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Tonight…

I never got the feeling that the Sox had the game tonight. From Wakefield not really being terribly sharp, to Timlin (the teams BEST reliever this year) being reduced to a ROOGY role, to the 17 men left on base, to the blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah Grady blah blah blah. Blah Kim blah Saturday blah blah. Blah blah proud blah blah blah. Blaher blahing Yankees!!

That was fun. Probably the most insight I have in me tonight.

Screw it. Here are the Red Sox reliever rankings.

		era	k/9	bb/9	hr/9	whip	runs savedTimlin		3.50	7.27	0.65	1.17	1.05	17.296Embree		3.61	7.04	3.04	0.95	1.04	11.241Lyon		3.93	7.69	2.91	1.03	1.41	10.648Kim		4.06	9.87	2.32	0.58	1.13	5.806Shiell		4.63	8.87	6.56	1.54	1.71	2.907Burk		1.50	6.00	1.50	0.00	1.50	2.833Fox		4.50	9.50	8.50	1.00	2.00	2.500Wake		0.00	3.00	3.00	0.00	1.00	1.917W'ard		5.09	6.11	2.55	1.53	1.58	1.287S'beck		4.05	10.80	8.10	1.35	1.95	1.259Chen		2.70	18.90	0.00	0.00	0.90	1.130W'son		5.40	6.48	3.24	1.08	1.32	0.324Fossum		5.63	7.88	4.50	3.38	1.38	0.111Seanez		6.23	9.35	6.23	2.08	1.96	-0.463Tolar		9.00	6.75	6.75	2.25	2.00	-1.444Jones		6.64	9.74	4.87	0.44	1.62	-2.009A'nte		8.22	7.04	8.22	1.17	2.09	-2.102Person		7.71	7.71	6.17	0.00	1.63	-2.546Howry		12.46	8.31	2.08	2.08	2.77	-3.231Rupe		13.50	6.75	6.75	6.75	2.00	-3.444M'doza		7.09	4.35	2.97	1.14	1.98	-5.870White		27.00	0.00	7.36	2.45	3.55	-8.657Total		5.08	7.57	3.50	1.15	1.48	29.491

At least Pedro is pitching tomorrow.

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A Yankee fan friend of mine said, “It must suck being Red Sox fan, knowing that the Yankees always keep you guys out of the playoffs.”

I mulled that over before I stabbed him in the neck. After I disposed of the body, I looked up how many times the Yankees actually ended the Red Sox hopes. In the 100 years that these franchises have been in their respective cities (that’s right sports fans, the Yankees were originally the Balitmore Orioles), the Yankees have directly beaten the Red Sox:

3 times.

For all their arrogence (Michael Kay ect.) The Yankees have only ended the Red Sox season 3 times. Whats more, the Red Sox have ended the Yankees season 3 times as well.

In 1904, the Pilgrims defeated the Hilltoppers on 41 game winner Jack Chesboro’s wild pitch in the ninth, eliminating them from the AL pennent. Bos 1 NYY 0.

In 1948, the Red Sox swept the Yankees in Boston to eliminate the New Yorkers the last weekend of the season. The next day, Boston would lose a one game playoff to Cleveland. Bos 2 NYY 0.

In 1949, New York returns the favor, this time in the Stadium. Wins by Joe Page, and Vic Rasachi end the Sox season. Bos 2 NYY 1.

In 1978, After making up a 14 game lead, the Yankees defeat the Red Sox in a one game playoff for the AL East crown. Bucky Dent is still hated. Bos 2 NYY 2.

In 1986, The Yankees are eliminated from the playoffs by the Red Sox in Septemeber. A 4 game sweep by the Yankees to end the season only draw the Yanks within 5.5 games. Bos 3 NYY 2.

In 1999, Yankees beat the Red Sox 4 games to 1 in the ALCS. In a series that was blamed on the umpiring, the Yankees scored 14 then the Red Sox in their 4 victories. Bos 3 NYY3.

Of course, if you tell many Red Sox or Yankees fans, they wont believe it, cause you know the Yankees always win.

