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By Zach, 5/31/2007 8:29 am

No losses are easy to take, but this is about as close as it gets.  After winning five in a row against stiff competition, the Red Sox succumbed to the law of (Red) averages and dropped a poorly fought contest to the Indians last night.  Why is this game more palatable?  It was one they had no business winning, they were out-hit 18 to 10 and out pitched by the old-school efficiency of Paul Byrd.

There were missed offensive opportunities in the second and seventh, but I can find a way to give the offensive goats a mulligan.  Pedroia continues to hit (Who was right, Dad?), making Cora all but irrelevant, and Coco keeps getting his mug on SportsCenter with those diving catches.  His jumps are overrated, but he makes up ground quickly.  His ability to lay out coming forward makes him average defensively.  Most centerfielders play shallower and make that catch on their shoestrings, but have difficulty with balls at the wall.  He’s been much better than last year, time will tell if this is the real Coco in center.

I wish I knew what’s wrong with Matsuzaka.  He had at least the cutter and splitter working last night, but the Indians knew what was coming.   In March I assumed Daisuke’s strength would be consistency; when a hurler has 6 go-to pitches he should be able to adjust if a few of them aren’t working, right?  It looked like he was forced to use his pitches in ways he isn’t used to.  When he throws that cutter inside, he’s looking for a swing and contact.  It’s not a pitch that he’ll ususally throw to Pronk or Sizemore, but Barfield and Shoppach don’t have the batspeed to get the head on it.  I’d attribute last night’s ineffectiveness to a varied off-day routine, if it were an isolated incident.  Color me worried about his next start – it would have been far uglier had he not escaped an early jam thanks to an alley-oop GIDP by our undercover agent, Trot Nixon.

I hope you find the following sentence pleasurable.  Peter Abraham reports Phil Hughes had a setback and won’t be back until August at the earliest.  I’ll probably pay close attention to the Yankees until the trading deadline, but if things continue along the same lines I’ll have to look the other way at some point.  Stay classy, Sox fans.

The Sox are off tonight.  In other words, my evening is ruined.

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By Zach, 5/30/2007 6:14 am

A great season continues to improve.  The last few weeks have been the best case scenario for the Red Sox.  Not only did they win routinely, they gave Josh Beckett a chance to get completely healthy and throwing well with little worry moving forward.  And the Yankees looked like shit.  My favorite thing about living in New York is the cute chick turning to me in a bar, asking me if the Yankees won, and politely explaining to her “I’m not sure, but the Red Sox did.”  Yeah, I didn’t wanna talk to you either.

Chalk this one up to Cy Beckett and MVP Youkilis, who needs that Ortiz character anyway?  Brendan Donnelly continues to worry me with his command, but it didn’t hurt him last night.  Hideki Okajima picked up his second save in three days.  He’s become the de facto relief ace when Papelbon is unavailable and done everything that’s been asked of him.  A two headed bullpen monster looks like an extremely effective strategy, if everyone continues on their current performance level.  That’s a lot to ask, merely because they’ve been so good.  Brace yourselves for a few blown saves, they’re coming.

If you haven’t heard, there a reality dating show being filmed at Fenway during games.  I feel like its a flawed concept.  How does the guy on the show pay attention to the game with a camera in his face?  Either he doesn’t listen and watches the game, or he chats about shoes for 6 innings.  They’ve made it impossible to like him.  I would just pick the girl that can make the best case for the (un)importance of outfield defense.  I guess that’s why I’m not a reality TV star.

Tonight: Paul Byrd (5-1, 3.81, 1.27) at Daisuke Matsuzaka (7-2, 4.43, 1.24)

Rotoworld reports Ortiz will be back Wednesday to face Byrd, whom he has fared well against in the past (.899 OPS, 23ABs).  I don’t like this decision.  Who knows how much they’ll rely on him later?  A four-day vacation would serve him well.  Matsuzaka looks to bounce back from a wicked case of diarrhea.  “Dehydration,” you can’t fool me.

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By Jimmy, 5/29/2007 4:56 am

Cleveland 3
Boston 5

Last night, the Red Sox handed the Indians a small pox-infected blanket, defeating the AL Central powerhouse on the evening of Trot Nixon’s return.  Nixon was visibly misty-eyed at the plate while the Fenway crowd gave the discarded right fielder a hearty ovation, before lining a base hit to our new right fielder in an act of uncanny symbolism. 

