog, SG is unconvinced of something that is becoming accepted truth in Yankee Universe: That Jason Giambi is all washed up. If you want to read the case against Giambi, may we direct you to Steven Goldman of the New York Sun.
WHAT?? Joe Posnanski speaks for most everyone in the baseball world when he blows a gasket over Yankee fans booing LaTroy Hawkins because he had the gall to wear Paul O'Neill's number. (joeposnanski.com)
'NO SURPISES': Jose Canseco's lawyer says federal investigators stuck to the script in their three-hour meeting regarding Canseco's knowledge of steroid use in baseball. (New York Post) So did Canseco when it came to whether or not Roger Clemens was at his house during the 1998 party that became a focal point of a congressional hearing in February: He continues to insist Clemens wasn't there, photographic evidence to the contrary.
STOP WORRYING: The fretting about C.C. Sabathia's slow start can officially cease after his six-scoreless-innings, 11-strikeout performance in the Indians' rout of the Royals. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan says Sabathia has been receiving words of encouragement from throughout baseball and that yesterday he looked "every bit like his Cy Young self."
GET REAL: The Toronto Star's Richard Griffin says the notion of the Blue Jays' signing Barry Bonds to replace Frank Thomas is "crazy."
CHANGE ON THE FLY: It's been said that it's a bad sign for baseball organizations when institution-level decisions are made during the chaos of a season. If that's the case, what to make of Jim Leyland's almost cavalier announcement that Carlos Guillen and Miguel Cabrera are switching positions, effective immediately? (Detroit News) But News columnist Lynn Henning says the change was desperately needed, as Cabrera was redefining the term 'defensively inept' in his pathetic attempts to play third base.
THE END IS NEAR: It looks like the demolition of Tiger Stadium, which has sat empty since the Tigers moved to Comerica Park in 2000, will finally begin in May or June. (Detroit Free Press)
COUNTERPRODUCTIVE: With the Cardinals' cleanup hitters struggling, opposing pitchers are working around Albert Pujols in the No. 3 hole; he's on pace to walk 154 times this year. And Pujols is getting so frustrated about it that he's starting to get himself out by swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Baseball Musing's David Pinto says Pujols has to adopt the Barry Bonds approach and accept the walks, because it will mean more runs for the Cards.
TAKING ON THE WORLDWIDE LEADER: The Houston Chronicle's Jerome Solomon chides ESPN for the way it "ambushed" (his words) Miguel Tejada in the taped interview about his age discrepancy, and says the fact that he's two years older than his listed birthday is no big deal. Pinto notes that Tejada has hit better since the news broke.
MEAT FOR HIS SUPPORTERS: Brewer manager Ned Yost thinks Prince Fielder's three-hit, two-walk, sacrifice-fly performance yesterday should silence critics who think Fielder's new vegetarian diet has cut into his offensive production. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
BITTERSWEET: John Smoltz recorded his 3,000th career strikeout but suffered the loss as the Nationals beat the Braves. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
MIGHTY MOUSE: The Rays remained unbeaten in Orlando as they beat the Blue Jays in their annual game at Disney World. "Nobody goes into Disney and beats the Rays," writes the Tampa Tribune's Martin Fennelly. "Nobody."
BET ON A VET: Ex-major leaguer Jesse Barfield, stunned by the Blue Jays' release of Frank Thomas, says every team needs veteran leadership in the clubhouse. (cbc.ca)
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: In light of speculation that the Mets may do to Carlos Delgado what the Jays did to Thomas, our pal The Tao of Steib wonders if Toronto would consider bringing back Delgado. "We'd usually dump on anyone who came up with this sort of fanciful BS notion of returning a player to the team for completely sentimental reasons," admits Tao. "But there's something about the idea of seeing Delgado back in Toronto that melts away all of our reason and good sense." A suggestion, Tao: Take a look at this post on FanGraphs before starting a full-fledged We Want Carlos! campaign.
REMEMBER WHEN: The Los Angeles Times' Jerry Crowe writes about the 30-year anniversary of Lyman Bostock trying to give his entire April salary back to the Angels because he got off to a slow start after signing as a free agent from the Twins. The team refused to take it, so Bostock instead donated the money to charity. That memory has been lost because Bostock, tragically, was killed in a drive-by shooting that September in a case of mistaken identity.
HERE AND THERE: Both Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine they're ready to return to the Braves (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Andruw Jones is blaming allergies for his slow start this season (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The healthy-again J.J. Putz records his first save since Opening Day as the Mariners beat the Orioles (Seattle Times) . . . They've banned smoking everywhere at Shea Stadium, which will make it tough for Bobby Cox to enjoy his postgame cigar when the Braves visit this weekend. (espn.com)
OLD FRIENDS: The Marlins can't decide whether or not to sign Hanley Ramirez to a long-term contract (Miami Herald) . . . Eric Gagne blew another save -- though his manager said he threw the ball well -- but Gabe Kapler made it all good with a game-winning hit for the Brewers in the 12th inning (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Kapler, incidentally, has a great Q-and-A with Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News in which he says if could trade places with anyone in baseball for one day, he'd switch with John Henry.
AND FINALLY . . . Change your bookmarks: Chad Finn has a new home.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:50 AM | Permalink
Pauley sure seems relaxed
Maybe if David Pauley gets to stay in the majors for an extended period he will not do what he just did this afternoon.
Right now, though, Pauley is a relaxed and amiable guy, even on a day that has turned into one of the biggest of his career. As Steven Krasner reported here earlier, the 24-year-old right-hander has been called up from Pawtucket to pitch against the Angels tonight, an emergency replacement for Josh Beckett, who is out because of a stiff neck.
Almost all starters prefer to be left alone on the day they are to pitch. In many cases, not even teammates go near them, never mind members of the media.
Not Pauley, at least not today.
Pauley arrived in the Red Sox clubhouse about 4:10 this afternoon. The clubhouse was almost deserted. Most of the reporters were upstairs for the daily meeting with manager Terry Franconca. Most of the Sox players were on the field getting ready for the start of batting practice. I was on watch to chase Mike Lowell and Alex Cora, both of whom are on the disabled list. They were finishing early batting practice.
Pauley walked in and saw Pam Ganley from the Red Sox public relations staff. He smiled and gave her a hug. Pauley saw me and smiled. We have been having chats for three days now. I have covered Pawtucket games the last two days. Pauley was supposed to have started Sunday against Buffalo.
Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson received a call from Boston officials about 45 minutes before game time. They informed Johnson that Pauley might be needed in Boston. They told him to have someone else pitch, instead. Edgar Martinez started the first game of his pro career and pitched well, helping the PawSox beat the Bisons.
After the game, we talked to Pauley. He still was not sure what was going on, other that that he was on call for the parent team. He said he was happy just to be on call. He was not sure if he would be reporting to McCoy or Fenway Monday.
Monday, when Pawtucket played a day game, Pauley was in the clubhouse. He smiled when I saw him and asked the obvious, ``Still here, huh?’’
Today, both of us were at Fenway. I did not know what was going on when he walked into the clubhouse. Theo Epstein had been in the clubhouse earlier and was on the phone as he was leaving. Francona’s meeting with the media had been moved back a few minutes from its usual 4 p.m. start. I went up to Pauley and asked what was going on. He said he had gotten the call to report.
``About 15 mintes ago,’’ he said.
``Where were you?’’ I asked.
``At a hotel here in Boston. They told me to come up last night and stay just in case. I got a call a couple hours ago saying no, then another call about 15 minutes ago saying yes. I was going to stay here for a little while, just in case.’’
``What’s the situation?’’
``I’m starting, as far as I know?’’
``Tonight?’’
``Yes.’’
``Oh. Sorry I shouldn’t be bothering you.’’
``Nah. It’s fine,’’ he said.
Manny Delcarmen came in and went over and welcomed Pauley, who was given a locker between Javy Lopez and Julian Tavarez. Cora came in, saw Pauley and went over and gave him a hug.
A short time later, when the reporters who had been at Francona’s press conference arrived, a couple went over and chatted with Pauley. Pauley talked to them, too.
If he was nervous or uptight, he sure was not showing it.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:33 PM | Permalink
The lineups
The Angels were a bit late posting their lineup for tonight. We have them both now:
ANGELS
Figgins 3b
Matthews DH
Guerrero RF
Anderson LF
Hunter CF
Kotchman 1B
Izturis 2B
Mathis C
Aybar SS
Weaver P
RED SOX
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Youkilis 3B
Drew RF
Casey 1B
Cash C
Lugo SS
Pauley P
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 4:52 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, April 22
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
109-53: With yesterday's fourth straight win over the Rangers in the books, Joe McDonald says the Red Sox have found the formula for success this season: "Battle for supremacy with the good teams in the league, while pounding the weaker teams into submission." And Joe says if they do that, they "could be on pace for a 109-53 record." (Mathematics alert: A 14-7 record, which is what they have now, projects out to 108-54. But you get the idea.) Jim Donaldson was impressed with the fact that the Sox could win a game by an 8-3 score with a lineup that was missing Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek, though it did include Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury (above). But pitching will take you far, and Steven Krasner shows in his Inside The Game feature that Clay Buchholz, yesterday's starter, is "wise beyond his years when it comes to mixing his pitches and keeping the opposition off balance." McDonald has more on Buccholz in his notebook.
You're never as good as you look when you're winning (or as bad as you look when you're losing), so 109-53 -- or 108-54 -- is a stretch. But it sure does look like the Sox have found the formula.
CHANGES: Our friend David Scott has the news that Gordon Edes is leaving the Globe for yahoo.com, and Heidi Watney has been hired by NESN as Tina Cervasio's replacement. (Scott's Shots)
QUICK FIX: Paul Kenyon reports a change in mechanics has led to a dramatic improvement in Craig Hansen's pitching at Pawtucket.
R.I.P. JOHN MARZANO: Mlb.com has a nice tribute to former Red Sox backup catcher John Marzano, who died over the weekend at the age of 45.
LOCAL BOYS (SORT OF): Foxsports.com profiles the rampaging Diamondbacks, whose GM, Josh Byrnes, used to work for the Red Sox.
BACK IN BUSINESS: For those who long for the days of the Bronx Zoo, may we proudly present . . . Hank Steinbrenner!
The Yankees were in full spin mode yesterday, less than 24 hours after Hammerin' Hank all but demanded that Joba Chamberlain be inserted into the starting rotation in a New York Times interview. So out came Brian Cashman, insisting that a) Chamberlain is staying in the bullpen for now, b) Steinbrenner is aware of, and approves, the long-range plan with Chamberlain, and c) there's no feud between himself and Hank. (New York Post) Having given the baseball's story of the day to the Times on Sunday Steinbrenner wouldn't speak to them yesterday (though Cashman did). He did, however, talk to the New York Daily News, telling them, basically, that yeah, I know what the plan is, and I'm fine with it; I was just sayin' it would be nice to have him starting now.
And this, my friends, is how controversy starts. For one thing, it reopens the Should Joba Be A Starter? debate. (Kevin Kernan of the Post says yes, and thinks Hank is a hero for saying so. Mets' relief ace Billy Wagner, of all people, tells the Daily News no, Joba should stay where he is.) Far more importantly, says the Daily News' Mike Lupica, it looks for all the world like a return to the Steinbrenner Modus Operandi we came to know so well during the reign of King George: A way "for Hank Steinbrenner to start running off Cashman the way his old man used to run off general managers and managers and even PR guys in the old days." Undercutting his subordinates, second-guessing their decisions (read: the failure to trade for Johan Santana), short-circuiting carefully developed organizational strategies because the team went 10-10 in its first 20 games . . . it all sounds delightfully familiar to Yankee-haters. Not to mention what it does for the confidence of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, whose struggles apparently prompted this latest eruption. (Andy Pettitte sticks up for them in the Daily News.)
The Journal-News' Peter Abraham lays out the reasons Chamberlain has to stay in the bullpen for now on the sublime LoHud Yankees Blog, and compelling reasons they are: Most of them have to do with Chamberlain's health. (Lest we forget, he pitched only 89 innings in 2006 because of injury and probably can't go more than 150 without risking further damage this season. Scan down to the middle of this piece from Yahoo.com's Tim Brown for a chilling assessment of Chamberlain's pre-draft medical reports.) In a later post, Abraham accurately notes what Hank Steinbrenner actually is: A full-employment service for Yankee beat writers.
And bloggers.
CALM DOWN: Always the voice of reason, Baseball Musing's David Pinto doesn't think the Yankees should be panicking about their starting rotation.
OUT BUT NOT GONE: The New York Daily News reports Alex Rodriguez may miss the same amount of time -- six games -- with his quad strain as Derek Jeter did with his, but adds the Yankees don't think he'll need to go on the disabled list.
PUNISHMENT FITS THE CRIME: In one of the tidbits of a long notes column, SI.com's Jon Heyman says Kyle Farnsworth "deserved every bit of that three-game suspension for throwing at Manny Ramirez." Curt Schilling agrees that Farnsworth's pitch at Ramirez' head was no case of the ball "slipping," as Farnsworth and the Yankees claim. (38pitches.com)
THE HURT LINE: One day into Frank Thomas' unexpected free agency, and here's the current landscape: The A's? Maybe. (San Francisco Chronicle) The White Sox? No, but they're sure interested in what's going on with their former franchise icon. (Daily Herald)
IT HAD TO BE DONE: The Sporting News' Gerry Fraley says the release of Thomas makes the Blue Jays better. Our pal Tao of Steib agrees.
THE NEW LANDSCAPE: Carlos Delgado's lack of production is beginning to draw attention in New York. (New York Post) The Post's baseball blog -- saying Delgado is to the Mets as Mike Mussina is to the Yankees -- thinks the Mets "may [go] all Frank Thomas on [Delgado] and just [release] him."
STICKING WITH SCOTT: Like Alex Rodriguez, Joe Crede is a third baseman. Like Alex Rodriguez, Joe Crede says his heart belongs to the team he plays for. Like Alex Rodriguez, Joe Crede has a chance to shop his wares on the open market. But unlike Alex Rodriguez, Joe Crede says he has no intention of straying from agent Scott Boras' advice and attempting to negotiate a deal with his team -- in his case, the White Sox -- by himself. (Chicago Sun Times)
RELAX: Sheldon Ocker examines C.C. Sabathia's struggles and concludes "whatever he is doing wrong for whatever reason probably will be only a faded memory in a few weeks." (Akron Beacon Journal)
WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL? The Cubs were told Johan Santana wanted to be traded to an East Coast team that spent spring training in Florida -- criteria they fail on both counts -- so they never got seriously involved in negotiations with the Twins. But now Santana is saying he'd have considered playing for the Cubs had they asked him if he were interested. (Chicago Sun-Times)
AND YOU THINK BAGWELL-FOR-ANDERSEN WAS BAD? The Los Angeles Times' Ross Newhan says it was nothing compared to Pedro Martinez for Delino DeShields.
HEY, HEY! Confidence is building on the North Side of Chicago. (mlb.com) And one of the reasons is most un-Cublike: A high team on-base percentage. (Daily Herald)
IT MAY BE A DUMP, BUT IT'S OUR DUMP: Old friend Jay Jaffe waxes poetic about Shea Stadium on his superb Futility Infielder blog.
BLAMING THE MESSENGER: Miguel Tejada is angry at ESPN for the way it got him to admit that he's two years older than his listed age. (mlb.com)
GET REAL: The blog Fantasy Baseball Generals responds to a Mike Berardino column in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about the lack of complete games in baseball by doing some research and noting that games "with eight pitching changes . . . [are] a small price to pay to see a [pitchers] have . . . complete [careers]."
QUICKLY: The Brewers skipped Ben Sheets' turn in the rotation because of triceps soreness (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Tim Hudson looked like the Tim Hudson of old in his victory over the Nationals last night (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Yes, Matt Morris is 0-3 with a 9.15 ERA and a .380 opponents' batting average allowed. But the Pirates say they're sticking with him (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Mark Mulder's imminent return is good news for the Cardinals, because at the very least he increases St. Louis' trade options (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi would like to get African-Americans involved in baseball at an earlier age (Toronto Sun) . . . Moises Alou may return to the Mets on Friday. (New York Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Nomar Garciaparra hit his first home run of the season last night for the Dodgers (Los Angeles Times) . . . Justin Duchscherer struggled in a rehab start. (rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:09 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, April 21
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
TEXAS THREE-STEP: The Red Sox have left the Rangers -- or at least the Dallas Morning News' Rangers blogger, Evan Grant -- speechless with three consecutive victories that leapfrogged each other on the can-you-top-this? implausibility scale. Friday's 11-3 win wasn't that implausible; it just featured an improbable hero: David Ortiz, whose slumbering bat awoke with a grand slam and five RBI. Paul Kenyon has the details. Saturday night had an implausible ending with a probable hero: Manny Ramirez, whose two-run laser off the light towers capped a three-run eighth-inning that lifted the Sox to a 5-3 win (at just about the same the time the Bruins were finishing off the Canadiens across town, tying their best-of-seven playoff series at 3-3). Joe McDonald provides the story of Ramirez' heroics. And yesterday . . . McDonald recounts an afternoon in which the Sox lost Ramirez in the second inning, fell behind 5-0, wasted opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, but all of which only served as a prelude to a four-run eighth inning -- with everything happening after the first two batters were retired -- that carried Boston to a 6-5 win. Dustin Pedroia's pinch-hit double (above) tied the score, and the winning run scored when Sean Casey, after falling behind 1-and-2, worked C.J. Wilson for a two-out, bases-loaded walk.
It was a comeback, and a weekend, that shows the Red Sox' talent and tenacity, says Jim Donaldson. And after 20 games, their record sits at 13-7, exactly the same as it was after 20 games last year. (baseball-reference.com)
THE BEST-LAID PLANS . . . The ejection of Ramirez left the Sox with Joe Thurston in the cleanup spot for a good portion of the day, and, in his Inside The Game feature, Steven Krasner notes that gave the Rangers some options as to whether or not to pitch to Ortiz. Big Papi came up four times after Manny was tossed and, as Krasner notes, Texas manager Ron Washington batted .500 in making that decision.
INSIDE PITCH: Krasner also went Inside The Game on Friday and Saturday. The first time, he looks at the confidence boost Ortiz' grand slam gave the entire Red Sox batting order. (In his Hacks with Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty relates a spring-training conversation with Ortiz in which Ortiz talked of his normal offseason routine being altered because of his knee surgery, which may have caused his slow start.) The next night, Krasner notes that Texas had plenty of chances to put the game away before Ramirez' eighth-inning blast.
COMING UP SHORT: After having seen him play at Portland, Chad Finn doesn't think flavor-of-the-month Jed Lowrie can cut it defensively at shortstop over the long haul. But he does think Lowrie has a big-league future "and it is barely an exaggeration to say he's helped the Sox more in his first week here than shortstop incumbent Julio Lugo has in a year-plus." (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
ON HOLD: The flu bug is working its way though the Red Sox clubhouse, so the front office called Pawtucket and had the PawSox pull David Pauley from his scheduled start yesterday, in case he's needed to fill in for an ailing Boston starter in the next day or two. The PawSox, report Kenyon, were none the worse for wear, however, as Edgar Martinez and three other relievers shut down Buffalo.
RINGS OF HONOR: Kenyon also has details of a mini-ring ceremony at McCoy Stadium on Saturday, as Jeff Bailey, Brandon Moss, Devern Hansack and Kyle Snyder received their World Series jewelry from director of player development Mike Hazen.
DOWN FURTHER ON THE FARM: Justin Masterson is lighting up the sky in Portland. (rotoworld.com)
THE CHECK'S IN THE MAIL, THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK . . . and Kyle Farnsworth swears his fastball just "slipped" when it sailed behind Manny Ramirez' head Thursday night. That slip cost Farnsworth a three-game suspension, which, of course, he's appealing. (New York Daily News) The Yankees are shocked, shocked I tell you, at the penalty. (New York Post) Carolyn Thornton reports that Manny's not exactly buying Farnsworth's claims of innocence, but he's not blaming him, either, saying it's all just part of the game. In any case, Bill Madden of the Daily News gives voice to the majority feeling in Yankee Universe when he asserts the Yanks have a long way to go to even the score in the Boston-New York beanball battle.
I FEEL YOUR PAIN: The same injury that sidelined Derek Jeter -- a strained quad -- struck Alex Rodriguez yesterday in the Yankees' victory over the Orioles. (New York Daily News)
PUTTING THE GAME ASIDE: Joba Chamberlain thanked everyone who sent along best wishes during his father's illness, including a group of Red Sox fans. (LoHud Yankees blog)
END OF THE LINE: Chamberlain pitched yesterday for the first time since leaving the team last Sunday and saw his scoreless streak end. (New York Post)
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: The struggles of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have Hank Steinbrenner wanting Chamberlain in the starting rotation, and he wants him there now. (New York Times)
THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS: The Post's Mike Vaccaro says we're living through the Golden Age of baseball.
THEY SCREAM: Both the Yankees (LoHud Yankees blog) and the Red Sox (Boston Herald) have banned ice cream from their clubhouses.
BIGGEST HURT: One day after he complained about being benched -- or at least losing playing time -- Frank Thomas was released by the Blue Jays. (Toronto Star) Our pal the Tao of Steib doesn't seem to mind, though Baseball Musing's David Pinto thinks there's more to this than meets the eye. As for Thomas' future, the Rangers don't appear to be interested (Dallas Morning News) but the Mariners might give him a call. (mlb.com)
WELL, THAT EXPLAINS IT: The White Sox went 88 years -- from 1917, when they won the World Series in six games over the New York Giants, to 2005, when they swept the Astros -- between championships, and you don't have to look far to find people who blame it all on the Black Sox scandal of 1919. (Punishment for mortal sin, don't you know.) If that's so, news that the Cubs may have thrown the 1918 World Series to the Red Sox puts their 100-years-and-counting drought into a different light. (sportingnews.com)
AFTER ALL, YOU'D NEVER SEE NEW YORK FANS BEHAVE THIS WAY: The Mets have no use for the Phillie fans who cheered when Jose Reyes suffered a head injury Friday night. (New York Post)
BIG DEAL: The A's, his original team, are nonplussed about the news that Miguel Tejada lied about his age when Oakland signed him and is actually two years older than he said. (San Francisco Chronicle)
'I FEEL GREAT': Doug Davis, who underwent surgery for thyroid cancer on April 10, is back with the Diamondbacks and, in a perfect world, would love to pitch May 9 against the Cubs. (Arizona Republic)
HERE AND THERE: NL MVP Jimmy Rollins has finally gone on the disabled list after insisting for two weeks that his injured ankle was just about healed (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The end of his 14-game hitting streak meant the end of Eric Byrnes' mustache. (Arizona Republic)
OLD FRIENDS: Matt Murton has returned to the Cubs (mlb.com) . . . Keith Foulke is headed to the disabled list because of a stiff neck (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Lenny DiNardo has been removed from the A's starting rotation (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Joe Torre isn't quite sure how to use the slumping Nomar Garciaparra. (Los Angeles Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Kielty disabled, Pritz activated
Pawtucket officials have just announced that outfielder Bobby Kielty has been placed in the disabled list.
Kielty had been playing through pain in his left hand. When the PawSox returned from their road trip Saturday, Kielty went to a doctor. He was sent to another doctor today and the team announced as this afternoon's game against Buffalo was beginning that Kielty was being placed on the seven-day disabled list, retroactive to Saturday.
Outfielder Bryan Pritz, who spent most of last season with Portland, was activated to take Kielty’s spot. Pritz had been on the PawSox DL since the start of the season.
The Pawtucket game has begun with another surprise. David Pauley, the scheduled starting pitcher, did not take the mound. No reason was given. Pauley was in the clubhouse before the game. Edgar Martinez, normally a reliever, made the start for him. PawSox officials said an explanation will be provided when the game is finished.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 1:10 PM | Permalink
Murphy's Law: Life is good
There was a little presentation made in the visitor’s clubhouse at Fenway this afternoon, one that brought a smile to David Murphy’s face. But then again, Murphy has been doing a lot of smiling lately.
Jack McCormick, the Red Sox traveling secretary, presented Murphy and Kason Gabbard with their World Series rings. Gabbard started seven games for the Sox and went 4-0. Murphy played in only two games, going 1-for-2, before being traded with Gabbard for Eric Gagne on a deadline (July 31st) deal. Murphy went on to hit .340 in 103 at-bats for the Rangers. Murphy proudly showed off the ring, which has been estimated to be worth in the $20,000 range.
``I don’t know what I’m going to do with it,’’ he said as he opened the case in which it is kept and showed it off, ``but it is nice.’’
Picking up the ring is merely the latest in a line of pleasant developments for Murphy.
``Life is very good,’’ said the former Red Sox first-round draft choice, who is a Texas native. ``The Red Sox were good to me while I was here, but I’m back home and getting a chance to play. Things are working out very well.’’
Murphy has played in every game for the Rangers thus far and begins play tonight hitting .305. He is tied for second in the American League in doubles, with seven. With Boston, he was blocked by a deep roster of outfielders. It has been different with Texas.
``My goal was just to make the team. I had never made a 25-man roster coming out of spring training,’’ he said. ``That was my only goal. Then, in terms of my playing time I thought we’d just go from there. The way things have worked out, with a few injuries (to others), I’ve gotten huge playing time. Being close to home and getting the opportunity to play every day has been awesome.’’
``It’s different from last year,’’ he said. ``Last year nobody really knew me around the big leagues. I was at the bottom of the lineup. I saw more fastballs. Pitchers are making adjustments to me now. I have to make adjustments back to them.’’
Sox manager Terry Francona spoke about how happy he was for both Murphy and Gabbard, who is now a member of the Texas rotation and will start against the Sox Monday in the series finale. Francona ran into Gabbard in the weight room on the way to his pre-game interview.
``Your affection for these guys doesn’t diminish when they leave the organization. They didn’t choose to leave. It was a trade,’’ Francona said. The Sox manager wished Gabbard and Francona well, except _ except this weekend.
``I hope he (Murphy) hits into six double plays this weekend,’’ Francona said. ``That doesn’t mean he’s not a good player.’’
For Murphy the good times go beyond his hitting and getting new rings. His wife, Andrea, gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, Madison Grace, three days after the trade. And the couple has just learned that Andrea is pregnant again.
``Life is good,’’ Murphy said with a big smile.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:12 PM | Permalink
Lowrie gets a start
The one change in the Red Sox lineup tonight is at shortstop.
Jed Lowrie gets a chance to start in place of Julio Lugo. It is just ``a good time to get him in there,’’ manager Terry Francona reported. It will be Lowrie's second start, first at shortstop.
Here are the lineups:
TEXAS
Kinsler 2b
Young SS
Hamilton CF
Bradley RF
Blalock 3b
Murphy LF
Catalanotto DH
Laird C
Broussard 1b
Mendoza P
BOSTON
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2b
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Youkilis 3b
Drew RF
Varitek C
Casey 1b
Lowrie SS
Matsuzaka P
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 4:26 PM | Permalink
Delcarmen closes it out for Sox
BOSTON _ Officially, Manny Delcarmen will not be credited with a save for the work he turned in last night in preserving an 8-5 Red Sox victory over the Yankees. In his mind, though, it was a special night, save or no save.
``I’ve got the ball right here,’’ he said pointing to his locker. ``I got one last year and now I’ve got this one, too. It’s pretty cool.’’
In one way, Delcarmen was the victim of the quirky save rule. The rule dictates that if a pitcher begins the final inning with a three-run lead and the game ends with his team still ahead, the pitcher gets the save. However, if he enters after one batter has been retired without a runner reaching base, he does not get the save.
Last night, the Sox kept Javier Lopez in the game to begin the ninth. He had come on in the eighth with Boston ahead, 7-5, and with runners on first and second with no outs for the Yankees. New York had three lefties coming up.
Lopez got Johnny Damon to ground into a double play to Dustin Pedrioa at second and then Robinson Cano on another grounder to second to end the inning.
The Sox added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 8-5. With the third New York lefty coming up to begin the ninth, Boston manager Terry Franconca kept Lopez in the game. He retired Bobby Abreu on another grounder.
That’s when Delcarmen came on. He fell behind Alex Rodriquez 3-0 then fired three straight strikes, the third a 95 mile per hour fastball that got Rodriguez swinging.
``Being born and raised in Boston it’s always special to be able to beat the Yankees,’’ Delcarmen said. ``Being able to punch out A-Rod was pretty cool.’’
Delcarmen then ended it by retiring Hideki Matsui for the final out. He showed a little Jonathan Papelbon-type emotion with a fist pump, save or not save.
``It doesn’t matter to me,’’ he said of not being being given a save. ``I got the job done.’’
Delcarmen said pitching the ninth really is different than working earlier in the game. The emotion is heightened.
``I can see why (Papelbon) gets as emotional as he does,’’ he said. ``I get nervous every time before I walk out the (bullpen) gate. Being able to get the ball in that situation shows the confidence Tito (Francona) has in me. It’s an unbelievable feeling being able to end the game and help is the get the win.’’
Delcarmen was the closer for the night because neither Papelbon nor Hideki Okajima was available. The Sox said during spring training that they expected there would be times when Delcarmen would close this season and last night was the perfect chance. Delcarmen looked like a closer, throwing 14 pitches, nine for strikes, to end the game.
``All fastballs,’’ he said.
Papelbon was not available because he threw 26 pitches in getting the save in Saturday’s 4-3 victory over New York. Because of rain, he actually worked harder than that. He got up to warm up times, spread around a more than two-hour rain delay.
``He’s not going to pitch tonight, that’s just the way it is,’’ Franconca responded when asked about Papelbon before the game. ``I don’t think it’s any big secret. You can run over and tell the Yankees.’’
Okajima had pitched in three games in a row. He needed the night off, as well.
The Sox were hoping to get as many innings as possible from Daisuke Matsuzaka, the starter. But Matsuzaka struggled and needed 116 pitches just to get through five innings.
David Aarsdama came through with two scoreless innings. Mike Timlin continued to struggled, goving up hits to all three hitters he faced, including a home run to Jason Giambi. But Lopez bailed him out and then Delcarmen came on and did a very nice Papelbon imitation to close it out.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 12:55 AM | Permalink
Delcarmen closes it out for Sox
BOSTON _ Officially, Manny Delcarmen will not be credited with a save for the work he turned in last night in preserving an 8-5 Red Sox victory over the Yankees. In his mind, though, it was a special night, save or no save.
``I’ve got the ball right here,’’ he said pointing to his locker. ``I got one last year and now I’ve got this one, too. It’s pretty cool.’’
In one way, Delcarmen was the victim of the quirky save rule. The rule dictates that if a pitcher begins the final inning with a three-run lead and the game ends with his team still ahead, the pitcher gets the save. However, if he enters after one batter has been retired without a runner reaching base, he does not get the save.
Last night, the Sox kept Javier Lopez in the game to begin the ninth. He had come on in the eighth with Boston ahead, 7-5, and with runners on first and second with no outs for the Yankees. New York had three lefties coming up.
Lopez got Johnny Damon to ground into a double play to Dustin Pedrioa at second and then Robinson Cano on another grounder to second to end the inning.
The Sox added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 8-5. With the third New York lefty coming up to begin the ninth, Boston manager Terry Franconca kept Lopez in the game. He retired Bobby Abreu on another grounder.
That’s when Delcarmen came on. He fell behind Alex Rodriquez 3-0 then fired three straight strikes, the third a 95 mile per hour fastball that got Rodriguez swinging.
``Being born and raised in Boston it’s always special to be able to beat the Yankees,’’ Delcarmen said. ``Being able to punch out A-Rod was pretty cool.’’
Delcarmen then ended it by retiring Hideki Matsui for the final out. He showed a little Jonathan Papelbon-type emotion with a fist pump, save or not save.
``It doesn’t matter to me,’’ he said of not being being given a save. ``I got the job done.’’
Delcarmen said pitching the ninth really is different than working earlier in the game. The emotion is heightened.
``I can see why (Papelbon) gets as emotional as he does,’’ he said. ``I get nervous every time before I walk out the (bullpen) gate. Being able to get the ball in that situation shows the confidence Tito (Francona) has in me. It’s an unbelievable feeling being able to end the game and help is the get the win.’’
Delcarmen was the closer for the night because neither Papelbon nor Hideki Okajima was available. The Sox said during spring training that they expected there would be times when Delcarmen would close this season and last night was the perfect chance. Delcarmen looked like a closer, throwing 14 pitches, nine for strikes, to end the game.
``All fastballs,’’ he said.
Papelbon was not available because he threw 26 pitches in getting the save in Saturday’s 4-3 victory over New York. Because of rain, he actually worked harder than that. He got up to warm up times, spread around a more than two-hour rain delay.
``He’s not going to pitch tonight, that’s just the way it is,’’ Franconca responded when asked about Papelbon before the game. ``I don’t think it’s any big secret. You can run over and tell the Yankees.’’
Okajima had pitched in three games in a row. He needed the night off, as well.
The Sox were hoping to get as many innings as possible from Daisuke Matsuzaka, the starter. But Matsuzaka struggled and needed 116 pitches just to get through five innings.
David Aarsdama came through with two scoreless innings. Mike Timlin continued to struggled, goving up hits to all three hitters he faced, including a home run to Jason Giambi. But Lopez bailed him out and then Delcarmen came on and did a very nice Papelbon imitation to close it out.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 12:55 AM | Permalink
Girardi faces heavy questioning
Joe Girardi is quickly learning the difference between managing in Florida and in New York.
It’s not likely that Girardi ever had a meeting with reporters in Florida, when he was the Marlins’ manager, quite like the one he just had with the writers and broadcasters who cover the Yankees. Rather than looking ahead to tonight’s game, virtually the entire focus of tonight’s session was yesterday’s loss to the Red Sox.
Specifically, Girard was asked _ over and over and over again _ how he came to make the decision to pitch to Manny Ramirez in the sixth inning and whether he would do it again. With runners on second and third and two outs, Girardi let Mike Mussina pitch to the Red Sox slugger. And Ramirez ripped the first pitch into the gap in right-center for the two runs that won the game.
``I’m not going to second-guess what I did yesterday because I took the information that I had at the time and made a decision,’’ Girardi said. ``I thought it was the best decision at that time. I think you can look back on any decision you make in your life and hindsight is 20-20. I can look back at my life and say if I did this, maybe this wouldn‘t have happened.’’
Does that mean he would do the same thing again?
``You learn during the course of a year,’’ he responded. ``You gather information and it has a chance to effect your next decision.’’
What amounted to the same question was asked in about a dozen different ways. Girardi kept his composure throughout.
``The most critical person I have to worry about is myself. How if effects me is what I worry about, not how other people think it’s going to effect me,’’ he said. ``The heart that I have to worry about is the one inside my own body. That’s the one that takes losing hard.’’
Girardi, who was a catcher himself, said he often second-guessed decisions he made calling pitches. He told the story of a game in Minnesota about 10 years ago when he called for a curve from Mike Stanton.
``It lost us a game,’’ Girardi said. ``This is something I’ve been doing along time. You think about the situation you go through.’’
Did the fact that Mussina is a veteran pitcher impact his decision?
``A pitcher of Mike Mussina’s credentials, obviously you’re going to want to know what he thinks. Each decision will be based on that pitcher. It won’t be a blanket decision. It’s a feeling you have,’’ he said.
The only time Girard seemed to get a bit frustrated was when one writer insisted, about the fourth time around, that he was no longer looking back, but more wanted to get an idea how Girardi would manage for the rest of the season.
``I guess we can watch and find out,’’ the new Yankees manager shot back. He obviously wanted to look ahead, not back.
``That’s the great thing about baseball. You’ve got another game you have to worry about,’’ Girardi said. ``As I said yesterday, you live with it and you move on.’’
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 7:26 PM | Permalink
Sox bullpen shorthanded tonight
The Red Sox need innings by Daisuke Matsuzaka tonight, even more than usual.
Sox manager Terry Francona, who normally does not like to discuss the availability of his pitchers before games, decided not to be coy for tonight’s contest against the Yankees, at least not in the case of Jonathan Papelbon.
``He’s not going to pitch tonight, that’s just the way it is,’’ Franconca responded when asked about Papelbon in his usual pre-game meeting with reporters. ``I don’t think it’s any big secret. You can run over and tell the Yankees.’’
Papelbon threw 26 pitches (19 for strikes) in recording the last four outs to get the save Saturday against New York. More than that, he got up to warm up four different times, split by a more than two-hour rain delay. Some were surprised that Papelbon came out for the ninth after striking out Alex Rodriguez with two on in the eighth.
``We kind of made a determination yesterday that we had played a pretty good game. we’re committed to winning this game,’’ Francona said. ``We have to live with our decisions. . . I’m just glad we won.’’
Of the last 14 outs he has recorded, Papelbon has retired 11 on strikeouts. He simply will not add to that total tonight.
What’s more, Hideki Okajima is not likely to be pitch tonight, either. He has appeared in three straight games. Francona was a bit more coy on that situation.
``Probably not,’’ he responded when asked whether the lefty was available. ``But let's hold off on that. We don’t want to give the Yankees too much.’’
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:32 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, April 11
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 at 6:29 AM | Permalink
Sox pound out 12-6 win
The bottom of the Boston lineup did much of the damage as the Red Sox took the lead with four runs in the fourth, and the Sox went on to a 12-6 victory over Detroit tonight. The fourth was the first of three four-run innings for Boston.
The Tigers had just scored twice in the top of the fourth to take the lead. In the bottom of the inning, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis drew walks off Tiger starter Nate Robertson. J.D. Drew singled, Coco Crisp doubled, Sean Casey got the go-ahead run home with a ground ball to first and Kevin Cash singled home the final run of the inning.
Boston added four more in the seventh. Manny Ramirez, in a nine-pitch at-bat, doubled in two and Casey singled in two more. Detroit scored three times in the eighth off Julian Tavarez before Jonathan Papelbon came on for the four-out save. His job was made easier when the Sox had another four-run inning in the bottom of the eighth. Kevin Youkilis doubled home two, the third scored on a sacrifice fly by J.D. Drew and the final run on another hit by Crisp.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 10:40 PM | Permalink
Francona to Jeter: Easy does it on that quad
Asked during today’s pre-game press conference if he thought a veteran team might be less affected than an inexperienced ball club by a managing change, Sox manager Terry Francona looked around with a feigned look of surprise, as if the question was posed because his job with Boston was perhaps in jeopardy.
With the inquiry obviously referring to the Yankees now being managed by Joe Girardi, Francona replied: ``We spend so much time here trying to figure out ourselves and what makes us tick and what’s going to make us tick that I don’t spend any time thinking about that. . . . I don’t need to manage both teams. I’ve got my hands full here.
Asked if he’d advise Yankees short stop Derek Jeter to take his time in returning from a strained left quadriceps, Francona – whose club heads to New York for a three-game series this weekend – said to a round of laughter: ``Always. Always. . . . You can never be too careful with those quads.’’
Posted by Carolyn Thornton at 7:49 PM | Permalink
Timlin will wait one more day
Mike Timlin is going to have to wait one more day before getting back on the job with the Red Sox.
The Sox reliever was at his locker at Fenway this afternoon, dressed and ready to pitch. But, since he has pitched two of the last three days on rehab assignment in Pawtucket, the Sox will wait one more day before activating him.
The 42-year-old right-hander said the same thing he spoke about in Pawtucket last night _ that is, he feels fully healthy and raring to begin his 18th year in the big leagues.
``I just enjoy the game play the game. I don’t try to overthink it,’’ he said. ``I’ve told a lot of young guys that have come up, `You can have my job, but you’ve got to take it. I’m not going to give it away. I work hard at what I do and I love to do it. God’s blessed me with a long career.’’
It is still unclear how Timlin’s return will impact the pitching staff. Obviously, someone will have to go. Bryan Corey, who has struggled in his last two appearances, and David Aardsma are the most likely casualties. Manager Terry Francona spoke this afternoon about how Corey and lefty Javier Lopez are causing some concerns on how to use them in that they are doing well against hitters from the opposite side of the plate, but struggling to retire hitters from their side of the plate.
``He’s more effective against right-handers,’’ Francona said of Lopez, ``and Corey’s the opposite.’’
On still another front, it looks as if Bartolo Colon (strained oblique), currently on the disabled list with Pawtucket, will get back to work some time this weekend.
``The medical people think that’s the road we’re on,’’ Francona said.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 5:02 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today; Thursday, April 10
ENOUGH, ALREADY: We were holding an impromptu staff meeting in the back of the press box at Fenway Park in the middle of the eighth inning Tuesday afternoon, so we missed what most of you saw: Neil Diamond doing a live-on-tape version of Sweet Caroline, with Tom Werner, Wally The Green Monster and others serving as Pips to Diamond's Gladys Knight. The You Tube clip fails to show the post-song patter between Diamond and Werner:
Werner: "You know, that was great. It's so great hearing Sweet Caroline. We'd love it if you'd ever play that at Fenway Park."
Diamond: "Oh, I would love it, too. We'd have a great party."
Werner: "Would you come this summer, then?"
Diamond: "Are you inviting me?"
Werner: "Absolutely."
Diamond: "I'm there!"
Werner: "Okay!"
Diamond: "That's a deal!"
(2:43 P.M. NOTE: Thanks to Ian Bethune of the blog Sox and Dawgs, who has the full clip -- along with Steven Tyler's version of God Bless America -- on his site.)
Right. As if the Red Sox hadn't been approaching Diamond's representatives about a Fenway Park concert for years, only to have negotiations constantly break down over availability dates and financial terms. As if after having this song played every night at Fenway since they bought the team in 2002 -- the Boston Globe even used the words "So good! So good!" as its headline after the Sox won the World Series last year -- it only just dawned on the Henry/Werner/Lucchino group that, wow, maybe it would be a good idea to have Neil Diamond perform here.
There's no question that Henry/Werner/Lucchino have accomplished far, far, far more good than bad during their going-on-seven-year stewardship of the Red Sox. But, as Sean McAdam writes today, the Neil Diamond nonsense represents the more unctious side of Red Sox Nation, a side that also showed itself in L'Affaire Buckner. (To wit: A relatively graceless guy, who whined about mistreatment from Red Sox fans for more than 20 years -- he was quoted after the Sox won the 2004 World Series as saying, "I've gone through a lot of, what I feel, undeserved bad situations for myself and my family over a long period of time, and for someone to come up to me and say, 'Hey, you're forgiven,' I mean, it just kind of brings a really bad taste in my mouth" -- and who already had been welcomed back into the fold with a rousing standing ovation on Opening Day 1990, returns in a made-for-television event that's interpreted by those with a passing knowledge of events as a cathartic moment of forgiveness on both sides.) They are, as Sean writes, "self-aggrandizing, over-the-top displays that have become a little too common of late."
(Late note: It looks like The Biz of Baseball's Maury Brown agrees with Sean.)
Like I say, there's been more good than bad under the new regime -- lots more good than bad -- and if this excess is the price to pay, well, I suppose we can live with it. Because, as Sean also writes, "The fan experience at Fenway, by every measure, has never been more enjoyable and the product on the field never more successful."
All true.
But can we just tone it down a few notches?
IT CAN'T BE ALL BAD: The Sox don't show up on DJ Gallo's list of the worst (and best) MLB promotions of 2008. (mlb.com)
MR. HYDE: When Jon Lester attacks the strike zone and has command of his pitches, he can be a formidable presence; witness the 6 2/3 shutout innings he tossed last week in Oakland, and the first three innings of last night's start against the Tigers. But that Jon Lester disappeared with one out in the fourth and into his place stepped the all-over-the-joint Jon Lester, who labored through a 40-pitch mess of an inning that resulted in four Detroit runs and led the way to a 7-2 Tigers victory, recounted here by Carolyn Thornton. In his Inside The Game feature, Steven Krasner examines Lester's inconsistency. Baseball Musing's David Pinto wonders if the Sox should be worried about Lester's 10 walks and 7 strikeouts so far this season, since pitchers "tend not to last long with a K/BB under 1.0."
SMALL PAPI: Krasner does a detailed analysis of David Ortiz' early season woes.
THE REAL BAD NEWS: McAdam reports on Mike Lowell's sprained thumb, which may sideline him for a bit.
GETTING CLOSE TO DECISION TIME: With Mike Timlin about ready to return -- Paul Kenyon has the details of his night in Pawtucket -- Krasner looks at the outings of the relievers who are on the bubble. The verdict: David Aardsma helped himself last night, Bryan Corey and Javier Lopez didn't.
TWO INTO ONE DOESN'T GO: The center-field game of musical chairs continues; last night, relates McAdam, it was Jacoby Ellsbury in, Coco Crisp out. Crisp isn't complaining per se, but he's clearly not too happy with his in-again, out-again lineup status. (Boston Herald)
ON THE MEDICAL FRONT: Bartolo Colon feels better and Curt Schilling is chomping at the bit to start throwing. McAdam has both reports.
MINOR-LEAGUE SPOTLIGHT: Kenyon profiles Chris Carter, who was acquired from the Nationals in the Wily Mo Pena deal.
FIRST OF MANY: It was Detroit's first win of the year and the Tigers were pleased if not necessarily excited. (Detroit News) The News also talked to ex-Tiger Sean Casey, who is confident his old team will right its listing ship very soon.
MUSIC TO MY EARS: Edgar Renteria -- his 30-error performance in 2005 still fresh in the fans' minds -- is the target of Fenway boo-birds. But, according to the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley, he loves it.
BEEN THERE: Lester certainly understands what Arizona's Doug Davis -- about to undergo surgery for thyroid cancer -- is going through, and he tells the Globe's Nick Cafardo he'd be happy to do anything he can to help Davis through the ordeal. Cafardo also talks to other people who know Davis, like Terry Francona and Kenny Rogers.
BIRD MEN: Remember that hawk that attacked poor A-Rod -- Alexa Rodriguez -- at Fenway Park? It's been named the official mascot of the Lowell Spinners' Yankee Elimination Program. (Boston Herald)
THE BEST-LAID PLANS: Joe Girardi opened himself up to plenty of second-guessing when he held back starter Ian Kennedy because it was raining in Kansas City -- only to use Kennedy in the sixth inning as the game was played in spite of the weather -- but the New York Post's George King says the 4-0 loss can be blamed on the "Dead Bat Society," not any pitching decisions by Girardi. The good news for the Yanks is that Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada probably won't have to go on the disabled list. (New York Daily News)
ONE OR THE OTHER: Goose Gossage, who was both a starter and a reliever in his early days -- and whose Hall of Fame career didn't take off until he concentrated solely on relief pitching -- thinks the Yankees should keep Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. (New York Post)
HUGHES DIFFERENCE The blog SaberScouting.com says Phil Hughes' struggles may be helped by a slight alteration of his delivery.
ALL THE STARS: Newsday reports MLB wants to bring as many living Hall of Famers as possible to Yankee Stadium for the 2008 All-Star Game.
OH, THOSE TORONTONIANS: After already been chided by Katie Holmes in The Gazette for their Opening Night behavior, Blue Jays fans are now catching the wrath of team president Paul Godfrey, who says the Jays may discontinue their $2 Tuesday night ticket promotion after a series of fights erupted at the Rogers Centre earlier this week. (Toronto Star)
ALL PREVIOUS STATEMENTS ARE INOPERATIVE: Esquire runs through a list of contradictory Roger Clemens quotes, including a pair in which a) he admits he asked out of Game Six of the 1986 World Series and, two years later, b) says he was taken out of the game against his will by John McNamara.
MATTER OF STYLE: Writing for SportingNews.com, David Pinto examines the 'Torre Effect' on teams that he takes over as manager. The bottom line: They usually win more.
MORE CONFESSIONS: Ex-big leaguer Ed Sprague, who played 33 games for the Red Sox in 2000, admits to taking andro during his big-league days. (Recordnet.com)
I'VE HAD MY PHIL OF YOU: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says he doesn't like umpire Phil Cuzzi, and that the feeling is mutual. (Chicago Sun-Times) Cuzzi, however, says any disagreements they have are just professional.
AND OF YOU: Another pair on the outs -- the Cardinals' Albert Pujols and the Astros' Brandon Backe. (mlb.com)
DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP: FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry doesn't think the Cardinals can sustain their early season success.
HERE AND THERE: Ernie Banks would like to see Sammy Sosa welcomed back into the Cubs family (Chicago Tribune) . . . Jose Guillen's 15-game drug suspension is postponed yet again as MLB and the players union inch closer to a new drug-testing agreement (Kansas City Star) . . . Braves closer Rafael Soriano is headed to the disabled list (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Rich Harden doesn't think he'll be able to start Saturday. (San Francisco Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: The Rays' Cliff Floyd has undergone knee surgery (Tampa Tribune) . . . Tomo Ohka got shelled in a minor-league start last night (rotoworld.com) . . . The Tigers signed Casey Fossum. (rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:35 AM | Permalink
Timlin sharp in Pawtucket
Mike Timlin just made quick work of his second rehab appearance in Pawtucket.
Timlin retired Lehigh Valley on three routine ground balls in the sixth inning in a scoreless game. He threw 10 pitches, seven for strikes.
There is warm-up action in the Pawtucket bullpen, indicating Timlin probably will not come out for a second inning.
Posted by Paul Kenyon at 7:50 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, April 9
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
FLAG DAY: It was a day for celebration of the past. A championship season (above). An old friend whose blemished history was wiped clean in one stirring, emotional moment. (projo.com) Old champions from other Boston sports. (Boston Herald) But in the end, says Sean McAdam, the biggest news from Opening Day was the Red Sox closing the book on 2007 and buckling down to the task at hand, which involves making 2008 a success. They got off on the right foot with a 5-0 win over the Tigers that Joe McDonald reports was a living example of the simple mantras -- play them one at a time, don’t make excuses, don’t get too high, don’t get too low -- that these Sox live by. It was helped, of course, by sterling pitching from Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose day was profiled by Jim Donaldson and whose performance was analyzed by Steven Krasner.
Tonight it's back to normal: 7:05 p.m. start, no pregame ceremonies, nothing but baseball. McAdam sums it up perfectly: "Today is New Year's Day, the first day of the rest of the baseball season."
BUCKED UP: The Red Sox' uniformed personnel liked all the pomp and circumstance -- the flag over the left-field wall, the handing out of championship rings, the Boston Pops, the flyover, the raising of the 2007 World Series championship pennant -- but the part of the day that touched them the most was the reception received by Buckner. Kevin Youkilis and Terry Francona share their thoughts with McDonald.
BIGGER AND BETTER: Curt Schilling lines up his four championship rings -- from the 2007, '04 and '01 World Series, and the 1993 NLCS -- and shows how they seem to grow each time. (38pitches.com)
MANNY BEING MANNY: After a tough weekend in Toronto, Manny Delcarmen got back on track with a strong, 1 1/3-inning performance. McAdam has the particulars.
HERE AND THERE ON OPENING DAY: Though the Boston Globe reports there were vendors selling alcohol in selected portion of the stands for the first time at Fenway Park yesterday, I remember beer being sold in the seats for a brief period in 1978 or so . . . The Globe also chronicles the number local celebrities who were on hand for the show.
FINALLY: Neil Diamond, whose Sweet Caroline is a Fenway fixture -- for better or worse -- will hold a concert here on Aug. 23. (Boston Globe)
THANKS: The slumping Tigers, now an incredible 0-7, may have been the best Opening Day medicine the Sox could have received. Krasner details some of their gaffes and shortcomings in his Inside The Game feature, and talked with Jim Leyland about their struggles afterwards. He also talked to David Ortiz and Mike Lowell, who say the Tigers are too good to continue to play this bad.
LONG-TERM DAMAGE: According to AccuScore.com, the Tigers' 0-7 start now has them likely to finish 82-79 and miss the playoffs. (yahoo.com) Baseball Musing's David Pinto calculates that the odds of a playoff team losing seven games in a row is 0.35%. FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal isn't ready to bury the Bengals just yet, but says Detroit's weaknesses can't be "easily dismissed."
MINOR DEAL: Christian Lara was once regarded as the Red Sox' top shortstop prospect. But after six struggling minor-league seasons in which he seems to have stalled at Class A -- during which time his star was eclipsed by Jed Lowrie -- the Sox gave up on him, shipping him to the Dodgers for reliever Eric Hull. (mlb.com) Hull's address for most of this summer is likely to be One Ben Mondor Way, Pawtucket.
CLOSING UP: When Hull gets to the PawSox bullpen, he'll find the closer's role being handled not by prospect Craig Hansen or big-league veteran Dan Kolb, but surprise choice Lee Gronkiewicz. Paul Kenyon profiles the unlikely anchor of the Pawtucket relief corps.
WINNERS IN ANOTHER WAY: The Gazette's Katie Holmes -- disgusted by the behavior of the Rogers Centre crowd on Opening Night last Friday -- says "The Red Sox may have lost the series against the Jays, but the Sox fans would win in a test of loyalty and etiquette [against Jays fans] any day."
GODSPEED: The Diamondbacks' Doug Davis made his last start before undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer, which is expected to sideline him for at least a month. (East Valley Tribune) Davis, whose form of cancer has a 97 percent cure rate, says he doesn't want to be seen as a hero. (Arizona Republic) Yahoo.com's Tim Brown talks to two baseball men -- Joe Torre and Brett Butler -- who survived cancer surgery of their own in the 1990s and are still in the game.
PICK YOUR POISON: The glass-is-half-empty crowd's cup runneth over with the Yankees. The list of downers starts with Derek Jeter's strained left quadricep muscle (New York Daily News), and just grows from there: Jorge Posada's dead arm (New York Post), a miserable start by Phil Hughes in a loss to Kansas City (New York Daily News), Alex Rodriguez' four strikeouts in said loss (New York Daily News) and the fact they've just embarked on a stretch in which they'll play 18 of 20 on the road. (Newsday) The Yanks hope to have Jeter back in time to play the Red Sox at Fenway this weekend, but it looks like they're summoning Triple-A shortstop Alberto Gonzalez as a reinforcement in any case. (New York Post)
IDIOT WARNING: Our own fantasy guy, Michael Salfino, writes on SNY.tv that Johnny Damon is beginning to look like he's washed up.
END OF THE ROAD? He has one blown save, two losses and a 12.27 ERA, all on top of an historic meltdown in extra innings in Colorado last October that cost his team a playoff spot. So SI.com's Jon Heyman wonders: Is it time for the Padres to remove Hall of Famer-in-waiting Trevor Hoffman from the closer's role?
AND YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE THE BALL TO . . . WHO? There are cries for closer Joe Borowski's head in Cleveland, but the Plain-Dealer's Bud Shaw warns that the alternatives may be no better.
PARTY'S OVER: The festive atmosphere at yesterday's sold-out home opener in St. Petersburg -- where Rays fans have hope for the first time since, well, ever -- was tempered by a) a 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Mariners and b) the loss of highly regarded right-handed Matt Garza, who left the game in the third inning and went immediately to the disabled list because of radial nerve irritation. (St. Petersburg Times)
RETURN OF A LEGEND: Nolan Ryan was part of the pregame festivities at the Rangers' opener and was disappointed the team didn't make a better showing for the sellout crowd. (Dallas Morning News) Even so, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jennifer Floyd Engle has 20 reasons why Ranger fans should be excited.
EMPTY MARKET: SI.com's Tom Verducci says the new practice of tying up young players with long-term contracts -- like the Blue Jays did over the weekend with Alex Rios and Aaron Hill -- means that teams which "think they can rebuild through free agency will find mostly older and second-tier players in that market."
IT AIN'T OVER: Baseball's protestations that it has the performance-enhancing drug scandal under control ring hollow when news hits that the Braves' top prospect, center fielder Jordan Schafer, has been handed a 50-game suspension after testing positive for HGH use. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
MOVING FORWARD: Kevin Lidle, twin brother of the late Cory Lidle -- the Yankee pitcher who was killed in a plane crash in October 2006 -- is back in baseball as a scout for the Marlins. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
TOURIST MAGNET: Some of the Marlins were stunned that tour buses now stop at their hotel in Washington, the Mayflower, because that's where ex-N.Y. Governor Eliot Spitzer went for his now-famous trysts. (Palm Beach Post)
WE'RE BITTER ENOUGH FOR YOU: Dusty Baker says he has no hard feelings against the Cubs for his dismissal two years ago. But lots of his friends do. (Chicago Tribune)
REPEAT AFTER ME . . . Someone has to explain the concept of Murphy's Law to the Diamondbacks' Mark Reynolds. (East Valley Tribune)
YESTERDAY'S BEST: Break up the Orioles! (Baltimore Sun) . . . Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth helped the Phillies spoil the Mets' home opener at Shea Stadium. (Philadelphia Daily News) But any notion that the Phils have a hex over the Mets is "[crap]," according to ex-Met and current Phillie Billy Wagner. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
HERE AND THERE: In a Q-and-A with readers, A's beat writer Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says she expects Oakland to trade both Joe Blanton and Rich Harden this year, with the Yankees and Mets listed as possible suitors . . . The A's, meanwhile, finally disclosed that it was back soreness which compelled them to skip Harden's turn in the rotation (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Padres are breathing a sigh of relief, as what was feared to be a serious elbow injury for catcher Michael Barrett, one which may have required reconstructive surgery, proved to be only a sprain. (North County Times) He will, however, have to go on the DL, and the team has contacted veteran catcher Damian Miller, currently a free agent, as a potential replacement (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez will sit out for three days because of his balky ankle (Los Angeles Times) . . . Jimmy Rollins, however, says he won't miss any time because of his sore ankle (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . Craig Wilson's back with the Pirates after signing a minor-league deal (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Darryl Strawberry is back with the Mets as a part-time television analyst (New York Times) . . . Orlando Hernandez flew back to New York from the Mets' camp in Port St. Lucie to have his sore foot looked at. (Newsday)
OLD FRIENDS: For the second time in three save opportunities, Eric Gagne surrendered a game-tying home run in the ninth inning. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) But, also for the second time, the Brewers rallied and won the game (Incidentally, the Brewers' old closer, Francisco Cordero, told the Journal-Sentinel the team could have kept him had it agreed to talk contract extension last spring) . . . In his weekly radio interview on Boston's ESPN 890, transcribed by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog, Peter Gammons wonders if being off steroids for two years is the reason Gagne is pitching so poorly . . . Joel Piniero did well (six innings, two runs) in a rehab start at Memphis (rotoworld.com) . . . Wily Mo Pena, recovering from an oblique strain, went 0-for-1 with a walk and a strikeout in an extended spring-training game at the Nationals' camp (Washington Times) . . . Dave Roberts may have surgery on a sore knee, an injury that prompted the Giants to put him on the disabled list. (San Francisco Chronicle)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:33 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, April 8
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
OPEN HERE: Forget Japan. Forget Oakland. Forget Toronto, for that matter. (Although I must say, that was quite a show the Blue Jays staged Friday night.) At the risk of sounding provincial, the baseball season hereabouts doesn't really begin until it begins at Fenway Park, and it begins at Fenway Park today. Joe McDonald reports this circumstance will have plenty of pomp, as it should; after all, how often do you get to use the opener to celebrate a World Series championship? Everybody's getting ready, from the cooks (Boston Herald) to the jewelers (Boston Globe) to the Air Force. (Boston Globe) As we speak, there are folks camped out at the ballpark in the hopes of getting tickets (Boston Globe), even those who were kicked off Lansdowne Street -- pardon me, Ted Williams Way -- on Sunday night. (Boston Herald)
Why all the fuss? I can't put it any better than I did in this 2006 story I wrote for Page A1. I love Opening Day not because of the hoo-hah that surrounds it, but because, as I said two years ago, it opens the gate to "the long and sometimes painstaking six-month journey from Game 1 to Game 162 (and, if a team has been successful, beyond) . . . So much will happen that we can't know. Players will get injured. Some will play worse than we expect. Some will play better. Controversies will erupt. A losing streak will trigger panic attacks; on radio talk shows, callers (and even some hosts) will proclaim they're 'pulling the plug' on the season during a bad stretch in May or July. It will be exciting. It will be nerve-wracking. It will be long, and sometimes boring, and always unpredictable. And if you're a baseball fan, it will be wonderful."
Even though they've already played seven games in three countries prior to today, this is really the beginning of that wonderful journey.
But if you click the link, you might want to skip over that stuff about Coco Crisp.
KARNAK THE MAGNIFICENT: Chad Finn goes nine (mostly baseball related) innings on Opening Day and predicts that until "the Red Sox . . . start playing up to their capabilities and string a few wins together, we're going to continue hearing about the effects of the trip to Japan." (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
HITTING HIS MARK: And right on cue, along comes the Boston Herald's Gerry Callahan.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: On the minor-league rehab front, Paul Kenyon reports that Mike Timlin says everything is hunky-dory after his one-inning stint last night at Pawtucket. But from Kenyon and McDonald comes word that Bartolo Colon is headed to the seven-day minor-league DL because of "an oblique issue." The Sox say it's nothing serious; we shall see.
WHY, IN MY DAY . . . The new old-timers -- you know, the guys who played in the '80s and '90s -- can't stand the showmanship of modern players. (The Canadian Press) Manny Ramirez' name invariably comes up in this conversation (look under Home Runs, Standing At Home Plate In Admiration Of), but Jim Rice has nothing but good things to say about Manny in the latest installment of Ask 14.
SOMETHING WE DON'T KNOW? It could be just a techno glitch -- I certainly hope so -- but everytime I try to access Boston Dirt Dogs I get redirected to the boston.com home page.
THIS IS L.A., PAL, NOT BOSTON: Sounds like Dr. Charles Steinberg is attempting to bring some Henry/Werner/Lucchino Fenway Park traditions -- like Autograph Alley -- to Dodger Stadium. But the L.A. Times' T.J. Simers isn't impressed, especially with a new rule that keeps non-ticket holders out of box-seat areas.
THE NEW MATH: If I'm the Blue Jays, I'm wondering how I'm No. 7 and the Red Sox are No. 2 in the latest Fox Power Rankings.
COOLING THE HOT SEAT: The Blue Jays' 4-2 start against the Yankees and Red Sox may ease the pressure on manager John Gibbons. (Toronto Star)
PAIN OF VICTORY: The Yankees' satisfaction with their 6-1 win over the Rays last night was tempered by a quadriceps injury to Derek Jeter that could put him on the disabled list. (New York Post) If he's sidelined, it may mean Alex Rodriguez will return to shortstop (New York Post), though the Daily News' John Harper thinks that would be a bad idea. Jeter's injury took the spotlight away from Mike Mussina, who pitched very well (New York Post) and may have taken the Yanks' minds, at least momentarily, off a tough road trip that starts today with a day game in Kansas City after a night game last night. (New York Daily News)
END OF THE LINE: Writing for Sportingnews.com, Richard Justice thinks Andy Pettitte and Brian Cashman may soon be gone from New York because Cashman is trying to institute a long-term philosophy in a short-term city.
HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT RUDY VALLEE? The blog Bugs and Cranks is incredulous that the modern Yankees are indifferent to the talent that was Jimi Hendrix.
RESUME FIRING: New York has no time to recover from Yankees-Tampa Bay; just as the fightin' Rays and Yanks leave town, here come the Phillies and Mets in the final Shea Stadium opener. (Philadephia Inquirer) The New York Post says brawl talk between the two teams persist -- they were none-too-friendly last year, and the Phils were issuing fighting words in February -- but the Post's Kevin Kernan says what today really represents is a chance for the Mets to begin erasing the stench of 2007's historic collapse.
MANIPULATING THE VOTE: The Mets were playing Sweet Caroline -- blasphemy! -- in the eighth-inning stretch at Shea, but the song is so associated with the Red Sox that the team conducted an online poll to pick a new eighth-inning tune. The problem, according to the New York Daily News, is that Fark.com readers bombarded the Mets with a write-in a choice -- Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up -- and the Astley song won. So they decided to hold an in-park competition. They'll play six songs over the first six home games -- Astley's, and the five they listed on the poll (Sweet Caroline is one of them) -- and whichever one gets the most fan reaction will be the winner. No word as to whether or not they'll announce which songs will be played when; if they do, Fark.com readers may gobble up all the tickets for that game.
RAT POISON: The Press-Democrat's Lowell Cohn has no use for Jose Canseco.
NOW THAT'S A MARKETING SLOGAN! The San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami sums it up in San Francisco: "The 2008 Giants: What's the point?"
THE THRILL IS GONE: Game Two at Nationals Park drew a distinctly smaller crowd than Game One. (Washington Times)
THE THRILL IS BACK: Or, more accurately, here for the first time in Tampa, where the Rays sold out their home opener by 4 p.m. yesterday, the earliest sellout in team history except for inaugural home opener in 1998. (mlb.com)
TANNED, RESTED AND READY: Yesterday it was the Fort Worth Star-Telegram saying the Rangers should sign Barry Bonds. Now it's ESPN.com's Jim Caple recommending the Mariners do the same.
WELL, THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: Ozzie Guillen was ejected from the White Sox' home opener in the third inning. (Chicago Sun-Times)
YESTERDAY'S BEST: Torii Hunter's bottom-of-the-ninth grand slam enabled the Angels to survive a blown save from Francisco Rodriguez and beat the Indians (Los Angeles Times) . . . Miguel Tejada also had a walkoff home run for the Astros (Houston Chronicle) . . . Trade Joe Crede? Unthinkable! The red-hot third baseman lifted the White Sox a home-opener victory (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Pirates overcame a seven-run deficit but still lost their home opener to the Cubs (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The Diamondbacks routed the Dodgers in their home opener (Arizona Republic) . . . The Orioles, thanks to villain-turned-hero Aubrey Huff, are off to their best start in 10 years after a 5-4 win over the Mariners. (Baltimore Sun)
QUICKLY: The A's are skipping Rich Harden's scheduled start today and pushing him back to Saturday, and they're not saying why (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Francisco Liriano may make his first start for the Twins on Sunday (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . Dick Kaegal, the Royals' reporter for MLB.com, reports Kansas City acquired Jason LaRue from Cincinnati for $1 in 2006 . . . Chis Young and the Diamondbacks have reached agreement on a long-term contract (Arizona Republic) . . . Unless another delay is agreed upon by MLB and the players' union, the Royals' Jose Guillen will have to begin serving his 15-day suspension for violating the sport's drug policy after tomorrow's game (Kansas City Star) . . . Chad Cordero is aiming for a Friday return to the Nationals. (Washington Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Nomar Garciaparra may begin a rehab assignment this weekend (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The struggling Bobby Howry is being moved into middle relief by the Cubs (Chicago Sun Times) . . . The A's Justin Duchscherer has a biceps strain and will miss his next start. (San Francisco Chronicle)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:44 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, April 7
IF YOU AIN'T GOT A BULLPEN . . . Yogi Berra's most cogent maxim was proven beyond the shadow of a doubt this weekend, as the Sox' relief corps was torched for 11 runs (10 earned) in 6 1/3 innings in blowing a 3-3 tie Friday night (winding up in a 6-3 loss), turning a 4-2 deficit into a 10-2 defeat on Saturday and allowing a 2-2 game to morph into a 7-4 defeat on Sunday. Steven Krasner has the excruciating details of all three, two of which turned on Manny Delcarmen (above) showdowns with Frank Thomas. The results: A two-run double Friday night and a grand slam yesterday afternoon.
So the infinite road trip finally ends, and now, reports Krasner, the Sox return home for a day of rest and then a day of emotion: The Fenway Park opener against the Tigers and the ring ceremony, which will begin around 1 p.m.
GOOD NEWS OR BAD NEWS? No team in baseball is struggling more than the one next up on the Sox' schedule. The Tigers' humiliating 13-2 loss to the White Sox on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball dropped their record to 0-6, their worst start since going 0-9 in what wound up being a 119-loss season in 2003. (Detroit News) So comes the age-old, chicken-and-egg question: Is it better to play a team when it's going poorly, or do the law of averages dictate that a turnaround is due any second . . . especially when a team has as much talent as Detroit? The Free-Press' Drew Sharp doesn't sound too optimistic that a turnaround is coming, since the Tigers, he says, "are running blind right now. They can't hit. They can't pitch. They can't smartly run the bases. They can't catch the ball. They can't shake a lethargy that makes them look more like pampered fat cats than the hungry top cats most envisioned."
'I'M WIPED:' And he's not even playing. So while Curt Schilling says there's "no chance anyone on this team would make any excuses for [the Red Sox'] record on the trip," he proceeds to make one: The physical toll of all that traveling. (38pitches.com)
SHORT STORIES: Krasner reports the "defensive nightmare" of shortstop Julio Lugo continued with three errors yesterday, giving him four for the weekend. Meanwhile, down on the farm, Joe McDonald talks to Sox executives who are singing the praises of Jed Lowrie. Coincidence, coincidence . . . but just something to stick away in the back of your mind.
KEEPING WATCH: He'd never, ever admit it, but the Sox' relief implosion has probably raised the hopes of Craig Hansen, whom McDonald profiled Saturday. Already gone from the Boston bullpen is Kyle Snyder, though Krasner says he was a victim of the numbers game and his departure wasn't related to his 0-out, 2-walk, 2-runs-allowed performance on Saturday.
I WANNA THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING: The three straight wins have our pal the Tao of Steib feeling downright hospitable towards Red Sox Nation, which, ah, hasn't always been the case. In fact, Toronto fans were busting out all over -- so to speak -- on Opening Night. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
CALM DOWN: Toronto's sweep has the blog Jays Nest positively giddy, but the Globe and Mail's Jeff Blair says that while the three wins may mean "something to the Blue Jays . . . [they] frankly [mean] nothing to the Red Sox."
HINDSIGHT'S 20-20 . . . AND EYE-OPENING: Chad Finn lauds Baseball America for putting Josh Beckett -- then with the Marlins -- on the cover of its 2002 Prospect Handbook and relates in horror the top names in the Red Sox farm system at the time. (Horror, you say? How about Seung Song, Tony Blanco and Rene Miniel at 1-2-3?) Kevin Youkilis has made it from that class, and so, at a lower level, has Manny Delcarmen -- the weekend notwithstanding -- but, as Chad writes, "the organization was pretty damn far from being 'a player development machine'." (touchingallthebases.com)
MACHINE WORKER: McDonald writes that the new "player development machine" is about to spit out a decent piece named Brandon Moss.
MY KIND OF PLACE: Ernie Harwell has fond memories of Fenway Park. (Detroit Free Press)
FROM ONE A-ROD TO ANOTHER: Alex Rodriguez says he's praying for Alexa Rodriguez, the young girl who was attacked by a hawk while taking a tour at Fenway last week. (New York Daily News)
FEELING BETTER: Joe Girardi was sick over the weekend -- from a flu bug and not his team's play, though the Yanks' 13-4 and 6-3 losses to the Rays weren't exactly what the doctor ordered -- but both he and his club were feeling better yesterday after a 2-0 victory in which Joba Chamberlain hit 101 on the Yankee Stadium radar gun, which is said to be a little fast. (Both stories New York Daily News) Feeling the pain now is Jason Giambi, who has a sore left groin muscle and may miss tonight's series finale against Tampa Bay. (New York Post)
AND THE WINNER IN THE UNLIKELIEST QUOTE DEPARTMENT IS . . . Shelley Duncan of the Yankees. (Newsday)
THE ANSWER MAN: What's wrong with Kei Igawa? The blog Saber-Scouting.com breaks it down in excruciating detail. And here Peter Abraham just thought Igawa was "no damn good." (LoHud Yankees Blog)
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: There are times when the joys of working at a baseball stadium are lost on this poor chap, who apparently is employed at the Great American Ballpark -- they are still calling it that, right? -- in Cincinnati.
JUST WAIT: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jim Reeves says that if the Rangers manage to stay in contention through midseason, they may give Barry Bonds a call.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: When White Sox GM Ken Williams was pulled into Jose Canseco's web of steroids accusations -- under the "Williams knew what was going on and didn't do a damn thing" subcategory -- he didn't skulk into no-comment territory: He's hinting that he's going to file a lawsuit against Mr. Self-Appointed Whistleblower. (Chicago Sun-Times) "I'm not the guy that you want to go down that road with," Williams said. "Because I'm more likely to come out swinging, and I'll swing a hell of a lot harder than any punch you'll throw at me.''
TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE: Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt is familiar with cheating: In 1980, he was suspended 10 days for being caught with a thumbtack on his finger to cut the ball. (espn.com) (Honeycutt also scores in the Dumb Criminal Department: He rubbed his face absentmindedly with the hand that had the tack, cutting a gash in his forehead.) So perhaps his accusations should be taken more seriously than most after he announced he has a picture that shows Padres ace Jake Peavy with pine tar on his right hand. Peavy, though, says it's just dirt and that umpires can come out to the mound to check him any old time. (Los Angeles Times)
IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK: Dave Duncan's complaint about a St. Louis radio station putting him on the air without his permission has resulted in the host's suspension and the producer's dismissal. Even so, the Cardinals' pitching coach says he may still file charges with the FCC. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
IF YOU LISTEN TO THE FANS, YOU END UP SITTING WITH THEM: And Ozzie Guillen doesn't want to be sitting with some of the people who e-mail him. (Chicago Sun-Times)
QUICKLY: Francisco Rodriguez is blaming a sore left ankle for his drop in velocity (Los Angeles Times) . . . Randy Johnson will get one more minor-league rehab start before returning to the Diamondbacks (Arizona Republic) . . . The Tigers' Fernando Rodney isn't close to returning to Detroit, but he appears to be on the road to recovery (Detroit News) . . . The Wes Helms Saga is over at last: He's headed to the Marlins. (delawareonline.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Brandon Lyon may be pitching himself out of a job in Arizona, though manager Bob Melvin points out "I've been known to show some confidence in my guys" (Arizona Republic) . . . Gabe Kapler, on the other hand, may be hitting his way into one with the Brewers (Wisconsin State Journal) . . . Justin Duchscherer had an MRI to determine the severity of a biceps injury. (San Jose Mercury News)
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? And finally, in memory of Curt, Ned and Ken, may we present John Mayer:
Hey, at least he didn't scream, "Way back!"
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:29 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, April 4
EYEING THE BIG TIME: Granted, it was the Indianapolis Indians and not, say, the Toronto Blue Jays or Detroit Tigers. But while Bartolo Colon's performance last night at McCoy Stadium doesn't guarantee he's ready to step into the Red Sox' starting rotation, it also did nothing that would lead you to believe he isn't. Jim Donaldson has the details of a dominating performance that ended with Colon blowing a 95-mph fastball past Kevin Thompson for the third strike and final out of the fifth inning. The final line: 5 innings, 1 hit (a second-inning single by Adam Boeve), 0 runs, 1 walk (to, again, the pesky Boeve) and 5 strikeouts, in a 74-pitch (45 for strikes) outing. In his game summary, Joe McDonald talks to new PawSox pitching coach Rich Sauveur, who says, "It's not my call, but if anyone watched that game tonight you'd say, 'Yeah, he's ready.' "
Colon's next turn to pitch is Tuesday. It's unlikely he'd do so in Boston -- that's the Sox' home opener, and Daisuke Matsuzaka is penciled in -- but there's always Wednesday night against the Tigers. Stay tuned.
| HIM, TOO: While it's true that just about every Pawtucket player is dreaming those Boston dreams, Bobby Kielty -- like Colon -- has reason to think he'll be at Fenway sooner rather than later. McDonald caught up with him after his 0-for-4 performance last night and finds him ready for just about anything. One person who's happy Kielty's where he is, is manager Ron Johnson (right, greeting Kielty with a smile during pregame introductions). "He's got a great attitude," said the skipper. | 
Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson |
THE REST OF THE STORY: McDonald's recap of the 3-0 victory includes a look at a strong outing from Craig Hansen and reaction from newcomer Jonathan Van Every after his two-run homer.
ELSEWHERE ON THE FARM: Justin Masterson, whom we may see in Pawtucket sometime this summer, pitched well in Portland's opener. (Kennebunk Journal and Morning Sentinel)
ALMOST HOME: As for the varsity, they're happy to be back on the East Coast -- or at least in the Eastern time zone -- as they prepare for the last leg of the endless journey, a three-game series in Toronto. (Boston Herald) Tonight's game is the Blue Jays' home opener, and it also marks Kevin Cash's official debut as Tim Wakefield's personal catcher. (Boston Globe)
ALMOST DONE: And when they get home to Fenway Park, they'll find the old girl will look a little different than she did when last they saw her, after Game Two of the World Series. The Boston Globe chronicles this offseason's changes, which include new seats, a new stairway and a new Coke sign.
CRASHING THE PARTY: As the Sox were showing off the new and improved Fenway, visitors were treated to an unlikely -- and unwelcome -- sight: a hawk attack on a teenage girl who was part of a group taking a tour. (Boston Globe) She wasn't seriously hurt, but the Globe got pictures of the whole thing.
Oh, and the girl's name? Alexa Rodriguez. Honest, that's what they said.
WHY TRADE HIM WHEN YOU CAN JUST GIVE HIM AWAY FOR NOTHING? Coco Crisp is on Tracy Ringolsby's list of players whose contracts should be eaten by their respective teams. (FoxSports.com) Also on the list: Nomar Garciaparra and Dave Roberts.
AT LEAST THEY'RE NOT NED FLANDERS ANYMORE: The blog Barstool Sports presents what it calls The Definitive MLB-Simpsons Analogy List and has the Red Sox as Lisa Simpson: "Beloved by all. Used to being overlooked and trod upon, so that when they finally get a day in the sun, they don't really know what to do with it. Unfortunate tendency to get a little self-righteous. Antagonistic relationship with those in positions of power." The Yankees? Monty Burns.
BEASTS OF THE EAST? And speaking of the Blue Jays ("Bumblebee Man" in the analogy) -- which we were, a few steps back -- David Pinto is impressed with them, even though they lost two of three at Yankee Stadium. (Baseball Musings) The Jays are also part of a discussion of the A.L. East that Chad Finn participated in at Baseball Analysts.
COMING UP SMALL: The Yankees congratulated themselves for their mastery of small ball in their 3-2 win over the Blue Jays last night. (New York Daily News) Joba Chamberlain pitched again and this time he simply walked off the mound after recording the final out of the eighth -- compared to the twisting, screaming Tazmanian Devil act he pulled on Thursday -- but says he didn't tone things down in response to the widespread criticism he received. (New York Post)
ROUND THREE: Ali-Frazier, Hagler-Leonard, Yankees-Rays. The war resumes tonight, previewed by the Daily News and the Post.
PAUL WHO? Newsday's Neal Best reports Paul O'Neill, now a part-time analyst on the YES Network, was denied admission to the Blue Jays' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day because the security guard didn't recognize him.
THE AGE-OLD QUESTION: So how much does clubhouse chemistry have to do with on-field success? FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal discusses the issue with David Wright, under the context of: Did the Mets collapse last year because of lack of adequate leadership? Wright, not suprisingly, says no. Incidentally, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Mike Berardino takes issue with Bill James' 60 Minutes identification of Wright as his favorite player. Berardino thinks James should have picked the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez . . . although, when he compares the two, Ramirez' weaknesses in comparison to Wright (lower on-base percentage, lower slugging percentage, worse defense) seem to far outnumber his strengths (more stolen bases, a one-point edge in batting average, a year younger).
THE MARCH OF TIME: The stathead world is abuzz with the news that Murray Chass, the very well-connected but numbers-phobic baseball writer for the New York Times, is apparently being given a buyout. (The Big Lead) Flags at Fire Joe Morgan are at half-staff. But Pinto says he'll pay Chass $10,000 to write for Baseball Musings.
IF WE COULD JUST PACK HIM IN ICE AND TAKE HIM OUT FOR THE GAMES: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark finds it impossible to believe that not one of the 30 big-leagues teams has room for Barry Bonds, who, as he points out, "did out-homer Vladimir Guerrero, Gary Sheffield and Travis Hafner last year, you know. He did have a higher slugging percentage than Mark Teixeira, Adam Dunn and Carlos Beltran. He did reach base more times than Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon and Torii Hunter." So he talks to three executives with big-league teams, who give the honest, if anonynous, answer: The on-field Barry Bonds element may be tempting, but the complete Barry Bonds package is so onerous that no one wants to deal with it.
JUST SAY NO: Over the years, the Twins' Joe Mauer has always hit far better on the road than he has at home. His manager, Ron Gardenhire, thinks Mauer is too nice a guy and needs to learn to turn down the hometown folks tugging for his time in order to better prepare for games. (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
MAD-EYE MOODY WOULD BE PROUD: The Chicago Tribune's Rick Morrissey starts off with what seems to be a nice little column on Steve Bartman -- who, as we noted the other day, was (finally) exonerated by Moises Alou on the Play That Must Not Be Named -- but he quickly turns it into a nuclear attack on Jay Mariotti, whom he refers to as "Lord Voldemort over at the Sun-Times."
