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By Jimmy, 4/8/2007 10:03 pm

4/8/07
Red Sox 3, Rangers 2

There are some sick bastards out there. 

I mean, what kind of people would kidnap two popular baseball players, hog-tie them and lock them in a basement, and replace them with look-alike imposters? 

From what I hear, Fort Myers police are still searching for the bandits who locked up Curt Schilling and David Ortiz during the last week of spring training, and replaced them with Yaphet Koto and “The Hemi Guy” from the Dodge commercials.  
  

In Big Papi’s absence, Yaphet Koto hit .158 with a .263 slugging percentage (what do you expect? he’s an actor, not a slugger).  The Hemi Guy also had a tough time performing in Curt Schilling’s shoes, getting smacked for a 11.25 ERA versus Kansas City.

Luckily, the real Schilling and Ortiz escaped from their captors, and joined the team in Texas in time for the Easter Sunday game against the Rangers.  David Ortiz did not seem to be rusty at all, providing 100% of the team’s offense with two towering home runs.  Curt Schilling was also his old self, tossing 7 innings and only giving up 4 hits. 

The only run off of Schilling was a Frank Catalanotto HR on a meaty changeup.  Curt, however, seemed to have his command back, consistently painting the outside corner of the strike zone with a fastball in the low-90′s, and mixing in his splitter and curveball very effectively.  The Texas hitters were more off-balance than Derek Lowe at 2:30 AM.   

In addition to the triumphant return of Schilling and Ortiz, closer Jonothan Papelbon got a chance to display his titanium balls.  Papelbon was thrown to the wolves in the 8th inning, and struck out one of the game’s best contact hitters (Michael Young) in a 1st and 3rd situation with 1 out.  Papelbon went on to retire the next 4 hitters to end the game, a high caliber of gutsy relief pitching rarely seen since the tumultuous days of Goose Gossage. 

Papelbon’s electric performance has me completely pumped and wired, and I will not be able to sleep tonight.  Monday morning at work will be miserable. 

Thanks a lot, kid.

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By Jimmy, 4/6/2007 4:35 pm

The Boston Red Sox were shut out today on 101 pitches by Texas.

101 pitches. That’s roughy 11 pitches per inning.  That, my friends, is a late-term abortion of a performance.  It is a turd, a large festering turd, the kind of turd that is laid on your back lawn by an ugly 150-pound bull-mastiff in November, gets frozen under the snow, makes an encore appearance 6 months later during the spring thaw, is eaten by your Jack Russell terrier, and gets puked up on your living room rug.

Robinson Tejeda made the Red Sox hitters looks like a bunch of twitchy Little Leaguers on ritalin, spastically swinging at everything coming within 4 feet of the plate.

So, what happened?  Was it poor planning or communication?  Tejeda is not exactly known for his finesse; he is exactly the type of pitcher that patient hitters love to squeeze, yet the Red Sox hitters were swinging like they were facing Bob Tewksbury.

Something tells me Tito will have a word or two for his hitters in the clubhouse, and I don’t think it will be “Happy Good Friday, you rascals you!”. 

With Tavarez on the mound tomorrow, the team might be in for a wild one.  Let’s hope they are prepared.

Comments (1)

By Jimmy,

So the unbelievable happened yesterday afternoon in Kansas City, something that will likely stay with the Anointed Rookie Savior for the rest of his career.

Alex Gordon got his first major league hit off of what ever guy the Red Sox had pitching.

Also, there were a lot of firsts for Daisuke Matsuzaka, who slipped under the radar all offseason, and this game might give him the attention that he richly deserves. I mean there was hardly any attention given to him even in his native, baseball-crazy Japan!

His was the most anticipated debut for a Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez toed the Oakland rubber for the first time in 1998, and not only did he fail to disappoint, but he actually exceeded already lofty expectations…his first game is fairly close to the dominant performance Martinez had against the Athletics in 98.

Now, in the interest of being a jerk, this game doesn’t really prove anything. Not only are the Royals not good (unless you’re Curt Schilling), but it really is only one game. Matt Clement dominated the for the first part of 2005, and once, Kent Bottenfield was the first to 10 wins. But those are really the only ‘wet blanket’ thing to glean from yesterday performance. Well that, and the distressing lack of Mr Fuji, or Mr Fuji references.