Curt Schilling was phenominal, pitching 7 strong innings, with 10 Ks, no walks, 6 hits, and 1 earned run, leaving to a standing ovation of his own at the end of the 7th.  The bullpen decided to make this one interesting, and almost pissed away the game. Our loogies (J.C. Romero and Javier Lopez) were both ineffective, and Jonathan Papelbon came very close to forking over the lead in the 9th, allowing a walk and 2 doubles. However, he got Travis Hafner (Cleveland’s resident ogre) to chase the high heat to end the game.

Offensively, the team was carried by a multitude of players, on a night where David Ortiz was out of the lineup, as the slugger is still feeling tightness.  The crowd was actually treated to a strange cosmic phenomenon at one point, as the game briefly entered the Twilight Zone in the 7th inning.  You know the Twilight Zone: it’s a place where Estelle Getty wins the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, a place where George W. Bush wins 5 straight episodes of “Jeopardy”, a place where Stephen Hawking wins the 100-yard-dash…you get the point.  Anyway, while the world was stuck in the Twilight Zone, Kevin Youkilis managed to hit an inside-the-park home run.  The odds of Youk accomplishing this feat are roughly the same as the odds of Chris Farley’s rotting corpse clawing its way out of the earth, grabbing a bat, and hitting a four-bagger.

To go along with the strange happenings in the 7th inning, J.D. Drew managed to get on base 3 times, and Dustin Pedroia had a perfect night, going 3-3 with a walk, and boosting his OPS to .815 on the year. 

Tonight, the ace is back, as Josh Beckett (7-0, 2.66) returns to face soft-tossing control freak Jeremy Sowers (1-4 6.29)

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By Jimmy, 5/28/2007 6:16 am

Boston 6
Texas 5

In a wild finish, the Red Sox took the third game of the series to sweep the Texas Rangers in Arlington, whilst the Yankees were swept at home by the Angels.  Boston is now 11.5 games ahead of 2nd place Baltimore, and 12.5 games ahead of New York, opening up a lead the volume of which hasn’t been seen since…well, since about 29 years ago.

The entertaining Julian Tavarez started out by spinning a gem, allowing only 1 baserunner in the first 5 innings.  Jason Varitek gave the Sox an early lead with a 3-run blast in the 4th, however, that lead was quickly relinquished in the 6th inning, as Tavarez began to fall apart like a poorly-made sandwich.  Luckily, Boston reclaimed the lead for good in the 8th, off of RBI singles from J.D. Drew (yes, Drew) and Mike Lowell, and a 9th inning insurance blast off of the bat of resident Scrappy Guy, Dustin Pedroia.

J.D. Drew was 2-4, and could have easily been 4-4, as his two outs were hard-hit shots snagged by infielders.  He was swinging the bat extremely well today.

It is clear (and hopefully clear to Terry Francona) that Dustin Pedroia should be playing just about every day, with Alex Cora assuming his role as super-utility guy, spelling the starters when they need a day off. (My JV basketball coach used to describe this as “needing a blow”, which, let me tell you, is a term that really registers with a group of a dozen 14-15 year-old boys.) Anyway, Dustin is now at .279/.365/.396.

The unsung hero of the game: Joel Pineiro.  The right-hander came in and pitched 1.2 perfect innings, striking out 3, and squelching the volcanic Texas lineup while the Sox offense reclaimed the lead.  A much needed performance from a guy who was being slapped around like a disobedient prostitute prior to last night.

Coco Crisp is now hitting .304/.407/.478 in his last 6 games.  I still don’t like seeing him hit near the top of the order, but, right now he is more productive than our current lead-off hitter, Julio Lugo.

The one negative point from the weekend sweep of Texas: the Sox bullpen was used quite a bit, throwing 9.1 innings in the 3 games.  They’ll need some sturdy performances from the starters against Cleveland, another team with a dangerous lineup.

It’s Curt Schilling (4-2, 3.94) against Cliff Lee (2-1, 5.93) at Fenway tonight, followed by the return of Josh Beckett tomorrow night. 

Happy Memorial Day.

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By Jimmy, 5/27/2007 7:08 pm

On the wake of a sweep at Texas (more on that tomorrow morning), let’s take a gander at some of the surging minor league prospects in the Red Sox organization.

Jacoby Ellsbury (23, AAA, CF): After obliterating AA, Jacoby struggled a bit when first promoted to AAA. However, he seems to have adapted, raising his numbers to .299/.378/.379, swiping 8 bases in 10 attempts, and playing is usual stellar CF defense.