HUMAN SACRIFICE, DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER, MASS HYSTERIA! Who would have thought the Royals would be 3-0 and the Tigers 0-3 . . . especially when their first three games were against each other, and in Detroit, no less? That's where we stand today, however, after Kansas City completed the sweep with a 4-1 victory. (Kansas City Star) But while the Royals revel (SI.com), the Tigers stew. 'We stunk' was Jim Leyland's assessment (Detroit News), and the News' Lynn Henning is already wondering if owner Mike Ilitch is getting bang for the considerable amount of bucks he's spending. To make it worse, Gary Sheffield is probably headed to the disabled list because of a torn tendon in his finger. (Detroit Free Press)
ON THE FIELD: Johnny Cuerto (seven innings, 10 strikeouts) had an amazing debut for the Reds in a 3-2 win over the Diamondbacks (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . The Giants threw caution to the wind with Tim Lincecum and it paid off with a victory over the Dodgers (San Jose Mercury News) . . . Kerry Wood got his first career save as the Cubs beat the Brewers (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Phillies derailed the Nationals' juggernaut, at least for a day. (Philadephia Inquirer)
QUICKLY: Sounds like Scott Kazmir is on the road to recovery (St. Petersburg Times) . . . Not so Mike Hampton (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The San Francisco Chronicle thinks that if the A's are showcasing Rich Harden, his trade value rose with his five shutout innings against the Red Sox Wednesday.
OLD FRIENDS: Alex Gonzalez is at the stage of his rehab where he's ready to take BP (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Freddy Sanchez continues to have problems with his shoulder. (Rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:29 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, April 3
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
LARGER THAN LIFE: A good pitcher can make a team, any team, seem that way sometimes. So with the Red Sox' bats still somewhat somnolent as they reach the end of their round-the-world-in-19-days trek, it was up to Jon Lester to keep the Sox in the game against the A's until they managed to generate some offense. Lester did his job to perfection, holding Oakland scoreless over 6 2/3 innings and getting credit for the 5-0 win as his teammates came alive in their last three at-bats. Sean McAdam has the details, in which the Sox give plenty of credit to Lester for helping them complete their two-game sweep of the A's.
For all the talk of how difficult this trip would be, the Red Sox have actually won five of the six games they've played on it -- the two exhibition games in Tokyo, one of the two against the A's in Japan, and both games in Oakland. The last challenge: Keeping it up over the three games in Toronto this weekend.
HELPING HANDS: McAdam notes that Lester was aided yesterday by Alex Cora, who was making his first start of the season, and Bryan Corey, who continues to make a strong case for the last bullpen spot. That decision will have to come soon, with both Josh Beckett and Mike Timlin getting ready to come off the disabled list. Continuing his stellar defensive play was Kevin Youkilis, who broke Steve Garvey's record for consecutive errorless games at first base.
MUSICAL CHAIRS: With J.D. Drew back in the lineup, Jacoby Ellsbury was left standing yesterday as Terry Francona tries to make four outfielders go into three spots. "There’s not anything scientific (about the process for now)," Francona tells McAdam.
BACK EAST . . . Hard to believe the Red Sox, asleep in their Toronto hotel rooms as I write this, are back on Eastern time; that's a place they haven't been since boycott day against the Blue Jays. But while they rest tonight, the PawSox will step into the spotlight. They open their season against the Indianapolis Indians at McCoy Stadium and Joe McDonald reports it'll be Bartolo Colon on the mound.
ON FURTHER REVIEW . . . Terry Francona thinks it's time to institute a replay system in baseball. (Boston Herald) Jason Varitek's homer-that-wasn't Tuesday night was just the latest piece of evidence, in Francona's mind.
AND FURTHERMORE, WHO CARES ABOUT THE PATRIOTS AFTER WE LOST THE BOSTON YANKS?? Medford resident Wally Carew calls himself "one of a passionate but distinct minority who feels that the wrong team left Boston" 55 years ago. (Boston Globe) I can't speak to "passionate," but I'm certainly on board with "distinct minority."
THE NEW MOOSE: The New York Daily News' Bill Madden says Mike Mussina ran up against the realities of his diminished skills in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays, though he wasn't helped by the season-long adventure that will be Jason Giambi at first base. (New York Post) The Tao of Steib was certainly pleased.
NO BIGGIE: Joba Chamberlain pumped and danced and screamed after striking out Frank Thomas on Tuesday night, and it wasn't long ago -- remember back with Oil Can Boyd played for the Red Sox? -- that major league players took great offense at such hijinks. But the old school Thomas says times have changed and he has no problems with such theatrics anymore. (New York Daily News)
WHAT'S THAT THEY SAY ABOUT PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES?: Allan Wood provides visual evidence as to why Red Sox fans shouldn't get on their high horse about this one. (Joy of Sox)
FITNESS FIRST: Though Chamberlain doesn't appear to be the Charles Atlas type, he was stressing the importance of proper diet and exercise to a New York boys & girls club yesterday. (New York Post)
IT'S THIS KIND OF THINKING THAT LEADS YOU TO RETIRE BAILEY HOWELL'S NUMBER: Peter Abraham chides Yankee fans who booed LaTroy Hawkins on Opening Day for having the effrontery to wear No. 21 -- Paul O'Neill's old number. Abraham correctly labels O'Neill as belonging in the Hall of Very Good and not someone whose uniform should be hanging alongside Babe Ruth's and Mickey Mantle's. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
As one who has long thought the Celtics, like the Yankees, have a lax to non-existent retire-the-number criteria -- leading to Howell and Don Nelson being placed on par with Bill Russell and Larry Bird -- I can only say, right on, Pete. It's for the all-time immortals, not good players on your championship teams.
AM I MISSING SOMETHING? The Toronto Star's Richard Griffin recalls that Melky Cabrera was suspended for three games for his spring-training shenanigans against the Rays. Why then, he wants to know, was Cabrera in the lineup Tuesday night, leading the Yankees over the Blue Jays? (The answer: Baseball's elongated appeals process.)
LET'S TALK: After years of Jose Canseco accusing everyone but the groundskeepers of using steroids, MLB finally wants to bring him in and hear what he has to say. (New York Post)
POUND OF PREVENTION: Yahoo Sport's Tim Brown thinks Larry Bowa's three-game suspension for "refusing to abide by a new rule that confines him to arbitrary lines drawn by scattered groundskeepers" -- and his, uh, spirited reaction to being ejected for not following said rules -- focuses attention on an issue where MLB, in an overreaction to last summer's Mike Coolbaugh tragedy, overstepped its bounds.
THE INTERNET -- A BROADCASTER'S WORST NIGHTMARE: I listened in great amusement last night as seconds -- and I mean, literally seconds -- after Reds analyst Jeff Brantley eviscerated Edwin Encarnacion for not being "a clutch hitter . . . a clutch player" and imploring Dusty Baker to "take him out of the game," Encarnacion clubbed a walkoff, three-run homer to beat Arizona, 6-5. Used to be that announcers could smear their faces with egg the way Brantley did and it just sort of disappeared into the ether. But not today. A quick Google search of "Jeff Brantley and Encarnacion" delivered the Web sites East Windup Chronicle, Triple Steal, WSI: Totally Biased and Red Reporter, all of which had accounts of the incident . . . and none of which were particularly kind to Brantley,
BREAK TIME: To no one's surprise, the Mets announced Pedro Martinez would be sidelined four to six weeks because of the strained left hamstring that had him limping off the mound Tuesday in Miami. (New York Daily News) SI.com's Jon Heyman says that's tough, but points out the Mets aren't the only team with injury problems. And FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal wonders why "a high-revenue team is scrambling to find starting pitching in the season's first week."
EVER HEAR OF PUTTING YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS? The blog Baseball Digest Daily found Branch Rickey's 1954 scouting report of 18-year-old Don Drysdale in the Library of Congress. Rickey, who was then running the Pittsburgh Pirates, predicted Drysdale's future stardom . . . but he also said the Pirates were "in no [financial] position to make [Drysdale] a bonus player," which is why Big D achieved that stardom with the Dodgers.
NOT-SO-GRAND THEFT: On the same night the Marlins' Robert Andino beat the Mets with a walkoff home run in the 10th inning, he got word, according to mlb.com, that his South Florida home was on the verge of being robbed. He arrived at the ballpark yesterday and said everything was fine, but gave no details on the incident.
TAKE THIS JOB AND . . . White Sox GM Ken Williams is fed up with the negative perception of his team, and you can forget that Don Corleone stuff about revenge being a dish best served cold. "I'll tell you," he said, "I want to have another parade [for winning a World Series championship], and when we have another parade on the South Side, then I'll really tell people what I think." (Daily Herald)
LIGHTEN UP: The Cubs think Carlos Zambrano's forearm cramps are caused by his pregame consumption of coffee and energy drinks, and they want him to cut down on the caffeine. (Chicago Tribune)
DISCERNING CUSTOMERS I: St. Louis fans don't seem too excited about this year's Cardinals, and Yahoo Sport's Jeff Passan doesn't blame them.
DISCERNING CUSTOMERS II: The only question I have to Baltimoreans (as Joe Castiglione might say) is: What took you so long to reach this level of disgust? (Baltimore Sun)
QUICKLY: The Cubs have decided to move Alfonso Soriano back to the leadoff spot (mlb.com) . . . The signing of Rudy Seanez prompted the Phillies to designate Wes Helms, the subject of trade rumors all spring, for assignment (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . An unsubstantiated story on the Web site Examiner says the Tigers are interested in Nationals closer Chad Cordero . . . Looks like there'll be no deal between Alex Rios and the Blue Jays, at least for now (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . Two Yankee fans had their season tickets revoked when they were caught trying to take some Yankee Stadium bunting home as souvenirs (New York Daily News) . . . Aubrey Huff began worming his way back into the hearts of angry Orioles fans by driving in four runs in a 9-6 win over the Rays (Washington Post) . . . Marcus Giles changed his mind yet again and now will join the Dodgers' Triple-A team in Las Vegas (cbssportsline.com) . . . J.J. Putz is headed to the DL because of a rib injury, which might help explain Tuesday's blown save. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
OLD FRIENDS: Derek Lowe felt much better yesterday after taking a line drive off his left calf Tuesday (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Chris Reitsma still hasn't told the Mariners whether or not he'll report to Triple-A Tacoma. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, April 2
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
SECOND TIME'S A CHARM: He wasn't too sharp early in the morning, but Daisuke Matsuzaka was plenty good late at night. Putting to rest the uneasiness that lingered after his erratic opener in Tokyo last week, Matsuzaka dominated the A's -- to quote our headline writer, he brought his 'A' game -- as he pitched the Red Sox to a 2-1 win in the season re-opener, recapped here by Sean McAdam. McAdam and the Sox will be back in about seven hours as they play Game Two of the series; check back here for pregame notes, the lineups and the game itself.
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: A few weeks after the Sox dropped him to the lower third of the order in an effort to relieve the pressure on him, Jacoby Ellsbury was back in the leadoff spot last night. McAdam has the details. Ellsbury may be back at the bottom again today, however, as J.D. Drew returns to action.
SEE YOU SUNDAY: Also returning is Josh Beckett, whom McAdam says will probably start Sunday's road-trip finale in Toronto.
MOVE OVER, STEVE: McAdam reports on, and gets reaction from, Kevin Youkilis, who tied Steve Garvey's record for consecutive errorless games at first base.
Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman
HERE THEY COME: The Red Sox aren't the only ones starting the season. The Pawtucket Red Sox are back home, preparing for tomorrow night's opener at McCoy Stadium and, says Joe McDonald, looking forward to a good year. One of the players who'll be with them is Bobby Kielty -- he decided to accept the Sox' minor-league assignment -- and McAdam reports Terry Francona is pleased about that.
BIG BEN: Also back, for his 32nd year at the helm, is legendary PawSox owner Ben Mondor. Jim Donaldson talks to Mondor, who sums it all for all of us when he says: "[What] the heck, baseball starts Thursday. I got no complaints. Life is good.”
(The story also includes some classic Mondor tales about players such as Chico Walker, Wade Boggs and Trevor Hoffman.)
BEST OF THE BEST: The blog YanksFanSoxFan picks Pedro Martinez, 2000, as the best Red Sox season of all time.
STATE OF THE SOX: Joe Haggerty, on his Hacks With Haggs blog, provides another transcript of Peter Gammons' weekly appearance on 890 ESPN, where the discussion focuses on the Red Sox.
THE HEARTBREAK OF YOUTH: Bill James does a Q-and-A with the New York Times blog Freakonomics in which he talks about -- among many things -- young pitching: "When you’re depending on young pitching, you’re vulnerable. Some of these guys are going to be very good, but probably not all of them, and there are going to be bumps in the road that will rattle your teeth." How this applies to both the Red Sox and Yankees should be apparent.
BEGINNING OF THE END: The rain stopped long enough for the Yankees to open their final season at Yankee Stadium last night and they came away with a 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays that made Joe Girardi a winner in his New York managerial debut. (New York Post) Hank Steinbrenner liked what he saw (New York Post), which included big performances from Melky Cabrera (which left David Pinto with egg on his face) and Joba Chamberlain. (Both stories New York Daily News) But, as the Journal-News' Sam Borden points out, this particular Opening Day -- which normally is a day of firsts -- also seemed like a day of lasts, since the Yanks will never begin a season on this particular piece of land again.
LEARNING AS WE GO: The New York Times' Jack Curry has known Girardi for 12 years, but says he "still learned new things about him" when they rode together to Yankee Stadium for Monday's rained-out opener.
THE FIRST STORY THAT WON'T GO AWAY: Even though he had a big hand in the victory -- doubling home the first run in the first inning, and scoring the game-winning run in the seventh -- the New York Times says Alex Rodriguez still has "residue that sticks to him because of how messily his situation unfolded" last winter. Curry reports that A-Rod's disgraced agent, Scott Boras, told Yankee officials that the Detroit Tigers were preparing a $40-million-a-year offer for Rodriguez last offseason, a claim the Tigers deny.
THE SECOND STORY THAT WON'T GO AWAY: Today's dip into the garbage pail that is Jose Canseco has him gleefully chortling that he's Alex Rodriguez' worst nightmare (New York Daily News) and also claiming he believes A-Rod had an affair with Canseco's ex-wife. (New York Post) Rodriguez steadfastly refuses to discuss any of Canseco's statements, which Canseco interprets as vindication. "I've got the ace in the hole," Canseco said, referring to the steroids dealer named "Max" whom he says has the goods on PED use by A-Rod. "And he knows it. So there's no way that he's going to fight me. He's trying to make it go away."
SO MUCH FOR ALL THAT OPTIMISM: First Pedro Martinez threw what the Daily News' Filip Bondy called 3 1/3 "indescribably ugly innings [against the Marlins]: four hits, four runs, one strikeout, a hit batsman and two homers." Then he apparently popped a hamstring muscle and had to come out of the game, and no one really knows how long he'll be sidelined. (New York Post)
FOX TROT: Chad Finn no longer writes for foxsports.com, so he takes a quick spin around baseball on his own blog. (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
UH . . . NEVER MIND: Five years after the fact, Moises Alou now admits, "I wouldn't have caught it anyway." He's referring, of course, to the Steve Bartman incident, which was sparked by, as the Chicago Sun-Times' Jay Marriotti writes, Alou "whipping down his glove like Tanner Boyle in Bad News Bears and claiming he had an 'almost 100 percent' shot to catch the most notorious foul ball in baseball history. The play a) made a pariah of poor Barman and b) has become a symbol of Cubs' futility in the same way Bill Buckner's muffed grounder symbolized the Red Sox'. "If [Alou] had simply had trotted back to his position in left field," writes Mariotti, "the familiar air of dread wouldn't have seeped into Wrigley Field with the Cubs a mere five outs from their first World Series since 1945."
JAPANESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: Cub fans welcomed Kosuke Fukudome to Wrigley by holding up signs printed in Japanese. Apparently no one told them the printing translates to "It Was Lucky" or "It Was Accidental". (Fan IQ)
ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: Apparently, Cub fans don't translate English too well, wither. Lou Cella said good-naturedly, "I'm a sculptor, not a writer," as explanation for the Ernie Banks statue in front of Wrigley Field that reads "Lets Play Two" instead of the grammatically correct "Let's Play Two." (Chicago Tribune) The Cubs say they'll fix it.
WHERE BASEBALL SEASON NEVER ENDS: Baseball has taken plenty of hits for being the last of the four major North American sports to launch its own television network. ("What does it say when the NHL is ahead of you?" a friend asked plaintively last year.) But when MLB Network goes live next January, it will be in 50 million homes -- far more than the start-up number for any other sports' network -- and expects to be profitable by the end of 2009. If this Sports Business Journal story is to be believed, baseball did it right.
LET US NEVER FORGET: Because this is the 61st anniversary of Jackie Robinson's major-league debut, and not the 60th or the 50th or the 25th, he is being pretty much ignored once again. But not by Baseball Propsectus' Steven Goldman, who calls Robinson's breaking of baseball's color barrier nothing less than the moment the United States "began to close the gap between its rhetoric and its realities."
HOW ABOUT SIDD FINCH'S SPLITS? Old friend Sean Forman says the indispensable baseball-reference.com is about to roll out pitcher and batter splits for players on PEDs and those not on PEDs. That the announcement was made April 1 shouldn't fool you . . . should it?
OR SIDD FINCH'S BASEBALL CARD? Topps had an April Fool's Day joke of its own. (AP via SI.com)
LOCAL BOYS: As expected, the Rays declined their 2009 contract option on Rocco Baldelli, making him a free agent at the end of the year. (mlb.com) But they signed fellow Rhode Islander Dan Wheeler to a three-year contract. (Tampa Tribune)
YESTERDAY'S BEST: Jon Garland pitched well in winning his Angels debut (Los Angeles Times) . . . Josh Hamilton singlehandedly lifted the Rangers over the Mariners. (Dallas Morning News) Among the accomplishments: A ninth-inning home run off Seattle relief ace J.J. Putz, who blew only three saves all last year . . . Robert Andino's first career homer gave the Marlins a 10-inning win over the Mets. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
QUICKLY: It doesn't sound like the White Sox plan to talk contract extension with Joe Crede (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Phillies aren't interested in Steve Kline, who was recently cut loose by the Giants (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . The Blue Jays expect B.J. Ryan to be back by the middle of April (Toronto Sun) . . . Torii Hunter is one of those "How DARE you throw close to me??" guys, so while he didn't throw a nutty -- as he did after being hit by Danys Baez in 2002 -- he clearly didn't like taking a pitch from former teammate Juan Rincon off the elbow (St. Paul Pioneer Press) . . . Marcus Giles agreed to a minor-league deal with the Dodgers but, while driving to the team's Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, changed his mind, turned around and went home (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . We'll probably find out today just how serious Victor Martinez' hamstring strain is (cleveland.com) . . . The blog Inside Charm City is hearing whispers that the Orioles may be up for sale soon.
OLD FRIENDS: He said he'd retire if he didn't stick with the Dodgers, but I guess he didn't mean it: Rudy Seanez has hooked on with the Phillies (phillyburbs.com) . . . . David Murphy made his second straight start, and went 2-for-4, for the Rangers (rotoworld.com) . . . Derek Lowe is day-to-day after taking a shot off his left calf in the sixth inning of the Dodgers' 3-2 win over the Giants (Riverside Press-Enterprise) . . . Joel Piniero will probably begin a minor-league rehab later this week and could be back with the Cardinals before the end of the month. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, April 1
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
TAKE TWO: Didn't we do this last week?
Well, yes. But, as Sean McAdam writes, tonight the Red Sox will play a game of consequence in the continental United States for the first time since Oct. 28 in Denver when they re-open the season in Oakland. It still doesn't feel right -- one season opener at 6 a.m., this one at 10:15 p.m. -- but it's a step closer to the normalcy of the season, a normalcy that's eluded us so far this spring. Even so, these games count just as much as the Wednesday night games against Baltimore in July, and McAdam lists the questions facing the Sox as the season (re)starts. It'll be Daisuke Matsuzaka back on the mound tonight, seeking some of the pitch-count efficiency that eluded him in Opener One. (projo.com)
GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT: Yesterday, you may recall, we linked to a Wall Street Journal statistical analysis that ranked Terry Francona 16th of the 20 managers listed. I made no comment on it, mainly because I thought the study was horribly flawed. (I only linked to it because I thought it was interesting. Not accurate, but interesting.) The flaw: Any system that spits out a conclusion showing a manager who's won two World Series in four years -- in a place where they hadn't won any World Series in the previous eight decades, a place where the pressure to win was all but suffocating, and with a team that, while very good, wasn't really head-and-shoulders better than some other teams -- to be in the lower quarter of all his peers, is clearly (clearly!) focusing on the wrong data.
And toward that end may I present Bill Reynolds' column on Michael Holley's excellent new book Red Sox Rule. Managing, writes Holley, isn't about writing out lineups or when to pull pitchers or whether or not to call for the hit-and-run, even though, says Reynolds, these are the things "that’s the fodder of talk shows and the morning newspaper." (And, perhaps most importantly, the Internet; I'll give Bill a pass on this one, since he's past the age where he's online-savvy.) It's about "managing people, no easy task in this age of huge salaries and guaranteed contracts, this age of agents and entitlement, this age of people who question anything anyone says, never mind someone who controls their fate." Francona's brilliant -- brilliant -- at that part of the gig. And that's the part the WSJ study completely ignored.
World Series championships aren't the be-all, end-all of a manager's competency -- Cito Gaston is living proof -- and I wouldn't want my defense of Francona to boil down to "He has two rings, doesn't he?" But WSJ was trying to take all subjective measures out of the analysis and focus directly on whether or not the team performs better or worse under each manager. Watching Francona handle this team over the last four years -- particularly last September, when he stood up to mounting hysteria as the lead over the Yankees dwindled and continued to do the things that best positioned the team for the postseason, a strategy that paid off as the Sox played their best baseball of the year in October -- convinces me that any study showing he's costing the team games isn't capturing the whole picture.
You can have Ron Gardenhire, Bruce Bochy and Ned Yost (who were 1-2-3 in the WSJ study). I'm sure they're fine managers. But I'll take Terry Francona, thank you.
QUICK HITS: McAdam reports J.D. Drew won't play tonight, but probably will tomorrow . . . all indications are Bobby Kielty is sticking with the Sox . . . Mike Timlin has been cleared to begin long tossing and may soon start a rehab assignment with the PawSox.
THE FAVORED ONES: The Globe's Gordon Edes checks out the various preseason prognostications and concludes if "the American League East could be decided like the Iowa caucus instead of on the field, there is little doubt who would win."
WE AGREE: All three of our baseball writers -- McAdam, Steven Krasner and Joe McDonald -- think the Sox will take the A.L. East and McAdam and McDonald also believe they'll repeat as World Series champions. (projo.com)
STATE OF BIG PAPI: David Ortiz discusses a number of topics, including his surgically repaired knee ("It feels good one day and some other day it feels like [expletive]") with the Globe's Nick Cafardo.
BIRTH OF A SALESMAN: Manny Ramirez will participate in a summer sportswear promotion for Macy’s. (Boston Herald)
AND THE WINNER IS . . . . Well, there's no winner just yet. But David Scott says a former Miss San Diego, Heidi Watney, has emerged as the front-runner to replace Tina Cervasio as NESN's Red Sox reporter. (shots.bostonsportsmedia.com)
THE ANSWER MAN: The very first of Jonah Keri's "One hundred stories to watch" is "Can the Red Sox repeat?" He doesn't think so. (espn.com)
SECOND CITY: FoxSports.com has the Sox ranked second, behind Cleveland, in its first Power Rankings of the regular season.
YANKEES 1, RED SOX 0: The first Boston-New York meeting of the year -- in a wine-tasting contest -- goes to the Yanks. (New York Daily News)
HOW TOUGH IS IT TO FIGURE THIS OUT? The Yankee opener was rained out, leading Johnny Damon to wonder aloud why the season openers aren't all played in warm-weather cities or places with domes. (New York Post)
I'LL ALWAYS HEAR YOUR VOICE: Bob Sheppard will be announcing Derek Jeter's at-bats at Yankee Stadium all season long, no matter if Sheppard returns to work or not. That's because Jeter had one of Sheppard's introductions taped, and the Yankees will play it whenever he goes to the plate. (mlb.com)
OH NO, YOU DON'T: The Yankees are forbidding Joba Chamberlain to make a weekly radio appearance on Michael Kay's show. Club policy, they say. (Newsday)
SAY WHAT? For the first time since I've known him, my friend Lou DiLullo isn't picking the Yankees to win the A.L. East. (yankeetradition.com)
RELIVING A NIGHTMARE: Bottom of the ninth. 3-0 lead. Eric Gagne in to nail it down. And then the Brewers got a taste of what we in Red Sox Nation saw so often last August and September. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) Still, they did come back to win it in the 10th . . . and Gagne wound up with the victory.
JUST STARTING ONE: Kerry Wood was no better than Gagne as he started his stint as Cubs' closer in the same game. (Chicago Tribune) And Kosuke Fukudome -- whose three-run, game-tying homer off Gagne sent Wrigley Field into a frenzy -- may be embarking on the nightmare that is Cubdom, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti.
OPENING WAY: One debut that went far smoother was Johan Santana's with the Mets. ESPN.com's Jayson Stark calls Santana "the perfect cure for the 6-month-old nightmare that won't go away. . . a dose of amnesia for a team that's trying to perfect the art of forgetfulness." Fellow Venezuelan native Dave Concepcion, the star shortstop on Cincinnati's Big Red Machine of the 1970s, flew up to watch Santana pitch. (mlb.com)
LONG, HOT SUMMER: The Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck notes the thousands of fans who came to Camden Yards yesterday disguised as empty seats and wonders "how does that auger for the dog days of August, when there's no orange carpet and the Yankees and Red Sox are playing elsewhere?"
NO ORDINARY JOE: Joe Torre admitted to having a case of the nerves prior to his Dodger managerial debut. (Los Angeles Times) ESPN.com's Jim Caple chronciles his first day -- and victory -- as Dodger manager.
ONE MAN'S CEILING . . . Barry Zito, the losing pitcher against Torre's Dodgers, continues to look like the biggest free-agent bust of this generation. The San Francisco Chronicle's Gwen Knapp buries him after yesterday's performance.
IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW YOU GET THERE: The Pirates blew a 9-4 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, but still managed to pull out a 12-11 win over the Braves. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) It spoiled the return to Atlanta of Tom Glavine, who left after five innings with a lead. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
YIN AND YANG: The Tigers hit as advertised in their opener against the Royals. (Detroit Free Press) But they also pitched as advertised, as well. (Detroit News) As a result, they're 0-1 in this new season. (Kansas City Star)
A DIFFERENT WORLD: Most places -- this one included -- react harshly to players who leave for the riches of free agency. But Minnesota is gentler, kinder, and folks there had a warm welcome for Torii Hunter when he returned to town with the Angels last night. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
LAW OF THE LAND: The blog The Big Lead has an interesting interview with ESPN's Keith Law, who says, among other things, that the Blue Jays -- for whom he was working when the deal was completed -- negotiated a terrible contract with A.J. Burnett ("a two-year player option, and I don’t see why any club would ever give a player an option like that . . . [you're] ceding your upside to the player and locking in your downside") and that baseball's real fans don't care about performance-enhancing drugs. ("The fans who are most up in arms over PED usage are bandwagon fans -- they didn’t care much about baseball, but they jumped on the train to complain about it, and when it’s over, they’ll disappear again.")
STILL WATERS RUN DEEP: A profile of Charlie Manuel in phillymag.com shows there's more to the Phillies manager than meets the eye.
CATCH UP WITH US SOMETIME: As the mainstream baseball press and fandom comes to grips with such terms as OPS, A's general manager Billy Beane tells the San Diego Union-Tribune's Chris Jenkins just how far beyond those primitive sabermetric concepts most baseball front offices have progressed.
HERE AND THERE: Scott Spiezio has signed a minor-league contract with the Braves (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Orioles fans haven't forgotten the nitwit comments made by Aubrey Huff on a Baltimore radio show last November, and they let him have it yesterday (Baltimore Sun) . . . Carlos Zambrano says he's okay after cramps forced him out of yesterday's game against the Cubs, though he was hardly Little Mary Sunshine in his one-minute postgame media session (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Pirates may have hit an insurmountable snag in their long-term contract talks with Adam LaRoche (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The Yankees have issued uniform number 21 for the first time since Paul O'Neill retired. LaTroy Hawkins is wearing it, and he chose it to honor Roberto Clemente. (New York Daily News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, March 31
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
CLAY PIGEON: If you're looking for something to worry about heading into the season, we have two words: Clay Buchholz. The young right-hander, whom Red Sox Nation has such high hopes for in 2008, struggled yet again yesterday in an 8-0 loss to the Dodgers that closed out the exhibition season, getting lifted with no outs and two on in the fourth and already trailing, 4-0. Sean McAdam quotes Buchholz -- 1-3 with a 10.13 ERA in the games-that-don't-count -- as saying that "overall, every outing except maybe one this spring was a positive one for me." But the Herald's Tony Massarotti points out that the Sox' unwillingness to part with Buchholz is the reason they don't have Johan Santana and because of that "the expectations for Buchholz [are] stratospheric." So far, the results are subterranean. With Bartolo Colon knocking on the door -- McAdam has the details of his impressive Friday night showing -- Buchholz could wind up in Pawtucket very soon.
WILL BOBBY KIELTY BE THERE IF HE DOES? On Saturday, Kielty said he would accept an assignment to the PawSox while he waits for the Sox to trade Coco Crisp. But now McAdam reports another team has apparently come calling, and Kielty may leave the organization.
MEMORIAL NIGHT: The highlight of the weekend in Los Angeles was Saturday night's game at the strangely configured Los Angeles Coliseum, which attracted a record 115,300 fans. McAdam tells all about the goings-on before, during and after the Sox' 7-4 win over the Dodgers. Tim Wakefield pitched well in the victory.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: From Joe Torre on playing the Red Sox at the Coliseum: "It's a privilege to share this with the Boston Red Sox. Excuse me -- the World Series champion Boston Red Sox. For some reason, that doesn't bother me anymore."
ANOTHER JAPANESE SIGNING: McAdam reports the Sox have brought aboard Japanese pitcher Terumasa Matsuo.
TOUGH ROAD AHEAD: McAdam takes a detailed look at the very demanding April schedule of the Red Sox . . . and that's not even considering the Japan trip.
WIZARDS OF WALL STREET: The Wall Street Journal has unveiled a detailed statistical system of rating managers that puts Terry Francona 16th overall, well behind such people as Ned Yost, Charlie Manuel and Willie Randolph.
IF IT WERE ME . . . In answer to a fan's question on his blog, Jim Rice says he'd play Coco Crisp over Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury, incidentally, was the subject of a profile by Neil Swidey in The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine.
I LIKE MIKE: While answering fans' questions on Peter Abraham's LoHud Yankees blog, Brian Cashman says his biggest regret as Yankee GM was the Mike Lowell trade . . . not just because of the player Lowell became, but because the team received almost nothing in return.
DOWN ON THE FARM: Thanks to Seth Mnookin for pointing out old friend Alex Speier's comprehensive piece on the Red Sox' farm system in the Manchester Union-Leader.
OPENING SALVO: How's that for a first game in a new stadium? The Nationals get a two-out, walkoff home run from Ryan Zimmerman in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Braves on national television. (espn.com) FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal thinks it's fitting, since Zimmerman is the face of the franchise.
NOW OR . . . ? Jeff Blair of the Toronto Globe and Mail thinks this could be a make-or-break season for Blue Jays GM (and Worcester native) J.P. Ricciardi, who's starting his seventh year with the team.
ONE LAST TIME: Today is the last Opening Day the old Yankee Stadium; next April, the Yanks will be opening across the street at their new, state-of-the-art palace. The Daily News' Mike Lupica says the only fitting way to send the old girl out in style is with one last World Series championship. But colleague John Harper talks to scouts who think, to quote whatever song it was Kitty Carlyle sang in Radio Days, Yankee pitching is either too young or too old. And, while the long-term future is bright, four of the six scouts Harper spoke to said the Yankees won't make the playoffs this year. The two who think they'll qualify both said they don't have the pitching depth to win the World Series.
FOREVER 39: The Daily News' Filip Bondy says the Bleacher Creatures in Section 39 not only will miss the old stadium more than anyone, and some of them aren't sure they'll make the move to the new place.
LET'S LET BYGONES BE BYGONES: Joe Girardi had a nasty parting with the Marlins and owner Jeffrey Loria in 2006, but they made their peace yesterday. (New York Post)
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN: The Mets are ready to start the Johan Santana Era, though they'll be doing it in Miami. (New York Post) But the Times-Herald's Michael Geffner warns that last year's Amazin' collapse is something the Mets still have to deal with.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD: The Marlins take the field with a $21 million payroll, which the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Mike Hyde thinks is an insult to the fans.
COULD IT BE? The Detroit News' Bob Wojnowski says, yeah, the Tigers will be good, but they'll have to be better than good to get where everyone thinks they can go.
TWENTY-YEAR ITCH: The Baltimore Sun's Roch Kubatko talks to people who says the Orioles may not be 1988 bad -- that was the year they finished 54-107 -- but they could be close.
IT'S NOT GOING AWAY: According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, baseball fans "say that it matters to them if players use performance-enhancing drugs and that the news media are more diligent about covering drug use in baseball than they are in football." (New York Times)
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: I missed this when it first came out, but Pat Jordan -- author of the withering Jose Canseco piece on Deadspin that we linked to a couple of days ago -- related his experiences watching Roger Clemens work out under the eye of Brian McNamee for Baseball Analysts on the day of Clemens' 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace. (It was for a New York Times Sunday Magazine story entitled Roger Clemens Refuses To Grow Up that ran in 2001, a story that so enraged Clemens he convinced the Yankees to ban Jordan from their clubhouse during his time with the team.) Jordan, in the Baseball Analysts post, makes an interesting comparison between the careers of Clemens and Tom Seaver. He notes Seaver had more wins than Clemens through the first 12 years of their respective careers (a 219-117 record for Seaver, 192-111 for Clemens). After that, however, Clemens -- who began his 13th season with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997, the year he left the Red Sox -- left Seaver in the dust; he was 162-73 over the next 11 seasons, while Seaver went 92-78 over eight years before retiring. "While Seaver struggled with that declining fastball in the latter stage of his career, Clemens kept throwing hard," writes Jordan, who later adds: "It goes against the laws of nature, although I suspect that a case can be made that Clemens' incredible late career success could be attributed to the strict diet and fabled workout routine of his former trainer and friend, now his adversary, Brian McNamee."
THAT ABOUT COVERS IT: SI.com's Richard Deitsch saw Jose Canseco as "equal parts oily, smug and desperate" on his Nightline appearance last week.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: The real reason Canseco is mad at Alex Rodriguez? Because A-Rod wouldn't let Canseco and his brother, Ozzie, be his agents. (SI.com)
GOOD QUESTION, RICHARD: The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice acknowledges Woody Williams was pitching poorly and deserved to be released, but wonders why Astros fans attacked him so personally over the Internet.
BEGINNING OF THE END? The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel believes this could be Ben Sheets' final season with the Brewers. And Francisco Rodriguez himself thinks he'll be leaving the Angels at the conclusion of the year. (Los Angeles Times) No one really knows if this is C.C. Sabathia's swan song in Cleveland, but the Plain Dealer's Bud Shaw says Sabathia knows the benefit of staying put.
HOW RUMORS START: According to the Tampa media, Eric Hinske has not only made the Rays' 25-player roster (Tampa Tribune), but he's going to be their Opening Day right fielder. (St. Petersburg Times) But all it took was a throwaway line at the very bottom of a Los Angeles Times column -- "Tampa Bay's Eric Hinske is also reportedly on the market" -- to get the blogosphere (Rays Anatomy, DRaysBay) humming. Why he would be offered for trade now is unfathomable, and Hinske himself obviously doesn't think he's going anywhere; he tells the Bradenton Herald he's looking forward to getting some at-bats this year after an enjoyable, but mostly idle, stint in Boston.
HERE AND THERE The Toronto Sun reports Alex Rios has until today to accept the Blue Jays' six-year, $65 million offer, or there'll be no more talks until after the season . . . It looks likes Wes Helms will be staying with the Phillies, at least for now (Allentown Call) . . . Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan is contemplating legal action against a St. Louis radio station after he said they put him on the air without his permission (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Orioles ate an $11.9 million meal when they released Jay Gibbons (Baltimore Sun) . . . Juan Pierre's not out of a job; he's just out of a starting job with the Dodgers. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: The Rockies are interested in Jorge De La Rosa, who was designated for assignment by the Royals last week (Kansas City Star) . . . The Cubs are getting inquiries about Matt Murton, who no longer fits into their plans (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Scott Hatteberg will get the Opening Day start at first base for the Reds (cincinnati.com) . . . Andy Marte made the Indians' 25-player roster and is relaxed and looking forward to the season (mlb.com) . . . The blog Red Reporter thinks the release of Mike Stanton is a sign Cincinnati is serious about winning this year.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, March 28
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
BACK TO NORMAL: It was only an optional workout at Dodger Stadium, but most of the Red Sox -- like Mike Lowell (above) -- were there yesterday, anxious to resume their normal routines after a week in Japan that was anything but . . . well, routine. Sean McAdam was on hand, as well, reporting on the workout and other items, such as J.D. Drew's improving back and Mike Timlin's still-injured finger.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE . . . that the Red Sox plan to stress when it comes to their young players. In conversations with our own Joe McDonald, both Theo Epstein and Terry Francona say they'll give Clay Buccholz and Jacoby Ellsbury the same sort of support they gave Dustin Pedroia, who struggled both in his two-month stint with the Sox at the end of '06 and in the first month last year, and will try to manage unrealistic public expectations of people who don't realize that, as Epstein says, "Development isn’t a linear thing."
CASE IN POINT: Like, for instance, the Boston Herald's Gerry Callahan, who tears into Francona for not handing the center field/leadoff job to Ellsbury.
AP Photo
'YOUR AVERAGE BACKYARD WHIFFLE BALL GAME': That's what the Boston Globe's Eric Wilbur thinks we'll see Saturday night when the Sox and Dodgers face off in the L.A. Coliseum (above), with its 201-foot left-field fence.
60-MINUTE MAN: 60 Minutes will profile the Red Sox' Bill James on Sunday night, and cbsnews.com's report on James includes a couple of video clips.
THAT'S OUR GUY: Emil Brown's front-and-center performance -- both good and bad -- in the Sox-A's series in Japan has Joe Posnanski remembering Brown's days in Kansas City -- both good and bad.
LOOKING AHEAD: Anybody can pick an MVP or Cy Young winner after the season. FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal gives out these awards before the year starts, and he selects Terry Francona as Manager of the Year and Clay Buchholz as the A.L.'s Breakout Player. The baseball team at yahoo.com does the same thing; one of them picks Jon Lester as the breakout player.
NOT ACCORDING TO ME: John Dewan doesn't have Buchholz or Lester on his list of players who may have breakout years based on their spring-training stats. (actasports.com) To be fair, though, Dewan only looked at hitters . . . though there were no Sox on that list, either. One Yankee (Robinson Cano) made it.
ASK 14: Sullivan Tires has started a blog for Jim Rice in which he answers readers' questions. Today's inquiry: Whether or not Buchholz will stick with the Sox. (Jim says yes.)
RAY GUNS: Writing for SportingNews.com, David Pinto says Tampa Bay has a better starting rotation than either the Red Sox or Yankees.
RACE TO THE ALTAR: Hideki Matsui got married Wednesday, enabling him to win a bet with Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu over who would take his vows first. But Jeter -- as you'll see if you get to the bottom of the story -- isn't ready to concede just yet. (New York Times)
NO DEAL: Hank Steinbrenner denies reports that the Yankees are for sale. (New York Daily News)
GOOD CAUSE: The blog River Ave. Blues is holding a season-long pledge drive to raise money for The Jorge Posada Foundation, which provides emotional and financial support to families with children affected by craniosynostosis. Posada's son suffers from the disease.
GETTING CLOSER: The New York Times reports MLB and the Players Association are moving towards an agreement on the Mitchell Report’s recommendations on performance-enhancing drugs, which would include an amnesty on discipline for any players mentioned in the report but would also install "year-round drug testing and other measures" moving forward.
THE STORY THAT WON'T GO AWAY: As Brian McNamee was in the Boston area yesterday, telling kids not to make the mistakes he made (Boston Herald), Jose Canseco started blasting away at him as he defended his friend Roger Clemens. (New York Daily News) Canseco, of course, identified Clemens as a steroids user in his new book, though now he's backtracking from his own words and claims 'ol Rog is clean as a whistle.
PASSING THE TASTE TEST: The blog Bleacher Banter gives a thumbs-up to the food at the new Nationals Park.
SHORT STUFF: Orioles manager Dave Trembley threatens to "put a size 11 1/2 where it don't shine" -- jokingly (we think) -- if Nick Markakis doesn't stop taking grounders in the infield during batting practice. (Baltimore Sun)
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? The blog Outs Per Swing: A Tampa Bay Rays Blog doesn't see why sending Evan Longoria to the minor leagues is such a bad thing.
THE OTHER TRIP: Eric Neel has a fascinating look at the visit to China by Joe Torre and the Dodgers earlier this month. (espn.com)
HERE AND THERE: It looks like Scott Rolen's broken finger will sideline him until May (mlb.com) . . . Another third baseman, the Dodgers' Tony Abreu, will also start the season on the DL (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Padres and Rays have expressed interest in Mariners outfielder Jeremy Reed. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
OLD FRIENDS: We don't think of baseball players having tattoos, mainly because not much of them is uncovered when they're in uniform, but Joe Haggerty reports ex-Sox reliever Rudy Seanez "had the fiercest body art ever seen in Fenway’s home clubhouse" (Hacks With Haggs blog) . . . Wily Mo Pena is recovering faster than expected from his strained left oblique (mlb.com) . . . Freddy Sanchez still hopes to be ready by Opening Day (mlb.com) . . . Bronson Arroyo had quite a spring (rotoworld.com) . . . Eric Hinske will be the Rays' fifth outfielder. (St. Petersburg Times)
THE REAL WORLD, PART ONE: We all love baseball and have fun with virtually every part of it, but sadness is part of the package, as well. ESPN's Jeff Pearlman profiles Jami Dawn Kennedy four months after the shocking death of her 27-year-old husband, big-league pitcher Joe Kennedy, because of hypertensive heart disease.
THE REAL WORLD, PART TWO: According to Baseball Musing's David Pinto, Peter Gammons is reporting that the Diamondbacks' Doug Davis has thyroid cancer. No word yet in the mainstream media on Davis' condition.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:54 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, March 27
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
YOU SAY GOODBYE, AND I SAY HELLO: They've returned to the United States, the first part of the endless journey complete, and the Red Sox are recuperating from their week in Japan, which ended yesterday with a 5-1 loss to the A's. The stories from the game, which have been on the site for about 21 hours now, need no rehashing today; instead, we now go back to the future -- which is to say, the resumption of spring training -- and get ready for the three games in Los Angeles, which will be highlighted by Saturday night's appearance before 115,000 people at the Los Angeles Coliseum. (si.com)
THE SAME . . . BUT DIFFERENT: Last year, you may recall, Jordan's Furniture had a unique promotion: Anything you bought at one of their stories in April would be free if the Red Sox won the World Series. About 24,000 people took advantage of the offer, and received rebate checks after the Sox swept the Rockies last October. Jordan's is back with another offer this year, but it's not quite as generous: The Red Sox have to sweep the Series for customers to collect, and it only applies to "sofas, sectionals, dining room tables, beds, mattresses, and rugs." (Boston Globe) Still, it's amazing Jordan's could find an insurance company to underwrite this year's offer; last year's must have cost millions.
ENOUGH! There are Yankee fans convinced ESPN hates the Yanks, and Red Sox fans convinced ESPN hates the Red Sox. Kevin Modesti of the Los Angeles Daily News thinks both those groups are certifiably insane, as, from a West Coaster's point of view, he asserts ESPN's baseball coverage consists of "18 games between the Red Sox and Yankees and 160 editions of 'Baseball Tonight' previewing or rehashing games between the Red Sox and Yankees."
COVER BOYS: Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buccholz are two of six players on the cover of Sports Illustrated's baseball preview issue (Boston Dirt Dogs), but SI picks the Sox to finish behind the Yankees in the A.L. East.
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: But the New York Post's Joel Sherman says the Red Sox will win the A.L. East.
AUTHOR, AUTHOR: With the release date of his book Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars and the Battle to Save Baseball imminent, Jose Canseco is back in the public arena, talking steroids. The big name he's accusing this time is Alex Rodriguez, though he admits he "cannot bet my life" that A-Rod took steroids and further clouds his accusations by refusing to provide any evidence ("The timing's not right") to substantiate his charges. (New York Post) In an interview with ABC's Nightline that will air tonight, Canseco also backs off claims in his book that Roger Clemens is a user. (New York Daily News)
JOSE WHO? A-Rod's strategy is to ignore the whole thing, not even issuing as much as a non-denial denial. (New York Daily News) But former Yankee bullpen catcher Mike Borzello -- who says "Nobody in the last four years, including his wife because she wasn't on the road, spent more time with Alex than I did" -- tells the New York Post there's "no way" Rodriguez did steroids.
IF I CAN ADD MY TWO CENTS . . . You knew Hank Steinbrenner wouldn't stay silent on this topic for very long. Three guesses as to who he sides with in this dispute, and the first two don't count. (Bergen Record)
'A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T REALLY CARE': Magglio Ordonez shrugs off the fact that Canseco also accused him of steroids use in the latest book . . . though he, too, never comes out and denies it. (Detroit Free Press)
THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION: Yahoo.com's Tim Brown, while admitting that Canseco "has been right, a lot, and too often to be little more than a vindictive jerk swinging wildly at baseball icons," sides with A-Rod on this one.
'CHASING JOSE': Beware the NFSW aspects of this piece -- in every regard -- but, if such things don't give you the vapors, read Pat Jordan's account on Deadspin of trying to track down Canseco for a magazine piece he'd agreed to. Baseball Musing's David Pinto puts it best after reading this unbelievable piece: "I need to go disinfect myself now."
DEPENDS ON WHAT 'DECENT' IS: Joe Girardi believes Chien-Ming Wang's four runs-in-five innings performance yesterday was his "best day" of the year, and felt Wang -- who finished the exhibition schedule with an 8.04 ERA -- had a "decent spring." (New York Daily News)
TAKING THE ROLL: 97-year-old Bob Sheppard, the public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium since 1951, won't be on hand for Opening Day as he continues to recover from health problems that forced him to miss the playoffs last year, though he vows he "will be" back on the job sometime this year. (Newsday) But Bobby Murcer, who continues recovering from a brain tumor, says he'll be there. (New York Post)
AD MEN: The Tao of Steib has a YouTube clip of some pretty clever Blue Jays promotional spots for the coming season.
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER: Tom Glavine may have turned 42 earlier this week, but he feels he can give the Braves 200 innings this season. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
ACED: The Mariners were counting on Erik Bedard to anchor their rotation this year, so they have to be a little worried that's he's allowed 23 earned runs in 24 innings this spring. (yahoo.com)
"THE BALLPARK HAS BEEN DE-BONDSED": The San Francisco Chronicle's Scott Ostler reports the Giants have removed all signs that Barry Bonds ever played for them in whatever they're calling their stadium these days. When asked if they planned any sort of visible tribute to Bonds, Giants president Peter Magowan answered simply, "No."
HERE AND THERE: If the Cardinals are auditioning Anthony Reyes, as is rumored, he helped his trade chances with six shutout innings against the Nationals (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Juan Gonzalez has abandoned his comeback attempt, but the Cardinals say they'll keep the door open if he wants to try again. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
MEDICAL REPORT: Kelvin Escobar says his shoulder injury could be career-threatening (Los Angeles Times) . . . Moises Alou, recovering from hernia surgery, thinks he'll be back playing for the Mets sometime in April. (New York Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Jorge De La Rosa, a key figure in Red Sox history in that he was part of the package of players who went to Arizona in the Curt Schilling deal, has been designated for assignment by the Royals (Kansas City Star) . . . Good news, bad news from the Pirates: They've released Byung-Hyun Kim and Hector Carrasco, but are keeping Doug Mientkiewicz (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The last time Jay Payton wanted to be traded or released, he threw a preplanned tantrum in the dugout in the middle of a game to force the Red Sox to get rid of him. Sounds like the Orioles better get ready for Act Two (Baltimore Sun) . . . The Phillies may have interest in calling the Reds about Mike Stanton (delawareonline.com) . . . Luis Mendoza will open the season on the disabled list for the Rangers (Dallas Morning News) . . . Johnny Damon is battling the flu (mlb.com) . . . The Marlins would like to see less speed (i.e., stolen bases) and more power from Hanley Ramirez (mlb.com) . . . Pedro Martinez wrapped up his spring with six innings of work in an intrasquad game and says he's ready to start the season (Newsday) . . . Chris Reitsma is headed home and apparently contemplating retirement after he left the Mariners' camp upon being told he wasn't physically ready to make the Opening Day roster . . . Rudy Seanez said he'd retire if he didn't make the Dodgers. Well, he didn't (rotoworld.com); let's see if he decides to follow through on his decision . . . Matt Murton is the odd man out in Chicago, and the Cubs say they'll try to trade him. (Chicago Tribune) Pinto expects Billy Beane to grab him for the A's.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:35 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, March 26
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: We're a few hours past our deadline for posting this, but it couldn't be helped: Sean McAdam and I were working feverishly throughout the morning to get today's report online. (Sean had very little time to write after the game, as everyone had to catch the bus to the airport after the game.) Here's what we have from today's 5-1 Red Sox loss to the A's:
-- Game story: Rich Harden was the difference as the A's won, earning a split of the two games in Japan.
-- The trip is complete and, all in all, the Red Sox say they enjoyed their time in Japan.
-- Coco Crisp replaced Jacoby Ellsbury in center field for the second game of the series, but Terry Francona says he can't tell Crisp exactly how he'll be used this year because he doesn't yet know himself.
-- J.D. Drew missed his second straight game because of back spasms . . .
-- . . . which means Brandon Moss played again. But after the game, he was shipped to Pawtucket.
-- David Aardsma did his part to avoid joining Moss on the Fenway-to-McCoy shuffle by pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings Wednesday.
-- Bartolo Colon's scheduled to pitch Friday night in Los Angeles and other notes.
-- And finally, the A's felt like they were treated as the Red Sox' poor cousins during their time in Tokyo.
ONE MORE TIME: And in case you missed it, here's a quick list of all Sean's stories from Tuesday's 6-5 Red Sox victory over the A's:
-- Manny Ramirez gets off to his quickest start in years with a pair of two-run doubles, including a two-out shot in the 10th that breaks a 4-4 tie, and leads the Red Sox to a season-opening win over the A's.
-- Daisuke Matsuzaka overcomes a rocky start to pitch five solid innings and leaves the game with a 3-2 lead.
-- The red-hot J.D. Drew can't answer the bell, as a bad back forces him to the sidelines.
-- A complete list of postgame notes.
-- Commissioner Bud Selig attends the game and is non-committal on whether or not punishment will be meted out to players named in the Mitchell Report. He also has little to say about the Sox' threatened boycott of the Japanese trip, concluding, "All's well that ends well."
-- Prior to the game, Sean accompanies representatives of the Red Sox and A's to a reception at the home of Thomas Schieffer, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. "They'll let anyone in here, I guess,'' jokes A's general manager Billy Beane when he spots Sean.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Japan's a nice place to visit, but Kevin Youkilis, to quote the Beach Boys, can't wait to get back to the States.
SORRY: Daisuke Matsuzaka apologized to the Japanese fans for lasting only five innings on Tuesday. (Boston Herald)
THE TURNING POINT: SI.com's Tom Verducci has a fascinating piece about how both the Red Sox and Yankees shifted their focus to player development in 2005, and the benefits they've derived from that decision.
NOT SO FAST: ESPN's Jonah Keri says the Red Sox may not be the dynasty-in-the-making they're being described as in many circles.
THE WISDOM OF CROWDS: On the blog Fire Brand of the American League, Tim Daloisio is trying an interesting experiment. Quoting a book that says "in the right situations a crowd can produce decisions and answers to questions that are more accurate in average than all but a very few of the individuals that make up that collective intelligence," Daloisio wants to test the theory, and has set up forms for people to fill out trying to determine how Red Sox players will perform this season.
DON'T WORRY: Andy Pettitte says he'll be back in the first week of the season. (New York Post)
NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT IT IF IT'S TRUE: Humorist Joe Lavin claims to have found an early copy of Jose Canseco's new book and says Canseco accuses Magglio Ordonez, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez of steroids use. (joelavin.com)
ELEPHANT MAN: The Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform release a statement defending Roger Clemens and claiming the Democrats produced a report that was a "prosecutorial indictment" of Clemens. (New York Times)
WAITING FOR AN EXPLANATION: David Scott promises to pass it along when he gets one from ESPN regarding what could be, at its best, an unexplainable gaffe or, at its worst, a very cruel inside joke regarding the late Cory Lidle. (shots.bostonsportsmedia.com)
TWO PLUS TWO EQUALS . . . When Brian Roberts was scratched from yesterday's Orioles' exhibition game before batting practice, speculation immediately started that he'd finally been traded to the Cubs. But it was just a bad back. (Baltimore Sun)
HERE AND THERE: There's been a change at the top at the Hall of Fame (bloomberg.com) . . . The Angels' Kelvin Escobar (shoulder) joins John Lackey, Scot Shields, Chris Bootcheck and (perhaps) Gary Matthews Jr. on the sidelines (Los Angeles Times) . . . The Giants' Kevin Frandsen will miss the season after suffering a torn Achilles' tendon (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Astros' new second baseman, Kaz Matsui, will miss at least the first two weeks for an injury that I really don't want to recount here (Houston Chronicle) . . . The Rangers have named C,J. Wilson as their closer. (Dallas Morning News)
OLD FRIENDS: It looks like Trot Nixon will stick with the Diamondbacks (East Valley Tribune) . . . The Cardinals placed both Matt Clement and Joel Pineiro on the disabled list, though neither move was a surprise. (rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 12:28 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, March 25
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
IT'S ON: The Sox and A's are playing as we speak, and you can find the results elsewhere on this blog and on this page. So, in these unique circumstances, we'll focus on things other than the game on hand . . .
RIGHT ON, SETH: When I first read this in the Maple Street Press Red Sox 2008 Annual, I was hoping Seth Mnookin would eventually post it to his site. Well, he has, in two parts, and it's required reading: "Overfeeding The Monsters: Entitlement And The Continuing Evolution of Red Sox Nation." It's about the morphing of Red Sox fans from "stoic, loyal, and intelligent" (compared to the "obnoxious, self-entitled, uninformed, drunken louts" of Yankee Universe) into an "immensely unappealing, I-deserve-what-I-want-and-I-deserve-it-right-now" crew, a transformation I've noticed -- to my horror -- myself over the last few years. You can read Part One here and Part Two here. And, if it applies to you: Take heed.
HIS OWN HALL OF FAME: Did you know there's a Dice-K Museum in Wakkanai, Japan? ESPN.com's Jim Caple does, and he visited it.
FAVORED NATION STATUS: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark writes that "Unless you're older than Eddie Joost, older than Dom DiMaggio, older than Zsa Zsa Gabor, you've never lived in a world like this. You've never lived in a world where a baseball season was about to begin and the Boston Red Sox could be described with a word millions of New Englanders were once completely unfamiliar with: Favorites."
FAVORED FOR WHAT? After 10 straight years of picking them to win the A.L. East, Chad Finn picked the Red Sox to finish second last year . . . and you know what happened. So, this year, he's picking them second again, albeit with a chance for "another suspenseful and very possibly joyous autumn." (touchingallthebases.com)
YOU GOT IT, CHAD: According to the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog, Diamond Mind Baseball also has the Sox finishing second. Also picking Boston to finish second: Baseball Musing's David Pinto.
CAMPAIGN SLOGANS: ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick comes up with one for every team. The Sox': "Workers of the World, Unite". You'll have to click the link to find out why.
FLY ME TO THE MOON: When the Red Sox play at the Los Angeles Coliseum Saturday night, they'd do well to follow the lead of Wally Moon, who made his name taking advantage of the short left-field fence while he played there. (Los Angeles Times)
WHO ARE THOSE GUYS? For all the hoopla surrounding the Red Sox' visit to Japan, there's been a corresponding lack of enthusiasm for the Sox' opponents, the Oakland A's. "Perhaps they aren't quite the Washington Generals of the Tokyo Dome, but the A's open the season Tuesday night as the anonymous foil to their opponents, the Boston Red Sox," writes the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser. "That has been abundantly clear since Oakland arrived in Japan last week."
A-SURPRISE: The normally guarded Alex Rodriguez lets his hair down in an interview with the New York Daily News in which he says the biggest mistake he ever made was deciding to sign with the Rangers instead of the Mets in 2000 -- "I went for the contract when my true desire was to go play for the Mets" -- and that was at the base of his decision to stay with the Yankees . . . and to break with Scott Boras, whose first, last and only concern is chasing the very last nickel wherever it may be. "So to make the right decision just feels really good," Rodriguez said, "versus being taken down a road [by Boras] where I'm like, 'Oh, my God, where am I? Oh, $400 million to play in some place I hate? Great, I'll blow my --- head off.' I wanted to remain a Yankee and for once I put my money where my mouth was."
BACK OFF: Andy Pettitte may miss his first start because of back spasms. (New York Post)
THE SCOUTING REPORT: Foxsports.com does its detailed breakdown of the Yankees.
LOOKING AHEAD: The New York Post reports the Yankees and Mets are trying to buy their old ballparks before the arrival of the wrecking balls "so they can plunder them for lucrative memorabilia to peddle to fans."
BUT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS CASE SO LONG! That's Rusty Hardin's argument to requests by Brian McNamee's lawyers to remove Hardin from the defamation case that Roger Clemens' legal team filed against McNamee in January. (New York Daily News) McNamee's lawyers argued that Hardin had at one time represented Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte, who admitted to using HGH after he was named as a user by McNamee in the Mitchell Report.
NOT HAPPENING: The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Bud Selig is unlikely to discipline players cited in the Mitchell Report. Talks on changes in the drug agreement between players and owners are continuing. (AP via projo.com)
Q AND A WITH . . . Mark Fainaru-Wada, one of the authors of Game of Shadows. (sportsmediaguide.com)
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY: That's what the Rays are saying about their decision to send third-base prospect Evan Longoria to the minors, but no one -- least of all the players in their clubhouse -- believes them. (St. Petersburg Times) "If I say I commit to winning, he's on my team for sure," said Tampa Bay outfielder Jonny Gomes. The blog Rays of Light "can’t help but feel we were lied to by the Rays."
LOCAL BOY: Chris Iannetta, now hitting .344 this spring after a 3-for-3 performance Monday (rotoworld.com), is starting to draw some attention from the Colorado press. He was the subject of recent features in the Longmont Times-Call and the Casper Star-Tribune.
REVISIONIST HISTORY: In the old days, baseball people could say things -- any things -- and we all shrugged and figured, well, they're probably right. But now the facts are a click of the mouse away. So when Dusty Baker says he was protective of his young pitchers' arms in Chicago, it doesn't take long for Redleg Nation to determine "Dusty’s insane on this one."
MAKE OR BREAK TIME: That's what SI.com's John Donovan thinks the Giants' Barry Zito is facing these days.
HERE AND THERE: The Blue Jays' B.J. Ryan will start the season on the disabled list (Toronto Star), and Scott Rolen, who has a broken finger, may miss all of April (mlb.com) . . . No word on the future of Kris Benson, who has an opt-out clause in his minor-league deal with the Phillies that he can exercise today (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . The Rangers have picked up former Nationals starter John Patterson (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) . . . The Angels' Gary Matthews Jr. suffered a sprained ankle in yesterday's game against the Padres (mlb.com) . . . Another player with a bad back: The Cardinals' Troy Glaus (mlb.com) . . . The sore-shouldered John Smoltz, who a few days ago said the pain was so minor that he'd have pitched through it if it was the regular season, is likely to start the season on the disabled list (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . If he does, he'll be joining Phillies closer Brad Lidge (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . It looks like Juan Pierre may be losing his job, and it also looks like he's not too happy about it. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)
MONEY LINE: The Brewers are contemplating making multiyear contract offers to Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Blue Jays are close to reaching a long-term agreement with Alex Rios (Foxsports.com) . . . It's four years, $47 million for the Twins' Joe Nathan. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
WHISPERS: The Washington Post reports the Nats are trying to trade Felipe Lopez . . . The Rays may be interested in the recently released Reed Johnson and Jeff DaVanon (St. Petersburg Times) . . . The Cubs are beginning to look elsewhere in their search for an outfielder, but the Dallas Morning News says a Marlon Byrd-to-Chicago swap is unlikely . . . SI.com's Jon Heyman says Dodger manager Joe Torre is pushing the front office to pursue Brandon Inge and Joe Crede as they wait for Nomar Garciaparra to recuperate from his latest injury . . . It doesn't look as if Marcus Giles is going to stick with the Rockies (Denver Post). The Dodgers were rumored to have some interest in Giles, but Joe Bick, Giles' agent, says a deal is unlikely (Los Angeles Times) . . . The on-again/off-again Brian Roberts-to-the-Cubs talks are off again. (foxsports.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Kason Gabbard is having a miserable spring in Texas (rotoworld.com) . . . David Murphy, the player dealt with Gabbard to the Rangers in the Eric Gagne trade, is doing much better (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) . . . The Cardinals' Joel Piniero appears to be on the road to recovery (mlb.com) . . . Doctors say Freddy Sanchez has no structural damage in his shoulder (mlb.com) . . . Longoria's demotion means Eric Hinske will probably stick with the Rays (rotoworld.com) . . . Kevin Millar, who needed stitches after being hit on the left pinkie by a pitch last Friday, is just about ready to return to the Orioles' lineup (Baltimore Sun) . . . Jason Johnson didn't make the Dodger staff. (Orange County Register)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 8:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, March 24
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
VIVA LA DIFFERENCE: My WeatherBug temperature read 22.8 degrees when I awoke this morning -- and, having been outside to get the newspapers, I can testify to its accuracy -- but tomorrow at that time, we'll be watching baseball that counts. The Red Sox and A's are now less than 24 hours away from the season's first pitch at The Big Egg (a.k.a. the Tokyo Dome) after four days in Japan that have allowed them to adjust to the time and cultural differences. Sean McAdam contemplates those differences -- cultural, not time -- in a fascinating piece contrasting Japanese baseball against its American parent. Our own Denise Bass, writing on her blog, gives a personal view of the Far East fan experience. (Beer girls with kegs strapped to their backs??) Bob Breidenbach is sending back tons of pictures -- which we've been turning into slideshows, such as the ones you can find here and here (with more to come today) -- to give you a further feel for what it's like across the world.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS: In the end, though, these games count no matter where they're played, and the Sox -- who, reports McAdam, are excited to start the season (here are tomorrow's probable lineups) -- got ready for them with a pair of exhibitions over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon Tokyo time/Friday night local time, Clay Buchholz struggled but David Ortiz and J.D. Drew homered in a 6-5 win over the Hanshin Tigers. Then, Sunday night Tokyo time/Sunday morning local time, Drew continued his hot hitting with a grand slam as the Sox routed the Yomiuri Giants, 7-2. McAdam has the details on both games. It's all in preparation for a season that McAdam previews here, with the concluding line: " If injuries don’t derail these Red Sox, it would seem little else can."
CAREFUL DOWN THOSE TRACKS: But injuries, as we know, have been a problem this spring, and the biggest has been the back woes of Josh Beckett. Back in Fort Myers, though, Joe McDonald reports Beckett appears to be on the road to recovery, even if that road won't reach Boston in time for Opening Day . . . either in Tokyo or next week in Oakland.
BACK TO THE ORIENT: The pitcher who'll replace Beckett as the Opening Day starter is Daisuke Matsuzaka, and McAdam relates first-hand what Dice-K Mania in Japan is like. Kevin Youkilis, incidentally, writes on his blog that he enjoyed Matsuzaka beef at a recent dinner. "I guess Matsuzaka is a city or a region in Japan," he writes, adding: "No, the beef is not named after Dice-K!"
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER: The first domino in the game of Who Makes The Team? fell yesterday, as the Indians, reports McAdam, claimed Craig Breslow on waivers. (The Cleveland Plain Dealer explains why.) That's one less bullpen competitor for Bryan Corey, the subject of this McAdam profile. McAdam also contemplates the roster decisions that will be made for the two games here, which will probably include putting Beckett on the disabled list and leaving Mike Timlin (finger), Sean Casey (stiff neck) and Tim Wakefield (because he won't be pitching) on the inactive list.
LOOKING AHEAD: On his Joy of Sox blog, Allan Wood tries to figure out the pitching rotation through April 13, though it's just a guess until we know Beckett's return date.
SORRY TO SEE YOU GO: While he wasn't a candidate for the major-league roster, it was still sad -- if you're a local -- to learn of the release of East Providence's Barry Hertzler, which McDonald broke Friday afternoon.
CHATTY CATHY: For years, reporters couldn't get him to talk. Now, as McAdam notes, Manny Ramirez won't stop.
THE BEST-LAID PLANS . . . Jacoby Ellsbury hasn't had much of a spring (mlb.com), and you wondered if at some point it would start to concern the Sox. Apparently it has; McAdam reports Ellsbury has been dropped to seventh in the batting order . . . and, judging by Terry Francona's comments, it doesn't sound like he's going to get back to the leadoff spot anytime soon.
COCO CRISPY: At least Ellsbury will play. It doesn't look like Coco Crisp will, and McAdam notes Crisp appears to be chafing a bit at his current circustances . . . which weren't helped by the groin strain that sidelined him for most of spring training.
PLUG TIME: Come to projo.com tomorrow for in-game updates by Sean McAdam, photos by Bob Breidenbach, a pitch-by-pitch account of the game from our Associated Press score service, and a complete postgame report immediately following the final pitch. And if you're complaining about the 6 a.m. starting time, it could be worse; the game begins at 3 a.m. in the home of the Sox' opponent, the Oakland A's . . . and the San Jose Mercury News' Mark Purdy is one crusty curmudgeon on that topic.
LOOKING AHEAD: McDonald was impressed by last year's No. 1 draft pick, left-hander Nick Hagadone, in a recent intrasquad game at Fort Myers. He talks to plenty of folks, including Jon Lester, about him.
MORE FROM THE FORT: Bartolo Colon, writes McDonald, looked good Saturday pitching in an exhibition game for Single-A Lancaster.
GET READY: McAdam has the details on the 2009 World Baseball Classic, which were unveiled today in Tokyo.
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING: On his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty reports on Peter Gammons' appearance on 890 ESPN in which he discusses the Red Sox' near-boycott of the Japanese trip: "I talked to the Yankees and their coaches and players and I talked to the Phillies and they all thought it was a great thing because Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association don’t care about anyone unless they’re making millions . . .They just don’t care . . . [The Sox] did a great job and they are heroes within baseball, I can tell you that . . . I’ve been with Major League coaches, players, clubhouse guys and the Yankees clubhouse guys were saying, ‘You know what? [The Sox] are the best group of human beings in the game.’ They were really proud of them, and they’re the best acting, the best behaved and the tightest team, and I thought it was great that they pulled together."
BROKEN BAT: They call it "The Bat" -- a huge statue of a baseball bat that stands directly in front of the main entrance to Yankee Stadium -- and Newsday reports that not only are there no plans to transport it across the street to the new stadium, but Yankee officials have no idea what's going to happen to it.
UNSUNG HERO: The blog Dugout Central says Robinson Cano is better than you think.
KNOW WHEN TO HOLD 'EM, KNOW WHEN TO FOLD 'EM: The blog Baseball Hot Corner hopes the Yankees don't fall in love their prospects to the point that they hold onto them beyond their peak trade-value point.
HALO EVERYBODY: Matt Hurst, the Angels' beat writer for our Belo cousins in Riverside, gives an interview to the blog SportsHubLA in which he calls this year's team ''the most complete and balanced Angels team in my [four years] on the beat."
IF GOOD CATCHING IS SO HARD TO FIND . . . as Brewers manager Ned Yost says (Wisconsin State Journal), then why are the Rangers even thinking of sending Jarrod Saltalamacchia to the minors? (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
NOW THAT'S A CURSE: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman notes that this is the 100-year anniversary of the Cubs' last World Series championship.
A LITTLE HELP: The blog Can't Stop The Bleeding would like the Mets to assist their former organist, 92-year-old Jane Jarvis, who was displaced when her building was damaged by last week's crane collapse in New York.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: The Washington Post reports the Nationals' new ballpark will be ready on Opening Day, but the neighborhood surrounding it will be a construction-caused mess.
FROM THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE: Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen will miss Opening Day -- at least -- after suffering a fractured finger (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . Brewers left-hander Chris Capuano will need to undergo Tommy John surgery for the second time (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Braves' John Smoltz has a sore shoulder, though he says it's nothing serious (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Tigers' Curtis Granderson is sidelined because of a broken hand (AP via projo.com) . . . Andy Pettitte (back spasms) may miss the start of the season (New York Daily News) . . . But the Phillies' Brad Lidge, still recuperating from knee surgery, claims he'll be ready by Opening Day. (Philadelphia Daily News)
HERE AND THERE: The Blue Jays have released Reed Johnson (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . Miguel Cabrera got his mega-contract from the Tigers (SI.com) . . . The Twins' Joe Nathan could be next (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . Vlad Guerrero isn't too keen on the notion of serving as the Angels' DH (Los Angeles Times) . . . Albert Pujols looks ready to start the season. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
AND FINALLY . . . Newsday's Neil Best found this YouTube clip of the opening of NBC's broadcast of Game Four of the 1973 World Series. The talk was all about Charlie Finley's attempts to "fire" Mike Andrews, and that's pretty interesting in an of itself. But me, I just love to see how the broadcasts have changed so dramatically:
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 8:53 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, March 21
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
Baseball Today: Thursday, March 20
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
So how was your day yesterday?
Let's compare it to the Red Sox'. Theirs started with the threat of a boycott of their Florida exhibition finale against the Blue Jays. The boycott was going to be on behalf of, among others, their coaches, who appreciated what the players were doing for them. One of those players, Curt Schilling, explained it all in detail. Then word came down that the Sox would also refuse to fly to Japan if the coaches didn't receive the same $40,000 compensation they were getting for the Japanese trip. Confusion reigned, and then the Sox refused to take the field when the game was scheduled to begin, a move which was met with boos from the fans. Jason Varitek explained the team's position, quickly and then in more detail. After 10 minutes or so, the Sox raced into the clubhouse for a meeting. That started a waiting game, the end result of which was anybody's guess when police and security took the field. But then back they came, followed soon by annoucements that the game was on and so was the trip to Japan.
I don't know who was busier: The Sox, or Joe McDonald and Sean McAdam, who blogged all that during the course of the morning and early afternoon.
In the end everybody was satisfied, and McDonald tied it all together in a piece that explains the issues, the timeline and the resolution. (As he was writing it, McAdam -- and Journal photographer Bob Breidenbach -- were on their way to the airport to catch the Sox' charter flight to Japan; they'll be reporting from there for the next week.) And attention can turn back to the Japanese trip (mlb.com), which is finally upon us.
Interesting -- to me, anyway -- was the interpretation of/reaction to yesterday's events. Since the Sox were doing it not for themselves but for the support staff (coaches, trainers, etc.) who weren't included in the original agreement, they generally received praise for their actions. YahooSports.com's Steve Henson called the Sox' stand "refreshing". Baseball Musing's David Pinto, because the issue shed light on MLB's business practices, wrote, "Kudos to the Red Sox players for bringing that to our attention." Mike Rutsey of the London Free Press, on hand because the Sox were playing the Blue Jays, said, "You get a warm and fuzzy feeling over the fact 25 players who will earn a combined $146 million this season alone, would stand united over $500,000 worth of chump change -- not for them, but for others." And it wasn't just media members. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said, "God bless Terry Francona and the players to take that step to make a statement." (Chicago Sun-Times)
But it wasn't unanimous praise, and perhaps -- given the Hatfield/McCoy nature of the relationship -- it's not surprising that the main theme out of New York was derision. Peter Abraham called the Sox "a disgrace to the game," and Newsday's Wallace Matthews said the Sox' actions were "a grubby little move . . . a shakedown." And they both compared it to the Yankees' playing an exhibition game at Virginia Tech the day before for the benefit of the school that was shaken by gun violence a year earlier. The comparison, needless to say, did not favor the Red Sox.
The arguments are absurd, for any number of reasons. First and foremost, the Red Sox -- with their decades-long association with the Jimmy Fund -- take a back seat to no one when it comes to charitable work. Secondly, these two events are Webster's definition of an apples-to-oranges comparison. One has absolutely nothing to with the other. It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful, what the Yankees did Tuesday at Virginia Tech. They helped raise money, and spirits, at a place that needed both. The Red Sox players, conversely, took a stand on principle for someone other than themselves. And these two things are comparable . . . how? One can be judged better than the other . . . how? It's like deriding someone for helping a child with their homework because someone else jumped into a lake and saved a life.
The players did what they thought was right. There was nothing more noble about it than that. Terry Francona explained it during his in-game interview with ESPN. (video via bostonsportz.com) And if it wasn't as noble as what the Yanks did at Virginia Tech -- and it wasn't -- it doesn't come anywhere close to making them a "disgrace to baseball."
THE OTHER GUYS: Lest we forget, there's another team going to Japan, too, and they also were affected by all this. But the San Jose Mercury News reports the A's coaches will be getting additional compensation, as well. The San Francisco Chronicle has a more detailed report.
FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTHS: Curt Schilling had no comment on his blog; the last entry is still a tribute to Doug Mirabelli. Kevin Youkilis put up a post yesterday, his first since last November, but it was all about the trip to Japan with no mention of the controversy.
HEADING CROSS TOWN: Because they couldn't afford to have him miss a start, the Red Sox shipped Daisuke Matsuzaka to the minor-league complex to get his work in when it looked as if the game against the Blue Jays wouldn't be played. McDonald reports Matsuzaka had a strong outing against the Twins' minor-leaguers.
ALSO . . . McDonald reports that Josh Beckett may start for the PawSox on Sunday and Bartolo Colon was assigned to the minor-league camp.
"FOR A BASEBALL-MAD CITY, LIFE DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS": That's the concluding line of FoxSports.com's 2008 preview/scouting report on the Red Sox.
OPTIONLESS: The Red Sox have four players -- David Aardsma, Kyle Snyder, Craig Breslow and Bryan Corey -- who are out of options and can't be sent to the minor leagues without clearing waivers. (mlbtraderumors.com)
CENTER OF ATTENTION . . . AGAIN: Remember when Larry Bigbie was traded to the Red Sox (projo.com) . . . and then he wasn't? (boston.com) He's in Japan now, rebuilding his career after admitting to Mitchell Report investigators that he took steroids and also naming names of teammates and friends -- like Brian Roberts and Jack Cust -- who allegedly did, as well. Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan, calling Bigbie "baseball's Sammy Gravano," has a nice piece on the veteran outfielder, who says he only confirmed what the Mitchell people already knew and admitting that he's upset about the broken friendships with Roberts and Cust.
NO SURPRISE: As expected, the Yankees will start the season with Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. (New York Daily News) But Newsday's Ken Davidoff says that while Chamberlain may start there, it's fairly certain he'll end up in the starting rotation.
WHAT, ME WORRY? Phil Hughes says he "felt pretty good out there except for a couple of things." One of those things, no doubt, was the fact that he allowed seven runs in four innings against the Pirates. (New York Daily News)
ON THE PROWL: The Yankees' quest for pitching has led them to inquire about the A's Rich Harden, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The newspaper says Oakland's asking price will start with Ian Kennedy and escalate from there.
AND WHY DO THEY NEED PITCHING? Our own Michael Salfino, writing on SNY.tv, provides some of the answers in his analysis of the Yankee staff.
EVER HEAR OF THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT? No one expects anything from the White Sox this year, but both general manager Ken Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen think their past success should at least make people think they have a chance. (SI.com)
OH, YOU GUYS: Cubs strength coach Tim Buss was stunned when he saw his car, a 1995 Nissan Sentra, destroyed by a bunch of baseballs and bats, and furious when he thought the players had done it. Well, they had . . . but only so they could give him a brand new Nissan Xterra SUV. "They're great guys," said Buss, who was nearly in tears. (espn.com)
MEDICAL REPORT: The blog Beyond The Box Score wonders if Barry Zito's ghastly spring numbers are indicative of an arm problem . . . The recuperating B.J. Ryan has elbow soreness, but the Blue Jays say it's not related to his surgery; just normal spring aches and pains. (Toronto Globe and Mail) We shall see . . . The Brewers say Chris Capuano is "day to day" because of inflammation in his elbow (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) . . . The Cubs' new apparent closer, Kerry Wood, is sidelined because of back spasms. (Chicago Sun-Times)
WHISPERS: The Marlins' reluctance to name an Opening Day starter is fueling speculation that a trade is in the works (mlb.com) . . . The White Sox are rumored to have placed shortstop-turned-second baseman Juan Uribe on waivers to gauge trade interest (Chicago Tribune). If they have, it's news to Uribe (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Mets, who are on the prowl for an outfielder, say they're not interested in the Angels' Juan Rivera. (New York Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: In a blind item with no attribution, the San Francisco Chronicle mentions the possibility that the Giants might trade Dave Roberts . . . Byung-Hyun Kim continues to struggle in the Pirates' camp (rotoworld.com) . . . Turns out the bruise on Nomar Garciaparra's hand is actually a microfracture, and he may miss Opening Day. (AP via projo.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:21 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, March 19
AP Photo
PENNY FOOLISH: While you'd think that the billions of dollars in revenue that Major League Baseball generates annually would be enough for everyone to share, that's not the case. Joe McDonald and Sean McAdam report today that the Boston and Oakland coaches -- like pitching coach John Farrell (above) -- will not be receiving the $40,000 stipend that managers and players are getting for making the trip to Japan. The $300,000 it would cost to write checks to the coaches is like you or I having to write a $5 check, yet MLB has chosen to draw the line on the lowest-paid group of people who wear uniforms at the major-league level. Everything is relative, of course -- this isn't a life-and-death, real-world matter, since the coaches are well-compensated in relation to the general public -- but that's no reason for them not to be able to share in the booty . . . especially since the $50,000 would be a significant chunk of their season's salary (unlike the players, who'll barely notice the extra cash). "The only reaction I have is one of bewilderment,'' said Brad Mills, the Red Sox bench coach. I can think of a different reaction.
LET'S GET IT OVER WITH: David Ortiz admits he's not happy about the trip to Japan, but says he's determined not to let it affect his performance. (Boston Globe)
WE'RE GOING: Even though they've been battling injuries, Coco Crisp and Bobby Kielty will accompany the Sox to Japan. Jon Lester, however, won't be joining them until Saturday. McDonald has both reports.
HERE AND THERE Other nuggets from McDonald: Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima both received the Ted Williams World Series Award last night . . . The PawSox will once again be part of Futures at Fenway, with this year's game slated for Aug. 9.
ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL: Terry Francona knows the physical toll that lies ahead, but says he can't help it; managing the Red Sox is an all-consuming task that affects his health. (Boston Herald)
NOT SO FAST: The Giants selected Jose Capellan from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft last winter, but decided he wouldn't make their team. However, when they placed him on waivers to return him to Boston, Capellan was claimed by the Reds (mlb.com) even though, according to the story, "The Red Sox value Capellan and would like very much to have him back in their fold."
IF ONLY HE COULD STILL PLAY: Newsday's Neil Best provides a highlights wrap of a YES Network discussion show hosted by Don Mattingly. The most interesting nugget to me was Mattingly's description of Tony Clark as "a total leader . . . He will stand up, he will say what needs to be said, he’s not afraid to speak up, he does the right thing; this guy’s a leader.'' That's what we heard about Clark during his season with the Red Sox, as well. If he hit as well with Boston or New York as he had earlier in his career with the Tigers, he might still be with either club.
UPS AND DOWNS: As part of an interview he gave to the blog Brock For Broglio, Voros McCracken discusses his time in the Red Sox front office.