The best thing about how Matsuzaka pitched was his repertoire was exactly as advertised. He utilized four different pitches (slider, 4 seamer, cutter, and changeup) to get strikeouts, and also showed a curve and split finger, to some serious results. He went from straight over the top, to about three quarters delivery, multiplying the amount of actual pitches he can throw to the low three figures.

The end result was 108 (the numbers!) pitches of…well, fun. He pitched seven innings, struck out 10, only gave up six hits, and walked a single hitter, Mark Teahen. He gave up the homer to DeJesus on a fastball that just didn’t dip.

If you get the chance, watch after Daisuke comes out of game…
1. Right when he comes out and is congratulated by everyone, Manny bows
2. Julian Tavarez, while Daisuke is sitting between his legs, giving him a back rub
3. Wily Mo Pena trying to get Daisuke to wave at the camera
Basically, Japan + Dominican Republic = comedy.

Now the Sox Road Show travels to Texas to pit the Sox against the Rangers, who just got served up dirty by the Angels. Tonight is Wakefield against Ramon Tejada, tomorrow is Julian Tavarez against Kevin Millwood, and Sunday, Schilling must avenge his loss on ESPN against the man he was once traded for, Vicente Padilla. Enjoy.

Comments (2)

By Zach, 4/5/2007 12:16 am

Begin bitching and moaning. I am a victim. A victim of the greedy bastards that run this league I care so much about. How dare you take away my reason for living? Only $700 million? Blah Blah Blah.  I’m sure they’ve gotten somewhere around 700 million pissed off phone calls and emails. Continue bitching and moaning ceaselessly.

Guess what? I’m happy about the DirecTV deal. As a Syracuse-schooled fan currently living in Manhattan I haven’t had favorable TV conditions since I was in high school.  I got used to watching the games on the computer, and it’s really not that bad.  While I was in college Icouldn’t afford the MLB Extra Innings package so a few buddies and I split the MLB.tv deal. I may be visited by some MLB hitmen for revealing this, but back then three people could sign on to an MLB.tv account simultaneously. This made seeing the games affordable, and we dealt with it just fine.  Maybe the increased attention and scrutiny on MLB.tv will improve the service.

And now, let me count the ways MLB.tv is superior to watching the game on television. I know this won’t change anyone’s mind, but the quality of the picture has improved dramatically since my college buddies and I were gathering around my monitor in a haze of…studying.

1. The game is still available if you aren’t home. Provided you have a laptop, there’s an internet connection everywhere. I travel for work a few times a month, so this is a big selling point for me. Also, if I was immoral and didn’t have a spectacular work ethic, I could tune in to Daisuke’s start Thursday afternoon from the office. Not that I would ever think of doing anything like that.

2. If you can convince the higher-quality 700k connection to work, the internet feed is acceptable. Today that wasn’t easy, but with a few page reloads I finagled it.

3. Rewinding. I’m not sure if this works for everyone, but I’m using a QuickTime plug-in and I can go back in the action then pop forward at will.

4. Although I think EI did this as well, MLB.tv offers a variety of opinions. The broadcast feed choice is arbitrary and sometimes I genuinely long for Don Orsillo’s giggle and Jerry Remy hocking some shit on his website, but I generally enjoy getting the out of town broadcasts. If the radio feed is your bag, you’ve got a choice nightly.

5. Instead of commercials, we get a strange pong-like screen saver that’s really making me want to play Atari.

6. Don’t bother with the Mosaic, but as someone that gets the traditional Mets and Yankees broadcasts, I can effectively watch two games at once.

Regardless of how you watched it on Wednesday, the Sox got their first of many in the 2007 campaign.  World Series MVP Beckett is looking to repeat.

If two-out RBIs are akin to a fine single-malt or smooth oatmeal stout, the first inning was deliciously alcoholic. Welcome to Boston J.D., I’m happy to have you. This game smelled like a blowout in the first. When the opposing starter can’t seem get a pitch to the mitt without it being hammered, things are looking good.  Three quick runs, let’s dance Odalis.

Beckett’s first was shaky at best, the defense saved him and he couldn’t get the curve over. Buddy Bell and his lineup get an assist on this win, no Shealy, no German, no Sanders, no BUCK!? Josh was bailed out by a nice defensive play by Lowell and Sweeney popping up on 3-0. It would have been a different game if the Royals get even one run in the bottom of the first. I didn’t want to see Alex Gordon up with two on and something to prove after a weak opening day effort.  While he hit 97 on the gun to strike out Gordon in the second, Beckett couldn’t throw a decent curve for the first 4 innings. It’s no breakthrough, but I’ll join the crowd contending that Beckett’s success deep in games is directly proportional to his ability to throw the curve for a strike. It’s a good thing John Buck and his 430-foot opposite field power wasn’t in the lineup. This was the worst good start I’ve ever seen.