On last nights game, it really sucks that Lowe is starting to pitch well again, and is bit by blisters again (sorry for being aliterative). All I can say is that Scotty the Left got the righty out, walked the 2 lefties, and Scotty the Right hung a slider and Ramon Hernandez hit it. I don’t really know what to make of that game, since I’m still looking for the Red Sox offence, but it sure was frustrating to watch.

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Can we please put an end to the “Pujols for MVP” talk? Phil Rogers thinks that Albert Pujols is the MVP this year and I would like to explain why Rogers’ column is total bunk.

Rogers gets off on the wrong foot when he claims that in 2001, Pujols “arrived in the big leagues as Barry Bonds was having arguably the greatest season a hitter has ever had.” I guess I do not have that much of a problem with this except that it is not even the best season Bonds has ever had:

2001: .328 / .515 / .863 / 1.378
2002: .370 / .582 / .799 / 1.381

That Rogers would call 2001 the better season strikes me for two reasons. First, it’s not true. 2002 was a better season for Barry Bonds, as evidenced by his superior OPS. Furthermore, as any good sabermetrician knows, on-base is more important than slugging and Bonds’ 2002 OBP is far better than his 2001 figure. Second, Rogers puts so much stock in batting average throughout the rest of the column, by his own logic it is inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst to declare Bonds’ 2001 better than his 2002.

But enough on Bonds. Let’s figure out who, to this point, is more deserving of the National League MVP award. Numbers:

Bonds: .341 / .519 / .751 / 1.270 / 14.98 RC27 / .417 EQA
Pujols: .371 / .438 / .690 / 1.128 / 11.23 RC27 / .365 EQA

At this point, the assertion that Pujols is the MVP is ridiculous but I am not letting Rogers out of the woods yet. Since he is a big believer in clutch hitting, he points to the fact that Pujols is hitting a whopping .468 close and late. Bonds is only batting .300 in these same situations. Remember though, Pujols plays in a lineup with Edmonds, Rolen, and Renteria. Bonds plays with, well, nobody as good as any of those three. Although I do not want to take anything away from Pujols’ tremendous .468 batting average close and late, it ought to be noted that he sees better pitches and I do want to present all of the numbers so everybody can determine just who has been the better player in these situations:

Bonds: .300 / .604 / .667 / 1.271
Pujols: .468 / .541 / .742 / 1.283

So according to Rogers, Pujols’ 8 OPS point advantage close and late is enough to compensate for the areas in which he falls short of Bonds. Surely, Pujols has had a great season and he is a wonderful offensive force. But this slight edge in this particular situation does not compensate for the significant edge Bonds has over Pujols in every relevant indicator of offensive performance over the season.

Please. It’s insulting to Bonds and insulting to all of us that know what constitutes great offensive performance to assert that Albert Pujols is more valuable than Barry Bonds. He’s just not.

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The Red Sox owe Jose Lima a kick in the shin. After doing his best Phoenix impression for 6 weeks going 7-0, Lima got rocked by the Yankees. Damn you, Jose Lima, damn you to hell!

Oh well, the Sox are 5.5 games behind the Yankees, and with only 38 more games to play, the division might be out of reach for the Boston 9. In the West, Oakland is 4 games behind Seattle, and 4 games is alot to make up in 38 games as well.

Both teams have 71-53 records, tied for that Crazy Wild Card.

Hey how about that, the Athletics are playing at Fenway the next 3 games.

Tuesday – Mark Mulder vs Derek Lowe
Wednesday – Ted Lilly vs Tim Wakefield
Thursday – Hurtin Hudson or Cy Harden vs Pedro Martinez

Realistically, the Red Sox can sweep. But just as realistically, they can be swept. Big series for both teams. Gotta come out fighting. Game of inches [end cliches].

Before my mom and the other two people that read the site ask why I have annoited Rich Harden the AL Cy Young winner, sniff alot of glue, read Peter Gammons, and the world will make sence again.

The Sox season starts tonight.

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An excellent piece from the Providence Journal detailing just how much of a liability Todd Walker has become.

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In Todd Walker’s defense, he plays for a team with six players in the top twenty-five in the AL in OPS. The only other Red Sox out of the top-25 is Johnny Damon. Of course Johnny Damon plays a nice center field, steals bases, and has an .860 OPS since the All-Star Break. To put it plainly, of the nine Red Sox regulars, only eight contribute. One kills them.