JUST TRYIN' TO CAPTURE THE SPIRIT OF THE THING: I know the news of Craig Hansen's demotion is a day old, but if Steve Silva is going to re-post his classic Hansen Brothers photoshop then I'm going to link to it. (Boston Dirt Dogs)
NOT THAT CUCKOO FOR COCO: Toward the ends of a notes column, FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the A's remain interested in Coco Crisp but won't "break up their emerging young core program to acquire one player.''
LOOKING GOOD . . . EVENTUALLY: No one expects much this season out of the A's. But scout.com says Oakland's long-range outlook is bright.
TIP OF THE HAT: The Yankees deserve all the credit they're receiving for their exhibition game yesterday at Virginia Tech, which may help ease the healing after a deranged gunman killed 32 people on campus last spring. (New York Post)
FOR THIS, WE SET ASIDE OUR DIFFERENCES: Two long-time Red Sox fans -- Virginia Tech baseball coach Pete Hughes, a Boston native who also coached at Boston College, and Theresa Walsh, a student in one of the classrooms under fire last year -- look at the Yankees a little differently today. (New York Daily News) Hughes also told of a text message he received from Terry Francona before the game: "Good luck. Pound Jeter inside. Go get 'em."
IF I CAN CAST ASIDE THE CLOAK OF MODESTY FOR JUST AN INSTANT: Johnny Damon tells the Boston Herald he still thinks he's a ''pretty tough person to replace.''
HALL OF FAME OWNER: Reggie Jackson thinks George Steinbrenner deserves a spot in Cooperstown. (Newsday)
BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR . . . Peter Abraham lists the 10 types of people he hates to sit near at the ballpark. Anyone who's ever been to a game can relate. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
HE DOESN'T PLAY FOR US: MLB has sent a cease-and-desist order to a Web site offering T-shirts touting the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama that were designed to look like baseball teams' uniforms. (thesmokinggun.com)
LET THE INVESTIGATION BEGIN: The Major League Baseball Players Association plans to examine if collusion charges should be filed over the fact that no one's signed Barry Bonds. (New York Post) Collusion conspiracists will have a field day with the answer A's assistant GM David Forst gave when asked why Oakland wasn't interested in Bonds, since he would seem to fill a very specific need for the A's. (espn.com) (NOTE: After I wrote that piece, I found that Baseball Musing's David Pinto agrees with me.) Bonds himself says he has no intention of retiring and would be willing to sign a contact in midseason. (mlb.com)
ANOTHER CASE? St. Petersburg Times columnist John Romano admits Evan Longoria is ready for the major leagues, but says the Rays should send him back to Triple-A anyway, even if only for a month, so he won't reach free agency until 2014, rather than hitting it in 2013 as he will if he sticks with the team on Opening Day. That could be seen as a form of collusion as well, and the MLBPA may fight it. The Tampa Tribune also thinks Longoria will open the year at Durham.
BESIDES, HE'S THE EARLY FAVORITE FOR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: That's what FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry thinks. Perry also believes "[as] strange as it sounds, it's time to take the Tampa Bay Rays seriously.''
SORRY, MARK: I have a friend who planned to make Josh Hamilton his sleeper pick in his upcoming fantasy draft, and he was upset I linked to a sportsline.com story last week in which a scout expressed the opinion that Hamilton might be the best player in baseball. But, judging by the report in Jon Heyman's Inside Scoop, it looks like the secret is out. (SI.com)
MOVE OVER, YANKEES-RAYS, HERE COMES BREWERS-ANGELS: The long-simmering spring feud between Milwaukee and Los Angeles of Anaheim -- while not spilling over to the players on the field -- shows no signs of abating. (Los Angeles Times)
NO RELIEF: The Tigers may have a devastating lineup and strong starting pitching, but their depleted bullpen hardly looks championship caliber. (SI.com)
OH: A Japanese doctor explains Ichiro Suzuki's secret for success: "Ichiro has a very fine prefrontal cortex." (Seattle Times)
THE QUEST CONTINUES: Scout.com is the latest site to try and figure out if spring numbers actually mean anything.
WELCOME TO THE BLOGOSPHERE: The newest member is Diamondbacks director of player development A.J. Hinch. I've always admired Hinch for his honesty in addressing baseball's steroids problem in Howard Bryant's excellent book Juicing The Game; you can read the excerpt regarding Hinch here. (espn.com)
WHO SAYS THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A GYROBALL? The Rangers C.J. Wilson says there is, and he plans to start throwing it. (sports.aol.com)
LOCAL BOY: The "gentlemanly" Chris Iannetta -- that's a direct quote from the story -- has been showing more fire in the Rockies' camp, at the team's urging, and the Rox still think he may develop into "a special player." (Denver Post)
HERE AND THERE: The Reds are looking for a catcher (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . The Cubs plan to drop Alfonso Soriano to the No. 2 spot in the batting order (yahoo.com) . . . Orlando Hernandez' first spring appearances, in a simulated game against minor-leaguers, featured "neither high velocity nor pinpoint location nor great results" (New York Post) . . . Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez thinks Dan Uggla is starting to build a Hall of Fame resume (Miami Herald) . . . A broken fingernail has forced A.J. Burnett to come up with a changeup since the injury is preventing him from throwing his curve (Toronto Star) . . . The Orioles' new closer is George Sherrill. (Baltimore Sun)
OLD FRIENDS: Stop us if you've heard this before: Eric Gagne surrendered a run on three hits in one inning yesterday and has an 11.25 ERA so far this spring for the Brewers (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Wilfredo Ledezma has only allowed one run in eight innings as he fights for a spot in the Padres' rotation (rotoworld.com) . . . Lenny DiNardo may be headed to Oakland's bullpen (rotoworld.com) . . . Andy Marte's chances of sticking with the Indians are being hampered because, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "he seems to have forgotten how to play third base.''
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:28 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, March 18
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IT LIVES: Spring training or not, end of the Curse or not, all visual evidence to the contrary (above) or not . . . doesn't matter. David Ortiz can clown around with Alex Rodriguez and Reggie Jackson all he wants and it won't erase the fact that Red Sox-Yankees, writes Joe McDonald, still doesn't ''have the feel or atmosphere of a spring-training contest.'' (projo.com) The New York Daily News' Bill Madden agrees. So -- if they choose -- the Yanks can take heart, and the Sox can squrim, over yesterday's 8-4 New York win, notable mostly for a ghastly performance by Bartolo Colon that the Sox, predictably, claim they're not worried about. (projo.com) Everyone else probably is, and Terry Francona knew that; before the game he wryly noted ''If [Colon] gets the Yankees out today, half of this group [of reporters] will want to anoint him. If he gets banged around, the other half will want to release him.'' (Boston Globe) Since Colon didn't get out of the first inning, no one's anointing him, that's for sure. But, as Francona pleaded for people to recognize: "It's his second spring training game. He's getting his legs under him."
Perspective? Terry, please. This is Red Sox-Yankees.
"THEY DON'T GET TO CHANT '1918' ANYMORE": Derek Jeter says he understands the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry has changed for the fans -- Yankee fans in particular -- but "if we don't win, it doesn't make it better if the Red Sox don't, either.'' (New York Post)
YOU'RE ON: With his son having arrived at a convenient time, Daisuke Matsuzaka was officially named the Opening Night starter in Japan. McDonald has the details. The Boston Herald's Rob Bradford reports Matsuzaka passed out cigars in the Red Sox clubhouse to celebrate his second child.
BACK TO NORMAL: The man Matsuzaka's (temporarily) replacing at the top of the rotation, Josh Beckett, had a good day yesterday, reports McDonald.
IN OTHER NEWS . . . McDonald notes that Coco Crisp and Bobby Kielty are recovering from their respective injuries and Craig Hansen took his demotion to the minor leagues in stride.
OVER AND IN: The blog Squawking Baseball: Wall Street analysis of Major League Baseball's player market sets the over-under number for Red Sox victories this year at 93.5 and predicts they'll go over. The choice is "under" for the other two teams at 93.5, the Yankees and Tigers.
THIS WAS A HORROR STORY? Our old pal Red Sox Monster has found a video that presents the 2007 Red Sox season as "one long Stephen King movie.''
IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, TRY AND GET A TICKET AT FENWAY: The Reds have decided to cash in on the passion of Red Sox Nation by forcing fans who buy tickets to Boston's games there this June to also buy tickets for three other, non-Red Sox games. (consumerist.com) And if you don't? No Red Sox tickets for you. A Sox living in Cincinnati who complained about the practice says he was told by a Reds' employee ''that since I am a Red Sox fan originally from Boston, I should be used to paying these prices for baseball games''; then he was advised to "scalp'' the tickets he didn't want. Our friend (?) The Tao of Steib applauds the move as an effective countermeasure to ''an invasion of their home park by the Most Obnoxious Fanbase in the World (TM).''
MOUTHING OFF: In the there's-no-connection-to-the-Red Sox-too-distant category, the Truro Times reports on a local dentist who's supplying Manny Ramirez with what's said to be an innovative mouthpiece.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: The New York Post notes that when an American League "talent evalutator" was told the Yankees were "wary" of their starting rotation, he replied: "They should be." But the Post adds that Andy Pettitte's performance yesterday helped ease a little of the angst.
PENNED IN: Joba Chamberlain won't lessen that wariness since it looks like he's starting the season in the bullpen. (New York Daily News)
MAN OF DISTINCTION: Our friend Seth Mnookin profiles Alex Rodriguez in Men's Vogue. Peter Abraham calls it a "paint-by-numbers" story, but absolves Seth because A-Rod "never lets anybody inside.'' (LoHud Yankees Blog) Peter also makes this very interesting observation:
In 2022 or so, Alex will get into the Hall of Fame. Will 10,000 people load up the RVs and pack the kids into the car to drive up to Cooperstown to cheer him? Or will they say “Yep, damn good player” and flip the channel?
PROUD TO BE A YANKEE: A-Rod says he ''didn't think about'' signing with the Red Sox during his brief period of free agency last fall because "I wanted to be a New York Yankee.'' (Newsday)
MOMENT TO REMEMBER: Abraham says the Yankees, who normally are "corporate as corporate can be," are doing a great thing by playing an exhibition game at Virginia Tech tomorrow.
MEMORIES . . . The Eliot Spitzer scandal reminds the New York Daily News' Bill Gallo of the Fritz Peterson-Mike Kekich wife-swapping episode of 1973.
REPLAY OF A NIGHTMARE: When the Dodgers left Brooklyn in 1957, the announcement of the move hadn't been made when the team played its last game at Ebbets Field. But even though the Ebbets finale wasn't officially the end of the Dodgers' time in New York, everyone knew . . . and the atmosphere was like a funeral. So it was yesterday in Vero Beach, where, as tears flowed and sadness reigned, the team played for the final time -- probably -- at Dodgertown, its spring home since 1948. (Los Angeles Times) In all likelihood the Dodgers will move their spring base to Arizona next year. Read more from mlb.com and espn.com.
YES, HARD FEELINGS: The Nationals' Paul Lo Duca hasn't forgotten, and he hasn't forgiven, the fact that the Mets didn't want him back. (New York Times)
THE FULL RHODE ISLAND: Smithfield's Jim Salisbury remembers that the Phillies, the team he now covers, almost took Cumberland's Rocco Baldelli over Chase Utley in the 2000 draft. (Philadephia Inquirer)
AND AFTER ALL THAT . . . A new study now indicates HGH may actually worsen athletic performance. (AP via si.com)
YOU'LL BE SORR-EEE: The Chicago Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti says the Cubs will live to regret choosing Kerry Wood as closer over Carlos Marmol.
NO, I WON'T: SI.com's Jon Heyman says the Cubs have a clear path to October.
WHISPERS: The Orioles continue to talk trade with the Cubs about Brian Roberts and maintain their interest in old friend Mark Loretta, now with the Astros (Baltimore Sun) . . . In case you've missed any of it, The Cub Reporter has a timeline on the Brian Roberts-to-the-Cubs trade rumor . . . Lou Piniella, incidentally, thinks all this trade talk is unsettling to the Cubs' younger players (Daily Herald) . . . The Phils' Wes Helms is on the trading block (Philadephia Daily News) . . . The newest Giant, Aaron Rowand, doesn't think old teammate Joe Crede will be joining him in San Francisco . (Chicago Tribune)
HERE AND THERE: The Tigers are talking long-term contract with Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Free Press) . . . Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan has a profile of White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, whose career took off when he slowed his off-the-field shenanigans . . . Neck pain may spell the end of Jose Valentin's career. (New York Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Chad Fox, attempting a comeback after two years on the sidelines, will probably start the season at Cubs' extended spring training (Chicago Tribune) . . . It looks like Gabe Kapler has made the team in Milwaukee. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:34 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, March 17
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| ALMOST HERE: As hard as it may be to believe, spring training ends in three days for the Red Sox. They leave for Japan on Wednesday night, the long-anticipated trip that everyone's been looking forward to/dreading. Sean McAdam has a primer on what to expect over the next two weeks, and Joe McDonald talks to the Sox about how they plan to keep focused during the trip, since two of the games will count in the standings. One thing that's no surprise: Josh Beckett (left, working out at Fort Myers yesterday) won't be going with them. McDonald has the details.
SECRET OF SUCCESS: McDonald has an interesting feature on how the Red Sox go about their business these days. VIDEO: RED SOX-YANKEES IS A DIFFERENT WORLD: CNN's Larry Smith has a 2 1/2-minute video report, with interviews from players and fans, which deals with the shift of power in the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry. (yahoo.com) I'M UNHAPPY: Two days after the fact, Tim Wakefield weighed in on the release of Doug Mirabelli. (It's the second item down in McDonald's Saturday notebook.) Not surprisingly, he wasn't pleased. ME, TOO: Jason Varitek was also upset at Mirabelli's being let go. (Boston Herald) |
SIMPLE ENOUGH: On his Hacks with Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty has a conversation with Peter Gammons. Gammons' answer when asked why the Sox cut Mirabelli: "They just didn’t think he could play anymore.''
YOU WOULDN'T RECOGNIZE HIM: The Hideki Okajima who's returning to Japan with the Red Sox next week is far different than the one who left last year. (Boston Globe)
ONE, BUT NOT TWO: The Newark Star-Ledger's Dan Graziano says he's hearing that the Cubs will pull out of trade talks for Coco Crisp if they acquire Brian Roberts.
THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE: Say what you will about Johnny Damon, but he's always been the most honest of ballplayers. So it's not surprising to hear his self-assessment of his defensive skills in light of the Yankees switching him to left field: ''I'm probably [a] middle-of-the-pack [center fielder] now . . . I would say I'm probably an above-average left fielder now."
THE NUMBERS DON'T WORK: The Daily News' Bill Madden says that, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, there has never been a World Series team with two rookies making a minimum of just 25 starts apiece. Since the Yanks plan to start the season with Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in the rotation, how this applies to them is pretty obvious.
OF MICE AND MEN: Hank Steinbrenner said being criticized by Jonathan Papelbon ''is like being attacked by a mouse.'' (New York Post) Papelbon's response was classic Papelbon . . . and, in fact, classic, period: ''Whatever, dude.'' (Hartford Courant) Our pals at Red Sox Monster think it's a case of ''Papel-Mouse winning again.''
C.C. OF DISCOURAGEMENT: Free agent-to-be C.C. Sabathia couldn't have pleased those New York folks who have him fitted for pinstripes next year -- a group that includes just about all of Yankee Universe -- when he answered, "It's all right,'' when asked if he liked New York. (mlb.com)
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: The good news is Chien-Ming Wang struck out seven in 4 1/3 innings against the Indians. The bad news is he wasn't particularly effective while doing so. (New York Daily News)
MORE OF THE SAME: The New York Post's Larry Brooks says the Yanks' allowing Jim Leyritz, who facing a felony DUI manslaughter charge, to visit their clubhouse is another reason why their reputation as a class organization is slipping.
LIKE SON, LIKE FATHER Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, father of the Yankees' Shelley Duncan, a) doesn't see anything wrong with his son's waist-high, spikes-first slide into the Rays' Akinori Iwamura and b) is pretty upset with those who do. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) The Rays are among those who do, and the Post-Dispatch points out that St. Louis and Tampa Bay are interleague opponents this year.
THE CLOSER YOU LOOK . . . Baseball Musing's David Pinto says, more and more, Shelley Duncan comes off ''a typical meathead with the jock sense of entitlement.'' This is the guy, remember, who wrote "Red Sox Suck" when signing an autograph to a 10-year-old Red Sox fan.
APPEALING: Duncan and Melky Cabrera are appealing the suspensions they received for their actions in the brawl that followed Duncan's slide. (New York Post)
I DON'T SEE ANY OF THESE SEATS GOING EMPTY, THOUGH: The Biz of Baseball points out that a box seat which cost $3.50 at Yankee Stadium in 1967 is now going for $250, even though $3.50 in 2007 dollars is only $22.14. That's an inflation rate of 1,029%.
THE REST OF THE STORY: The New York Times' Murray Chass looks at the chances of the Blue Jays and Rays to break the Red Sox-Yankee stranglehold on the A.L. East. The Orioles? Fugheddaboutit.
SWAP, DON'T BUY: With Rocco Baldelli out, the Rays are more likely to trade for a fourth outfielder rather than sign a free agent. (Tampa Tribune)
BASEBALL'S VERSION OF WESTERN UNION: It looks as if the Twins are trying to send a message to Alexi Casilla as they've shipped him to Triple-A Rochester because of what the St. Paul Pioneer-Press calls his ''lack of attention to details in the field.''
THE WORST TRADES ARE THE ONES YOU DON'T MAKE: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal thinks the Angels may regret not pursuing Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera this offseason.
REPLY HAZY, TRY AGAIN: Joe Posnanski says the annual Baseball Prospectus is his version of the Magic 8 ball, and he shakes it to try and get some answers. (One of the questions: "Will Dustin Pedroia continue to be the same kind of player he was in 2007?")
WHY WOULDN'T I BELIEVE HIM? White Sox GM Ken Williams says Ozzie Guillen was "probably serious" when he said the White Sox could tear up his contract if the team struggles again this year. (Chicago Sun-Times)
THE NEVER-ENDING STORY: SI.com's John Donovan reports on the latest Dusty Baker move that's sure to have heads spinning in the sabermetric community.
ORIENT EXPRESS: Yahoo.com's Steve Henson reports on the Dodgers-Padres trip to China.
HERE AND THERE: Jeff Conine apparently will sign a contract with Florida and then announce his retirement, so he can retire as a Marlin. (mlb.com) Question: Does anybody remember who a player retired with? . . . Scott Kazmir may start the season on the disabled list (Tampa Tribune) . . . Juan Pierre may be losing his job with the Dodgers (Orange County Register) . . . Kerry Wood is emerging as the favorite in the competition to be the Cubs' closer (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Braves' Jeff Francoeur escaped serious injury in a beaning by the Cardinals' Todd Wellemeyer (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Orioles' Ramon Hernandez says he was injured last year, not fat and out of shape like his critics claimed, and he's ready to prove them wrong (Baltimore Sun) . . . The Angels' John Lackey will be sidelined for at least a month. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: The New York Post reports Pedro Martinez had a "dazzling" spring debut for the Mets . . . Hideo Nomo is no longer in the running for a starting job with the Royals, but could still make their bullpen (Kansas City Star) . . . Tony Armas Jr. finally showed up in Mets' camp. (Newsday)
AND FINALLY . . . Congratulations to Chad Finn, whose excellent Touching All The Bases blog is moving uptown.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:28 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, March 14
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GOOD NEWS OR BAD NEWS? Word that the Red Sox had released Doug Mirabelli (above) could be taken one of two ways: That the Sox were cutting ties with an experienced veteran and simultaneously taking Tim Wakefield out of his comfort zone, or that they had a younger, better player ready to step into that role. After internal discussions, we went with Plan B. Joe McDonald talked with Kevin Cash, the Sox' new No. 2 catcher, as the thrust of the main story. Not that Cash is a hot stud young prospect, but Mirabelli -- who, as I wrote today, ''hasn’t hit higher than .228 since 2005 . . . [hasn't] had more hits than strikeouts in a season since 2003 . . . fanned in about one of every three plate appearances [last year] . . . [and the] piano he’s been lugging on his back around the bases has turned into a Steinway Grand'' -- had degenerated into near-uselessness. Wakefield declined comment yesterday, and I'm sure we'll hear the obligatory hate-to-see-Dougie-go testimonials from him and others today. The fans, judging by the reactions we're hearing, aren't so broken up.
LOOKS LIKE THE AMERICAN LEAGUE CAN BREATHE A LITTLE EASIER: The blog Dirty Watah ran into Mirabelli -- "just as cocky in person as he sounds in the papers'' -- last Sunday in Vero Beach. They quoted him as offering up the following self-appraisal: ''Looking real fit. I fear for the American League this season!''
TALKING ABOUT LOOKING FIT . . . Bartolo Colon may not seem like he's in shape, but his arm is better than the Sox thought it was. McDonald reports they're optimistic after yesterday's two-inning stint against the Rays.
SEE YOU IN SIXTY: At least that's what Curt Schilling's hoping after the Sox placed him on the 60-day disabled list. (projo.com)
CHATTERBOX: After eschewing the media for lo these many years, suddenly Manny Ramirez is feeling talkative. Both Sean McAdam and Joe McDonald say that Ramirez is more accessible this year -- Joe, in fact, got a great story from Ramirez about his giving a watch to Dustin Pedroia for winning the Rookie of the Year award -- and in the last two days Manny has given interviews to Maureen Mullen of MLB.com and Howard Ulman of the Associated Press. (projo.com)
A CONVERSATION WITH . . . Chris Carter, via Joe Haggerty's Hacks with Haggs blog.
DIFFERENT COAST, DIFFERENT WORLD: After some lean times in San Diego, Tom Werner is enjoying life in Fat City, a.k.a. Boston. (AP via projo.com)
DEAL OR NO DEAL The Sox' brass had a sitdown with Coco Crisp yesterday, "largely to ensure that the club and player were on the same page," said the Boston Herald. Fox Sports.com's Ken Rosenthal thinks the Cubs, one of Crisp's rumored trade destinations, should forget about him and stick with Felix Pie in center field.
SCOUTS' HONOR: The Red Sox have a few players in scouts' evaluations of players with the best physical tools. (mlb.com)
GRUMBLE, GRUMBLE: An apparent point of contention between the Red Sox and A's has been settled in Boston's favor with the news that the teams' April 2 game in Oakland will begin at 12:35 p.m. Pacific time. (San Francisco Chronicle) The A's wanted it to be a night game, and all their schedules list it as such, but the Sox -- who will have flown from Florida to Japan and then from Japan back to California in the previous two weeks -- were facing yet another cross-continent flight after the April 2 game, this one to Toronto, and didn't want to be making it in the overnight hours. The A's, judging by the comments in the story, aren't too happy since they've already sold tickets for it as a 7:05 start. But the Red Sox presumably dug in their heels -- in fact, I remember Larry Lucchino telling reporters weeks ago that MLB had been accommodating on the schedule and specifically mentioning that this getaway game in Oakland would be played in the afternoon -- and you know who's winning that fight in the commissioner's office.
PET SOUNDS: As the Boston Herald reported yesterday, and was duly noted on this very blog, Clay Buchholz is dating 2008 Penthouse Pet of the Year Erica Ellyson. (AOL Sports Fanhouse)
MAYBE BUCHHOLZ CAN HELP YOU OUT, DEREK: When asked by a female reporter on a conference call hyping the Yankees-Virginia Tech exhibition game if he'd "finally be able to find a girlfriend here," Derek Jeter responded: "If you have anyone in mind . . . let me know." (LoHud Yankees Blog)
THE FALLOUT: The New York Daily News reports that both Yankee manager Joe Girardi and Rays manager Joe Maddon may be suspended for Opening Day because of the teams' brawl on Wednesday.
COOL IT: Some of the veteran Yankees are telling Shelley Duncan to tone done his act. (New York Post)
MR. THURSDAY AFTERNOON: Billy Crystal enjoyed his moment in the sun as the Yankee leadoff hitter, even though he struck out. (New York Daily News) The Daily News' Bill Madden thinks baseball's first owner-showman, Bill Veeck, ''is roaring with laughter . . . at what he would consider the hypocrisy of the lordly Yankees for conceiving such a stunt.'' Our friend Steve Silva is having plenty of laughs himself. (bostondirtdogs.com)
OH, YEAH, THE GAME: Mike Mussina threw five perfect innings. (New York Daily News) But that's not a good thing, says the New York Observer's Howard Megdal.
POSITION BY POSITION: Projo.com's own fantasy writer, Michael Salfino, looks at the Yankee lineup. (web.sny.tv)
I'M GOOD: The New York Post's Kevin Kernan tracked down Dwight Gooden, who was rumored to have fallen back into the drug-and-alcohol abyss. But Gooden says he's clean and sober, and has dropped out of the baseball world because he needed to spend time with his six children and grandson.
SAD NEWS: Joe McDonald gets reaction from Maddon and ex-Ray Julio Lugo on the illness of Rocco Baldelli.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? Rotoauthority.com looks at spring stats and tries to glean some insights into the upcoming season. On sportingnews.com, David Pinto looks at team records and tries to do the same thing.
WHAT?? The blog Seamheads.com has uncovered a 1984 quote in which Bill James seems to support decisions over which statheads are skewering Dusty Baker.
IT'S OBP, STUPID: New Royals manager Trey Hillman calls on-base percentage ''a no-brainer'' in evaluating a player. (Kansas City Star)
LET THE STARS SHINE: According to the New York Post, the Mets may host the 2013 All-Star Game in their new stadium.
SILENCE IS GOLDEN: The Indians call Travis Hafner their silent assassin. (espn.com)
BEST PLAYER IN BASEBALL? One scout thinks it might be the newest Ranger, Josh Hamilton. (sportsline.com)
GET WELL SOON: Former Cubs star and current ESPN analyst Rick Sutcliffe has been diagnosed with what's being called ''a treatable and curable form of colon cancer.'' (espn.com)
HERE AND THERE: As was speculated after Joel Piniero began experiencing arm problems, the Cardinals signed Kyle Lohse (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Giants are reportedly interested in Brandon Inge (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Reds may be the latest team to make Arizona their spring home (Dayton Daily News) . . . The Marlins will be without Sergio Mitre until about late May (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) . . . Woody Williams may be the odd man out in the battle for a spot in the Astros' rotation (Houston Chronicle) . . . Scott Kazmir may pitch Sunday for the Rays (Tampa Tribune) . . . The Tigers don't expect Fernando Rodney to be ready by Opening Day. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Gabe Kapler is having a good spring with the Brewers (rotoworld.com) . . . Not so Byung -Hyun Kim with the Pirates (rotoworld.com) . . . The Nationals' Wily Mo Pena has a strained oblique muscle (Washington Post) . . . Freddy Sanchez should be back playing for the Pirates next week. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:34 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, March 13
AP Photo
THE REAL WORLD: Every so often reality intrudes on the fantasy land of sports, and yesterday it barged in with a sobering thud. Rhode Island's Rocco Baldelli told the Tampa media in a morning press conference he would be sidelined indefinitely because of a rare, and as-yet untreated, condition called metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities, which causes severe fatigue and muscle cramping and has been at the root at his constant string of injuries over the last three years. Later he had a phone conversation with Joe McDonald in which he elaborated on the topic.
Interestingly, Baldelli said it was his interview with McDonald on Saturday -- recounted in this Sunday story -- that prompted him to go public in far more detail yesterday. The unburdening, he said, was a relief. "When I wake up [today], I’m going to feel a lot better than I did [yesterday],'' he told McDonald. But there's still no conclusive diagnosis (and thus no real treatment), and when asked if the condition was life-threatening, Baldelli said, "It’s difficult for me to comment on that. I’m not worried about it being extremely serious and I don’t like to use the term [life threatening]. Doctors are fairly certain this is not serious to that point. It’s a problem, a serious problem, but not something I’m worried about.''
It's so rare for an athlete this young to be facing a condition this dire that few can process it. I think the St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton has an excellent column in which he acknowledges that most people, because of his long string of idleness, ''are no longer able to feel [Baldelli's] pain.'' That point of view can be summed up pretty succinctly: The Rays have been without Baldelli for a long time now, they have plenty of other good young outfielders, they're a team on the rise, and if they have to rise without him . . . well, so be it. If the Rays were the Red Sox, and the outfielder was from, say, Montana and not Rhode Island, we'd probably feel the same way around here. And it's somehow symbolic of that lack of empathy and understanding that the Baldelli news in the Tampa area got trampled by the Rays-Yankees nonsense (more on this below).
But Shelton's point is that the conclusion to Baldelli's saga -- and that's what yesterday felt like -- ''should not come without a trace of sorrow.'' More than a trace, in this view.
Godspeed, Rocco. Get well soon.
BACK TO BASEBALL: As for the on-field news yesterday, Clay Buchholz pitched well as the Sox won the Mayor's Cup with a 12-7 victory over the Twins. The up-and-down saga of Josh Beckett was up yesterday, though there's still no word as to whether or not he'll make the trip to Japan. And Curt Schilling, while seen, continues not to be heard from in the Sox camp. (All stories from McDonald on projo.com)
THE GLOBAL VILLAGE: Little did we know the misfortune that befell McDonald's laptop the other day in Port St. Lucie would be chronicled by a sports celebrity gossip site and Deadspin.
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND: The blog River Ave. Blues -- don't really have to tell you where they're coming from, do I? -- is chortling about the Red Sox' trip to Japan.
REDUCED SPEED: Scouts sat Francisco Liriano's velocity, once as high as 95 mph, is in the 88 mph range these days. (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
| AND AWAY WE GO: Questions about whether there'd be a carryover from last Saturday's Rays-Yankees unpleasantries were answered pretty quickly yesterday. Shelley Duncan's Kamikaze slide into second base -- his "I was trying to knock the ball out of the glove" defense rings pretty hollow when you view the picture at right -- was the Yanks', or at least his, attempt to pay Tampa Bay back for the broken wrist suffered by minor-league catcher Francisco Cervelli as the result of a hard hit at the plate by the Rays' Elliot Johnson. The bench-clearing hoo-hah that followed was predictable, as were the postgame spins: The Yankees claiming Duncan's play was simply "a hard aggressive slide" (LoHud Yankees Blog) and the Rays calling it borderline criminal. (Tampa Tribune) Read all about it from the New York Daily News, the New York Post and the St. Pete Times. You can get columnists' takes from Bill Madden of the Daily News, Joel Sherman of the Post and Martin Fennelly of the Tribune. |  AP Photo |
To me, the most interesting part of the whole thing was the reaction of Yankee fans. They long chafed under the Yanks' refusal, under Joe Torre, to retaliate when their batters would be hit by pitches, particularly against the Red Sox. So after Duncan's play -- probably the best description would be a direct, if politically incorrect, phrase used by Bill James in a different context: "A Zulu warrior stunt to avenge the paisan" -- I jumped to Peter Abraham's blog to see what the fans were saying. Most of them loved it. ("This is awesome, so sick of the Torre era turning the other cheek. Time for some payback.'' . . . "The 77 and 78 Yankees would be proud" . . . "At least we know its not a turn-the-other-cheek team this year. That’s a positive.") It's not surprising, since most fan bases, including Boston's, would react exactly the same way. But Abraham jumped into the comment section a couple of times and tried to tell them that baseball isn't that kind of sport and they were being foolish; very few listened and a few shouted him down. In the end, Abraham made another blog post, titled Let's Try Not To Get Carried Away, in which he laid out the reasons why this incident shouldn't be regarded as a call to arms by The New Yanks.
Whether it actually is or not, only time will tell. But it sure livened up spring training.
THE REAL NEWS . . . is that Andy Pettitte had to miss a start because of a cranky elbow. (New York Daily News) The Yanks say it's nothing serious. Over at The Replacement Level Yankees Weblog, SG takes a look at how Pettitte likely will perform in 2008.
'DESIGNATED HEBREW': That's how Billy Crystal, who'll actually play for the Yanks against the Pirates today, is describing himself. (New York Post)
NOTHING BREWING: The Associated Press reports that, since MLB hasn't even talked to any of the players mentioned, suspensions for individuals mentioned in the Mitchell Report are unlikely, at least before Opening Day. (projo.com)
HERE WE COME: In its season preview of the team, Fox Sports says the Blue Jays have a sense of optimism for 2008. But that optimism may have been tempered a bit by yesterday's news that Casey Janssen will miss the 2008 season. (Toronto Globe and Mail) The Tao of Steib, however, isn't ''freaking about this nearly as much as we might have imagined''.
THERE THEY GO: Over on Baseball Analysts, Rob Neyer and Joe Posnanski look at the A.L. Central.
I'VE HAD IT: The Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck is giving up on Daniel Cabrera.
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES: A South Coast League team in Georgia is planning to hold a Elliot Spitzer Night on June 13, in which anyone named Eliot, Spitzer or Kristen, the alleged call girl, will get $1 off admission. The team also plans to give out a one-night stay at Washington, D.C.'s Mayflower Hotel, where Spitzer's alleged misdeeds are said to have happened, and -- since Spitzer was described as "Client No. 9" in FBI documents -- the ninth fan will get a prize. So will the 871st fan to buy a ticket, because that's supposed to have been Spitzer's Mayflower Hotel room number. (AP via wfrv.com)
Now that's a minor-league operator.
HERE AND THERE: Rotoworld.com points out that by not non-tendering Horacio Ramirez, whom they released yesterday, last December, it cost the Mariners $460,000 . . . The Indians are taking care of Juan Lara, the relief pitcher who was critically injured in a November car crash. (AP via projo.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Keith Foulke made his exhibition debut for the A's, allowing a run (rotoworld.com) . . . The Marlins' Hanley Ramirez is hitting .394 this spring. (rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:28 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, March 12
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GATOR: He had a strange career, Mike Greenwell did. He arrived relatively unheralded but was a .300 hitter almost from the get-go, and quickly wrestled the left-field job away from Jim Rice. He finished second in the MVP voting to Jose Canseco in 1988 and seemed poised to . . . well, if not live up to the Williams-Yastrzemski-Rice tradition of Red Sox left fielders, at least not disgrace it. But his game never progressed from that point, and as the Sox slid under .500 in the 1990s he was seen as part of the problem and not part of the solution. His eventual departure in 1996, bathed in the controversy of he and Roger Clemens cleaning out their lockers in the final week of the season while the team was still in postseason contention, soiled his reputation, as did his sniping at then-general manager Dan Duquette. He's been gone for a long time now, and it didn't seem like he was missed.
But time really does heal all wounds. There's been some fence-mending in recent years, culminating in Greenwell's recent election to the Red Sox Hall of Fame. And yesterday he returned to what he calls "the family.'' Joe McDonald recounts Greenwell's visit to City of Palms Park and his candid and frank comments on many things Red Sox, including the possibility of steroid use by his ex-teammate and (we assume) still-friend Roger Clemens. And he had many candid and frank comments about himself, including his internal debate as to whether or not he should use steroids.
He'll be at Fenway this season for the first time since that controversial final week in September of '96. It'll be good to have him back.
THE DAILY UPDATE: McDonald reports Josh Beckett's ailing back felt better yesterday, but the Boston Globe thinks it's unlikely Beckett will make the trip to Japan.
STOP MAKING A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL: Chad Finn would be more worried if Beckett had a blister. (touchingallthebases.com)
THIS YEAR'S BECKETT: Beckett, as the saying goes, took his game to another level in 2007, and it's one of the reasons -- maybe the main reason -- the Red Sox won the World Series. SI.com's Tom Verducci identifies five pitchers who might make similar improvements this year. No 2 on his list: Daisuke Matsuzaka.
ELSEWHERE ON THE MEDICAL FRONT . . . McDonald reports Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp are making progress, Lugo moreso than Crisp.
SUN RISES IN EAST, DOG BITES MAN . . . and Jonathan Papelbon looks impressive. (projo.com)
LOOKING AHEAD: Jason Varitek can't catch forever -- it just seems like he can -- so McDonald talks to Theo Epstein and Terry Francona about the Sox' plans for the post-'Tek era.
THERE'S MAGIC IN THE AIR: Today's the final spring meeting between the Red Sox and Twins and the Mayor's Cup is on the line. (projo.com)
NOT HAPPENING: The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the Brewers shot down an "Internet rumor" that the Sox were interested in Chris Capuano.
HAPPENING? SI.com's Jon Heyman quotes an unnamed GM as saying the Red Sox will be one of the teams lining up for free-agent-to-be Mark Teixeira.
PHASE TWO: The performance-enhancing drugs scandal, which baseball hoped would end with the issuance of the Mitchell Report, could have a second act. New names may surface in an investigation whether a California doctor illegally wrote prescriptions for patients, including major league baseball players. (New York Times)
BEEN THERE: On his Hacks with Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty links to McDonald's story on Rocco Baldelli and says he sympathizes with Baldelli. Several years ago Haggerty contacted Lyme Disease and knows what it's like to have an ailment that doctors can't identify.
CLEARING THE AIR: The St. Petersburg Times reports Baldelli ''is expected to provide clarity on his playing status and reveal at least some details of his mysterious medical condition today.'' The story also says Baldelli will announce today that he won't be ready to start the season.
ROUND TWO: The Yankees and Rays meet today for the first time since their war of words last weekend, and the question is: Will hostilities resume? Newsday says no. The New York Daily News says maybe. The St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton says he hopes so.
WELL, HE DID ALWAYS SAY HE WAS AN AN IDIOT: Everyone feels the Rays are poised to take a giant step forward in 2008, though how big a step they can take in the fast lane of the A.L. East is an open question. But Johnny Damon probably went one step too far when he declared Tampa Bay ''may be the team to beat in our division.'' (St. Petersburg Times)
NEW TEAM, NEW HOME: SI.com's John Donovan reports on the Rays' attemtps to build a new ballpark.
GO AHEAD: Speaking of ballparks -- old ones, not new -- ESPN.com reports the Yankees have no problem with the NHL hosting the last athletic event to be held at the current Yankee Stadium. Peter Abraham, however, disagrees.
FIGHT THE MADNESS: Abraham also rails against those -- like Mike and The Mad Dog -- who think Joba Chamberlain should stay in the bullpen because he pitched so well in those 24 innings of relief last year. Chamberlain, he writes, ''was brilliant as a starter in the minors last season. Not good, brilliant . . . You need to get 27 outs to win a game. You want him on the mound for 21 of those or three?''
SAME OLD, SAME OLD: Besides, the Yankees are covered at the back end of the bullpen. (New York Post)
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: A lot of them couldn't wait for the team to fire him. But now that they actually have to go to battle without him, some Yankee fans are wary about life after Joe Torre. (New York Sun)
IF ONLY 'OL BLUE EYES WERE HERE TO SEE IT: Torre and his new team, the Dodgers, are headed to China for an exhibition series with the Padres. Some of the squad, however, is hanging back in Florida and 80-year-old Tommy Lasorda will manage the holdovers in seven games this spring while the varsity is away. His first one was yesterday, and he gave the fans their money's worth. (yahoo.com)
MIDSEASON ANGST: The Tao of Steib knew things were going too smoothly for the Blue Jays.
A REAL NUMBERS GAME: Every day, it seems, there are stories about the statistical revolution in baseball. The Boston Globe profiles Bill James, whose Baseball Abstracts in the 1980s were the catalyst for the movement, and more and more we see traditional baseballists responding to the Brave New World. Like the Mets' David Wright, who says ''I don’t even know what half the stuff is, but whatever.'' (New York Daily News) Like Braves manager Bobby Cox, who warns that Brewers manager (and ex-Brave) Ned Yost ''is into the stats . . . look out.'' (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) ESPN.com's Tim Keown examines the landscape between the pro- and anti-stats folk and concludes ''neither side thinks much of the other. Sides have been taken and courses have been stayed. We're looking at a long battle.''
NOT THAT LONG, IF THIS SKIRMISH IS ANY INDICATION: As long as the pro-stat side has the folks at Fire Joe Morgan on their side, they're well-armed. FJM took a look at the the pro-Dusty Baker/anti-stat analysis screed in the Cincinnati Enquirer the other day and blew it into a thousand pieces.
RUN THAT BY ME AGAIN: Ichiro Suzuki is 0-for-21 this spring, which is strange enough. But he compounds it by claiming that it's ''kind of fun . . [It's] something I haven't experienced this time of year, and I get to experience that right now. That is something that is great for me." (Seattle Times)
THE RIGHT MOVE: Mike Hargrove, who resigned as manager in midseason last year, is spending a week with the Mariners as a special instructor. And he says he has absolutely no regrets about his decision to retire. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
ON THE MONEY: Lenny Dykstra, investment adviser? (Philadelphia Inquirer) What's next? Bobby Knight, international diplomat?
STILL, IT'S NOT AS MUCH AS A-ROD AND MANNY GET: The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports Bud Selig was paid $15.06 million for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 2006.
HEY, THEO, I THINK HE'S TALKIN' ABOUT YOU: Tigers first-base coach Andy Van Slyke hates the rule that mandates helmets for base coaches and opines, ''I guess some of the new general managers, the Ivy League ones, believe it solves something.'' (Detroit News)
GOING GREEN: MLB wants its teams to be more enviornmentally conscious. (mlb.com)
WHISPERS: Now that teams are getting a feel for their strengths and weaknesses, trade rumors are becoming more prevalent. Our Belo cousins, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, reports the Angels have been fielding lots of calls but nothing interests them yet . . . The Mets have asked about Blue Jays outfielders Shannon Stewart and Reed Johnson (New York Post) . . . A Yankee scout watched Joe Blanton's last start (San Francisco Chronicle), though the New York Post blog says the scout wasn't there just for Blanton . . . The Rangers are turning down inquiries for Gerald Laird. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Johnny Damon has a bruised right foot (New York Daily News) . . . Bobby Howry is pitching away his chance to be the Cubs' closer (rotoworld.com) . . . The Mets declared themselves to be ''ecstatic'' after Pedro Martinez' four-inning simulated game on Tuesday. (New York Daily News) Martinez, incidentally, says he has no qualms about relinquishing the No. 1 spot in the rotation to Johan Santana (New York Post), a move he wasn't as happy about when Curt Schilling joined the Red Sox in 2004 . . . The Tigers' Todd Jones, who has a 24.55 ERA so far this spring, is working on building his arm strength (mlb.com) . . . A sore shoulder has put Joel Piniero's availability for Opening Day in question (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), and prompted the Cardinals to inquire about Kyle Lohse.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:31 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, March 11
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SURVIVOR TO SAVIOR? That was the headline Joe McDonald composed over his blog entry on Jon Lester yesterday and it told the story so well that we used it in the newspaper today. With the news on Josh Beckett not good -- "I was a lot more optimistic (Sunday) than I (was Monday),'' said Beckett (Boston Globe) -- the Sox are suddenly in the market for an Opening Day starter. Lester staked his claim for the job with a superb four-inning, two-hit, one-walk, five-strikeout showing at Port St. Lucie in a 1-1, 10-inning tie with the Mets. That he did it against Johan Santana, the ace for whom he was almost traded over the winter (projo.com), provided some sort of symbolism, though I can't say I know what, exactly. With Daisuke Matsuzaka also uncertain for the Japan trip because his wife is about to give birth, the Herald's Steve Buckley writes that a one-two Tokyo duo of Lester and Tim Wakefield (or Wakefield and Lester) is Plan C.
THAT'S NOT ALL, PART ONE: Lester wasn't the only Sox pitcher to fare well yesterday. McDonald notes Hideki Okajima turned in two solid innings.
THAT'S NOT ALL, PART TWO: And Beckett isn't the only injured Sox. McDonald reports on the health status of Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp.
YES, IT'S TRUE: This is confirmation that Dan Shaughnessy's report on the destruction of Joe McDonald's computer is accurate. ("I didn't even get the ball," said McDonald.) We're working to get it fixed in time for today's game.
DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW: While the Sox fixated on Lester's strong performance, the Mets were joyous about Johan Santana. (New York Post)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Nothing really new in this SI.com profile of Jacoby Ellsbury, but it's noteworthy in that Ellsbury continues to draw national attention. Meanwhile, the Miami Herald lists Ellsbury among 10 athletes ''most likely to become cultural touchstones over the next decade''.
DETAILS, DETAILS: Old friend Steve Silva says everything is just peachy with the Sox except for the complete lack of pitching and hitting. (Boston Dirt Dogs)
UH OH: Medical News Today reports that only ''45 percent of baseball players were able to return to the game at the same or higher level after shoulder or elbow surgery.''
NOT SO MAHVELOUS: The news that Billy Crystal would play in an exhibition game for the Yankees (New York Daily News) was reported thusly by the New York Post's George King: ''On the night the Yankees and commissioner Bud Selig made a farce out of the game by signing all-time foof Billy Crystal to a ludicrous one-day contract and foolishly announcing he will play in an exhibition game Thursday, the club found time to watch two-thirds of Generation Trey pitch last night against the Reds at Legends Field. Perhaps Crystal, a legendary jock sniffer, will stop by Joba Chamberlain's and Ian Kennedy's locker to hang out. More likely, he will tie up the massage table, something he has done in past visits to Legends Field , an act that ticked off the real players.''
EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES: Alex Rodriguez couldn't have been more upbeat -- about being with the Yankees, his relationship with Derek Jeter, you name it -- in his appearance on Mike And The Mad Dog. (Newsday)
NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT: Joba Chamberlain was back on track yesterday against the Reds. (New York Daily News)
SURPRISE! When asked which veteran Yankees helped him out when he first joined the team, Mariano Rivera praised Steve Howe. (New York Times)
THE BLUEPRINT: A Super Bowl championship moved Tom Coughlin from the firing line to Easy Street. The New York Post's Joel Sherman says Willie Randolph should take heed.
HEART HEALTHY: The Cubs' Mark DeRosa tells yahoo.com's Jeff Passan the story of his irregular heartbeats, and how the surgical procedure performed recently makes a recurrence unlikely.
'I REALIZE VERY WELL THAT I COULD REGRESS TO THE MEAN': While we can't imagine those words coming out of the mouths of Ducky Medwick or Hill Billy Bildilli, that's a direct quote from the Royals' Brian Bannister, who's a student of sabermetrics. (yahoo.com)
REGRESS TO . . .WHA'? THE MEAN? HAH? Dusty Baker continues to make the stat geeks' heads explode as he tells Adam Dunn and Joey Votto to stop taking pitches and be more aggressive. (Cincinnati Enquirer) At the other end of the spectrum, the Twins' Denard Span may be winning the center-field job by developing more plate discipline. (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Meanwhile, Joe Posnanski, as only he can, points out that "there are NO stats more convoluted and manufactured than the basic statistics that baseball has been built around for more than 100 years.''
SIGN OF SPRING: Old pal Alan Embree has a 15.75 ERA, but says he's not worried. ''In the regular season, I have a different game plan,'' said the A's reliever. (San Francisco Chronicle) My question: Does a pitcher with a 15.75 exhibition ERA ever admit to being worried?
OH, SHADDUP: Twins manager Ron Gardenhire isn't a fan of the new practice of having managers and players talk to radio and TV broadcasters during games. (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
VOICES OF EXPERIENCE: John McLaren, who spent a season on the Red Sox' coaching staff in the 1990s, felt like "I had to earn my respect every day" during his many years as a coach because he never played in the big leagues. So when he got the Mariners' managing job, he loaded his own coaching staff with men who have tons of major-league playing and managing experience. (Foxsports.com)
NOW HERE'S WHERE SPYGATE COULD COME IN HANDY: On his Mets Blog, Matthew Cerrone notes that Mike Pelfrey may have been tipping his pitches last year and asks why the team the pitcher plays for is the last to find out.
LOCAL BOY: Pawtucket's Chris Iannetta wants to stick in the big leagues with the Rockies, and he hopes the team feels the same way. (Denver Post)
HERE AND THERE: Randy Johnson was pleased with his first spring outing, even though he allowed a three-run homer to the aforementioned Iannetta (Arizona Republic) . . . FoxSports.com's blind item that the Dodgers are interested in Esteban German is news to German's current employer, the Royals. (Kansas City Star) Or so they say . . . John Lackey thinks he might be able to make his Opening Day start, after all (Los Angeles Times) . . . The Orioles and Angels are interested in Rockies infielder Clint Barmes (Denver Post) . . . The Rangers will be without Brandon McCarthy, who has a strained forearm muscle, for four to six weeks (Dallas Morning News) . . . B.J. Ryan will pitch in a 'B' game today, his first action since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year (mlb.com) . . . The Phillies are optimistic about Brad Lidge's return after watching him throw on Monday (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . A happy Noah Lowry is eyeing a mid-April return to the Giants' rotation (AP via projo.com) . . . Kris Benson has been a surprise in the Phillies' camp. (Philadelphia Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Nomar Garciaparra, who still has swelling in his right wrist after being hit by a pitch last Friday, won't accompany the Dodgers to China for their exhibition series (mlb.com) . . . The recuperating Mike Maroth pitched a 'B' game Sunday and is about to rejoin the Royals' exhibition rotation. (mlb.com)
AND FINALLY . . . Best wishes to our many friends at The Score, whose 10 1/2-year run as Rhode Island's only all-local sports talk radio show came to an end yesterday. Good luck to one and all; click here for producer John Crowe's classy and upbeat goodbye.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:33 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, March 10
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TROUBLE'S BACK: After a blissfully quiet offseason and opening of training camp, the inevitable storm clouds appeared on the Red Sox' horizon when Josh Beckett was unable to make his scheduled start Saturday because of back spasms. Sean McAdam has the Saturday report. Yesterday the Sox said things were looking better but, as Joe McDonald -- who has taken over for Sean down in Fort Myers -- notes, there's still no word as to whether or not he'll be healthy enough to make the trip to Japan in two weeks. And making it even more problematic is that Daisuke Matsuzaka, after a couple of weeks of pitching like Good Daisuke, morphed back into Bad Daisuke yesterday at Vero Beach. McDonald has the details of his torturous 72-pitch, three-plus innings, three-run performance yesterday.
BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS . . . Bartolo Colon continues to impress and, reports McDonald, will pitch his first game Thursday against Tampa Bay.
STAYING PUT? Third baseman Eric Chavez of the A's, the Sox' Far East opponent, may not make the trip to Japan, either, because of inflammation in his lower back. (AP via projo.com)
RUMOR MILL: Apparently there's a radio station in Chicago reporting the Red Sox and Cubs are discussing a Coco Crisp-for-Jason Marquis-and-Sam Fuld trade, a swap that makes zero sense in this corner and seems highly unlikely. (It was also quickly shot down by the Globe's Nick Cafardo.) That hasn't stopped a number of people, including the very well-regarded David Pinto, from analyzing what it all means.
IT DON'T MEAN A THING IF HE CAN'T SWING: Or run. And at the moment, Coco can't . . . run, that is. (projo.com) Which would seem to put any trade talk on hold.
MORE FALL BALL: J.D. Drew closed a disappointing 2007 season with a strong showing in September and October and tells McDonald he hopes to build on that this season.
LOOKING GOOD: Jon Lester is one of eight players who have caught Peter Gammons' eye in spring training. (espn.com)
TICKET TALK: We noted last week that the Red Sox had opted out of MLB's agreement with StubHub. The reason: The Boston Globe reports they've signed an agreement to make Ace Tickets the official offline ticket resale agency for season ticket holders.
WE KNOW WHAT IT ISN'T, BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS: Rocco Baldelli's three-years-and-counting string of injuries have led to a spate of rumors of serious illness flying about Rhode Island, rumors that anyone with the slightest connection to the local sporting scene has heard. In a long interview with Joe McDonald Saturday morning, Baldelli shot down the most-often-heard reports, but was vague as to what's actually wrong, saying that after months of tests doctors still don't really know. In the meantime, the St. Petersburg Times reports the Rays have until April 1 to pick up Baldelli's contract option for 2009 and they're not sure at the moment what they'll do.
THE REAL TAMPA CABAL: The Rays, who've had their share of dustups with the Red Sox over the years, now are feuding with the Yankees. Tampa Bay's Elliot Johnson crashed into Yankees catching prospect Francisco Cervelli on a hard play at the plate Saturday, and Cervelli fractured his right wrist in the collision. The Yanks were furious that Johnson would hit Cervelli that way in an exhibition game and manager Joe Girardi had some nasty things to say afterward. (New York Daily News) Nor did he back down very much yesterday, after having had a day to think about it. (New York Post) The Post's Kevin Kernan was impressed by Girardi's fire, saying, "Joe has really shown me something.''
QWITCHER BELLYACHIN': He didn't show too much to the Rays, however, who sniffed that they "never heard the rule' that you show less determination in the spring than you do at other times. "We try to play the game the same way on March 8 as we do on June 8,'' said manager Joe Maddon, who later added, "We play it hard and we play it right every day." (St. Petersburg Times) The Rays weren't feeling any more remorseful yesterday, either. (Tampa Tribune)
The teams play three more games this spring, including one on Wednesday. Stay tuned.
WEIGHING IN: Don Zimmer has always liked Girardi -- the Yankees acquired him from the Cubs on his recommendation in 1996 -- but he has no use for the new Yankee manager's complaints. (New York Daily News) ''Joe's my friend,'' said Zimmer, now a senior advisor to the Rays, ''but he's his own man, and I'm my own man. I think he was out of line, whether he likes it or not."
WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: The St. Petersburg Times has a photo gallery of the play.
THE REAL DEAL: Everyone's fixated on Joba Chamberlain, but Phil Hughes is showing why he was long considered the Yankees' No. 1 pitching prospect. (New York Post)
SKATING OUT IN STYLE: It looks like the New York Rangers -- yes, the hockey team -- and not the Yankees will stage the last athletic event ever held at the current Yankee Stadium. (New York Daily News)
OH, PLEASE: The Mets laughed off the notion that they have any interest in Barry Bonds. (New York Daily News)
SOME MISTAKES YOU NEVER STOP PAYING FOR: A Texas Rangers pitching prospect may never get a chance to play in the big leagues because of his role in a marriage fraud scandal in 2004 that involved approximately 30 Dominican minor leaguers. (Dallas Morning News)
ME, TOO: Joe Posnanski shares my skepticism about the wisdom of Trey Hillman's lecture-the-team-in-front-of-the-world stunt from last week. (joeposnanski.com)
GET A HORSE! The Cincinanti Enquirer's Paul Daugherty isn't buying any of that new-fangled stats hooey. Luckily for him, the team he covers has a manager who feels exactly the way he does . . . and he drives home his point by crowing that that very manager, Dusty Baker, has won 1,162 games as a major-league skipper while Bill James hasn't won any.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's Don Williams thinks the Rangers' Michael Young is building a Hall of Fame resume.
CAN'T BLAME PEDs FOR THESE: Voros McCracken compiles a list of the 20 greatest fluke home-run seasons in history and less than half occured in the steroids era. (Baseball Digest)
SPEAKING OF PEDs . . . Jose Canseco has agreed to meet with the IRS about Roger Clemens.
NO, REALLY: Although his arrival would seem to spell a cut in, or even an end to, his playing time, Gary Matthews Jr. claims he's delighted the Angels signed Torii Hunter. (Orange County Register)
VOICE OF THE TRUTH: Steve Stone has joined the White Sox' radio broadcast team and the Chicago Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti isn't sure how Stone's unvarnished accounts will go over with a team that traditionally employs fawning yes-men as announcers.
HERE AND THERE: Sidney Ponson finally found a landing spot: The Rangers (Dallas Morning News) . . . Phillies closer Brad Lidge will throw off a mound today, two weeks after undergoing knee surgery (Philadephia Inquirer) . . . White Sox GM Ken Williams says the team is in no rush to trade Joe Crede (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Tigers reliever Jordan Tata broke his finger in a pique of anger after a bad outing and isn't sure when he'll be able to pitch again (Detroit Free Press) . . . Leo Mazzone, fired as Orioles pitching coach last year, doesn't know what to do with himself as he sits at home (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Randy Johnson will make his spring debut today (AP via projo.com) . . . Phillies pitcher Adam Eaton has been diagnosed with a small herniated disk and slight arthritis in his back, but is confident he'll be ready for Opening Day (AP via projo.com) . . . Jay Gibbons' job with the Orioles may be in jeopardy (Baltimore Sun) . . . With Andy LaRoche injured and Nomar Garciaparra unlikely to stand up to the rigors of everyday play, the Dodgers are in the market for a third baseman. (Los Angeles Daily News) Some names that have popped up: Ron Belliard and Esteban German. (FoxSports.com)
OLD FRIENDS: The Orioles are said to be interested in Mark Loretta, which may finally lead to the end game of the interminable Brian Roberts-to-the-Cubs trade negotiations (Baltimore Sun) . . . Doug Mientkiewicz may be a Gold Glove first baseman, but no one seems to need a first baseman. So he's with the Pirates, but they want him to play third base and the outfield and only a little bit of first (yahoo.com) . . . Javy Lopez -- the catcher, not the left-handed reliever -- is vying for a backup job with the Braves (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The New York Daily News' Christian Red has a nice feature about the charity work done by Pedro Martinez and his wife Carolina -- who met while he was playing with the Red Sox and she was a student at Boston College -- in the Dominican Republic . . . The Pirates' Freddy Sanchez may soon be ready to return from minor shoulder surgery (mlb.com) . . . Kason Gabbard is struggling in Texas, but the Rangers say they're not worried. (Dallas Morning News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:28 AM | Permalink
Baseball This Weekend: Saturday, March 8
A rare weekend sighting, but there were some interesting baseball items floating around the ether this morning . . .
NIGHTMARE ON 161ST STREET: Red Sox and Met fans in the graduating class are furious over NYU's decision to hold this year's commencement ceremonies at Yankee Stadium. (NYU News)
EVEN ODDS: In his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty thinks it's ''at least a 50/50 proposition that Coco Crisp is still with the team as a fourth outfielder/pinch runner when the Sox leave for Japan on March 19.
'GOD PUT ME HERE FOR A REASON': SI.com's Jon Heyman details Alex Rodriguez' decision to stay with the Yankees, and A-Rod says divine intervention played a part in it.
FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS: The Yanks are worried that Joba Chamberlain is being pulled into too many directions -- ''[Kind] of drinking from a fire hose right now," is how general manager Brian Cashman put it -- and want to help him keep his attention on the tasks at hand. (New York Post)
AND THE FOCUS SHOULD BE STARTING . . . Yahoo.com's Vince Gennaro studies the issue and concludes the Yankees ''would derive almost twice as much financial value from having Chamberlain in the role of No. 3 starter instead of the setup role.''
. . . THOUGH RELIEVING WON'T BE SO BAD NOW THAT JOE TORRE'S GONE: So thinks Bronx punching bag Kyle Farnsworth, who blames his struggles -- and, by extension, the loathing Yankee Universe feels for him -- on the departed manager. (New York Post) While it's tempting to dismiss Farnsworth's whining as sour grapes, it's true that the job of Yankee reliever could be a high-risk occupation in Torre's ride-the-hot-arm-'til-he-drops hands; some of them, like new Rockie Jose Vizcaino, look like they're still paying the price. (Denver Post) It reminds me of Peter Abraham's observation from last September: ''Nobody beats The Viz, except the manager.'' (LoHud Yankees Blog)
NOT-SO-FEEL-GOOD STORY: ESPN.com's Jeff Pearlman relates how the Steroid Era casts a shadow of doubt over everything, even as potentially as uplifting a tale as Gregg Zaun's appeared to be.
BOOK REVIEW: Dave Studeman of The Hardball Times loves Bill James' newest work.
FRIEND OF BILL J.: Mariners manager John McLaren finds James' work ''intriguing''. (The News Tribune) This stands in stark contrast to managers of the past . . . like Sparky Anderson, who once called James ''a short, fat guy who don't know nothin' about nothin'.'' (James freely reported Sparky's comments, by the way, though he pointed out that he's not short.)
I'M GONNA MAKE A BRAND NEW START OF IT: The San Francisco Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins things the Mets are just desperate enough to take a flyer on Barry Bonds.
LOCAL BOYS: Ex-Providence College star John McDonald lost his starting job when the Blue Jays signed David Eckstein to play shortstop, but says he understands Toronto's decision because ''I hit .250. I mean, this is the big leagues. Things don't get handed to you.'' (The National Post)
BECAUSE TOO MUCH IS NEVER ENOUGH: MLB has sent a cease-and-desist order to Cape Cod League teams that use major-league nicknames, and is threatening to withdraw its $100,000 yearly grant to the league unless the Chatham A's, Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, Harwich Mariners, Bourne Braves, Orleans Cardinals and Hyannis Mets change their monikers. (Cape Cod Times) What's next, asks Abraham, going after Little League teams?
Posted by Art Martone at 10:14 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, March 7
AP Photo
NOT YOUR ORDINARY JOE: He was always the enemy, but he was never a villain. Red Sox fans admired and respected Joe Torre (Murder of Ravens blog); as one said on the day of his dismissal as Yankee manager, Torre ''gives nobody anything to hate.'' (New York Times) So, as we discover in Sean McAdam's report, it's good to see him enjoying his baseball life again after trading in his pinstripes for Dodger Blue. It also turns out that the winning-isn't-everything-it's-the-only-thing mentality of the Steinbrenner Yankees irritates him just as much as it irritates most of us on the other side of the aisle.
WELCOME BACK, AND WELCOME ALWAYS: Also returning yesterday was Derek Lowe, and he enjoyed himself despite getting hammered by the Sox. (projo.com)
WE HAVE A DEAL: Torre's and Lowe's visits became secondary news late in the day when it was announced that Jonathan Papelbon had agreed to a $775,000 contract (projo.com), making him the highest-paid, non-arbitration-eligible closer in history. Ex-GM Lou Gorman explains to the Herald's Rob Bradford why teams pay more than they have to with some players.
WHAT DO YOU WANT FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS OR THE BAD NEWS? The good news centers around Jacoby Ellsbury, who, as McAdam noted, ''put his stamp'' on yesterday's game with a superlative catch in right-center and a ringing double up the gap during the Sox' three-run, second-inning rally. The bad news involved his competitor for the center-field job, Coco Crisp, who's been sidelined by niggling injuries and is losing ground to Ellsbury in the quest to win the starting job. (Both stories projo.com)
THE BEST-LAID PLANS . . . Tim Wakefield is trying to be more conscious of stopping the opponents' running game, but when the opponent is as speedy as the Dodgers' Juan Pierre, sometimes trying simply isn't enough. (projo.com)
NOTHIN' BUT BLUE SKIES DO I SEE: The Joy of Sox posts excerpts from The Sporting News' preseason baseball print publication, which picks the Red Sox to win the World Series again. (Over the Cubs, no less.) And if quotes about them from a scout are to be believed, they may not lose a game.
THE ANSWER IS . . . A 78-year-old Hawaiian golf pro who pitched for the Red Sox from 1953 to 1960. The question is . . . who is Frank Sullivan and why is he being inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame? (Honolulu Advertiser)
Q AND A: Bill James answers questions about his new book, along with some general baseball inquiries (and some specific Red Sox topics), in this conversation with Time Magazine.
| I CAN'T HEEEER YOU!! New Royals manager Trey Hillman's displeasure with the way his team ran the bases resulted in a 10-minute lecture -- in full view of both the public and yesterday's opponent, the Diamondbacks -- at home plate immediately after the game. (Kansas City Star) The drill-sergeant routine -- enormously popular with fans and some portions of the media, not so with players -- has gone the way of the straw hat in baseball, so it'll be interesting to see how the Royals respond to it. If it works, expect to see a spate of Sergeant Carters in major-league dugouts. Judging by the career record of modern martinets (like this one), though, I suspect I know the answer. |  |
THE POWER OF THE INTERNET: After being taken to task by our pal The Tao of Steib, the Toronto Globe and Mail's Jeff Blair vows to soften his crusty exterior.
NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY: Speaking of Tao, this was what prompted the post about Opening Day in Toronto. Jays followers have every right to be upset; when your team does direct marketing to opposing fans, the message you're getting is "All you represent to us is currency, and we don't really care where that currency comes from."
WE'RE FANS, TOO: Phil Hughes' Web site remains a daily treasure trove of fascinating material. (And we don't mean that sarcastically; if we can believe what we read, Hughes seems like a truly likeable sort.) Today he proudly displays autographed baseballs from Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage.
BLAME THE POPE: That's what the Yankees are doing regarding their tough April schedule, since a lot of it stems from the Pope's saying a Mass at Yankee Stadium on April 20, which forced the team to switch some games. (nj.com)
'AT LEAST HE'S NOT CRAZY': That was the headline on the San Francisco Chronicle's Web page leading to the story that Noah Lowry has ''a very unusual injury . . . called exertional compartment syndrome'' and needs surgery. The hed, of course, refers to speculation that Lowry's all-over-the-place wildness Monday was a psychological, and not a physical, problem.
PLAYING WITH PAIN: That's what Albert Pujols, who will eventually need elbow reconstructive surgery, will be doing. (espn.com)
HERE AND THERE: The troubled Jeff Allison is back with the Marlins (Miami Herald) . . . IRS agents are looking into a Houston clinic as part of the Roger Clemens investigation. (New York Times)
AND FINALLY . . . Thoughts and prayers to Hart Brachen -- author of the enormously entertaining The Soxaholix blog -- and his wife as they face some difficult health issues.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:17 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, March 6
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
SUCCESS STORY: Baseball, writes Sean McAdam, is a game defined by failure. What to make, then, of Jacoby Ellsbury, who has yet to fail anywhere he's played? It's the topic for today, and Sean discusses Ellsbury's future not only with Ellsbury himself but also with J.D. Drew and Terry Francona. Suffice to say, they're excited about it . . . almost as excited as the Fenway crowd was on that electric night last July when Ellsbury sprinted home from second base on a wild pitch (above). And as for whether or not Ellsbury or Coco Crisp will be starting in center field this year, well, ESPN's Buster Olney has a one-line, blind item in his blog that the Red Sox and A's are talking about a potential deal for Crisp.
DEADLINE DAY: Today, reports McAdam, is the self-imposed Red Sox deadline for signing players with 0-3 years of service time, which means the Jonathan Papelbon situation will be settled one way or the other. The Sox have come to terms with everybody except Papelbon, who is rejecting their offer of $750,000 and is insisting on $900,000. He says he's doing it to "set the standard" for players of his skill and experience level, but, across town at the Twins' camp, Minnesota's veteran closer, Joe Nathan, seems amused by that notion. He tells the Boston Herald's Alex Speier that Papelbon "is still a little young to be worried about that . . . I think it’s more important for [the veterans] to set the bar for him at this stage of the game.”
BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH: Or look forward to them. Because that's when Bartolo Colon will make his Red Sox debut. (projo.com)
COMEBACK KID: Even though he didn't have Julio Lugo in the field behind him, Jon Lester bounced back from a shaky start last weekend with a better performance yesterday against the Reds. (Both stories projo.com)
FOURTH AND GOAL: Theo Epstein's strategy from the day he took over as Red Sox GM was to rebuild the team's farm system, and Baseball Prospectus ranks it as the fourth-best in baseball. It's a tough division, though: The Rays are ranked first, the Yankees sixth and the Orioles 10th among the 30 teams. (They only list the top 15, and Toronto wasn't among them.)
AND NEVER IS HEARD A DISCOURAGING WORD: Curt Schilling checks in from The Fort, where Josh Beckett "looks outstanding," Jon Lester "looks fantastic," Jason Varitek ''looks like Tek, stronger than everyone else,'' Jacoby Ellsbury "looks bigger and stronger," Kevin Youkilis "looks great," Bartolo Colon "looks incredible," Manny Ramirez also "looks incredible," David Ortiz "looks like he’s moving a hundred times better than at any point last season," and Manny Delcarmen "looks fantastic too."
TICKET TALK: For most Red Sox fans, it centers around how they can't get any, at least for the games at Fenway Park. John Henry tells the Boston Herald he hasn't heard any complaints ("Baseball fans here are 162-gamers. They may only attend a handful of games each year at Fenway, but they know we are doing our best to spend their monies wisely. We are able to field championship teams solely because of our fans."), but, even so, the Providence Phoenix' Ian Donnis reports the Sox are opting out of MLB's agreement with StubHub, which signed a deal to become baseball's official ticket re-seller. Donnis thinks "that concerns . . . frustrated fans may have [about being unable to get tickets] influenced the Red Sox' decision." This is, as they say, a developing story; stay tuned.
WELCOME, MY FRIEND: Joe Torre today makes his first visit to Fort Myers as something other than Yankee manager in 12 years as he brings his Dodgers to town for a game against the Red Sox. (projo.com) Now, says Terry Francona, he can publicly treat Torre like the friend he's always been. (Boston Globe) You can watch it, incidentally, on ESPN.
IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM . . . The small-ball Angels tortured Torre's Yankees in recent years, and the new Dodger skipper hopes to copy some of his new neighbor's aggressiveness as he adapts to a different team and a different league. (Los Angeles Times)
SIGHT TO BEHOLD: It won't be hard to find Andruw Jones today. He weighs 10 pounds more than he did when he played for the Braves and the Dodgers, writes the L.A. Times' Bill Plaschke, have to be worried.
OH, NO, HERE THEY COME: The Blue Jays, after opening their season at Yankee Stadium, will play their home opener against the Red Sox on April 4. Our old friend The Tao of Stieb isn't looking forward to it.
FASHION STATEMENTS, PART TWO: Remember the other day, when the blog ShysterBall listed the worst uniforms in history for each of the National League teams? Now they're doing it for the American League. As for the Red Sox, they skip over the 1970s doubleknits and give the ultimate thumbs-down to the 1927 pinstripe version.
'THE FUN PART ABOUT THIS JOB': The A's figure to be pretty bad this season, but Billy Beane is invigorated by the prospect of rebuilding his team back into a contender. (yahoo.com)
THE BEST NEWS: A biopsy showed that ''the ominous spot on his brain'' was not a recurrence of cancer for Bobby Murcer. (New York Daily News) It was, reported the doctors, scar tissue and not another tumor.
JOBA DROOLS . . . Joba Chamberlain -- and his fellow young Yankee stud, Ian Kennedy -- had a rough afternoon as the Yankees lost to the Twins. (New York Post)
. . . SO SET THE RULES: The New York Daily News' John Harper thinks that -- with everyone gunning for him due to his sudden notoriety -- the Yankees should strictly define Joba Chamberlain's 2008 role and not have him prepare to be both a starter and a reliever this season. The blog Dugout Central thinks that role should be in the bullpen. But Baseball Musing's David Pinto says that, in reality, whether Chamberlain starts or relieves this year probably depends on whether or not Mike Mussina can stay in the rotation. If he can, it's Joba The Reliever; if not, it's Joba The Starter.
'THE YANKEES ARE LIKE THE BEATLES': So says one fan about the Yanks' spring-training setup where, unlike other camps, the players are kept at a distance from the fans. (New York Post)
CHECKLIST: SI.com's Jon Heyman goes over the needs of various teams. For the Yankees, he lists starting pitching.
IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING . . . Phil Hughes tells us that Ian Kennedy's clubhouse nickname is 'Ike'. Guess that "Dorothy" guess was a little off, eh?
BEGINNING OF THE END: USA Today writes the first of what will no doubt be many stories about Yankee Stadium's final season.
SIMPLY AMAZIN': The joys of being 41: The Mets' Moises Alou will be sidelined four to six weeks because of a hernia. (New York Daily News) But age can't be the reason so many Mets are hurt (Matthew Cerrone's Mets Blog), and FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal looks at some potential deals the Mets can make to bolster their depth. Carlos Beltran is among the wounded and he's worried about his health. (Newsday)
HAPPY (?) NEW YEAR: What really pains the Mets, of course, is their historical collapse at the end of last season, which begs the question: How will they get over that hurt? In companion pieces on ESPN.com, Tim Kurkjian looks at the Mets and Jayson Stark looks at the beneficiaries of last season's New York meltdown, the Phillies as they both head into a new year.
AND STAY RIGHT HERE, 'CAUSE THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS: The Philadelphia Daily News' Bill Conlin says Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are among the best players in Phillies history at their respective positions.
INJURY OF THE DAY: The Rays' Andy Sonnanstine is being treated for an ear infection he incurred by listening to his iPod. (St. Petersburg Times)
AT THE OTHER END OF THE AGE SPECTRUM . . . Writing for SportingNews.com, Pinto notes that having an ancient starting rotation, as the Braves do -- average age 34.4 years -- isn't necessarily a bad thing.
MY SIDE OF THE STORY: The Giants' Noah Lowry lashes out at people who thought his wild afternoon Monday was the result of mental, and not physical, issues. (San Jose Mercury News)
YOU'RE WITH ME, LEATHER: The Brewers' silver-bat/iron-gloved young star, Ryan Braun, has taken his steel mitt out of the infield and is trying to learn how to play right field, since he was a menace to his pitchers and himself at third base. (yahoo.com)
FALLEN BIRDS: SI.com's John Donovan chronicles the demise of the 2006 World Series champion Cardinals.
LOCAL BOYS: The Rays had hoped the perpetually injured Rocco Baldelli would made his spring debut by the end of the week, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. (Tampa Tribune)
HERE AND THERE: While repeating an earlier report that nothing is percolating on the Brian Roberts-to-the-Cubs front, the Baltimore Sun says ''both sides are optimistic that a deal still could get done'' . . . Two reasons to click this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette link: A report that the Pirates would like to sign Ian Snell to a multiyear deal, and a picture of David Ortiz horsing around with former teammates Freddy Sanchez and Doug Mientkiewicz . . . The recuperating B.J. Ryan will make his spring debut for the Blue Jays a week ahead of schedule (mlb.com) . . . The Phillies' Kris Benson will pitch for the first time in more than a year on Saturday (mlb.com) . . . The Royals' David DeJesus is starting to get it when it comes to plate discipline. (Kansas City Star)
OLD FRIENDS: Scott Williamson was released by the Giants. (rotoworld.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:28 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, March 5
| BATTLE STATIONS: ''It apparently is fashionable in Major League Baseball to be young, talented and grumpy about your salary,'' writes Tim Lemke of the Washington Times, and that's certainly the case. From the already-examined examples of Prince Fielder and Cole Hamels to new ones, like the Orioles' Nick Markakis (Baltimore Sun), the pre-arb players -- those with not enough experience time to qualify for salary arbitration -- aren't getting what they want. (They certainly aren't. The Yankees, writes Peter Abraham on his LoHud Yankees Blog, even held the line on Joba Chamberlain, giving him ''not one penny of credit for what he did last season.'') And they're not happy about it. | 
AP Photo
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But after Jonathan Papelbon (above) opened his mouth on the topic again yesterday, for the second time in three days, it seems there are bigger forces in play here than mere greed. In a fascinating story by Sean McAdam, Papelbon hinted that this has become the new battleground between the owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association. ''I feel like, with me being at the top of my position, I feel like that [a salary] standard needs to be set and I'm the one to set that standard,'' Papelbon said. And a high standard it is, since Sean writes: ''It's believed that the Sox have offered to make Papelbon the highest-paid reliever in his [non-arbitration eligible] class'' . . . more, even, than the $750,000 the Yankees paid Mariano Rivera when he was at a similar point in his career.
The reasoning behind all this is articulated by Sean:
Fewer and fewer star players have been electing free agency, instead choosing to extend deals with their present teams - such as Josh Beckett - or being dealt as they approach free agency, only to sign new contracts with their new teams, as was the case with Johan Santana and the New York Mets.
But an open market is the best tool to drive up salaries in an era when baseball is experiencing record-setting revenues and this year's free-agent class was one of the least appealing in years. Stars such as Papelbon, Fielder, Hamel and Florida's Hanley Ramirez, then are the Players Association's best bet for the players to cash in and impact future deals.
In the end, Papelbon and the rest of the pre-arbs have no real leverage; they have to take whatever the club offers. But, as union director Donald Fehr told Sean: ''What happens in those negotiations directly affects future negotiations. That's been the case for as long as I can remember . . . [Sooner] or later (when players gain arbitration eligibility), the tables are turned.''
It's may be too much inside baseball for the hits-runs-and-errors crowd, but it's probably the most important topic in the game today.
Click the link. It's worth your time.
MAKE 'EM ALL FREE! That was Charlie Finley's advice 32 years ago, after the reserve clause had been struck down; he, and he alone, among the Neanderthal owners understood that only a truly open market creates an equitable salary structure. As soon as a player's contract is up, suggested Charlie, make him a free agent, regardless of experience time, regardless of anything. Then you're not paying him based on any comparison to any other player, which is what the arbitration system is all about (and the stupidest salary decision by the stupidest owner sets the bar for every team and every player), but would be paying him what he's actually worth. The union couldn't argue against it -- freedom was what they were allegedly fighting for -- but in reality they were trying to create a system in which the very best players, the ones commanding the most money, would become free agents at the height of their powers; the high salaries they earned would lift the boat for everyone,
The owners in 1976 couldn't get their arms around any of that, obviously, and a) their decision to grant free agency to players after six years' of experience, b) coupled with salary arbitration for players not yet eligible to become free agents, c) was embraced by the gleeful union and d) helped to detonate baseball's salary structure. (Not that the old system didn't need detonation, but the new system totally favors the players.) Baseball Musing's David Pinto revisits the topic today and suggests total free agency would keep ''supply high and damp down salaries, but it would also benefit the great young players'' like Papelbon, Fielder, et al. It'll never happen -- the union would never allow it -- but Pinto says if he were Bud Selig, ''I'd be using [the current crop of angry pre-arbs] to push for such a deal.''
ON THE FIELD: Papelbon didn't let all this salary talk affect him, as he pitched a scoreless inning in the Red Sox' 5-3 win over the Pirates. (projo.com) Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched well for the second day in a row, reports McAdam, who also notes Bartolo Colon will have his second bullpen session today.
OFF THE FIELD: A Red Sox scout was arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior. (projo.com)
HAIKU? DOESN'T HE PLAY FOR THE BRUINS? I'll read anything Joe Posnanski writes, even a Haiku preview of the A.L. East. (joeposnanski.com) Especially when he picks the Red Sox.
NEVER TOO EARLY TO BEGIN THIS ARGUMENT: Jim Rice hasn't even been elected yet, and SI.com's Tom Verducci is starting a David Ortiz-for-the-Hall of Fame debate.
BUSY WITH OTHER THINGS: Ortiz himself was too busy consoling his wife over Brett Favre's retirement to worry about such mundane matters yesterday. (Boston Herald) Members of the Brewers weren't quite as broken up as Tiffany Ortiz, but they, too, were sorry to see him call it quits. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
AS FINANCIAL ADVISERS GO . . . Alex Rodriguez would seem to be a strange one. But that's who Manny Ramirez turned to when he was thinking of switching agents. (SI.com)
SUNDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: ESPN has released its Sunday Night Baseball schedule through July, and the Red Sox will make three appearances. (Newsday)
THE DARK SIDE: In contrast to the (mostly) lighthearted byplay between John Henry and Hank Steinbrenner, some Red Sox and Yankee fans were mixing it up in a more traditional way last weekend. (Wicked Local Cambridge)
PATIENCE, PATIENCE: Yankee Universe has already written him off, but Brian Cashman isn't giving up on Kei Igawa. (New York Times)
'PRAY': That's what Darryl Strawberry suggests we do for Dwight Gooden, whose life, say his friends, is in a ''long, downward spiral, relapsing into a web of drugs and alcohol.'' (NorthJersey.com)
END OF AN ERA: Joe Buck informed the Cardinals he will not be the announcer on any of the team's games this year, ending a run of 54 years with a member of the Buck family in the St. Louis broadcast booth. (mlb.com)
BELIEVE IT OR NOT: Those are your choices, says the New York Post's Joel Sherman, about the Mets' public optimism regarding the health, and remaining skill set, of Carlos Delgado.
THE AGE OF WONDER: Would you like a copy of the Seattle Mariners' media guide? Click here and download it.