Clay Buchholz (22, AA, SP): Shined on the national spotlight in an ESPN start against Roger Clemens in Trenton.  Is toying with Eastern League bats (61/7 K/BB in 46 innings, 1.97 ERA), and drawing rave reviews with his multiple plus-pitch arsenal.  Probably a Top 5 minor league pitcher, and maybe second to only Yovanni Gallardo in the Brewers organization.

Brandon Moss (23, AAA, RF): The rocket-armed corner-outfielder has reclaimed the prospect status he had after the 2004 season.  Now with an OPS of .956, the lefty hits left-handed pitching just fine (.911 OPS vs LHP).

Michael Bowden (20, AA, SP): In terms of prospect rankings, Bowden has been in the ominous shadow of Buchholz since they were drafted in 2005.  However, Bowden’s raw numbers are just as impressive, especially the way he dominated the severe hitter’s environment at Lancaster (1.37 ERA in 46 innings). Bowden is off to a nice start in AA as well, making the Portland rotation one of the best in AA. 

Jed Lowrie (23, AA, 2B): After scuffling for over a year, Lowrie has been red-hot.  Offensively, he draws comparisons to Dustin Pedroia, showing some gap power and excellent plate discpline (although Jed does not resemble him physically, standing at 6 feet and 180 pounds).  His OBP is now at .422.

Lars Anderson (19, A, 1B): The HS bonus baby has not disappointed.  Hitting at a remarkable clip for his age (.329/.414/.509), and the kid has yet to fill out.  Once he bulks up a bit…watch out.

Aaron Bates (23, A+, 1B): A bit old for the league, Aaron has been doing everything he can to get himself promoted.  Hitting 4 HRs in a game last week (the first time that happened in California League history), Bates is among the league-leaders in just about every category.  He likely would be the league-leader in these categories, were it not for…

Bubba Bell (24, A+, OF): As a 24-year-old in A ball, he’s not really a “prospect”, but I had to write something about him. Bell is leading the league in the following categories: homers, hits, OPS, SLG%, runs, RBI, total bases, K/BB ratio.  His batting average of .378 is one point behind the league-leader.  Basically, he has no business being in the California League anymore.

And now, for one of my personal favorite prospects, a real sleeper:

Chih-Hsien Chiang (19, A, 2B): The Taiwanese import is holding his own in the Sally League, hitting (.295/.304/.423) with improving defense.  Chih-Hsien is very raw, and needs to improve his defense to stick as an infielder as higher levels, but he has tremendous potential as an offensive threat.  Like Anderson, he has yet to fill out and reach his true power potential.  Keep an eye on him.

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By Zach, 5/23/2007 8:43 pm

I have little to say about Wednesday’s game. It was frustrating to watch, even more so while listening to Paul O’Neill, John “Flash” Flaherty and Michael Jeter-Kay.

In browsing Curt Schilling’s Baseball-Reference page I noticed a disturbing trend. You may know that Schill has given up a ton of hits this year (62 in 58 IP entering Wednesday) but has maintained a respectable 3.57 ERA. He hasn’t prevented walks -  he’s on pace for his highest total since ’98 (60), and his strikeouts are down (7.29 per 9IP). Why the low ERA? With men on base opponents are hitting .256 on balls in play in 2007. This is far, far below his career average of .316 in the same situation. He’s been lucky and I fear the worst has yet to come.

“I have gotten to see some neat towns. Coming here from New York it was a pretty neat drive.” Roger must have been confused. Never an eloquent man, this statement borderlines delusional. The New Jersey Turnpike and Trenton are far from “neat.”

Clemens’ line was 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 4 K. Heads will roll if this is a sign of things to come. Joe, you’re first at the firing squad. I suggest Robert Erskine Childers’ famous last words; “Take a step forward lads – it’ll be easier that way.”

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By Zach,

Boarding the 4 Train at 125th Street can be a challenge. Generally packed to the gills well before Spanish Harlem on game days, a few strategic elbow thrusts are necessary, and expected. In Red Sox regalia, things get a little more interesting. It’s all worth it for the cramped ride home, as drunken frustrated Long Island boys explain to each other “it wasn’t Mussina’s fault, man.” And then my favorite “they should cut that bum Abreu …what’s he ever done anyway?” There needs to be a shorter name for the drunken frustrated Long Island boy. How about “Syracuse Alum”? Or, “Billy Joel”? Nah, I’ll just stick with “asshole.” Can I get a linguist to weigh in on this?

I had a purpose in bringing up that I went to the game last night; if I happen to point something out that was obvious, or mentioned, in the broadcast I won’t get comments like “Remy said that already, are you stupid!!!??” Or something equally intelligent. Save your energy.