Hypothetically, what would the numbers for a bottom five defensive second baseman have to look like in order to consider him a contributor? This is pretty unscientific but I would say that he would absolutely have to be one of the eight to ten best offensive producers at his position. Call ten his breakeven point.

Well Todd Walker is one of the five worst defensive second basemen and he is certainly not one of the ten best offensive second baseman. He’s not even close.

He is seventeenth (for 2nd Basemen) in OPS right behind Orlando Hudson and just ahead of Luis Rivas.

In RC27 for 2nd Basemen, he is eighteenth – behind Hudson again and just ahead of Mark Ellis.

In EQA, he is again eighteenth this time ahead of Hudson and just behind Jerry Hairston Jr.

It gets worse. You want to see his numbers this summer, during the push for the playoffs (in BA / OBP / SLG form)?

July: .206 / .239 / .308
Aug: .133 / .184 / .178

He has been an abomination – just terrible. He is a bad fielder – a very bad fielder and for a month and a half now he has been an even worse hitter.

I started thinking about just how bad the weakest link on a playoff caliber team can be. Can the Red Sox get to the playoffs with Todd Walker playing second base everyday? While it would be impossible to answer this, I decided to take a look at the respective weakest links from the Red Sox’ playoff competition, Seattle, Oakland, and the New York Yankees.

For Oakland, there were a number of candidates. As everyone knows, it’s the pitching that makes this team run but three candidates stick out offensively. Mark Ellis has been bad but he plays a great second-base. Scott Hatteberg has been no bargain but Billy Beane loves Scott Hatteberg. So does Michael Lewis. So does Peter Gammons. So I suppose we love him too. That leaves Terrence Long:

Season: .251 / .299 / .411
July: .259 / .300 / .400
August: .250 / .276 / .518

That’s not very good but he deserves credit for his power surge this month. Walker’s worse.

Seattle is a beautifully balanced team, strong defensively everywhere and consistent offensively. I hate to do it to my man because I would give anything to have him back at this point in time but sorry Rey, you are Seattle’s worst regular at the moment. Here are Dirty’s numbers:

Season: .242 / .276 / .263
July: .149 / .180 / .149 (in limited action)
August: .350 / .375 / .350

For most of this season, Sanchez has been awful at the plate. Still, for his recent revival and his tremendous glove, I am forced to give him the nod as well over Walker.

With everybody healthy, the New York Yankees have a very good offense with no holes. As far as I can tell, their worst regular is the guy for whom they traded their best pitching prospect – Aaron Boone. His numbers:

Season: .260 / .321 / .442
July: .295 / .368 / .438
August: .169 / .194 / .254

In addition to his superior offensive numbers, Boone also plays a strong third base. There is no comparison here.

I don’t know what this all means but I have been thinking a lot about Todd Walker and it makes me miserable. I needed to make sure there was good reason for my misery. Well, there is. The Red Sox have the worst regular in the Seattle – Oakland – NYY – Boston four-way race.

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Not only did the Red Sox fail to sweep the Mariners as I predicted, they dropped two of three. Freddy Garcia decided to return to form yesterday – and then some. The Sox looked helpless against him. I guess you have to simply tip your cap sometimes.

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The Miracle being that I made it through it. I just got in from a few days at a ASAP Conference, with some other people in the University of Rhode Island Student Alumni Association. Because of the fact that I was in Tennessee, and doing conference things, I watched precious little baseball, and had no internet access, so I have nothing really to add about the Red Sox. I will however toss some various things that are floating in my head.