IT'S HEAVEN! The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Mike Berardino catches up with ex-Marlins Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in the Tigers' camp, and they're beyond delighted -- just as you'd expect -- as they move from a hopeless situation to a World Series contender. The Tigers, incidentally, would like to sign Cabrera to a long-term contract. (Detroit Free Press)
THE REAL FIGHT: The Nationals' Dmitri Young is still learning how to control diabetes. (Washington Post)
GOOD RIDDANCE: The Red Sox weren't sad to leave Winter Haven 16 years ago, and the Indians are shedding no tears about leaving now. (SI.com)
FAVORITES, SHMAVORITES: The Rockies made one of the greatest late-season/postseason runs in baseball history last fall, not stalling out until they'd made it to the World Series, but they still insist they're underdogs this year. (yahoo.com)
HERE AND THERE: Noah Lowry's spate of wildness on Monday may be the result of tendinitis in his left wrist (San Franciscon Chronicle) . . . The White Sox had been interested in Lowry prior to Monday (Chicago Tribune); no word if they still are . . . The Rangers' Hank Blalock is sore but okay after being rear-ended while driving his family home from Chuck E. Cheese (Dallas Morning News) . . . Problems with his right foot means Orlando Hernandez will no longer be able to lift his knee to his chin as he delivers a pitch (New York Post) . . . The Mets have banned smoking at Shea Stadium (mlb.com) . . . The Cubs say nothing's happening on the Brian Roberts trade front (Chicago Tribune) . . . Kyle Lohse still doesn't have a job and he's starting to get a little worried (delawareonline.com) . . . The San Francisco Chronicle has retracted a report that the A's were interested in Juan Pierre.
OLD FRIENDS: As expected, Matt Mantei has retired (Detroit News) . . . In the A's camp, Keith Foulke threw to batters for the first time (mlb.com) . . . Matt Clement and Joel Piniero each threw a bullpen session for the Cardinals. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 8:31 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, March 4
AP Photo
HISTORY LESSON: Once upon a time, Bartolo Colon was a flashpoint in Red Sox Nation. It was the winter of 2002-03, the Red Sox were looking to upgrade their starting pitching, and Colon -- coming off a 20-8, 2.93 season with the Expos -- was available. (cbc.ca) But Colon was a year from free agency and the new Sox GM, Theo Epstein, was reluctant to take on an $8.25 million salary with no guarantee the team would be able to retain him in 2004 and beyond. In the public forums this eventually morphed into "Theo is so stupid he won't trade Casey Fossum for Bartolo Colon" (Fossum was part of the package the Sox and Expos discussed for Colon), especially when Epstein defended the move with such phrases as "cost certainties" . . . something we'd never heard out of the mouth of Pinky Higgins. At-the-time TV broadcaster Sean McDonough probably ensured his eventual departure when, in the midst of an anti-new-ownership rant on Mike and The Mad Dog, he opined that "If you've got a 5-game winner versus a 20-game winner -- you make the trade.'' (Boston Dirt Dogs) Vox populi was effectively represented by a letter-writer to the Journal in January 2003: "Not trading Casey Fossum for Colon is typical Red Sox thinking. After seeing Epstein play guitar at a Boston benefit this week, he might deserve as much media attention for that as being the Sox general manager. One song I know he won't be playing this year is 'We are the Champions.' ''
Whatever.
It's now five years and two World Series titles later. Fossum eventually was traded as part of the deal for Curt Schilling, without whom it's safe to say at least one, and maybe both, of those flags wouldn't be flying over Fenway Park. "Typical Red Sox thinking" has taken on an entirely different meaning. (bizofbaseall.com) And, irony of ironies, Bartolo Colon is here anyway, finally. Sean McAdam reports on Colon's bullpen session yesterday, which went better than the Sox anticipated and has them thinking he may be the top-three bargain Baseball Prospectus predicted he'd be this winter.
ON SCHEDULE: At the other end of the rotation spectrum, Josh Beckett is coming along nicely, thank you. (projo.com)
YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH: Old friend Alex Speier, writing in the Boston Herald, notes that pitching depth is especially important on defending championship teams because the added stress of all those innings the previous October can manifest themselves in injuries the following season.
 | CARS AND COLA: When the Red Sox removed the Coke bottles from the left-field light towers, they said Coca-Cola had other Fenway marketing strategies they would announce soon. Yesterday, they announced them. (Boston Globe) (Click the picture for a full view.) And if you're not yet sick of all the corporate synergy, maybe this will do it: A Red Sox special edition of Volvo's C30 two-door hatchback. (Boston Globe) |
| THAT'S MY HERO YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT: If you were 13 years old in 1968, no one was cooler than the Hawk. (And I speak from experience here.) So I can't say I'm pleased that Ken Harrelson's Nehru jackets and Beatle haircuts were the topics of some not-so-flattering conversation on yesterday's White Sox-Royals broadcast. (Can't Stop The Bleeding blog)
GETTING SMARTER: Slate's Emma Span says that the recent Johan Santana saga -- in which Red Sox and Yankee fans all but begged their teams not to sacrifice their young prospects for the ex-Twins' ace -- is a sign of growing sophistication on the part of the average baseball fan. OH, YEAH? The New York Times' Murray Chass, however, says the Yankees may regret passing on Santana. He thinks they made the right move in replace Joe Torre with Joe Girardi, though. |  |
THE GUESSING GAME: Phil Hughes is auctioning off Yankee memorabilia on his site -- wonder if he's gotten permission from the club? -- and is offering an autographed Ian Kennedy hat to the fan (or non-fan, I suppose) who correctly guesses Kennedy's ''most common nickname around the clubhouse''. Among the guesses: IPK, Mighty Mouse and Dorothy. (Dorothy??) (philhughes.wordpress.com)
PICKING UP RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT OFF: When last we saw Mike Mussina, he was struggling through a dismal second half of the season. Yesterday he was just as bad in his first exhibition performance. (New York Post)
SWING AND A MISS: Jack Curry of the New York Times made a brief post on his blog about a conversation he had with Jason Giambi about the guessing game between batter and pitcher. Read the bit about David Cone and Miguel Tejada and you'll know why so many people have no use for undisciplined, free-swinging hackers.
I GET IT: The Angels' Chone Figgins would agree with that. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)
GET WHAT? Not so Juan Pierre. (Los Angeles Daily News) Kind of surprising, then, that the normally progressive A's are somewhat interested in Pierre. (San Francisco Chronicle)
YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY TO-MAHT-O: Michael Salfino -- the main writer on projo.com's Fantasy Sports Blog -- is bucking conventional wisdom concerning the Mets' Carlos Delgado. He thinks Delgado may have something left. (sny.tv)
I SAY POTATO, YOU SAY PO-TAHT-O: One day after the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jim Salisbury wrote that Cole Hamels had no reason to be upset with the Phillies' renewing his contract at $500,000, his Inquirer colleague, Bob Ford, blasted the Phils for being cheap with Hamels.
GODSPEED: Rhode Island's Davey Lopes, now the Phillies' first-base coach, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. (Philadelphia Inquirer) Thankfully, he's expected to make a full recovery and has told some of the Phils' players he'll be back in six weeks.
THE GREAT WHITE NORTH: And it especially feels that way to the newest Blue Jay, Scott Rolen, since Tony La Russa is now in another country. (New York Times)
ALL SMILES AGAIN: On the other hand, La Russa has kissed and made up with Ray King. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
LOST LOVE: In an essay in Slate reprinted from his book The Bill James Gold Mine 2008, James relates that the recently retired Craig Biggio was his favorite player for a long time . . . and then he wasn't.
SETTING THE BAR LOW: Baseball Musing's David Pinto isn't impressed with Padres' owner John Moores' yearly goals.
UNSOLICITED ADVICE: I've always loved Baseball Musings, and feel Pinto is one of the baseball writers on the Internet. He's holding his yearly pledge drive and if you agree with me, consider making a donation.
FASHION STATEMENTS: The blog ShysterBall takes a look at the best and worst uniforms of each National League team through the years.
LIKE SPYGATE, FOR INSTANCE: Astros owner Drayton McLane says Congress has more important things to deal with than the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. (AP via yahoo.com)
WE WERE SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU: The Cardinals deny they were lax about policing their players' PED use, even though they had more active players listed in the Mitchell Report than any other team. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
LEGAL MANEUVER, STEP ONE: Brian McNamee's lawyers are seeking a dismissal of Roger Clemens' defamation suit against their client. (New York Daily News)
ERROR, CLEMENS: SI.com's Michael McCann thinks Clemens' legal strategy has completely backfired.
WILD RIDE: The words "Steve Blass Disease" were in the Scottsdale air Monday when the Giants' Noah Lowry walked nine, threw two wild pitches, and fired three balls to the backstop in one-plus inning against the Rangers. (San Francisco Chronicle) It was so disconcerting that even the Texas players were concerned for Lowry. (Dallas Morning News)
HERE AND THERE: Brad Hawpe and the Rockies are close to agreement on a three-year deal (foxsports.com) . . . A torn nail in his right index finger is preventing the Blue Jays' A.J. Burnett from throwing a curveball (Toronto Star) . . . Snakebit A's shortstop Bobby Crosby now has back spasms (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Darryl Strawberry is back with the Mets (mlb.com) . . . Jim Leyland says the Tigers won't force Brandon Inge to catch. (Detroit News)
OLD FRIENDS: The recovering-from-surgery Pedro Martinez says he feels like ''the Pedro of '97, '98", which is good news for the Mets. (SI.com) Only problem is, Pedro was actually better in 1999 and 2000 than he was in '97 and '98 (baseball-reference.com) . . . Nomar Garciaparra wasn't exactly the most fan-friendly Dodger at the team's recent Autograph Day (espn.com) . . . Matt Mantei's shoulder is hurting again, which could mean his career is over (Detroit Free Press) . . . Chris Reitsma, in camp with the Mariners, says he feels great. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:29 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, October 16
Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach
NO DICE: The folks who thought the Red Sox were foolish for investing $100-plus million in Daisuke Matsuzaka (above) are no doubt in fine fettle this morning, 12 hours after Dice-K once again failed to get out of the fifth inning in a playoff start and helped put the Sox in a 2-games-to-1 hole in the ALCS. Joe McDonald reports Matsuzaka didn't talk to the press, and seemed emotionally and physically drained in the clubhouse after the game, though his manager and catcher said he actually threw the ball well. "Well'' is a relative term -- his pitch count was at 101 when he was lifted after 4 2/3 innings -- but what's also true is that he wasn't the only problem last night. As Sean McAdam notes, the team's offense, so impressive through the first four games of the postseason, fell back into its midseason doldrums last night, and that could be a far bigger problem going forward in the series. Among the biggest concerns: Dustin Pedroia, whom McDonald says plans to go ''back to the drawing board'' after opening the postseason with only 4 hits in 25 at-bats.
CALL OF THE DAY: The Sox have made the decision not to bring Josh Beckett back tonight on short rest -- with the added benefit of having him available on full rest, if necessary, for Game Seven -- and McAdam tells why. The reasoning is sound, though there's a strain of thought that says you put aside reason at this time of year. Instead it will be Tim Wakefield, who says he's healthy and ready to go (though what else would you expect him to say?). With him will be his personal catcher, Doug Mirabelli, who'll also be making his 2007 postseason debut. If you're wary over what to expect from Wakefield, you're not alone; Terry Francona's not sure, either.
HERE AND THERE: The Sox weren't thrilled with the work of home-plate umpire Brian Gorman last night . . . David Ortiz is none the worse for wear after being hit by a Manny Ramirez grounder while running the bases . . . Some postgame reaction . . . The Sox are mystified by Javier Lopez' struggles against left-handers . . . The Sporting News thinks Joe Borowski is a better closer than Jonathan Papelbon, which casts aspersions on all the awards they gave out (including those to Pedroia and Ortiz) . . . The Indians are happy to be home . . . Wakefield's not the only guy with a personal catcher. His opponent tonight, Paul Byrd, has one, too, and it's a familiar name . . . Playoffs or no, the Red Sox are still making player moves. It's all very familiar to McAdam . . . Cleveland has a big flag to wave . . . Al Roker didn't exact dazzle 'em with the ceremonial first pitch.
If it all seems like a lot of stories from one news outlet -- this one -- it is. (Not to mention other elements that stayed on the blog, such as postgame notes and interview transcripts from Terry Francona, Eric Wedge, Jake Westbrook and Kenny Lofton.) What's more, all this material was online, first on this very Sox Blog and then on regular story files, by 12:30 a.m. today; the postings started at around 4 in the afternoon and never stopped. It's the new news cycle, providing information as it happens and as it becomes avaiable, and it's here. Stop by early, stop by late, stop by often; we'll have it all, and as soon as it happens.
AH, MEMORIES: The heroics last night of Kenny Lofton, one of the heroes of the great 1990s Indians teams, had the Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Bill Livingston ruminating on Cleveland's stirring triumph over the Brooklyn Robins in 1920.
CHEAP DATE: The Akron Beacon-Journal reports that scalpers aren't really getting a lot of money for playoff tickets in Cleveland.
FOX FANS: Like most of us, this uncredited author in the Akron Beacon-Journal prefers the Fox telecast to TBS, though he (or she) feels that way because of perceivced Yankee bias on TBS' part.
ONE OF THE SEVEN SIGNS: Indians fan Joe Posnanski says he was certain Cleveland would lose Game Two Saturday night -- until he saw Eric Gagne warming up. Lots of people had that same feeling, Joe.
HAIL TO THE CHIEFS: The Colorado Rockies won the National League pennant by completing a sweep of the Diamondbacks (Denver Post), completing an amazing run of 21 victories in 22 games that carried them to a tie for the N.L. wild card, a victory over the Padres in the play-in game, a sweep of the Phillies in the NLDS and now a sweep of Arizona in the NLCS. Now the question: How will they handle the momentum-deflating eight days off they'll have until the start of the World Series a week from tomorrow? Remember how the Tigers -- red hot through the ALDS and ALCS -- flattened out after waiting a week to start the World Series last year.
NOT YET: The Newark Star-Ledger reports Don Mattingly has told the Yankees he's not ready to manage. The fact that the Yanks still haven't made a call -- or even a decision -- on Joe Torre indicates that George Steinbrenner is no longer in firm control of the ship, according to the New York Post's Joel Sherman.
WE'LL SEE: Jorge Posada has no idea if he'll return to the Yankees (New York Post).
QUICKLY: Luis Gonzalez has some harsh words for the Dodgers on his way out the door (Riverside Press-Enterprise) . . . Dusty Baker is the new manager in Cincinnati (Cincinnati Post). The New York Sun's Steven Goldman says if Baker can get another job, Joe Torre shouldn't even be on the hot seat . . . Bill Stoneman is expected to step down as Angels' GM. (Los Angeles Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Joel Piniero signed a two-year contract with the Cardinals (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 10:42 AM | Permalink
Special playoff edition of Baseball Today: Saturday, October 13
AP Photo
A quick spin around the baseball world in the aftermath of the Sox' Game One victory over the Indians:
THE COMPLETE REPORT: Odds are that if you're here, you've already done so. But if you haven't, you really should check out last night's 10-story postgame package from Sean McAdam, Joe McDonald, Steven Krasner, Jim Donaldson, Kevin McNamara and yours truly. Newspaper deadlines being what they are, it's difficult to get a lot of postgame material into the paper; most of it now goes to the Web. We hit all the bases last night, and quickly; everything was posted within 60-90 minutes after the final pitch. That's going to be the M.O. for the playoffs, and it goes something like this:
-- Pregame material to the blog starting in mid-afternoon, right up to the first pitch
-- In-game photos posted to the blog constantly, with news of note posted as it happens
-- A game story on the blog within a minute of the last out
-- Postgame surveys and photos on the site in the wake of the final score
-- Quick postgame reaction to the blog within 20 minutes of the last out
-- Stories posted first to the blog, then to the main site, as they're written
So come early, come often. We're always here.
Now to the links . . .
PHRASE OF THE DAY: Baseball Musing's David Pinto used the same word as our own Joe McDonald -- domination -- in describing the Sox' victory.
MR. OCTOBER: ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick says Josh Beckett added to his postseason legend last night. SI.com's Tom Verducci agrees.
THE 'OL 1-2: Also making history, points out SI.com's Jon Heyman, are David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
LOOKING GOOD: The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley says the Sox are better than the Indians in three important areas -- better No. 1 starter, the better 3-4 offensive punch, the better closer -- and it showed last night.
DIFFERING OPINIONS: On the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Indians Blog, Paul Hoynes writes that Grady Sizemore called Game One ''a game we wanted to win.'' But Kenny Lofton pointed out: ''This is a seven-game series. Somebody had to lose Game One.''
MAKING BELIEVERS: During his in-game chat last night, espn.com's Rob Neyer wrote (at 9:04 p.m.) that if Manny Ramirez is ''healthy and Dice-K is effective, the Red Sox are *easily* the best team in the tournament.'' FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says ''If Josh Beckett keeps pitching like this, and David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez keep getting on base like this, the Red Sox are going to be awfully difficult to stop.''
TIRESOME: Pinto notes says the fatigue factor ''sure makes sense'' when examining C.C. Sabathia's poor start.
IT'S ALL YOUR MIND: The Akron Beacon-Journal's Patrick McManamon wonders if the Indians' Psychology Department ''can conduct a study and figure out why the C.C. Sabathia of the regular season has been AWOL from the playoffs.''
MISTAKE IDENTITY: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Bud Shaw says Sabathia has turned into Jeremy Sowers.
SCENES FROM A PLAYOFF SERIES . . . from the Plain-Dealer's Mark Gillespie.
LOOKING AHEAD, SHORT TERM: The Plain-Dealer's Terry Pluto says the job of tonight's starter, Fausto Carmona, has just gotten harder.
LOOKING AHEAD, LONG TERM: The blog Philly Burbs says the Phillies may make a free-agent run at Curt Schilling. Schilling says the Phils are on his short list (Philadelphia Daily News), though his first choice is to return to Boston. (Boston Globe)
THE ULTIMATE INSULT: Mark Kriegel of FoxSports.com is the latest to point out that Red Sox fans are morphing into Yankee fans, same as the Sox are morphing into the Yanks.
KNOW YOUR (NEW) ENEMY: Joe Posnanski gives us a glimpse into the angst of the Cleveland fandom in his personal history of growing up rooting for the teams from northeast Ohio. (joeposnanski.com)
EXPAND THE FIELD: Verducci notes that MLB -- enthralled by the winner-goes-on/loser-goes-home excitement of the Rockies-Padres play-in game -- are leaning towards adding a second wild card.
AND AS SOME PLAY . . . others plan for their future. The blog River Ave. Blues, while understanding it won't happen, advocates gutting the Yankees and looking to the future.
FAMILY MAN: The New York Daily News' Mike Lupica says the fact that Joe Torre is still the manager indicates there's a sea change going on with the Yankees, and that George Steinbrenner -- who now leans on members of his Yankee ''family'' more than he ever did -- is engendering loyalty from his employees even as the franchise moves away from his knee-jerk, reactionary style of management.
PLAYING CHICKEN: The Yankees think Alex Rodriguez needs them more than they need him. A-Rod and his agent, Scott Boras, think the Yankees need Rodriguez more than he needs them. So who, if anyone, will blink first? (New York Times)
BEWARE: Sean McAdam may have more on this tomorrow, but the Mitchell investigation is apparently ready to release some very big names in his investigation into baseball's steroids scandal. (espn.com)
IN OTHER NEWS: Leo Mazzone was fired by the Orioles (Baltimore Sun) . . . Old friend Rudy Seanez was cut loose by the Dodgers, and he thinks older friend Shea Hillenbrand won't be far behind (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Walt Jocketty, recently fired as Cardinals' GM, is being courted by the Reds (Dayon Daily News) . . . Mel Stottlemyre has talked to the Mariners about becoming their pitching coach (mlb.com) . . . Keith Foulke is planning a comeback (Boston Globe).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 10:14 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, October 12
Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach
AT LAST: Sean McAdam provides a position-by-position breakdown of the Red Sox-Indians series; the majority of the checkmarks go in Boston's favor. McAdam also talks to scouts for a player-by-player breakdown of the Cleveland roster.
All of which means, after five long days, we're about ready to play baseball again.
The national media have come out with their predictions. Among them . . .
-- Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com: Red Sox in 7.
-- Of SI.com's 10 experts, five pick the Sox and five pick the Indians. One of them, Jacob Luft, gives a position-by-position analysis and concludes that Cleveland will win.
-- The Diamond Mind simulation, which predicted the Sox would beat the Angels, picks Boston over Cleveland. (espn.com) A caveat: It also picked the Yankees over the Indians.
-- Tim Kurkjian of ESPN: Red Sox in 7.
First pitch, 7:10 p.m. Get ready.
WELL, I'M READY: When last we saw Josh Beckett, he was authoring one of the greatest postseason starts in Red Sox history. Tonight he'll try to match it against C.C. Sabathia. Kevin McNamara has the details. (projo.com)
AS AM I: When last we saw Sabathia, he was subduing -- though not exactly dominating -- the Yankees. Tonight, reports Steven Krasner, he says he plans to sacrifice speed for command. (projo.com)
DON'T BE RIDICULOUS: Krasner and McNamara say Jonathan Papelbon isn't buying the notion that he's a better closer than Joe Borowski. At least not publicly. (projo.com) He'd get an argument from slate.com's Chris Park, who thinks the Indians should take Borowski out of the job.
WE'VE COME A LONG WAY: Krasner, who knew him back when, profiles Indians manager Eric Wedge, a familiar face to McCoy Stadium denizens of the early 1990s.
PROJO BITS AND PIECES: The roster's been decided and Tim Wakefield is in and Kevin Cash is out . . . Terry Francona is reserving the right to change the rotation as the series progresses . . . It's official: Bobby Kielty's starting tonight in place of J.D. Drew . . . Trot Nixon is to the 2007 Indians what Gabe Kapler was to the 2004 Red Sox . . . Francona says you can throw past results out the window when it comes to this series.
MY KIND OF PLACE: Mike Lowell couldn't be more clear: He wants to stay in Boston. (Boston Herald)
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The sublime Joe Posnanski unveils the Heartbreak City Quotient and concludes that Boston, which is ''going to win another Super Bowl this year, maybe another World Series . . . is the best place on earth to be a sports fan these days.'' The poor folks of Cleveland, whose teams haven't won a championship since 1964, rank 9.58 on a heartbreak scale of 10. (joeposnanski.com)
TALL ORDER: ESPN.com's Howard Bryant says the Indians, having slayed one behemoth to get to the ALCS, now have to slay another to get to the World Series.
HERE'S HOW YOU DO IT: Randy Hill of FoxSports.com gives the three remaining postseason teams tips on how to beat Boston.
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS: Regardless of who wins or loses, SI.com's Jon Heyman thinks these will be two great League Championship Series.
SHIFTING TIDES? Suddenly, it looks like there's a chance Joe Torre may not be fired, after all. The New York Post reports the Yankees apparently are being influenced by the number of players who've come out in support of the manager . . . and by whispers that Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte won't come back if Torre doesn't. But Northjersey.com's Pete Caldera says ''too many opinions of key club officials would have to be altered to prevent a managerial change -- an extremely tall order.''
HIGH-TICKET ITEM: The New York Post reports Alex Rodriguez' asking price is 12 years, $360 million. And why not? MSNBC.com's John Brittain makes the case that A-Rod ''belongs in the pantheon of all-time baseball greats.''
WIMPS! SI.com's Tom Verducci says the Indians ''laughed when they watched Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez allow themselves to be blatantly distracted by the bugs'' in Game Two of the ALDS last Friday.
WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THIS GUY THE PARTY'S OVER? Roger Clemens is leaving the door open for yet another comeback (New York Daily News), though it sounds like Debbie Clemens will slam it shut after him if he plays again.
NLDS, GAME ONE . . . goes to the Rockies by a 5-1 count. The Diamondbacks' Justin Upton defends his controversial slide into Kaz Matsui, in which he was called for interference, by saying it was how he was taught to slide. (Arizona Republic) But Baseball Musing's David Pinto says the umpires got it right. And the Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki wonders if Upton wasn't trying to get revenge for being hit by a pitch, though he says the notion that Upton was hit intentionally was ridiculous. (Arizona Republic)
IF YOU PLAY AN NLDS GAME AND NO ONE SEES IT, DOES IT MAKE A SOUND? Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan wants to know where the Diamondbacks fans were.
QUICKLY: Our friends at the Riverside Press-Enterprise say Bill Stoneman may step down as Angels general manager . . . Rod Barajas -- the subject of some offseason subterfuge between Toronto and Philadelphia who wound up as the Phils' Opening Day catcher -- has been cut loose by the Phillies after a disappointing season (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . John Schuerholz steps down as Braves GM, though he's staying on as team president (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Dusty Baker interviewed with the Reds about their manager's position (FoxSports.com) . . . Steve Stone isn't interested in becoming the Cubs' general manager (Chicago Tribune).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:26 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, October 11
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE: We know it's the postseason, but we can't say it feels like it. This is the 11th day since the regular season ended and, thanks to the elongated playoff schedule dictated by television (and exacerbated by their ALDS sweep of the Angels), the Red Sox have played all of three games. What we've been seeing, for the most part, is what we saw yesterday: Workouts (above, Journal photo by Bob Thayer) interspersed with interviews, as reporters try to find stories during the wait for the next game.
The ones we found yesterday: Bobby Kielty's career success against C.C. Sabathia may earn him a start or two in the ALCS (Steven Krasner) . . . Daisuke Matsuzaka feels comfortable on the mound at Jacobs Field, along with other notes (Krasner and Joe McDonald) . . . an interview with ex-Sox farmhand and current Cleveland backup catcher Kelly Shoppach (McDonald) . . . Jon Lester feeling ready to pitch (McDonald) . . . and Dustin Pedroia's lack of prowess as a cribbage player (Krasner).
The news cycle should speed up today as the Indians arrive in town and game day inches closer. Then, once the games start, we'll finally get back into something of a normal rhythm; they'll be playing Friday-Saturday-Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday. (Earlier in the week it appeared rain would be a problem for first two games, but now it looks like cold and wind will be the elements they'll be fighting. Monday and Tuesday don't look bad in Cleveland, though it will be on the cool side there, too.) Check back here today for all the latest news.
HERE'S YOUR CHANCE: Presidential hopeful Christopher Dodd is auctioning off two Game Six tickets in exchange for a campaign contribution of $20.04. If you're asking why he's seeking that particular price, you're not the person who should win the tickets.
AND THE WINNER IS . . . The Red Sox. At least that's how Baseball Musing's David Pinto, writing for SportingNews.com, sees it.
THANKS FOR NOTHING: Count Kenny Lofton among the people in Cleveland who didn't appreciate LeBron James showing up at Game Two of the ALDS in a Yankee hat. (sports.aol.com)
HE WHO LAUGHS LAST: The blog Gotham Baseball Magazine worries the Yankees will respond rashly -- i.e., with a foolish spending spree -- if the Red Sox win the World Series. ''Let the Red Sox and their fans giggle their way towards oblivion for the next decade,'' writes author Mark Healey. ''Let ESPN and the rest of the anti-New York national media trumpet their favorite team's world title. It matters little in the grand scheme of things. The bill for Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew and Daisuke Matsuzaka will come sooner rather than later. The Yankees have more important things to do than win a World Series. They have a another dynasty to build.''
The only thing all of that really indicates is that Healey doesn't have Clue One about how the Red Sox are going about their long-term business these days.
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGIN': And another thing: All summer long, I chided my good friend Lou DiLullo for crowing that a repeat of 1978 was in the offing simply through the power of positive thinking. The Yankees' building of "another dynasty" falls into that "it ain't gonna happen just because you want it to happen" category. As proof, may we present the Bergen Record's Bob Klapisch, who says revenue sharing has leveled the playing field on the Yankees, which makes a repeat of their four-championships-in-five-years run of 1996-2000 -- not just by them, but by anybody -- extremely unlikely.
BACKWARDS PHILOSOPHY: Making it even more unlikely, writes Steven Goldman in the New York Sun, is the Yankees' recent trend of building teams that are offensively powerful but pitching challenged. ''The old elephant,'' says Goldman, ''must change its (pin)stripes or die.''
DEPENDS ON WHAT 'LOGIC' IS: Sam Donnellon -- tongue firmly in cheek (I think) -- says Larry Bowa is the logical choice to replace Joe Torre as Yankee manager.
LARRY WHO? Bowa doesn't make the New York Observer's Howard Megdal's list of potential replacements.
I YAM WHAT I YAM: Suzyn Waldman was unapologetic over her giddiness at Roger Clemens' return in May, and she's unapologetic over crying on the air after the Yankees were eliminated in October. (New York Times)
NOW I GET IT: All it took was a phone conversation with Scott Boras to convince MSNBC.com's Darren Rovell that Alex Rodriguez is worth $500 million to the YES Network -- and, thus, the Yankees -- over the next 10 years. Still think A-Rod's not going to test the free-agent waters?
NO, IN FACT, I DON'T: The New York Post's Joel Sherman believes it's all a big bluff and that A-Rod ''wants to stay a Yankee''.
AT LAST: Granted, the author is the New York Daily News' Mike Lupica -- who can find the dark cloud in the silver-est of Yankee linings (not that there are any silver Yankee linings these days) -- but Derek Jeter is finally catching some flak for his abysmal ALDS performance.
YOUTH WILL BE SERVED: The theme for this year's NLCS is young, home-grown talent blossoming into championship-caliber teams. The Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro presents it from the Diamondbacks side.
AND IT'S NOT JUST THE N.L.: Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post says the Indians are the A.L.'s version of the Rockies and Diamondbacks.
YOUTH? BAH! But the blog Bad Altitude says the folks in Phoenix ''still seem to wonder where Luis Gonzalez and Mark Grace went,'' as evidenced by the 4,000 unsold seats for Game One (Arizona Republic). (Bad Altitude says 12,000, but 8,000 were sold after that was written.)
HIGH ON THE ROCKIES: In Pinto's NLCS preview for SportingNews.com, he goes with Colorado over Arizona.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:28 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, October 10
RESUME FIRING: Prior to 2004, it can be argued that the most dramatic moment in Red Sox postseason history -- with the exception of Carlton Fisk, of course -- was Pedro Martinez coming out of the bullpen and shutting down the Indians with six no-hit innings in the fifth and deciding game of the 1999 ALDS. (Above, Martinez is carried off the field by jubilant teammates after the game's final out. Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach.) That game was the capper of five years' worth of battles between the Sox and Indians that have largely been forgotten as the Sox-Yankee holy war, dormant for so long, resurrected itself over the last decade. But Sean McAdam reminds us that, not so long ago, it was Cleveland, and not New York, who was Boston's biggest rival. Now they meet again, with a championship on the line, and we shall see if this particular rivalry reignites in the next 10 days or so.
SWITCHING SIDES: One of the Indians' biggest sluggers back then was Manny Ramirez. Today he's on the opposite side of the fence and, for all his foibles, the Red Sox couldn't be happier. Joe McDonald tells us why.
THEM, TOO: It wasn't so long ago that Trot Nixon and Kelly Shoppach were in Boston suits. And Alex Cora was wearing Cleveland colors. Not anymore. (All stories projo.com)
DIFFERENT ORDER: The Red Sox announced their pitching rotation for the series yesterday, and Steven Krasner reports Curt Schilling will supplant Daisuke Matsuzaka as the No. 2 starter. Tim Wakefield is penciled in as the No. 4 starter at the moment and he said he felt ''good enough'' after throwing a simulated game yesterday. This might bear watching; Wakefield gets surly when he's not feeling well and he wasn't exactly Little Mary Sunshine yesterday. It could be that he's still not healthy enough to pitch and the Sox may have to adjust their plans. Stay tuned. Also throwing yesterday were Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Timlin and Jon Lester. And while we're talking pitching, it's worth nothing that the Sox may ask for more out of Javier Lopez in this series. (All stories projo.com)
CASHING OUT? If Wakefield is, indeed, added to the ALCS roster, Kevin Cash may be taken off. (projo.com)
THE KING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE KING! Many of the Sox felt it would be the Yankees, and not the Indians, they'd be playing this week but David Ortiz, for one, won't miss the Yanks. (Projo Sox Blog) Not many of them made a real effort to watch Monday night's ALDS finale between New York and Cleveland. (projo.com)
IT'S BETTER THIS WAY: The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy gives us 33 reasons why Sox-Indians is preferable to Sox-Yankees.
LOOKING AHEAD: In anticipation of DH-less World Series games in National League parks, Ortiz worked out a first base yesterday. (Projo Sox Blog)
BIG DEAL: The Sox had a 5-2 edge in the season series against the Indians, but almost to a man they dismissed it as meaningless. (Projo Sox Blog)
THE REAL WORLD SERIES: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman says the American League is so much stronger than the National that the A.L. ''could have literally fielded a stronger slate of playoff teams from among its second- and third-place finishers than the NL actually did.''
HE'S BACK! Joe Posnanski shut down his sublime Soul of Baseball blog last August, but now he returns with joeposnanski.com, and just in time for the baseball playoffs. Since he grew up an Indians fan, he figures to be paying close attention to the ALCS. Already he's thrown some props to Eric Wedge for sticking to his guns after a controversial pitching decision, and -- in a post destined to make him a hero in Red Sox Nation -- wonders why the folks in New York aren't killing Derek Jeter for his utterly brutal performance in the ALDS.
BYRD MAN: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal shows a little love to the Indians' Paul Byrd.
OUR TIME HAS COME: ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick says the Indians are flying under the radar no longer and now have a chance to fulfill their dream.
KENNY BEING KENNY: For a guy who's been around as long as he has, Kenny Lofton has never become a particularly beloved figure anywhere he's been. An example: As his teammates were celebrating their ALDS victory over the Yankees Monday night, the New York Post reports Lofton hollered, ''Let's wrap it up, I have a tee time tomorrow.'' That, added the Post, ''rankled more than one Indian.''
THERE'S SMALL, AND THEN THERE'S SMALL: The blog The Good Phight notes that the smaller markets won each of the rounds in the LDS. I suppose it's technically true that the Angels (Los Angeles/Anaheim) are in a bigger market than the Red Sox (Boston), but no one's pointing to the Sox' triumph as an example of small-market perseverance.
O-V-A OVA: ESPN.com's Howard Bryant officially declares the Yankee Dynasty dead.
THE REAL MAGIC NUMBERS: Four and thirteen. That's the Yankees' record in their last 17 postseason games and the New York Daily News' Mike Lupica calls it ''most amazing statistic in sports right now.''
WHO ARE YOU GOING TO GET THAT'S BETTER? The Yankees apparently are in no hurry to do what everyone expects them to do: Fire Joe Torre. (New York Daily News) Baseball Musing's David Pinto says he understands why they'd do it, but he doubts they'll find a replacement''who can handle the egos of the ownership, players and NY media as well as Torre.''
WHO CAN WE GET THAT'S WORSE? The Daily News' Filip Bondy says Yankee fans are ready for a change in the manager's seat.
DO IT WITH STYLE: The Post's Mike Vaccaro says the Yankees have always been particularly classless when it comes to firing managers, and they should take a lesson in grace from Torre in doing it this time.
IN HIS CORNER: Torre has some support in the Red Sox clubhouse. (Hartford Courant)
YOU'RE NOT SOLVING THE REAL PROBLEM: The New York Observer's Howard Megdal says management isn't the Yankees main concern. It's pitching.
AND YOU MAY BE CREATING SOME: One of Torre's absolute strengths was the smooth way he handled the New York media, preventing controversy from even getting started. He did it by being thoughtful and articulate, without necessarily being enlightening, and by treating reporters with respect. But one of Torre's rumored replacements, Tony La Russa, is the anti-Torre when it comes to media relations; he attempts to cow and intimidate the press with bullying tactics. It's worked in the small markets (Oakland, St. Louis) in which he built his managerial bones. But if he comes to the big stage and tries what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Bernie Miklasz calls his "Don Tony" routine, the Daily News' John Harper warns that ''there could be some hellacious confrontations'' with members of the Fourth Estate, who, in New York anyway, are no shrinking violets.
DON'T WORRY: The New York Post reports that La Russa told Torre he's likely to return to St. Louis.
HOWEVER . . . La Russa also says he won't decide whether or not to return to the Cardinals -- or, I suppose, to leave them -- until he knows who the new general manager will be. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
FLAWED ARGUMENT: Tigers reliever Todd Jones, a regular blogger on SportingNews.com, presents his plan for getting all the playoff games in prime time and letting ''the Yankees know that other teams should share that primetime playoff slot.'' The problem with that is, save for Game Four against the Indians -- which was the only game played on that night -- no Yankee game started in prime time this year.
TIPPING THEIR HAND? Alex Rodriguez has yet to give any public indication about whether or not he plans to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract, but his agent, Scott Boras, sure sounds like someone getting ready for free agency. (ESPN.com) If he does opt out, the Daily News says the Yankees won't attempt to re-sign him.
ONE MORE TIME: Another Suzyn Waldman audio clip is making the rounds. (cantstopthebleeding.com) Of all the melodramatic things I've ever seen . . .
QUICKLY: Gary Sheffield's shoulder was damaged more severely than originally thought, and it's a question as to whether or not he'll be able to play the outfield at the beginning of next season (Detroit News) . . . Veteran Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton is recovering from a heart attack (ESPN.com) . . . The Royals are in no rush to choose a new manager (Kansas City Star) . . . The Tigers will bring Ivan Rodriguez back next year (Detroit News) . . . The Phillies extended the contract of manager Charlie Manuel (Philadelphia Inquirer).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:16 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, October 9
TWO DOWN, TWO TO GO? Since we last spoke on Friday, the Red Sox enjoyed their second champagne celebration of the year (above, Riverside Press-Enterprise photo) by completing a three-game sweep of the Angels that, writes Sean McAdam, was easier than you'd expect it to be in the playoffs. The only problem now, says McAdam, is the long wait until the ALCS begins. But, as Mike Lowell noted, ''I don’t think we wanted [the series against the Angels] to go five games, just to have less days off.''
VIEW FROM THE INSIDE: Kevin Youkilis says ''it's a great feeling to sweep the Angels'' and praises Curt Schilling for his seven shutout innings Sunday. (kevinyoukilis.mlblogs.com) Schilling himself gives one of his fascinating, detailed breakdowns of the game on 38pitches.com.
VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE: Baseball Musing's David Pinto says the Red Sox ''are as close to a flawless team as you'll find in the playoffs . . . All the arrows are pointing up for the Red Sox right now.''
HE WAS RIGHT: The day after Roger Clemens signed with the Yankees, the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy took Schilling to task for saying ''we don't need'' Clemens; Dan called it ''a comment of stupefying arrogance that is sure to come up a couple of million times between now and the 2007 postseason.''. (It prompted Schilling to fire back the next day in one of the more interesting sideshows of the 2007 season.) But it turned out Schilling was right. FoxSports.com's Mark Kriegel compares Schilling with Clemens -- Schilling's sterling performance came on the same day Clemens' career may have come to an end -- and wonders, ''Which aging pitcher would you rather have in October?''
THE PERSONAL SIDE: The Globe's Jackie MacMullen has an interesting feature on Jonathan Papelbon, who reveals for the first time that he suffers from migraines and that one may have contributed to his Sept. 14 meltdown against the Yankees.
THE REAL MR. MAY: Vladimir Guerrero has a .183 lifetime postseason average after going 2-for-10 against the Red Sox. (Los Angeles Daily News)
UP NEXT: The Indians, who finished off the Evil Empire (much more on them in a moment) last night at Yankee Stadium. (Akron Beacon Journal) The Indians were the pictures of satisfaction in their locker room afterwards. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Meanwhile . . .
 | IT'S OVER: What's over, you ask? Virtually everything in the Bronx, it appears. The season, for sure. Joe Torre's reign as manager, almost certainly. Alex Rodriguez' days in pinstripes, perhaps. But what's really over is this moment in Yankee history, the run of glory that began with such a delightful surprise -- to those of the Yankee persuasion -- in 1996. Because no matter what, it's going to be very different next year. Maybe it'll still be good. Maybe it'll be better. But there's an excellent chance Derek Jeter will be the only remaining link to that past when the team reassembles in Tampa next February. |
COMING APART: The team is disassembling as we speak in light of a a 6-4 loss to the Indians last night (New York Post) that eliminated them from the playoffs. Considering that George Steinbrenner had already told Ian O'Connor of the Bergen Record ''I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series,'' the odds are overwhelming it was Torre's last game as manager. (New York Daily News) The well-connected Bill Madden ''believes'' Steinbrenner will be "reaching out" to Tony La Russa to replace Torre, and it's reasonable to think this isn't baseless speculation on Madden's part. Torre has his defenders, from journalists (the New York Post's Jay Greenberg) to politicians (New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg) to his coaches (Don Mattingly) to his players (Derek Jeter). He has his detractors, too; there's the cabal that the Journal American's Peter Abraham refers to as the jackals in Tampa, and the Daily News reports there were ''moans of consternation, even outrage, in the owner's box'' Sunday over the way Torre used Joba Chamberlain. But the Yankees' postseason recent postseason failures -- they haven't won a series since the 2004 ALDS and are 4-13 in their last 17 playoff games -- shows starkly that the magic is gone for Torre and the Yanks (New York Daily News), and Steinbrenner obviously believes it's time for a change.
WHAT A RUN IT WAS: SI.com's Alex Belth chronicles Torre's amazing record as Yankee manager.
WAIT FOR IT: SI.com's Jon Heyman reports Steinbrenner ''was quite upset'' during last night's game but he had nothing to say as he left Yankee Stadium, looking extremely frail as he was helped out by his daughter. (New York Post) Still, I'm sure we'll be hearing something from him -- or his spokespeople -- very soon.
KEEP THE ENGINE RUNNING: Torre isn't the only one who may not be back. Mariano Rivera's contract is up (New York Daily News), and he has no idea if he'll be returning. Ditto Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte. (New York Post) Not to mention Roger Clemens (The Journal News). FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal gives the outsider's view of it all.
And, of course, there's the saga of . . .
YOU KNOW WHO: Alex Rodriguez appeared red-eyed, according to both the Post and the Daily News, as he met with the media after the game. His postseason wasn't the disaster that others have been -- he hit .267 against the Indians, and broke a streak of 57 straight postseason at-bats without an RBI by hitting a late solo home run last night -- but it's going to end without a ring, as have all four of his postseasons in pinstripes. And now we wait to see if he and agent Scott Boras will exercise the opt-out clause in his contract within the 10-day window they have at the conclusion of the World Series. He, of course, gave no clues as he spoke with reporters. But as we've seen in this postseason, there are plenty of talented and well-heeled teams -- the one the Red Sox just played leaps to mind (there's already A-Rod-to-Anaheim speculation from the Daily News' John Harper); so does the one that lost to the Diamondbacks -- that desperately need a hitter of Rodriguez' caliber. Scott Boras' dream scenario is to create a market where rich and talented teams that believe they're one player from the promised land are bidding against one another for one of his clients. His dream may come true next month.
HOW TO FIGURE IT? SI.com's Tom Verducci says that if he goes, A-Rod will leave behind a baffling legacy.
ROLL OF DISHONOR: The New York papers spread the blame around for the Yanks' loss, starting with Chien Ming-Wang (he caught it from both the the Daily News and the Post) to Hideki Matsui to -- gasp! -- Derek Jeter. But playing the Blame Game in the wake of defeat is the natural progression to a fan base and a franchise that considers anything less that a World Series championship to be a failed season.
THE TOTAL CHANGE: Who knows? Maybe Mark Cuban is just what the Cubs need to end their 100-year World Series drought. (Daily Southtown)
WRAPPING IT UP: The Philadelphia Inquirer's Phil Sheridan looks back on a thrilling but ultimately unsuccesful season for the Phillies.
GEARING UP: The Chicago Sun-Times examines what's looming on the Cubs' horizon.
WHAT'S THERE TO SAY? Jim Tracy didn't say a whole lot after being fired by the Pirates. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Meanwhile, the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Indians coach Joel Skinner is a candidate to replace Tracy.
WHISPERS: The Cubs may be shopping third baseman Aramis Ramirez (Daily Herald) . . . The Tigers may be interested in Seattle's Raul Ibanez (Detroit Free Press) . . . If Johan Santana doesn't finish in the top three in the Cy Young voting this year, he will have a partial no-trade clause that will allow him to pick 12 teams he can't be traded to. If he finishes in the top three -- though he most likely won't -- he'll have a complete no-trade clause (St. Paul Pioneer Press) . . . The Brewers' Chris Capuano needs surgery, but on his right (non-throwing) arm (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
OLD FRIENDS: Anibal Sanchez is upset because he thinks the Marlins are questioning his integrity in a dispute over whether he was injured before or after he was sent to the minors on May 4 (Miami Herald).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 5:43 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, October 5
A ROLL OF THE DICE-K: That's the headline over Sean McAdam's story in this morning's Journal and it perfectly summarizes the Red Sox' feelings on the eve of Game Two. ''The Red Sox know that Daisuke Matsuzaka (above, AP Photo) will start [tonight],'' writes McAdam. ''[But will] it be the one who allowed two runs or fewer in 17 of his 32 starts this season? Or will it be the one who allowed five or more runs in 10 different starts? Will it be the one who struck out seven or more in 17 starts? Or the one who walked three or more in 17 outings? Not even the Red Sox know for sure.'' And if they don't know, you can be sure the Angels don't, either. Steven Krasner gets their feelings as they prepare for their first look at Matsuzaka. Dice-K's opponent tonight will be the rejuvenated Kelvim Escobar; Krasner talked to him, as well.
The answers will start coming at 8:37 p.m., but we'll be cranking out information on this blog long before that. Check back starting in mid-afternoon for all the latest from Fenway. We'll also have in-game updates, and an extensive, online-only postgame report from McAdam, Krasner, Joe McDonald, Jim Donaldson and yours truly, much of which won't make the newspaper due to deadline constraints. So if you're not in the habit of visiting here on weekends, it's worth a trip back tomorrow (and Sunday, and on the holiday on Monday). There'll be a lot to see.
QUIET CONFIDENCE: That was the mood of the day during the workout yesterday at Fenway Park. Find out why, along with many other items, in our Red Sox journal from McAdam, Krasner and Joe McDonald.
DON'T GET TOO CONFIDENT: Writing on SportingNews.com, Tigers (and ex-Red Sox) reliever Todd Jones picks the Angels to win the World Series.
CHANGE OF ROUTINE: Yesterday's day off, after just one game in the series, was the first sign of how different this year's postseason schedule is. McAdam talked to some of the Sox about it; the consensus is it helps the pitchers but hinders the everyday players, who are used to playing . . . well, every day.
PLAYING BY DIFFERENT RULES: McAdam reports the new postseason-roster guidelines -- which dictate that any player removed from a roster due to injury in mid-series is ineligible for the next series, as well -- was one of the factors in the decision to leave Tim Wakefield off the ALDS roster.
MR. MVP: McDonald reports that Mike Lowell has been this season's MVP for the Red Sox, and talks to many of his teammates who tell you why. Even so, none of it is any guarantee he'll be returning next season. What do you think?
MR. PRESIDENT: That's what we'll be calling Jerry Remy from now on, I guess. It's the top of a number of little items in a feature we call Quick Pitch.
MR. CLUTCH: To the Angels, that describes David Ortiz. It's the top note in Krasner's Angels notebook.
CENTER OF ATTENTION: The Boston Globe's Amalie Benjamin profiles Coco Crisp.
CLOSER FOR LIFE: That's what the Globe's Bob Ryan is calling Jonathan Papelbon as he recounts how we got from there (a time in mid-January when Papelbon told Ryan he wanted to be a starter) to here (Paplebon finishing another sterling season in relief and declaring the back of the bullpen is where he always wanted to be).
IN THE ZONE: Terry Francona estimates Red Sox hitters only chased one pitch out of the strike zone Wednesday night. (Boston Herald) That sort of plate discipline impressed him, and he thinks it's an encouraging sign for the rest of the postseason.
SCOUTING REPORT: The blog Fast Balls does a close examination of Eric Gagne's pitching patterns and concludes his ''changeup gets tattooed when he gets it up in the zone against lefties. Also, it does look like the slider is mainly a show-me pitch to righties.''
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE: From our sister publication, the Riverside Press-Enterprise: Beat writer Matt Hurst reports the Angels are putting Vladimir Guerrero back in right field tonight and hope the corresponding lineup changes will jump-start their offense. On the Angels blog, Gregg Patton has an interesting outsider's take on the Boston sports scene.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: The story of the playoffs -- and maybe the story of the year -- is unfolding in Colorado, where the Rockies, writes the Denver Post's Troy E. Renck, are ruining ''their image as the Little Engine That Could'' as they flattened the Phillies, 10-5, yesterday to take a 2-0 lead in the NLDS. Colorado has now won 16 of its last 17 games and, says Renck, is looking ''more like the 1998 Yankees than the 1969 Mets.'' Even so, the Phils' Jimmy Rollins assures the world that ''no one is panicking'' in the Philadelphia clubhouse. (Philadelphia Inquirer) You should be, responds the Rocky Mountain News' Bernie Lincicome, because you're finished.
PLAY OF THE YEAR: In a move that may make them America's Team during this postseason run, the Rockies players have voted a full playoff share to Amanda Coolbaugh, whose husband, Mike Coolbaugh, was killed when hit by a foul ball while coaching first base for the Rockies' Double-A Tulsa squad on July 22. (mlb.com)
SEIZING THE MOMENT: The Indians, writes the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Paul Hoynes, took Kenny Lofton's advise and did just that yesterday as they crushed the Yankees, 12-3, in Game One of their ALDS series. The Yankees, as you'd expect, are talking bravely about it being just one game (New York Daily News); Johnny Damon notes that ''last I saw, we're a pretty good team'' (LoHud Yankees blog; audio included) and, on the same blog, Peter Abraham points out the Yankees have won all five previous ALDS matchups in which they lost the first game. Maybe so, but FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal thinks the Yankees are in trouble.
SAVE US: Now the Yankees turn to old hand Andy Pettitte for Game Two redemption. (New York Daily News) For all the talk about the Yankees' young pitching, the Post's Joel Sherman notes that Joe Torre's job may hang on how the veterans perform in this series.
NOT CAMERA READY: Doug Mientkiewicz was almost knocked out of the game -- and perhaps the series -- by a television camera operator. He was okay, though, and played last night. (New York Daily News)
URBAN LEGEND: Writing for the New York Sun, Steven Goldman says the notion that Alex Rodriguez has been a postseason flop ''is greatly overstated.'' Response from Indians fans: Oh yeah? (New York Post)
THE NAME GAME: Chien-Ming Wang was hammered by the Indians, and was dubbed Chien-Ming Gong by the New York Post's George King. Colleague Mike Puma's insult of choice: Chien-Ming Wrong.
EIGHTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO . . . Maine's Stanley Mudge switched allegiances from the Red Sox to the Yankees because Boston sold Babe Ruth to New York. He's still rooting for the Yanks at age 93, though -- in true, "Why, in my day . . . '' fashion -- it doesn't sound like he has much use for any of the modern players no matter which team they're on.
PAY UP: That's what the Yankees are trying to get New York taxpayers to do for souvenirs and bar tabs during the 2005 playoffs. (New York Post)
WE ARE! The Daily News reports that New York fans are gobbling up Yankee merchandise, while sales of Mets item have all but stopped.
AND SPEAKING OF YANKEE FANS . . . they count LeBron James as one of them . . . much to the consternation of folks in Cleveland. (AP via SI.com)
JOY AND MISERY: It's joy for the Diamondbacks, who took a 2-0 lead in their NLDS series by beating the Cubs, 8-4. (Arizona Republic) It's misery for the Cubs, who, says the Chicago Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti, are ''buckling under the pressure of more variables than they can handle.'' Adds Mariotti: ''[Nothing] -- and I mean nothing -- would be more humiliating than to lose a playoff series as pathetically as the Cubs are losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks. To call this a choke job would be an insult to stranglers everywhere.''
STAYING PUT? Speculation has been rampant all year that Tony La Russa will be leaving the Cardinals, but FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says it ain't necessarily so.
OPINION TIME: The Baltimore Sun's Roch Kubato thinks the Orioles should make a run at Andruw Jones . . . The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant doesn't believe the Rangers will offer the injured Akinori Otsuka a 2008 contract . . . WFAN's Ed Coleman has three solutions to the Mets' pitching woes: 1. Get Johan Santana. 2. Get Johan Santana. 3. Get Johan Santana.
QUICKLY: The Brewers say their top offseason priority is re-signing relievers Francisco Cordero and Scott Linebrink (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Gary Sheffield will have shoulder surgery. (Detroit Free Press)
AND FINALLY . . . I'm with the blog The Fantasy Baseball Generals, which is aghast at a new birth-control pill called Yaz.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:51 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, October 4
FEVER PITCH: If it's true that nothing can carry a team through the minefield of October baseball like a dominant ace, the Red Sox have every reason to be encouraged on this cloudy, muggy morning. Josh Beckett (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach), writes Sean McAdam, turned in ''the kind of October performance that gets you mentioned with the game’s pitching greats'' as he authored a complete-game, four-hit shutout (no walks, eight strikeouts) in subduing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Game One of the ALDS. Yours truly, while noting that it's not truly comparable since it occurred in the first game of the first series rather than in an absolutely crucial situation, found that Beckett's night matched up pretty well against some of the other great postseason pitching performances in Red Sox history. The Boston Globe's Bob Ryan concurs but goes back farther than me; whereas I stopped at Jim Lonborg 1967, he goes on to Boo Ferriss 1946, Babe Ruth 1918 (or 1916), Smoky Joe Wood 1912 and Big Bill Dineen 1903. The Angels, wrote Steven Krasner, tipped their hats to Beckett . . . which was about the extent of what they could do against him all night. All of which, says the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley, makes him the new Mr. October. SI.com's Tom Verducci agrees and thinks Beckett ''might have set the tone for this series, if not for all of October.''
AND THAT'S NOT ALL: Joe McDonald writes it was a strong all-around performance for the Sox that had them ''feeling very good about themselves.'' Kevin Youkilis was feeling especially good, both physically and psychically, after getting Boston off and running with his first postseason hit, a first-inning homer. McDonald and Krasner have the details in their late notes. Now that they're mostly healthy and have their house in order, says the Herald's Tony Massarotti, the Sox can play as well as anyone.
FEELING GOOD, FEELING POWERFUL: Jim Donaldson reports that David Ortiz is healthy again, as evidenced by his home run last night, and the best may be yet to come.
CAN'T GET HIM OUT: In the uncut version of Inside The Game, Krasner examines the battle between David Ortiz, who also homered last night, and Angels starter John Lackey and concluded that Lackey ''does not have anything in his repertoire to get Ortiz out.'' He also includes pieces on the Angels' running game, some hustle by Manny Ramirez, how Orlando Cabrera ''sold'' a call to the umpires, and the Sox using a rare hit-and-run. In a separate piece, Krasner also notes that Lackey -- a loser yet again at his personal house of horrors, Fenway Park -- didn't think he pitched that badly.
THE BAD NEWS: Tim Wakefield is suffering from a bad shoulder, not a bad back, which is why he was left off the ALDS roster. McAdam, McDonald and Krasner have the details in their pregame notes.
ONLINE ONLY: Projo.com's Sox Blog includes elements that weren't in the newspaper or elsewhere on the Web site, including:
-- Postgame clubhouse reaction from McDonald.
-- McAdam putting Beckett in perspective.
-- Angels manager Mike Scioscia talking about the game, written by Donaldson.
-- Jerry Remy winning the election as president of Red Sox Nation, noted by this writer
-- McDonald on Curt Schilling's wild game of pregame long toss.
-- A question from projo.com producer Sheila Lennon asking where you plan to watch Friday night's game.
Along with many, many other postings that did get into both the paper and the Web site.
The at-Fenway postings began at 2:06 p.m. yesterday and went on until after 11 p.m. That'll be the norm throughout the playoffs, so check here early and often.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE: The Riverside Press-Enterprise's Matt Hurst examines the Angels' decision to pitch to Ortiz with first base open in the third inning, which didn't exactly work out well. Colleague Gregg Patton says what was missing from the Angels' aggressive base-running style last night was baserunners, thanks to Beckett.
IT'S BACK: Bill Reynolds revels in the return of October baseball to Boston.
FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTHS: Youkilis promises to update his blog after every postseason game and he had plenty to write about after last night. Former teammate Gabe Kapler is blogging for the Boston Globe and thinks Youkilis must have felt intense relief -- ''kind of like throwing up after feeling nauseous for a while'' -- after his first-inning home run. Curt Schilling, however, hasn't posted since Sept. 24, when he was gloating about winning in fantasy football.
WE HAVE NO TICKETS, DRAT THE LUCK, BUT HAVE YOU TRIED OUR PARTNER? The Globe reports Major League Baseball is directing fans who had no luck purchasing Red Sox playoff tickets directly from the team to try StubHub Inc., an online marketplace where tickets are being resold for as much as $20,000 apiece. MLB and StubHub signed a five-year contract in August.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT, PART ONE: The Herald's Michael Silverman that J.D. Drew's hot September is drawing some attention from the Angels.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT, PART TWO: And now the light shines on tomorrow's starting pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka.
GET READY FOR ARMAGEDDON . . . AGAIN: The Diamond Mind simulation software predicts a Red Sox-Yankees ALCS. (sports.espn.go.com)
IF SO, IT MAKES SENSE: SI.com's Jon Heyman lists the Yankees first and the Red Sox second in his postseason rankings.
RELAXING YEAR: Peter Abraham writes that Alex Rodriguez' career year began when he adopted a carefree attitude.
DEAR ERIC: The blog Vegas Watch writes an open letter to Eric Wedge in which it pleads with the Indians manager not to use Joe Borowski as his closer against the Yankees.
DIFFERENT MAN: The Yankees haven't faced C.C. Sabathia since September 2004 and the Akron Beacon Journal writes he's now a far different pitcher than the one who went 1-7 with a 7.13 ERA against New York early in his career.
YOU'VE CHANGED: Former Cubs first baseman Mark Grace tells the Daily Southtown that Wrigley Field is a different place, ''much meaner,'' since the Steve Bartman incident and the disappointment of 2003.
NLDS: The Rockies opened with a win at Philadelphia (Denver Post) . . . The Diamonbacks beat the Cubs in Arizona (Arizona Republic).
THINGS GO BETTER WITH COKE: The Philadelphia Daily News reports that Colorado closer Manny Corpas poured ''a cup of water or soda on the front of his shirt before leaving the bullpen and then rubbing dirt on the area'' as he came in to pitch the ninth inning yesterday.
SLAVE TO FASHION: In an attempt to keep his injured elbow warm, Cole Hamels wore a long-sleeve shirt yesterday. But it may have sapped his strength in the hot Philadelphia weather and contributed to his defeat. (mlb.com)
I'D DO IT AGAIN: Umpire Tim McClelland admits to having doubts about calling Matt Holliday safe on the final play of Monday's wild-card play-in game between the Rockies and Padres, but says based on what he saw, he'd call it the same way again. (Des Moines Register)
WHISPERS: The Mariners may dangle Adam Jones for Johan Santana (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) . . . Scott Boras will be surprised if the Tigers don't pick up their option on Ivan Rodriguez (Detroit Free Press) . . . A.J. Burnett is selling his Canadian condo. Does that mean he'll be exercising the post-2008 opt-out clause in his Blue Jays contract? (Toronto Star)
QUICKLY: Attention local fans: Cox Cable has added WTBS in High Def just in time for the baseball playoffs . . . The Cardinals fired GM Walt Jocketty. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Quote of the day from Cards chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.: ''To say (Jocketty) was not 100 percent happy would certainly be accurate.'' . . . FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal thinks the move was a good one for the Cards' N.L. Central opponents . . . Barry Bonds' ex-mistress details his temper and his steroids use in an interview with the New York Daily News . . . Paul LoDuca wants to stay with the Mets (New York Daily News) . . . Gary Sheffield will decide soon whether or not to have shoulder surgery (Detroit News) . . . Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez underwent shoulder surgery (Miami Herald) . . . The Pirates are remaining mum on whether or not they'll retain manager Jim Tracy. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
AND FINALLY . . . I don't know where he found it, but Chad Finn uncovered a You Tube clip of the famous Mark Fidrych-Dave Righetti pitching matchup in Pawtucket, the one PawSox owner Ben Mondor and president Mike Tamburro say was one of the events that help put that jewel of a franchise on the map:
Thanks, Chad, for the memories.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:15 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, October 3
ONE MORE TIME: The Red Sox begin their quest to add another flag to their collection (above, Journal photo by Bob Thayer) tonight when they begin their ALDS series against the Angels. Sean McAdam examines the teams in each key area and gives the overall edge to the Red Sox, and also examines what the Sox need to do to stop Los Angeles of Anaheim, which in many ways plays like an old-style National League team and therefore presents some unique challenges. It all starts tonight at 6:37 p.m.
STARTING IT FOR THE SOX . . . will be Josh Beckett, who is, according to former manager Jack McKeon, a unique talent. Joe McDonald tells us why.
AND FINISHING IT . . . (if they're ahead, that is) will be Jonathan Papelbon. Steven Krasner profiles the closer and reports last year's injury may have been the best thing that could have happened for his career.
DOING NEITHER . . . will be Tim Wakefield, who was left off the ALDS roster. Find out why, along with other tidbits, in the notebook written by McAdam, Krasner and McDonald.
UNIQUE CHALLENGES: Orlando Cabrera was here in 2004. Now he's with the Angels and he knows what he and his teammates can expect. Kevin McNamara tells us exactly what.
NO SUBSTITUTE FOR VICTORY: Bill Reynolds says 2004 changed the landscape locally; now, the season will be considered a failure if the Sox lose in the first round.
ONLINE ONLY: If you were with us here on projo.com's Sox Blog yesterday, you would have seen many things -- such as Brandon Moss being asked to stay with the team even though he's not on the roster (Joe McDonald), Eric Gagne saying he's turned a corner and is ready to contribute to the Sox in the postseason (McDonald) and Kevin Cash talking about how lucky he is to be with the Sox (Krasner) -- you didn't see in print. There'll be more Web exclusives today right here, so check back often.
BEHIND ENEMY LINES: Our sister publication, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, has the Angels covered. In today's editions, beat writer Matt Hurst says the Angels are where they are ''because of the way they've mixed young talent with veterans -- much more expertly than their sniping neighbors in blue.'' (That's the Dodgers, for those a little fuzzy on West Coast geography.) Columnist Gregg Patton says Angels followers have a ''universal fear of Boston'' and would much rather have played the Yankees, whom LA of A, inexplicably, beats like a drum. Hurst reports on the Angels' injuries, which will deprive them of both center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. and starting pitcher Bartolo Colon in this series.
PLAYOFF INVASION: The citizens of Orange County are worried that Angels Stadium will be overrun by Red Sox Nation in the playoffs, similar to the way it is in the regular season, as Angels ticket-holders -- seeing a chance to make a hefty profit -- sell off to Red Sox fans. (Los Angeles Times)
SURVIVOR: The Boston Globe's Jackie MacMullen has a nice piece on Mike Lowell, a team leader who's been through enough in his life to keep baseball in perspective.
A DIFFERENT LOOK: Theo Epstein was rock-star popular, and rock-star accessible, back when he built the World Series champions of 2004. Now he's lower-profile -- and less popular, in the wake of less successful seasons and some personnel decisions that haven't turned out as well as he'd hoped -- but the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy reports Epstein says he's learned a lot these few years. He thinks this team can win it all, and also makes an interesting comment that applies to those who think teams with high payrolls -- like the Red Sox and Yankees -- have an inherent, unfair advantage: ''[There's] a lot of things that we have to deal with in this market that other teams don't have to deal with. Performance'' -- i.e., the belief that a player who performs well in a certain locale will do the same in any other -- ''doesn't always translate for us [because of the unique pressures involved in playing in a high-profile, high-expectation market; think Edgar Renteria, in other words]. There are easier places to build winning ball clubs. So in my mind, those factors in some ways cancel each other out."
HERE'S WHY: The Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti explains the rationale behind the different roster makeup -- three catchers, only 10 pitchers -- in the postseason.
MAN WITH A PLAN: That's Manny Ramirez . . . no matter what it may look like to outsiders. (Boston Herald)
LAST HURRAH: The Herald's Inside Track reports that Coco Crisp was telling fans at Friday's clinching celebration he expects to be traded this offseason to make room in center field for Jacoby Ellsbury.
HE'S BACK! Not only has Kevin Youkilis updated his blog, but he promises to do so after every playoff game.
THE WINNER IS . . . SI.com's Tom Verducci picks the Red Sox and Yankees to advance to the ALCS . . . FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal is picking the Red Sox to win the World Series, in part because he thinks the longer schedule plays into their strength (pitching) . . . Now writing for SportingNews.com in addition to Baseball Musings, David Pinto picks the Indians over the Yankees . . . All the Philadelphia writers say the Angels will beat the Red Sox.
NOW OR NEVER: In a well-written ESPN The Magazine piece, Howard Bryant says this month will determine if Alex Rodriguez conquers New York, or abdicates the crown.
DON'T FORGET THE PAST: The New York Post's Joel Sherman says the Yankees wouldn't have come anywhere near the playoffs without A-Rod.
FALL GUY: The Post's Kevin Kernan gives us the Conventional Wisdom on Derek Jeter.
BUT HE'S NOT QUITE AS GOOD AS RUBE MARQUARD: Maury Allen says Joba Chamberlain will soon erase whatever memories are left of Bob Feller. (thecolumnists.com)
THE REST OF THE STORY: The story of the N.L. East is being written in context of the Mets' collapse. But the blog Welcome To Crashburn Alley thinks it's time to show some love for the Phillies, who made one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history.
FORGET THAT; BACK TO THE METS: Writing in the Village Voice, Allen Barra says the Mets' implosion ''was a bomb that waited all season long to drop.''
BEWARE, YANKEES: In the same story, Barra writes that during the Yankees' second-half surge ''there were ominous signs that were obscured by the 10- and 12-run barrages repeatedly put up by the hitters. Both Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte were once again shelled in their last outings, putting considerable doubt on their postseason reliability—and, in perhaps the most disturbing incident, Mariano Rivera blew yet another save by giving up three runs in a game meaningless to anyone but himself against Baltimore. What Yankees fans may soon find themselves facing up to is the fact that their pitching staff is every bit as shaky as the Mets', and that, when Joba Chamberlain isn't on the mound, their bullpen may be even worse.''
AND BACK TO THE METS AGAIN: SNY.tv's Mike Salfino idenitifes the culprits of the Mets' failure.
WHAT, ME WORRY? Willie Randolph will return as Mets manager and says he never doubted that he would. (New York Post)
NATIONAL LAUGHINGSTOCK: Now the Mets are the subjects of a Conan O'Brien comedy bit. (youtube.com)
ARE YOU SERIOUS? When ESPN's Tim Kurkjian came out against instant replay in baseball -- the debate sparked when Colorado defeated San Diego in the wild-card play-in game Monday night even though it appeared Matt Holliday never touched home plate when he scored the winning run -- he was quickly refuted by ESPN Radio's Mike Greenberg, who says there's ''no reason not to correct any mistake that is correctable.'' The L.A. Times' Bill Dwyre agrees.
TOUGH CALL: Writing on Baseball Musings this time, Pinto says it ''certainly wasn't an easy call.''
MYSTERY MAN: With the Cubs back in the playoffs, people are naturally curious if Steve Bartman -- who joined the billy goat as symbols of the team's futility in 2003 -- will be back at Wrigley Field. But he's not talking, and neither are the people who know him. (New York Times)
WELL, THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: Scott Boras won't get the chance to string the Braves along for three months in the Andruw Jones sweepstakes. Atlanta yesterday bid goodbye to its long-time center fielder, saying Boras' initial demands were enough to convince them that no deal could be reached and that they're moving in other directions. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
QUICKLY: The Tigers have told Todd Jones and Kenny Rogers they'll be welcomed back in 2008 and said goodbye to Sean Casey, but they apparently haven't yet made up their minds on Ivan Rodriguez (Detroit Free Press) . . . Jim Leyland will also be back in Detroit (Detroit News) . . . Devils Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey was arrested for DUI (mlb.com) . . . The Mets' Scott Schoeneweis could be banned from baseball if the steroids allegations prove to be true (New York Daily News).
NEVER TOO EARLY FOR TRADE/FREE AGENT SPECULATION: The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the Mets will make a run at Johan Santana this winter. Newsday's Jim Baumbach thinks that's a great idea . . . The White Sox are eyeing free-agent center fielders Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Giants may take a run at the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera and the Devil Rays' Carl Crawford (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Pirates are taking their time deciding Jim Tracy's fate (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:09 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, October 2
LULL BEFORE THE STORM: On a generally quiet day yesterday -- save for Rally Monday (above, AP Photo), decried by Frank from Gloucester but enjoyed by pretty much everyone else who was there (AP via projo.com) -- pieces began falling into place for the Red Sox-Angels series. For one thing, the starting times were finally announced. (Projo Sox Blog) So was the Red Sox' starting rotation (projo.com), with the news -- first put forth by Sean McAdam on Monday -- that Daisuke Matsuzaka, and not Curt Schilling, would start Game Two. But for the most part, it was just a day when the players had a light workout, awards were handed out and people slowly began to look forward to the series opener on Wednesday.
BUT FIRST, A LOOK BACK: We said yesterday we'd been remiss in not pointing to the excellent photography provided by the Projo staff over the course of the year. Remiss no more; take a look at Bob Breidenbach's slideshow of the season. Steven Krasner went over the schedule and came up compilation of exhilarating and memorable games and moments, as well as a few lowlights along the way. Here, with the help of assistant sports editor Mike McDermott, is Kraz' breakdown of the important moments, complete with that day's photo gallery. Take a look; it's very interesting.
SNAPSHOTS OF A SEASON: Krasner also did some quick hits on various elements of the year, such as how Jonathan Paplebon's decision to return to the bullpen cleaned up a muddly relief situation; Tim Wakefield recording a decision in his first 26 starts; the delightful surprise that was Hideki Okajima; Kevin Youkilis' 23-game hitting streak, and the one-inning woes of Daisuke Matsuzaka.
AND NOW, A LOOK FORWARD: McAdam lists the the 10 keys for the Red Sox against the Angels. (projo.com)
MANNY BEING MANNY: When he has a bat in his hands, that's a good thing for the Sox. (projo.com)
A DIFFERENT MATCHUP: You'll see plenty of side-by-side comparisons of the Angels and Red Sox today and tomorrow (including here). But Seth Mnookin analyzes how the 2007 Sox rate against the 2004 World Series champions.
AN EARLY LOOK: ESPN.com's Jonah Keri examines the thinking fan's approach vs. the non-thinking fan's approach to the series. Keri, a thinking fan, picks Sox in five.
BEHIND ENEMY LINES: The Angels are covered by one of our sister publications, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and we'll be sharing stories throughout the series. Their Angels' beat reporter, Matt Hurst, says today that the team -- or at least the outfield -- is hurting heading into the playoffs. You can also keep up with the latest Angels' news on pe.com's Angels Blog. I know I will.
Today will be a busy day at Fenway, with both teams working out. Check back here throughout the morning and afternoon for constant updates.
WHAT AN ENDING: Does it get more dramatic than this? The Rockies' 13-inning victory over the Padres in the NL wild-card play-in game (Denver Post) -- in which they rallied against closer-for-the-ages Trevor Hoffman after San Diego scored twice in the top of the 13th -- has to rank as one of the greatest games in playoff history, and gets the 2007 postseason off to a rousing start. And one of the most controversial, since it doesn't appear Matt Holliday (above, AP Photo) ever touched home plate when he scored the winning run. (Denver Post) They made believers out of Woody Paige and everyone else in Colorado (Denver Post), but FoxSports.com's Tracy Ringolsby says plenty of people believed in -- and feared -- the Rockies. We'd love to know how the Padres feel about this, but the San Diego Union-Tribune only has Associated Press stories on its site. We have the AP feed ourselves, so here's the AP postgame account from the San Diego locker room.
AND FUTHERMORE . . . Holliday's performance last night enabled him to beat out Chipper Jones for the N.L. batting title.
UPDATE THE RECORD BOOK: Writing for SI.com, Baseball Prospectus' Nate Silver adds the 2007 Mets and 2007 Padres to the list of the 13 worst collapses in baseball history. The Red Sox are all over this list, both bad (1978, 2003, 1986 World Series) and good (2004, 1986 ALCS).
ONLY ONE WINNER: Dustin Pedroia is the lone member of the Red Sox collecting postseason hardware in ESPN.com's Jayson Stark's list of awards.
FUNDAMENTAL DISCONNECT: The New York Daily News' Lisa Olson says the clinical, emotionless Mets' brass is completely out of touch with its devastated, heartbroken fan base.
I THOUGHT THIS WAS NEXT YEAR: FoxSports.com's Mark Kriegel expresses what many Mets followers felt.
LET ME COUNT THE WAYS: ESPN.com's Page 2 lists 44 reasons why the Mets collapsed.
PLAYOFF BITS: Jason Marquis may be the odd man out in the Cubs' rotation (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Yankees are counting -- tentatively -- on Roger Clemens to start Game Three. (New York Post)
TO-DO LIST: FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry puts one together for teams that didn't make the playoffs.
OURS IS PRETTY SMALL: The Blue Jays believe their 2007 season was torpedoed by injuries and not fundamental team weaknesses, so they plan to fine-tune rather than rebuild this winter. (tsn.ca)
QUICKLY: The Brewers may be open to trading Bill Hall (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Marlins are mulling moving Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez, who may comprise the worst defensive left side of an infield in baseball, to different positions next year (Miami Herald) . . . Jim Tracy's status is still up in the air in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Jim Leyland met with the Tigers' brass about a contract extension (Detroit Free Press) . . . It looks as if Tom Glavine and the Mets will be parting company (Newsday). . . But not Willie Randolph; sources tell Newsday he'll be back . . . The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Mark Bradley thinks bringing Glavine back to the Braves is a terrible idea . . . Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis denies a report that he received six shipments of steroids from the pharmacy that is at the center of an ongoing investigation into illegal prescription drug sales (New York Daily News) . . . Sean Casey is through in Detroit. (MLB.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:50 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, October 1
A FIRST: In the standings (for the Red Sox) and in the way they celebrated clinching the A.L. East Friday night. The blog A Red Sox Fan in Pinstripe Territory has what I think is the best of many home-made videos of the party that erupted at Fenway Park around 11 p.m. Friday when Melvin Mora -- think he got the idea from Ramon Hernandez? -- laid down the bunt that finished Baltimore's improbable comeback from a 9-6, ninth-inning deficit, giving the Orioles the victory over the Yankees and giving the Sox the division title. Steven Krasner and Joe McDonald had the down-and-dirty version of the night's happenings in Saturday's Providence Journal, and McDonald expanded upon it the next day.
GET THE PICTURE: We've been remiss all season in not linking to the nightly slideshows from Journal photographers, which have captured the season visually every bit as well as the writers do with words. Bob Breidenbach captured the festive atmosphere Friday night. Click to the second page for the postgame celebration.
MOVING ON: With that out of the way, attention now shifts to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, whom -- because they got the choice by finishing as the A.L.'s top seed (they tied Cleveland for best record, but won the tie-breaker with a 6-2 edge in the season series between the teams) -- the Sox will play Wednesday and Friday at Fenway. Krasner gives a preliminary look at the Sox-Angels matchup, and Sean McAdam examines the potential roster makeup, which may include Kevin Cash as a third catcher in order to give the team more pinch-hitting and pinch-running flexibility. McAdam also notes it may be Daisuke Matsuzaka, and not Curt Schilling, starting Game 2 on Friday; the assumption has been that Schilling would follow Josh Beckett in the rotation.
HOT HANDS: The Sox head into the playoffs with both David Ortiz and J.D. Drew in the swing offensively. Krasner and McDonald provide the details on both.
DONE FOR THE YEAR: But they'll also head in without Clay Buchholz. Krasner and McDonald report on the decision to shut him down for the season.
THE MOUSE BEAT THE LIONS: Dustin Pedroia, writes McDonald, ''may be considered a little brother amongst his teammates, but . . . [he] became a bully this season.'' A bully who's the odds-on favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award.
SELF-DESTRUCTING AT THE BALLOT BOX: Especially since the player who's probably his main competition for the award, the Devil Rays' Delmon Young, didn't do himself any favors with his behavior over the weekend. (Tampa Tribune)
CHECKING IN . . . with some of our favorite Sox bloggers, like Chad Finn, Allan Wood and Dan Lamothe, on the Sox' championship. (Strangely, there's no word yet from Seth Mnookin.) Both Lamothe and Wood have extensive compilations on Friday's clinching party in multiple posts on their sites; check them out. As for the Sox players, Curt Schilling has yet to post anything; I've given up on Kevin Youkilis.
THE LAST WORD: On the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham took note of the Red Sox celebration, then quoted one of the Yankees as saying: ''Let them celebrate. They earned it. But we’ll see them again.''
HEADLINE NEWS: And speaking of New York . . .
The Mets are history -- in more ways than one -- after an incredible collapse that will leave an indelible stain on the franchise. The New York Post says Willie Randolph's future as Mets manager is in doubt, and that may very well be true. The Daily News delivers the game story, as well, and there's no lack of commentary from either outlet. Mike Lupica writes that No. 7 was anything but lucky for the Mets (seven game lead squandered, allowing seven runs in the first inning yesterday). If there was any consolation, writes the Post's Mike Vaccaro, death came quickly. The Daily News' John Harper says Tom Glavine, who failed to get out of the first inning, wasn't the only goat yesterday. Mets fans were in tears at Shea Stadium, and with reason, but not before they threw some hate at Jose Reyes, whom the Post says ''most personified the Mets’ collapse.''
I FEEL YOUR PAIN: Joe Torre, who endured an historic collapse of his own in 2004 -- you might remember that one -- has nothing but sympathy for Willie Randolph. (New York Post) Randolph, actually, was part of both of them; he was one of Torre's Yankee coaches in '04.
STILL TALKING THE TALK: One of the things some people hated about the Mets was their confidence, which they felt bordered on arrogance; a few of the players said earlier this year the Mets were so good they got bored with actually playing the games, which is why they'd go through down periods. Well, after yesterday's loss, Carlos Delgado was still saying the Mets ''were too good to finish like this.'' (New York Post) Maybe so, but to quote a great football coach: You are what your record says you are.
HA HA: The Marlins -- the skunk at Shea's garden party -- certainly were shedding no tears for the Mets yesterday. (New York Post) Not in the New York papers, nor the Miami ones.
ONE MAN'S FLOOR IS ANOTHER MAN'S CEILING: The beneficiary of the Mets' collapse was the Phillies, who clinched the N.L. East title that Jimmy Rollins first said they could win on Jan. 23. (Philadelphia Inquirer) Rhode Island's Jim Salisbury writes that ''[it's] been a long time between drinks of champagne'' for the Phils and their long-suffering fans; 14 years, to be exact. Bill Conlin thanked the Mets for making it all possible.
STILL GOING: The Rockies forged into a tie for the N.L. wild-card berth by beating the Diamondbacks on a raucous afternoon at Coors Field (Denver Post) while the Padres were losing to the Brewers in Milwaukee. (San Diego Union-Tribune) The teams will have a one-game playoff tonight in Denver.
AND FINALLY: The Daily News talks to Cory Lidle's widow, still grieving her husband's death in a New York plane crash after nearly a year.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:47 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, September 28
ON HOLD: Dustin Pedroia's reaction to popping up with the go-ahead runs in scoring position and two outs in the bottom of the eighth (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach) perfectly encapsulates a frustrating night for the Red Sox as they lost to the Twins, 5-4. (projo.com) Frustrating because the pitching matchup (Josh Beckett vs. Boof Bonser) seemed to favor them; frustrating because it kept the magic number for clinching the A.L. East at two. There was good news, however; in Inside The Game, Steven Krasner reports that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are locked in again offensively, and just in time for the postseason. (projo.com) And the notebook, written by Krasner and Joe McDonald, tells of Hideki Okajima's successful return to the mound, which also bodes well for the postseason.
AND SPEAKING OF THE POSTSEASON . . . It continues to look like it'll be the Sox vs. the Angels in the first round. Brendan Donnelly spent the first part of his career in Orange County and knows what his new team -- albeit one he's no longer contributing to, because of his elbow injury -- can expect. (Boston Herald) Terry Francona, meanwhile, is keeping his playoff pitching plans close to the vest. (Boston Globe)
WHERE THEY STAND: The Sox remain tied with Cleveland for best record in the American League because the Indians lost to the Mariners. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) The Yankees stayed alive in the division race by beating the Devil Rays. (New York Daily News)
MEMORIES . . . Some members of the last Red Sox' division winner, the 1995 edition, remember what clinching night was like. (projo.com) The Sox will get another shot at nailing down the title tonight.