I loved this line by the KC announcers: “Like Boston left fielder Manny Ramirez, Coco Crisp started his career with the Indians…” and that’s exactly where the comparison ends.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m Go-Go Co-Co all the way, but Andy Marte hit a homer Wednesday.  Just sayin’.  The seventh was pivotal, but did anyone else get an icky feeling when Lugo squared to bunt? It wasn’t a terrible play in that situation, but why subscribe to a philosophy selectively? I think Tito forgot his instructions. After the Youk homer, there were two on and the only out was provided by the sacrifice. Obviously, predicting the homer is impossible but the only thing the bunt prevents in that situation is a GIDP by Lugo.

I’m blaming the trio of E-5’s (aka “the Alex”) on spring rust. The following scenario won’t happen unless a trade is made, but the Red Sox are a better team with Youkilis at third, Ortiz at first and Wily Mo DHing. Ortiz’s defense would have to be historically bad for the offensive upgrade to yield a net loss.  The front office doesn’t want Lowell’s contract on the bench where it would be impossible to trade, but how long until he can be moved? Clearly Youkilis deserves a spot and the team seems itching to get WMP at-bats, something has to give.

The fifth inning was huge. Say it aloud, “HUH-yooge.” Youkilis’ homer was the play of the game, but Beckett finding the curve and holding the Royals after Joakim Soria started to warm in the pen was moment I was confident enough to start penning this masterpiece.  Momentum was firmly in the Sox favor; it was only a matter of time. In fact, I thought Tito’s hook was fairly quick. I know it’s early and it worked out, but I thought Josh had one more inning in him. He was at 95 pitches, which is right around his maximum for April, but the fifth was his best. The bullpen did everything that was asked of it, I was hoping he would build a little on his success and maybe take some notes for next week.

This game was a classic performance by a good team over a bad team. Beckett fought through a lot of mistakes and got a little lucky, the offensive strategy is simple: make opposing starter throw pitches, get to the bullpen, win. 161-1.

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By Jimmy, 4/3/2007 5:32 am

Royals 7, Red Sox 1

Take a deep breath.  Exhale.  It’s OK. The season is a marathon, yadda yadda yadda. 

Before we start with the hyperbolic panic, here’s some perspective. The Opening Day results for last 3 years the Red Sox made the playoffs:

2003 — lost 6-4 to Tampa Bay
2004 — lost 7-2 to Baltimore
2005 — lost 9-2 to New York

Now that my calming prelude is out of the way, let’s discuss how the Boston Red Sox were taken behind the woodshed by a team that just about every baseball pundit has penciled in for last place in 2007.
 
The afternoon started off just fine, with a David Ortiz (who else) RBI double in the top of the first inning.  They should be able to steamroll the overpriced Gil Meche and this fledgling Royals team, right? 

Wrong. 

Curt Schilling, our new blogging colleague (“blogeague”?), wasn’t right from the start.  The man with the best K/BB ratio in modern baseball history was alarmingly ineffective against this Royals lineup, including yielding a rare bases-loaded walk in the first inning.  His velocity was noticably down, hovering in the mid-to-high 80′s, and his command was shaky throughout his outing.  He did strike out five batters, including prospect Alex Gordon twice, but the veteran lasted only four innings, giving up five runs on eight hits.  On the bright side, only two of the hits were of the extra-base variety, including a triple from Tony Pena Jr. (the son of the cannon-armed catcher). 

After lefty Javier Lopez retired the Royals in order with the help of a double play in the 5^th, Japanese import Hideki Okajima had a rather inauspicious bullpen debut, yielding a homer to John Buck with his very first major league pitch.  Okajima did have 2 Ks in 1 2/3 innings, and Brendan Donnelly struck out the only hitter he faced. 

Newly converted reliever Joel Pineiro also fell victim to Tony “The Triple Machine” Pena, as the baseball purebred launched his second three-bagger of the game in the 8^th inning, scoring KC’s 7^th and final run of the game. 