* There are alot of Red Sox fans in Nashville. I was at a mall yesterday, and saw more Sox hats then any other team, except the Cardnals.
* Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Lineups is good for starting discussion with people who you normally wouldn’t realize are baseball fans. One of my roomates, Mario, is a Evil Empire Storm Trooper, and took the Neyer book to the john. He came out and asked who I thougt would have the best traded away team. We talked for about 20 minutes about it, and I learned that he “hates the Red Sox, but respects them.” By the way, I hope in future additions of the book, Neyer puts “Excellent to read on the john” on the back cover.
* The lack of internet was excellent. I realized how much I depend on it, and it was liberating. However, for the next two weeks, I’ll be on the internet non-stop. I missed my annoyimus mistress.
* Blogger needs a spell check. I am the world’s worst speler.
* The best part of going to Nashville: The comic genius that is Bishop from UNLV.
* The worst part: Breakfast at 8am sharp after drinking until 3:30 in the morning. The Captain and I did not get along on Friday night.
* I have become the master of sharing a bed with a guy and not touching any body part. Nicolato and I were the Bird and McHale of Straight Guy Bedsharing this week.
*Our other two roomates weren’t so lucky. Davia and Mario are the Jeter/Posada of that same sport.
* I know you saw the “speling” joke coming. Don’t care how lame it was. It’s my blog, dammit.
* It was decided that the best song for karoke is “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis. The reasoning is that the song itself is horrible, and you can sing it horribly. It’s like a shock and awe assult on the ears.
* Sully did an excellent job this weekend. Also he reminded me to go and see Dodger Stadium sometime soon. And milk, as I am out of milk. Thanks Sully
* Finally, I hope to have a few more internet friends. JRod and Rob from UMass, welcome, I hope you enjoy, and tell all of your friends. Thats if you can keep your hands off eachother, you crazy kids.

Baseball talk will be back tomorrow. I already feel welcomed back.

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To say the least, I am chagrined by Jeff Suppan’s pitching with the Red Sox thus far.

Pedro today though.

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The Sox are sweeping the M’s this weekend.

Tonight, Jeff Suppan faces Jamie Moyer. Two reasons why I like this game for the Sox:

1) Manny, Nomar, and Ortiz all own Jamie Moyer. In addition, Trot has had success in his few at bats against Moyer. If there’s a team that can get this guy, it’s the Red Sox.

2) I see Suppan settling down and pitching nicely in his first start away from Fenway as a Sox. I think he will be more relaxed and focused away from the media circus here. Sort of a hunch I know but what the hell?

Tomorrow, Pedro and Joel Pineiro match up. For reasons I don’t think I need to go into, I like this matchup.

Sunday, Burkett and Garcia take the mound.

A year ago, I would not have been very confident. Today, I like this matchup a lot.

Also, there is an X-factor this weekend. The Sox are coming off their biggest and most emotional regular season win in a long time. I say yesterday’s extra-inning win in Oakland propells this team through the forthcoming brutal stretch.

Keep the faith.

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Last Sunday I was fortunate enough to attend the type of game you remember for a lifetime.

The funny part is, while the game was entertaining, only afterwards was I able to register what I had just witnessed. Now, surely I do not want to overstate the importance of an early August tilt between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. But you know how oral history works in baseball. People will say, “I was there the night Nixon hit that two-run homer off Clemens in the ninth at the Stadium to give Pedro and the Sox a 2-0 win” or “I was there when Bonds hit number 71″ or “I was there when Marichal and Spahn each went 16 innings.” You get my point.

Well I was at Dodger Stadium the day 37 year old Kevin Brown and 23 year old Mark Prior each had their best stuff and only Sammy Sosa’s two home runs (which traveled a combined 903 feet) could determine a winner.

Kevin Brown. Mark Prior. Sammy Sosa. The three best players in the Stadium were the game’s three biggest stars.

Sammy Sosa will be in Cooperstown. Many think Prior is on his way. And I think voters will end up having to take a good long look at Kevin Brown as well. He has pitched 12 healthy seasons and averaged about 225 innings each year, all while compiling a better ERA+ than Bob Gibson. An open and shut case for Brown? Nah. But the conversation is definitely in play.

I am just glad I got to see the three of them, at their best, on the same diamond.

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People like to talk about athletes who are underrated these days.

Like Garret Anderson. In the last 10 months, he has won a World Series title, a Home Run Derby title, and an All-Star Game MVP. Yet many still consider him underrated.

Well I want to discuss somebody that is truly underrated: Christopher Trotman Nixon

His OPS: .977
That’s 9th in Major League Baseball

His RC27: 8.69
That’s good for 8th in Major League Baseball

His EQA: .334
That figure puts him at 8th in Major League Baseball as well.