HOT TOPIC: J.D. Drew's offensive rebirth -- he's hitting .324 in September -- is beginning to attract mainstream attention. (Boston Globe)
TALK ABOUT A CELEBRATION: On the night Mike Lowell broke the Red Sox' record for most RBI by a third baseman in a single season, he was chosen to undergo one of baseball's random drug tests. (Boston Herald)
YOUTH WILL BE SERVED: FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry says the Red Sox' and Yankees' playoff chances have been bolstered by their young players.
TIED: The Mets -- who led their division by seven games on Sept. 12 -- are on the cusp of making history for all the wrong reasons. They lost their fourth in a row last night, 3-0 to old friend Joel Piniero and the Cardinals (New York Daily News), and now are tied for first in the N.L. East with the Phillies, who beat the Braves (Philadelphia Inquirer) The Daily News' John Harper says they're playing scared, but the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro says there's still time to right the sinking ship. The Post's Joel Sherman notes that Pedro Martinez was The Mighty Casey last night: ''the anticipation was great, the outcome disappointing.''
JUST A LITTLE? Martinez tells ESPN.com's Amy K. Nelson he's ''a little worried about how things have developed.''
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: On sny.tv, Ted Berg and Mike Salfino -- who writes fantasy football sports blog, by the way -- contemplate the epic collapse of the Mets.
AND TO MAKE IT WORSE . . . Matthew Cerone's Mets Blog says the Mets' fold isn't made any easier by being in the same city as Yankee fans.
THE OTHER N.L. RACES: The Cubs lost to the Marlins (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . the Brewers lost to the Padres (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . the Diamondbacks beat the Pirates (Arizona Republic) . . . the scorching Rockies beat the Dodgers (Denver Post).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
FUNNY MAN IN A NOT-SO-FUNNY SITUATION: Cubs fan Bill Murray is keeping the faith despite his team's three straight losses to the Marlins. (Palm Beach Post)
THE ALL-TIME GREATS: Baseball Prospectus lists the 13 biggest late-season collapses in baseball history, based on ''teams that had the highest percentage chance to reach the playoffs at some point during the regular season [and] then failed to do so.'' Two Red Sox teams -- from 2002 (No. 11) and 1978 (No. 7) -- make the list. The team most famous for folding at the end, the 1964 Phillies, are only at No. 10; BP notes ''it was not quite as bad as it might seem at first glance because of the disparity in the schedules. From September 18th onward, the Phillies played teams with an average winning percentage of .548, as opposed to .470 for the Cardinals, which was enough to wipe the equivalent of a game or two off of their lead.'' Coming in at No. 1: The 1995 Angels.
NOT-SO-MASSIVE TIE: Baseball Musing's David Pinto reports that last night's action eliminated the possibility of a five-way tie in the National League, though there's still a chance for four-way ties. MLB.com lists the various tie-breaking scenarios.
YOU SAY POTATO, I SAY . . . Some people call the wild spring to the finish in the National League exciting. USA Today's Hal Bodley calls it an exercise in mediocrity.
THE REAL COMMISSIONER In an ESPN The Magazine profile, Matthew Cole says ''Scott Boras isn't ruining baseball. He's running it.''
HARD TO BELIEVE: On the blog Birds In The Belfry, Bob Bryant says it's time to face up to the truth: Orioles followers are ''fans of a ballclub worse than the Washington Nationals.''
YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: Jimmy Piersall was back in his native Connecticut, touting Dom DiMaggio for the Hall of Fame and talking about what it was like growing up as a Red Sox fan in a sea of Yankee rooters. (Westport News)
THIS IS WHY THEY'RE BALLPLAYERS AND NOT SABERMETRICIANS: SI.com reports that most major-leaguers think the most important offensive statistic is RBI.
END OF THE LINE: Bruce Froemming reflects on the end of his 37-year umpiring career. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
MORE REVELATIONS: San Francisco Weekly reports that Greg Anderson's cellmate in jail, Marlon Leftwich, says Anderson ''shared one shocking anecdote after another about Barry Bonds and BALCO'' during their time together in prison. Whether they're true is another matter entirely, but they certainly are shocking.
QUICKLY: With trade rumors swirling, yesterday may have been Jon Garland's last start for the White Sox (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Pirates may put Jason Bay on the trade market (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Todd Helton's hot September has ended rumors that the Rockies might again try to move him this winter (Denver Post) . . . Sammy Sosa wants to stay with the Rangers (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Reds have a decision to make on Eddie Guardado, who's been pitching better recently (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Boras says there'll be no hometown discount for the Braves if they want to keep Andruw Jones (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:16 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, September 27
END IN SIGHT: Almost there. The Red Sox' magic number for clinching the A.L. East is down to two after last night's 11-6 win over the A's (projo.com), a victory fueled by three-hit performances from Dustin Pedroia (above right, Journal photo by Kris Craig), Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Mike Lowell, not to mention a five-RBI contribution from Lowell. And suddenly, the postseason picture is falling into place, as well. Sean McAdam notes that, thanks to Los Angeles of Anaheim's three straight losses to the Rangers, the Red Sox are all but assured of playing the Angels in the first round, with the series opening at Fenway Park next Wednesday or Thursday, followed by Game Two on Friday. (The teams will play on the West Coast on Sunday, Oct. 7 and, if necessary, Monday, Oct. 8, with a fifth game, if needed, in Boston on Wednesday, Oct. 10.) The only unanswered question is whether or not the Sox or Indians will finish with the best record in the A.L. and thus earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason. That race, at the moment, is tied; details to come.
ALSO DECIDED . . . is which series -- the seven-day or eight-day -- the Sox will choose if they finish first overall. (The top seed gets to pick which series it wants to play.) But Terry Francona isn't telling the Sox' choice, at least not yet. (Boston Herald)
ALSO DECIDED AS WELL . . . is the postseason roster, or just about. Today's projo.com journal, written by McAdam, Steven Krasner and Joe McDonald, notes that 24 of the 25 roster spots are solidifed (and, yes, Jacoby Ellsbury is on it). With Javier Lopez apparently assured of a position, the only decision is who to pick for the last pitching slot: Julian Tavarez, Kyle Snyder, Clay Buchholz or Bryan Corey. Someone who won't have a slot, at least in the opening round: Jon Lester. (Boston Globe)
ONE FOR THE BOOKS: For 30 years, no Red Sox third baseman ever had more RBI in a single season than Butch Hobson, 1977. No one, that is, until Mike Lowell, 2007. Steven Krasner has the details in Inside The Game. The Boston Globe's Bob Ryan says you can't put a value on what Lowell has done this year.
AND ONE FOR THE ROAD: Rotoworld.com put together its list of projected 2008 American League rosters, and it has Eric Chavez at third base for the Red Sox. Lowell is nowhere to be found, which must mean Rotoworld thinks he's National League-bound. As for Alex Rodriguez, Rotoworld says he's returning to the Yankees.
MANNY BEING MANNY: He missed a month because of the strained oblique, but Manny Ramirez is 4-for-5 with two walks in his first two games back in the lineup. (Boston Herald)
HERE'S THE FASCINATION, HERE'S THE FASCINATION, HERE'S THE FASCINATION WITH J.D. DREW: Seth Mnookin chronicles J.D. Drew's continuing offensive resurgence. (sethmnookin.com)
'MORE WOLF THAN SHEEP': That's how SI.com's Tom Verducci describes Jonathan Papelbon in his fascinating profile of the Red Sox closer.
AND MANY MORE: Happy birthday, Johnny Pesky; he turns 88 today. (Boston Globe)
WE'LL GO: While many of the Red Sox aren't enthusiastic about opening the 2008 season in Japan with two games against Oakland -- no decision's been made, but the option is still on the table -- the A's players are more receptive. (Boston Herald)
WAY TO GO, ROOK(S): FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal hands out his postseason awards and Dustin Pedroia is his Rookie of the Year, with Daisuke Matsuzaka third. David Ortiz is third and Mike Lowell ninth on his MVP ballot, and Josh Beckett is second to C.C. Sabathia in the Cy Young race. Terry Francona didn't make the top three on his Manager of the Year list.
THEY MADE IT: The Yankees completed their rise from the grave by clobbering Tampa Bay last night and clinching a playoff position. (New York Daily News) Most pundits are saying they overcame the 14 1/2-game deficit they faced on May 29 (New York Post), but that's only true if they win the division; if things stay the way they are, the deficit they erased was the one they faced in the wild-card race, which peaked at 9 1/2. Even so, it's an impressive accomplishment . . . and now it's on to the postseason, where Alex Rodriguez -- sounding very much like a man in his last days in pinstripes, according to the New York Post's Kevin Kernan -- says it's World Series championship or bust.
I WAS WRONG: Give the Daily News' John Harper credit. Most people try to bury their mistakes. Instead, today he's owning up to it. Don't feel badly, John; you weren't the only one who declared the Yankees dead. In fact, you weren't even the only one that day.
HE WAS RIGHT: My friend Lou DiLullo (projo.com) is a pariah -- with reason, I have to admit -- in some corners of Red Sox Nation; he's a consumptive Yankee fan who views the world, indeed life itself, through a rosy, the Yankees-can-do-no-wrong pinstripe prism. (If he doesn't actually feel that way, he hides it beautifully in his writings.) But when he was saying throughout the summer that it was too early to bury the Yanks, he was absolutely correct. It's a long, long season, and the notion that a team -- any team with talent -- is out of it with four months to go, or three months to go, or even a month to go, is foolish. That much of Lou's Yankee optimism goes hand-in-hand with blind, irrational hatred of the Red Sox is the reason no one pays much attention to him around here; his magic-numbers screed was just the latest in a series of anti-Boston fatwas that he issues from time to time. But if he was off the mark in declaring the Yankees would conjure up a repeat of 1978 just because the 2007 deficit happened to hit the same 14 1/2-game benchmark it hit in '78, he was on target when he declared, over and over, that the Yankees weren't done. I would imagine no one in Yankee Universe is happier, or more satisfied, this morning than Lou DiLullo; it's a wonderful feeling to know that you are right and the world is wrong. Congratulations.
And I can only imagine what's coming next in Louie's Lines.
THE GREAT UNKNOWN: The Yankees have no idea if Roger Clemens will be able to pitch in the postseason. (New York Daily News)
PRETTY LAME: Despite having lunch with George Steinbrenner, Joe Torre is still a lame-duck manager heading into the playoffs. (New York Post)
A.L. RACES: It's all for positioning now, and the Angels lost a game, maybe a shot at finishing with the A.L.'s best record, and perhaps center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. yesterday at Texas. (Los Angeles Daily News) The Indians, meanwhile, split a doubleheader at Seattle and now are tied for the top spot with the Red Sox. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) More worrisome for the Indians: Closer Joe Borowski blew his second save chance in as many nights.
N.L. RACES: The Mets' lead in the N.L. East is down to one as they blew yet another multirun lead and lost to the Nationals (New York Daily News) at the same time the Phillies were beating the Braves (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . In other games with playoff implications, the Cubs lost to the Marlins (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . the Brewers lost to the Cardinals (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . the red-hot Rockies won their 10th in a row, beating the Dodgers (Denver Post) . . . the Diamondbacks lost to the Pirates (Arizona Republic) . . . and the Padres beat the Giants (San Diego Union-Tribune).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
DUQUE TO THE RESCUE: The New York Observer's Howard Megdal says the Mets need a save from Orlando Hernandez.
THE MASSIVE TIE SCENARIO: As of yesterday morning, Baseball Musing's David Pinto noted there was a chance for a six-way playoff tie in the National League, which would have resulted in two days of single-elimination play-in games. As of today, Pinto reports it can still be a five-way tie.
THE VOICES OF NEW YORK: ESPN.com's Jeff Pearlman says that, in stark contrast to the pap you hear on the Yankee television and radio broadcasts, the Mets' television team, which includes Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez (with ex-voice of the PawSox Gary Cohen), is the best in baseball.
GO ALL THE WAY: MLB has suspended umpire Mike Winters for his role in the Milton Bradley fiasco of last weekend, but Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal says that's not enough: ''Mike Winters should never umpire another major-league game.''
END OF THE LINE: The Giants and Barry Bonds are preparing for their farewell weekend. (USA Today)
NOW THIS IS A GRUDGE: Bruce Froemming's 37-year umpiring career will end this weekend, but Milt Pappas is still bitter about not getting a 2-and-2 call from Froemming during a perfect-game bid in 1972; he wound up walking the batter and lost the perfect game, though he did finish the no-hitter. (ESPN.com) ''I still feel in my own heart that he robbed me of a perfect game,'' said Pappas. ''I wish him nothing but the best. I just wish he had retired 37 years ago."
QUICKLY: Skip Caray won't be part of WTBS' baseball playoff broadcast team and he's not happy about it (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . A Johan Santana-for-Matt Kemp-and-others trade rumor is floating around cyberspace (cbs2.com).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:56 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, Septemeber 26
 | PRAYERS ANSWERED: And suddenly it all seems like it's falling into place for the Red Sox, and at just the right time. The 'new' Curt Schilling (left, Journal photo by Kris Craig) pitches a lot differently than the old one, but the results last night were similar: Six innings, six hits, one run, no walks, six strikeouts. Steven Krasner breaks it all down in his story of the Sox' 7-3 win over the A's (projo.com), which probably cemented Schilling's spot as Boston's No. 2 postseason starter. But wait, there's more. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis returned to the lineup last night, as well; Sean McAdam details their comeback performances, in which Ramirez started the game -- amidst great fanfare -- and Youkilis kind of snuck in as a fifth-inning pinch-hitter. And finally, Hideki Okajima worked a bullpen session and seems over the 'tired arm' that prompted the Sox to shut him down for two weeks; he'll pitch an inning against the Twins Thursday night. (projo.com) All in all, a pretty good night for the Red Sox. |
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: A good night made better by happenings in St. Petersburg, which we'll detail later in our show. A quick preview: The Sox now lead the A.L. East by three games with five to play, and have reduced their magic number for clinching the division to three. The good news -- or at least the beginning of it -- was greeted with raucous, joyous cheers at Fenway, which confused Sox players like Eric Gagne, who aren't quite up to speed on the Boston-New York tong wars. (Boston Herald)
IT'S NOT ALL PEACHES AND CREAM: The Sox have dropped to No. 3 in FoxSports' Power Rankings.
BROTHER ACT: Yes, that was Julio Lugo's brother pitching against him in the eighth inning last night. (Boston Herald) Rudy Lugo's line wasn't much -- two-thirds of an inning, one hit, one walk, two earned runs -- but big brother Julio said, ''It was a good experience for the family, and the whole family was there, too - my mother, all my friends, my sister. Everyone was here to see that happen.'' Rudy walked Julio, the leadoff batter in the eighth, and Julio gave a long stare as he walked to first ''so he knows who's boss.'' Typical big brother.
IF IT'S NOT ONE THING, IT'S ANOTHER: We were worried enough about the karma surrounding Jonathan Papelbon. (projo.com's Sox Blog) Then Red Sox Monster's Dan Lamothe comes across the Sept. 19 Papelbon Scoop. Big guy . . . stick to pitching. Please.
LOOKING BACK: The blog Vegas Watch looks back at the best and worst of April predictions and notes ESPN's Steve Phillips picked the Red Sox to win 82 games. Reminds me of an e-mail I got from a Red Sox fan in late March that read, "Stick a fork in 'em. I do not see this team finishing any higher than third in the division."
RAYS OF HOPE: The rest of the story, from the Sox' point of view, last night was written on the west coast of Florida as those pesky Devil Rays rallied from a 5-0 deficit and beat the Yankees in 10 innings, 7-6. (New York Daily News) The Journal-News' Peter Abraham says the loss means the Yanks ''almost certainly will not win the American League East,'' and that's likely true; a three-game deficit with five to play, when you have no head-to-head matchups with the team you're chasing, is all but insurmountable. It was, writes the New York Post's Kevin Kernan, a grand night for Alex Rodriguez -- who now has 53 homers and 151 RBI after his third-inning grand slam -- but not so grand for Edwar Ramirez and Brian Bruney, who probably pitched themselves off the playoff roster. (New York Daily News)
The Yankees had champagne on ice, since they could have clinched a playoff spot with a victory or a Tigers loss. But on ice is where it stayed, as Detroit fended off elimination by beating the Twins. (Detroit News) The Yanks will try again tonight.
BACK ON THE PAD: Nor was it a grand night for Roger Clemens, who was shut down for the remainder of the regular season because of a balky hamstring. (New York Post) He insists he'll be ready for the playoffs, though the Yankees say they have no timetable for his return.
MY TREAT: Jason Giambi dropped $5,000 taking the Yankee rookies out to dinner in Tampa Monday night. The only catch was they had to stay in their Wizard-of-Oz hazing costumes. (New York Post) Small price to pay for a $5,000 night out, apparently.
HIP, HIP, JORGE! The New York Observer's Howard Megdal throws a little love towards Jorge Posada.
PROUD OF THEMSELVES: The Devil Rays are patting themselves on the back because of the way they've played against the A.L. elite this month. (Tampa Tribune) The St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton thinks the Rays are giving indications they're about ready to move out of Stinkville.
THE EVIDENCE MOUNTS: As all of you know, the biggest controversy hereabouts in recent weeks is the Red Sox' obvious belief -- based on the way they've played things -- that the difference between winning the division and making the playoffs as the wild card simply isn't very big. SI.com's Tom Verducci delves into the issue and points out that ''Teams have figured out that finishing in second place is no different than finishing first when it comes to their postseason chances. Wild-card teams are 26-20 in postseason series -- and in the past five years have accounted for more World Series appearances (six) and more world championships (three) than division winners (four pennants, two championships).'' His suggestion: Add a second wild card in each league -- and a play-in game between wild cards before the Division Series -- to make division races meaningful.
WELL, I LIKE IT: Ian O'Connor, writing on FoxSports.com, lauds the wild card, even if it did make his greatest baseball memory -- the Yankees' playoff win over the Red Sox in 1978 -- something that will never happen again.
A.L. RACES: Save for the wild-card battle, which is now a race in name only, the only thing left undetermined in the American League is playoff seeding. The Indians still have the best record in the league, by one-half game, after their 12-inning win in Seattle. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) The Angels fell a little farther off the pace as they lost to the Rangers; they're continuing to rest some of their regulars in preparation for the postseason. (Los Angeles Daily News) So the seedings now stand (if we count the Yankees as the wild card) Indians/Red Sox/Angels/Yankees, which means if the playoffs began today the matchups would be Boston vs. Los Angeles of Anaheim and Cleveland vs. New York, with the Indians getting to choose whether to play the seven-day or eight-day series. We'd assume they'd pick the eight-day, to maximize their use of C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, which means the Sox would be playing the Angels at Fenway on Thursday and Friday of next week before heading to Anaheim for games Sunday and Monday.
That's how it looks from this space today. It may look a whole lot different in 12 hours.
N.L. RACES: Quickly, since we're coming up on 8:30: The Mets lost to the Nationals (New York Daily News) . . . the Phillies lost to the Braves (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . the Cubs lost to the Marlins (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . the Brewers beat the Cardinals (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . the Diuamondbacks lost to the Pirates (Arizona Republic) . . . the Rockies beat the Dodgers (Denver Post) . . . and the Padres beat the Giants (San Diego Union-Tribune).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
THE STORY CONTINUES: Baseball is still abuzz over the Milton Bradley saga. FoxSports.com's Mark Kriegel thinks the incident is more proof that the umpires, after having been reigned in following the Richie Phillips resignation fiasco, are once again out of control and Mike Winters may have violated ''the integrity of the game'' if he did, indeed, bait Bradley into exploding. Kriegel's colleague Tracy Ringolsby reports Winters was scheduled to work the Padres' season-ending series in Milwaukee this weekend, but MLB may reassign him in light of the incident. Interesting juxtaposition of opinion between the two: Kriegel thinks Winters is more to blame, and Ringolsby blames Bradley. As for Bradley, the San Diego Union-Tribune's Chris Jenkins says the Padres ''wouldn't be just wrong to even consider bringing him back. They'd be crazy.'' He also notes that the unbelievable line that now describes him -- Milton Bradley, injured in mid-tantrum, ejected from game, awaiting suspension -- perfectly encapsulates his troubled career.
PLAYING FOR MORE THAN A POSTSEASON BERTH: Charlie Manuel may need for the Phillies to make the playoffs to keep his job. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
NOT HIM, THOUGH: No matter where the Brewers finish, manager Ned Yost will be back in 2008. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
DECISION MADE? New Pirates general manager Neal Huntington says he will decide manager Jim Tracy's fate in ''a timely manner,'' which may mean Tracy is out. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
QUICKLY: Andruw Jones says he wants to know soon if the Braves intend to attempt to re-sign him; otherwise, he says he'll move on. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) The problem is that Jones' agent, Scott Boras, never does anything quickly, so even if the Braves tell Jones they want him back Boras will probably be shopping Jones around until December or January . . . He's already started, telling the San Jose Mercury News he ''doesn't see how'' the Giants won't bid on Jones . . . The Detroit News' Rob Parker won't be surprised if Gary Sheffield retires . . . Ozzie Guillen says Barry Bonds isn't on his 2008 wish list, but he's not sure if White Sox GM Kenny Williams feels the same way (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Orioles reliever Danys Baez, who is undergoing ligament-transplant surgery, won't return until 2009 (Baltimore Sun) . . . The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's John Hickey thinks there's a chance the Giants may trade Barry Zito to the Mariners this winter . . . George Brett says he doubts he'd be interested in the Royals' managing job because of the travel involved (Kansas City Star) . . . The Detroit Free Press' Jeff Meade wonders if 2006's success has given Jim Leyland innoculation against a pretty poor 2007 performance . . . Baseball Musing's David Pinto says that when it comes to their managers, the A's ''seems to have missed the part about rewarding success and punishing failure.''
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:50 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, September 25
THE TASK AT HAND: Sean McAdam examines five questions facing the Red Sox at the dawn of the season's final week. The unanswered, and unanswerable, question is what the Sox will do if faced with pulling out the stops to win the division. Turns out that many members of the current Boston organization were faced with that same decision in 1996 while with the Padres and they elected then to go for the title. (Boston Globe) Coincidentally or not, they got swept by the Cardinals in the first round. (baseball-reference.com) (Don't be fooled by the fact the Cardinals had the first two home games; back then baseball played a 2-3 schedule in the division series, with the team that had home-field advantage hosting the final three.) Of course, the Padres' N.L. West competitors, the Dodgers -- who pulled Ramon Martinez after one inning of the winner-take-the-West season finale in order to get themselves ready for the playoffs -- also got swept. So take from all that what you will.
FROM THE SOURCE: The 'new' Curt Schilling (above, AP Photo) takes the mound tonight in what will probably be his final start before the postseason, his transformation from power to finesse almost completed. The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes has a profile of Schilling, who also took to 38pitches.com last weekend to congratulate himself and his teammates for making the postseason, gently chide those who thought they wouldn't make it (though I don't know of anyone who felt they wouldn't qualify for the postseason at the least), and give his opinion on postseason awards. The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley says pay attention, because October is Schilling's time of year.
OVERLOOKED: No one's paying much attention to the fact that Terry Francona is the first manager in Red Sox history to get his team to the postseason three times, but his players are. (Boston Herald)
DEJA VU: Fred Lynn says Jacoby Ellsbury's late-season success, similar to the success he enjoyed as a September callup in 1974, may make it easier for him next year. (Boston Herald) In Lynn's case, he went on to become the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP in 1975.
STIFLING: The passion of Red Sox Nation reminds Tim Wakefield of Beatlemania . . . Wakefield being about the only member of the Sox who's actually old enough to remember Beatlemania. (Boston Globe) And, say the players, that's both a good and a bad thing.
YOU BEAT US TO IT: Geez, Tao, at least wait until we actually say thank you! (taoofstieb.blogspot.com)
Oh, by the way: Thanks.
FOR WHAT? For making the road to the A.L. East crown a little easier. The Blue Jays beat the Yankees in a makeup game yesterday at Yankee Stadium (New York Daily News), increasing the Sox' lead over the Yanks to two games with six to play. Since a tie does Boston no good -- by virtue of having won the season series, the Yankees would win the East if the teams finished tied for first -- the Red Sox need to beat out New York for the division title. The magic number now sits at five as we begin the final week of the regular season.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE: The Daily News' Bill Madden notes that being two games back instead of just one -- which is what the deficit would have been had the Yanks won yesterday -- seems amazingly different, which is why baseball is so unpredictable. Even Andy Pettitte, yesterday's losing pitcher, agrees. (New York Daily News)
EXPLAIN IT TO ME LIKE I'M FOUR YEARS OLD: I don't know when this yearly rookie hazing ritual took root in baseball. (New York Post) And I don't know why everyone thinks it's so funny.
PLAYING BY THE RULES: Both the Post's Joel Sherman and the Daily News' Mike Lupica say the Joba Rules have worked well for the Yankees.
HELLO? ANYBODY HOME? MSN.ca's John Brittain can't figure out why Blue Jays manager John Gibbons is riding ace Roy Halladay so hard in the waning days of a lost season.
A.L. RACES: The Angels lost ground in their bid to finish with the A.L.'s best record by losing to the Rangers. (Los Angeles Daily News) That race now stands Indians/Red Sox/Angels . . . It's almost over for the Tigers in the wild-card race as they lost to the Twins. (Detroit News) They'll be eliminated with their next loss, or the next Yankee win.
N.L. RACES: The Brewers beat the Cardinals (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Mets lost to the Nationals (New York Daily News) . . . The Padres lost to the Giants. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
CRIPPLING BLOWS: The Padres are going to have to make their final playoff push without two of their starting outfielders. Mike Cameron and Milton Bradley both went down with injuries Sunday (San Diego Union-Tribune), and while Cameron may be able to make it back if San Diego gets into the playoffs, Bradley is lost for the season. I'm sure you've all seen and heard the bizarre -- and unbelievable -- manner in which Bradley got hurt; ESPN's Jayson Stark says a player so important to his team can't afford to lose control the way Bradley did at such a crucial point of the year. But SI.com's Jon Heyman relates what Padres players said set Bradley off: Comments from umpire Mike Winters that, if true, demand disciplinary action from MLB. Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, who heard the whole thing, may be a key witness in the MLB investigation. (Denver Post)
ANOTHER LOSS: The Brewers will have to try and catch the Cubs in the N.L. Central without starting catcher Johnny Estrada. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
'TWO DIFFERENT TEAMS': Jeff Kent's broadside at the Dodgers' younger players the other days was expounded on by old friend Derek Lowe, who says the L.A. clubhouse has almost split into 'two different teams' because of ''young players thinking they are bulletproof . . . walking around believing they don't have to listen to anybody.'' (Los Angeles Times) In that context, the Dodgers' disintegration in the N.L. West and wild-card races becomes a little easier to understand.
WILL HE PART OF THE SOLUTION? Orioles pitching coach Leo Mazzone tells USA Today's Hal Bodley that the team's pitching was pretty good until injuries hit, proving the organization needs more pitching depth to compete in the A.L. East. Whether or not Mazzone is there to help build the depth is an open question; he was a hire (and best friend) of deposed manager Sam Perlozzo, and new baseball operations chief Andy MacPhail may want to bring in a new staff.
GOING FOR IT: The Braves' Chipper Jones would like to win his first batting title. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) The Tigers' Magglio Ordonez has the lead in the A.L. race, but he's hurting. (Detroit Free Press)
WHERE TO GO, WHERE TO GO . . . SI.com's Jon Heyman handicaps potential 2008 landing spots for Barry Bonds.
RIGHT HERE!: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Dave O'Brien thinks the Braves should bring back Tom Glavine.
QUICKLY: Marlins pitching coach Rick Kranitz has left the team over what sources say is a salary dispute (Palm Beach Post) . . . Giants third baseman Pedro Feliz is a free agent at the end of the season and is looking for a multiyear deal (San Francisco Chronicle). If the Alex Rodriguez domino falls it could be a wild winter of third-base musical chairs in the majors, and Feliz may benefit; he could get what he's looking for from one of the teams which loses out in the bidding for high-profile stars like A-Rod and Mike Lowell . . . The Marlins are expected to see who's interested in Dontrelle Willis (Palm Beach Post) . . . The Twins' Rondell White is all but certain to retire (St. Paul Pioneer Press) . . . Phillies GM Pat Gillick says says he's retiring at the end of next year. (Philadelphia Daily News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:09 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, September 24
SLIDING IN: The Red Sox this morning sit exactly where they sat when we last spoke three mornings ago: On top of the A.L. East, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees with a one-game lead in the loss column. But one difference is that there are three fewer games left to play, which is big at this time of year. Another, far more important, difference is that they've clinched a spot in the postseason, thanks to Saturday night's win against the Devil Rays. (projo.com) So now, says Sean McAdam, comes the balancing act they'll have to perform in the season's final week: Prepare for the grind of the postseason while still attempting to win enough games to finish ahead of the Yankees for first place in the A.L. East, and finish ahead of the Indians and Angels for best record in the A.L. They took a step backward in both races yesterday -- despite another stolen base from Jacoby Ellsbury (above, AP Photo) -- with a 5-4 loss in the series finale at Tampa Bay, as Tim Wakefield continued his worrisome stumble to the finish line. (projo.com)
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WANT AND NEED: That's how the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley describes the Sox' quest for the A.L. East title: Yes, they'd like it, but they don't need it . . . and they certainly don't need it if it means hurting their chances in the postseason.
WHO CARES WHAT I NEED? THIS IS WHAT I WANT!! If Terry Francona was listening to his fan base, winning the division would be a bigger priority. (Boston Herald)
BUT AT WHAT COST? Optimally, the Sox would have their full lineup available for the final week and beyond. But there's still no real return date for either Manny Ramirez or Kevin Youkilis. (projo.com)
PASSING THE AUDITION: September callup Bryan Corey may be pitching his way onto the postseason roster. (Boston Globe)
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE! The youngest members of the Devil Rays hate it when Red Sox and Yankee fans take over Tropicana Field when their teams come to visit. (St. Petersburg Times)
THE LEGEND OF JOBA: Joba Chamberlain continues to pitch his way into the hearts of the denizens of Yankee Universe. Yesterday he recorded his first save as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays. (New York Daily News)
RULES, SCHMULES: When playoff time comes, Mike Mussina says the Joba Rules have got to go. (New York Post)
STILL ON THE PAD: The ailing Roger Clemens (hamstring) has been pushed back another day in the rotation, meaning Andy Pettitte will start tonight against Toronto. (New York Post)
LAY OFF HIM: Joe Torre's bullpen usage has attracted criticism from many quarters -- including this one -- but he has a defender in SI.com's Tom Verducci.
CAN YOU SPELL T-A-M-P-E-R-I-N-G? Alex Rodriguez and his agent, Scott Boras, claim to know nothing about a New York magazine report that Boras has already spoken with the prospective new owners of the Cubs about a 10-year, $300 million contract for potential free-agent-to-be A-Rod, a deal that includes eventual ownership stake in the franchise. (Newsday) To read the magazine piece (written by Deadspin.com's Wil Leitch), click here.
A.L. RACES: The traditional races are over, as the Angels clinched the West by finally beating the Mariners (Riverside Press-Enterprise) and the Indians clinched the Central by beating the A's (Akron Beacon-Journal). The newer race, for the wild card, is virtually over, though the Tigers' heart is still beating -- barely -- after they beat the Royals yesterday. (Detroit Free Press) The hidden race, for playoff seeding, will rage on all week; at the moment, the Red Sox, Indians and Angels are separated by a half-game with the Yankees lurking on the outside.
N.L. RACES: It's an alternate universe in the National League. No one is in, and seven teams remain within 3 1/2 games of a playoff spot. The Mets are breathing easier in the East; they beat the Marlins yesterday (New York Post) and now head back to New York for the final week of the season with a 2 1/2-game lead because the Phillies lost to the Nationals in Washington. (Philadelphia Inquirer) The Phils are still only a half-game out in the wild-card scrum because the Padres lost their third straight to the Rockies yesterday (San Diego Union-Tribune), which pulled Colorado to within 1 1/2 games in that same wild-card race. (Denver Post) And the Braves are still alive, as well, as they moved to 3 1/2 back of San Diego by beating the Brewers. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) It was a loss Milwaukee manager Ned Yost blamed on the umpires (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), which could be frustration talking . . . and that could be because the Cubs won yesterday, increasing their lead over the Brewers to 3 1/2 and dropping their magic number for clinching the Central to four. (Chicago Sun-Times) In the West, meanwhile, the Diamondbacks couldn't take advantage of the Padres' stumble as they lost to the Dodgers (Arizona Republic), keeping their lead at 2 1/2.
Phew. Got that?
If not, you can click here for the division standings and click here for the wild-card standings. (projo.com)
HERE'S WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal handicaps how things will shake down in the National League.
IT'S OVER: Even before the weekend began, SI.com's John Donovan said the Brewers were finished.
ROLL OUT THE BARREL: Fans in Milwaukee want the Brewers to bring back the mug that Bernie Brewer used to slide into to celebrate every home run by the home team. (New York Times)
WHEN THE GAMES GOT BIG, THEY CAME UP SMALL: FoxSports.com's Kevin Hench looks at the players who choked down the stretch.
A MAN OF PRINCIPLES: Felipe Alou works for the Giants, so he didn't think it was right to travel to nearby Miami to watch son Moises play the Marlins yesterday even though Moises was riding a hitting streak that he extended to 27 games and the Mets were battling for a division title. (New York Times) ''It’s kind of awkward when you’re working for another team, even if it’s your son,'' Felipe said.
LET THE BIDDING BEGIN: On Friday it was announced that Barry Bonds won't be returning to the Giants in 2008. (San Francisco Chronicle) The words had barely reached cyberspace when Rangers manager Ron Washington said he'd be interested in Bonds playing for Texas. (Dallas Morning News)
THE END? It's possible Andruw Jones played his last game in Atlanta yesterday. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
COOPERSTOWN, HERE I COME: The next time he whiffs, Ryan Howard will set the major-league record for strikeouts in a single season (Philadelphia Inquirer), a record set just three years ago by Adam Dunn. MLB.com notes the Howard put on a late charge to overtake Dunn; so far he's struck out 35 times in September.
NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES DO I SEE: Joe Maddon thinks the Devil Rays are right on the cusp of not only being competitive, but of becoming a model franchise. (St. Petersburg Times)
AND HERE'S HOW THOSE SKIES ARE GOING TO TURN BLUE: By overpaying for many free agents, preferably clients of Scott Boras. At least that's the only road to success for the Rays that Boras can see. (St. Petersburg Times)
DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DID: Astros interim manager (and former Red Sox first baseman) Cecil Cooper gets animated on the subject of walks -- specifically, his pitchers walking opposing batters -- because ''[we] can't defend if a guy walks . . . Walks fuel rallies.'' (Houston Chronicle) Interesting comments from a man whose lone weakness during a prominent big-league career was that he didn't walk enough, keeping his lifetime on-base percentage at a so-so .337 despite a sterling career batting average of .298.
TOBACCO ADDICTION: Terry Francona -- who lost Larry Lucchino's challenge to refrain from chewing tobacco this season -- and Curt Schilling are mentioned in this interesting story from the Newark Star-Ledger about how many players are addicted to snuff. Our own Steven Krasner did an award-winning series on the dangers of tobacco in baseball about 10 years ago.
QUICKLY: With the Tigers needing the miracle of miracles to overtake the Yankees and get into the playoffs, they've decided to play it safe with Jeremy Bonderman (Detroit News) . . . Mark Buerhle is also shutting it down for the season, and the Chicago Sun-Times says it's because he won a bet with the White Sox: If he nabbed a bear on a hunt with teammates Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski, he wouldn't have to pitch again. He did, and the Chisox kept their word . . . The Tigers may have interest in Miguel Tejada if the Orioles decide to move him (Detroit News) . . . The Pirates reportedly will name Neil Huntington as their new general manager (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . C.J. Wilson is making his pitch to be the Rangers' closer (Dallas Morning News) . . . Jay Mariotti is proud that the Columbia Journalism Review detailed the kind of Bush administration-like smear campaign professional sports franchises (like the White Sox) administer against journalists (like him) (Chicago Sun-Times).
OLD FRIENDS: Ex-NESN announcer Debbie Wrobleski, now known as Debbie Taylor, will be back with the Nationals' television broadcast crew next season in the Tina Cervasio role. (Call of the Game blog)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:49 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, September 21
| THE FUTURE IS NOT NOW: That was the headline over our newspaper package this morning, which asserts that -- contrary to conventional wisdom -- playing well in September is no guarantee of October success. Sean McAdam points out that the 2006 World Series champion Cardinals, the 2006 American League champion Tigers and the 2005 World Series champion White Sox each limped to the finish line, but all was forgotten by the time the November victory parades rolled around. Allan Wood goes a bit deeper with the same thesis on the Joy of Sox blog.
How this applies to things locally should be self-evident. |  Illustration by Frank Galasso |
ANOTHER MYTH BITES THE DUST: Another tenet of conventional wisdom is that Red Sox Nation is in a panic over the team's sag and the Yankees' surge. But projo.com reporter Mike McKinney actually went out and talked to people and finds that it ain't necessarily so.
ON THE OTHER HAND . . . This sunshine-and-lollypop talk is all well and good, say the veteran columnists, but the Globe's Bob Ryan thinks the Sox rank fourth of four among the A.L. playoff teams at the moment. And our own Jim Donaldson thinks Theo Epstein will have some 'splainin to do when this is all over. (projo.com)
GOING FOR TWENTY: Only one native-born Texan has ever won 20 games for the Red Sox. (And no, it's not Roger Clemens. He was born in Ohio.) Tonight in Tampa Bay, Josh Beckett has the chance to join Tex Hughson in that exclusive club. (Boston Herald)
PICK YOUR POISON: No matter where they finish, the Red Sox have only two potential first-round opponents: The Angels or the Indians. The Boston Herald's Michael Silverman examines both potential matchups and says the experts think the Sox should want to face Cleveland, rather than Los Angeles of Anaheim, in the first round. One of the reasons: The Angels are Kryptonite to the Yankees' Superman, and LA of A could do Boston a favor by ousting New York while the Sox played the Indians.
AND YOURS: The New York Post's George King did his own survey to handicap the Yankees' playoff chances, and that conclusion was the same: The Yanks should want to face the Indians in the first round.
ADD ONE MORE VOICE TO THE CHORUS: That would be FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, who thinks the Red Sox are enhancing their chances of postseason success by focusing on the big picture and not making a no-holds-sprint to the division title.
AND YET ANOTHER COUNTY HEARD FROM: The Angels are another team more worried about getting their house in order for the postseason than burning out their regulars in a quest for regular-season glory. (Los Angeles Daily News)
THE OTHER SIDE: Chad Finn, though, isn't so sure he can accept with his head what seems wrong in his heart. (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
GETTING CLOSE TO HOME? ESPN.com reports the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston said a St. Louis company admitted distributing human growth hormone to athletes and entertainers, and agreed to pay a $10.5 million fine and to cooperate with investigators. Among the people who allegedly received HGH were ''a 'well-known' athlete in Massachusetts" and a ''6-foot-5, 276 [pound] . . . entertainer/athlete,'' according to a report in the New York Daily News.
HAPPY BOSS: Brian Cashman says the Yankee turnaround has made George Steinbrenner ''better.'' (New York Post) Than what?
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? Goose Gossage thinks the Yankees would be crazy to take Joba Chamberlain out of the bullpen. (New York Times)
I WANNA COME BACK! Bobby Abreu would love to return to the Yankees, but the team gets to make that call and its giving no indication as to whether or not it will pick up his option. (The Journal News)
A.L. RACES: The Angels moved a half-game ahead in the race for best record in the A.L. -- and a step away from formalizing an A.L. West title they grabbed hold of weeks ago -- with a 9-5 win over the Mariners marred by two beanballs aimed at Vladimir Guerrero, which led to a bench-clearing incident and the ejections of Seattle pitcher Jorge Campillo and manager John McLaren. (Los Angeles Daily News) The Mariners -- who were shocked, shocked I tell you, at the notion they were intentionally throwing at Guerrero (who had homered after the first up-and-in pitch, then was thrown at in his next at-bat) -- say the pitches merely got away. (Seattle Post-Intellinger) Whatever. In any case, their penance will probably be having to watch a team celebrate winning the division at their expense for the second straight year, since the Angels will clinch the West with a victory in any one of the next three games in the series. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Last year they were the opponent when Oakland won the West.
N.L. RACES: Now this is getting good.
Right around the same time the Phillies were finishing off the Nationals in Washington (Philadelphia Inquirer), the Mets -- as the New York Post so daintily put it -- were choking on Fish. Marlin, that is. The Mets had gone ahead in the top of the ninth, but blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the inning (closer Billy Wagner was unavailable because of back spasms) and then lost it in the 10th. Philadelphia now trails by 1 1/2 as the Mets lost their sixth of the last seven, but that's not the half of it. The Post's Mark Hale noted that in six of those seven games, New York has blown five multi-run leads. The Post's Mike Vaccaro says last night might have been the worst of all, and he's probably right. Willie Randolph has tried to maintain his composure during this stretch, but the Daily News' Filip Bondy says it's getting tougher and tougher. In addition, SI.com's Jon Heyman reports the Mets brass is starting to get dissatisfied with Randolph.
The Mets, however, have an unlikely fan: Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning. Bunning, who was pitching for the Phillies when they collapsed historically in 1964, says he never wants to see another team go through what he and his teammates suffered that year. (New York Post)
In other games with race implications, the Rockies beat the Dodgers (Denver Post), the Padres beat the Pirates (San Diego Union-Tribune) and the Brewers lost to the Braves. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
I'LL MISS YOU . . . A LITTLE: Most people think Washington's RFK Stadium is a dump and are glad the Nationals will have a new park next year. The Washington Post's Thomas Boswell agrees, but can't deny RFK holds 46 years of wonderful memories for him.
THE NEW SHERIFF: The Astros selected Ed Wade as their new general manager. (Houston Chronicle) Baseball Musing's David Pinto isn't sure what to think: In 2004 he defended the job Wade was doing as Phillies GM, but in 2005 he agreed with Philadelphia's decision to fire Wade.
QUICKLY: If the Orioles bring Miguel Tejada back next year, they're probably going to shift him off shortstop to another position, third base most likely (Baltimore Sun) . . . Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi plans to keep his team intact this offseason and that suits Roy Halladay just fine (Canadian Press) . . . The Rockies' Matt Holliday has become an MVP candidate and one of the reasons is batting tips he received from Mark McGwire (Denver Post) . . . Hope for Twins fans: Johan Santana, who becomes a free agent at the end of next season, has bought a luxury home in Minnesota. (St. Paul Pioneer-Press)
OLD FRIENDS: Looks like folks in Los Angeles are beginning to regard Grady Little the same way many do in Boston. (SI.com)
WHY, IN MY DAY . . . First sign of age: Ranting and raving about the kids of today. The Dodgers' Jeff Kent is getting old. (Los Angeles Daily News)
(Second sign of age: Remembering when the old coot delivering the screed was a young buck himself. That's me.)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:57 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, September 20
HARD TO SWALLOW: Last night on this very blog -- and this morning in the newspaper -- I noted it was the obvious the Red Sox had decided on a course of action that was probably 180 degrees contrary to the wishes of their fan base: That they weren't going to jeopardize their long-term playoff chances for the sake of holding off the Yankees and winning the division. Their use of Eric Gagne on Tuesday night was the tipoff; rather than hustle him out of there when the inning began to disintegrate, as you'd expect in a must-win game, the Sox left him in because it was a situation in which they need him to succeed in the postseason. The fact that the game went sailing out the window was secondary to the lesson they said they needed to learn.
And so it was last night that, on Daisuke Matsuzaka's night to pitch, Clay Buchholz was on the mound because the Sox were a) trying to get Matsuzaka some rest and b) trying to set up their rotation for the postseason. That Coco Crisp, who probably could have played if he absolutely had to, didn't. That Kevin Youkilis, who might have been able to play if the season was on the line, didn't. That Manny Ramirez . . . . well, let's not go there. (projo.com) That Hideki Okajima is shut down because of fatigue. (projo.com) It's not quite Fort Myers, last week of March, but it's not what you'd expect from a team determined to finish first.
And so it is that their once-robust A.L. East lead is down to a single game in the loss column after another lifeless loss to the Blue Jays, this one by a 6-1 count. (projo.com) But as Sean McAdam notes, even if ''home-field advantage and the division title don’t mean much to the Red Sox, their downward spiral should.'' They've now lost four in a row, tying their season-high losing streak, and five of their last six, but it's not so much that they're losing; it's how. Last night's biggest concern, aside from the ongoing problem of the popgun offense, was the grand slam allowed by Jonathan Papelbon (above, CP Photo) in the eighth inning, continuing a bullpen breakdown that has negated the team's biggest strength. The relievers have a 6.20 ERA over the last eight games, and Papelbon himself has allowed five inherited runners to score in his last two appearances.
The good news: They're still in first place. They have three games this weekend in Tampa. They come home for the final five games against two moribund out-of-division foes (Oakland and Minnesota). There really isn't any reason for lines to be forming at the Tobin Bridge.
And maybe they wouldn't be if, as the Globe's Gordon Edes notes, the Yankees weren't involved.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS The Sox' decision to play it the way they're playing it makes sense since, as Allan Wood points out on his Joy of Sox blog, it's almost mathematically impossible for the Red Sox to miss the playoffs.
IN AGREEMENT: And writing on the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham lends his voice from the other side of the aisle: ''You work to enter the postseason in the best shape possible. For the Yankees, winning the division is almost totally insignificant. They will be judged on whether they get to the World Series. If they win the division and lose in the first round, it’s a disaster.''
HOWEVER . . . As Edes says, it's the Yankees charging up from the rear . . . and for Red Sox Nation, that always makes it worse. They completed their three-game sweep of the Orioles last night (New York Post), with Andy Pettitte notching his 200th career win. (New York Daily News)
NOT ALL IS WELL: Alex Rodriguez is in a 3-for-29 slump, though the Yanks obviously have found ways to win without getting much of a contribution from him. (New York Post)
A.L. RACES: Au revoir, Tigers. The Indians yesterday completed a three-game sweep of Detroit that all but assured them of the A.L. Central title (Akron Beacon Journal). Tigers manager Jim Leyland crowned the Tribe, saying, ''They're going to be the Central Division champions, obviously.'' (Detroit Free Press) The Free Press' Michael Rosenberg writes the post-mortem, trying to explain how the defending American League champions failed in their quest not only to repeat, but even to get the chance to repeat. It's good news for the Red Sox, obviously, since the Tigers' collapse is going to get them into the playoffs, but that was the only good news for Boston yesterday. The Indians' win meant the Sox fell behind Cleveland in the race for best record in the American League. They also fell behind the Angels, who completed a sweep of Tampa Bay. (Los Angeles Times)
GOOD HIT, NO FIELD: Vladimir Guerrero's bad arm may limit him to DH duties in the postseason. (Los Angeles Times)
N.L. RACES: The Cubs beat the Reds (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Mets beat the Nationals (New York Post) . . . The Phillies lost to the Cardinals in 10 innings (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Brewers lost to the Astros (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Diamondbacks beat the Giants (Arizona Republic) . . . The Padres beat the Pirates with a walkoff, three-run homer from Scott Hairston (San Diego Union-Tribune).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
DON'T JUST STAND THERE, DO SOMETHING! There are those in Met Nation -- including some players -- who'd like to see more emotion from Willie Randolph in light of the team's recent struggles. But the New York Sun's Tim Marchman says ''[yelling] at grown men is stupid and counterproductive.''
MY PAL: Joe Torre, who had Randolph on his coaching staff for many years with the Yankees, feels Willie's pain. (New York Post)
TWINS: SI.com's Jon Heyman says the Mets and Red Sox have turned into each other, and that's not a good thing.
WORST NIGHTMARE: A hamstring injury may force the Brewers to head down the stretch without Ben Sheets. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
WELCOME BACK: Skip Caray has returned to the Braves' broadcast booth after missing several weeks because of congestive heart failure. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
BRAINIACS: Padres pitcher Greg Maddux and A's GM Billy Beane run 1-2 in an SI.com poll of MLB players in which they were asked to name the smartest people in baseball.
QUICKLY: Free-agent-to-be Torii Hunter says he's given a lot of thought to playing with the Rangers (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) . . . Albert Pujols' season might be over because of a strained left calf (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Vicente Padilla's days with the Rangers may be over (Dallas Morning News) . . . Troy Percival thinks he can still pitch and would like to do so for a West Coast team next year. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:12 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, September 19
 | TOPIC FOR TODAY: If your travels take you out of range of talk radio -- any talk radio, anywhere in New England -- allow me to provide this public service. The focus will be summed up in two words:
Eric. Gagne. With "Terry Francona, Managerial Decisions Of" as a prominent subtext. What you'll hear from the fans regarding Gagne (left, CP Photo) was articulated as well as anyone by Dan Lamothe on his Red Sox Monster blog. |
And that sigh of relief you hear is from Foxboro, since it appears Gagne and Francona have managed to finally place Videogate on a back burner.
SO WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED? Sean McAdam has the details of a crushing 4-3 loss in Toronto that got away when the Red Sox -- attempting to get Gagne ready for his anticipated postseason role of eighth-inning bridge to Jonathan Papelbon -- stuck with what we media types would call "the embattled reliever" through a two-out, five-batter implosion that went walk/single/walk/walk/double, allowing three Toronto runs to score. Sean quotes Francona as saying he left Gagne in because ''that’s (Gagne’s) inning to get out of. There are a lot of long-term reasons to keep him out there and have success,'' an indication the Sox are still thinking big picture at a time when the division title is very much in play. There is, as you would expect, much angst in Red Sox Nation over this philosophy -- especially since it's the despised Yankees making the charge to the top -- but the Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti says the Sox ''are in tune-up mode with regard to the postseason . . . [They] are not about to sacrifice potential postseason success simply so they can say they won the division.'' Since any postseason success they will have depends on Gagne succeeding in the role he was in last night, Francona's decision becomes more understandable.
MORE BIG PICTURE STUFF: One of the reasons Clay Buchholz is pitching tonight is because the Red Sox are lining up their pitching for the playoffs. (projo.com) Buchholz is rested and, he says, ready to go. (Boston Herald) Speaking of pitching and the playoffs, Jim Donaldson doesn't think the Sox have enough of it to win in the postseason. (projo.com)
INTERESTING TAKE: Gagne seemed to be overthrowing as the inning progressed last night, which led to a loss of command, and Alex Cora, who was a teammate of Gagne's in Los Angeles (where Gagne was as dominant a reliever as ever pitched), thinks he knows why. Gagne, he points out, hasn't had to deal with failure very much in his career which led him to get ''away from certain things that make him successful.'' (Boston Herald)
GUTTING IT THROUGH: The Red Sox' lineup is depleted -- Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis and Coco Crisp are all on the sidelines -- so David Ortiz is playing through knee pain that normally would keep him on the bench. (Boston Herald)
STILL HURTING: Ramirez is still feeling pain from the injury to his oblique muscle and isn't ready to get back in the lineup. (Boston Globe)
MEANWHILE . . . everything's coming up roses in Yankee Universe. The previously declared dead Mike Mussina stifled the Orioles -- not that that's a big trick, but it seemed beyond Moose's capabilities not so long ago -- and the Yank offense continued its obliteration of substandard pitching in a 12-0 win that pulled them to within 2 1/2 games of the Red Sox. (New York Post) How well are things going for them now? Even Doug Mientkiewicz is chipping in. (New York Daily News) YU is intoxicated with the notion of overtaking the Red Sox, but the New York Post's Jay Greenberg says that shouldn't be their first priority; now that the playoffs are all but assured, the Yanks need some rest before the postseason starts, and they shouldn't empty the tank in an effort to catch, and then hold off, Boston.
DESPITE ALL THAT . . . the Red Sox are still No. 1 in SI.com's Power Rankings.
ET TU, COWBOY? Kevin Millar, of all people, says the Yankees are the team to beat. (New York Daily News)
ANTICLIMACTIC ENDING: Preliminary versions of the 2008 schedule have the Yankees closing the regular season in Boston on Sept. 28, meaning the final regular-season game in Yankee Stadium history -- the new stadium should be ready for Opening Day 2009 -- won't be the last game of the year. (New York Daily News) Yankee officials were surprised, since they assumed they'd be closing the season at home and, according to the Daily News, ''had planned a host of festivities around the event.'' But an MLB executive noted that the Mets also are opening a new stadium in 2009 and therefore will be playing their last game at Shea in 2008. Since the New York teams can't be home at the same time, one of them would have to be away the final weekend.
A.L. RACES: The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto has declared the A.L. Central race to be over, and it probably is after the Indians increased their lead over the Tigers to 6 1/2 games with another come-from-behind win over the reeling Tigers (Akron Beacon Journal) The Detroit Free Press' Michael Rosenberg writes the Tigers' obituary in both the division and wild-card races, and he's probably right, too; Detroit's now five games behind the Yankees in the loss column and the teams appear headed in completely opposite directions. The Indians' focus now should be securing the best record in the American League, and they're tied with the Red Sox and Angels in the loss column. Los Angeles of Anaheim kept pace with Cleveland, and gained on Boston, with another one-run win over Tampa Bay. (Los Angeles Daily News)
END OF THE LINE? It appears that wherever the Angels go this postseason they'll have to get there without Bartolo Colon, who apparently has played his last game for LA of A. (Los Angeles Times)
N.L. RACES: Normally we just link to the stories of playoff-important games, but the Mets' collapse deserves some notice. They lost their fifth straight last night as they blew a 7-3 lead in their 9-8 loss to the Nationals (New York Post), and the Phillies are now only 1 1/2 games back after they beat the Cardinals in 14 innings. (Philadelphia Inquirer) And FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says don't listen to the be-calm/all-is-well bleatings of Willie Randolph; the Mets, he asserts, are in real trouble.
As for the rest of it, the Brewers beat the Astros (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel); the Dodgers lost a doubleheader to the Rockies (Los Angeles Times), all but eliminating them from the playoff chase in both the N.L. West and the wild card; the Cubs lost to the Reds (Chicago Tribune); the Diamondbacks beat the Giants (Arizona Republic), and the Padres beat the Pirates (San Diego Union-Tribune).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: Even if they hold on, the Mets may not have Orlando Hernandez for the playoffs. (New York Daily News)
HERE'S THE REASON: Astros manager Cecil Cooper called commissioner Bud Selig to explain why Houston is starting three rookie pitchers in its series against the Brewers. (Houston Chronicle) Apparently, some members of the Cubs' front office -- Chicago is battling Milwaukee for the N.L. Central title -- complained.
WE LIKEY: Fans in Milwaukee have flocked to Miller Park in record numbers this year as the team surged into contention. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
QUICKLY: Carlos Guillen says he's willing to move off shortstop but only if the Tigers get a Gold Glover to replace him, which -- as far as Guillen is concerned, at least -- would preclude Detroit's much-rumored acquisition of Jack Wilson (Detroit Free Press) . . . The Rangers were surprised at the length of Vicente Padilla's suspension for his role in Sunday's fight with Nick Swisher of the A's (Dallas Morning News) . . . And the Mets' Marlon Anderson was upset at his two-game suspension for arguing balls and strikes, and then flinging his helmet, Saturday night (Newsday) . . . The Brewers are trying to convince closer Francisco Cordero to re-sign with Milwaukee (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
OLD FRIENDS: David Wells says he'd consider retiring if he won a championship ring this year. With the way the Dodgers are going, it looks like he'll be back in 2008, at least if someone wants him (Los Angeles Times).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:38 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, September 18
BIG HURT: History is on their side (projo.com), but the Red Sox can't depend on history to carry them through the next two weeks. They were tired -- having arrived in Toronto at 4 a.m. after their Sunday night game with the Yankees -- and banged up and they looked it in last night's 6-1 loss to Toronto, which dropped their A.L. East lead to 3 1/2 games, the smallest its been since May 1. Frank Thomas (AP Photo, above) had the second three-home-run game of his career; the first was also against the Red Sox, 11 years ago, and it was also against Tim Wakefield. The Sox' hitters, meanwhile, were stifled by Dustin McGowan, whose complete-game five-hitter bore a striking resemblance to the masterpiece spun against them by Seattle's Felix Hernandez at Fenway Park on April 11. (Boston Herald) At least our friend the Tao of Steib is happy.
FUTURE PLANS: Sean McAdam reports the Red Sox will turn to Clay Buchholz to start Wednesday night's series finale, his first start since the Sept. 1 no-hitter against the Orioles. It's all part of a master strategy to set up the pitching rotation for the playoffs, with the additional benefit of getting Daisuke Matsuzaka a little extra rest. Down in the story McAdam also has disconcerting news on Kevin Youkilis, who doesn't feel any better after being hit on the hand by Chien-Ming Wang on Saturday -- and, even more worrisome, is being churlish about it; that's usually a bad sign with an injured player -- and who can't even have an MRI because the swelling hasn't yet gone down. If you're looking for Manny Ramirez to come riding to the rescue, don't; he won't play again until this weekend in Tampa at the earliest.
ANOTHER GOAL . . . is to get Eric Gagne ready for the postseason. (Boston Herald)
START THINKING ABOUT IT: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the Red Sox will have some interesting postseason decisions to make if they finish with the best record in the A.L. It's assumed they'd choose the eight-day ALDS if they get the choice, in order to force the Yankees to play the seven-day series; that would limit the number of times Joba Chamberlain could pitch and, theoretically, expose the Yankees' lack of pitching depth. But if the Sox play Cleveland in an eight-day series, it could mean facing C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona on full rest two times each, whereas they'd force the Indians to use one of them on three days' rest -- or use their fourth starter -- in the seven-game series.
NOT TO WORRY: Rosenthal's FoxSports.com counterpart, Dayn Perry, analyzes the landscape and concludes the Red Sox ''are clearly the class of baseball when it comes to having the kind of team that thrives in the postseason.''
CONGRATULATIONS: Our friend Don Orsillo will be broadcasting some postseason baseball on TBS, though it most likely won't be the Red Sox (projo.com). That means he'll miss the first round of Soxtober on NESN. I actually thought that was a pretty clever word choice by the network's creative folks, but it looks like the phrase was first used in Chicago in 2005. (susanasherself.blogspot.com)
JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU'VE SEEN IT ALL . . . you find out some guy is doing live blogging of Sox Appeal. I have to admit, though, it made me laugh.
TOP TEN OR BOTTOM TEN? The blog MLB Trade Rumors lists the top 10 trades of the last calendar year and the Sox-Rangers deadline line (Eric Gagne-for Kason Gabbard, David Murphy and Engle Beltre) comes in at No. 6 . . . in Texas' favor.
ROCKS OF AGES The New York Observer's Howard Megdal breaks down Sunday's showdown between old warhorses Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, and thinks both the Red Sox and Yankees ''had to be asking questions about what their once-great pitchers will have left for the postseason.''
BEST OF THE WORST: ESPN.com's Jonah Keri has both a Red Sox and a Yankee division in his list of 100 players you love to hate.
NARROWING IT DOWN: Chad Finn reserves his hate -- okay, his "strong dislike'' -- for the Yankees, and gives 26 reasons why. (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
GETTING CLOSER: I'm sure his hate didn't diminish one little bit after the Yankees beat the Orioles last night. (New York Daily News)
WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO . . . The Yanks have to decide whether or not Phil Hughes will make their postseason roster. (New York Daily News) But even if he doesn't make it, the New York Post's Kevin Kernan says Hughes and the other Yankee rookies have been the key to the season.
WAVE THE RED FLAG: You can't say a discouraging word about Derek Jeter in Yankee Universe, so the blog The Fantasy Baseball Generals had best be prepared for some incoming after putting forth the notion that Jeter is having the worst season of his career.
AND WAVE IT HARDER: Especially after Jeter set some Yankee history last night. (New York Daily News)
TWO SHOTS: The blog Vegas Watch lists Jeter and Robinson Cano among 10 players with a chance to hit .400 some season in their careers. The odds, however, are pretty long.
LOOKING BACK: Horace Clarke has become the player who most symbolizes the Yankees' decade in the wilderness from the mid-1960s to the mid-'70s. But he wasn't that bad a player -- good enough to play regularly for the Yanks for 10 years -- and his career is remembered in SABR's Baseball Biography Project.
A.L. RACES: The Indians may have driven a stake through the heart of the Tigers' playoff chances with a 6-5, 11-inning win at Jacobs Field (Akron Beacon-Journal). The Tigers, who had a 5-1 lead in the eighth, were devastated (Detroit News) . . . The Angels closed to within 1 1/2 games of the Red Sox in the race for the best record in the A.L. by beating Tampa Bay (Los Angeles Daily News).
N.L. RACES: The Cubs beat the Reds (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Phillies beat the Cardinals (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Brewers beat the Astros (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Nationals beat the Mets (New York Daily News) . . . The Giants beat the Diamondbacks (Arizona Republic) . . . The Padres beat the Pirates (San Diego Union-Tribune).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
HISTORY IN THE MAKING? The Times-Herald's Michael P. Geffner says the Mets may join the 1951 Dodgers and 2004 Yankees in pulling off one of the greatest chokes in New York baseball history.
TIME TO TALK: The Orioles' Jay Gibbons met with MLB officials over reports of his receiving a shipment of HGH and steroids. (Baltimore Sun)
QUICKLY: Orioles reliever Rob Bell goes public about his bouts with anxiety (680news.com) . . . Jeremy Bonderman might pitch again yet this year (Detroit News) . . . Carlos Zambrano thinks he'll get a warm reception tonight at Wrigley Field (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Cardinals' Mark Mulder may be done for the year (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Astros are closing on on a new GM (Houston Chronicle) . . . The Washington Times says it's time for the Nationals and Frank Robinson to kiss and make up.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:06 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, September 17
PROMISE OF OCTOBER: If the weekend was a glimpse of what awaits in a Red Sox-Yankees ALCS matchup next month, bring it on. Both teams have work to do before that can happen, of course -- foremost among them is simply making the playoffs, though the Sox are all but a lock and the Yanks are in charge of their own destiny -- but if the passion and intensity and drama and excitement of the last three days are what awaits, let's hope for both of them to make it. The series ended in the most thrilling way possible: A Mariano Rivera-David Ortiz showdown with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with the Yankees clinging to a 4-3 lead. Steven Krasner examines the at-bat pitch-by-pitch in his online-only version of Inside The Game, a battle Rivera won by inducing a pop to short center on a 2-and-2 pitch, clinching New York's victory. Still, as Joe McDonald reports in his online-only game recap, the Red Sox came away confident they'll hold onto their 4 1/2-game lead over the final two weeks. One of the reasons for that confidence: Curt Schilling's performance in his mano-a-mano showdown with Roger Clemens, recounted by Krasner in the newspaper version of Inside The Game. Schilling (above, Journal photo by Glenn Osmundson) wound up on the losing end, thanks to a three-run homer by Derek Jeter with two outs in the top of the eighth (New York Daily News); Rivera made it interesting at the end (New York Daily News) but the Yanks still managed to come out on top even though Joba Chamberlain allowed the first run of his major-league career (New York Post). And Jeter was the reason, coming through as he's done so many times in his career. (New York Post)
FAILING THE LESSON: In his fascinating account of the game and the series, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark relates Schilling's frustration at the Jeter homer, calling it part of his transformation into a non-power pitcher: ''That's not something I can do anymore. I can't overthrow the ball late in the game . . . This is an incredibly painful way to have to learn a lesson you've already learned and you already know."
ATTENTION, FALL-BALL TEAMS: Manny Ramirez wants to go somewhere to get some at-bats before returning to the Red Sox lineup, but, with the minor-league seasons over and the Instructional League not yet having begun, Terry Francona explained to him there's nowhere to go. Krasner tells the story in the newspaper version of the Red Sox journal, which also relates that the Sox plan to give Daisuke Matsuzaka some rest as they line up their postseason pitching rotation.
HURTING: As Ramirez gets ready to return, the Sox could be without Kevin Youkilis for a while. In his postgame, online-only Red Sox Journal, Krasner reports Youkilis has no feeling in his right thumb after being hit by Chien-Ming Wang pitch Saturday and doesn't know when he'll be able to play.
FASHION REPORT: The online-only Red Sox Journal also lists the strange outfits rookies were forced to wear in the team's yearly hazing ritual. Matsuzaka and his interpreter must have looked particularly fetching in their Teletubby garb.
THE ONE GOOD THING ABOUT LATE GAMES . . . is that you get interesting stories for early editions of the newspaper in lieu of game accounts. McDonald had one today, talking to Red Sox players about how important Jason Varitek is to the team no matter what he's hitting.
WHERE WAS YOUR HEAD, THEN? Jonathan Papelbon says his head ''wasn't really in the game" Friday night (New York Daily News) when he and Hideki Okajima combined to allow six runs in the eighth inning, turning a 7-2 Boston lead into an 8-7 New York victory. (projo.com) Papelbon was particularly flighty this weekend, as he also lost his cell phone; luckily for him, Bill Madden of the Daily News found it.
GET 'EM ALL: Since we've touched on the two Yankee wins in the series, let's also link to Sean McAdam's account of Josh Beckett's overpowering performance in Boston's triumph on Saturday. (projo.com)
K-ROD REVISITED: Alex Speier writes that Clay Buchholz 2007 could be a repeat of Francisco Rodriguez 2002. (Boston Herald)
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Seth Mnookin has taken up the cause of J.D. Drew, wondering why Drew could be still getting booed after going 3-for-8 with two walks in the first two games of the series, including 2-for-4 with a walk with runners in scoring position and two outs.
EARTH TO BERNIE . . . Well, apparently no messages are getting through because Bernie Williams still thinks he can play. (New York Daily News)
A.L. RACES: The Tigers are still in hailing distance of the Yankees in the wild-card race after beating the Twins (Detroit News) . . . The Angels lost to the White Sox (Riverside Press-Enterprise) and the Indians lost to the Royals (Cleveland Plain-Dealer), both missing a chance to gain ground on the Red Sox in the battle for the A.L.'s best record.
N.L. RACES: The Cubs beat the Cardinals (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Phillies beat the Mets (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Brewers beat the Reds (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . .And the Padres beat the Giants (San Diego Union-Tribune).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
DON'T LET GEORGE MITCHELL HEAR THIS: We think Brian Giles was kidding when he listed the reasons for his lack of power at home. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
NOT THERE YET: Jim Thome became the 23rd player in major league history to hit 500 home runs (Chicago Sun-Times), but ESPN.com's Rob Neyer thinks Thome needs to hit another 100 home runs before he can be considered a Hall of Famer. (espn.com)
QUICKLY: Orioles reliever Danys Baez has a partial tear in his right elbow and may miss the entire 2008 season. (Baltimore Sun)
AND FINALLY . . . Shelley Duncan thought it was good-natured fun. But a lot of people didn't think his autograph to a 10-year-old Red Sox fan was all that funny. (Both stories Boston Herald)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:58 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, September 14
It's a single-story day . . .
HERE WE GO: This is the weekend that will set the path for the final two weeks of the season. When it's over, the Red Sox will either have all but clinched the A.L. East title, still be on this safe-but-not-secure perch atop the division, or in a race for first place. And while the old hands in the Boston clubhouse continue to play the one-game-at-a-time, it's-no-more-important-than-any-other-series card, Joe McDonald reports the youngsters among them are pretty excited to see the Yankees coming to town. (projo.com) The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes points out that the Red Sox have not ''blinked, despite forecasts of folding/spindling/mutilating after they were swept three straight in Yankee Stadium at the end of August'' and enter this series with the same lead -- five games in the loss column -- that they had when they left New York three weeks ago. While the New York Post's George King says the series would mean a lot more ''if the Devil Rays [hadn't flushed] two games in Boston this week,'' the Daily News' Mike Lupica thinks this weekend, and the Sox-Yankees rivalry, still has some juice thanks to the way both teams have stood up to their various challenges this year. And baseball analysts like Rick Sutcliffe and Tim McCarver anticipate a great weekend at Fenway. (New York Post)
THE GREAT WHITE NORTH: The lead is five and not four because the Blue Jays scored a run in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Yankees 2-1 last night, ending New York's winning streak at seven games. (New York Daily News) Thanks to their awful start, games like last night's -- which really fall into the you-can't-win-'em-all category -- have a negative impact on the Yanks' postseason chances. (New York Post) Even so, the Yankees still have the division title in their sights and the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro says they should.
CHANCE FOR REDEMPTION: Daisuke Matsuzaka is being viewed warily by the locals because of his six-week slump, but those who knew him in Japan say games like tonight's -- in which he'll be pitching against Andy Pettitte, with a chance to set the tone for the rest of the weekend (and, indeed, the rest of the regular season) -- are the ones that built his reputation in Japan. (Boston Herald) But at the bottom of a Touching All The Bases blog entry that deals mostly with Bill Belichick and the Patriots, Chad Finn has ''a feeling we'll be seeing more of Kyle Snyder or Julian Tavarez tonight than we will Dice-K.''
IT'S DIFFERENT NOW: All season long, it was thought the Red Sox had the edge in starting pitching over the Yankees. But the New York Post's Joel Sherman doesn't think that's true anymore.
OFF-DAY CHAT: Curt Schilling had all but abandoned his 38pitches.com blog, so it was a surprise -- and a delight -- to get a long posting yesterday. He talks briefly about the upcoming series, but also gives his personal postseason awards, tells us about his fantasy football battle with Jon Meterperil of WEEI, and explains why he's no longer breaking down his performances on the blog after every game: ''I am changing just about everything I do, mentally and physically, to prepare and perform. A lot of it is new to me and a lot of it is and will be things that I am not comfortable putting out there.''
'IT NEVER HAPPENED': Joba Chamberlain says he lives in the present, and therefore the beanball incident with Kevin Youkilis last month -- in which he was ejected and suspended for throwing two pitches at Youkilis' head in the ninth inning of the series finale -- ''didn't happen to me. It's over with.'' (New York Daily News) Call me crazy, but I have a feeling the Fenway faithful will stir his memory of it this weekend. (Boston Herald)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:18 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, September 13
BLAST FROM THE PAST: It had been over a year since the Red Sox won a game with a walkoff home run -- last September 6, when current Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena turned the trick -- and even longer since they'd gotten a walkoff homer from David Ortiz, who seemed to be doing it every other day for a stretch last season. And, truth be told, if the Devil Rays had a more skilled right fielder than the clueless Delmon Young, they might still be waiting for one. But Young ran to the wrong spot, started doing a dizzying maypole dance, and never got a glove on a ball that landed one row into the right-field seats, giving Ortiz his first walkoff of 2007 (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach) and the Red Sox a much-needed victory, 5-4 over Tampa Bay. (projo.com) Ortiz -- who had hit a three-run homer earlier in the game, cutting the Rays' lead from 4-0 to 4-3 -- is getting the props this morning but it was the bullpen that really won it with 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. (projo.com) The relievers were summoned early because Jon Lester served up his first stinker in quite a while, struggling through 3 1/3 torturous innings. (projo.com)
SUPER MODEL: FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry puts forth the notion that the Red Sox ''are the model organization in [baseball] today.'' He lists six reasons why.
CAN'T SEE WHAT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU: Seth Mnookin says that it's gone almost completely unnoticed, but J.D. Drew is now the hitter the Red Sox thought they were signing. Yet he remains a target of Red Sox Nation, which irritates Jason Varitek; 'Tek says the fans don't know how much power they have and they could put that power to good use by cheering, and not booing, Drew. (Newburyport News)
MANY HAPPY RETURNS: The Japanese media following the Red Sox threw a birthday party for Daisuke Matsuzaka -- who turns 27 today -- and Dice-K promised them that, ''Next year will be a better birthday than this year.'' (Boston Herald) Tom Verducci thinks that if he wants to be wearing a World Series championship ring when his next birthday rolls around, the Red Sox had better give Matsuzaka some rest in the weeks ahead to get him ready for the postseason.
DEVILISHLY CLEVER: The Biz of Baseball reports that Tampa Bay will change its name to the ''Rays'' at season's end, jettisoning the ''Devil'' part.
HERE THEY COME: Last night's victory means the Sox will have at least a four-game lead in the loss column over the Yankees heading into this weekend's showdown; the Yanks, getting a surprisingly strong performance from Mike Mussina, won their seventh straight, 4-1 over the Blue Jays (New York Post) and will conclude their series in Toronto tonight while the Sox get the day off. On the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham writes the Yankees didn't seem to care one way or the other about Young's butchering of a catchable drive that handed the Sox a win, since they've been remarkably successful at eliminating outside distractions and focusing on the task at hand since the All-Star break.
(Everyone knows I'm a big fan of Abraham, but I have one quibble with this entry: Calling Ortiz' homer a "pop-up". The ball was hit 380 feet and was a no-questions-asked home run in every major-league park except Fenway; in Yankee Stadium, that's ball's well up into the third deck. Young should have caught it, no question, but it was no "pop-up".)
CANADIAN CLUB: The Blue Jays had a video of fans hitting Alex Rodriguez with a baseball on their center-field scoreboard last night, and Joe Torre thought it was a disgrace. (New York Daily News)
TODAY'S THE DAY: The Yankees should know today whether or not Roger Clemens will be able to start Sunday night at Fenway. (New York Post)
STARTING NINE: ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick lists nine players who need to step up in the season's final weeks. No Sox make the cut.
A.L. RACES: The Angels kept pace with the Red Sox in the quest for the A.L.'s best record by clobbering the Orioles. (Los Angeles Times) The Angels, however, are worried that center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. may not return from his sprained ankle in time for the playoffs (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Indians lost ground as they were beaten by the White Sox (Cleveland Plain-Dealer) . . . In the wild-card hunt, the Tigers beat the Rangers (Detroit News) . . . The Mariners finally won a game and aren't yet clinically dead. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
THE REAL STORY: Writing in the New York Sun, Jay Jaffe doesn't think the Mariners should be faulted for thei collapse. He thinks they should be lauded for staying in contention as long as they did.
N.L. RACES: Every game but one had playoff implications, as the Cubs beat the Astros (Chicago Tribune), the Dodgers beat the Padres (Los Angeles Times), the Mets beat the Braves (New York Post), the Pirates beat the Brewers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), the Diamonbacks beat the Giants (Arizona Republic), the Reds beat the Cardinals, handing St. Louis its sixth straight loss (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), and the Rockies beat the Phillies (Philadelphia Inquirer). (Despite last night's loss and the angst it spawned in Philadelphia, John Donovan lauds the Phils on SI.com.)
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
A CLOSER LOOK: SI.com's Jon Heyman examines the ups and downs of the races.
SELF-REFLECTION: John Smoltz admits the Braves ''aren't as good'' as the Mets, which is why they're 9 1/2 games behind them in the N.L. East. The Braves hope their flagging wild-card chances will get a boost Friday with the return of Chipper Jones. (Both stories Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
THE PAIN, THE PAIN: The Mets' Orlando Hernandez says his right foot still hurts, which throws New York's pitching plans into a state of flux. (New York Times)
MEMORIES: Mets fans will enjoy this collection of vintage radio clips from the old broadcast team of Lindsay Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner. (bobster1985.tripod.com)
STANDING OUT IN A CROWD: The Washington Post estimates there were no more than 400 people in attendance at yesterday's Marlins-Nationals game at Dolphins Stadium, and one of the 400 was so abusive to home-plate umpire Paul Schreiber that Schreiber had him thrown out.
QUICKLY: Puerto Rico no longer wants its players to be subject to the first-year draft (mlb.com) . . . Tom Glavine desperately wanted to return to Atlanta to end his career, but the Braves blew him off last winter. So he went back to the Mets. (New York Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Derek Lowe missed his start because of a contusion in his pitching hand and is, according to the Dodgers, day to day (Los Angeles Times) . . . Tim Naehring doesn't sound too pleased over being fired as the Reds' minor-league field coordinator. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:59 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, September 12
WOW: The scoreboard-watchers in Toronto (where the Yankees, who still have hopes of overtaking the Red Sox for the A.L. East title, were playing), Baltimore (where the Angels, who are chasing Boston for the best overall record in the league, were playing) and Chicago (where the Indians, who are also in the hunt for the best record, were playing) had to be heartened by the early returns from Boston last night. But happiness turned to shock and then disappointment as the Sox, who trailed 8-1 in the fourth inning, came back for a 16-10 win that kept their pursuers at bay, at least for another night. (projo.com) (Above, Julio Lugo congratulates David Ortiz after Ortiz' seventh-inning home run. Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach.) It was an important victory for the Sox, one Sean McAdam thinks may prove to be the most important of the season. One of the catalysts for the comeback was birthday boy Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston Herald); another was the little-used Kevin Cash. (Boston Globe) As for the Devil Rays, it seemed like old times (St. Petersburg Times), which was disheartening coming as it did on the heels of a 1-0 win Monday that they were touting as a playoff-like victory.
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? The NFL apparently is going to come down hard on the Patriots for stealing signs (projo.com), but such subterfuge is part of the game in baseball. Joe McDonald talks to some players who explain why.
LET'S GO! McAdam has the latest on the Sox possibly opening the 2008 season in Japan farther down in the notebook. Julio Lugo went to Japan at the start of the 2004 season with the Devil Rays and he'd love to go back. (Boston Herald)
SWEEPING THE POLLS: The Sox, who ranked No. 1 with SI.com yesterday, are still No. 1 in FoxSports.com's Power Rankings, as well.
THE BIGGEST NIGHTMARE IN YANKEE UNIVERSE: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman points out that, with the salaries of Curt Schilling, Matt Clement, Mike Lowell and Eric Hinske coming off the books, the Red Sox will have a ton of money to spend this offseason and ''there isn't a better fit for [Alex] Rodriguez'' in free agency than Boston.
HAPPIER THOUGHTS: YU can fixate on the present, where the Yanks made it six in a row by beating the Blue Jays. (New York Daily News) The news that Roger Clemens will probably start Sunday in Boston (New York Daily News) has got to make them happier than the knowledge that Mike Mussina will start tonight. (New York Post)
POSSIBLE, BUT NOT LIKELY: That's Larry Manhken's assessment of the Yankees' chances of overtaking the Red Sox in the A.L. East. (Replacement Level Yankees Weblog)
UNDECIDED: Despite being healthy and having a good season, Andy Pettitte is mulling retirement. (New York Daily News)
Q AND A WITH THE REAL BOSS: Brian Cashman sits down for an interview with Phil Allard of the The 10th Inning Journal. (wcbas880.com)
WHO'S THE IDIOT? People who say Johnny Damon stinks, that's who. Peter Abraham tells us why. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
A.L. RACES: The Tigers' 4-1 victory over the Rangers in the night game showed why they're still contenders for the A.L. wild card. Their 13-6 loss to Texas in the opener showed why they're long shots (Detroit Free-Press) . . . The Mariners' death rattle continues: They lost for the 15th time in the last 17 games, 7-4 to Oakland, and are only mentioned here because they're tied with the Tigers in the loss column (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) . . . They're important to the Red Sox only in that the Sox inch closer to a playoff spot with each of their losses; the magic number for Boston securing a postseason berth is now eight (magicnumbers.org) . . . As for the race for the A.L.'s best record, the status quo was maintained as the Angels beat the Orioles (Los Angeles Times) and the Indians beat the White Sox (Cleveland Plain-Dealer). Los Angeles of Anaheim's victory came at a price, however, as Gary Matthews Jr. suffered an ankle sprain and will miss at least five games (AP via projo,com).
N.L. RACES: Every game but one had playoff implications, as the Astros beat the Cubs (Chicago Sun-Times), the Braves beat the Mets (New York Post), the Brewers beat the Pirates (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), the Padres beat the Dodgers (San Diego Union-Tribune), the Giants beat the Diamondbacks (Arizona Republic), the Reds beat the Cardinals (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) and the Rockies beat the Phillies (Philadelphia Inquirer).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
ADVANTAGE, SAN DIEGO: SI.com's Tom Verducci thinks the Padres will benefit most from MLB's new, elongated postseason schedule.
WEIGHING HIS OPTIONS: When questioned by the local media to clarify his remarks in Tuesday's USA Today, when he said he might step down as Cardinals manager at the end of the year, Tony La Russa explained what would go into his decision to leave St. Louis. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
STAYING PUT: The White Sox last night extended Ozzie Guillen's contract through 2012. (Chicago Sun-Times)
GET READY FOR MORE: The New York Times reports that the names of 10 additional major league players may surface in the investigation that already has tied Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus and Jay Gibbons to performance-enhancing drugs.