After the adventure that was my commute, the game was a bit of a rollercoaster as well. Mussina was mercifully let off the ropes following the first inning and Julian Tavarez tore through the Yankees order like any good reliever can do. Wait, but Julian isn’t a good reliever. A mystery wrapped in an enigma, that man is. He started to lose it in the middle innings, but was bailed out by Posada’s GIDP in the sixth. This was the play of the game. The Yankees had clawed back into it, down 4-2, had their leadoff man on and their hottest hitter at the plate. Obviously, the three runs in the top of the seventh made the pen’s job easier, but snuffing that rally before it got started was critical. Tavarez may have cemented his place in this rotation, but seeing Jon Lester face the five (!) consecutive lefties in this lineup will be welcome.

The battle of the overpaid mediocre right fielders has reached its apex. J.D. Drew (.237, .346, .333) and Bobby Abreu (.239, .317, .307) are making a combined $30.2 million for replacement level performance. I’m going to be incredibly patient with Drew, because the Red Sox can afford to be, but how long will the Yankees put up with Abreu’s lackluster effort? Neither player inspires confidence with their aggressiveness or likability. It will be an interesting story to follow as the Summer heats up.

Tonight: Curt Schilling (4-1, 3.57, 1.33) at Andy Pettitte (2-3, 2.83, 1.34)

If you’ve been living under a rock, Manny loves hitting against Pettitte and its no fluke. In 64 at bats he’s managed a Williamsian .406/.458/.656. Varitek, Drew, Ortiz, and Lugo all get on base better than 40% of the time against the lefty. Schilling owns Jeter (.582 OPS, 42 ABs) but the rest of the Yankees have fared pretty well against him.

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By Jimmy, 5/22/2007 6:58 pm

The Boston Celtics acquired the 5th pick in tonight’s draft lottery, despite having the 2nd most balls in the drawing.  In other words, they’ll be selecting another 6’9″ power forward, or another “athletic” 19-year-old point guard who can’t shoot.

So…how ’bout them Sox?

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By Jimmy,

Boston 2
New York 6

Directions to the Tobin Bridge: take the Mass Pike eastbound, pass the airport, and merge onto Route 1 North.  Head onto the large bridge, find a nice parking spot at least 200 feet above sea level, and plunge head-first into the cold, refreshing waters of the Mystic, leaving the stress and the agony of this rivalry behind you.

Seriously though, the Yankees have narrowed the divisional gap to 9.5 games, as their much-ballyhooed offense jumped on Tim Wakefield early, and Chien-Ming Wang improved to 3-3 after holding the Sox to 2 runs in 6.2 innings of work.

The most notable blast was off the bat of Jason Giambi, as the bionic man scorched a shot into the upper deck in a very electric Toilet, packed with 55,000 screaming Nathan’s hot dog-swilling Miller High Life guzzling grease-lathered Bronxians (and Billy Crystal).  After the home run, Giambi immediately held a press conference and announced that the NFL should apologize for OJ Simpson. 

A-Rod also added a dinger as he continues his farewell tour of The Bronx, and “Brooks” Robinson Cano lashed a two run triple, obviously well-rested from his naps in the field.

For a BOS-NYY matchup, this game was fairly uneventful.  Losing at the hands of Chien-Ming Wang is sort of like being mugged by a gang of kids wielding wiffle-ball bats.  You’re not sure exactly how he’s doing it, and he’s not exactly amazing you with his pitching prowess. 

The 3 bright spots from today’s game: 
1) Kevin Youkilis delivers 2 hits and a BB, and continues to be one of the hottest hitters in the game.
2) Manny Delcarmen came in and threw a perfect inning of relief.
3) Joe Torre somehow managed to use 5 pitchers last night.

Tonight’s pitching matchup: Julian Tavarez (2-4, 5.59) will take on New York’s resident fascist, Mike Mussina (2-2, 5.64).  A tough matchup, considering Moose’s track record against Boston (19-14, 3.47 ERA).   

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By Jimmy, 5/21/2007 4:16 am

Atlanta 3
Boston 6

First off, let’s just get one thing straight: that 14-0 loss in the rain-soaked double-header nightcap on Saturday?  It, like, totally didn’t count.  It was just an exhibition game, sort of like when Boston plays the Pawsox every summer. So, you can go ahead and forget about that game, and not include that score in any Pythagorean W-L estimate.  The game didn’t happen.  Got it?  Good.

On to the Sunday afternoon rubber match, which turned out to be a tad more dramatic than I would have liked.