I wonder how many people consider Trot Nixon to be one of the ten best hitters in baseball. Now, to be sure, just because he has played this well for three quarters of a season or so does not make him better than, say, Sammy Sosa. But there is no getting around the fact that Trot has outperformed Sosa in 2003. How well has Trot performed this year? For starters, he is second at his position in both RC27 and EQA. He is third in OPS. Let’s look at some other right fielders and how they have fared over the last four years: RC27 on the left, OPS on the right.

Sheffield ’03 9.44 1034
Sheffield ’02 7.51 916
Sheffield ’01 8.76 1000
Sheffield ’00 9.81 1081

Sosa ’03 7.64 979
Sosa ’02 8.32 993
Sosa ’01 11.51 1174
Sosa ’00 8.63 1040

Vlad ’03 7.62 976
Vlad ’02 8.42 1010
Vlad ’01 6.99 943
Vlad ’00 9.31 1074

Walker ’03 7.83 909
Walker ’02 9.26 1023
Walker ’01 10.92 1111
Walker ’00 7.08 915

Abreu ’03 6.96 890
Abreu ’02 7.93 934
Abreu ’01 7.51 936
Abreu ’00 8.52 970

Average 8.50 995

Nixon ’03 8.69 977

If you average out how Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Vladimir Guerrerro, Larry Walker, and Bobby Abreu have produced since the start of the 2000 season, you would essentially have the level at which Trot has performed this season.

Still, doubters will remain because of his ineptitude against lefthanded pitching. But a shrewd General Manager who knows the limitations of his players employs someone to do what another can not. Thus even though Trot has manifested improvement against lefties, Gabe Kapler sees some time in right field for the Sox and has posted a very respectable .822 OPS against lefties this year. Atlanta made a nice acquisition this offseason, acquiring Robert Fick to play first base. Well, he has posted just a .467 OPS this season against lefties. Is he hurting his team? No, because John Schuerholz knows what he is doing and employs Julio Franco to go out there against the lefties. All he has done against them is throw up a 1010 OPS. Wouldn’t the New York Yankees be better off every now and again letting Ruben Sierra spell Jason Giambi against lefties? Sierra’s OPS against lefties is .794 while Giambi’s is .677.

Two lessons here: players have limitations and the platoon split is real.

The point of all of this is to point out that Trot’s limitations rarely hurt his team and therefore do not need to be factored into the fact that he has been one of the ten best hitters in baseball.

Give the man his due.

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Seriously Manny, where have you been?

The Sox Nation really needed you tonight. Two outs, 2nd and 3rd, 5-3 Oakland lead, we need you to get a hit. We need you to break out of your month long slump.

By the way, the final was Oak 5 Bos 3

Manny’s ops by month (stealing Sully’s Schtick):
April: .981
May: .825
June: 1.140
July: 1.113
August: .608

That places him 2nd to last among regulars (Walker is sporting a robust .362 ops this month).

And behind Damian Jackson.

Quite simply, the Red Sox need Manny Ramirez to hit like Manny Ramirez and less like Damian Jackson.

By the way, my favorite thing about baseball is that umpires are put on display. Like tonight, the 26,823 people who paid to enter the Al Davis Egocellum we treated to an excellent show by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna. No less then 8 hitters vocally, or in the case of Chris Singleton, physically, protested calls. In the 7th inning, pinch hitter Trot Nixon was called out on a belt high Chad Bradford sling ball. Nixon said something and walked back to the bench.

Except half way back to the dugout, he was told by Todd Walker he was ejected. Nixon ran back to the plate to argue. Wallace presumably shook Grady awake, and gave him a pep pill. Grady sprinted to the plate, and screamed at Iassogna until he too was bounced. Grady yelled until he turned purple, gosh darn it. From that point on, Iassogna let Crew Chief Kevin Kelley fight his battle for him. Grady left in a hough, and Iassogna proceeded to not change a thing. Balls that were 4 inches outside were strikes, and pitches on the black, waist high were balls.

Giving Iassogna the benefit of the doubt, we don’t know what Nixon said to him. Maybe he implied Iassogna hates Southerners, or is involved with sexual relations with his own mother, but this I know.

Nixon was tossed as he was walking back to the dugout.
He didn’t verbally tell Trot, as Nixon had no idea until Walker told him (his lips said “He threw me out?” right before he went back to the plate)
He bounced Grady very quickly after he got in his face
As soon as Grady started really a-hootin and a-hollerin, he walked away and let Kelley handle the irate manager (as is protocal, point Iassogna).