JAY WHO? The Orioles didn't have much to say in support of, or condemnation of, Gibbons. In fact, they didn't say much of anything on the whole subject. (Baltimore Sun)
ON THE WAY OUT? Meanwhile, the Baltimore Examiner reports the Orioles may attempt to void the remainder of Gibbons' contract.
UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT: David Segui, who was linked to earlier steroids investigations, says HGH is not a performance-enhancing drug: ''It's completely separate from the steroid issue. It's a separate entity. Before people want to hang somebody by the toes, they need to know the facts.'' (Baltimore Sun)
DOUBLE STANDARD: SI.com's Jon Heyman wants to know why the baseball players implicated in the HGH scandal are catching such flak while Rodney Harrison, who admitted and was suspended for the same crime, is getting off far more lightly. My opinion: In baseball, the players refuse to admit using performance-enhancing drugs, or even to address the issue in any meaningful way, and MLB is perceived to be doing nothing save for random 50-game suspensions slapped on lower-minor-league unknowns. In the Harrison case, he was caught and punished. And then he apologized. I have no illusions that this problem is any less serious in football than it is in baseball -- I think quite the opposite is true, in fact -- but the perception, rightly or wrongly, is that the NFL has a stricter policy in place and is better policing its players. And American society will forgive almost anything if it's followed by an "I'm sorry.'' Baseball does itself absolutely no favors in the public eye with this shuck-and-duck, admit-nothing, pretend-it-doesn't-exist behavior, particularly on the part of the players. So when someone does get caught, or allegedly caught, a lot of pent-up wrath from frustrated media members/fans is going to fall on their head.
That's why, Jon.
THE NEW BALL FOUR: Indians pitcher Paul Byrd is a man of faith. And now he's writing what is being touted as ''a candid and graphic [book that looks] at how he has managed to remain true to his faith despite the pitfalls associated with a ballplayer's daily lifestyle.'' (Fanhouse)
SOLIDARITY: Actor Danny Glover went to last night's Yankees-Blue Jays game to lend his support to an effort to unionize concession workers at the Rogers Centre. (Toronto Star)
WHO KNEW? It turns out Devil Rays catcher Josh Paul's mustache really is a tribute to 1970s porn star John Holmes. (St. Petersburg Times)
QUICKLY: The Tigers' Joel Zumaya is fine after getting a scare with an injured fingernail. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: David Murphy is doing well in Texas. (Baseball Musings)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:47 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, September 11
PITCH FOR OPTIMISM: Optimism wasn't in big supply at Fenway Park last night, not after a 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay -- Tampa Bay! -- that reduced the Red Sox' lead in the loss column over the Yankees to four games. But Sean McAdam says the silver lining in the dark cloud was the pitching of Curt Schilling (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach), who's looking more and more like the dependable starter the Sox need him to be in the postseason. Schilling's postgame entries on 38pitches.com, which used to consist of fascinating batter-by-batter, pitch-by-pitch breakdowns, have gotten shorter and shorter and now, whenever he actually posts something, are all but nonexistent; last night's consisted of ''Scott [Kazmir] pitched as good a game as I have ever seen him throw.'' That he did, throwing seven innings of five-hit shutout ball; Paul Kenyon has the details. (projo.com) But the Boston Herald's Rob Bradford notes the Devil Rays aren't the pushover they once were, having now won 13 of their last 17.
YEAH, BUT . . . The Sox are still No. 1 in SI.com's Power Rankings.
NOT SO FAST: McAdam talked to Red Sox owner John Henry, who says published reports of the Red Sox opening the 2008 season against the A's in Japan are premature; according to Henry, ''no formal invitation [has been offered] and no decision made.” (projo.com)
THE RIVALRY NEVER ENDS: The New York Post's Larry Brooks reports that the team with the best regular-season record in the American League will have the choice of playing the Division Series over eight days, or over seven. (Whichever option they don't choose will be imposed on the other series.) And Brooks speculates the Sox would ''jump at the chance to play the eight-day series if for no other reason than to require the Yankees to play the seven-day series so Joba Chamberlain would only be available for three games, instead of the four in which he'd be allowed to pitch in the extended version''
THE OTHER GUYS: Peter Gammons likes both the Angels and Indians and thinks it's possible either one could still be playing on Halloween. (ESPN.com)
MUTED CELEBRATION: Today is Jacoby Ellsbury's 24th birthday. It's also the sixth anniversary of the deadliest attacks ever staged on U.S. soil. Ellsbury admits that since that day in 2001, his birthdays ''have been a lot different.'' (Boston Herald)
PAL 'O MINE: Dustin Pedroia was surprised to hear Jay Gibbons' name surface in baseball's mushrooming drug scandal, since they work out together in Tempe, Ariz., and Pedroia says he'd never seen any evidence of Gibbons taking HGH. (Boston Herald) The Devil Rays' Carl Crawford, who also works out there, was similarly shocked.
PUT UP OR SHUT UP: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says it's time to end the charade. Baseball should either pour enormous resources into drug testing to get at the root of the performance-enhancement problem, or admit it's a losing battle and forget about it. ''Halfway,'' he concludes, ''is not good enough.''
OCTOBER MEMORIES: According to Doug Mientkiewicz, his current teammate on the Yankees and a high school teammate way back when, Alex Rodriguez' legendary season is being fueled not by the spectre of impending free agency and the riches that await, but by the embarrassment of his playoff pratfall last year. (New York Post)
IT'S THE SAME, BUT DIFFERENT: A-Rod's late power surge has put him in striking distance of Roger Maris' Yankee record for home runs in a season, and it's opening up a flood of memories for Phil Pepe, who was a young beat reporter when Maris hit 61 in '61. (YESNetwork.com) But the total number of home runs is about where the similarity ends, both in regards to the players involved and the chase itself.
RE-ENTRY: Roger Clemens is set to test his aching elbow this week in Toronto. (New York Post) The New York Daily News reports Clemens is tentatively slated to pitch against Curt Schilling Sunday night.
I CALLED IT: At a time when the Yankees looked like a 75-win team, Baseball Musing's David Pinto predicted they'd wind up with 90 to 95 wins. And it looks like he'll be right.
A.L. RACES: The Tigers rallied from a 4-1, ninth-inning deficit and beat the Blue Jays (Detroit Free Press) . . . They played into the wee hours thanks to a 2 1/2-hour rain delay, but the Indians still beat the White Sox (Cleveland Plain Dealer) . . . The Mariners' 9-3 loss to the A's should all but end their playoff hopes. (Seattle Times)
N.L. RACES: The Pirates beat the Brewers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The Phillies beat the Rockies (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Mets beat the Braves (New York Post) . . . The Cubs beat the Cardinals (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Diamondbacks beat the Giants (Arizona Republic).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the N.L. divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
FAME-OUS: MLB.com's Marty Noble thinks Pedro Martinez is a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.
END OF THE LINE? This has been a difficult season for the Cardinals, so difficult that Tony La Russa may walk away and try to find a new managing job when it's over. (USA Today)
THIS JUST IN: The San Jose Mercury News' Daniel Brown is the latest to discover that high-priced free-agent pitchers are a bad risk.
LOCAL BOYS: Ex-Providence College star John McDonald has agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Blue Jays. (Toronto Star)
QUICKLY: The Washington Times reports the Nationals may make a run at Andruw Jones . . . Jimmy Rollins is trying to convince the Phillies to trade for Dontrelle Willis (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . Harold Reynolds says race played a role in his firing by ESPN (New York Times) . . . Brad Ausmus would like to return to the Astros (Houston Chronicle) . . . Tom Glavine says wants to come back for one more year with the Mets. (New York Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Orlando Cabrera won't come right out and say it, but it's obvious he thinks he deserves the Gold Glove (Los Angeles Times) . . . Wily Mo Pena is wowing them with his power in Washington. (Washington Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:54 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, September 10
SIMPLE FORMULA: Strong starting pitching, overpowering relief work and clutch hitting usually always spell success in baseball, and so it was for the Red Sox yesterday. Steven Krasner reports on their 3-2 victory in Baltimore, which featured all the above elements in the persons of Josh Beckett, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Lowell and Coco Crisp. (projo.com) (Above, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz score on Lowell's single. AP Photo) That completed a three-victories-in-four-games stretch at Camden Yards, but talk still centers around the one they lost: Saturday night's 11-5 defeat in which Daisuke Matsuzaka bottomed out after a series of poor performances, knocked out of the game after only 2 2/3 innings. An ineffective Matsuzaka would almost surely sink whatever postseason hopes the Red Sox have, and he's been Webster's definition of ineffective since August 1 -- in his last seven starts he's 2-4 with a 6.85 ERA. (Projo Stats) Most of the speculation centers around fatigue, since he's in unchartered physical territory as the longer and more challenging North American baseball season winds to a close. But Krasner wonders if he's not facing the same adjustments that Beckett faced last year and if he shouldn't lean more on Jason Varitek to carry him through . . . which is one of the things Beckett has done this season.
ACE IN THE HOLE: The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley says that in Beckett, the Sox have the top-of-the-rotation horse that's so important in the playoffs. The Globe's Nick Cafardo says Beckett is in line for ''20 wins, the Cy Young Award, postseason success'' and is ''the Sox' ace, their centerpiece, their stud, their No. 1 and the best reason to feel good about the first game of the playoffs.''
TIRED? WHO'S TIRED? Not Hideki Okajima. (Boston Herald)
FLASHBACKS: The Sox hope Jacoby Ellsbury's seemingly smooth transition to the major leagues is a replay of Nomar Garciaparra 1996 and Fred Lynn 1974 in terms of future big-league success. (Boston Globe)
CATCHING UP: The downside of doing a weekday blog is that you miss some pretty interesting things on the weekend, like Friday night's dustup between the Red Sox and the Orioles' Daniel Cabrera, which started when Crisp a) attempted to bunt for a hit against Cabrera and b) eventually goaded him into committing a balk that gave the Sox a run. (projo.com) Cabrera was taken to the woodshed by manager Dave Trembley for his throwing behind Dustin Pedroia's head Friday night, calling Cabrera's actions ''[uncalled] for . . . [and] unprofessional.'' (Baltimore Sun)
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: On the same day they placed Erik Bedard on the 60-day disabled list, the Orioles lost Jeremy Guthrie, probably for the season, to a strained oblique muscle. (Baltimore Sun) That doesn't bode well for the Red Sox in the A.L. East race, since Baltimore has six games left with the Yankees.
THUMBS UP AND THUMBS DOWN: Chad Finn, on his Touching All The Bases blog, has props for Coco Crisp and Terry Francona, advocates replacing J.D. Drew with Jacoby Ellsbury, and pleads with the Sox to remove Glenn Geffner from the radio broadcast team.
CUCKOO FOR COCO: Crisp is on SI.com's Jon Heyman's Under-The-Radar Team.
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT: Writing for Boston Metro, Finn lauds the Sox' rookies.
SOMEONE, PLEASE, STOP HIM: And on FoxSports.com, Finn relates the lamest, most ridiculous John Sterling-ism ever (and, boy, is that saying something): ''What a job-a! By Joba!''
NO DETAIL TOO SMALL: The New York Post's Larry Brooks says the Yankees are taking care of the little things as they continue their march to the playoffs, a march that rolled over the Royals yesterday. (New York Daily News)
CHANGEUP: The Daily News' Jesse Spector thinks the Yankees would be best served in the playoffs with Mariano Rivera as the set-up man and Joba Chamberlain as the closer.
WHY? WHAT'S WRONG WITH MO? The blog Vegas Watch lists Rivera as the fourth-most dependable closer heading into the postseason. The most dependable? Jonathan Papelbon.
TRY, TRY AGAIN: Mike Mussina is ready to take Roger Clemens' rotation spot Wednesday night in Toronto. (New York Daily News)
WHAT RACE? It would take a Yankee collapse for them to miss the playoffs now, as the Tigers -- probably the only team with a realistic shot to catch them for the wild card -- lost both a game (to the Mariners) and Jeremy Bonderman yesterday. (Detroit News)
R.I.P. The Tigers and Mariners are among the teams declared dead by SI.com's John Donovan.
IT'S ALL ON YOU: The blog Detect-O-Vision puts the blame for the Mariners' collapse solely on the shoulders of manager John McLaren, and gives 10 reasons why.
A DRAW: The showdown between the Indians and the Angels over the weekend in Anaheim ended with the teams splitting four games. (Los Angeles Daily News) The jockeying between the Red Sox, Indians and Angels over the last three weeks for playoff seeding will be one of the hidden stories of the pennant races.
FAREWELL, SCOOTER: The Daily News' Bill Madden has a funny, yet moving piece on his last interview with Phil Rizzuto, conducted soon after the 9/11 attacks.
HE'S BACK: Pedro Martinez had Shea Stadium in a frenzy with five shutout innings in his second start back, raising the Mets' hopes -- or at least the hopes of their fans -- for the postseason. (New York Post)
ANOTHER NAME SURFACES: SI.com reports the Orioles' Jay Gibbons is the latest player to be named in baseball's growing drug scandal. The Baltimore Sun has more.
DEAL WITH IT: The Toronto Globe and Mail's Jeff Blair says Troy Glaus' earlier implication in the story has ramifications for the Blue Jays, both in the clubhouse and the executive suite.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY: On his Joy of Sox blog, Allan Wood links to a couple of stories that take the issue beyond the knee-jerk, ban-the-cheaters! reaction so common among fans and media.
SORRY FOR WHAT? We missed this when it first happened, but the Phillies' Brett Myers apologized for calling the Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Carchiadi ''a retard'' during their clubhouse blowup a few weeks ago. Whether he was apologizing to Carchiadi, or simply for using the word ''retard,'' isn't really clear.
THE WEEK AHEAD: FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry says the five-game Cubs-Cardinals series will highlight the pennant-race matchups this week.
QUICKLY: PhillyBurbs.com reports the Phillies will bring back manager Charlie Manuel in 2008 . . . The Phils have cooled on the idea of signing Bob Wickman, recently released by the Braves (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Chicago Sun-Times reports the White Sox will put Jon Garland on the trading block this winter . . . Scott Olsen says he expects to pitch for the Marlins next year no matter what team president David Samson says (Palm Beach Post) . . . The Cardinals' Chris Duncan may be out for the season (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Cubs may be looking to replace Steve Trachsel in their starting rotation (Chicago Sun-Times).
OLD FRIENDS: Ex-Sox farmhand Phil Dumatrait has been brutal so far for the Reds (Baseball Musings).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:55 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, September 7
FEAT OF CLAY: ''The Legend of Clay Buchholz grew last night,'' writes Steven Krasner, and why not? It's wasn't so much that Buchholz (above, AP Photo) escaped a bases-loaded, no-out mess in the sixth -- a mess of his own making, granted -- or that he got the victory in the Red Sox' 7-6 win over the Orioles, or that he's now 3-0 despite having made only three major-league appearances. It was how he did it, writes Krasner, that so impressed the Red Sox, right down to the 3-and-2 changeup he used to strike out Kevin Millar with runners on second and third and two out in the sixth. ''If the Red Sox ever had any questions about his mental makeup,'' writes Kraz, ''they received an answer that left them giddy.'' Even before last night, Hall of Famer Jim Palmer said he was impressed with Buchholz. (Boston Globe)
MEDICAL REPORT: Tim Wakefield's performance was so shaky -- 3 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 6 runs -- speculation immediately rose that his back, which caused him to miss his last start, was still bothering him. But, as Krasner reports, Wakefield said he felt fine and the back had nothing to do with how he pitched. Doug Mirabelli, on the other hand, had to leave the game three innings into his comeback because of a hamstring injury. He had strained his right calf three weeks ago and was just recently activated off the disabled list.
HE'S ELIGIBLE, FOLKS, DON'T WORRY: The Globe's Amalie Benjamin explains the postseason eligibility rules. And yes, Jacoby Ellsbury can be on the playoff roster.
NO END IN SIGHT: As Sean McAdam noted Thursday, that might not be good news for J.D. Drew, whose summer of discontent continued last night when, with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning of a 6-6 game, he grounded into the easiest 6-4-3 double play you ever saw, ending the threat. (Luckily for him, he was bailed out in the ninth when Coco Crisp beat out an infield hit, stole second, and rode home on a single to left-center by Jason Varitek for the winning run.) It's clear The Nation has turned on him (Boston Dirt Dogs), and he admitted to the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley yesterday he's going to have to learn to ''relax a little bit'' if he's going to have a successful career in Boston. He also takes a swipe at the critics who interpret his laconic demeanor as a lack of passion, asking, ''Do you think I want to have the year that I’ve had? . . . I’m as hard on myself as anybody.''
OH, SO THAT'S WHAT THOSE WERE! The strange uniforms worn by the Orioles last night were replicas of the Baltimore Black Sox Negro League team. (mlb.com)
YOU'RE NOT PRAYING HARD ENOUGH: The Orioles are going so badly that even the team chaplain is catching some blame. (Baltimore Sun)
IT IS WHAT IT IS: The Yankees are heading down the stretch with two rookies in their starting rotation, along with another slot manned by ailing/struggling veterans (Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina), and Andy Pettitte hopes it'll be good enough to get them to the postseason. (New York Daily News) To get there, says Brian Cashman, they have to focus on the task at hand and win the games they're supposed to win. (New York Post) And they may have to do it with Alex Rodriguez at DH; his ankle may keep him off third base. (New York Post)
''THEY'RE IN'': Peter Abraham examines the schedules of the wild-card contenders and concludes that the Yankees will make the playoffs: ''The schedule is easy and the offense will make up for any problems with the pitching.'' (LoHud Yankees Blog)
AND YOU CAN THANK ME FOR THAT: Bud Selig does a little chest-pounding over the wild card, which, as this MLB.com story notes, was ''his baby.''
PROUD FATHER: Joba Chamberlain's father will be at Kansas City when the Yankees play the Royals this weekend, and admits ''[there'll] probably will be a tear or two running down my cheek'' at the sight of his son in a Yankee uniform. (New York Post)
THE LATEST BOMBSHELL: The New York Daily News reports the Cardinals' Rick Ankiel -- one of baseball's best feel-good stories for his transformation from no-control pitcher to slugging outfielder -- received a 12-month supply of HGH in 2004. The story is careful to note ''he stopped receiving HGH just before Major League Baseball officially banned it in 2005. MLB does not test for HGH, but a player who is known to have used it or even possessed it from the time it was banned can face a 50-game suspension.''
N.L. RACES: Ankiel had made headlines earlier in the day by hitting two home runs as the Cardinals crushed the Pirates (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Dodgers rallied past the Cubs at Wrigley Field. (Los Angeles Daily News)
A.L. RACES: The Angels beat the Indians in a matchup of two playoff-bound division leaders . . . The Tigers stayed alive with a ninth-inning win over the White Sox, and now get the chance to put away the Mariners -- who go to Detroit for the weekend -- and make the wild-card chase a two-team battle between themselves and the Yankees. (Detroit News)
ON THE HOT SEAT: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal lists the managers who may in trouble at season's end, and says Joe Torre is one of them if the Yankees don't make the playoffs.
QUICKLY: The Giants' Bengie Molina says his team's losing ways are ''a freakin' embarrassment'' (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Diamondbacks second baseman Orlando Hudson has a torn ligament in his thumb, but hopes he won't be sidelined long. (Arizona Republic)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:49 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, September 6
'THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME IS': But it hasn't been the way many Red Sox games have been this season, which is why last night's 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays -- in which the normally airtight bullpen blew a 4-3 lead by allowing three runs in the final two innings -- seemed so stunning. The quote was from Terry Francona, who dismissed the failures of Manny Delcarmen (game-tying homer to Troy Glaus in the eighth) and Hideki Okajima (game-losing, two-run homer to Vernon Wells -- above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach -- in the ninth) as just one of those things. Joe McDonald, however, reports Okajima gave a disconcerting answer (''As you see, yes'') when asked if he was tired in this, his first major-league season, which is longer than the seasons in Japan. One member of the bullpen who did pitch well was recent callup Bryan Corey; Paul Kenyon has the details.
ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE THINGS: While the Sox' bullpen failures last night were surprising, their lack of clutch hitting was all too familiar. They got only one run out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the first, only one run out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the fifth, and nothing at all out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the seventh; one big hit in any of those spots could have given them a comfortable enough lead to withstand a late hiccup by the bullpen. That J.D. Drew was in the middle of two of those failed innings (the first and the seventh) was probably no surprise to anyone, and Sean McAdam speculates Drew's playing time may be in jeopardy when Manny Ramirez comes back, because Jacoby Ellsbury is proving to be a better offensive option than Drew. Julio Lugo thinks Drew is still''a good player. He's just going through a bad time.'' (Boston Herald)
'STUPIDITY ON MY PART': Curt Schilling left the game after six with a 4-3 lead, but it would have been 4-0 had it not been for a string of four consecutive two-out hits in the fifth that pushed across all three Toronto runs. The uprising started when, with nobody on and one out, he walked No. 8 hitter Gregg Zaun on a 3-and-2 curveball, which the Herald's Tony Massarotti notes could be ''indicative of the transformation he is trying to achieve as a pitcher.'' Still, throwing a 3-and-2 curve to a bottom-of-the-order hitter was the stupidity Schilling talked about since, as he said, ''The law of averages if he puts the ball in play is that it’s going to be an out. Instead, I try to get cute. I still can’t believe I did it.''
AT LEAST SOMEONE WAS HAPPY: Vernon Wells loves the big stages of Boston and New York, and he was all smiles after his game-winning home run. (Toronto Star)
WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, TAO . . . is that the bunt is about the only offensive weapon at Coco Crisp's disposal. (Click the link to our good friend Tao of Steib to find out what I'm talking about.) Or does it just seem like approximately 81 of his 126 hits this year have been bunt singles?
COMEBACK KID: Matt Clement threw a 20-pitch simulated game yesterday, the first time he's faced hitters since last year's surgery, and tells McDonald and Kenyon he'd like to pitch in a game before the season ends.
IN THE LEAD: The Herald's Rob Bradford says Dustin Pedroia is the favorite to win the A.L. Rookie of the Year award.
WHAT IT'S LIKE ON THE INSIDE: The Rev. Anne Gardner, an Episcopal priest, is a game-day worker at Fenway Park and gives a glimpse into a job many people in Red Sox Nation would no doubt love to have. (Boston Globe)
ONE MORE TIME: Journal columnist M. Charles Bakst -- Charlie, to those of us who know him -- was at Fenway Park for Clay Buchholz' no-hitter and he writes about it in today's column. (And, yes, he can thank me for staying until the end; the tale he tells about me coming along and assuring him I'd drive him home so he wouldn't have to leave to catch the train is entirely accurate.) I posted my own out-of-focus cell-phone pictures, taken from Charlie's seat, to the blog when I got home; if you missed them, here they are. Seth Mnookin also catches up with the no-hitter and reminds us that the angst of losing Pedro Martinez could pale compared to the years of pleasure Buchholz may provide Red Sox Nation; the Sox, need we remind you, drafted Buchholz with the compensation pick they received when Martinez signed with the Mets. Just another reminder that letting go of nearing-the-end-of-the-line free agents is, more often than not, a good thing, since you miss the player's inevitable decline and the draft choice you receive for them can be quite valuable.
WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN . . . why the Red Sox don't seem to plan on bringing back Mike Lowell, no matter how good a year he's having. (Boston Globe)
HAVEN'T GOT TIME FOR THE PAIN: Alex Rodriguez ignored the ankle injury he'd suffered the night before and clubbed two home runs in the same inning as the Yankees exploded late for a 13-2 whipping of the Mariners. (New York Daily News) FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says that, because of heroics like this, A-Rod's price is going up by the minute. The Mariners, losers of 12 of their last 13, are just plain exploding . . . with frustration, at themselves and, last night, at plate umpire Greg Gibson. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
NUMBER ONE: Joba Chamberlain recorded his first major-league win in relief of fellow rookie Phil Hughes. (New York Daily News)
NUTTY: The New York Times quoted a piece of Norse mythology in putting forth the theory that the squirrel who seems to have found a home on the right-field foul pole in Yankee Stadium would be bad luck for the Yanks, but they're 4-0 in games in which he appears publicly. (New York Daily News)
THE GOOD AND THE BAD: The Yankees say Chien-Ming Wang is over his back stiffness and will start Sunday in Kansas City, but -- surprise, surprise -- reliever Luis Vizcaino has a sore shoulder and will miss the weekend series. (New York Daily News) It was just yesterday that Peter Abraham, on the LodHud Yankees Blog, was wondering why in the world Joe Torre was bringing Vizcaino into an 11-1 game. Yesterday Abraham noted ''Nobody beats the Viz, except the manager''.
A.L. RACES: There aren't really many of them, but the Tigers kept pace with the Yankees in the wild-card hunt by beating the White Sox.
WOULD YOU LIKE SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE? The blog Crashburn Alley has no use for Chipper Jones' complaints about the umpires, saying it's typical of the Braves' ''sore loser'' mentality.
N.L. RACES: Ted Lilly pitched the Cubs over the Dodgers (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Braves delivered a gut punch to the Phillies by overcoming an 8-2, eighth-inning deficit for a 9-8 win (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Diamondbacks beat the Padres to take over first place in the N.L. West. (Arizona Republic)
QUICKLY: Carl Crawford was handed a two-game suspension for his Monday run-in with the umpires (FoxSports.com) . . . The Mets will be without Carlos Delgado for about a week because of a hip injury (Newark Star-Ledger).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:24 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, September 5
SWEET SEVENTEEN: It wasn't a playoff preview, not against a team that's just hanging on the fringes of the wild-card race, but it had a definite postseason tinge: Ace against ace, with the Red Sox' suspect offense needing to generate runs against a quality starter while their own pitcher had to shut down a potent opposition attack. In that light, the Sox had to be pleased with their 4-3 win over the Blue Jays last night, as Josh Beckett (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach) outdueled Roy Halladay for his major-league-leading 17th win. (projo.com) Sean McAdam reports Beckett's only mistake was a hanging changeup that the white-hot Matt Stairs deposited into the bullpen for a three-run homer in the fifth; otherwise, he stifled Toronto on four hits over eight innings. One of the later items in McAdam's notebook details the third straight appearance of Jonathan Papelbon -- the first time all season he's worked three straight games -- as the Sox, after months of carefully monitoring his workload to protect his shoulder, begin preparing him for the intense demands of the playoffs. He certainly seemed none the worse for wear last night, retiring the Jays in order and striking out the final batter.
NEW KID IN TOWN: Jacoby Ellsbury is fast becoming a Boston folk hero, and Joe McDonald reports on his 3-for-4 performance last night, in which he was just a double shy of the cycle. It's worth a click on this link to Projo Stats to see Ellsbury's numbers after 31 major-league at-bats.
A GOOD SCOUT: The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes talks to Jim Robinson, the scout who discovered Clay Buchholz.
PROTECTING THE FUTURE: SI.com's Tom Verducci tells why the Red Sox -- and other teams with bright pitching prospects -- are so cautious with Buchholz. McAdam's notebook outlines the Sox' plans for Buchholz in the remaining weeks.
STILL THE ONE: The Sox remain No. 1 in SI.com's Power Rankings.
TIME FOR A CHANGE: McDonald reports that the Red Sox have fired PawSox hitting coach Mark Budaska and are reassigning Pawtucket's pitching coach, Mike Griffin. Jon Lester and Brandon Moss, who played for Pawtucket this year, comment on the changes.
RUBBER NECKERS: The Red Sox will be spending the weekend in Baltimore, and the Baltimore Sun's Rick Masse says the reeling Orioles have turned ''the September schedule into a massive freeway accident, each night's game serving as another crunched car added to the pileup.'' They did win last night, though . . . even if it only was against Tampa Bay. (Baltimore Sun)
YANKS ARE WILD: A 12-3 romp over the Mariners last night increased the Yankees' lead in the wild-card race (New York Daily News), and, even better, they say injuries to Chien-Ming Wang (lower back stiffness) and Alex Rodriguez (ankle) are nothing to worry about. The Daily News has more on A-Rod.
ROGER TALK: Some people speak English, some speak French, some speak . . . well, you get the idea. But there's a veteran right-hander -- you all know him; used to pitch here -- who speaks Clemens, which can be hard for the rest of us to decipher at times. That was the case yesterday, as reporters tried to pick through whatever it was Roger said about his elbow injury. One thing's for certain: He and the Yankees think he'll only miss one start. The New York Post's Joel Sherman says Clemens ''attempted to make the injury sound worse and himself sound bigger for it. He was setting up yet another -- everyone yawn now -- John Wayne moment when he comes strolling back into Dodge to save a pinstripe town. '' But teammate Andy Pettitte spoke in a more discouraging tone: ''There is going to be an end [to Clemens' career] sometime. And this could be it.'' (New York Post)
JOIN THE CHORUS: Peter Abraham thinks most of the criticism of Joe Torre is unfounded. But when it comes to how Torre uses his bullpen . . . well, here's Abraham on his game blog last night: ''[Why] he would use Luis Vizcaino in an 11-1 game is beyond me. It’s like he picks one guy every year and decides to use him as often as possible. With the rosters expanded, they could use most anybody in an 11-1 game. It makes no sense.'' (LoHud Yankees Blog)
PLAYING THE CARDS: FoxSports.com's Tracy Ringolsby says people may not like the wild card but it ''is serving its purpose. It's keeping interest in September.''
IN THE A.L. . . . That's not quite as true; in fact, Baseball Musing's David Pinto says the division races are settled, barring historic collapses by the Red Sox, Angels or Indians. In the wild-card hunt, only the Mariners and the Tigers have a chance to catch the Yankees. And the Tigers lost to the White Sox and continue to slide in both the A.L. Central and wild-card races. (Detroit News)
BUT IN THE N.L. . . . Virtually everybody's alive. The Dodgers beat the Cubs and are now three games back in both the N.L. West and wild-card races (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Phillies beat the Braves and are three out in the wild card and five back in the N.L. East (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Brewers beat the Astros and pulled to a half-game back of the Cubs in the N.L. Central (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Cardinals are right with them, one game behind Chicago, after beating the Astros (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Mets remained five up in the N.L. East by beating the Reds (New York Daily News) . . . The Diamondbacks routed the Padres and the teams are now virtually tied for the N.L. West lead. (Arizona Republic)
AGE WILL BE SERVED: ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick says the Diamondbacks will go as far as their veterans take them.
HEAR MY PLEA: It may be the frustration of the Braves' season swirling down the drain, but Chipper Jones blasted major-league umpires after Atlanta's 5-2 loss to the Phillies last night and all but begged MLB to install QuesTec, the automatic system for determining balls and strikes, at Turner Field. For those -- like me -- who think the quality of umpiring, after taking an uptick with the disappearance of Richie Phillips, has declined dramatically in recent years, it's an interesting read.
As for Chipper, however, you have to think MLB will lower the boom on him for this.
STILL WAITING: Speaking of having problems with umpires, the Devil Rays' Carl Crawford hasn't yet heard if he'll be disciplined after his Monday night ouburst. (AP via ESPN.com)
I'M SORRY: As we all suspected he would, Carlos Zambrano apologized to Cubs fans for his Tuesday outburst. (Chicago Sun-Times)
A RIDDLE, WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY, INSIDE AN ENIGMA: That's what the St. Petersburg Times' John Romano thinks of Rhode Island's Rocco Baldelli, who has missed 348 of Tampa Bay's last 486 games because of injury and whose uncertain status for the future casts a shadow over many of the Devil Rays' personnel decisions.
BIGGEST APPLE: SI.com's Jon Heyman thinks the two MVPs could come from New York this year. Click the link to see who.
QUICKLY: The Brewers have added reliever Ray King and catcher Mike Rivera for help down the stretch (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Rhode Island's Jim Salisbury reports Cole Hamels thinks the Phillies need a full-time chiropractor; Hamels believes he'd be healthy if they did (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The White Sox may give Ozzie Guillen a contract extension (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Cardinals may take Kip Wells out of their rotation (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Padres have picked up ex-Padre Brett Tomko. (foxsports.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez felt ''perfect'' a day after his return to the Mets. (New York Post)
AND FINALLY . . . Dirk Hayhurst, a pitcher in the Padres' minor-league system, is writing a ''Non-Prospect Diary'' for Baseball America. His August 16 entry is a must read, on many levels, for people who want real insight into what baseball is truly like.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:20 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, September 4
GLASS IS HALF-FULL: Accentuate the positive. That's what Steven Krasner says the Red Sox were doing after last night's 13-10 win over the Blue Jays (projo.com), a game in which they squandered all but one run of a 10-1 lead in the sixth inning and in which Daisuke Matsuzaka was, again, disturbingly hittable . . . particularly in the sixth, when the Jays pushed across eight runs against Dice-K and Javier Lopez and had the tying run on third base before Manny Delcarmen recorded the final out. But, in spite of all that, there was positive to accentuate. Mike Lowell, for one; he reached the 100-RBI plateau and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, tying his career best. (projo.com) (Above, Lowell is congratulated by catcher Jason Varitek after the game. Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach.) Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, for another; they combined to go 5-for-10 with six runs scored from the 1-2 spots in the lineup and may have provided a glimpse of what Boston's future batting order will be like. (Boston Globe) And then, of course . . .
LABOR PAINS . . . there was the news out of New York. For starters, the Mariners beat the Yankees 7-1 (New York Daily News), increasing the Red Sox' lead in the A.L. East to seven games. But what also benefits the Sox is that the Yanks lost more than a game yesterday. We begin with the elbow woes of Roger Clemens (New York Post), which forced him out of yesterday's game in the fourth inning and will cause him to miss at least one start. And that means the gasping-for-air Mike Mussina moves back into the starting rotation (New York Daily News). They also lost Andy Phillips for the rest of the year because of a broken wrist suffered when he was hit by a pitch Sunday. (New York Daly News) Put it all together, says the New York Post's Joel Sherman, and ''the degree of difficulty in securing a playoff spot has risen dramatically for the Yankees''. One of the reasons, adds colleague Kevin Kernan, is that the Yanks have been an all-or-nothing-at-all team this season: ''When the Yankees are bad, they are really bad. Their pitchers give up tons of runs and their hitters disappear.''
JUST MY OPINION: Bob Klapisch thinks there was no way Joba Chamberlain was intentionally throwing at Kevin Youkilis. (Bergen Record)
ORGANIZATIONAL PHILOSOPHY: The Red Sox are also accentuating the positive at the minor-league level, as PawSox pitching coach Mike Griffin says that, contrary to accepted opinion, Craig Hansen made progress this year. (projo.com) It's true that Hansen's final statistics don't look nearly as bad as they were looking just a few weeks ago, though it wasn't enough get him a September callup -- something he was hoping for, as he admitted a few days ago. (projo.com)
RED FLAG: Some corners of Red Sox Nation -- I'd link to them, but there's that NSFW thing -- are up in arms over Eric Wilbur's declaration of surrender after last week's Yankee sweep of the Red Sox. (boston.com) But Wilbur's not alone in his thoughts. Red Sox fan Kevin Hench, writing on FoxSports.com, gives 10 reasons why the Yankees would beat the Red Sox in a postseason matchup . . . though, given events of the last 24 hours, he may want to rethink No. 8. (Rocket fueled)
MEMORIES . . . I know it's three days old now, but Clay Buchholz' no-hitter is worth another look, as is the defensive play that saved it. (Both stories projo.com) The blog Red Sox Monster has some video. ESPN.com's Rob Neyer, incidentally, was impressed . . . not so much by the no-hitter but by Buchholz himself.
A GOOD TRADE: The Sox acquired Buchholz as the compensation pick for losing Pedro Martinez, which prompted Martinez to comment, ''See, some things work out for the best.'' (Newark Star-Ledger)
WELCOME BACK: ESPN.com's Amy K. Nelson has a well-written piece on Martinez' successful return to the Mets yesterday.
THE LEADER: The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy wrote a fascinating piece on what Terry Francona's life is like as Red Sox manager; suffice to say, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. One of the best quotes came from Theo Epstein, who praised Francona's even-keeled public persona by noting: ''[If] you don't have a couple of beacons of reason, others in the organization, players included, can lose perspective.''
THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR: Curt Schilling returns to 38pitches.com and asks, ''Has there been a better time to be a Sox fan in the past 20 years?'' He also takes a few more shots at Shaughnessy.
HE'S ALSO BACK: We have a rare Kevin Youkilis blog sighting, as well, and he, too, is ready for September. (kevinyoukilis.mlblogs.com)
MISSING ACE: It looks like the Red Sox won't be facing Erik Bedard this weekend in Baltimore. (Baltimore Sun)
SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER: SI.com's John Donovan tells us why. So does ESPN.com's Jonah Keri.
'WORST TRAUMA I'VE SEEN': The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the career of Cardinal outfielder Juan Encarnacion is in jeopardy after he was struck in the eye by a foul ball while standing in the on-deck circle.
HOW DARE YOU? Carlos Zambrano was irate about being booed after he and the Cubs were routed by the Dodgers. (Chicago Tribune)
LONG TIME COMING: Scott Rolen thinks the seeds of the problem that led to his season-ending shoulder surgery were planted last September. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
QUICKLY: Even though everyone assumes this is Joe Torre's final year as Yankee manager, he thinks he might like to return (New York Daily News) . . . This could be free agent-to-be Andruw Jones' final month in Atlanta, but he says he's not thinking about it (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The injury to Nomar Garciaparra and the ineffectiveness of Shea Hillenbrand have combined to give Adam LaRoche a chance to play with the Dodgers (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Rockies' Aaron Cook will miss the rest of the year (Denver Post) . . . The Phillies have their eyes on Colorado's Garrett Atkins (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . Kenny Rogers says he's ready to return to the Tigers rotation (Detroit News) . . . Akinori Otsuka is hoping to avoid surgery (Dallas Morning News) . . . It appears Torii Hunter wants the same contract J.D. Drew received. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
OLD FRIENDS: Baseball Musing's David Pinto reports Wily Mo Pena is giving the Nationals pretty much the same thing he gave the Red Sox: Low batting average, low on-base percentage, but home runs whenever he manages to hit the ball.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:49 AM | Permalink
Baseball today: Friday, August 31
| REALITY CHECK: They still have the best record in baseball, and the only lead bigger than theirs is the Angels' in the A.L. West. (And even at that, their edge is 5 and LA of A's is 5 1/2.) But things never feel rosy in Red Sox Nation after being swept by the Yankees, especially a sweep in which they managed only 13 hits and 3 runs in three games. It was all capped by a putrid offensive showing in a 5-0 loss yesterday. Sean McAdam thinks it's too early to tell if these were ''merely demoralizing losses. . . [or if] the division title has been put back in play.'' Fact is, the division title is the Sox' to lose; their remaining schedule is such that if they simply go out and take care of business it would take an unprecedented hot streak by the Yankees for them to be overtaken. But the New York Post's George King sums it up pretty well when he writes: ''The $200 million elephant dressed in Yankees pinstripes is in the room and the Red Sox can’t ignore it. The Yankees might not catch them, but the Red Sox know their blood rivals can beat them.'' The Sox get three chances -- Sept. 14, 15 and 16 at Fenway Park -- to prove the opposite. | 
Dustin Pedroia and hitting coach Dave Magadan watch the final inning of the Sox' final loss in New York from the top step of the dugout. AP Photo |
HERE WE GO AGAIN: But, as the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy writes, it's never just baseball with these two teams. As an example may we present Joba Chamberlain getting ejected after throwing a pair of pitches over the head of Kevin Youkilis in the ninth inning. (projo.com) The Yankees, as expected, were righteously indignant, saying there was no logical reason why Chamberlain would be throwing at Youkilis and that the rookie was just nervous. (New York Daily News) The Daily News' John Harper agrees, saying the Red Sox are ''crazy'' if they think the pitches were intentional. In the Post, Mike Vaccaro says Chamberlain was an innocent victim of this rivalry's heated past. But the Red Sox, says the Boston Herald, aren't buying it. And the Globe's Nick Cafardo thinks Chamberlain ''knowingly or not, seemed to kick the Red Sox when they were down . . . [And] there will be reverberations that will spill over to the next series Sept. 14-16 at Fenway.''
I WONDER . . . Peter Abraham is one of the few New York media members not willing to parrot the Yankee party line on the incident. On the LoHud Yankees Blog he writes, ''I am not accusing Chamberlain of anything. But there’s plenty of evidence that suggests this may not have been an accident. Pitchers have been trying to make hitters think for 100 years.'' He also notes that Chamberlain lockers next to Roger Clemens and ''Roger is as old school as it gets in baseball. I have no idea if Roger told him to dust Youkilis. But would I bet my house against it? Would you?''
AMEN: Abraham concludes: ''This is why Yanks-Sox is what it is and the rest of baseball [can] only envy the passion. There is nothing like it in the sport.''
THE REAL NEWS: What the Yankees actually did over these last three days was take control of the wild-card race, writes Bill Madden of the Daily News.
SILENT TYPE: Even though we're at a point in the season when people would be very interested in what he has to say -- like about yesterday's start in New York -- Curt Schilling has pretty much stopped posting to his Web site. (He's only made three entries in August.) He's still talking to the mainstream media, though, and the Herald's Steve Buckley reports Schilling was disappointed in his performance, even though he only allowed two runs in six innings.
WHIPPING BOY: Not a day goes by without somebody, somewhere, trashing the disappointing, underachieving J.D. Drew. Today it's the Herald's Tony Massarotti.
SEE YOU SOON: Royce Clayton has joined the PawSox in anticipation of a September callup to Boston and is looking forward to joining the Red Sox. (projo.com)
MANNY'S REPLACEMENT . . . while he's recuperating from a strained oblique muscle may be Jacoby Ellsbury. He's played left field for the PawSox for the last couple of games -- concidence? -- and last night saved the team's 3-2 win over Buffalo with a diving catch in left-center field, after which he got up and threw out a runner at second base for the final out. (projo.com)
BREAKING THE RULES: The Yankees have decided to amend the Joba Rules and won't be quite as strict about his usage patterns. (New York Daily News)
YOUTH WILL BE SERVED: The Post's Joel Sherman says the Yankees are paying the dividends of the 180-degree shift in organizational philosophy instituted by Brian Cashman in 2005.
SO WILL EXPERIENCE: FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry lists 36-year-old Jorge Posada on his All-Underrated Team.
HE SPEAKS! Mike Mussina ended his two-day media boycott and discussed being lifted from the Yankee rotation. (New York Daily News) He said the move caught him ''off-guard'' and that he needed a little time to ''simmer down'' before talking publicly.
THE GODS ARE WITH US: The New York Times reports that the squirrel that was climbing the right-field foul pole at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night may be, according to Norse mythology, a bad sign for the Yankees.
TO THE RESCUE: The Orioles come to town tonight and, as the Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck details, there may not be a team performing as badly as Baltimore is right now.
WHY THE YANKEES ARE THE SECOND STORY IN NEW YORK: The Mets are imploding with a suddenness that defies rational belief. The Philadelphia Daily News' Paul Hagen says logic dictates the Phillies can't catch the Mets, but then asks ''[are] you going to believe what history and common sense and cold, hard logic tell you? Or are you going to believe your eyes?'' Eyes were popping all over Philly yesterday as the Phils scored three runs off Billy Wagner in the eighth and ninth innings and completed a four-game sweep, cutting New York's N.L. East lead to two. (Philadelphia Daily News) Rhode Island's Jim Salisbury, the Inquirer's main baseball writer, asks ''Do you believe yet?'', and adds that the Phillies do. As for the Mets, David Wright says they have to turn the page quickly . . . or else. (New York Daily News) The Post's Jay Greenberg, though, thinks there's plenty of time to right the ship.
THE RACES -- A.L. CENTRAL: The Tigers won yesterday and Jim Leyland thinks there's plenty of time for his team to climb out of the hole its in. (Detroit News) But they didn't gain any ground on the Indians, who scored in the bottom of the ninth to beat the reeling Mariners. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
I'M WITH YOU: Seattle has lost six straight and is plummeting in both the A.L. West and wild-card races. But their former manager, Mike Hargrove -- who lives in Cleveland and spent years with the Indians as a player and manager -- says he feels ''more a Mariner'' than he does an Indian and still follows the team closely despite his abrupt resignation two months ago. (Both stories Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
THE RACES -- N.L. CENTRAL: The Cubs beat the Brewers (Chicago Tribune) and the Astros beat the Cardinals (Houston Chronicle).
WISH LIST: SI.com's John Donovan examines what each contender needs to have happen down the stretch. For the Red Sox, it's that J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis start hitting.
OZZIE BEING OZZIE: Ozzie Guillen launched into quite the tirade against his players after they lost Wednesday night. (Chicago Sun-Times)
LOCAL BOYS: The blog The Good Phight gives a little love to Davey Lopes.
QUICKLY: Esteban Loiaza is shocked to be leaving the A's (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Oakland's Rich Harden says he's came back too soon from his arm woes and is going to be more cautious this time around (San Jose Mercury News) . . . Vernon Wells may need shoulder surgery (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Tigers are mulling whether or not to bring back the declining Ivan Rodriguez (Detroit News) . . . The Rangers are happy with manager Ron Washington, and they proved it by picking up his 2009 contract option (Dallas Morning News).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:52 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, August 30
WELL-PLACED ROCKET: He wasn't the Roger Clemens of old, not with five walks, a hit batter and only two strikeouts through six innings. But he wasn't old Roger Clemens, either, and he was good enough, writes Sean McAdam, to win the battle of Texas gunslingers with Josh Beckett as the Yankees made it two in a row over the Red Sox last night, 4-3. The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy was impressed, and the New York Daily News' John Harper said it showed Clemens (above, AP Photo) could still be an important cog going forward for the Yanks. The New York Post's Mike Vaccaro adds it's exactly what they need.
A MUCH BIGGER LOSS: McAdam reports the Sox will be without Manny Ramirez indefinitely -- it could be ''weeks,'' according to a club source, though the same source also said it's more likely to be ''days'' -- because of a strained oblique muscle. That, coupled with Bobby Kielty's bad back, leaves the Sox shorthanded on the bench until Saturday, when rosters can be expanded to 40. (Putting either one on the disabled list immediately, in order to bring up reinforcements, would mean a minumum of 15 days on the shelf, and the Sox are hoping both will be back before then.) The notebook also contains items involving Saturday's starter (it'll be Julian Tavarez and not Clay Buchholz)
THE FATAL FLAW: While it certainly wasn't helped by the absence of Ramirez, the Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti says last night's feeble offensive performance could be a sign of the weakness that will sink the Sox moving forward.
DON'T ASK ME, BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW: One of the weakest links in the offensive chain has -- to the front office's dismay -- proven to be J.D. Drew, who's been about a quarter of the hitter the Sox thought they were signing. And Drew himself doesn't know why that is, or what to do to fix it. (Boston Globe)
COWBOY UP: Kevin Youkilis has also been struggling at the plate, which, FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports, has led the Red Sox to look into reacquiring Kevin Millar. Rosenthal, however, adds ''talks have cooled'' and also reports it's uncertain Millar, who is playing every day in Baltimore and will be a free agent at the end of the year, would be willing to come to Boston as a part-time player.
A BREAK: The Sox won't be facing Oriole ace Erik Bedard this weekend (Washington Post), because Bedard is suffering from a strained muscle in his right side.
THE IMPORTANT STUFF: Terry Francona has had plenty of issues with Bob Watson, a vice-president of MLB's on-field operations, in the past; one of them, earlier this season, came when Watson overruled the umpires' recommendation that an opposing pitcher be suspended for deliberately throwing at a Red Sox player. So when Watson went into the Red Sox dugout last night to talk to Francona about wearing a jersey top, instead of the pullover he's worn since taking over as manager in 2004, Tito threw him out. (New York Post) And, you may have noticed, he wore the pullover last night.
OUT IN FRONT: Writing on ESPN.com, Howard Bryant says Francona has become the public face of the franchise as Theo Epstein and other front-office executives stay behind the scenes.
THE GREATEST INSULT: ESPN.com's Jim Caple, who grew up rooting for the Red Sox, says the 2004 championship has Sox fans acting like Yankee fans and he has no use for his former compadres. (''As soon as the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, Boston fans took on a swaggering, entitled persona, acting as if they alone invented sports fandom and behaving as if nothing else in baseball mattered but them.'')
DOWN ON THE FARM . . . The PawSox' season will end Monday -- no playoffs this year -- but it's ending on a good note for George Kotteras and Craig Hansen, who helped Pawtucket rally past Buffalo last night. (projo.com) Joe McDonald reports Hansen is still hoping for a September call to Boston even though he's struggled through a difficult, injury-filled season at Triple-A. (minorleaguebaseball.com) More likley to be summoned, writes Joe, are Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brandon Moss and Davern Hansack.
CARTER COUNTRY? It's unknown whether or not the Sox will call for newly acquired Chris Carter, but if they do, they'll be adding a life-long Red Sox fan to their roster. McDonald sat down last night for an interview with Carter prior to his first game at McCoy Stadium.
WHO'S LAUGHING NOW? The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant thinks the Rangers did well in the Eric Gagne trade as he sings the praises of the players Texas acquired from the Red Sox.
WHO IS THIS GUY, AND WHAT HAS HE DONE WITH DICE-K? Kazuhiro Takeda, Japan's pitching coach in the World Baseball Classic, watched Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch against the Yankees on Tuesday and said ''it wasn’t even half of what'' Dick-K is capable of. (Boston Herald) Takeda spoke to Matsuzaka, who said he's ''quite tired'' -- the MLB season is longer than Japan's -- and is trying to conserve energy for the September stretch and the postseason.
LOOKING AHEAD TO OCTOBER The Herald's Steve Buckley writes that Curt Schilling needs to make a good start today to build on the momentum from last week's performance in Chicago and begin laying the groundwork for the postseason.
FORGETTING WHAT HAPPENED IN APRIL: The Daily News' Mike Lupica says the Yanks are a different team than the one that struggled through the beginning of the year.
YANKS ARE WILD: The victory lifted the Yankees into a virtual tie with the Mariners for the wild-card lead after the Angels completed a three-game sweep in Seattle. (Los Angeles Daily News) Orlando Cabrera says the M's should forget about catching LA of A in the A.L. West race and focus on the wild card (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), and the PI's Art Thiel says that what they'll have to do after a three-game series that can only be described as ''a teamwide choke''.
CHANGING THE RULES: After watching the latest Kyle Farnsworth tightrope-walk -- a two-run eighth inning that nearly cost them the game -- the Yankees will amend the Joba Rules to allow Joba Chamberlain to pitch more often. (Both stories New York Post)
KEEPING THE FAITH: Mike Mussina has refused to talk to the media since being taken out of the starting rotation, but he had a long sitdown with Joe Torre yesterday, who explained the move and says he still thinks Mussina will pitch, and pitch effectively, for the Yankees. (New York Daily News)
DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR . . . SI.com's John Donovan thinks the Yankees' decision to replace Mussina in the rotation with rookie Ian Kennedy is a sign of desperation that many teams, and managers, feel this time of year.
BACK OFF A BIT: In a reader mailbag, SI.com's Tom Verducci says he's beginning to think the Yankees' Phil Hughes ''may not be a knockout No. 1 starter the way some have anointed him''. Still, he believes Hughes has more potential than the Sox' Jon Lester.
FORGET IT: While he may not return to the Yankees next year -- he wants to play center field, but the Yanks have given the position to Melby Cabrera -- Johnny Damon says flatly he won't come back to Boston. (Boston Herald)
THE RACES -- N.L. EAST: The Phillies have pulled to within three games after winning their third straight from the Mets last night (Philadelphia Inquirer) in a game that ended when C.B. Bucknor -- there's that man again -- called interference on Marlon Anderson for his takeout slide into second with two outs in the ninth, negating the tying run from scoring and ending the game. The Mets, as you can imagine, were just thrilled with the call. (New York Post)
THE RACES -- N.L. CENTRAL: Ben Sheets' return from the disabled list was everything the Brewers hoped as they beat the Cubs and moved back into second place. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) Bryan Burwell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Tony La Russa doesn't look so old or crazy anymore after getting the Cardinals back in the hunt, even though they lost last night and may be without Scott Rolen for a while. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
A MUCH-NEEDED BOOST: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark thinks Sheets' performance is exactly what the Brewers needed.
DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING: But ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski still believes the Cubs are in the driver's seat in the N.L. Central.
THE RACES -- N.L. WEST: The Diamondbacks and Padres are in a virtual tie after San Diego's 3-1 win over Arizona last night. (Arizona Republic)
IF YOU CAN HANDLE HIM . . . Rosenthal thinks Milton Bradley would be a solid addition to anybody's lineup.
QUICKLY: Esteban Loaiza was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers (Foxsports.com) . . . The Cubs are looking for help prior to tomorrow's waiver trade deadline but don't think what they're being offered is any better than what they have now (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Giants reliever Vinnie Chulk has a circulatory problem that doctors may be related to chewing tobacco. (San Francisco Chronicle) Chulk has vowed to give up his chaw . . . Ervin Santana's poor performance against the Mariners Tuesday may mean the end of his stay in the Angels' starting rotation, at least for this season (Riverside Press-Enterprise) . . . Cole Hamels threw without pain, which is good news for the Phillies (Philadelphia Inquirer).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:58 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, August 29
REVENGE OF THE IDIOT: This hasn't been the best of seasons for Johnny Damon (above right, AP Photo), and it may even be his last with the Yankees. (Boston Globe) But he's healthier now than he's been all year and Sean McAdam reports that he helped buy the Yankees ''more time — if nothing else — in the chase for first place in the American League East last night'' with a seventh-inning home run off Daisuke Matsuzaka that broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Yanks a 5-3 win. The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley found that the smile was back on Damon's face, at least for one night. Allan Wood, however, articulates what was on the mind of every Red Sox fan: ''Distance to the RF pole at Yankee Stadium? 314 feet. Distance of Johnny Damon's two-run, tie-breaking home-run in the seventh inning? 315 feet.'' (joyofsox.com)
ALL IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER: The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy says this series is crucial only to the Yankees because the Red Sox have the division title wrapped up. Maybe so, counters the Herald's Tony Massarotti -- actually, he agrees because the wrote the same thing Monday -- but he adds the Sox would be wise to bury the Yankees now, while they have the chance. But the New York Daily News' Lisa Olson still thinks ''a pennant race lurks in the bushes,'' even though her colleague, Mike Lupica, thinks there's no race going on here.
HOW WOULD I KNOW? Chad Finn says he's been wrong about so much this season that he won't venture an opinion on the division race. (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
THERE'S ALWAYS OCTOBER: We're at the point now where the only way J.D. Drew can redeem himself in the eyes of Red Sox Nation is in the postseason. (Boston Herald) So I suppose it bears repeating: What's the facination, what's the fascination, what's the fascination with J.D. Drew? (weei.com)
(Actually, any chance to relink to that is worth exploiting. This one, too (wcbs.com), with the hook being that Clemens pitches tonight. Oh my goodness gracious . . . )
OF ALL THE DRAMATIC THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN . . . : Dustin Pedroia thinks facing Clemens will be ''awesome.'' (Boston Herald)
HERE AND THERE: McAdam's notebook, which starts by previewing tonight's Josh Beckett-Roger Clemens matchup, has plenty of newsy items, including the fact that Clay Buchholz will, indeed, start Saturday's game against the Orioles; the latest on the back spasms that forced Manny Ramirez out of the lineup in the seventh inning, and the fact that actress Cameron Diaz was among the celebrities spotted in the crowd.
HE WHO HESITATES . . . Rangers owner Tom Hicks says the Marlins first approaced Texas with the Josh Beckett/Mike Lowell package in November 2005. But the Rangers wouldn't give them an immediate answer, the Red Sox got wind of the talks, and the rest -- Beckett and Lowell winding up in Boston -- is history. (Dallas Morning News)
MYSTERY SOLVED (HOPEFULLY): After studying video, Eric Gagne thinks he's been tipping his pitches, which would explain his struggles since arriving in Boston. (Boston Herald) So he and pitching coach John Farrell have been working to solve the problem.
CAN'T COMPARE TO CUB NATION: Bobby Howry says Cub fans are far better than Red Sox fans because they're there through thick and thin and Sox fans ''wouldn't show up if they were losing like we were last year.'' (Chicago Tribune) How Howry knows this -- he spent 1 1/2 seasons in Boston, seasons in which the Sox went 93-69 and 95-67 and attracted 5,375,027 fans combined -- isn't quite clear.
JOBA RULES: We won't see him tonight no matter what, because the Yankees -- trying to protect his precious arm from the career-ravaging bullpen strategies of Joe Torre -- have expressly forbidden Torre from using him on consecutive days. But Joba Chamberlain got his first taste of the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry last night and seemed unruffled by it all as he pitched a scoreless eighth. (New York Post)
OUR HERO: Andy Pettitte got the victory last night and is now 69-33 when he pitches after Yankee losses. (New York Post)
THE MOOSE IS LOOSE: The Yankees answered the prayers of their fans everywhere by announcing after last night's game that Mike Mussina is being lifted from the starting rotation and replaced by rookie Ian Kennedy, at least temporarily. (New York Daily News) That means the Yankees will be fighting for a playoff spot with two rookies (Kennedy and Phil Hughes) among their starting five, but the alternative -- continuing to start the looks-like-he's-completely-lost-it Mussina -- apparently wasn't an option.
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN': On the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham reflects: ''I’m shocked that in a pennant race in September this team will have a pitching staff that includes Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Edwar Ramirez and Chris Britton. That tells you all you need to know about how much power Brian Cashman has. Regardless of what happens the rest of the way this season, he’s building a player development powerhouse that must scare the socks off the rest of baseball. If the Yankees can field a roster loaded with homegrown kids, they can spend whatever they want to retain A-Rod, chase Johan Santana or do whatever else they want.''
THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR: Derek Jeter says that for the Yankees, the playoffs have begun. (New York Post)
A GOOD NIGHT IN YANKEE UNIVERSE: The Yankees also picked up ground in the wild-card race as the Angels rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Mariners. (Los Angeles Daily News) The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has the Mariners' side of the story.
OTHER RACES: The Cubs beat the Brewers in the first game of their N.L. Central showdown (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Cardinals moved into second place by beating the Astros (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Are the Phillies actually going to make things interesting in the N.L. East? (Philadelphia Inquirer)
DARK CLOUDS IN D.C.: The estimable Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post comments on the troubled state of baseball in the nation's capital and warns that the opening of the new stadium next year won't solve the problems.
AND TAMPA: The Tampa Tribune's Martin Fennelly notes that the clock is ticking on the Devil Rays, because all their young talent will soon become expensive talent and if the team doesn't start winning they'll find themselves unable to afford players like Scott Kazmir and B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford.
QUICKLY: The Dodgers are interested in the A's Esteban Loaiza (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Phillies plan to decide in the offseason whether or not to keep Brett Myers in the bullpen or move him back to the rotation (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . Marlins pitcher Scott Olsen and team president David Samson had a clear-the-air meeting (Miami Herald) . . . The Tigers may seek a short-term replacement for the injured Gary Sheffield. (Detroit Free Press)
OLD FRIENDS: Freddy Sanchez had quite a night as the Pirates swept the Reds. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:47 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, August 28
WHERE'S THE PARTY? A week ago, it seemed the next three nights at Yankee Stadium would be rollicking, indeed. Now, as Sean McAdam points out, the three-game Red Sox-Yankees series has lost much of its luster, with the Sox comfortably ahead and the Yankees needing a sweep to maintain as much as a sliver of hope in the A.L. East race. (Even one Boston victory in the next three days will send the Sox home for the weekend with a seven-game lead and 28 to play.) While making the playoffs, and not winning the division, is the paramount goal, the Sox admit breaking the Yankees' 10-year stranglehold on the A.L. East means something to them, especially since they've narrowed the gap between themselves and New York in so many ways since John Henry took over as owner. (Both stories Boston Herald)
ODDS IN THEIR FAVOR: Coolstandings.com reports the Red Sox have a 98.8 percent chance of winning the division and a 99.9 percent chance of making the playoffs. The numbers of Baseball Prospectus are almost identical. Both systems list the Yankees' chances of winning the division as virtually nil (obviously, if the Sox are at 98.8 percent) and their chances of making the playoffs at around 48 percent.
THE GREATEST GAME THERE IS: Baseball Musings' David Pinto marvels at how quickly things change in baseball -- the Yankees, after looking like an unbeatable monolith for weeks, have suddenly morphed back into the do-nothing-right crew that stumbled through much of April and May -- and concludes: ''As much as you watch it, as much as you think you know, teams keep coming up with surprises.'' Which probably heartens the Yankees and their followers, since things could turn again this week.
IT'S NOT ALL BLUE SKIES: The news isn't rosy everywhere in Red Sox Nation. If you read this game story close enough you'll find that Clay Buchholz was shaky for the second straight time as the PawSox lost at Rochester (projo.com), throwing into question the Sox' apparent plans to have him start against Baltimore Saturday night. (Pawsox.com's short game account focuses more on Buchholz' poor performance.) With Julian Tavarez pitching as well as he has his last two times out, it may be the Sox will start him against the Orioles Friday night.
GETTING HIS SEA LEGS: Jon Lester, on the other hand, allowed only four hits and one run over six innings in Portland (sunjournal.com) in a game televised by NESN and remains on track to start Sunday in Boston. Still, he said he wasn't quite satisfied with his performance: ''At times really good and at times back to the old deal with fastball command. I felt good at times mechanically. I felt like I'd figured a couple of things out out there and then a couple batters later I'd just go back to being all over the place.'' The Sun Journal's Kalle Oakes has more.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT . . . Over the weekend McAdam reported the Sox are haggling with MLB over the 2008 schedule. Specifically, most members of the organization -- though Larry Lucchino is for it -- are against the team opening the season in Japan, as MLB wants. Also, small-market teams are fighting a plan to have virtually every Red Sox-Yankee series played on a weekend, which would maximize exposure on FOX' Saturday Game of the Week and ESPN's Sunday night telecast. (The teams want the Sox and Yanks in their cities on weekends, to maximize attendance.) As it is, four of the six series the teams will play this year are on weekends, including all three in Boston.
THE OLD MAN OF BASEBALL: The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes has a nice feature on Mike Timlin, who's closing in on his 1,000th major-league appearance. His very first appearance? For Toronto against the Red Sox on Opening Day, 1991. (baseball-reference.com) He faced Tom Brunansky (walk), Carlos Quintana (groundout), Tony Pena (lineout), Tim Naehring (groundout), Wade Boggs (walk) and Jody Reed (groundout) in his 1 1/3-inning stint during the Sox' 6-2 win over the Blue Jays.
NO SUPRISES HERE: Considering they went 6-1 last week, it would have been a shocker if the Red Sox weren't still ranked No. 1 in SI.com's Power Rankings. The Yankees, however, slid to fifth.
AND WHY'S THAT? Because the Yankees' week from hell culminated in a 16-0 loss at Detroit last night, with Mike Mussina getting rocked for the third straight outing. (New York Daily News) The calls to remove Mussina from the rotation come from the Daily News' John Harper and the New York Post's Joel Sherman and George King. Sherman answers the obvious question -- who do they have that's better than Mussina? -- by asking who could do worse.
READY TO FIGHT: The Yankees say the three-game series with the Red Sox is still big for them (New York Post) because, even if they don't catch Boston,
there's still the wild card and they only trail Seattle by two games (three in the loss column) in that race. But one of the veterans of the 1978 comeback, Goose Gossage, isn't ready to run up the white flag just yet. (New York Post) The '78 Yanks, he said, ''are living proof that anything can happen.''
THANK YOU, ANGELS: Los Angeles of Anaheim -- yeccch, that name -- made sure the Yanks didn't lose ground in the wild card as John Lackey shut down the Mariners, 6-0. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Seattle played most of the game without iits manager, as John McLaren was ejected by third-base umpire Jerry Meals for arguing a foul-tip call on Ichiro Suzuki in the first inning. (Post-Intelligencer) You'll be seeing the highlights all day today, as McLaren got his money's worth in his animated dressing-down of Meals, who tossed him after McLaren had already gotten back to the dugout. When reporters went to the umpires' room for an explanation, the door was closed in their face and voice from behind it said, ''Have a nice night.''
JUST SICK: Lackey pitched a complete-game shutout for his 16th win despite suffering from strep throat. (Los Angeles Daily News)
CHANGING HIS TUNE: In 2004 Mike Scioscia kicked Jose Guillen off the Angels prior to the playoffs because of his attitude, and Guillen swore eternal enmity toward his former skipper. Now, however, Guillen -- whose Mariners are fighting Scioscia's Angels for the A.L. West title -- is singing the praises of the L.A. of A. manager. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)
PAY ATTENTION, PLEASE: ESPN.com's Jim Caple thinks Angels-Mariners, and not Red Sox-Yankees, is the series to watch this week.
IT'S CATCHING: No, not Lackey's strep throat; rather, problems with umpires. The Mets' David Wright was tossed by C.B. Bucknor in New York's loss at Philadelphia. (New York Daily News)
IS IT JUST ME, OR IS IT C.B.? Pinto noted that almost every game he watches with Bucknor has an argument of some kind in it and wondered if others had noticed. Well, someone has started an online petition to fire Bucknor, calling him ''a disgrace to baseball . . . single handedly the worst umpire in Major League Baseball.'' (www.petitiononline.com/cbbuck/petition.html)
MAYBE, JUST MAYBE . . . The Philadelphia Daily News' Paul Hagen thinks the return of Chase Utley could spark a miracle finish by the Phillies.
PLEASE STAND UP: Are the Diamondbacks contenders or pretenders? The Arizona Republic's Dan Bickley says we're about to find out.
DIFFERING OPINIONS: The Astros fired their manager and general manager yesterday (Houston Chronicle), and SI.com's John Donovan wonders why it took so long. But FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the real problem is owner Drayton McLane (video).
NOTHING TO IT: White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski and hitting coach Greg Walker nearly came to blows in the dugout during Chicago's loss to the Red Sox Sunday, but Pierzynski says they argue all the time and it's no big deal. (Daily Southtown) Walker himself called it ''A.J. being A.J.'' -- where have we heard that before? -- and the White Sox seemed none the worse for wear as they beat the Devil Rays last night. (Chicago Sun-Times)
QUICKLY: Hideki Matsui has an achy knee (New York Post) . . . It certainly appears Scott Proctor, worked harder than a government mule by Joe Torre, is worn out (Los Angeles Times) . . . Terry Pendleton's name is popping up involving the soon-to-be-vacant Kansas City managerial job (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Phillies are interested in Twins right-hander Carlos Silva (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . The Cardinals won't say if they'll exercise their 2008 option on closer Jason Isringhausen (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . To no one's surprise, Gary Sheffield was placed on the DL by the Tigers (Detroit News) . . . The Phillies' Freddy Garcia may need shoulder surgery (Philadelphia Inquirer).
OLD FRIENDS: David Wells says he doesn't look sexy, but he feels sexy. (New York Daily News) The Dodgers might agree after he won his debut with them.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:43 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, August 27
SMILES ALL AROUND: And why not? Coco Crisp, Dustin Pedroia and Bobby Kielty -- left to right in the above AP Photo -- weren't the only happy members of Red Sox Nation yesterday after an 11-1 pasting of the White Sox, recounted here by Sean McAdam, that increased their A.L. East lead over the Yankees to 7 1/2 games. McAdam reports that the weekend in Chicago was one for the books, as the four consecutive blowouts, by the combined score of 46-7, accomplished various feats that hadn't been accomplished since 1920, 1922, 1946 and 1950, among other years. The Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti beat the field in becoming the first member of the local media to declare the division race over. The White Sox' Ozzie Guillen agrees, calling Boston ''the best team in the American League . . . I think Boston is the team to beat this year.'' (Chicago Sun-Times)
AGREED: Well, maybe not with the Boston-is-the-best-team-in-the-A.L. sentiment -- he may, but he hasn't written it -- but the Journal-News' Peter Abraham also thinks the division race is probably over.
PASSION PLAY: Our own Kevin McNamara's first-hand look at the devotion of Red Sox Nation reminds him of the deep, unconditional love many college football teams enjoy from their fans in other parts of the country.
TRY SELLING THIS ONE TO RED SOX NATION: The blog MVN isn't convinced Jonathan Papelbon is the best reliever on the Red Sox, let alone in the American League.
SO THAT EXPLAINS IT: SI.com's Jon Heyman has been watching Curt Schilling for years, and -- in light of his Tampa Bay comments last week -- has concluded: ''He's nuts. OK, maybe he's not insane in any clinical way. But insane nonetheless. Insane in his own way.'' Why? Because, according to Heyman, Schilling has no need to say anything about where he wants to play next year; he'll probably be the best available pitcher on the free-agent market this winter, and all he can do by saying things like he'd like to play for the Devil Rays or he'd never go the Yankees is lower his market value. In a related note, the blog phillyBurbs.com -- while admitting it would be intriguing -- doesn't think there's anything to the whispers that Schilling would return to Philadelphia to close out his career.
WHY I LOVE THE SONS: A new thread on the Sons of Sam Horn bulletin board is examining the impact the new, spaced-out postseason schedule will have on postseason roster construction. I suppose there's a level of fandom that has no use for this kind of stuff, but if you're in the level that does . . . it's fascinating.
DOWN MEMORY LANE: SOSH also found a link to a North Shore Sun story on Chuck Schilling, who played second base for the Red Sox from 1961-65 and was the closest friend Carl Yastrzemski ever had among all the teammates he played with. Now 69, Schilling's been playing softball ever since retiring from the major leagues in 1966, though he's thinking of hanging them up after this season.
EXPOSED: It wasn't long ago -- just a week, to be exact -- that the Yankees were four games back and charging, and this week's Boston-New York series at Yankee Stadium looked like it would have serious A.L. East implications. But the New York Post's George King, in reporting on the Yanks' 5-4 loss in Detroit yesterday, says a week of playing elite teams (the Angels and Tigers) has proven the Yankees ''don’t have enough starting pitching to be a serious threat to the Red Sox in the AL East or catch the Mariners in the wild-card chase.'' One of the problems, writes his Post colleague, Joel Sherman, is that the Yankee rotation has both the oldest (Roger Clemens) and youngest (Phil Hughes) starters in the American League.
REPEAT AFTER ME: HE'S A ROOKIE. HE'S A ROOKIE. HE'S A . . . The Daily News' John Harper says Hughes has great potential, no doubt, but he ''hasn't quite been the phenom this team needs.'' The Replacement Level Yankees Weblog does some research that shows the Yanks -- and their fans -- shouldn't expect too much from Hughes this season.
THE ART OF HANDLING YOUNG PITCHERS: In Sunday's Post, Sherman had a fascinating column on why the Yankees have to be so careful with their youngsters -- Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Chien-Ming Wang, Ian Kennedy -- especially since Joe Torre's history has been to use ''favored relievers until their arms resemble overripe bananas.'' (Incidentally, in his subscribers-only ESPN blog, Buster Olney makes the comment that ''some relievers who pitched for him will tell you privately that they were concerned that [Torre] would do -- or did do -- damage to their careers'' with his pattern of riding relief pitchers so hard that they eventually broke down; while not disclosing who said it, Olney specifically mentions how Torre overused Steve Karsay, Paul Quantrill, Tom Gordon, Tanyon Sturtze, Ron Villone and Scott Proctor.) Sherman looks at the case of Joe Girardi and the Marlins, noting that all of Florida's impressive young pitching from 2006 has been either injured or less effective this season and notes it may have been one of the reasons Girardi was fired. Almost on cue, the Yanks announced that pitcher Andrew Brackman, their top pick in the June draft, will undergo Tommy John surgery. (New York Post) And it they needed further proof, Tiger rookie Jair Jurrjens had to leave yesterday's game against the Yanks in the second inning because of shoulder pain and was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of rotator-cuff inflammation.
LAST CHANCE? The Yankees need to win tonight in Detroit to avoid opening the series against the Red Sox with an eight-game deficit. Their starter? The struggling Mike Mussina, who may well be pitching to protect his spot in the rotation. (New York Post)
THE REAL SHOWDOWN: While the Red Sox-Yankees series mave have lost a little of its luster, there's no denying that this week's Angels-Mariners matchup -- which will impact both the A.L. West and wild-card standings -- still has plenty of juice. It starts tonight in Seattle. (Los Angeles Daily News)
IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED HERE: Starting Friday night's Yankees-Tigers game at 11 p.m. EDT certainly seemed ridiculous, but the New York Post reports the umpires were under strict orders from MLB to get the game in at all possible. MLB is trying desperately to avoid doubleheaders or makeups down the stretch, and, in fact, was very upset Thursday night's Red Sox-White Sox game was postponed. ''We got a notice from baseball after the game in Chicago was rained out that we were to make every effort to get every game in,'' said the umpiring crew chief, Rick Reed.
BACK IN FORM: Johnny Damon may still want out of New York at season's end, but as for now he's playing like the Johnny Damon of old. (New York Post)
BOOM TOWN: David Wells made a strong debut with the Dodgers, pitching them to a win over the Mets. (Los Angeles Daily News) The Los Angeles Times' Helene Elliott says the Dodgers were impressed with Boomer.
NUMBERS GAME: The Reds retired Dave Concepcion's No. 13 before Saturday night's game. (Cincinnati Enquirer) The Astros did the same thing Sunday with Jeff Bagwell's No. 5. (Houston Chronicle)
CAN YOU SPELL M-E-L-T-D-O-W-N? When Phillies closer Brett Myers called Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Sam Carchidi ''retarded'' -- after Carchidi reacted skeptically when Myers said the two home runs he allowed in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss to the Padres were both ''pop-ups'' when they left the bat -- Carchidi asked Myers if he knew how to spell ''retarded''. The result was a shouting match that nearly escalated into blows, with the pitcher and the reporter having to be physically separated. Carchidi didn't mention it in his game story, but Matthew Cerone's Metsblog has the details.
YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN: The Indians say they have no interest in bringing back Bob Wickman, who was designated for assignment by the Braves. (Cleveland Plain-Dealer) One of the reasons might be the way he alienated people in Atlanta with his behavior. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
COMING AROUND: One start after getting battered by the Red Sox, Scott Kazmir turned in a 13-strikeout performance for the Devil Rays. (St. Petersburg Times)
LITTLE ANGER: Grady Little is upset with the Dodgers' offensive approach, and says they need to have more intelligent at-bats. (Los Angeles Daily News)
TURNAROUND? Writing for the Kansas City Star, Joe Posnanski thinks the Royals might be on the verge of a giant improvement.
HERE WE GO AGAIN: 88-year-old Andy Rooney has apologized for a column he wrote for Tribune Media Services in which he expressed sentiments that some interpreted as racist against Latins in baseball and have created something of a firestorm. (New York Times)
TRADE TALK: To be eligible for the postseason, players must be on a team's roster by Aug. 31 . . . which means this could be a busy week for waiver deals. Among the rumors: The Tigers, hampered by the loss of Gary Sheffield, are looking for a bat (Detroit Free Press) . . . Sheffield, incidentally, has no idea when he'll be returning (Detroit News) . . . It looks as if the long-rumored Jack Wilson-to-Detroit deal is dead (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Even though the Phillies are still in the hunt in the N.L., they're sellers, and not buyers, as the deadline approaches (Delaware County Times) . . . So are the Giants, whose playoff hopes died long ago (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Scouts have been following the A's, apparently interested in Mike Piazza and Esteban Loaiza (San Francisco Chronicle)
QUICKLY: It doesn't look as if Torii Hunter will be returning to Minnesota (Minneapolis Star-Tribune), and Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com thinks Hunter will get an $18 million-a-year deal on the open market . . . Nor Luis Gonzalez to the Dodgers, though, unlike Hunter, this will be the team's, and not the player's, choice (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Mark Prior thinks he'll be ready to pitch again by Opening Day and would like to do so in a Cubs uniform (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Freddy Garcia's rehab is going so slowly that the Phillies aren't counting on him for any down-the-stretch help (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Dodgers cut loose Brett Tomko (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Carlos Pena wants to stay in Tampa, but he may be too expensive for the Rays (St. Petersburg Times) . . . Alfonso Soriano will return to the Cubs' lineup tomorrow (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Mets' Billy Wagner says he's fine after complaining of a dead arm (New York Daily News) . . . Aaron Boone, now with the Marlins, will undergo knee surgery and miss the rest of the season (South Florida Sun-Sentinel). That knee, of course, is the one he injured after the 2003 season, setting in motion the wheels that landed Alex Rodriguez in New York.
AND FINALLY . . . Happy anniversary, Joy of Sox!
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:39 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, August 24
WHEN IT RAINS . . . it has the chance to mess up the best-laid plans of mice, men and the Red Sox. Everything the Sox have done, pitching-wise, over the last week has been to line up Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling, their top three starters, for the three games at Yankee Stadium next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. (That's what the bringing-up-Clay Buchholz/giving-Julian Tavarez-a-start sequence of last weekend was all about.) Last night's rainout in Chicago (above, AP Photo) doesn't affect those plans just yet, even with Beckett and Schilling scheduled to pitch in today's day-night doubleheader. (The off-day Monday gives them a built-in cushion.) But the weather forecast for Chicago remains ominous (weatherunderground.com) and if today's games are affected by the weather, well . . .
Sean McAdam reports the teams are looking into the possibilties of doubleheaders on Saturday or Sunday, or even for the Sox to make a return trip to Chicago on a mutual off-day Sept. 24. (projo.com) For Beckett to pitch Wednesday, he has to pitch today if he's going to stay on four days' rest; therefore, it's imperative for the Sox to get at least one of today's games in. (Schilling could still pitch Thursday if he pitches tomorrow.) What they do if both of today's games are postponed is anybody's guess. Mine is they skip Schilling entirely in this series, pitch Beckett tomorrow, then use Schilling on Tuesday, Matsuzaka on Wednesday and Beckett on Thursday in New York. But that's all it is: A guess. Stay tuned right on this blog; McAdam will be providing constant updates from Chicago.
ALREADY WORKING ON IT: The Red Sox already had rejiggered their pitching staff in light of the left-leaning White Sox and Yankee linueps, as they brought back Javy Lopez for left-handed fortification in the bullpen and sent Jon Lester down to Double-A Portland. (projo.com) McAdam reports on the moves, saying Lester went to Portland and not Pawtucket because a) he can't be recalled to Boston until Sept. 2 because of the 10-day rule (players sent to the minors can't be brought back for 10 days), b) he'll pitch Sept. 2 for the Sox against the Orioles and c) to avoid him having a week's rest prior to that start -- his next scheduled start for Boston would have been this Sunday -- he'll pitch Monday, and Monday is Clay Buchholz' day to pitch in Pawtucket. And the reason they don't want to push back Buchholz is because he's probably going to start for the Red Sox on Sept. 1 against the Orioles.
Whew. Got that?
In more mundane matters, Sean's notebook has injury updates on Dustin Pedroia, Eric Hinske and Doug Mirabelli, and the Sox signing veteran roustabout shortstop Royce Clayton to a minor-league deal.
A NEW MAN, FOR BETTER OR WORSE: Schilling, says the Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti, has lost some battles to Father Time and is in the process of remaking himself as a pitcher. Question is, can he complete the makeover fast enough to be effective down the stretch and in the postseason?
COMING OUT OF IT: The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes thinks the mega-slumping Kevin Youkilis is showing signs of life at the plate.
NOT COMING OUT OF IT: Discontent with J.D. Drew is rising throughout Red Sox Nation. The latest to weigh in: FoxSports.com's Kevin Hench.
OH, PLEASE: Don't tell Seth Mnookin that Daisuke Matsuzaka has been a disappointment for the Red Sox, because Dice-K has pitched much better than his 13-10 record would indicate. (sethmnookin.com)
27 INTO 25: Massarotti reports the Sox will have flexibility on their playoff roster, flexibility enough to add a Lester or a Buchholz or a Jacoby Ellsbury even though they won't be with the team on Aug. 31, the day the postseason eligibility list is supposed to be set, thanks to the injured Matt Clement and Brendan Donnelly.
PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN: As most of you know by now, USA Today has anointed the Red Sox as the new America's Team, based on the fact that they draw more fans on the road than anyone else. Peter Abraham, however, wonders if the 896-person difference in the average road attendance between the Sox and Yankees isn't due to the fact that the Sox get 55,000 every time they visit New York while the Yankees only get 36,000 when they come to Boston. (LoHud Yankees Blog) The blog Strike Zones and End Zones does the math and calculates that, if you take Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park out of the equation, the Yanks average 38,040 per game while the Sox drop to 37,131.
LET'S GET REAL, SHALL WE? The whole premise is silly anyway, says Abraham, because ''anybody with any common sense knows that the mighty New England Patriots are America’s team.'' I told you the other day, he's from New Bedford.