A tip of the cap goes to both the starting pitcher Kason Gabbard and the offense, which jumped out early on Atlanta’s ace, Tim Hudson.  Gabbard was extremely impressive, baffling the Braves with his curveball, and painting the outside corner very effectively.  Recently called up from Pawtucket to fill in for Josh Beckett and his pepperoni-finger (that’s the scientific term, you can look it up), the 25-year-old lefty went 5+ innings, notching 7 Ks, most of which came on a beautiful, sweeping curveball. 

Gabbard ran into a little trouble in the 5th, and was relieved by a bullpen which made things slightly more interesting than we have been used to this year.  Brendan Donnelly, Javier Lopez, Kyle Snyder, Hideki “Scott Proctor-san” Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon combined for 4 innings, 7 hits, 2 walks, but luckily only 1 run (off of Papelbon, oddly enough).  Papelbon actually gave up 3 hits in the 9th, and faced Andruw Jones representing the tying run with 2 outs, but he struck out the Dutch Islander superstar to end the game. 

The offensive star of the game is El Capitan himself, Jason Varitek.  Tek delivered the killing blow in the first inning, clearing the bases with a 2-out three-run triple, his first three-bagger of the season.  Eric “Greek Life” Hinske added an RBI single, and immediately went into the clubhouse for a celebratory Milwaukee’s Best ice-luge with Doug Mirabelli.  That was all the offense the Sox would need, as they take 2 out of 3 from their National League “rivals”, before heading to the lovely, picturesque Bronx tonight.

The Yankees, coming off of a victory on a nice performance by rookie Tyler Clippard in his MLB debut, will send ground ball expert Chien-Ming Wang (2-3, 4.54) against Tim Wakefield (4-4, 2.41).

Widen the gap, gentlemen. 

One roster move to note: Gabbard was sent down after last night’s game, and reliever Manny Delcarmen was recalled from Pawtucket.  The 25-year-old has seen mixed results in AAA this year, with some impressive K numbers (13.13 K/9), but quite a few runs allowed (5.03). 

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By Jimmy, 5/19/2007 10:22 am

Pretty self explanatory, no?

Here is the criteria…

*One at every position, five starters and one reliever.
*They must have played 50% of their games at that position.
*One player’s season is used.
*In the season in question, he must be 38 by June 30th.

Enjoy…

Catcher – Elston Howard, 1968 39 years old (.241/.317/.335)

When I started thinking about my own parameters for this little exercise, I thought that the lower limit for at bats should be around 300 or something, just to ensure that the “best player over 38” actually unleashed some positive benefit to the team. Finding no backstops, I lowered it to 200 and ran with it. Grover Hartley in 1927, and Elston Howard in 1968.

I went with Ellie for a few reasons…he hit .241/.317/.335 in 68, which is terrible. But Hartley hit .275/.337/.332 in 1927 which is substantially worse when you realize that ‘68 is the year of the pitcher and ’27 was in one of the best hitters eras of all time. Howard actually averaged more at bats per game over the season, which leads me to believe that Ellie started more games. Finally, it’s a nice little shout to the 1967 team, which revitalized baseball in Boston.

First base – Mickey Vernon, 1956 38 years old (.310/.403/.467)

Vernon had a pretty good year by anyone’s age standards, not just the grey beards. Again, first doesn’t have a whole lot of longevity in Boston, as only three guys combined for five seasons (Tony Perez in ‘80-81 and Dolph Camilli in ‘45 as the war ended).

Vernon was an All-Star in ’56 and was the best mortal hitter on the team. Perez hit more homers than Vernon did in his 1980 season, but did so under the loving support of a more favorable lineup.

Second base – Tom Carey, 1946 39 years old (.200/.200/.200)

Carey is the only player to play second in Red Sox history in more than 50% of his games in his age 38 year or later. He made the list on the “strength” of five plate appearances.

In case there is a family member reading this, congratulations, Carey Clan. Apparently, his nickname was Scoops.

Third base – Joe Cronin, 1945 38 years old (.375/.545/.375)

Much like second, I needed to sink to the depths of very few plate appearances. Cronin is a Hall of Famer, of course, but made his career as a shortstop. In ’45, he had 11 PA’s as a war-year fill in.

Shortstop – Luis Aparicio, 1973 39 years old (.271/.324/.309)

Louie ended his Hall of Fame career vacuuming up both outs and ground balls for the Red Sox in the early 70’s. When he came over from the White Sox, he actually got better each of the three years he was a Red Sox…or at the very least, less harmful with the bat.

His Red Sox career is of course most remembered for tripping around third base twice on a Carl Yastrzemski triple and was passed by Yaz on the baseline in September, 1972. This cost the Sox a run and effectively ended their season.