It was a good show by a trigger happy umpire. Now if he could focus as much on actually getting the strike zone right, and less on theatrics, he might realize that the game is the attraction.

Not the blue.

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The Red Sox picked a crummy time to stop scoring runs.

For 105 games, the Red Sox averaged 6.27 runs a game and they won 60 percent of the time they took the field. For the last 13 games they have averaged 4.08 runs a game, a figure the Detroit Tigers would envy, but one that is actually a 50% regression for the Boston Red Sox. Not unrelated to this, they have won just 38 percent of the time over this stretch. Conventional wisdom says “man, what a crappy time for a slump” going into these games against some of the great pitchers in the American League. But a further look at the numbers indicates to me that Sox fans have great reason to maintain hope – that maybe they have been unlucky and this is not a slump at all.

Team OPS by month

April: .820
May: .837
June: .945 (yeesh!)
July: .869
August: .846

You see, an .846 OPS is nothing to sneeze at and except for last night’s gem spun by Tim Hudson, this team has actually been playing quite well offensively. The runs have just not shown up on the scoreboard yet.

Here are the pitching matchups the rest of the trip:

Zito vs. Burkett: Barry Zito has pitched, well, like John Burkett over the last month and a half. I see no reason the Sox can’t steal this one.

Mulder vs. Lowe: Ugh

Lilly vs. Wakefield: In July and August, Wakefield’s WHIP has been 1.02. Lilly’s: 1.55. I like this one almost as much as I hate the Wednesday night matchup.

Moyer vs. Suppan: Moyer’s a reverse split guy so I won’t be too shocked to see Trot, Ortiz and the gang get to him.

Pineiro vs. Pedro: Love it. Pedro owns Seattle and I think he comes out pissed.

Garcia vs. Burkett: Again, love it. John Burkett has been pretty good lately. Freddy Garcia has been throwing batting practice lately.

So, as I see it, much of the recent skid can be attributed to luck and given the forthcoming pitching matchups, I don’t see any reason why the Red Sox can not come home having taken four of the seven games on the West Coast.

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Tonight I watched one man bring Baseball’s Best OffenseTM to its knees.

The Red Sox, who despite what some people think still have a share of the Wild Card, were introduced to Tim Hudson v.2003 pretty rudely. Hudson threw 93 pitches, 65 for strikes.

He also had:
5 fly ball outs
15 ground outs
7 k’s
1 bb
2 hs
0 r
9 ip

Jiminy. Honestly, It was the best pitched game I have seen in a while, and as a Red Sox fan, I just have to tip my cap to the A’s ace 1. There was nothing that could be done. Although I take almost no enjoyment in the game as a Sox fan, as a baseball fan, I can’t say enough about how well Hudson pitched. Fifteen ground ball outs is a pretty heady accomplisment, and this would be discussed as one of the best games of the year by everyone if those were strikeouts. C’est la vie.

While the topic of Hudson is still fresh on my keys, he would have to be mentioned as a possible Cy Young candidate, no?

Consider this:

            Ip    k/9  k/bb  ave  era  whipPitcher A  136.7 10.20 4.31 .217 2.37  1.07Pitcher B  167.7  7.38 3.86 .227 2.24  1.06Pitcher C  190.0  5.77 2.58 .214 2.51  1.01Pitcher D  192.7  6.56 6.04 .251 3.40  1.10Pitcher E  177.3  6.09 3.33 .252 2.94  1.13 Pitcher F  153.0  8.59 5.41 .234 3.35  1.05Pitcher G  166.3  5.30 1.56 .226 3.14  1.21

These are the 8 pitchers that have the numbers to support a Cy Young case. Who would you want?

My ballot would personally look like this:
1 – B
2 – C
3 – E

Now here is the list here:
A – Pedro Martinez
B – Estiban Loaiza
C – Tim Hudson
D – Roy Halladay
E – Mark Mulder
F – Mike Mussina
G – Barry Zito

I think Halladay’s 16 game winning streak locked up the award a while ago. Unfortunatly for Messers Loaiza, Hudson, and Mulder, wins still mean alot to some voters.