LOOKING BACK, NOT AHEAD: SI.com's Tom Verducci thinks the Red Sox are peeking into the rear-view mirror these days.
LOOKING AHEAD, NOT BACK: Next week's series at Yankee Stadium will mean something after all, writes the New York Post's Justin Terranova. And the Yanks have a new weapon to throw at Boston in Joba Chamberlain. (New York Daily News)
BUT FIRST . . . The Yankees have a little matter of four games in Detroit, where their season came to an end last October. (New York Daily News)
CATCHING THEM AT THE RIGHT TIME? The Tigers are coming off three losses in four games at Cleveland, which dropped them 2 1/2 games behind the Indians in the A.L. Central. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
DOMINO EFFECT: If this is Joe Torre's final year as Yankee manager, as many suspect, the Yanks may also lose free agents Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. (New York Post)
GLORY OF THEIR TIMES: With all the research material available on the Web today, many stories of old ballplayers don't hold up to scrutiny. The latest: In a story on how wearing golf gloves became popular among major league players, mlb.com traces it back to Ken Harrelson, who said he first wore one as a rookie in 1963 and hit a home run off Whitey Ford of the Yankees. Only problem is, Harrelson didn't hit a home run off Ford -- and, indeed, didn't even hit one against the Yankees -- in 1963. (baseball-reference.com) The incident in question could have occured on Sept. 9, 1964. It had to if Ford was the pitcher, because that was the only home run Harrelson ever hit off him.
TWO OF US: How often do Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner ever blow saves, let alone blow them in the same game? Yet that's what happened last night at Shea Stadium in a game the Padres wound up winning in 10 innings. (New York Daily News) Even so, the Daily News' Filip Bondy says the Mets have no worries, at least not when it comes to winning the N.L. East.
SAME OLD SAME OLD: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says Wednesday's 30-3 embarrassment is a continuation of the Orioles' sad recent history.
CAPTAIN VIDEO: The blog Bugs & Cranks culled YouTube and came up with some of the best managerial blowups of all time.
THE REAL ISSUES: The blog ShysterBall researches the favorite baseball team of the presidential candidates. Sox fans include Mitt Romney, Christopher Dodd and, in a strange way, Bill Richardson, who claims to be both a Sox and Yankee fan (the logic of which, ShysterBall points out, ''Abraham Lincoln identified the flaw with . . . 149 years ago''). Rudy Guiliani and, perhaps, Hillary Rodham Clinton are Yankee fans.
NOTHING FROM THE MIDDLE: Don't expect the wild card to come out of the Central Division in either league, writes FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry.
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli was scratched from his rehab assignment Wednesday because of soreness in his legs. (St. Petersburg Times)
QUICKLY: The Rangers' Michael Young is sick of losing (FoxSports.com) . . . The Padres are worried about Chris Young's sore back (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Ever see one of those ballpark marriage proposals? This one really backfired on some poor guy in Houston (FoxSports.com) . . . Mike Sweeney may stay with the Royals, after all. (Kansas City Star)
OLD FRIENDS: David Wells is headed to the Dodgers (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Edgar Renteria is headed to the disabled list. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:55 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, August 23
STRANDED: Hitting with runners in scoring position isn't exactly a little thing, but you don't need to succeed at it too often to score enough runs to win a game. Problem for the Red Sox last night was, they failed in almost every RISP position they had last night -- and the one they succeeded at, a single by J.D. Drew with a runner at second base, didn't even drive home a run -- and that 1-for-10 performance led to 14 men left on base and a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Devil Rays, which made a tough-luck loser out of Daisuke Matsuzaka (above, AP Photo). Steven Krasner breaks it down in detail (projo.com), and notes that Jason Varitek had a particularly bad night. Varitek not only went for 0-for-5, but in each of his last four at-bats he came to the plate with runners at first and second and two outs . . . and came up empty every time. The final one, with two outs in the ninth, ended the game.
WHAT A WASTE: Baseball Musing's David Pinto takes a closer look at the Red Sox' offensive inefficiency last night.
AND WHO'S BEEN THE BIGGEST WASTE? Seth Mnookin says Kevin Youkilis has been every bit as bad offensively in the second half of the season as Julio Lugo was in the first, but no one knows it because Youk's seasonal numbers are still good thanks to his superlative first three months. (sethmnookin.com)
'A BLIND SQUIRREL FINDS A NUT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE': That was B.J. Upton's explanation of the two-run homer in the sixth inning that made a loser of Matsuzaka. (Tampa Tribune) The Sox are 9-3 against the Rays this year and Matsuzaka has all three losses.
SIGN OF THINGS TO COME: Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times reports the Rays think they're close to being a good team and nights like last night show that the future may not be that far off in the distance.
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? Curt Schilling takes to 38pitches.com on an off-day to clarify his comments about playing in Tampa Bay.
IT WAS A PAINFUL NIGHT . . . in more ways than one. Krasner's journal chronicles injuries suffered by Dustin Pedroia (hit in the left elbow by a pitch) and Eric Hinske (strained calf), the long-term effects of which remain to be seen. Check back here later today, when Sean McAdam will update the blog pregame from Chicago.
. . . ALL THE WAY AROUND: In his return to the minor leagues after his successful one-day stint with the Red Sox, Clay Buchholz was less than dazzling in the PawSox' loss to Buffalo. (projo.com)
AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMIN': The Yankees got back to five games behind with an 8-2 win at Anaheim -- yes, I know they're officially called the gobbledegook Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but the stadium's in Anaheim so that's where they were -- powered by the pitching of Andy Pettitte. (New York Daily News) The victory also enabled Joe Torre to move past Casey Stengel into second place on the Yankees' list of managerial victories. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
DON'T ASK ME WHY: The Angels have no idea why they've been so successful against the Yankees over the years, but they're not going to start questioning it. (Los Angeles Daily News) The New York Sun's Steven Goldman looks at it analytically and has no real answers, either.
NO MORE MOOSE? Mike Mussina's recent struggles have been titanic, leading to questions about his future. (New York Daily News)
A TRUE YANKEE: Salon.com reports on a New York Times story that Rudy Guiliani spent more time with the Yankees than he did at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11.
SEEING THE LIGHT: Don Zimmer says his daughter, Donna Mollica, and granddaughter, Whitney Mollica, both live in Windham, N.H., and ''had to be Yankee fans because I was a coach'' in New York from 1996-2003. But when he left the Yanks, they switched to rooting for the Red Sox. (Boston Herald)
ONE FOR THE BOOKS: The Rangers set a record for most runs in a game in the modern era, as well as the largest margin of victory in the modern era, with a 30-3 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards. The Dallas Morning News provides the winners' perspective, while the Baltimore Sun gives us the losers' eye view. The blog Soccer Dad looks at some other historic Oriole blowouts.
BAD TIMING: The funny things is, it happened on the same day the Orioles extended the contract of Dave Trembley (Baltimore Sun). Purely coincidentally -- it was written before the game -- the Sun's Rick Maese wonders if the decision to retain Trembley will look so good at season's end.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: Jair Jurrjens provided the Tigers with a boost Tuesday night, but Jason Verlander couldn't maintain that momentum last night. As a result, the Indians still hold the A.L. Central lead. (Both stories, Detroit Free Press)
FRUSTRATION'S BUILDING . . . in the Atlanta clubhouse, where the Braves can feel the N.L. East slipping away. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
GIVE IT UP: Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press says the Twins should succumb to the obvious and pull the plug on 2007.
BUYERS' REMORSE: Writing on FoxSports.com, Tracy Ringolsby says the Cubs may live to regret the contract they gave Carlos Zambrano.
MURDER IN HIS HEART: The blog Fanhouse is slightly incredulous as it relates the story that Rick Sutcliffe wanted to kill Reggie Jackson.
EAT ALL YOU WANT! The Rangers are offering an all-you-can-eat ticket option for $29, hoping it will help sell some of their cheaper and less attractive seats. (Dallas Morning News) Other teams, including the Dodgers, have had success with similar programs.
LOCAL BOYS: The endless rehab of Rocco Baldelli continues tonight at Vero Beach, where he's scheduled to play three or four innings in center field. (St. Petersburg Times)
QUICKLY: Kenny Rogers says he'll only play for Detroit if he plays in 2008; otherwise, he'll retire (Detroit News) . . . The White Sox may be targeting Twins center fielder Torri Hunter as a free-agent priority (Chicago Tribune) . . . Cole Hamels doesn't think his elbow injury is all that bad (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Brewers are sending Chris Capuano to the bullpen (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Gary Sheffield has a bad shoulder and will probably miss the Tigers' series with the Yankees this weekend (Detroit News) . . . The Angels' Chone Figgins is day-to-day with a bad wrist (Riverside Press-Enterprise).
OLD FRIENDS: Edgar Renteria's comeback last night lasted for only one pitch, as he reinjured his ankle and may have to go back on the DL (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Wily Mo Pena's arrival in Washington may mean less playing time for Ryan Church (Washington Post).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:27 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, August 22
JUST SLUPER: He calls it a ''slutter'' -- a cross between a slider and a cut fastball -- and Jonathan Papelbon (above, AP Photo) used it to finally subdue the Devil Rays on a night when the score was a lot closer than the game felt like. Steven Krasner has the details of Papelbon's new pitch and the Sox' 8-6 win, which Papelbon closed out by recording the final four outs . . . including three by strikeout. The save was his 30th, making him the first Red Sox reliever in history to have two 30-save seasons. (Worcester Telegram) He's also only the fourth pitcher in MLB history -- Billy Koch, Kaz Sasaki and Todd Worrell are the others -- to record 30 saves in each of their first two full seasons in the majors.
WINNER IN NAME ONLY: Papelbon saved the victory for Jon Lester, but Krasner reports the young left-hander didn't feel like a winner after a 5 2/3-inning outing in which he surrendered five runs, all of which scored on two-out home runs (a two-run shot by Carlos Pena in the first, and a three-run blast by Akinori Iwamura in the fifth).
SCOUTING REPORT: The Sox announced that Chris Carter is, indeed, the player coming to Boston in the Wily Mo Pena trade. (projo.com) As it happens, Pawtucket shortstop Jed Lowrie was a teammate of Carter's at Stanford and last night he told Joe McDonald what to expect from the Sox' newest acquisition. (projo.com) McDonald also notes that between Lowrie, Carter and Craig Breslow (who graduated from Yale with a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry), the conversation in the McCoy Stadium clubhouse might be a bit more highbrow than it usually is.
JOB HUNTING: With the season winding down and no new contract with the Red Sox in sight, Curt Schilling is beginning to weigh his options. (Boston Herald) One of those options, apparently, is Tampa Bay (Boston Globe), which intrigues the Devil Rays. (St. Petersburg Times) SI.com's Jon Heyman notes that with Carlos Zambrano off the market, Schilling might be the best free-agent starter available this offseason.
ONE OF US: Eric Gagne has been struggling, but he's getting plenty of support from the tight-knit Red Sox bullpen. (Boston Herald)
THE FORGOTTEN MAN: These are the final few months of Matt Clement's contract with the Red Sox, and the odds are miniscule that they'll offer him another. And he's still not quite ready to pitch after last year's shoulder surgery. Even so, he feels better than he's felt in years and is looking forward to getting back on the mound, somewhere. (Boston Globe)
WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU? The game of musical catchers in the Boston organization that was started when Doug Mirabelli got hurt Friday has resulted in Dusty Brown landing in Pawtucket. (projo.com) McDonald reports on the performance last night of the guy Sox fans see quite a bit of in spring training -- he invariably catches the last few innings of almost every exhibition game televised back here -- and then disappears once the season starts.
FOR SALE: For a mere $169,000, you can go on eBay and purchase David Ortiz' car. (Projo Sox Blog) Our old friend Steve Silva calls it a case Papi being Manny. (Boston Dirt Dogs)
CHATTY: Theo Epstein participated in a chat on Boston.com yesterday afternoon, and when asked the inevitable question about the Yankees cutting into the Sox lead, he replied: ''We'd rather be up 14 games, of course, but we have to be somewhat satisfied with a five-game lead given how well the Yankees have played over the last 2 1/2 months. We're well enough positioned now so that we'll get what we deserve. If we play well down the stretch, we should get into October without concern. If we don't play well when it matters ... well, then we probably don't deserve to be playing into October. I am confident that these players have what it takes.''
UPDATE: The Sox' lead is now six games, not five, after the Yankees got hammered by the Angels, 18-9. (New York Daily News) Mike Mussina put the Yanks in a 7-1 hole after two innings (New York Post), and though they nearly climbed out with four runs in the third, the bullpen -- there's that word again -- blew things up by allowing five runs in the third and five runs again in the sixth. Mussina was so bad that the Journal-News' Peter Abraham wonders if he'd be on the postseason roster should the Yankees make it.
RELAX: Abraham, on the LoHud Yankees Blog, is urging Yankee Universe to remain calm in light of New York's five-losses-in-eight-games stumble. He also makes some very sober points about Joba Chamberlain, warning that those who want to turn the Yankee 'pen into all Joba all the time run the risk of destroying his career. And if you don't believe him, he points to Cole Hamels. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
PERFECT TEN: Garret Anderson led the charge for the Angels last night with 10 RBI. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)
GOOD INVESTMENT: SI.com's Tom Verducci says Jorge Posada is defying the laws of aging with a career year at age 36 and would be worth a premium price in the free-agent market.
CALM DOWN: The Mets officially pulled the plug on the notion of Pedro Martinez' imminent return to New York, as ''bullpen coach and longtime confidante'' Guy Conti told the New York Daily News that Petey ''definitely needs one or two more" rehab starts.
WELCOME ABOARD: The Mets laid out the red carpet for the newly acquired Jeff Conine. (New York Daily News)
AND WELCOME AT LAST: The New York Post's Mike Vaccaro says the Shea Stadium faithful are finally warming up to Carlos Beltran. Perhaps the Mets' thrilling win over the Padres softened their mood. (New York Post)
NAMING NAMES: SI.com reports that George Mitchell has been given the list of players who allegedly bought steroids from Kirk Radomski, the former Mets clubhouse attendant.
NOTHING LIKE A GOOD PIECE OF ALUMINUM: Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is part of a group that is fighting the trend to replace metal bats with wooden ones. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
OOPS: The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Bud Shaw says it's time for the Indians to step up. Then they went out and got one-hit by the Tigers in a 2-1 loss that narrowed their A.L. Central lead to one-half game. (Detroit News)
AIMING CY: Erik Bedard continues to build his credentials for the A.L. Cy Young Award by beating the Rangers, raising his record to 13-4 and tying the Orioles' record for strikeouts in a single season with 218. (Baltimore Sun)
QUICKLY: The Orioles are expected to announce today that Dave Trembley's contract has been extended through 2008 (Baltimore Sun) . . . The Astros' Jason Jennings will undergo season-ending elbow surgery (Houston Chronicle) . . . Alfonso Soriano says he'll be ready this weekend, but the Cubs are sticking to Labor Day as his first day back. (Chicago Sun Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Dan Duquette may become the Pirates' CEO (Beaver County Times) . . . Cliff Floyd came off the restricted list and led the Cubs over the Giants. (Chicago Sun Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:36 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, August 21
CLEAR PATH: Mindful of what happened with the Mariner Moose in Seattle, Coco Crisp (above, AP Photo) wanted to make sure Raymond -- the Devil Rays' rambunctious mascot -- steered clear with his ATV. (He did; the only problem last night was a mouse that was the talk of both the radio and television broadcast teams. [Boston Globe]) Things on the field went a whole lot smoother for the Red Sox, as Tim Wakefield continued his hard-to-fathom dominance of the Devil Rays with seven innings of four-hit, shutout ball and Boston rolled to a 6-0 win over traditional nemesis Scott Kazmir. Steven Krasner reports that Kevin Cash's first try at catching Wakefield's knuckler went well, despite some hairy moments at the beginning. (projo.com) Cash had experience catching knuckleballs at Pawtucket -- both John Barnes and Charlie Zink throw them -- but, as he said afterwards, ''No offense to [Barnes and Zink], but [Wakefield's knuckler is] no comparison.'' One other note: Wakefield is now tied with teammate Josh Beckett, the Angels' John Lackey and the Braves' Tim Hudson for the major-league lead in wins, with 15. (projo.com)
| NO COMPARISON?? That would be a shock to our own Joe McDonald, who found Zink's knuckler plenty tough when he donned catcher's equipment to see what catching a knuckleball was like in 2006. (projo.com) (Right, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach)
THE DARK CLOUD: Krasner reports that Wakefield came out of the game after seven innings because of tightness in his back, though Wakefield says he doesn't think it's anything serious. (projo.com) MEANWHILE, DOWN ON THE FARM . . . The man the Sox thought would be their catcher of the future, George Kotteras, is beginning to get his game together at Pawtucket. (projo.com) McDonald has the report. |  |
YOU GOT ME: The Devil Rays themselves have no idea why they have so much trouble with Wakefield, who is now 9-0 lifetime at Tropicana Field and 19-2 in his career against Tampa Bay. (St. Petersburg Times)
STAYING THE COURSE: The reason Kazmir was lifted in the sixth inning? The Devil Rays are determined not to blow out any of their young pitchers now, when the games are meaningless (to them), so they'll be healthy when the team is ready to contend. (St. Petersburg Times)
BECKETT'S MY PICK: SI.com's Jon Heyman has Josh Beckett at the top of his Cy Young ballot.
CARTER COUNTRY: The Washington Post has confirmed that the Red Sox will be receiving Diamondbacks minor-league first baseman Chris Carter as payment from the Nationals for Wily Mo Pena. The nugget was first reported in the Boston Globe over the weekend. No report on how Carter will get from Arizona to Washington, but however it's done it probably won't happen until after the season. There's no room for Carter with the Diamondbacks, but he's hitting .328 for Triple-A Tucson with a .385 on-base percentage and a .531 slugging percentage.
'TIL WE MEET AGAIN: Wily Mo Pena released a gracious statement wishing the Red Sox and their fans well after his trade to Washington. (Boston Herald) He hit his second home run for the Nationals last night and his new teammates are excited by what they see. (Washington Post)
HOLDING STEADY: The Red Sox, Angels and Yankees remain 1-2-3 in FoxSports.com's Power Rankings.
WHICH PEN IS MIGHTIER? Baseball Musing's David Pinto notes that the Yankee bullpen has outperformed the Red Sox bullpen since August 1.
BACK TO FIVE: The Sox' lead in the A.L. East went up by a game somewhere around 2 a.m. Eastern time, when the Angels pushed across a run in the bottom of the 10th and beat the Yankees, 7-6. (New York Daily News) The only New York-area newspaper with postgame quotes is the Journal-American -- whose beat writer, Peter Abraham, hails from nearby New Bedford -- and you can get the L.A. of Anaheim view from the Los Angeles Daily News and our sister publication, the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
THEY'RE BAAAACK: The Press-Enterprise's Gregg Patton says people who buried the Yankees in June or July were foolish because ''the Yankees don't go away in June or July. The Yankees don't go away at all.''
QUITE THE EXPENSE: The Yankees are paying Jason Giambi $17.14 million and Johnny Damon $13 million to share the DH job. (New York Daily News) That gives the Yankees' designated-hitter position a higher payroll than the entire Devil Rays team, and nearly as high a payroll as the Marlins. (USA Today)
SNEAK PREVIEW? The New York Post's George King says Alex Rodriguez could be paying a visit to the place he'll soon be calling home.
FAMOUS? FOR WHAT? CBSSportsline.com columnist Gregg Doyel says George Steinbrenner doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame because all he's done as Yankee owner is spend money and thus has given nothing back to baseball.
COMEBACK KID: Pedro Martinez had his best rehab performance so far -- five innings, two unearned runs -- and says feels ''healthy enough to say . . . 'Hey, take me to New York.' '' (New York Daily News) Apparently there's been some talk in the Mets front office of bringing him up, though the Post's Mike Vaccaro says that would be a mistake.
TO THE RESCUE: Joel Zumaya is back with the Tigers, who are hoping his return from a ruptured tendon in his right middle finger will stop their slide. (Detroit Free Press)
HERE THEY COME: The hard-charging Cardinals are only three games out in the N.L. Central. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
PASSAGES: Wild Bill Hagy, who was well-known in the 1970s and '80s for leading the cheers at old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, has died at age 68. (Baltimore Sun)
ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE: Bobby Jenks' streak of consecutive batters retired ended at 41, which enabled him to tie (with San Francisco's Jim Barr) but not break the major-league record, but he still got the save as the White Sox beat the Royals. (Chicago Tribune)
QUICKLY: The Twins want Boof Bonser to lose some weight (Minneapolis Star Tribune) . . . From the same newspaper, Johan Santana was back at work the day after his 17-strikeout performance . . . The Marlins benched Miguel Cabrera for showing up late (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) . . . Mark Grudzielanek will be back with the Royals next season. (Kansas City Star)
OLD FRIENDS: Mike Myers' deal with the White Sox includes a contract for 2008 (Chicago Sun Times) . . . Freddy Sanchez got the game-winning single for the Pirates last night (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) and is hitting .375 in August . . . Phil Dumatrait was hammered again in Cincinnati, and Reds interim manager Pete Mackanin says he's not sure the ex-Sox farmhand is ''ready for this level'' (Cincinnati Post) . . . No one's willing to pick up all the incentives in his contract, so David Wells may not pitch again this year (rotoworld.com) . . . The Cubs will probably activated Cliff Floyd today. (Chicago Sun Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:50 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, August 20
LACK OF ATTACK: They pitched fine, and they played defense well enough to land two spots on ESPN's top five Web gems for the day (the home-run saving catch by Bobby Kielty in the first inning, and the second-inning grounder in which both Mike Lowell at the start and Kevin Youkilis at the end made superb plays). But their offense continues to lurch and sputter and Joe McDonald reports that yesterday it cost them a game as the Red Sox fell to the Angels, 3-1. The Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti points specifically to the maddening at-bat of J.D. Drew in the eighth inning -- when, with two on, two out, and Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez still in the bullpen, Drew looked at six straight pitches and was called out on strikes without ever taking the bat off his shoulder (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach), ending the Sox' last chance to win the game -- and says it was a sympton of their baffling inconsistency since the end of May, inconsistency that, coupled with the Yankee surge, has once again shaved their A.L. East lead to four games.
THE LONG ROAD BACK: There isn't a Red Sox fan anywhere who won't point out that the lead would still be a healthy seven games were it not for Eric Gagne -- who was the main culprit in the Sox' blowing a 5-1 eighth-inning lead in Baltimore a week ago Friday, a 3-1 eighth-inning lead in Baltimore a week ago Sunday and a 5-4 ninth-inning lead against the Angels last Friday night -- and he was greeted accordingly when he entered the game in the ninth inning yesterday. But Sean McAdam notes that yesterday was a good day for Gagne, one he hopes he can build on.
HE WHO LAUGHS LAST . . . Gagne's struggles haven't gone unnoticed 160 miles to the south. The New York Post's Joel Sherman says the Yankees, who were beaten by the Sox in the bid to acquire Gagne, may have won the battle, after all.
BITS AND PIECES: The McAdam/McDonald/Paul Kenyon notebook has items on the bad blood between Julian Tavarez and Orlando Cabrera, Kielty's Boston debut, and Youkilis' mind-bending slump. Kenyon also profiles new catcher Kevin Cash, who made his Boston debut yesterday and will begin his real job -- taking over as Tim Wakefield's personal catcher from the injured Doug Mirabelli -- tonight in Tampa.
IF WE DO SAY SO OURSELVES: The Angels were proud of themselves for coming up big in the finale of what had been a tough weekend for them. (Los Angeles Daily News)
LOST IDENTITY: Curt Schilling says he's ''nowhere near as consistent as I can be, or should be, and I continue to change as much as I can to adjust to the new stuff I have, or don’t have.'' (38pitches.com) Writing for FoxSports.com, Chad Finn worries that Schilling is ''just as likely to be a liability as he is an asset to Boston's championship aspirations.''
NO REPEAT: Because of the wild card, FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry says the current A.L. East race bears no resemblance to the epic Red Sox-Yankee struggle of 1978.
NOTHING PERSONAL: Joe Posnanski insists he doesn't hate Jim Rice; he just doesn't think Rice belongs in the Hall of Fame. He says Rice fans fail to make the distinction, and they probably won't now, either, after Joe writes that Rice's best season (1978) doesn't compare to Rocky Colavito's best season (1961). (thesoulofbaseball.blogspot.com)
ROLLING A SEVEN: In a Sports Illustrated poll of major league players, Fenway Park was listed as the seventh-best venue in which to hit. (SI.com)
ALL TOGETHER NOW: The Nationals got the whole Wily Mo Pena package -- a home run, two strikeouts and some shaky defense in right field -- in Sunday's loss to the Mets. (Washington Times)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT . . . Joe McDonald talked to Bronson Arroyo after the Pena trade, and Arroyo says he appreciates Theo Epstein's comment that the Pena-for-Arroyo trade was a mistake. He also reiterated that he'd love to return to the Red Sox.
YIN AND YANG: Johnny Damon sounds like he wants out of the Bronx if he can't play every game (New York Times) Even so, he says he still enjoys being a Yankee, especially after days like yesterday. (New York Daily News)
VINDICATION: The calls for Brian Cashman's head were overwhelming earlier this year, when the Yankees were struggling. But he stuck to his plan, and the Daily News' Bill Madden says it's paying off.
SO LONG, PAL: On the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham writes that Chien-Ming Wang may be bothered by the release of Mike Myers, who was his best friend on the team and who tried to break Wang out of his quiet, introverted shell. Yesterday Wang wasn't as good as he's been all season, but he was a lot better than he'd been in his last two starts and it was enough to get him the victory. (New York Daily News)
HIP HIP JORGE! Writing for the Journal-American's print edition, Abraham says Jorge Posada could very well be a Met next year.
I'VE SEEN THIS BEFORE . . . Joba Chamberlain reminds the Tigers of their own Joel Zumaya. (New York Post)
WRONG MONTH: The calendar says August, but the Detroit Free Press' Mitch Albom says the slumping Tigers need to begin playing like it's September.
RECORD? I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' RECORD: Johan Santana had 17 strikeouts through eight innings and could have tied the Roger Clemens/Kerry Wood mark for strikeouts in a single game by fanning the side in the ninth, but basically decided that eight (innings) was enough and turned things over Joe Nathan in the ninth. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
HELLO GOODBYE: SI.com's Jacob Luft lists the Padres' Jake Peavy as the favorite to win the N.L. Cy Young Award. (His A.L. pick: The Orioles' Erik Bedard.) Even so, Peavy doesn't expect to be in San Diego beyond the end of his contract in 2009, and even thinks he may be traded before then. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
GOOD DEAL . . . MAYBE: The Daily Southtown's Phil Arvia says the Carlos Zambrano contract extension will work for the Cubs if it gets them that elusive World Series championship.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Jermaine Dye, whom the Red Sox tried hard to acquire at the trading deadline, gave the White Sox a bit of a hometown discount in agreeing to a two-year, $22 million contract extension over the weekend. (Chicago Tribune)
QUICKLY: Roy Oswalt (strained oblique muscle) will probably miss his next start for the Astros (Houston Chronicle) . . . The Blue Jays -- or at least some members of the Toronto media -- have buyer's remorse regarding Vernon Wells (Toronto Sun) . . . It's not imminent, but the Mets' Billy Wagner is thinking retirement (New York Times).
LOCAL BOYS: Ex-Providence College star John McDonald played a big role in the Blue Jays' win over the Orioles yesterday (Toronto Sun).
OLD FRIENDS: Mike Myers, released by the Yankees earlier this month, has resurfaced in Chicago with the White Sox (Chicago Tribune) . . . Lenny DiNardo is emerging as the ace of the A's starting rotation (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Cubs aren't sure when Cliff Floyd, mourning the death of his father, will come off the bereavement list (Chicago Sun-Times).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:56 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, August 17
AWARD-WINNING DEBUT? Steven Krasner takes advantage of the off-day to look at the rookie season of Dustin Pedroia (above, Journal photo by Kris Craig), who could have a trophy with the engraving ''Rookie of the Year'' sitting on his mantle when it's over. (projo.com)
IMPRESSIVE COMPANY: If he wins it, he'll join a few pretty big names -- and one Hall of Famer -- who won the Rookie of the Year award as members of the Red Sox. (en.wikipedia.org)
IT WAS FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY . . . that Tony Conigliaro was hit in the eye by a pitch from the Angels' Jack Hamilton, derailing what could have been a Hall of Fame career. Conigliaro, of course, has passed away, but the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley talks to Hamilton, who now runs a restaurant in Bramson, Missouri. Hamilton says the pitch to Tony C. simply got away from him -- he wasn't throwing at Conigliaro -- and that he's sorry it happened. His wife asks Buck to ''please tell those people in Boston that what happened in 1967 was an accident, and that he’s a good guy.”
MIND GAMES: The Boston Herald's Rob Bradford talks to the Cleveland Indians' sports psychologist, who says Manny Ramirez ''is at an elite level in terms of being able to focus and go pitch to pitch. What he is able to do that separates him from other players is his ability to keep his mind in the moment . . He doesn’t get caught up in what is happening around him.”
SACRIFICIAL LAMB? Ervin Santana, who never pitches well at Fenway Park, will be the Angels' starter tonight against Josh Beckett. (Los Angeles Daily News) They'll throw their ace, John Lackey, against Clay Buchholz.
WE KNOW, JOE, WE KNOW: Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon always used the quirky 3-4 defense when David Ortiz was at the plate, but not anymore. ''He's just a different hitter," Maddon said. "It is just an entirely different chart than last year.'' (St. Petersburg Times)
FLAW IN THE ARGUMENT: Joe Posnanski says a ''brilliant reader and [Jim] Rice lobbyist [named] Paul White'' (who I believe was a regular on projo.com's old Off The Wall site years ago) has ''softened'' Posnanski's views on Rice's Hall of Fame candidacy, though he still doesn't think Rice belongs in. However, Posnanski says White's basic point -- that there are 20 left fielders in the Hall, Rice compares favorably to all of them, and therefore the writers are flaunting the standards that they've established by not electing Rice -- is incorrect, because 9 of the 20 were not voted in by the writers but put in by the Veterans Committee. ''If we as writers use our own standards set through the years,'' says Joe, ''we absolutely would not vote for Jim Rice.'' (thesoulofbaseball.blogspot.com)
PROBABLY NOT: The blog One More Dying Quail notes that Sporting News Radio's Dave Smith says the Red Sox' first-round playoff opponent will be either the Detroit Tigers or the Milwaukee Brewers.
THAT'S JUST SICK: The Yankees posted a sign in their clubhouse prior to last night's game: ''Do not interact with the Detroit Tigers players at any time. They are experiencing medical issues.'' But in the end it was the Yankees feeling ill as Detroit jumped out to a 4-0 lead off Mike Mussina in the first inning and cruised to an 8-3 win. (Detroit News)
BASEBALL'S A HUMBLING GAME: And the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro says the previously scorching Yankees have indeed been humbled these last five days, which include three straight losses and two other games they very easily could have lost.
IF YOU GO, YOU'RE GONE: Brian Cashman reiterated yesterday that the Yankees won't pursue Alex Rodriguez if he opts out of his contract at the end of the year. (Newark Star-Ledger)
TAKE YOUR PICK: SI.com's John Donovan lists five reasons why the Yankees will make the playoffs, and five reasons why they won't.
PILING ON: Gary Sheffield just can't stop talking about Joe Torre; now he's calling the Yankee manager a phony. (New York Post)
DANGER, DANGER! Seth Mnookin says Torre is abusing the now-fragile Mariano Rivera with the way he uses him and wonders why no one in the mainstream media has mentioned it. (sethmnookin.com) Purely coincidentally, I'm sure -- I seriously doubt Joe reads Seth's blog -- Torre said he's giving Rivera a couple of days off. (New York Post)
OFF THE HOOK: Jason Giambi won't face punishment from Bud Selig over his admission of steroid usage, thanks to both his cooperation with former Sen. George Mitchell's investigation and ''his public-service work.'' (New York Daily News)
WHAT'S THE DEAL? In a chat with readers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Bob Smizik says Roger Clemens' accomplishments after the age of 40 are just as impressive as Barry Bonds', making him wonder why Clemens has escaped steroids scrutiny. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
GET OVER IT: The brilliant Roger Angell defends Bonds -- ''the Lord Voldemort of baseball'' -- in a New Yorker essay: ''[Home]-run totals are determined not just by the batters but by different pitchers, in very different eras, and, most of all, by the outer dimensions of the major-league parks, which have always varied widely and have been deliberately reconfigured in the sixteen ballparks built since 1992, thus satisfying the owners’ financial interest in more and still more home runs. Bonds has been called a cheater, but the word should hardly come up in a sport whose proprietors, if they were in charge of the classic Olympic hundred-metre dash, would stage it variously at a hundred and six metres, ninety-four, a hundred and three, and so forth, and engrave the resulting times on a tablet.'' (newyorker.com)
THE REAL REASON: On his blog, Tim Kawakami says the A's don't need Barry Bonds because Jack Cust is better, and he tells you why. (www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami)
JUST A BALLPLAYER: Rick Ankiel says he's looking forward to the day when he's not such a big story for his transformation from pitcher to outfielder. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
NOT ON SPEAKING TERMS: The agent for troubled pitcher Scott Olsen says he'll never again talk to Marlins owner David Samson after Samson said Olsen would not be welcome on the team if he is convicted on July 21 charges of driving under the influence, resisting an officer with violence and fleeing and eluding a police officer. The agent, Matt Sosnick (who represents seven Marlins total), added that Samson was an "absolute joke" and a "totally hated guy." (Palm Beach Post)
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: Willie Randolph ripped into the Mets after they blew a 5-0 lead and lost to the Pirates. (New York Daily News)
QUICKLY: The Angels are hoping Bartolo Colon can rejoin them for the stretch run (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Alfonso Soriano insists he'll be back playing for the Cubs before the Sept. 1 target date (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Carlos Zambrano showed no signs of injury during his Thursday throw day (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Nick Johnson, who's still recuperating from a broken leg suffered last September, won't be back this year (Washington Post) . . . Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson has cleared waivers, leaving open the possibility of a trade to Detroit (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The Rangers have placed Brandon McCarthy on the disabled list because of a fractured shoulder (mlb.com).
OLD FRIENDS: Derek Lowe pitched ''seven dazzing, shutout innings'' as the Dodgers beat the Astros (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Tony Armas Jr. was nowhere near as dazzling for the Pirates, but, as noted, they still beat the Mets (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . ESPN.com reports the Dodgers and Rockies are interested in David Wells . . . Pedro Martinez will make his third rehab start Monday (New York Daily News) . . . Edgar Renteria is recovering nicely from his high ankle sprain (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, August 16
| DEVIL OF A TIME: It was just one game but, as Sean McAdam writes, it was symptomatic of a concern the Red Sox have had all year and is becoming particularly worrisome now that the season is rounding the back turn and heading down the stretch. To wit: The offense, or lack thereof. Sox hitters did nothing at all against Tampa Bay meatball artist Andy Sonnanstine (6.35 ERA entering the game) for six innings; then, after finally coming to life, their 1-2-3-4 hitters couldn't get the tying run home from second -- in fact, couldn't even advance him to third -- with no outs in the ninth. The result was a frustrating 6-5 loss, eased only somewhat by the fact it didn't cost them anything in the standings. (At right, Kevin Youkilis reacts to striking out for the second out of the ninth; Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach) |  |
SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? That's what the good folks at Sons of Sam Horn are trying to figure out, with opinions ranging from "The offense will sink them" to "Well, it's not as good as the Yankees' or the Tigers' offenses, but it's still good enough to win." Manny Ramirez is a sub-topic, and old friend Smiling Joe Hesketh trots out some sobering statistics: ''According to [Baseball-Reference.com's] close and late stat, Manny is hitting .151/.274/.283 for an OPS of .557 in those situations this year. That's in 62 plate appearances. He's got 2 HR and only FOUR RBIs in those plate appearances.'' (Ramirez, incidentally, struck out to end the game.) His conclusion is just as sobering: ''I have been a Manny defender for years, but as we see him obvious in his decline phase it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore the atrocious fielding (particularly on the road), the mental errors, the egregious baserunning mistakes, and the lack of hitting in big situations. His sideshows were cute when he was routinely putting up 35 HR/125 RBI seasons; they're not so cute when he's currently at 19 and 75.''
I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT: The Devil Rays built a 6-0 lead off Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Joe McDonald reports Dice-K calls himself ''disappointed, even sorry, that I put a stop to [the] momentum'' (the team had built with its walkoff win Tuesday night). (projo.com)
SO CAN I: Kevin Youkilis is struggling, too. (Boston Herald)
PRICE-K: If you want Matsuzaka's autograph, incidentally, be prepared to pony up. (aol.com)
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, PART ONE: The resurgence of Julio Lugo continues, as Steven Krasner chronicles in Inside The Game.
THE BRIGHT SIDE, PART TWO: Seth Mnookin was looking forward to a nice, quiet September, but it doesn't look like the Red Sox will be having one of those. So, to make himself feel better, he looks for positive things to take out of the weekend debacle in Baltimore. (sethmnookin.com)
TWIN SURPRISE: It looks like the Red Sox' starting pitchers in Friday's day-night doubleheader against the Angels will be Clay Buchholz and Julian Tavarez. (projo.com)
BEYOND BASEBALL: Mike Lowell's game-tying home run Tuesday night was another gift to the Butcher family, whom Lowell has been helping deal with the pain of their daughter's death. (Boston Herald)
EVEN STEVEN: Tim Marchman of the New York Sun says the Red Sox-Marlins trade of November 2005, in which the Sox received Josh Beckett but gave up Hanley Ramirez, has been a wash.
O BOY! The Orioles, who haven't won a season series from the Yankees in 10 years, improved to 8-4 against New York in 2007 with an improbable 6-3, 10-inning win (Baltimore Sun), scoring three runs off Mariano Rivera in the 10th after Shelley Duncan had tied it with a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. (New York Daily News) The Orioles also said their hitting of Derek Jeter in the first wasn't in retaliation for two of their players being hit Tuesday night. (Baltimore Sun)
GOTTA WORRY ABOUT MO: Rivera says there's nothing wrong with his arm even though he's pitched poorly the last three times out (LoHud Yankees blog). But Bill Madden of the Daily News worries about what will happen to the Yankees when Mo isn't Mo anymore, and the Post's Joel Sherman says Joe Torre has to decrease Rivera's workload.
BE CAREFUL: Howard Megdal of the New York Observer says the Yankees are taking a risk by putting Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT WHEN I SAID IT EARLIER. . . On the eve of the Tigers' visit to Yankee Stadium, Gary Sheffield repeats his charge that Joe Torre treats black players differently than he treats white players (New York Times).
TOGETHER AGAIN: The Tigers and Indians are once more tied for the A.L. Central lead after Cleveland's win last night (Akron Beacon Journal).
SIMPLE ENOUGH: The reason the Blue Jays didn't trade Troy Glaus to a contender? Nobody asked about him, says Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi (Los Angeles Times).
SIDETRACKED: Dave Veres' goal of becoming the first player to pitch in the major leagues with an artificial hip won't be achieved with the Rockies; they've released him. (Denver Post)
QUICKLY: Bob Brenly says he'd be interested in the Reds' managing job (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . The Tigers may move Carlos Guillen to first base permanently (Detroit Free Press) . . . The Rockies' Willy Tavares may be headed back to the disabled list (Rocky Mountain News) . . . The struggling Horacio Ramirez may be removed from the Mariners' starting rotation (Seattle Times) . . . The Cubs are saying, publicly and privately, that there's nothing physically wrong with Carlos Zambrano (Chicago Sun-Times).
OLD FRIENDS: The Red Sox are stunned that ex-teammate Jose Offerman attacked two players with a bat (Boston Herald) . . . Derek Lowe doesn't think the Dodgers should begin a youth movement (Los Angeles Times).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:49 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, August 15
WORTH THE WAIT: Only once before -- on this sunny, Mother's Day afternoon -- had the 2007 Red Sox accomplished what seemed to come so easily to their predecessors: A ninth-inning comeback. But in the time it took for Mike Lowell to homer, Jason Varitek to double and Coco Crisp to single, the Sox had another one last night: A 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay, chronicled here by Carolyn Thornton, that enabled them to push their A.L. East lead back to five games. (projo.com) Any game that tight is going to have plenty of key moments to look back upon, and Steven Krasner touches them all in Inside The Game, including the decision not to pinch-run for Varitek with two outs in the ninth, a debatable call that paid off nonetheless when Varitek was able to motor home from second on Crisp's single to right. (Above, Journal photo by Gretchen Ertl) It was a great return for Crisp, who had missed three of the last four games as he battled a flu bug. (projo.com)
| ONE OF THE GUYS: ''He’s never been interested in your pity,'' writes Sean McAdam, ''and doesn’t care much for your charity, either.'' He wants to be known as a pitcher, not a cancer survivor. It was as a cancer survivor that Jon Lester was given an emotional ovation before his first 2007 start at Fenway Park last night. But it was as a pitcher that he received a standing ovation as he left the mound after the seventh inning, having held the Devil Rays to two hits and one run in far and away his best start since being recalled from Pawtucket. McAdam recounts Lester's night (right, Journal photo by Gretchen Ertl), which got lost a little in the shuffle of the ninth-inning histrionics. |  |
RELIEF AT LAST: Also lost in the shuffle was Eric Gagne's first scoreless inning as a member of the Sox bullpen, which earned him the victory. (Boston Herald) The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy writes that Gagne ''lived the entire Boston experience in one short inning. He was the goat, the piñata, and the object of scorn. And then he was the greatest thing since sliced Yaz Bread.''
PUT ME IN, COACH: If the Red Sox summon Bobby Kielty to take Wily Mo Pena's roster spot, as they're expected to do in the next few days, he's ready. (projo.com)
POLL NUMBERS REMAIN STRONG: The Sox remain No. 1 in SI.com's Power Rankings, with the Angels second and the Yankees third.
SEE YOU IN COURT, SONNY: It appears Barry Bonds may sue Curt Schilling over comments Schilling made about Bonds on the HBO show Costas Now. (Boston Herald)
SPEAKING OF BONDS . . . He wants to play in 2008, but there are those in the Giants front office -- including GM Brian Sabean, apparently -- who don't want him (foxsports.com). Their objections have nothing to do with off-the-field concerns but focus solely on the team's need to rebuild and get younger, and to free up salary in order to start the process.
BIG O'S: The Yankees paid the price for Roger Clemens' drilling of Vernon Wells last week, as Jeff Karstens started in place of the suspended Rocket and was routed in a 12-0 loss to the Orioles. (New York Daily News) The New York Post version is here.
RIP, SCOOTER: The big news in New York yesterday was, of course, the death of Phil Rizzuto. All the New York media outlets have comprehensive reports, including the Daily News, the Post, Newsday and the Journal-News. SI.com has a nice Rizzuto tribute from Cliff Corcoran, the co-author of the Web site Bronx Banter.
SYMBOL OF SUCCESS Writing for foxsports.com, Mark Kriegel says Joba Chamberlain -- even though he's only pitched three games -- ''embodies [the Yankees'] sudden resurgence''. Even so, Joe Torre has no plans to use him in the closer's role. (New York Post)
TOUGH ROAD AHEAD: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman says the Yankees ''have the toughest schedule [of all the playoff contenders] over the rest of the season . . . Every other team shooting for a playoff spot has it easier than the Yankees will.''
A PROUD MOMENT: Bobby Cox finally broke John McGraw's record for career ejections. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
SHOWDOWN: The Tigers beat the Indians in extra innings in the battle for the A.L. Central lead, with Gary Sheffield calling it ''one of the biggest wins'' for Detroit this year. (Detroit News)
BREWING UP A WINNER: Members of the 1982 Brewers, the only team in franchise history to win a pennant, like what they see with the current team. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
LISTING THE ODDS: The blog BaseballEvolution.com looks at a dozen active candidates to crack the 300-win circle. It thinks Roy Oswalt, C.C. Sabathia and Johan Santana will make it, but Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson won't.
MYSTERY: Foxsports.com's Kevin Hench says the success of the Mariners is a puzzlement to sabermetricians since the M's have bad starting pitching, little power and don't get many men on base. The key, he says, is their bullpen.
QUICKLY: The Rockies need pitching and are interested in the Orioles' Steve Trachsel and the Blue Jays' Josh Towers (Denver Post) . . . Jose Contreras will start Friday as the White Sox showcase him for a possible trade (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Willy Aybar's tumultuous season is over because of hand surgery (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Brewers are 0-15 in the last 15 games started by Chris Capuano, so he may be removed from the starting rotation (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
OLD FRIENDS: Jose Offerman was arrested after hitting both the pitcher and the catcher with his bat in retaliation for being hit by a pitch in an Atlantic League game in Bridgeport, Conn., last night (AP via projo.com) . . . Pedro Martinez still allowed three runs on three hits over four innings against Rookie League competition, but says yesterday's second rehab start was ''a great improvement'' over the first, especially since he opened with three perfect innings (New York Daily News) . . . Nomar Garciaparra is headed to the disabled list (Los Angeles Daily News).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:02 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, August 14
ACES: Tim Wakefield, stopper? You don't normally think of him as such, but, as Sean McAdam reports, that's exactly what he was last night, limiting the Devil Rays to two hits and no runs over eight innings as the Red Sox erased some of the bad taste of their frustrating weekend in Baltimore with a 3-0 victory. In Inside The Game, Steven Krasner says Wakefield's knuckler was dancing so well that approximately 92 of his 100 pitches were knuckleballs, in contrast to most nights when he mixes in some fastballs and curves ''to surprise the opposition or battle back in the count.'' It didn't hurt that he was facing Tampa Bay; Joe McDonald writes the Rays were ''shaking their heads'' in wonder as Wakefield (above, AP Photo) raised his lifetime record against them to 18-2. (All stories projo.com)
YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING: With the Sox' A.L. East lead down to four, the Boston Globe writes that ''the demons of history, exorcized in 2004, are rising again'' and finds fans who are ''grim, edgy, and defensive.'' On The Joy of Sox blog, Allan Wood -- quoting an SOSH poster named Lucen, who (warning! warning!) uses a bit of NSFW language -- shows why such talk is nonsense. To wit: Lucen, in the pieces I can use here, writes: ''[The Red Sox] played .692 ball the first two months of the season. They've played .587 since. They are not collapsing, the Yankees are simply insanely hot . . . The only two teams in the AL with better records than us since June 1st are Seattle and the Yankees. And Seattle hasn't been much better than us.'' To which Allan responds: ''Amen, brother.'' As do I.
ALLOW ME TO VENT: Chad Finn, though, voices the inner fears of Red Sox Nation, while admitting ''it's largely the frustration from [Sunday's] loss that's making me think this way.'' (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
SUPPORT FROM A STRANGE SOURCE: But Jay Payton, who burned just about every bridge there is when he left Boston in 2005, says the Red Sox won't fold. (New York Daily News)
THEY STILL RANK: SI.com still lists the Sox ahead of the Yankees in their Power Rankings, though the Angels have taken over the No. 1 spot and dropped Boston to No. 2.
THEN I MET A MAN WHO HAD NO FEET: Things could be worse, Sox fans. You could be rooting for the Tigers. (Detroit News)
DESPERATE FOR RELIEF: The Globe's Nick Cafardo tries to unravel the mystery of Eric Gagne's struggles since arriving in Boston. In his Fantasy Blog on SI.com, James Quintong notes that the league is hitting .455 against Gagne since he joined the Red Sox. FoxSports.com's Kevin Hench gives the Sox an 'F' for the Gagne deal in a trade-deadline report card.
WELCOME BACK: Tonight Jon Lester makes his first start at Fenway Park since being diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma almost exactly one year ago. (Boston Herald) All the appearances he's made since being recalled to the Sox have been on the road.
THE FUTURE IS NOW: Clay Buchholz has only been in Pawtucket a few weeks, but the Sox are debating whether to summon him to Boston to start one of the games in Friday's day-night doubleheader against the Angels. (projo.com)
DID NOT, DID NOT: The Orioles' Melvin Mora denies accusations that he was stealing the Red Sox' signs over the weekend. (Baltimore Sun) Jason Varitek, though, says it's all part of the game and that the Blue Jays and Yankees are renowned for their sign-stealing.
THE SURGE CONTINUES: Even with Chien-Ming Wang serving up another clunker and Mariano Rivera blowing a save, the Yankees still managed to pull one out against Baltimore last night. Thrill of the night for Yankee fans: The Yankee Stadium debut of Joba Chamberlain, which was an unqualified success. (All stories New York Daily News)
AIMING HIGH: Playoffs, schmayoffs. Jorge Posada wants to win the A.L. East. (New York Post)
ALL IS NOT WELL: Peter Abraham says the Yanks have to keep an eye on Mariano Rivera, who, as noted, blew the save last night and came within an eyelash of blowing a three-run lead on Sunday. (LoHud Yankees blog)
WHO SAYS HE'S LEAVING? Scott Boras tells the Journal News it's not a given that Alex Rodriguez will opt out of his Yankee contract at the end of the season, as so many seem to believe.
RACIAL OVERTONES: Time.com releases a study in which it says umpires ''tend to call more strikes when the pitcher is of their same race.'' The study adds it only happens in about 1 percent of all pitches thrown.
FORGET IT: If clubhouse reaction is any indication, Barry Bonds won't be playing in Oakland next year. (San Francisco Chronicle)
AGAINST HIS RELIGION: The Pirates' Salomon Torres has dropped his grievance against the club for what he claims was deception during 2006 contract negotiations because he's a Jehovah's Witness.
QUICKLY: SI.com's Jon Heyman reports the White Sox' Jose Contreras has cleared waivers and could be traded before the Aug. 31 deadline . . . Juan Encarnacion and Tony La Russa are feuding in St. Louis and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Bernie Miklasz, a sometimes critic of the manager, applauds La Russa for taking a tough stand with the non-hustling outfielder . . . The free-agent season is months away but the Mets already have Jorge Posada and Ivan Rodriguez on their radar screen (New York Daily News) . . . The Miami Herald says the Marlins may place Dontrelle Willis on the trading block this winter . . . The Denver Post reports David Wells doesn't interest the Rockies . . . Kenny Rogers' ailing elbow is feeling better (Detroit News).
OLD FRIENDS: Johnny Damon is now a part-time player in New York, but he says that's okay (New York Post) . . . Shea Hillenbrand has joined the Dodgers (Los Angeles Daily News).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:01 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, August 10
GOTTA GET BACK IN TIME: Good news for the sleep-deprived: From now until the end of the regular season, no Red Sox game will start later than 8:11 p.m. and only three -- on August 23 and 24, and September 16 -- will start later than 7:10 p.m. (projo.com) Those who've been up until the wee hours watching the games from Seattle and Anaheim this last week no doubt welcome the news, though all bets are off once the playoffs start.
HEAD TO HEAD: That Sept. 16 game is a Sunday night battle at Fenway between the Sox and Yankees, the last regular-season meeting of the year between the teams, and it'll go directly against the Patriots' home opener, a nationally televised night game against the Chargers in a rematch of the AFC semifinals. (projo.com)
ONE TEAM'S ROAD TO OCTOBER: It appears more and more as if the Sox will be leaning on their bullpen to get there (Boston Herald), though the Herald's Tony Massarotti wonders if the starting pitching is strong enough to carry the load. There's also plenty of concern about David Ortiz, who's experiencing an historic power drop this season. (Boston Globe)
AND ANOTHER'S: The Yankees start playing varsity teams again tonight in Cleveland, and they hope the momentum they've built pounding the JVs over the last month will carry them into the postseason. (New York Daily News)
MACHO MEN: Roger Clemens' retaliation for Josh Towers hitting Alex Rodriguez will cost him a start, and Joe Torre a game, as suspensions were handed down yesterday. (New York Post)
FUTURES GAMES: The rest of the Red Sox' season begins in Baltimore, where the Orioles have abandoned all pretense of trying to win now and are instead building for 2008 and beyond. (Baltimore Sun)
A LITTLE LATE, BUT WORTH THE WAIT: It took a few days, but Curt Schilling finally talked about his performance Monday night. (38pitches.com)
NOT SO APPEALING: Steve Silva critiques Sox Appeal, as only he can, on Boston Dirt Dogs.
HISTORY LESSON: The next time a Yankee fan crows "1978" in an attempt to resurrect the past, point out 1988, when the Yankees had a 10-game lead on the Red Sox on June 10 and finished the season 6 1/2 games behind them . . . a 16 1/2-game turnaround. (joyofsox.blogspot.com)
WHAT HE MEANT WAS . . . he'd love to stay with the Red Sox. That's what Wily Mo Pena's agent says, refuting a Globe story in which Pena said he'd welcome a trade. (Boston Herald)
AND WHAT HE MEANT WAS . . . he still wants to pitch. That's the word from David Wells' agent, Gregg Clifton, even though Wells himself said he'd retire if the Padres released him, which they did. (Both stories, San Diego Union-Tribune) The Diamondbacks may be interested if Clifton, and not Wells, is right. (East Valley Tribune)
ONE OF US: Blue Jays third-base coach Brian Butterfield lives in Maine and wants to work for the Patriots in the offseason. (Witness the night he was so pumped by the Pats' drafting of Ty Warren that he had extra energy for his duties with the Jays.) He's a de-facto member of Red Sox Nation, in other words, as evidenced by the way he feels about the Yankees. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
GOING NINE: Chad Finn touches on eight things Red Sox and one thing Celtics in his latest Touching All The Bases column, which begins with him wondering ''how giddy Suzyn Waldman will be if David Wells shows up in Georgie Porgie's private box.'' (weei.com)
THRILL OF A LIFETIME: Brandon Moss is back with the PawSox, but he'll never forget his first three days in the bigs. (projo.com)
I KNOW THAT VOICE: Did ESPN's call of Barry Bonds' record-breaking home run sound familiar? It should; it was Dave O'Brien of the Red Sox' radio broadcast team. (Boston Globe)
LOOKING AHEAD: Speaking of Bonds, he hit home run No. 757 and is starting to think about 2008. (San Francisco Chronicle)
THANK GOD IT'S OVER: That's how Hank Aaron feels about Bonds' pursuit of his record. (Atlanta Journal and Constitution)
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION: Mike Lupica of the Daily News says the players' union obstructionist stand on testing for performance-enhancing drugs casts the shadow of guilt on everyone, including Alex Rodriguez.
LEAVE ME OUT OF THIS: Chipper Jones, who opened the Is-A-Rod-On-Steroids? door two days ago, slammed it shut yesterday by refusing to talk to the New York media. (New York Daily News)
THE COMPLETE LIST: ESPN.com's Rob Neyer moves beyond steroids and lists the ten biggest cheaters in baseball history.
MOVE OVER, BABE, HERE COMES RICK: Rick Ankiel's conversion from pitcher to outfielder -- done successfully almost 90 years ago by this guy -- got off to a rousing start. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
QUICKLY: Shannon Stewart apparently was claimed off waivers by the Cubs (San Francisco Chronicle), though Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune notes there's no guarantee they'll get him . . . Bobby Jenks has recorded 36 consecutive outs, the sixth-longest streak in baseball history, but he doesn't want to jinx it by talking about it (mlb.com) . . . The Yankees, satisfied with the state of Mariano Rivera's health, hope to reach agreement with their veteran closer on a new contract soon after the season ends (New York Times).
OLD FRIENDS: Joel Piniero, last seen buried at the bottom of the Red Sox bullpen, pitched seven shutout innings for the Cardinals in a start against the Padres (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Derek Lowe has a sore hip and the Dodgers are ''very concerned'' (Los Angeles Times) . . . Byung-Hyun Kim's return to Arizona was less than spectacular (Arizona Republic) . . . Willie Harris helped the Braves steal one from the Mets (New York Daily News) . . . Tony Graffanino is out for the season (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Dave Roberts injured his leg last night and could be headed to the disabled list (San Jose Mercury News) . . . Phil Dumatrait pitched well for the Reds in his second big-league start (Cincinnati Post) . . . Tomo Ohka was released by the Mariners (Seattle Times).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:43 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, August 9
WHAT A RELIEF: The Red Sox took the field in Anaheim last night knowing they wouldn't lose any ground in the A.L. East race -- the Toronto Blue Jays had seen to that (New York Post) -- but it sure didn't seem they would gain any, either, not with a lineup that featured Brandon Moss, J.D. Drew and Wily Mo Pena in the outfield (both Coco Crisp and David Ortiz were given the night off; read why on projo.com's Red Sox Journal) and not after Jon Lester was lit up for three runs in the first two innings. Four hours and two minutes after it began, however, the Sox walked off the field with a 9-6 victory powered by the one thing they've been able to depend on all season: Their bullpen. Sean McAdam reports the 'pen turned in 5 2/3 innings of one-run relief, with Hideki Okajima (above, AP Photo) getting the win, enabling Boston to salvage the final game of the three-game series with the Angels and push its lead over the Yankees back to six.
LET'S DO IT AGAIN, REAL SOON: The Riverside Press-Enterprise's Jim Alexander hopes these last three games, which he described as ''intense [and] entertaining,'' were a preview of a Red Sox-Angels playoff matchup.
THE GLASS-IS-HALF-EMPTY REPORT: Lester was ineffective for the second start in a row and says it's ''back to the drawing board'' in an attempt to figure out what's wrong. (Boston Herald)
THE GLASS-IS-MORE-THAN-HALF-FULL REPORT: FanNation.com predicts the Red Sox will ''cruise to their first division crown since the 1995 team Kevin Kennedy always talks about on his XM Radio show.''
'WHAT'S THE FASCINATION, WHAT'S THE FASCINATION, WHAT'S THE FASCINATION WITH J.D. DREW?' Sean McAdam examines the poor season -- thus far -- of J.D. Drew (projo.com), which was parodied in a hilarious mock-rap by WEEI's Pete Gustin. (weei.com)
FATHERS AND SONS: Bill Reynolds has a conversion with Skip Buchholz, father of Sox pitching prospect Clay Buccholz, who says he's known his son was destined to be a baseball star since the young man was 7. (projo.com)
THE CURSE OF O-CAB: Orlando Cabrera says the Red Sox won't win the World Series again until they put his old No. 44 in mothballs. (Boston Herald) Don't quite understand why Cabrera thinks the number had anything to do with 2004's championship, since it had been worn by Fabian Gaffke, Ben Steiner, Joe Trimble, Haywood Sullivan, Don McMahon, Bob Gallagher, Andy Kosco, Joel Finch, Jim Dorsey, Wes Gardner, Danny Darwin, Kevin Kennedy, Rudy Pemberton, Michael Coleman, Butch Huskey, Ed Sprague, Rolando Arrojo, Chad Fox and Bill Haselman before Cabrera ever arrived in Boston. (redsoxdiehard.com)
WESTWARD HO: The Los Angeles Daily News has an interesting feature on how Lancaster, Calif., has become an outpost of Red Sox Nation after the Sox put a Class A team there.
AND BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ENOUGH CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING ALEX RODRIGUEZ . . . Chipper Jones decides to make a veiled steroids allegation against A-Rod, though, when pressed to clarify, he backpedaled faster than Ty Law. (New York Post)
SORE POINT: What hurts A-Rod even worse than Chipper's comments is his right calf, where he was hit by an apparently intentional Josh Towers pitch Tuesday and which forced him out of the lineup last night. (New York Post)
SUMMER VACATIONS: Joe Torre and Roger Clemens may each get one soon, thanks to their bit in Tuesday night's beanball battle with Toronto. (New York Post)
AND FURTHERMORE . . . The New York Daily News' Mike Lupica fires away at people who claim Barry Bonds didn't need steroids to break Hank Aaron's home-run record, asking ''If steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs don't matter, then why do athletes in all sports take them in the first place? . . . The subject is drugs, which they use because they work. Whether they are staying ahead of the testers or not. You think anybody will ever look at the Tour de France the same way ever again, no matter how many people are on the side of the road? You really think that smart people still believe Lance Armstrong was the only pure one in the race?''
HE'S TALKING TO YOU GUYS: Joe Torre apparently is one of the people Lupica's referring to. (New York Daily News) So is Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post.
NEXT IN LINE: ESPN.com's Rob Neyer lists the six players with the best chance to break Barry Bonds' home-run record.
RADIATED GLORY: Whoever surrenders the next record-breaking homer probably won't be as happy about it as the Nationals' Mike Bacsik, who's reveling in the 15 minutes of fame he received for serving up No. 756. (San Francisco Chronicle)
'SLEEZEBALL TO SLEEZEBALL': That's what the blog Armchairg.com is calling the Bacsik-to-Bonds connection, since it claims Bacsik intentionally grooved one to Bonds to get himself a little publicity. But David Pinto of Baseball Musings thinks that's absurd, and shoots holes in the argument. Al Downing, who threw the pitch that Aaron hit to break Babe Ruth's record, would agree with Pinto. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY, NOT WHAT I DO: Pedro Martinez declared himself satisfied by his first rehab start, even though the results -- three innings, six hits, five runs against Class A competition, with a fastball that topped out at 88 mph -- were far from satisfactory. (New York Daily News)
BIG DEAL: Miguel Tejada isn't bothered by reports that the Orioles placed him on waivers, saying he understands the business of baseball. (Baltimore Sun)
I'M GONE: David Wells says he'll retire if the Padres release him (San Diego Union-Tribune), which is exactly what they're doing. (AP, via projo.com)
QUICKLY: Cubs GM Jim Hendry laughed off rumors that his team was trying to acquire White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Craig Monroe is about to lose the center-field job in Detroit (Detroit Free Press) . . . This may be Rondell White's last season (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . The Rockies' Jason Hirsch pitched five innings with a broken leg Tuesday night (espn.com) . . . 48-year-old Julio Franco has been sent to Class A Rome, though the Braves plan to bring him back on Sept. 1 and say he would still be eligible to be placed on the postseason roster (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
OLD FRIENDS: Casey Fossum -- the man the Red Sox wouldn't part with in 2002 in a potential deal for Bartolo Colon -- has been sent to the minors by the Devil Rays (Tampa Tribune) . . . Wilfredo Ledezma has resurfaced in San Diego's starting rotation (San Diego Union-Tribune).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:49 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, August 8
 | STANDING PROBLEM: They still have the best record in baseball, and their lead is still the biggest of any first-place team. But it no longer feels like the summer of love for the Red Sox, not after a sloppy 10-4 loss to the Angels last night cut their advantage over the white-hot Yankees to five games. (projo.com) I always find our old friends at Sons of Sam Horn are pretty good -- generally -- are keeping their heads while all around us are losing theirs, and a thorough analysis of the situation can be found in a thread entitled ''Remain calm, all is well''. The biggest point: The schedule, which has served up nothing but patsies to the Yankees for the last month, swings into the Sox' corner this weekend; the Yanks' next six series are at Cleveland, home against Baltimore, home against Detroit, at L.A., at Detroit, and home against the Red Sox. The Sox, meanwhile, play not one but two series against Tampa Bay during that stretch. Writes a poster named jtn46: ''[The] Red Sox . . . are on a 98-win pace. I mean, what more can we really expect. The lead has dwindled mostly because the Yankees score touchdowns every night against lousy teams while the Red Sox have actually been playing pretty well . . . It's obviously maddening, but all we can really hope for is that the Yankee schedule starts to bring them back to Earth and that the Red Sox take advantage of their mushy schedule the way the Yankees just did.'' |
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE . . . Old friend Allan Wood points out the Red Sox' magic number is 45 (joyofsox.blogspot.com)
END OF AN ERROR: It appears Wily Mo Pena's days in Boston are numbered (projo.com Red Sox Journal, second item down), which suits him just fine. (Boston Globe)
MOVING TOWARD LOWELL? The Boston Herald reports Mike Lowell's representatives have had ''casual conversations'' with the Red Sox about a contract extension.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: Brandon Moss' promotion to the Red Sox, even temporarily, was a dream come true, but his first game was more like a nightmare. (projo.com)
AS IF RED SOX NATION DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TROUBLE IN ANAHEIM . . . . Angel Stadium is rat-infested, prompting a visiting Red Sox fan to comment: ''If this was a restaurant, they'd be closed.'' (Riverside Press-Enterprise)
DON'T GO THERE: Eric Gagne's pregame meeting with the Southern California media on Monday night, a jovial affair for the most part, turned sour when a reporter asked about allegations of steroids use during his days with the Dodgers. (Los Angeles Times) John Klima of the Los Angeles Daily News, however, can't help but speculate ''about how [Gagne became an outstanding closer] . . . They have to consider the transformation that occurred.''
| WHICH LEADS US TO . . . The breaking of baseball's most hallowed record, which finally occurred last night. (San Francisco Chronicle) The topic has been so thoroughly chewed over the last several years that there's very little left to say; all sides of the issue are pretty well covered by ESPN.com's panel of experts. Suffice to say the people of San Francisco -- at least the ones at the ballpark -- were ecstatic, and Barry Bonds gave a gracious and at times moving speech. Even Hank Aaron, who was particularly churlish about the prospect of Bonds moving past him on the all-time list, sent along a video tribute that was played at the ballpark. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) The only skunk at the garden party -- or rather, the skunk not at the garden party -- was commissioner Bud Selig, who wasn't there to see Bonds break the record. Stephen A. Smith thinks that's disgraceful. (Philadelphia Inquirer) Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, however, says it's Bonds that's the disgrace. |  |
ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW: Ryan Klesko says Bonds could have hit 900 or 1,000 home runs if he hadn't played so long at Candlestick Park. (examiner.com)
FROM ONE MAVERICK TO ANOTHER: Mark Cuban salutes Barry Bonds. (blogmaverick.com)
FIGHT NIGHT IN CANADA: Revenge, said Don Corleone, is a dish best served cold. The Blue Jays must agree because, more than two months after this, they finally made Alex Rodriguez pay for his bush-league scream at Howie Clark on that night in May. (New York Daily News) Our old buddy the Tao of Stieb loved it, but it all was, as Ralph Kramden might say, a mere bag of shells as the Yankees continued to roll. (New York Post) The real battle, apparently, was between Blue Jays starter Josh Towers -- who hit A-Rod -- and Yankees first-base coach Tony Pena, with Towers aiming some remarkably personal insults Pena's way. (National Post) In the end, the Toronto Star's Dave Feschuk called it much ado over nothing.
BACK TO NORMAL: The reason the Yankees are surging is obvious: Their offense is performing at historic levels. (New York Sun) Which begs the question: What will happen when it isn't?
DOMESTIC BLISS: The last time the Yankees were in Toronto, Alex Rodriguez was sighted with a blonde stripper and ignited a week's worth of tawdry tabloid headlines. This trip in, he was spotted with another blonde: His wife. (New York Daily News)
WELCOME ABOARD: The Yankees have activated Jason Giambi from the disabled list and promoted pitching prospect Joba Chamberlain to the big club. (New York Daily News)
BYE, BYE BOOMER? There are indications the Padres will release the struggling David Wells later this week. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
CRIB SHEET: Confused about baseball's waiver rules? The blog View From The Bleachers explains them.
A ROSE IS A ROSE: Some insights on Pete Rose in Bill Giles' new book. (Cincinnati Enquirer) Among them: Rose said the four vices of man are smoking, drinking, gambling and womanizing, and he was a .500 hitter since he only succumbed to two (gambling and womanizing).
QUICKLY: Twins players say they hear Mike Piazza doesn't want to play in Minnesota, which would preclude a trade for the A's designated hitter (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . The Arizona Republic says Eric Byrnes ''is more popular than suntan lotion in this town,'' which explains why the Diamondbacks spent so much to keep him . . . Now that he's finally reached 300 wins, Tom Glavine will begin thinking about whether or not he wants to play in 2008 (journalnews.com) . . . The Phillies' Jimmy Rollins thinks the only real difference between the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez and the Mets' Jose Reyes is that Ramirez is stuck in Miami while Reyes plays in New York, which means everyone knows Reyes and no one knows Ramirez (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) . . . The Marlins will listen to trade offers for catcher Miguel Olivo. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:52 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, August 7
 | UNLUCKY SEVEN: ''For six innings,'' writes Sean McAdam, ''Curt Schilling’s first start in seven weeks was a qualified success.'' But then, he adds, ''[reality ] bit, even if Schilling's split-fingered fastball didn't.'' The result was two Angels runs, the end of Schilling's night, and a 4-2 Red Sox loss in the opener of a three-game series at Anaheim. (projo.com) Schilling (AP Photo, left) has, at this writing, yet to offer a self-critique though one will undoubtedly be delivered sometime soon. (38pitches.com) |
THEY DO LOOK DIFFERENT, DON'T THEY? McAdam examines the A.L. playoff picture and notes that, thanks to the Tigers' collapse and the Yankees' surge, it's an entirely different scenario than it was at the All-Star break. What's also looking different are SI.com's Power Rankings, which now have the Red Sox, Angels and Yankees in the 1-2-3 spots.
AND IT SHOULD LOOK A LOT DIFFERENT: Seth Mnookin points out that, according to the Pythagorean winning percentage, the Yankees and Red Sox should be virtually tied for the A.L. East lead. The Yankees, however, are underperforming their projection by about 7 games, which is probably a combination of luck and their bad bullpen.
NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT: Murray Chass says the Red Sox have become the Yankees, and they shouldn't be ashamed of it. (New York Times)
THIS WILL LOOK DIFFERENT, TOO: The Red Sox finally landed Bobby Kielty yesterday and McAdam reports this will probably mean the end of Wily Mo Pena's days in Boston. Kielty hasn't even put on a Red Sox uniform yet and already he's a fan favorite: Gordon Edes says the Fitchburg native turned down the Yankees to sign with the Red Sox. (Boston Globe) Why the Yankees wanted another outfielder is a question for bigger minds, unless they were simply trying to keep him out of Boston.
YOUUUKKK! We have a Kevin Youkilis blog sighting! He discusses the road trip, the acquisition of Eric Gagne, and the Celtics' trade for Kevin Garnett.
| ON THE WAY UP: Clay Buchholz (right, Journal photo by Glenn Osmundson) has yet to win a game at Pawtucket, but that doesn't mean he's not still marching towards Boston. He took his biggest steps yet last night in a seven-inning, four-hit, one-run, no-walk, nine-strikeout performance against Rochester. Joe McDonald quotes PawSox pitching coach Mike Griffin as saying Buchholz' ceiling is ''off the wall. The upside is so high. He has an abundance of talent, with four major-league pitches, and those pitches will have him playing at the major-league level.'' But he got a no-decision last night because Edgar Martinez allowed five runs in the eighth inning and the Red Wings wound up with a 6-1 win. (Both stories projo.com) |  |
THEM, TOO: The Yankees continued their scorching ways with a 5-4 win yesterday afternoon at Toronto (New York Daily News), though they still don't lead the wild card just yet because the Tigers rallied for a win last night at Tampa Bay. (Detroit News) Meanwhile, the Yanks are turning to their own pitching prospects as Joba Chamberlain joins the New York bullpen tonight. (New York Daily News)
CONGRATULATIONS, NICE WORK, SEE YOU AROUND: Ozzie Guillen has nothing put praise for Barry Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron's home-run record. In the next breath says there's no way Bonds will play for the White Sox next year because team rules ''are for 25 guys, not 24.'' (Chicago Tribune)
SLEEPERS: No one's really paying them much heed, but FoxSports.com's Randy Hill says the Diamondbacks, led by former Sox assistant GM Josh Byrnes, are in great position to win the N.L. West.
STORM BREWING? Major league umpires say they understand the need to do extensive background checks, especially in light of the NBA scandal. SI.com's Tom Verducci, however, reports the issue is getting entangled in what are becoming increasingly contentious negotiations between MLB and the umps.
HEAVY ARTILLERY: Though most of the talk surrounding the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera this year has concerned his weight, the Palm Beach Post notes he's in position to become the first player since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 to win the Triple Crown.
QUICKLY: Buster Olney reports the White Sox claimed Miguel Tejada off waivers from the Orioles, but Baltimore pulled him back and the teams failed to work out a deal. Mike Piazza, however, has cleared waivers and could be traded by the A's; the Twins and Angels were interested before the deadline . . . Carlos Zambrano reiterates his desire to stay with the Cubs (Newsday) . . . Lighting-quick, no-hit Joey Gathright is back with the Royals . . . The Tigers are talking to the Pirates about shortstop Jack Wilson (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Adam Dunn's name has constantly come up in trade speculation, and he'd like to know exactly what his future is in Cincinnati (Cincinnati Enquirer).
OLD FRIENDS: According to the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson, the Marlins have discussed the possibility of moving Hanley Ramirez from shortstop to center field. . . The Herald also reports the Marlins players are reacting stoically to the front office's white-flag dispatch of Byung-Hyun Kim to Arizona.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:18 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, August 6
JINX-BUSTER: They say good pitching is the elixir for just about anything that ails you in baseball, and the Red Sox can certainly attest to that. After losing nine straight games at Safeco Field, the Sox rode the coattails of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Eric Gagne and Jonathan Papelbon to a 4-3 win over the Mariners Saturday night, then followed that up with a strong performance from Josh Beckett (above, AP Photo) in a 9-2 romp yesterday afternoon. (Both stories projo.com) About the only excitement yesterday was the Mariner Moose nearly wiping out Coco Crisp with his all-terrain vehicle in the fifth inning (Red Sox Journal, fourth item down), which brought back memories of the bad old days in Seattle. (Seattle Times)
WHAT GOES AROUND . . . The Seattle Times' Geoff Baker wonders why Ichiro was stealing second with the M's trailing 9-1 in the ninth, and notes it was the second time in less than a week that he's pulled such a stunt. The first time, the Angels' John Lackey responded by throwing a pitch at Jose Guillen's head; yesterday, Kyle Snyder also went up and in on Guillen after Ichiro's steal, though Baker wasn't sure Snyder did it intentionally. (He's fairly certain Lackey did.) ''I'm an Ichiro fan, but I just don't grasp the importance of that second run in a 9-1 game,'' writes Baker. ''Maybe it's just me. I don't know.''
HELLO GOODBYE: The Sox welcome back Curt Schilling tonight, exactly seven weeks after he last pitched. He appears healthy and raring to go, but his arrival means the departure of Javier Lopez (projo.com), who was sent back to Pawtucket to make room on the roster. It was strictly a numbers thing, says Terry Francona, and Lopez says he understands, but he seems very disappointed nonetheless. The Sox will also be without Eric Hinske for at least the next three days; Sean McAdam reports Hinske is returning to his Phoenix home to be with his wife, who is going through a difficult pregnancy. Hinske's grandmother also died recently, and that may be a factor in his leaving the team, as well. As extensively reported, here and elsewhere, Brandon Moss will be Hinske's replacement.
FEELING FEISTY: That's describes the Angels, the Sox' next opponent, after yesterday's emotional win in Oakland. (Los Angeles Daily News)
| DOWN ON THE FARM: The Red Sox continue to roll out the prospects, and the latest to reach Pawtucket is shortstop Jed Lowrie . He hit two home runs yesterday -- at right, he's being congratulated by teammate Jacoby Ellsbury after the second (Journal photo by Glenn Osmundson) -- as the PawSox defeated Rochester, 6-4. ''[We] don’t want to go crazy because we know he’ll have some ups and downs,'' cautioned PawSox manager Ron Johnson. ''Right now we’ll enjoy the feast.'' Joe McDonald also has an interesting feature on knuckleballers in the Boston system, one of whom -- Charlie Zink -- was the winning pitcher in Pawtucket yesterday. |  |
SAYING IT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING: Seth Mnookin says the Sox' trade-deadline deal for Eric Gagne indicates the front office thinks the Sox can win it all this year . . . just as the lack of any deadline deals last year indicated they didn't believe they had a shot in 2006. (sethmnookin.com)
FINALLY: Tom Glavine recorded his 300th victory at last. (New York Daily News)
THE GREAT DEBATE: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, Jim Caple and Rob Neyer are arguing over who's the greatest home-run hitter in history. But even though Barry Bonds is about to break Hank Aaron's record, only Caple is ready to call him king.
NO DEBATE AT ALL: Brian Johnson, a teammate of Bonds in 1997 and '98, says it's obvious Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs. (New York Daily News) ''Some people sold their soul to the devil,'' Johnson said in an interview on ESPN's Outside The Lines, ''and other people didn't."
NOT SO FAST: Most people now expect Alex Rodriguez to eventually break whatever record Bonds ends up setting. Stark, however, does a little research and points out it ain't necessarily so. (espn.com)
AND IF HE DOES, WHERE WILL HE BE? Newsday's Jim Baumbach says A-Rod has finally won over the Yankee fans. But will that be enough to keep him in New York?
WE HAVE A WINNER: The fan who caught Rodriguez' 500th home run thinks he's in for a $100,000 payday when he sells the coveted baseball . . . which, his brother says, trumps the Yankees' offer of a signed jersey for the ball. (New York Daily News)
THE BRONX IS WILD: The red-hot Yankees are closing in on the wild-card lead. (New York Post)
'GREAT TO SEE YA': According to the New York Post, that's George Steinbrenner's response to virtually anything anyone says to him these days.
I'D LIKE TO HAVE A WORD WITH YOU: David Wells is tired of being fined by Bud Selig and wants to have a sit down with the commissioner to clear the air between them. (San Diego Union-Tribune) Selig ordered Wells to pay his latest fine -- $5,000 -- by personal check, but Wells counters: ''I don't do checks anymore. I hope he likes pennies.''
LET'S GET PHYSICAL, PART ONE: The Mets' Paul Lo Duca had an animated discussion with manager Willie Randolph about getting back into the lineup, so animated that Randolph told his injured catcher, ''Well, go ahead, punch me in the face, because I'm not going to play you.''
LET'S GET PHYSICAL, PART TWO: Milton Bradley says he was so angry at the way he was treated by Billy Beane during his last days in Oakland that ''the way he talked to me . . . was reason enough for him to get his teeth knocked out. So I told him and everybody else . . . 'You better get your paramedic on duty, because if he talks to me crazy again, we're going to have a problem.' I'm a man. Nobody's going to talk to me that kind of way." (InsideBayArea.com)
UH OH: The Cubs will be without Alfonso Soriano for two to four weeks after he strained his right quadricep last night. (Chicago Sun-Times)
READY TO GO: Last November, Jim Edmonds signed a two-year contract extension that he assumed would keep him in St. Louis for the rest of his career. Now he says he'd accept a trade from the Cardinals. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
IT'S LIKE BEING 10 AGAIN: The estimable Joe Posnanski channels the little kid in all of us.
OLD FRIENDS: Mike Myers has been cut loose by the Yankees (New York Post).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:07 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, August 3
Journal photo / Kris Craig
Alex Cora, safe at home
EVERYBODY CONTRIBUTES: The Red Sox got contributions from some unlikely sources yesterday (projo), especially Doug Mirabelli and Eric Hinske, to win both the game and their home series against the Baltimore Orioles. It was a good series to win, too, because now Boston heads out West for a series against Seattle (where they are 0 for their last 8) and Los Angeles before coming east to play at Baltimore.
COCO AND DOUGIE: The Red Sox' seventh-inning rally began with a steal of second by Coco Crisp, and Steve Krasner today goes inside the game to discuss what the Sox look for before they give Crisp the green light to run. Of course, the real story of the day was Mirabelli, who went from hero to goat back to hero again (projo). In today's online poll, you can vote on whether the backup catcher is an asset or a liability for the Red Sox.
WAKE'S FEAT: Mirabelli's personal pitcher, Tim Wakefield, became the third pitcher to win 150 games with the Red Sox (projo), joining Cy Young and Roger Clemens. Wakefield's four wins away from matching his career high, and he continued his strange streak of having a decision in every one of his starts: 22 so far this season, tied for the fifth-most for any pitcher in the last 27 years.
DREW'S SCARE: J.D. Drew describes the scare that his family received when Drew's 17-month-old son, Jack, fell and broke his collarbone. It turned out that Jack had developmental displacement of the hips, requiring extensive surgery, which is why Drew was not with the club for much of this week. Drew tells The Globe that the access to top-notch medical care demonstrates that "we're in Boston for a reason."
ORTIZ SHAKEN: David Ortiz, a former Minnesota Twin, crossed the I-35 bridge many times and was perhaps more shaken than most about the bridge's collapse (Boston Herald).
C'EST LA VIE: Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen talks about the mixed feelings involved when prospects are traded away (Boston Herald) -- like Kason Gabbard, David Murphy and Engel Beltre this week: "It's disappointing to lose the person but you know you're going to lose players - we're here to help the big league club ... the players, they know it's going to happen, too. To be able to separate all that is very important."