Outfield – Ted Williams, 1957 38 years old (.388/.526/.731)

This is probably the best season by a 38-year-old in major league history, with only Barry Bonds’ ’03 close. Only Bonds’ 2004 is better for guys over 38 years old, and Williams in ‘57 could be called a top 10 season by any over 35 player in MLB history, without hyperbole.

Among the qualified, he’s still the only guy to hit over .365 while being over 38, and one of two guys to hit over .380 (Tris Speaker) while being over 36.

Outfield – Bob Johnson, 1944 38 years old (.324/.431/.528)

It was against war-time competition, but Johnson really did hit well when hitting wasn’t easy (run scoring was depressed, mostly due to shoddy equipment…it’s tough to justify leather for a baseball cover when it could be used for boots).

Johnson niched out a nice career with the A’s, and went to Boston to end his career during the Second World War. Of all the outfielders, Johnson and Ted Williams dominate the over 38 list for the Red Sox.

Outfield – Ken Johnson, 1928 38 years old (.303/.356/.413)

The well dries up once you get past Indian Bob and the Kid. Conspicuous by his absence is Carl Yastrzemski, but he generally split time between the outfield, first base, and designated hitter when they had Jim Rice in the lineup, so there is only one place for him to go…

Utility Player – Carl Yastrzemski, 1978 38 years old (.277/.367/.423)

This was Yaz’s last season as an outfielder, and he actually played centerfield when Fred Lynn was dinged up. Yaz probably held on too long, but he played until he was 43, and really only had one bad year (1981), and that’s a feet that not many players can claim.

After their 40th birthday, only Pete Rose, Sam Rice, Carlton Fisk, and Dave Winfield were better hitters.

Pitcher – Cy Young, 1908 41 years old (21-11, 1.26 ERA)

Young had 30 complete games in 1908. If there was any other measure of the change between olde tyme base-ball and today is that there are very few 41 year olds today who could start 30 games in a season, let alone finish them. I’m not sure that it’s a bad thing that hitters can’t be dominated by 40 year old pitchers anymore.
Pitcher – Lefty Grove, 1939 39 years old (15-4, 2.54 ERA)

Groves’ last great season sits at the end of the Great Era of Offense that ran from the death of the dead ball era and the war. In 1925 with the A’s, he actually lead the American League in k/9 with 5.30. Today, he would have trouble getting out of the minors that rate. He pitched two more years for the Red Sox before fading into that good night.

Pitcher – Jack Quinn, 1922 38 years old (13-16, 3.48 ERA)

He had a losing record, but his ERA was a full 18% better than league average in ’22. Quinn was the best player the Sox ended up getting in the trade that bolstered the Yankees rotation in the mid-20’s (Sam Jones and Joe Bush). Shockingly, even though he was 38 in 1922, he was still essentially mid-career. He pitched 200 innings as late as 1928 when he was 44, and pitched 16 innings for the Reds in 1933 as a 49 year old.

Pitcher – Curt Schilling, 2006 39 years old (15-7, 3.97 ERA)

Just starting to slow down now.

Pitcher – Tim Wakefield, 2005 38 years old (16-12, 4.15 ERA)

Best pitcher on the first post-Pedro staff, and the historic link between Roger Clemens and Daisuke Matsuzaka. He might be the last of a dying breed, as the only two minor leaguers actively throwing knuckleballs now are Charlie’s Haeger and Zink.

Pitcher – Ellis Kinder, 1953 (10-6, 1.85 ERA)

Another knuckleballer, only this one was a heavy drinker, of which there are probably 100s of stories about that would either never come to light today, or be all over the news. Sixty-nine appearances, 107 innings pitched, all in relief…and he finished 11th in the AL MVP race for a team that finished fourth.

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By Jimmy, 5/17/2007 11:06 pm

The Central leading Detroit Tigers came into town, enjoyed some rain, and got sent back to Motown stinging from the pain of a doubleheader sweep.

To be honest, I really don’t know how to take the start to this season, beyond it being awesome. The only thing better going on in my life right now is the movie Mr. Brooks, which finally has the creative vehicle that fits both Kevin Costner and Dane Cook. I mean, you just know that Mr. Brooks will kill…with OSCAR!

Anyway, a team that has won 70% of their games, seems to get along well, and has been basically injury free is a boring one to write about…plus, I didn’t really glean anything from these games that you couldn’t find out just by reading various box scores and game stories.