On the offensive side, well, the Sox made Gil Meche look like 1985 Bret Saberhagen.  The big money pitcher went 7.1 strong innings, giving up only one run on six hits.  Half of his six strikeouts were at the expense of new Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo.  Meche was basically untouchable after the first inning, not yielding any extra base hits after the Ortiz double.  Right-hander Joel Peralta was dominant in relief of Meche, striking out four hitters before getting Jason Varitek to fly out to end the game.

A few positives to glean from this opening day debacle:

1) Dustin Pedroia looked good in the field at the plate, with two singles (but he did have a gaffe on the basepaths, trying unwittingly to stretch his first hit to a double).

2) The bullpen, forced to enter the game earlier than expected, was decent. No walks allowed.  Okajima looked good despite his 1^st pitch gopherball.  Brendan Donnelly still appears to have the intimidating swagger and the ability to miss bats.   

3) J.D. Drew gave us a taste of what he brings to the table: a quick bat and excellent plate discipline.

Of course, I’m probably grasping for straws.  The Sox were dominated in every aspect by one of the worst teams in baseball; I couldn’t put a positive spin on today’s game with a centrifuge.  We should tip our hats to Kansas City, who executed in virtually every department.  It was good to see some enthusiasm in Kauffman Stadium, which was louder than I’ve ever remembered it. 

When all was said and done, Monday was a typical Red Sox Opening Day:  highly anticipated, but packing a painful aftertaste. 

The result notwithstanding, it was a beautiful sight to behold. 

Welcome back. 

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By Sully, 4/2/2007 10:21 am

Hi gang.  Sully here and I am thrilled to be back per Jeff’s invite to chip in with a little Sox preview.

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Opening Day has arrived and not a moment too soon for eager Sox fans ready to put a disappointing 3rd Place showing in 2006 behind them.  While my reputation doubtless precedes me on the optimism front, there really are lots of reasons to have high hopes for the 2007 edition of the Carmine Hose.

In order to articulate why fans have every reason for high expectations, it would be helpful to have a look at where we have been before we look at where we are going.  The following two charts are remarkable because they show just how mediocre the Sox were last year.  Their stars were excellent, but nearly the whole rest of the roster failed them miserably.  The first chart shows where the Red Sox ranked in OPS amongst American League teams in 2006.  The second chart shows just how awful some of their starting pitching was last season.

  POS          OPS     AL Rank
Catcher       .668       12
First Base    .773       10
Second Base   .698       10
Third Base    .823       3
Shortstop     .674       13
Left Field    .977       1
Center Field  .713       12
Right Field   .777       13
Des. Hitter   1.003      2

Starter     GS   IP   ER   ERA
Clement     12  65.1  48   6.61
Snyder      10   47   33   6.32
Wells       8    47   26   4.95
Dinardo     6   23.2  23   8.75
Pauley      3    16   14   7.88
Johnson     6   29.1  24   7.36
Total       45 228.1  168  6.63

So before factoring off-season acquisition of some excellent talent, just consider how difficult it would be for a middling, small-market team not to improve on some of these numbers.  There are wins for the taking over and above the .500 Pythag 2006 team simply by eliminating some of the terrible performances the above charts outline.  If the case is still not compelling, allow me to ask a series of questions.

Do you think the Red Sox will get more than a .668 OPS out of the catcher position in 2007?  Can they eclipse .800 at first base?  Can Dustin Pedroia be an average offensive 2nd Baseman?  Can Coco Crisp, he of the 119 OPS+ in 2005 and 106 OPS+ in 2004 (80 in 2006), help Sox center fielders improve upon the .713 OPS total they posted last season?  And leaving J.D. Drew aside for a moment, if he were simply handed the reins, could Wily Mo Pena best the .777 OPS Sox right fielders put up last year?

On the pitching side (again, leave Dice-K out of this), could the Sox scrounge together some guys to replace the 45 starts of 6.63 ERA pitching?  Perhaps between Julian Tavarez, Devern Hansack, Kason Gabbard and eventually Jon Lester, the Sox could replace those 45 catostrophic starts with some merely below average output.  And there is more to the story than meets the eye when it comes to those 45 starts.  In these games, hurlers averaged only five innings per start, leading to incremental bullpen taxation.  Cleaning up last year’s starting pitching mess with mediocrities as opposed to atrocities would go a long way in shoring things up.  And finally, what about Josh Beckett?  Think he has more than a 92 ERA+ in him this season?