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Oakland – 201 Shares67-50 2nd AL West 4GB 6-4 Last 10ESPN RPI - .521 (5th overall)Offensive Efficiency – 99.0% (Runs scored/Runs Created)Defensive Efficiency – 73.5% (BIP made into outs)40-18 @ Oakland ColiseumRun Factor - 969/HR Factor – 1004/BIP Factor - 9890-0 vs Boston in 2003, 3-6 in 2002[/font][code]T Hudson     21M Mulder     18K Foulke     17E Durazo     16B Zito       16M Tejada     15E Chavez     15E Byrnes     15S Hatteberg  13R Hernandez  11M Ellis      10T Long        6J Halama      5C Singleton   4R Harden      4C Bradford    4T Lilly       4M Neu         2R Rincon      2A Piatt       1B McMillon    1F Menechino   1

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Boston - 204 Shares 68-49 2nd AL East 3GB 5-5 last 10 ESPN RPI - .509 (10th Overall) Offensive Efficiency – 97.7% (Runs scored/Runs Created)Defensive Efficiency – 69.7% (BIP made into outs)29-30 Away[/font][code]M Ramirez      22N Garciaparra  22B Mueller      17T Nixon        17P Martinez     16J Varitek      14K Millar       14J Damon        13D Ortiz        10T Walker        9T Wakefield     9B Kim           8*M Timlin        6B Lyon          6S Hillenbrand   5#J Burkett       4D Lowe          3A Embree        2C Fossum        2J Giambi        1G Kapler        1C Fox           1J Shiell        1D Mirabelli     1

# 5 w/ Ari* 3 w/ Ari

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Pitching Matchup                                   Season         Home/Road                              W L   ERA   K/9   W L   ERA  8/11    Pedro Martinez      8-2  2.32 10.12   2-1  1.85          Tim Hudson         10-4  2.64  5.77   5-1  2.35     8/12    John Burkett        9-5  4.80  5.36   3-4  5.40          Barry Zito         8-10  3.14  5.30   3-5  3.14  8/13    Derek Lowe         11-6  5.07  5.00   4-4  7.03          Mark Mulder        15-8  2.94  6.09  10-1  1.86  8/14    Tim Wakefield       9-5  4.15  7.94   5-3  4.44              Ted Lilly           6-9  4.86  6.87   4-5  5.17

Best Clutch Hitters (expect. hits w/RISP and expect HR w/MOB)Oakland1.  Scott Hatteberg +8.474      2.  Eurbial Durazo  +7.0903.  Eric Byrnes     +4.324Team Totals         +9.107 Boston1.  Manny Ramirez   +4.542  2.  Jason Varitek   +2.6193.  Kevin Millar    +1.626Team Totals        -18.626 Best Bullpen Arms (Runs Saved)Oakland1.  Keith Foulke      22.599 2.  Chad Bradford     13.168 3.  Ricardo Rincon     8.304Team Total            54.682Boston1.  Mike Timlin       18.0312.  Alan Embree        8.6633.  Byung-Hyun Kim     6.155Team Total            29.962

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Yesterday’s game was depressing, because the Sox didn’t play very poorly, just frustratingly.

So insted, I’m going to post some suggested names for the site, as given to me by dolomite133, a poster on the Sons of Sam Horn message board.

They are:
Dewey’s decimals
Mounting Dewey
Dewey Like The Red Sox: Yes!
Dwights of the Round Table
The Dew-Ettes
What Dewey Want? Hand jobs.
The Ho’s That Dewey Felt
I Like Dwight
The Dew Dawg
Dig In Like Dewey
I Dig Dewey’s Daughters

Oakland series preview coming tonight. I’m going away to Nashville on Wednesday until Sunday, so my co-writer Pat will be doing the post. Also, the Seattle series preview will be posted before I leave on Tuesday.

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Last night was a big win for the Boston Nine. Not only did they come from behind to win, but Manny Ramirez and Kevin Millar are finally showing life again. Wakefield pitched great, Grady remembered who Alan Embree was, and BH Kim picked up another save, despite giving up a home run to Brook Fordyce. My only real complant with the game was the decision to use Kim in a 3 run game, rather then Mike Timlin, who hadn’t pitched in a few days, but I can’t pick nits.