The only thing to really mention is that Devern Hansack and Kason Gabbard will be playing the parts of the 6th and 7th starters used by the Sox this year, which puts them roughly 15 behind the Yankees pace this year. Also, the Red Sox take on the Senior Circuit a year after going 16-2 against them with a sure-to-be-rained-out series against the Braves.

Stay tuned for Sunday, when I unleash something neat on y’all.

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By Zach, 5/16/2007 6:15 am

There have been rumblings in the Nation about replacing Coco Crisp. I think this is crazy. Yes, he’s hitting well below replacement level at an OPS+ of 62. Yes, his defense is questionable and his arm is Damon-esque. He had two productive seasons in the anonymity of Cleveland, but how productive were they?

In 2004 he started slowly, posting an OPS of .578 in April and .603 in May. He finished that season at .790; not a prolific ratio but one that would make me very happy. 2005 followed a similar arc, .656 in April and limited action in May (53 ABs). He ended at .810, with 16 homers and 42 doubles. 2006 data should be tossed out due to the nagging finger injury. That leaves us with a terrible month of April 2007 and the first half of May. Can a rational decision be made on six weeks of data? Yes, but in this case the player in question has a history of slow starts. Patience.

He has been a disappointment. No, he shouldn’t be traded or benched. I pledge my absolute and undying loyalty to Coco Crisp until July 1.

The Herald’s Steve Buckley reports Drew will sit tonight against the lefty Maroth. Terry said his elbow was involved in that collision with the wall in addition to the reported “lower back contusion.” This will not be one of those nagging injuries to which J.D. has been susceptible. It just won’t.

Tonight: Mike Maroth (3-0, 4.69, 1.71) at Julian Tavarez (1-4, 6.60, 1.57)

Tito, bat Varitek sixth tonight. He’s 10-16 with 3 homers and 4 walks against Maroth. That’s an alley-oop windmill slam dunk. Hinske is 4-17 against the lefty, so prepare for the Wily Mo Rollercoaster in right.

This is an important start for Tavarez. With a fresh face likely to get an audition in Beckett’s spot on Friday, if Julian falters he could be bumped to the pen, or San Diego.

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By Jimmy, 5/15/2007 3:34 am

Detroit 1
Boston 7

124 pitches. 

It seems like an extreme total on the surface, but he didn’t even appear to break a sweat.  I’ll cautiously tip my cap to the man, and hope his next start will be slightly less strenuous. 

For the second straight outing, Daisuke Matsuzaka was very impressive, and displayed more of the pitcher the American baseball community was expecting, as he held the Tigers to 1 run on 6 hits for his first career MLB complete game.  The epic performance was slightly unusual as he didn’t have his signature high K total (only 5), and he managed to induce 16 ground ball outs.  To me, the most impressive number of the night “zero”, as in zero walks allowed by Daisuke.  Control has been the biggest nagging issue for Matsuzaka, and he did an excellent job keeping the ball in the zone without getting into too much trouble.  There was some hard contact off of him, and quite a few outs were hit fortunately right at our fielders, but Matsuzaka kept most of the Tigers hitters off balance throughout the game.

Of course, pitching was not the only story of the day.  The Sox managed to out-hit the NL Central leaders 15 to 6.  One thing I’ve been noticing about this team thus far in 2007: they seem to have a penchant for scoring runs with 2 outs.  The team has been coming up with the big hits with 2 outs more often than I can remember in any other season, and last night against Nate Robertson was a good example.  As a team, the Sox are hitting .294/.419/.503 with 2 outs and men in scoring position (not including last night).  These stats are from a sample of over 200 plate appearances.  Now, there are many folks who brush aside stats like this as coincidence or dumb luck, and some other folks who insist that clutch ability exists.  I am somewhere in the middle camp (sitting happily on the fence), but it is interesting and refreshing to see the team come through like this on a regular basis.

So, which players have been the biggest ”clutch” performers thus far?  Here are some numbers with 2 outs and runners in scoring position:

David Ortiz: .389.522/.778 – Shocking, I know.
Mike Lowell: .333/.500/.800 – But, remember, he has a slow bat.
Dustin Pedroia: .300/.500/.700 – only 14 PAs, but give the kid some credit.
J.D. Drew: .250/.455/.563 - Forget about how terrible he looked against Mr. Robertson last night. 
Kevin Youkilis: .400/.526/.400 – Excellent hitting, hideous beard.
Manny Ramirez: .250/.375./550 - Should be feared, still.

Another nice takeaway from last night: our 7-8-9 hitters (Jason Varitek, Coco Crisp, Pedroia) each had 2 hits, inlcuding 3 straight singles to set up the back-breaking Julio Lugo triple in the 8th inning.  Crisp, in particular, had really been struggling heading into last night’s contest.