See where I am going?  Even before you factor the best pitching acquisition any team made this off-season, the addition of a perennial .300/.400/.500 candidate to take over in right field and the signing of a consistently solid if unspectacular offensive shortstop, the optimism case is strong.  But when you mix Daisuke Matsuzaka, J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo into the 2007 picture, things really start to get interesting.  The “there’s just no way they can be any worse” argument bounces you from about 81 wins (their 2006 Pythag total) to the mid-to-high 80′s.  The above triumverate, along with a collection of live bullpen arms that figure to help, get you closer to a total pushing mid-to-high 90′s.

I could go position by position and toss out a projection for each position but readers of this site already know the ballpark expectations for each of the Sox players.  Readers also probably understand that injuries can put a damper on even the most promising teams and this collection of Red Sox is laden with injury risk, if for no other reason than its age.  While the majority of their 30+’ers have proven resilient over their careers, age alone comes with enough injury risk to temper enthusiasm.  But 80 starts out of Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield and Beckett, 140 games for Drew and 125 for Jason Varitek and this team should hang right with the Yanks all season long.  Those totals are all optimistic, however, and the Red Sox will need as much injury luck this season as they had misfortune last year in order to have a crack at the division.  Says here that karma owes ‘em one and they stay relatively healthy.

Look for the Sox to contend for the Division title and, at worst, glide to the Wild Card.

Prediction: 94-68 
 

Comments (1)

By Jimmy,

Hope springs eternal and all that. Today, for the 106th time, a Boston Americans spinner hurls the orb towards an opposing batsman, who stands at the dish with murderous intent in his eye, no doubt. In that memorable 01 season, the American’s didn’t even start their best pitcher, as 25-year-old rookie Win Kellum (20 career wins, 2 with Boston) got the nod over Denton Young against the Baltimore Orioles (the future New York Yankees).

The Orioles got the best of the Americans on that day, and actually swept the opening series, taking the second game from Cy Young.

What I’m saying is that opening day has evolved from something where a oldish (especially for the turn of the century) rookie would get the start to an event that just feels different than other games. Opening Day has a habit of sticking out in your head, even as other games kinda run together…I might not remember who wins the Boston Marathon every year (a Kenyan), but I almost always remember the start from Hopkington.

Here are my five most memorable (not favorite really, but most memorable) Red Sox Opening Days.
5. 2000 Boston Beats Seattle, Scores No More Runs the Rest of The Year
See number 1 on this list, as Pedro pitched the same, it was at the same time and the result was the same. The only difference was it was in Seattle and not Oakland.

I remember this game because I thought maybe Sports Illustrated got one right. They picked the Red Sox to win the World Series that year after two years of making it to the playoffs, and losing to a better team. As it turned out, the only Red Sox that hit all summer were Nomar Garciaparra and Carl Everett and they finished 12th in the American League in runs scored.

4. 1995 No Clemens, Sox Beat the Twins 9-0 at Fenway
The strike was over, but there was still a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Fenway still had 33,000 people in the stands for the late-April matchup.

Even though this amounted to a late Spring Training start, Roger Clemens was hurt, and the Sox were coming off a crappy 1994 (everyone panic!!!) the opener of the 1995 season was a harbinger of things to come…it kicked off a season that insured that the Boston didn’t really need to be saved from the strike (their attendance was actually higher in 95 than 94). As for the game itself, the Sox touched Scott Erickson for two runs, and then notched seven runs off Carl Willis and Vince Horseman. Aaron Sele was only out there for five innings and 65 pitches, but didn’t allow a run (obviously) and only allowed two baserunners…one hit and one walk.

3. 2003 Closer By Committee Deemed Failure
The great part about this game was that my girlfriend (who now would never, ever do this…warrants mentioning) would watch baseball with me but flip back and forth between something she had more interest in. So we almost missed the last part of this game because she was slow getting over from American Idol.

As it turns out, the ban of my popular culture existence would have been a welcome change to the result of this match against the Devil Rays, as a Pedro start was wasted by Alan Embree and Chad Fox giving up five runs in the bottom of the ninth. A game that should have been won 4-1 was instead lost 6-4. Most of the damage was done by Embree, giving up 3 of the runs without recording an out, with Fox getting two outs, walking Marlon Anderson (as he was prone to do) and giving up a three run walkoff to Carl Crawford. Of course, the failing wasn’t Embree’s or Fox’s, it was the matchup bullpen ideology. The next season, the Red Sox won the World Series using a modified version of same.