After today’s game, featuring half of Freddy Sanchez Jeff Suppan, the Sox start a hellacious stretch of games. If you listen to anyone talk about these games, you hear how its a month of rough baseball featuring games against the other three teams battling with the Red Sox for the three playoff spots (Oakland, Seattle, New York), the #2 offence in baseball (Toronto), a team battling for the Central division (Chicago), and the NL Wild card leader (Philadelphia).

If all the rotations hold, these will be the matchups between now and Sept 7th.

Date  Opp      Boston      Opp8/10  vs Bal   Suppan      Johnson8/11  at Oak   Martinez    Hudson8/12  at Oak   Burkett     Zito8/13  at Oak   Lowe        Mulder8/14  at Oak   Wakefield   Lilly8/15  at Sea   Suppan      Moyer 8/16  at Sea   Martinez    Piniero8/17  at Sea   Burkett     Garcia8/18  Off Day8/19  vs Oak   Lowe        Mulder8/20  vs Oak   Wakefield   Lilly8/21  vs Oak   Suppan      Harden8/22  vs Sea   Martinez    Piniero8/23  vs Sea   Burkett     Garcia8/24  vs Sea   Lowe        Franklin8/25  vs Sea   Wakefield   Meche8/26  vs Tor   Suppan      Towers8/27  vs Tor   Martinez    Hendrickson8/28  Off Day8/29  vs NYY   Burkett     Weaver8/30  vs NYY   Lowe        Pettitte8/31  vs NYY   Wakefield   Clemens9/01  at Phi   Suppan      Myers9/02  at CHW   Martinez    Colon9/03  at CHW   Burkett     Wright9/04  Off Day9/05  at NYY   Lowe        Pettitte9/06  at NYY   Wakefield   Clemens9/07  at NYY   Suppan      Wells

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Steve Lyons might be on to something.

In the bottom of the ninth inning in a 2-1 at Yankee Stadium, Seattle Mariners manager Bob Melvin put in his closer Shigetoshi Hasegawa to save a Gil Meche game. Meche had shut down the #3 offense in the American League to the tune of 8 ip, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. Meche had also thrown only 96 pitches through the 8th. Melvin picked up “The Book” and called in Hasegawa.

Now, Fox isn’t known for its insightful announcers, and usually Lyons doesn’t really provide so much “anaylsis” as much as “bluster”, though he isn’t as bad as Tim McCarver in that respect. Lyons surprised me, however, with this nugget (paraphrased):

“The Yankees are probably glad that Meche is out of the game. Hasegawa might not have his best stuff. Thats part of whats wrong with baseball is automatically going with your closer in that situation. I feel every team needs a closer, but they shouldn’t be always used in the 9th.

What Lyons said really isn’t that ground breaking, but someone watching at home might have picked up,what I hope,was his message.

You should use your best pitcher available, depending on the game situation.

Which, of course, is the point of the Jamesian bullpen (or closer by committee for the media).

Lyons probably was just bemoaning the lost art of the complete game, as many Bob Ryans have in the past. But maybe someone out there is listening. Maybe if you use your best relief pitcher in the 8th with the score 1-1, rather then in the 9th with the score 4-1, maybe your team will win more games.

Probably not though. Steve Lyons was probably bitching about the fact that Melvin didn’t let Meche finish what he started.

Also, the Yankees hate Dominicans, appearently. As much as I like the thoughts of the Yankees being racists, please. There must be something in the water in Phoenix that makes medocre players run their mouths about their old teams. I can only hope that Mondesi and Shea Hillenbrand sit in the locker room and play checkers, whilst bitching about those big, mean teams from the AL East.

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I just want to first say thanks to Jeff for allowing me to come here and share my thoughts about the Red Sox and matters of far less significance as well. My name is Patrick Sullivan, I graduated in 2002 from The University of Pennsylvaia and I live and work in Boston. I would consider myself statistically inclined, though I still have much to learn. As for my thoughts on the 2003 Red Sox, well, I think they have one helluva squad. I just hope they play like it down the stretch.

That’s all for now, let’s hope Tim Wakefield can pitch the way this team needs him to today.