PRIDE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: Rich Garces is having a blast (Globe) pitching for the independent-league Nashua Pride and still angling for a potential return to the big leagues.
BRONX BOO BIRDS: The day after Clemens was booed off the mound in New York, Jay Greenberg says the Rocket has only himself to blame. Clemens wasn't the only guy to encounter the abuse of the New York "faithful" yesterday: Kyle Farnsworth was booed lustily upon entering the game, and then booed even more loudly after giving up two White Sox home runs (both stories N.Y. Post). And in the New York Daily News, Bill Maddon states the obvious: When it comes to the Yankees, the problem is still the bullpen. (N.Y. Daily News)
AN EVENTFUL DAY: In other Yankee news, A-Rod broke his 0-fer but did not hit home run number 500 (our sports assistant, Bob McGarry, wonders if Shelley Duncan might reach 500 before Rodriguez), while Jorge Posada left the game early with a sore knee after a collision at home plate. (N.Y. Daily News)
STILL THE OPTIMIST: Derek Jeter says he still likes the Yanks' chances of winning the American League East (N.Y. Post). With Kansas City in town and the Red Sox visiting the Mariners, this would be a good time for New York to pick up some ground.
BOSS IN DECLINE: According to a coming article in Conde Nast Portfolio, George Steinbrenner looks to be in awful health (N.Y. Daily News). Writer Franz Lidz says The Boss "looks dreadful," his "body is bloated" and "his skin looks as if a dry-cleaner bag has been stretched over it."
PUNCHLESS: The offense is looking pretty depleted in Pawtucket these days, as Kevin McNamara writes in today's paper. Still, it was poor relief pitching that spoiled yesterday's game against the Buffalo Bisons.
HE'S HERE? The Dodgers say it is just a coincidence that they held a steroid-awareness program at Chavez Ravine (L.A. Times) on the same day that Barry Bonds was in town. About 100 children were on the field at Dodger Stadium to hear a talk about why they should say no to the juice. Giants coach Tim Flannery was annoyed: "I think that's pretty tired, with him here. He's not the only guy." Then, gesturing toward the Dodgers clubhouse, he added, "There are probably some guys in there wondering and hoping names aren't thrown around."
CLOSE TO HOME: Also in the Times, John Klima says that before Dodger fans criticize Bonds too loudly, they should consider one of their heroes: Eric Gagne. Klima says that Gagne's story of rising from obscurity to sheer dominance raises obvious flags: "Any objective baseball person has to think twice about how he did what he did. They have to consider the transformation that occurred. Say it aloud, stop thinking it quietly. It doesn't make him a villain. It makes him a ballplayer."
STRANGE GUY TO MAKE DEMANDS: Jose Contreras, 1-10 with an E.R.A. of nearly 9 in his last 12 starts, says he is O.K. with moving to the bullpen for now, but he expects to be back in the rotation next year (Chicago Sun-Times).
TIGER TROUBLE: When Gary Sheffield homers, the Tigers are 18-3. When he doesn't, they're 43-43. That's why Sheffield's shoulder problems are really bad news for scuffling Detroit (Detroit Free Press). Sheff says that since receiving a cortisone shot a week ago, his shoulder is not feeling better and he has felt numbness in his right hand. The club scheduled a medical exam for Sheffield, and has yet to announce any results.
BREW-HA-HA: The Milwaukee Brewers have lost control of the National League Central, and it now appears that manager Ned Yost has lost control of his clubhouse. That was certainly the impression given by a televised altercation in the dugout (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) involving Yost, catcher Johnny Estrada and former Red Sox infielder Tony Graffanino. The mild-mannered Graffanino reportedly complained to Yost before the scuffle about, in his view, Yost's unfair treatment of Estrada.
PEDRO PSYCHED: Pedro Martinez was plenty excited yesterday about making his first minor-league rehab appearance, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Martinez threw 67 pitches, despite what was supposed to have been a 45-pitch limit, and retired 13 of 14 batters. "Pedro Martinez kept returning to the mound for one more inning, to the point you wondered if security might have to forcibly remove the right-hander from Tradition Field yesterday," wrote Mike Puma in the New York Post.
WINNING DESPITE IT ALL: The injury-depleted Phillies traded this week for starting pitcher Kyle Lohse. So of course, Lohse had to leave the game in the first inning (Philadelphia Inquirer) of his first Philadelphia start after being hit in the forearm by a Jacque Jones line drive, forcing him to come out of the game. But the Phillies still beat the Cubs. It's stuff like that, one assumes, that might mean the oft-criticized Charlie Manuel does not get fired, after all (Philadelphia Daily News).
WELCOME BACK VLAD: Home Run Derby champion Vladimir Guerrero hit his first home run in 30 games (L.A. Daily News) as the Angels defeated the Athletics yesterday in Oakland.
IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED... David Eckstein nearly cost the Cardinals the game yesterday with an error in the ninth, but Pittsburgh could not capitalize. Then Eckstein went ahead and actually did cost the Cardinals the game with another error in the 11th (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
Posted by Mike McDermott at 9:18 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, August 2
Journal photo / Kris Craig
WHEW! For a while last night, it looked like the Red Sox were back to their old, bad tricks -- failing repeatedly to come up with a big hit off soft-throwing Steve Trachsel. Then came the uprising in the seventh inning (projo), puncuated by Kevin Youkilis' two-run double off tough sidearm right-hander Chad Bradford. Jonathan Papelbon had one of his more dominating efforts to cap the 5-4 victory.
DREW'S DILEMMA: J.D. Drew was once again not with the team (Boston Herald), staying with his 17-month-old son, who recently had extensive surgery. It is not known when Drew will return to the Red Sox.
GLAD TO BE HERE: Before the game, Eric Gagne explained why he was happy to waive his no-trade clause (projo) to come to the "best sports city in America." Gagne warmed in the bullpen in the ninth last night, but was never needed on the field. Depending on how this afternoon's matinee goes, this might be the day for Gagne's Red Sox debut.
NOT SO FAST: Gene Orza, the number-two official of the players union, made it sound like the Red Sox were likey to open the 2008 season in Tokyo. But baseball operations people with the club, and owner John Henry, are still not sold on the move (Boston Globe), with early-season player fatigue being atop their list of concerns.
BUCHHOLZ REPORT: Clay Buchholz struck out nine batters while giving up two runs in 6.1 innings last night at McCoy Stadium. He got a no-decision as the PawSox fell to Buffalo in extra innings (projo).
ALMOST EVERYONE'S IN ON THE ACT: Alex Rodriguez can't get any colder (0 for 21 since hitting his 499th home run), while one would hope that the Yankees offense can't get any hotter. A night after hitting eight home runs against the White Sox, the Yankees hit five more last night, including one by cult hero Shelley Duncan, to move within two games of the Cleveland Indians for the American League wild-card playoff spot.
UNHAPPY DAMON: One guy who wasn't happy (at least last night) about Duncan's hot streak: Johnny Damon. Unhappy about being left out of last night's lineup while Duncan was in it, Damon reportedly hinted to a reporter that the Yankees should consider trading him when Jason Giambi returns (N.Y. Daily News). Damon calmed down later on, after having a conversation with Joe Torre.
YES, IT'S FOR SALE: Fortune magazine reports that the YES Network is for sale, and wonders if the Yankees themselves might be next. But George Steinbrenner's son Hal says the answer is no.
ONE LAST LOOK: Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr, 89 years old, is making what he believes will be his last-ever trip to Fenway (Boston Globe). Doerr says the cross-country flight from Oregon is too much for his aching back.
COME ON OVER: David Ortiz, who never sounds too sad to no longer be with the Minnesota Twins, believes that Johan Santana will soon join the fraternity of former Twins (Boston Herald), and he fantasizes about Santana in the Red Sox rotation.
NOT A BOSTON GUY: Torii Hunter also appears to have one foot out of Minnesota. Hunter, who can become a free agent after this season, also told the St. Paul Pioneer Press he's "not a big Boston guy," saying he's heard racial slurs here ("It happened like a hundred times. It was terrible.") and, more importantly, he's afraid of the Green Monster: "I like to catch the ball and hit the wall. I catch the ball and hit the wall there, I die."
THE GAME GOES ON: The deadly collapse of a Minnesota freeway bridge happened minutes before the first pitch of last night's Twins-Royals game. Although some players did not want to play after seeing accounts of the tragedy, the game went on, and keeping the 24,880 fans in the Metrodome and off area roads was probably a very good thing (Minneapolis Star Tribune). Today's scheduled game has already been postponed.
NOT IN OUR HOUSE: No, there is no conspiracy to keep Barry Bonds from tying Hank Aaron's home-run record in Los Angeles, according to Paul Oberjuerge of the L.A. Daily News. "It's more like an unspoken but clearly understood corporate policy."
END OF STORY: The Chicago White Sox have finally decided to take Jose Contreras out of the rotation, at least for now (Chicago Sun-Times).
SORRY STATE: Interviewed by the Philadelphia Daily News before yesterday's Double-A game, new Phillies acquisition Julio Mateo said he deserves a second chance. Mateo, as we mentioned here yesterday, is facing charges of punching, choking and biting his wife in a Manhattan hotel room. He appeared not to deny that something happened, but said he is working to improve his behavior.
GRAND ENTRANCE: Mark Teixeira hit a three-run home run in his Braves debut (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), as Atlanta routed the Houston Astros.
DEFICIT ERASED: The Chicago Cubs have completely erased an eight-and-a-half game deficit (Chicago Sun-Times) and now share first place in the National League Central with the fading Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs beat the Phillies last night on a walk-off wild pitch.
HOW THE SHORTSTOPS STACK UP: Justin Zeth, on the athomeplate blog, gives some statistical support for Barry Larkin's Hall of Fame candidacy, and throws cold water on Omar Vizquel's.
IRONIC, PERHAPS? Pitcher Matt Morris popped off to reporters about the Giants, just a day after being traded to the Pirates. He said that the Giants had learned to accept losing (San Francisco Chronicle). Mr. Morris, welcome to Pittsburgh.
TICKETS HERE: That's the attitude of major league baseball, which long frowned on ticket scalping, but now has an agreement with the Web site StubHub to direct fans who need tickets to the secondary marketplace's Web site. The New York Times reports on baseball's embrace of ticket reselling.
FUNNY STUFF: And finally this, from The Onion: "Craig Biggio blames media pressure for stalling at 285 hit-by-pitches."
Posted by Mike McDermott at 9:08 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, August 1
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS: The Red Sox pulled off the coup of the day yesterday, grabbing Eric Gagne (projo) from the Rangers for Kason Gabbard, a starter who was probably about to lose his spot in the rotation anyway; David Murphy, an outfielder who had fallen far down on the list of Boston prospects; and Engel Beltre, a player just starting out in the minors. What it did cost the Red Sox was money: about $4.75 million for two months of Gagne. Although Gagne could certainly close games when needed, the terms of his agreement with Boston make it clear that he is here as a setup man. Closer Jonathan Papelbon says he is glad to have him (Boston Globe). David Ortiz is excited about Gagne, too (projo); and he's also happy that the Celtics landed Kevin Garnett (Boston Herald).
STILL MORE GOOD NEWS: The Red Sox will also be reacquiring the services of Curt Schilling, and the big right-hander appears to be at the top of his game (projo). Schilling gave up just four hits in seven innings against the Columbus Clippers last night, throwing three strikes for every one ball. All told, Schilling threw 16 scoreless innings in his three Triple-A rehab starts. As of this posting, Schilling still has not weighed in on his Columbus outing on 38 Pitches. But here's what Donn Walden quoted Schilling as saying in this morning's projo, when asked about the big turnout of Red Sox fans in Ohio: "This is Red Sox Nation. That's no surprise. They are almost like ants. You always feel like you are at home." Ants. Touching.
NOW, THE BAD NEWS: Despite an outburst of power by David Ortiz (projo), who pulled two home runs, the Red Sox fizzled against Baltimore last night. The Orioles' dynamite starter, Erik Bedard, gave the Sox some openings with his wildness, but aside from Ortiz, the team could not get the big hit. The culprits were Wily Mo Pena, who couldn't put the ball in play with the bases loaded and one out, and Julio Lugo, who struck out looking (on a pitch that may have been a little low) to end the fourth inning and basically decide the game.
LOOKING FOR A NIGHT OUT? Clay Buchholz will be on the mound tonight when the PawSox return to McCoy Stadium to face the Buffalo Bisons.
DECISIVE DEAL? Joel Sherman in The New York Post says the Gagne trade means the Red Sox have made it lights-out in the A.L. East, particularly since the Yankees failed to improve their 'pen yesterday and, in fact, weakened it by dealing Scott Proctor. George Steinbrenner's son, Hal, gave GM Brian Cashman a public show of support yesterday (N.Y. Post).
BOMBERS UNLOAD: The Yanks battered White Sox pitching for eight home runs last night, but Alex Rodriguez was not one of the guys to hit one out. New York's 16-3 rout left the Yanks seven games behind the Red Sox; perhaps more importantly, they are just three behind Cleveland for the Wild Card. The Indians wasted another strong outing by Fausto Carmona, losing to the Texas Rangers (projo stats). Acting closer of the night C.J. Wilson pitched 1 and two-thirds perfect innings for the save.
A-ROD CRITICISM: Kind of incredibly, Filip Bondy writes in the Daily News that A-Rod's failure to homer last night shows the same old inability to come through with the pressure on. Of course, if he did hit a home run, people would probably criticize him for only hitting them in blowout situations. You can't escape this, though: A-Rod is 0 for 17 since hitting number 499 in Kansas City.
NOT A HAPPY GUY: Kyle Farnsworth is staying (N.Y. Post), something the Bronx fans aren't happy about. He was booed by the crowd at The Stadium last night when he entered the game with his team ahead, 14-3. Approached by a Post reporter before the game, and after it had become apparent that the Yanks had failed in their attempt to trade him, the hard-throwing and volatile reliever said, "Don't even come over here."
THRILLED EITHER WAY: Unlike Farnsworth, Proctor chose the high road yesterday, after he was traded by the Yankees to the Dodgers. Proctor said he loved pitching in New York (N.Y. Daily News) but was looking forward to participating in an N.L. pennant race.
YOUNGSTER RETURNS: Phil Hughes will return to the mound at Yankee Stadium on Saturday (N.Y. Daily News), when he gets the start against Kansas City.
ANOTHER SATURDAY STARTER: The Cardinals have pencilled in Joel Pineiro as their starter Saturday (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), when they face the Washington Nationals.
LET ME STAY: Now that it's clear he won't be traded, Jermaine Dye would like to work out a deal to stay with the White Sox (Chicago Sun-Times). The sticking point appears to be the number of years involved in a new contract.
HAPPY DAYS: As you would expect, the folks in the Atlanta Braves clubhouse were fired up (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) about getting Mark Teixeira and Octavio Dotel to aid in their pursuit of the Mets.
WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? In a deal you may have missed, the non-contending Pirates yesterday got pitcher Matt Morris from the Giants, thus adding the highest-paid player in Pittsburgh franchise history (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The Pirates are apparently still working on a potential waiver deal that would send shortstop Jack Wilson to Detroit.
OR THAT? A pending assault charge involving his wife did not stop the Phillies from trading for relief pitcher Julio Mateo. The Phillies, who, don't forget, also employ Brett Myers as their closer, are sending Mateo for now to Double-A Reading instead of Triple-A Ottawa, because Mateo is not able to enter Canada on account of his legal troubles. Mateo (formerly with Seattle) is accused of punching, biting and choking his wife in a New York hotel, but he has insisted he is innocent.
SANTANA'S DISMAYED: Johan Santana, who is signed through 2008, was not amused by the Twins trade of Luis Castillo. Here's what he said: "Why waste time when you're talking about something that's always going to be like that? It's never going to be beyond this point. It doesn't make any sense for me to be here, you know?" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
BECK'S WIFE SPEAKS: The police in Arizona found large quantities of cocaine at the home of Rod Beck, the former Red Sox reliever found dead in June. And Beck's wife, Stacey, says she knows it is drugs that killed him: "Rodney had a disease of addiction, which is a brain disease, and it stole him away from the people he had," she told the Arizona Republic. Stacey Beck, who had filed for divorce but remained close to the former pitcher, also talks in the article about the charity work he did for AIDS-related causes, something he was motivated to do after seeing a film about child AIDS victim Ryan White.
Posted by Mike McDermott at 8:01 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, July 31
And here goes, with our belated roundup:
D-DAY: The trade deadline is at 4 today, and here folks in New England are, talking about the Celtics. Go figure. Sean McAdam today outlines the various scenarios that could lead to a Red Sox trade today, but the bottom line is that as of last night, Boston had not found a deal to its liking.
DYE WATCH: The Globe reports that, according to one major league source, there is still a good chance of Boston landing a deal for Jermaine Dye. According to Gordon Edes' story, the White Sox are willing to take Wily Mo Pena, and now it comes down to what else the Red Sox are willing to offer. The Chicago Tribune reports that the White Sox made a roster move that could set the stage for a two-for-one deal involving Dye.
THEY'RE TRYING: In the Herald, Jeff Horrigan details the Sox' efforts to land Dye and Eric Gagne, and says that while the team absolutely will not part with Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz or Justin Masterson, there are conflicting reports about Jon Lester, Manny Delcarmen and Michael Bowden.
LEADING BIDDERS: In Sports Illustrated, Jon Heyman says the Sox are leading the way in the race for Gagne.
ART OF THE DEAL: Nick Cafardo writes today that Bill Walsh, a baseball fan, would have loved today (Boston Globe).
CAUTIOUS YANKS: Meanwhile, The New York Post reports that the Yankees appear likely to stand pat, unless they can find takers for Kyle Farnsworth or Scott Proctor. The Daily News says that the Yankees are making a "big push" to land Gagne, but that the team is unwilling to give up any of its top-notch pitching prospects. Instead, the Bombers are supposedly offering a member of this year's early-season cast of starting-pitcher posers (Chase Wright, Tyler Clippard, Matt DeSalvo) along with Proctor. The Daily News says the Mets are in the Gagne sweepstakes, as well.
BUT THEY MIGHT DO THIS: The Yanks may be in discussions with the Dodgers about trading Proctor for Wilson Betemit, an infielder who could play at first. The Post quotes one National League scout as saying that if Boston brings in Gagne to set up Jonathan Papelbon, the A.L. East race is over.
NO MAS: Twins players are bummed out over the team's decision to trade Luis Castillo, saying it is a sign that Minnesota has thrown in the towel (Minneapolis Star Tribune).
MANNY IS TOPS: Manny Ramirez (.393, three home runs, 10 RBI) is baseball's player of the week (Boston Herald).
BULLPEN HELP: Mike Timlin is expected to be available to pitch tonight (Boston Herald).
THE BALL'S IN THEIR COURT: In The New York Post, Steve Serby speculates that Yankee fans -- and how they embrace or fail to embrace him from here on out -- could hold the key to Alex Rodriguez's decision on whether to stay in pinstripes.
MILESTONES: In Milwaukee, Tom Glavine goes for his 300th victory tonight (N.Y. Daily News). And, of course, Barry Bonds tries to tie Hank Aaron's record in Los Angeles. In an op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, economist J.C. Bradbury explains why folks should cheer for Barry. On the flip side, Bill Plaschke reminds us in the L.A. Times why Dodgers fans have more reason to boo Bonds than most.
A'S STILL NUMBER ONE: While the Giants continue to get most of the press, the Athletics may be the best-postitioned of the two Bay Area teams to return to contention -- despite the Giants' much-touted young arms. (San Francisco Chronicle)
SANCHEZ'S WOES:Anibal Sanchez is at odds with the Marlins over his May demotion to the minor leagues. The players union has filed a grievance on behalf of Sanchez, whom the Sox sent to Florida after the 2005 season as part of their package for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, saying that Florida improperly demoted an injured player. (South Florida Sun Sentinel)
LEGAL TROUBLE: Speaking of the Marlins, their 2003 first-round draft pick, pitcher Jeff Allison, is being extradited to North Carolina to face drug and larceny charges (Palm Beach Post). The Marlins last week placed Allison on the restricted list because of a "legal issue."
HANCOCK SUIT DROPPED: An attorney for Josh Hancock's father, Dean, has agreed to drop a lawsuit that sought to partially blame a host of people for the death of the former Cardinals pitcher. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
LAME AND FORTUNE: The Phillies won another game last night, Brett Myers picked up his first save in more than two months, but the club lost two outfielders -- Shane Victorino and the promising Michael Bourn -- to injuries (Philadelphia Daily News). Both are day to day for now.
Keep an eye on the blog today for the latest as we count down to the deadline.
Posted by Mike McDermott at 9:41 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, July 30
AP photo/Steve Nesius
First of all, a note: There will be no projo SoxTalk today, but Sean McAdam will resume our regular audio feature tomorrow at noon.
ROADBLOCK: Scott Kazmir showed us once again what he is made of, Manny Delcarmen reminded Red Sox fans of why insurance would be nice to get in the bullpen, and the Red Sox failed to complete a three-game sweep at Tampa Bay. Nevertheless, Boston did what it needed to do this weekend at Tropicana Field, thanks to the team's 12-inning win on Saturday night. As for the Red Sox' bullpen situation, we'll have to keep a close eye on the health of Mike Timlin, who has not been used since running his scoreless innings streak to 16 early last week in Cleveland. The team is said to still be interested in obtaining the services of a power right-handed arm, such as Octavio Dotel or Eric Gagne (Globe).
GOOD ARM: Devil Rays reliever Al Reyes, who looked impressive on Saturday, could be a trade target. The Seattle Mariners reportedly are interested (Seattle Times).
BRONX ZOO: The Yankees won yesterday to prevent a three-game sweep in Baltimore (we won't count the victory Friday night in the conclusion to the suspended game, which actually counts toward New York's June record), but the talk New York today is about Kyle Farnsworth's snub of Jorge Posada, (NY Post) which came after Farnsworth had surrendered a two-run homer in the eighth. Farnsworth, whom you figure the Yanks would love to move, complained after the game about not being used very much. Not surprisingly, the Yanks are also in the Gagne sweepstakes.
THEY HAVE HIS BACK: Joe Torre and Johnny Damon responded, predictably, to Jose Canseco's threatening call-out of Alex Rodriguez (N.Y. Daily News). Damon also says Jason Giambi is ready to play (Post).
WHO'S THE BOSS? The business Web site Florida Trend gets up close and personal with George Steinbrenner in this Q and A.
A DAY AT THE HALL: It was a good day in Cooperstown, because class acts Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were welcomed into the Hall of Fame (Washington Post). It was a bad day in Cooperstown, because Bud Selig was pondering what punishment Gary Sheffield deserves after Sheff called the commissioner a liar and a grandstander in regards to steroids (NY Daily News).
GET RID OF IT: Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin writes today about why the Veterans Committee should be abolished.
STAY CLOSE TO HOME: And speaking (we were earlier) of steroids, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci explains why it would be a disaster for Barry Bonds to hit number 756 outside of San Francisco.
MARK TEIXEIRA: The streaking Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly thrown themselves into the bidding for Texas' star first baseman (Dallas Morning News). But Ken Rosenthal still gives the edge to the Braves and the Angels (Fox Sports).
ADIEU, ALOUS: As Moises Alou nears retirement, baseball's greatest family dynasty appears to be near the end (NY Daily News).
REMEMBER ME: Jermaine Dye homered in what might end up being his last White Sox home game (Chicago Sun Times).
HOMETOWN CHEERLEADER: L.A. Times columnist Paul Oberjuerge thinks Mike Scioscia is the best manager in baseball.
Posted by Mike McDermott at 8:08 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, July 26
AP photo / Mark Duncan
RUNNING JOKE: If the Red Sox end up losing out on the division title by a game (not out of the question given the Yankees' surge), this is one that we might be looking back at. Sure, Fausto Carmona, the guy whom the Sox lit up when he was trying to close out games at Fenway last year, was absolutely brilliant, throwing hard and getting excellent movement on his pitches. But it's the late blunders that we'll remember about this game. First there was Coco Crisp, getting nailed at the plate trying to score from second in the sixth inning on David Ortiz's single, which got no farther than second baseman Josh Barfield, playing deep in the shift. Then there was Jason Varitek getting thrown out because of a missed hit-and-run sign by Alex Cora. Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez also threw out Julio Lugo trying to steal. After the game, Cora was distraught (projo), while Crisp was not around for comment.
STAND-UP GUY: Meanwhile, Josh Beckett, who threw his first complete game since 2005, when he was a member of the Florida Marlins, was not interested in passing the blame to his teammates (SoxBlog).
FOOTSTEPS: Out in Kansas City, the Yankees closed the gap to six and a half games by winning their sixth straight, 7-1 over Kansas City (N.Y. Daily News). A-Rod hit home run number 499 and tonight will face Jorge De La Rosa, the same pitcher who surrendered Rodriguez's 400th carer home run in 2005.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: Backup catcher Jose Molina is expected to make his Yankee debut tonight, when the Bombers go for the sweep in Kansas City (Newsday). This same story mentions that the Yankees remain somewhat interested in getting Mark Loretta from Houston.
THE BAD NEWS: Peter Abraham, in the LoHud Yankees blog, reports that David Szen, the Yanks' traveling secretary since 1981, is under investigation by the IRS for possible tax evasion and has been placed on paid leave.
ANOTHER MILESTONE IN THE MAKING: While A-Rod moved one step away from the 500-home run club, Tom Glavine got one win away from 300 on his career (projo stats).
NOT SO GREAT SCOTT: The Kansas City Royals yesterday released pitcher Scott Elarton (Kansas City Star), who gave up seven runs in 1 2/3 innings of work against the Yankees on Tuesday. It has been a horrible year for Elarton, who has struck out 13 batters while surrendering 12 home runs. On The Soul of Baseball blog, there's a look at other pitchers who gave up nearly as many long balls as they had strikeouts.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT: Joel Pineiro accepted his assignment to Triple A Pawtucket, and promptly threw three no-hit innings as a starter against Toledo (projo). In Portland, pitcher Justin Masterson struck out 10 en route to a victory over New Hampshire. Since being promoted from Class-A Lancaster, Masterson has started four games, and won all four.
DONNELLY UPDATE: Brendan Donnelly (forearm strain) has played catch at 90 feet for the last couple of days (projo).
THIS KID HAS A FUTURE: In his Triple-A debut with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 21-year-old Yanks phenom Joba Chamberlain struck out 10 batters while walking only one in five shutout innings (N.Y. Daily News).
A NEW NAME: The Globe reports that the Sox are talking to Tampa Bay about Ty Wigginton, an infielder with decent pop (15 home runs and a .275 batting average so far this year), though a trade is not close to happening. The story also says that Boston is interested in Dodgers third base prospect Andy LaRoche, who is at Triple A Las Vegas.
TEIXEIRA TALKS: The Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers and Braves are deep into discussions about a trade involving Mark Teixeira.
OK, TAKE HIM: The Post reports that the Tigers might be interested in taking Kyle Farnsworth off the Yankees' hands.
CURT'S CONCERNS: Curt Schilling not only has steroids on his mind (projo); he is giving a lot of thought to his online gaming business as well (Globe).
TOUGH NIGHT: First, he was thrown out at first base by Houston right-fielder Luke Scott after hitting what appeared to be a single. Then, in the fifth inning, he had to leave the game because of a pulled groin. A frustrating evening for Derek Lowe, who threw his glove the length of the Dodgers dugout after coming off the field (projo stats).
OUCH AGAIN: Jose Contreras, who was allowed to stay into the eighth inning last week in Boston and ended up giving up 10 runs, surrendered nine runs on 12 hits in 4.2 innings yesterday against Detroit, caughing up two leads along the way. Safe to say Contreras' trade value is waning, if it has not completely evaporated.
PEDRO'S ROAD BACK: Pedro Martinez will pitch a simulated game on Friday and is expected to make a minor-league rehab start on Wednesday in Port St. Lucie. (N.Y. Post)
AND HANLEY'S: Florida's Hanley Ramirez, nursing a partially dislocated shoulder, fielded ground balls yesterday, but has yet to swing a bat since suffering his injury over the weekend (Miami Herald).
UNIT REVIEW: A day after saying that his career might in fact be over, Randy Johnson told the Diamondbacks that he would throw another bullpen session later in the week (projo stats).
Posted by Mike McDermott at 9:07 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, July 25
AP photo / Ron Schwane
DUELING ACES: In a game that turned on a single play, the Red Sox picked up their fifth consecutive victory last night, beating the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, despite a dominant performance by Indians starter C.C. Sabathia. Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka wasn't as much in control of Sabathia, but he had enough to keep the Indians off the scoreboard through seven innings, stranding eight baserunners along the way. Then it was the usual excellent relief work by Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon. The goat of the evening was Cleveland's Ben Francisco, who misjudged Mike Lowell's lazy fly ball, allowing what should have been the third out of the fourth inning to drop for an RBI single. Francisco failed to atone for his mistake in the ninth inning, when he struck out to end the game.
BACK FROM THE DEAD: That might seem like a good description for Manny Delcarmen's season. Delcarmen, who struggled mightily as the Red Sox fell out of contention last season, started poorly in Pawtucket. Then came a tongue-lashing from PawSox manager Ron Johnson, which Joe McDonald describes in detail today, and it has all turned around. The other pitcher on the receiving end of that talking-to from Johnson, fellow reliever Craig Hansen, continues to search for consistency, although he has been better in the past month -- a period in which Hansen has struck out 20 batters in 15 innings pitched.
TWICE THE HERO: Speaking of the PawSox, Brandon Moss was the hero for the second night in a row. Monday night at McCoy, Moss hit an RBI single in the 10th inning to score Joe McEwing with the game-winner against Louisville. Then last night, in Toledo, he hit an RBI triple in the ninth, breaking a tie as Pawtucket won, 3-2. Moss is hitting .343 over his last 10 games.
THANK YOU JON: Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated says the Jon Lester story is just what sports fans need in this week of lurid news about Michael Vick, Barry Bonds and Tim Donaghy.
GAUGING THE MARKET: Sean McAdam says it's likely that Wily Mo Pena will be wearing someone else's uniform by this time next week. He also thinks that now may be the time to trade Kason Gabbard, while the young lefty's stock is high. Nick Cafardo of The Globe says that if you took a poll of the players, they would prefer that the Red Sox do nothing before the trade deadline. Rob Bradford's account of the postgame scene last night in the Red Sox clubhouse would suggest the same thing (Boston Herald).
TRADING IN SECRETS: Bradford also quotes Jonathan Papelbon today as saying that displaying the radar-gun readings at games gives hitters an unfair advantage.
NOW, THE REAL NEWS: The Globe has a profile today of LMontro (born Angel Lucas Pena), the unofficial Red Sox team barber. You may remember him from Tina Cervasio's hotel-room interview on NESN with Manny Ramirez earlier this year. "Each of these guys is like a character, and each one has their thing -- Papi's beard, [Dustin] Pedroia's sideburns, [Mike] Lowell's little mustache," LMontro tells The Globe. "The Yankees are all shaved and boring."
SPEAKING OF WHICH: This has been a good time for the Red Sox to get hot, because the Yankees continue to pound away at the plate and roll up wins. Last night, they jumped out to a 7-0 lead off Kansas City starter Scott Elarton (who now sports a 10.46 E.R.A.) and kept it in cruise control for a 9-4 win over Kansas City. Johnny Damon said after the game that if the Yanks keep hitting this way, they're playoff-bound (N.Y. Post). New York is certainly in a win-win situation right now, because even if they have failed to gain any ground the last two nights on the Red Sox, they have managed to trim Cleveland's wild-card lead to four and a half games.
STANDING PAT? After a meeting of the brass in Tampa, the Yanks appear in no hurry to rock the boat before the trade deadline. But one new face you might see is Joba Chamberlain's. The 21-year-old pitcher has just been promoted to Scranton/Wilkes Barre, and indications are he might be Bronx-bound before the end of the year (both N.Y. Daily News).
FROM A-ROD, WITH LOVE: Alex Rodriguez credits his mother for his work ethic and accomplishments (N.Y. Post).
THE RIGHT THING? Bud Selig isn't winning too many plaudits with his decision to attempt to be there when Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's home-run record, but Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports believes Selig made the right decision. Rosenthal adds that Selig's public statement announcing his decision struck the correct balance: "By appearing to adopt the stance favored by Bonds supporters — he never tested positive, never was proven to have used performance-enhancing drugs — Selig achieved his true intended purpose, which was to point out that we might be looking at, well, a fraud."
THE DRUMBEAT GOES ON: A chemist who worked for Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative tells HBO that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield both used drugs given to them by BALCO (N.Y. Times). The chemist, Patrick Arnold, is credited with creating "the clear," a previously undetectable steroid that BALCO supplied to athletes.
SPREADING THE PAIN: It's been tough for the Angels to watch Ervin Santana's struggles this season (the promising pitcher was recently demoted to AAA), and now, according to one account, Santana's failure to right himself may have cost the Angels the chance of acquiring Mark Teixeira (L.A. Times).
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The night after he announced plans to retire, Craig Biggio hit a grand-slam home run to lead the Astros past the Dodgers (projo stats).
A SAFETY MOVE: Colorado Rockies first-base coach Glenallen Hill has decided to wear a batting helmet on the job, a reaction to the death of minor-league coach Mike Coolbaugh after Coolbaugh was hit by a foul ball (projo stats).
END OF THE UNIT? Randy Johnson last night acknowledged the possibility that his career may be over. (projo stats)
Posted by Mike McDermott at 9:04 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, July 24
AP photo / Mark Duncan
A FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC: The Red Sox made things a bit easier on Jon Lester last night, giving the 23-year-old lefty a 4-0 lead before he even went to the mound to pitch the bottom of the first. But the play of the game came in the fourth inning, after Lester surrendered a single and walked two batters to load the bases, and fumbled Josh Barfield's grounder, which could have been an inning-ending double play. When Lester blew a fastball past Grady Sizemore -- the same Sizemore who took Lester deep in the third inning -- Lester ensured that the story of his return has a happy ending. Joe McDonald breaks down the "Comeback Kid's" performance, and the reaction from players in both clubhouses (including former Red Sox farmhand Kelly Shoppach), in today's projo.
IN PRAISE OF...: Curt Schilling writes about Lester's return on the 38 Pitches blog. An excerpt: "Watching Jon all day was an experience I won’t ever forget. Going through what he has gone through, beating it, and coming all the way back to the big leagues and then throwing 6 strong innings, wow."
...UNPRAISED MEN: Seth Mnookin also wants to toast Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo, who have been adding a lot of life to the Red Sox offense lately (Feeding the Monster). Mnookin also offers these predictions for the rest of the season: "Boston's division lead will be as low as 4 games and that they’ll ultimately end up winning the East by somewhere between 6 and 8. Oh, and I’d also guess that New York won’t be in the playoffs, A-Rod won’t be in the Bronx come next spring, and Joe Torre will wish he’d retired a year earlier."
BUT THEY LOOK GOOD NOW: Roger Clemens and the Yankees cooled off the (moderately) hot Kansas City Royals to win their fourth game in a row. In the process, Alex Rodriguez became the fastest player since Manny Ramirez in 1999 to reach 100 RBI in a season (projo stats).
AND NEXT ON THE AGENDA: Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia tries tonight to become the majors' first 14-game winner (projo stats). If he doesn't get it done, then Josh Beckett will attempt to accomplish the same feat on Wednesday. Both games should be great pitching matchups: it's Sabatha against Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Beckett against the surprising Fausto Carmona.
FOOL ME TWICE: When David Ortiz hurt his shoulder trying to beat Jermaine Dye's throw and turn a single into a double, it wasn't the first time that challenging Dye had a painful end (Boston Globe). In 2001, Ortiz (then with the Minnesota Twins) broke his wrist trying unsuccessfully to score from second on a throw by Dye (then with the Kansas City Royals). WBZ-TV in Boston has a video from Sunday of Ortiz talking about his injury and showing how much movement he has in his arm.
LITTLE BIG MAN: Speaking of Ortiz, Steve Corkran reports in the Contra Costa Times that the big slugger once had dreams of being a little man in a big man's sport. Until his early teens, Ortiz says, he had dreams of becoming a basketball player. "I was skinny back then," Ortiz says. "I could run fast and I was a pretty good basketball player." Then he put on a display of hitting prowess that impressed a professional scout at a baseball clinic in the Dominican, and the rest is history.
STILL A CLASSIC: Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune writes that what John Henry's group has done to both preserve and improve Fenway Park could serve as an appropriate model for the Cubs' new owner as he ponders the future of Wrigley Field.
STOP THE DITHERING: Also in the Tribune, Rick Morrissey says it is time for the White Sox to do something, anything, to improve the team's future as their disastrous season continues to go down the drain.
TEIXEIRA UPDATE: FoxSports' Ken Rosenthal reports that the Red Sox and the Yankees are both on the periphery of the teams interested in Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira. Rosenthal says the Rangers are asking for a lot, and that the Atlanta Braves and the L.A. Angels are the teams most aggressively pursuing Teixeira.
OLD FRIENDS: Hanley Ramirez, who dislocated his left shoulder on Sunday, could return to the Marlins lineup soon, according to the club's Web site. .... Alan Embree remains the closer in Oakland, for now, even though the Athletics activated Huston Street from the disabled list yesterday (MLB). The team plans to bring Street back cautiously.
Posted by Mike McDermott at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, July 23
Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson
In losing three straight games last week to the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox scored a total of 10 runs on 33 hits. In winning their last three games this weekend over the White Sox, Boston scored a total of 29 runs on 31 hits. The difference? Well, the Chicago bullpen, for one: Chicago relievers walked nine Boston batters in 8.2 innings of work during the four-game series; while Kansas City's walked just three batters in 13.2 innings during the three-game Boston-Kansas City series. But the Red Sox suddenly began coming through with runners in scoring position, something they've been woefully inadequate at doing lately, and that has led to hopes that the Boston offense is coming around (projo).
The talk of the day, of course, now turns to Jon Lester's return to the mound (projo) as the Red Sox travel to Cleveland to face the Indians. Lester's last big league start was exactly 11 months ago, in Anaheim, when he picked up a win over the Angels. Eight days later, the club announced that Lester would begin treatments for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer. The 23-year-old left-hander returns to the team despite a less-than-dominant recent track record in Pawtucket, but manager Terry Francona says the decision is based neither on emotion nor on the struggles of displaced fifth starter Julian Tavarez (Boston Globe). Steve Buckley of the Herald says that the reason for Lester's call-up doesn't matter, that we should all just enjoy the latest development in this remarkable story. Lester's return is the subject of today's projo Red Sox survey.
To make room for Lester, the Sox will designate Joel Pineiro for assignment today (projo); they hope that they can get some small compensation from another team looking to add an arm. Thus ends a failed $4-million experiment to move Pineiro from underachieving starting pitcher to effective reliever.
IGNORE THE SCORE: Yesterday's final tally (11-1 Louisville) might not indicate it, but Clay Buchholz put on an impressive show as a starter for the PawSox (projo).
ANOTHER UP-AND-COMER: Curt Schilling wrote Saturday night (38 Pitches) about his rehab start in Pawtucket. He said "we accomplished everything we wanted to and more."
BULLPEN HELP? The Pittsburgh Post Gazette says today that the Red Sox are the team considered most interested in Pirates reliever Salomon Torres, and says the Sox are actively shopping Wily Mo Pena.
BRONX BATS ARE BURNING: While the Red Sox were scoring 29 runs in their last three games, that Yankees were piling up 45 runs in three games against the hapless Devil Rays. The big story of the weekend in the Bronx was 27-year-old rookie Shelley Duncan, who had the fans chanting his name as he slugged three home runs over the weekend (NY Daily News). The second big story was Alex Rodriguez's continued pursuit of 500 career home runs -- he's now just two short after hitting one yesterday in the Yanks' 21-4 laugher -- but A-Rod says he doesn't want to talk about it (Newsday). Another story was the arrival of new backup catcher Jose Molina (New York Post), who figures to be an offensive improvement over the departed Wil Nieves -- and remember that Molina is only hitting .224 this season. The Yankees have also signed former Red Sox reliever Scott Williamson (projostats) to a minor league deal.
HERE'S THE OTHER VIEW: Joel Sherman writes in the Post that Yankee fans should remember one sobering piece of news: The Red Sox still have 15 games left against the Devil Rays, whom he says "are so atrocious that Tim Donaghy could have big money on their games and be umping, and that wouldn't help."
QUITE A STAT: The Yanks had 25 hits yesterday and 20 on Saturday night. The last time the franchise has had consecutive 20-hit showings was in 1902, when it was known as the Baltimore Orioles (the team became the New York Highlanders the following season).
NOT TOO SURPRISING: The Yankee page on Wikipedia has been temporarily closed to editing by new or unregistered users due to "vandalism." The Red Sox page remains open for business.
ANOTHER TEST: The Yankees now go to Kansas City for four games against the Royals, who are coming off consecutive series victories on the road against the Red Sox and the Tigers, the teams with the two best records in baseball. Royals fans may finally have some reason for optimism following so many dismal seasons (Kansas City Star).
PRIDE OF A CITY: The Tigers have sold enough tickets to break the club's attendance record, set during the 1984 World Series championship season. Joe LaPointe writes in The New York Times that the Tigers have given Detroit a reason to cheer, which is something the city needs.
THE NAME FITS: While Barry Bonds sat the game out, the Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun hit his 15th home run of the season in yesterday's win over the Giants. The homer, in Braun's 50th major league game, made him the fastest player to reach 15 since Albert Pujols in 2001 (projo stats).
THINK WE HAD IT BAD? The Colorado Rockies went 0-for-28 with runners in scoring position during a four-game series over the weekend with the Washington Nationals (projo stats). No team had gone that many at bats in a single series without a hit with runners in scoring position since the 1991 Montreal Expos.
Posted by Mike McDermott at 9:06 AM | Permalink
Schilling happy with rehab outing
By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer
PAWTUCKET _ Following his first rehab start with the Pawtucket Red Sox yesterday, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling said he felt a bit awkward on the mound.
Not because he wasn’t pitching effectively, but just the fact he was back on the mound in a game situation for the first time since he was placed on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right shoulder on June 19.
The veteran right-hander was very sharp in his three-inning, 40-pitch outing for the PawSox at McCoy Stadium and said he hasn’t felt this good since 2002.
Schilling threw a side session at Fenway Park on Wednesday and played long toss on Thursday in preparation for yesterday’s start. During those two workouts, he told Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell he felt the ball was coming out of his hand better than it has in a few years.
It showed yesterday.
“Everything has felt different in the last two weeks, but in a positive way,” said Schilling. “I feel good about the outing. . . There were some balls today that I threw that I felt very good about. I don’t remember feeling like that for a significant period of time.”
Schilling worked on all of his pitches – curveball, fastball, change-up, split and sliders – saying it was the best he’s felt all season, including spring training.
“For the last five months when my arm got to the top slot the throw was more momentum than power,” he explained. “I would get my arm to a point and didn’t have the ability to finish the pitch and drive the ball through. In the last two or three weeks I’ve noticed that I could.”
He’s scheduled to throw another rehab start for the PawSox on Thursday in Toledo. There’s a possibility he could work a third game for Pawtucket before re-joining the Red Sox in Anaheim on Aug. 6.
“As much as I hate being on the DL and the guilt feeling of not contributing, I have a blast down here with these kids in this environment,” he said. “It kind of revitalizes you a little bit. I had a goal and some objectives. I was scheduled to throw 50 pitches and I only threw 40. I could have gone back out there, but I answered the questions I wanted answered today. That was the big and they were all positives.”
Schilling said he wants to return to the rotation as soon as possible, but at the same time he wants to make sure he’s healthy and doesn’t want to rush anything.
Left-hander Kason Gabbard has replaced Schilling in the Sox rotation and “he pitched really well today,” said Schilling. “The fact that we’re eight games up is huge. I’m not sure that our place in the standings would have changed the timetable for me because the main goal is to come back and pitch all the way through the World Series. I want to be healthy, effective and be the guy I can be.”
Because the PawSox offense struggled in the first two innings, Schilling was able to get back on the mound rather quickly to keep his solid momentum going. The only time he was crossed up was in the top of the third when he had to step off the rubber and ask Pawtucket catcher George Kottaras for a new signals, and because there seemed to be miscommunication the two had a meeting on the mound.
“George was great,” said Schilling. “It was hard to see, that was the only problem. [Working well with a batterymate] is a big thing because, for me, tempo is as important as anything else. If you’re out there shaking, shaking, shaking, you tend not to get into a groove. He was good.”
During his pregame warm up in the PawSox bullpen the Red Sox medical staff was keeping a close eye on the seasoned vet, and Schilling also had his family in attendance.
Even tough he was all business yesterday, arriving at McCoy early and watching a replay of Friday night’s Red Sox game, Schilling had some fun with former World Series teammate and current Louisville second baseman Mark Bellhorn during the outing.
“I made a comment to him after he swung at the first pitch,” Schilling said. “I’ve never seen the guy swing at a first pitch in the history of his career. He swung and I said ‘now you’re going to swing at the first pitch?’ He just kind of laughed.”
Bellhorn struck out swinging and he wasn’t the only one not to have success against Schilling yesterday.
Posted by Joe McDonald at 8:10 PM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, July 20
BRAVEHEARTS: That's the impression the Red Sox are trying to put forth in light of their 20-24 slide since May 30, a slide that continued last night with a rain-delayed 4-2 loss to the White Sox (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach). Joe McDonald writes the Sox ''were calm and collected [before the game], and the clubhouse was much of the same following the loss.'' (projo.com) Julio Lugo even went so far as to implore reporters ''not to panic'' (Boston Herald), though it's not the media doing any panicking. It's hard to say the fans are, either, since the lead is still seven games. Maybe it's best summed up by old friend Allan Wood: ''Panic? No. Nothing even close to panic. Annoyance? Yes. I'm plenty annoyed.'' (joyofsox.blogspot.com)
AND WHO ARE YOU ANNOYED WITH? Let's start with J.D. Drew, who, according to Sean McAdam, is becoming ''[a] target of fans . . . a repository for their frustration with the team’s month-long slide into undistinguished play.'' (projo.com) Drew hasn't been the hitter the Sox thought they were getting, but in one way he's lived up to every expectation: ''[His] frequent absenteeism,'' writes Sean, ''has only helped reinforce the notion that Drew is too quick to come out of the lineup . . . It’s not the prolonged stints on the disabled list that test teams’ patience; it’s the frequent one- and two-day absences that can be so infuriating.'' Last night was another, even though he has a career average of .391 against the White Sox' starter, Javier Vazquez. ''More than one teammate yesterday afternoon, taking note of [Drew's] exclusion from the lineup card, managed to roll his eyes in response,'' writes Sean.
| NEXT IN LINE: Kevin Youkilis' effort is never called into question, but his results have been steadily declining; he's 3-for-27 since the All-Star break. (Boston Globe) He made perhaps the most crucial out of last night's game: With two on and two out in the seventh and the Sox trailing 3-2, Youkilis -- moments after Manny Ramirez had come within two feet of belting a three-run homer into the Boston bullpen -- struck out on four pitches (right, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach), ending the inning and the Red Sox' last threat. Terry Francona thinks it's just a slump (''Every hitter goes through periods, that's why a lot of hitters don't hit .400. That's just the way the game is. Youk always gives you a good at-bat, regardless of how he feels at the plate."), and it probably is, but it's beginning to stir memories of Youkilis' second-half slowdown last year . . . just as the Sox' struggles are stirring memories of their second-half glide to nowhere in 2006. |  |
LONG TIME COMING: The eighth-inning homer allowed by Hideki Okajima (top picture) was the first he's given up since Opening Day. (projo.com notebook) Also worth noting: Julian Tavarez is working with Jason Varitek to get out of his slump,
I WOULD HAVE LIKED IT HERE: Mark Buehrle wound up staying with the White Sox, but said he wouldn't have minded if the rumored trade to Boston had come through. (Boston Herald)
IN THE HUNT: The Kansas City Star reports the Red Sox are one of a number of teams -- the others include the Dodgers, Indians, Tigers and Braves -- who have interest in Octovio Dotel. The Sox are also said to be monitoring Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes (Denver Post).
MEANWHILE . . . The lead is still seven because the Yankees let one get away yesterday, squandering a 2-0 seventh-inning lead and losing to the Blue Jays, 3-2. (New York Post) It was only their fourth loss in 15 games, but it prompted immediate warnings from Bill Madden of the Daily News and Larry Brooks of the Post that, in the situation they're in, the Yankees can't afford to be giving games away.
MAYBE IT'S ALL THOSE VOODOO DOLLS IN RED SOX NATION: Johnny Damon says he feels great, so he can't understand why he's in such a deep slump. (New York Daily News) But even though his average is down to .233, he wants to remain in the leadoff spot. (New York Post)
BORE-ING: More and more, we're hearing this may be one of the dullest trade-deadline periods ever. Jayson Stark of ESPN explains why.
HAND 'EM OVER: The Yankees are aggressively seeking help in the trade market, but one N.L. scout says, ''The Yankees don't want to give up the kids, and if they don't do that, they aren't going to get anything.'' (New York Post)
GETTING CLOSER: Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald recounts a strange day at Wrigley Field, where Barry Bonds hit two home runs and moved within two of Hank Aaron's record.
GHOST TALES: Major league teams tell tales of a hotel in St. Petersburg, Fla., that's alleged to be haunted, and the Angels have stories to add to the lore. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)
YOU'RE A WRITER, NOT A FAN: A Japanese sports writer had his credentials revoked by the Baseball Writers Association of America for asking Roger Clemens for an autograph. (sportingnews.com)
HAIRY SITUATION: The blog Bugs and Cranks looks at the best Afros in baseball history. Some contemporary players actually make the grade.
HOME SWEET HOME: That's how Julio Franco feels about Atlanta. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
THERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU JUST DON'T SAY: Pirates starter Ian Snell apologized to the Rockies for saying he would ''kill that dude'' -- a Colorado player he wouldn't name -- who he thought was stealing his signs in Wednesday night's game. Even so, MLB is launching an investigation and discipline may follow. (Denver Post)
TO THE SIDELINES: Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter needs Tommy John surgery. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
TO THE FIELD: The Dodgers' Randy Wolf is eyeing an Aug. 1 return (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Moises Alou could be back in the Mets' outfield by next week (New York Post).
ONE LESS BELL TO ANSWER: The pool of available relievers diminished by one when the Rangers put Akinori Otsuka on the disabled list, all but guaranteeing they won't be able to trade him by July 31.
WHISPERS: Many teams would like the Nationals' Chad Cordero as a setup man in their bullpen, but a N.L. executive thinks the Nats should attempt to get closers' value for him (Washington Post) . . . Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press wouldn't be surprised if the Twins trade closer Joe Nathan, if not now then in the offseason . . . Dmitri Young to the Twins? (St. Paul Pioneer-Press) . . . The Star-Ledger's Dan Graziano reports the Yankees are interested in the Royals' Zack Greinke, and have rebuffed the Mariners' inquiries about Andy Pettitte . . .
OLD FRIENDS: Derek Lowe said he was pitching ''live batting practice'' when he got lit up by the Mets last night . . . So was Mike Maroth in the Cardinals' loss to the Braves (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Mike Myers is back in the groove in New York (New York Daily News) . . . On the same day he returned to the lineup, the Cubs' Cliff Floyd was forced back to the bench because of a sore neck (AP via projo.com) . . . Bobby Howry recorded his seventh save for the Cubs, but will probably move back to a setup role when Ryan Dempster returns today (AP via projo.com) . . . The ever-recovering Wade Miller will make another minor-league rehab start tonight (Chicago Tribune) . . . Dustan Mohr is out of a job in Tampa Bay (Tampa Tribune) . . . Josh Bard had his three-game suspension reduced to two games, and he began serving it last night (AP via projo.com).
And this is the last word you'll hear from me until August 6; I'm headed out to vacation. Mike McDermott will be handling this portion of the blog for the next two weeks, so check back daily. See you when I return.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, July 19
IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE . . . 2004. At least that's what the Red Sox hope. Or 2002. That's what they fear.
| Sean McAdam notes that in both those seasons, the Sox got off to a quick start, followed by a long stretch of mediocrity. In '04, they pulled out of it and went on to win the World Series. In '02, though, they never did and finished out of the playoffs. So what of 2007? Last night's 6-5 loss to the Royals (Joe McDonald game story, projo.com) cut the Sox' A.L. East lead to seven games, six in the loss column, over the surging Yankees and dropped their record to 20-23 since May 30. In and of itself, neither fact should spark much worry, despite the concerned look of Mike Lowell, right (reacting to making an out in the eighth inning last night; Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach). |  |
SCOUTING REPORT: One A.L. scout's take of the Red Sox, as reported by the New York Daily News: ''They're not a good offensive team right now. And without a healthy (Curt) Schilling, their pitching isn't great. (Daisuke) Matsuzaka isn't dominating anybody -- he's just a solid No. 3 starter. Their bullpen is very good, but as a team, they're not playing with the confidence I saw early in the season.''
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: In his look at what teams need to do at the trading deadline, FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry says the Red Sox don't need to do anything.
 | NOTHING LEFT: One of the Sox' real problems offensively is that David Ortiz (left, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach) is struggling mightily against left-handers. In Inside The Game, Steven Krasner takes a closer look at Big Papi's problems vs. lefties this year (a .250 average with no home runs), part of which Ortiz blames on himself. But the team's offensive problems go beyond any one player, though Terry Francona thinks it will all even out in the end. (Boston Herald) One thing that won't happen in an attempt to re-start the attack, however, is the return of the suddenly red-hot Julio Lugo to the leadoff spot (Boston Globe). ''It's more of a matter of us swinging the bats than me putting the lineup in a hat and shuffling it,'' said Francona. |
EASY DOES IT: The Sox are forcing Daisuke Matsuzaka to work less hard than usual, hoping to keep him fresh for the second half. (Boston Herald)
YUCK: SI.com's Tom Verducci puts Dustin Pedroia (''little man with a big man's swing'') on his list of players with the ugliest swings in baseball.
OUT OF THE RUNNING: In the election for president of Red Sox Nation -- one of the more contrived gimmicks of the usually savvy P.R. department -- Jerry Remy did a very public trashing of old friend Bill Simmons' nomination (Boston Dirt Dogs), leading some to believe there was bad blood between RemDawg and The Sports Guy. But on last night's broadcast Remy said he and Simmons are friends, having worked together in radio some years back, and that it was all in fun.
STANDINGS? WHAT STANDINGS?: The Yankees claim they're not paying attention to no stinkin' standings, not at this stage of the season, but they're inching closer nevertheless. Last night's 6-1 win over the Blue Jays (New York Daily News) was their 11th win in 14 games and pushed them four games over .500 for the first time all season. Alex Rodriguez provided some of the late-inning heroics, which prompted the Pavlovian cry of "SIGN HIM!!!'' from the New York Post's Jay Greenberg.
FROM THE OTHER DUGOUT . . . : We feel your pain, Tao. And that was before the Blue Jays parlayed 10 hits through the first seven innings into one run, and watched the Yankees blow things open in the seventh and eighth.
AND THE GOOD NEWS -- FOR THE YANKEES, ANYWAY -- JUST KEEPS ON ROLLING: Phil Hughes, who threw four innings for the Trenton Thunder last night, says he's 100 percent physically and on track for a late July return to the Bronx. (New York Post)
WELL, IT'S NOT ALL GOOD: Kyle Farnsworth may have finally pitched himself out of the main setup role in the Yankee bullpen. (New York Daily News)
VOICE OF SUPPORT: Tom Gordon said that, unlike Gary Sheffield, he had no problem with Joe Torre during his time with the Yankees. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
KILLING THE MESSENGER: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Tony La Russa ''[finds] it more convenient to jump a media person rather than hold his players accountable. It continued a season-long pattern: La Russa initiating a conflict with the media while waving off his players' lapses in the commitment to fundamentally-sound baseball.''
OFF THE MARKET: The Astros now say they won't trade Brad Lidge. (Houston Chronicle)
DON'T BE FOOLED: Dontrelle Willis may or may not be available from the Marlins; if he is, he'll certainly be the most sought-after starter at the deadline. But Baseball Musing's David Pinto thinks that, right now, Willis simply isn't very good. The Miami Herald's Greg Cote agrees, saying D-Train ''is off the rails.''
BLAST FROM THE PAST: The Braves, as expected, signed Julio Franco. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) His ex-Mets teammates don't sound like they'll miss him too much. (The Journal News)
WHISPERS: Troy Glaus has heard the rumors that have him heading from Toronto to the Dodgers, but says he hasn't been approached about waiving his no-trade clause (Toronto Sun) . . . The Cubs are said to be interested in Royals' left-hander Zack Greinke (Daily Southtown) . . . Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes says reports that Arizona was showcasing Conor Jackson for the White Sox are ''ridiculous'' (East Valley Tribune).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:03 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, July 18
TREADING WATER: About three weeks ago, things never looked better for the Red Sox. They had just completed their longest, and most grueling, road trip of the season and were beginning a stretch in which they'd play 18 of 21 at home (projo.com SoxBlog), with all but three of the games against teams with losing records. Sixteen of those 21 games are now in the books and the Sox are a pedestrian 8-8 after last night's ugly 9-3 loss to the Royals. (Joe McDonald's game story on projo.com) The damage in the standings has been minimal -- they still have an eight-game lead, only a game worse than when this 8-8 stretch started -- but it begs the question: What's going to happen when the schedule gets more demanding . . . as it will next week, when they play four in Cleveland?
LOOKING FOR HELP: So thoughts turn, naturally, to the trade deadline, which is only two weeks away. But Sean McAdam has talked to people inside the organization and out and it doesn't seem anything major is in the offing. (projo.com) Sean says the Sox' main focus is the bullpen (Chad Qualls, Dan Wheeler, Scott Linebrink, Salomon Torres?) and an outfield bat (Jermaine Dye?). Kansas City's Reggie Sanders would seem to be a natural option -- he's right-handed (providing an alternative to J.D. Drew against tough lefties), experienced and very available -- but Boston doesn't seem to be interested. For his part, Sanders would love to come here (Boston Herald); in fact, he says, ''I have never played there, but I have felt like I have just because of the way they embrace everybody.''
COWBOY UP! Among the most unexpected tidbits in Sean's story: The Sox have had internal discussions about reacquiring Kevin Millar. That sound you hear is Seth Mnookin's head exploding.
WE LIKE MIKE: When talk arises of a truly big transaction, something that would net the Sox another powerful bat, it invariably involves a first baseman (Mark Teixeira? Todd Helton?), which also involves moving Kevin Youkilis back to third base and somehow disposing of free-agent-to-be Mike Lowell. But the Red Sox players, virtually to a man, want the team not only to keep Lowell but to sign him to a contract extension. (Boston Herald) ''We like Mikey all the way around and he’s doing a great job. I don’t think they should wait any longer,'' said David Ortiz. ''He’s a great guy on and off the field.'' To drive home his point, Ortiz added: ''You can say Manny (Ramirez) feels the same way.''
NOT AS POPULAR: In his Inside The Game feature, Steven Krasner notes that not many Sox pitchers may have the same affection for Ramirez; his insistence on playing an extremely shallow left field is costing them unnecessary extra-base hits, and runs. In the photo above (by the Journal's Bob Breidenbach), Ramirez is waiting for the carom of a catchable fly ball by Billy Butler that fell behind him on the warning track and allowed a runner (Mark Teahan) to score all the way from first base. It was only the most egregious of several such misplays by Ramirez in the game and in the homestand, and Steve notes: ''If he’s playing a more normal left field, balls may fall in front of him, but they’d be singles. If he’s in close and they go over his head, they’re extra-base hits. Also, by playing in shallow, it limits his side-to-side range, so a hard-hit ball that should be a single can end up scooting past him for extra bases'' -- which happened on a leadoff double by Sanders during the five-run Royal uprising in the seventh that decided the game. Terry Francona's explanation: Playing shallow is Manny's ''comfort zone'' and ''if a guy is out of his comfort zone, he’s not going to make a lot of plays.''
THE GOOD NEWS: Julio Lugo is hitting again. (projo.com) His 3-for-4 night has his average, which had dipped to .189 on July 2, up to .217.
ON THE RISE: The Yankees cut the Sox' lead to eight with a comeback win over the Blue Jays (New York Daily News), a comeback aided in no small part by Jeremy Accardo balking home the tying run in the ninth, which he described as the ''dumbest thing I've ever done.'' (Toronto Sun) Even so, the Daily News' John Harper says the victory shouldn't overshadow the fact that the Yankee bullpen is still a major source of concern.
THAT'S AWESOME!: Peter Abraham couldn't let the Yankees' signing of minor-leaguer Chris Farley go unnoticed. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
'WORSE NEWS THAN I THOUGHT': Brewer ace Ben Sheets will be sidelined four to six weeks after doctors found a partial tear of the band of tissue that connects the tendon to the bone in the middle finger of his pitching hand. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
JOY TO THE WORLD: Miguel Tejada says he's ''never felt so happy in my life'' after resuming workouts as he comes back from a broken wrist. (Baltimore Sun) Speaking of the Orioles, SI.com's Tom Verducci thinks the team has the right man in the dugout in Dave Trembley, whom he thinks could be the next Tom Kelly.
WE'RE WAITING: The Marlins' Dontrelle Willis says suspended teammate Scott Olsen needs to apologize after his latest altercation with a teammate. (Palm Beach Post)
IN COURT . . . Elijah Dukes' estranged wife says the Devil Rays' rookie smokes marijuana daily and drinks to the point of passing out and she thinks his aggressive behavior is caused by steroid use, though she admits she's never seen him take steroids. (Tampa Tribune)
NOW WHAT? Earl Weaver always said he never held team meetings because what do you do if you lose after the meeting? That's the problem facing Jim Tracy and the Pirates today. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
WHISPERS: The Diamondbacks played Conor Jackson in left field, apparently showcasing him for the White Sox (Chicago Tribune) . . . The San Francisco Chronicle reports the A's and Yankees have discussed a Dan Johnson-for-Scott Proctor deal . . . The New York Post, meanwhile, reports that the Yanks are also dangling Proctor to the Dodgers for Wilson Betemit . . . The Dodgers are the latest team to show interest in Octavio Dotel (Kansas City Star) . . . Kenny Lofton, back in Cleveland? Could happen, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
SHOUTS: There are lots of rumors but little action, and FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says that's because teams ''are going overboard in hoarding prospects,'' even though a lot of them never pan out.
LOCAL BOYS: It looks like ex-Providence College star John McDonald has lost his job as the Blue Jays' starting shortstop to Royce Clayton (Toronto Star) . . . Warwick's Dan Wheeler is no longer the closer in Houston, as Brad Lidge has the job again. In his first game back in the role, Lidge got the save in the Astros' victory at Washington. (Both stories Houston Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: Nomar Garciaparra is in a three-month slump and there's no indication he'll be pulling out it anytime soon (Los Angeles Times) . . . Tony Graffanino will be getting more playing time in Milwaukee (Wisconsin State Journal) . . . Bronson Arroyo continued his recent resurgence in Cincinnati with seven shutout innings against the Braves (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Tom Gordon says he has a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder but he's going to try to pitch through it (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . Hanley Ramirez has almost matched his home-run total of last season (South Florida Sun-Sentinel).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:58 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, July 17
THE GIFT OF GABBARD: He hadn't thrown a complete game since high school, let alone a shutout, so -- even though the opponent was only the lowly Kansas City Royals -- there was no reason for the Red Sox to expect what they got from Kason Gabbard last night: A nine-inning three-hitter with no runs allowed. ''That,'' concluded manager Terry Francona in Sean McAdam's game story, ''was a well-pitched major league game.'' (projo.com) Steven Krasner breaks down Gabbard's performance further in Inside The Game, noting that only about 50 of Gabbard's 107 pitches were fastballs and that he did most of his damage with curves and changeups. (His fastball, in fact, topped out at 89.) When it was over, a smiling Gabbard accepted the congratulations of teammates like Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach) for authoring the Sox' second complete-game shutout of the season.
ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL: The author of the first, Schilling, is set to make his first rehab start Saturday in Pawtucket after an encouraging, 31-pitch simulated game yesterday. (projo.com)
A FIRST . . . FINALLY: A little bit further down in the Krasner/McAdam notebook is the tidbit that last night marked the first time David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez had homered in the same game at Fenway Park this season.
 | FEAT OF CLAY: More pitching news was made at McCoy Stadium last night, as Clay Buchholz made his first Triple-A start after being recalled from Portland. (Left, Journal photo by Mary Murphy) The numbers weren't much -- three innings, five hits, two runs, pulled after reaching his 50-pitch limit -- but Joe McDonald found that the Ottawa Lynx, last night's opponent, were suitable impressed. (projo.com) Jim Donaldson says there'll be better nights for Buchholz, ''[which], as predictions go, is about as daring as declaring that the sun will set in the West tonight.'' Said manager Ron Johnson: ''I was excited to see his stuff.'' So were the fans, apparently, since 10,000 of them packed the charming old ballpark. There's still talk the Red Sox will put Buchholz in their bullpen later this season, but for now, says Johnson, he's a starter, and he'll be re-stretched out in his next few appearances. |
STEPPING OVER THE LINE: The New York Daily News' Lisa Olson says ''there's quite a difference between being outspoken and being wildly irresponsible'', as Gary Sheffield demonstrated with his ludicrous charges of racism against Joe Torre.
BE A REAL LEADER: The Bergen Record's Bob Klapisch thinks Derek Jeter, in his role as Yankee captain, should have more to say than 'no comment' regarding Sheffield.
WUSSES: They didn't have to throw at him in retaliation for his bush-league "Ha!" call last month in Toronto, but they could have a) shut him down and b) beat his team. The Blue Jays, however, did neither against Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees last night, and the Tao of Stieb blog is disgusted.
(And thanks for the mention!)
BRONX ZOO: The Yankees are going out of their way to aid a fan who suffered a fractured vertebra below his skull when a drunk fell on him in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium, chartering a plane to fly him home to Kirkland, Wash. (New York Daily News) The fan, who was attending the game with his wife and 13-year-old son, wasn't paralyzed, and is hoping for a full recovery. The team is also appealing for witnesses to the incident to step forward so they can find the man who fell on him.
WHY JUST JACKIE? Linda Ruth Tosetti would like to see MLB retire No. 3 in honor of her grandfather, Babe Ruth, the way it retired No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. (Hartford Courant)
CHANGE OF TUNE: Now Carlos Zambrano says there's a 90 percent chance he'll re-sign with the Cubs. (Chicago Tribune)
ENOUGH! Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon thinks maple bats should be banned from the major leagues. (Tampa Tribune)
KEEPING THEIR FINGERS CROSSED: That's what the Brewers are doing, as they'll find out today how long ace Ben Sheets will be sidelined. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
OPENING NIGHT: The midseason trade marathon began yesterday with the Cubs picking up Jason Kendall from the A's. (Chicago Tribune) Of course, ESPN.com's Rob Neyer wants to know how, exactly, this helps them. (Insider only)
AND IN THIS CORNER . . . The Marlins have suspended reliever Scott Olsen for ''insubordination,'' though they won't give details. (Florida Sun-Sentinel) Rumor has it he had to be restrained by police in a dugout altercation with teammate Sergio Mitre in an incident that began because Olsen ''became unnerved over a problem with a button on his jersey.'' It's not the first time Olsen has had problems with teammates . . . Shortstop Jack Wilson and pitching coach Jim Colborn had angry words in the dugout during the Pirates' 10-8 loss to the Rockies last night. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
WHISPERS: The Houston Chronicle's Kirk Bohls says insiders think Astros free-agent-to-be Jason Jennings wants to sign with San Diego, so he suggests Houston should trade him there now . . . A raft of rumors from Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal . . . Omar Vizquel may be placed on the block by the Giants (yahoo.com) . . . The Dodgers' trade focus has shifted from hitting to pitching (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Royals would love somebody, anybody, to take Reggie Sanders off their hands (Kansas City Star).
OLD FRIENDS: Tom Gordon has been activated off the 60-day disabled list and is excited to be back with the Phillies (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . Kevin Millar is hitting .386 since June 14 and the Orioles believe he'll be one of their most marketable players at the trading deadline (Baltimore Sun).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:06 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, July 16
NOW HERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERY DAY: Prior to yesterday, the Red Sox had lavished plenty of offensive support on Josh Beckett: 6.8 runs per start, the highest of any Boston pitcher. But that wasn't the case on a windy, sunny Sunday afternoon at Fenway, as the Sox squandered chance after chance and fell to the Blue Jays, 2-1, making a hard-luck loser out of their ace. (Above, Alex Cora reacts to being wiped out on a double play in the third inning; Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach.) Strange, too, because the night before the power was on in a 9-4 victory. Another sight you don't see every day: Doug Mirabelli being allowed to bat in the ninth inning with the game on the line. But, as Steven Krasner explains in Inside The Game, Jason Varitek was still hurting from a tough Saturday night and manager Terry Francona said using him wasn't an option. (All stories projo.com)
AS ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS: A frustrated Brendan Donnelly is headed to California to try and find out what's wrong with his ailing forearm. But his job is being handled nicely by Manny Delcarmen, so the Sox bullpen hasn't missed a beat. (Both stories projo.com)
COME SEE THE FUTURE: Clay Buchholz makes his PawSox debut tonight at McCoy Stadium. (projo.com) If you can't make it there, come here; we'll post live blog reports from Joe McDonald.
MBM, AGAIN: Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer shares some Manny being Manny stories from Ramirez' days in Cleveland.
NEW MEANING: Writing for foxsports.com, Chad Finn says MBM really means Manny Being Mediocre.
DO IT: Writing this time on his own blog (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com), Finn says if the Rangers offer Mark Teixeira for Jon Lester, Theo Epstein shouldn't hesitate to say yes.
WHAT IF . . . all the transactions the Red Sox talked about in the 2003-04 offseason had happened? Then, Seth Mnookin points out, the Sox would currently have a 3-4-5 batting order of Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Magglio Ordonez. (sethmnookin.com)
IT COULD STILL HAPPEN: At least the A-Rod-to-Boston part could, according to the blog Fire Brand of the American League.
WE MADE IT: The Phillies finally lost their 10,000th game. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
HERE WE COME . . . AGAIN: The Twins, who made stirring second-half comebacks in 2003 and 2006, think another one's in the offing. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
AND HERE WE COME: The Yankees now trail the Red Sox by nine games (eight in the loss column) after yesterday's 7-6 win over the Devil Rays. (New York Daily News)
YOU TELL ME, BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW: Writing on the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham wonders why the Yankees continue to use Kyle Farnsworth in tight games.
NO SURPRISE: Joe Torre tells the New York Daily News this has been the toughest of his 12 seasons as Yankee manager. It didn't get any easier when Kenny Lofton backed up Gary Sheffield's assertion that Torre treats black players different than white players. (New York Post)
BUYER BEWARE: Brad Lidge, the subject of many trade rumors (including some that have him landing in Boston), will likely have to wear a knee brace for the rest of the season. (Houston Chronicle)
YOU'RE ONLY AS OLD AS YOU FEEL: The Braves are interested in 48-year-old Julio Franco. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) And the more he thinks about it, AJC beat writer Dave O'Brien likes the idea.
FATHERLY PRIDE: Cecil Fielder follows the exploits of his son Prince closely, even though the two are estranged. (Florida Today)
HERE AND THERE: Worcester's own Tanyon Sturtze, known as WOTS on various bulletin boards and who was front and center in the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry of 2003-04, could be resurfacing with the Braves very soon (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Elijah Dukes has been away from the Devil Rays for three weeks dealing with personal issues, and it doesn't sound like he'll be back anytime soon (Tampa Tribune) . . . Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News says it's time for Giants GM Brian Sabean to clean house . . . Brewer ace Ben Sheets may miss his next start because of an injured middle finger (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Astros are easing Craig Biggio out of the lineup, and Baseball Musing's David Pinto thinks that's a good idea.
TAKE ME HIGHER: Baseball Reference now has a tool in which readers can place players' seasons and careers into different historical environments, so Joe Posnanski took some of the greatest individual years in history and placed them in Coors Field, 2000. (thesoulofbaseball.blogspot.com) Among the highlights: Barry Bonds would have hit 98 home runs in 2001, and Stan Musial would have hit .429 in 1948.
WHISPERS: Jose Contreras says the swirling trade speculation doesn't bother him (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Rangers' Kenny Lofton and Sammy Sosa are beginning to draw trade interest (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Royals' Octovio Dotel is raising his trade value (Kansas City Star) . . . The Tigers are on the prowl for relief help (Detroit Free Press) . . . The Padres are looking for a starting pitcher and a bench player (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . .
OLD FRIENDS: Eric Wedge is about to get a contract extension from the Indians (Cleveland Plain Dealer) . . . A four-hit day yesterday lifted Edgar Renteria's overall average to .327, and his average in day games to .385 (Tlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . John Wasdin has been designated for assignment by the Pirates (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Doug Mientkiewicz probably won't return to the Yankees until mid-August (Newsday) . . . Pedro Martinez is close to being ready to pitch in a minor-league game (New York Daily News) . . . David Eckstein says his bad back is feeling better (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:19 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, July 13
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OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT: For all the talk of improvements the Red Sox need to make before the trade deadline, one theme recurs in every conversation: David Ortiz (above left) and Manny Ramirez (above right) (Journal photos by Bob Breidebach) have to start hitting like, well, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. And last night, in the first game after the All-Star break, they did. Steven Krasner provides the details (projo.com) of their combined 5-for-9, 5-RBI effort in the Sox' 7-4 win over the Blue Jays. Also hitting again is Julio Lugo, whose 2-for-4 night made him 8-for-22 over the last nine games and lifted his average over .200. (Boston Globe) The Sox also did the little things right last night, and Jim Donaldson says the biggest such effort came from the littlest player of all, Dustin Pedroia. (projo.com) All in all, not a bad start to the second half.
MBM: On his ESPN.com blog, available to subscribers only, Peter Gammons reports that Ramirez ''gets custom-made clothing at a chic Boston store . . . [and] instead of his actual initials . . . [has] 'MBM' sewn into his shirts and jackets. Yup. Manny Being Manny.''.
MVP: Seth Mnookin's first-half Red Sox MVP is Coco Crisp.
NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY: David Ortiz cleared up the confusion regarding his right knee problems after last night's game, saying a) he has a torn meniscus, b) he originally hurt it in 2006, not earlier this year, and c) it hurts more than it did last year but he can play through it.
| SOFTER LANDING: Remember when J.D. Drew bruised his lower back while crashing into the bullpen wall in mid-May and had to miss a few games? (Right, AP Photo) Well, when they returned to action last night, outfielders found that the Sox added two inches of padding to the top of that wall, making it safer for outfielders leaping in an attempt to snare deep fly balls. (Boston Herald)
DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME: Mike Lowell says he won't give the Red Sox the short-term deal it would take to keep him here, but that -- even though he likes it in Boston and would love to stay -- he understands the business of baseball and knows he'll land on his feet somewhere next year. (Boston Herald) |
GET IT STRAIGHT: The Herald's Tony Massarotti says the Sox need insurance, not reinforcements, for the stretch run.
IT'S ALL ON YOU: SI.com's Jon Heyman identifies each team's key individual for the second half. For the Red Sox? Curt Schilling. For the Yankees? Joe Torre.
'THINGS I HEARD':Careless and/or uniformed announcers -- such as last night's Blue Jays crew -- are prime targets for old friend Allan Wood. (joyofsox.blogspot.com)
MR. HATFIELD, MEET MR. McCOY: Dave Stewart has made clear his dislike for Roger Clemens over the years, but he reveals in an interview with Todd Devlin of MLBlogs that the Red Sox pursued him as a free agent in the 1992-93 offseason, which would have made them teammates.
IN FOR A DIME, IN FOR A DOLLAR: The Yankees' attempt to negotiate a contract extension with Alex Rodriguez goes against team policy of holding contract talks during the season, leading some to wonder how the Yanks could break their rule for A-Rod and not for some of their other free-agents-to-be, specifically Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Joe Torre. (New York Post) But, according to the New York Daily News, the Yankees are talking to Rivera and Posada, too. Rivera seems receptive to the idea of negotiations, but Posada insists he's going to test the free-agent waters.
NOW OR NOT AT ALL: The Daily News also reports the Yankees have warned A-Rod that if he opts out his contract after the season, they won't attempt to re-sign him. That would, theoretically, lower Rodriguez' open-market value, since he and his agent, Scott Boras, wouldn't have the Yankees to drive up the bidding. Neither of them seems too concerned, though, and both reiterated they have no intention of negotiating during the season.
KEY TO THE SEASON: Peter Abraham, on the LoHud Yankees Blog, says that for the Yanks, it appears to be Bobby Abreu.
ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL: The Yankees' Jeff Karstens, sidelined since late April when his leg was broken by a Julio Lugo line drive, pitched five strong innings in a rehab start for Staten Island. (New York Post)
CHOOSE YOUR ENEMIES CAREFULLY, BECAUSE THAT'S WHO YOU END UP RESEMBLING: The Daily News' Anthony McCarron writes the Mets' firing of hitting coach Rick Down made Omar Minaya seem a lot like George Steinbrenner Classic. And in another bit of Yankee Flashback, Willie Randolph distanced himself from Minaya on the decision to fire Down, saying it was ''their'' call. (New York Post)
THAT OLD DETERMINATION: Julio Franco will turn 49 next month and has just been released by the Mets, but he thinks he can still play. (New York Daily News)
MAVERICK BID: Mark Cuban, owning the Cubs? The Chicago Tribune's Rick Morrissey doesn't think MLB will let it happen.
AS DON CORLEONE WOULD SAY, LET US REASON TOGETHER: Eric Byrnes says he'll give the Diamondbacks a hometown discount -- ''within reason'' -- to remain in Arizona. (Arizona Republic)
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN: Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi shot down all Troy Glaus trade rumors by saying Glaus will remain in Toronto (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold thinks that if the Cardinals trade Scott Rolen, as some rumors are suggesting, it probably won't happen until the offseason . . . The Reds called Ken Griffey Jr.'s agent to deny Griffey-to-the-Brewers rumor.
WHISPERS: The Mets have asked about the Astros' Roy Oswalt (Houston Chronicle) . . . Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle speculates that Yankees, Twins and Angels might have interest in the A's Mike Piazza . . . The Orioles are shopping Jay Gibbons, Kevin Millar, Steve Trachsel and Corey Patterson, though none are expected to fetch more than a mid-level prospect in return (Baltimore Sun) . . . Jermaine Dye, Tadahito Iguchi and Jose Contreras could be had from the White Sox (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Dallas Morning News says the Rangers have a host of suitors for Mark Teixeira, and the Red Sox are one of them.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:59 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, July 12
READY TO ROLL: The second half starts tonight, and Steven Krasner says health -- particularly the health of David Ortiz (above, Journal photo by Mary Murphy) -- will be the key for the Red Sox over the last 2 1/2 months. (projo.com) Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald agrees.
BEWARE FATHER TIME: Ortiz' health has been an issue the last few days, ever since he revealed he may need knee surgery. And the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley raises the notion that the knee problems are''a warning sign'' that Big Papi -- who turns 32 in November -- isn't getting any younger.
SETTLING IN: The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes has a midseason profile of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has embraced everything in Boston except the lack of privacy.
NO, THEY NEVER RETURNED: Tony Massarotti says the shortstop position has become the Red Sox' version of the Bermuda Triangle, though Theo Epstein -- noting Julio Lugo's ''track record in the American League East over the last three-and-a-half years is pretty good'' -- still thinks Lugo will pick up his game.
QUICK HITS: More and more, Coco Crisp's defense is getting noticed (Boston Globe) . . . Clay Buccholz 2007 may bear a striking resemblance to Jonathan Papelbon 2005 (Boston Herald) . . . The rehabbing Joel Piniero pitched a scoreless inning last night for the Lowell Spinners (Boston Herald).
IS THAT GRADING DONE ON A BELL CURVE? SI.com has handed out its midseason report card, and the Red Sox got a B-plus. The rest of the A.L. East, needless to say, won't be making any Honor Rolls.
TRADE TALK: The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice says the Red Sox are still in hot pursuit of the Astros' Brad Lidge . . . Mark Teixeira wants to play for a winner, and specifically mentions the Red Sox and Yankees as teams that ''want to compete and win'' in discussing his future with the Dallas Morning News. Teixeira, of course, becomes a free agent at the end of 2008 an