2. 1989 Sox Lose 5-4 to the Orioles in 11 innings
This was the first OD I was permitted to watch. I was 8 years old, and my mom let me stay home from second grade, mostly because I nagged the hell out of her until she said yes. I was excited because I was too young to understand just how badly the A’s beat the Sox in the last ALCS, and I just knew that the Sox would extract their vengeance on a team that lost 21 games to open the season the year before.

The most memorable about this game for me (other than it popping my cherry) was that with runners on the corners (I looked it up, Randy Milligan on first, Mickey Tettleton on third), Joe Morgan moved Ellis Burks to left center, Dwight Evans to right center, and Mike Greenwell to right behind second base (in the infield). And then took out groundballer Bob Stanley and put in Mike Smithson. Craig Worthington singled sharply to centerfield, Tettleton walked home, and the Red Sox dropped their first four games and essentially sleep walked through the season.

1. 1998 Pedro Makes His Red Sox Debut, wins 2-0.
Despite being now 17 years old, there was no way I could have watched this one. The game started at 10:30pm over here on the East Coast, so I had to set the VCR, and preyed no one talked about the game at school the next day. Luckly, all my school yard chums were in the same predicament. It was actually kind of funny…we were all baseball freaks and no one dared mention Opening Day.

The next day, the school was a-buzz with how Pedro Martinez shut down the Oakland offense. The game itself was fairly uninspiring, if you like hitting, but he notched 11 strikeouts in his 7 innings. He actually had a perfect game going until the 4th when Ben Grieve finally broke through with a single with two outs. The A’s pitcher was Tom Candiotti, starting in his 67th MLB season.

We give you the Gregg Easterbrook ironically named “100% Incorrect or Your Money Back” guarantee for our predictions.
Zach:
AL East Division Winner: Boston Red Sox
AL Central Division Winner: Cleveland Indians
AL West Division Winner: Los Angeles Angels
AL Wildcard: Toronto Blue Jays
NL East Division Winner: Philadelphia Phillies
NL Central Division Winner: Chicago Cubs
NL West Division Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wildcard: New York Mets
AL Champion: Boston Red Sox
NL Champion: New York Mets
World Series Champion: Boston Red Sox

AL Cy Young: C.C. Sabathia
AL MVP: Vernon Wells
AL Rookie of the Year: Diasuke Matsuzaka
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Jhonny Peralta
AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge
AL First Manager Fired: Joe Torre

NL Cy Young: Chris Young
NL MVP: Jose Reyes
NL Rookie of the Year: Troy Tulowitzki
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Randy Johnson
NL Manager of the Year: Ned Yost
NL First Manager Fired: Jerry Narron

Jimmy:
AL East Division Winner: New York
AL Central Division Winner: Detroit
AL West Division Winner: Anaheim
AL Wildcard: Boston
NL East Division Winner: Philly
NL Central Division Winner: Milwaukee
NL West Division Winner: LA
NL Wildcard: Cubs
AL Champion: Boston
NL Champion: Philly
World Series Champion: Philly

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana
AL MVP: Manny Ramirez
AL Rookie of the Year: Daisuke Matsuzaka
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Sammy Sosa
AL Manager of the Year: Ron Washington
AL First Manager Fired: Eric Wedge
NL Cy Young: Carlos Zambrano
NL MVP: Alfonso Soriano
NL Rookie of the Year: Troy Tulowitzki
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Barry Bonds
NL Manager of the Year: Sweet Lou
NL First Manager Fired: Jerry Narron

Jeff:
AL East Division Winner: New York
AL Central Division Winner: Cleveland (in the Maple Street Press preview, I picked Minnesota. I changed my mind).
AL West Division Winner: Oakland
AL Wildcard: Boston
NL East Division Winner: New York
NL Central Division Winner: Milwaukee
NL West Division Winner: Los Angeles
NL Wildcard: Philadelphia
AL Champion: Cleveland
NL Champion: Los Angeles
World Series Champion: Cleveland

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana
AL MVP: Mark Teixeira
AL Rookie of the Year: Alex Gordon
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Sammy Sosa
AL Manager of the Year: Ron Washington
AL First Manager Fired: Ozzie Guillen
NL Cy Young: Chris Carpenter
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Rookie of the Year: Chris Young (outfielder, not pitcher)
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Barry Bonds
NL Manager of the Year: Ned Yost
NL First Manager Fired: Clint Hurdle