Speaking of Lugo, the combination of his blazing speed and my notorious generosity is landing me in the po’-house.  The aforementioned Julio Lugo is now 12 for 12 in stolen base attempts (although he should have been out last night, his SB was a gift), and I happened to pledge $5 to the RISPCA for every Lugo SB before the season began.  At this rate, the SPCA will own my car by October.

Tonight at 7:05, we have a very interesting pitching matchup.  The fireballing Justin “That’s a cardboard cut-out, that don’t count” Verlander (3-2, 2.83) will take on the league leader in ERA, Tim Wakefield (4-3, 1.79).

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By Jimmy, 5/14/2007 6:29 am

Baltimore 5
Boston 6

The good news?  The Red Sox shocked a full house at Fenway Park on Mother’s Day, scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5.

The bad news?  My favorite character was “whacked” from the Sopranos last night.  Well, actually, there’s more bad news: Boston’s ace, Josh Beckett, left the game early with torn skin on his middle finger. 

As you can tell from my pessimistic diatribe below, the game was not looking good throughout most of the action.  Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie was dominating this game like Arlo Guthrie dominated Woodstock.  He limited the Sox to only 3 hits in 8.1 innings, inducing ground balls like Lindsay Lohan induces erections and coke deals.  However, the Baltimore bullpen completely imploded in the 9th inning, capping off the rally by a throwing error from closer Chris Ray, which allowed the tying and winning runs to score. 

Let’s take a look at Julio Lugo, the guy who hit the game winning single and created the critical Baltimore error with his speed down the first-base line.  Lugo is batting .400 is his last 6 games (even after his 1-5 performance on Sunday), and seems to be making excellent contact with the ball, even on outs.      

Getting back to Josh Beckett: according to the post game reports, the skin on Beckett’s middle finger was completely torn off.  Just some uninformed, irresponsible speculation on my part, but could this be a byproduct of Beckett’s increased reliance on the curveball this season?  If so, it wouldn’t bode well, since the biggest catalyst of his improvement in 2007 has been the mixing on his curve to supplement that 97 MPH heater.  Anyway, this is just speculation.  Right now, it’s just “wait and see”, and we’ll have to wait for more news as to whether this will cause him to miss any starts.  In what may be related news, Jon Lester threw off a mound today, and told Tina Cervasio that he “felt good”.  Hopefully, we won’t need him to fill a hole vacated by #19, but the possibility is there.  Another likely starting candidate is Devern Hansack (now starting back in Pawtucket), David Pauley, who has pitched extremely well in AAA, and Kason Gabbard, a left-handed option from Pawtucket, also having a nice season in the Ocean State. 

With the Yankees losing to Seattle, and the Red Sox win over Baltimore, Boston is now 8 games in front in the AL East.  But, at what cost, ladies and gentlemen? 

At what cost?

Monday: the Tigers pounce on Fenway Park.  Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-2, 4.80) takes on Nate Robertson (3-2, 3.43). 

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By Jimmy, 5/13/2007 1:19 pm

After 4 strong innings (2 hits, 7 Ks) and only 64 pitches, Josh Beckett has left the game with an apparent injury.  NESN calls the injury “an irritated middle finger”, which sounds kind of funny (have you ever seen a middle finger that wasn’t irritated?), but I really have no idea what the implications are at this point.

Anyway, he is relieved by Kyle Snyder, who gave up a run in about 50 seconds.  This game has gone to shit fairly quickly.

Will update Monday morning.

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By Jimmy, 5/11/2007 4:40 am

Boston 8
Toronto 0

Once again, the Red Sox took all the drama out of the game fairly early, as they waltzed to a victory and a sweep of the lowly Toronto Blue Jays.  Right now, the Jays are like that bird that smacks into your living room window, breaking its neck.  It’s still alive, but barely, and it’s floundering around pathetically on your back porch, desperately hoping for a neighborhood cat to come along and end its horrible existence. 

I feel the end may be nigh for Toronto manager John Gibbons.  This team has too much talent to be playing this poorly.  It might not necessarily be his fault, but he’ll likely take the hit.  The team is now firmly in last place after their 9th straight loss, and they could not look worse in the field.  Right now, the only thing this team has going for them is Sal Fasano‘s mustache.  If they could somehow find away to draw energy from Fasano’s amazing ‘stache, perhaps they could recapture some of that swagger that made them the third AL East powerhouse in 2006.

For the second straight start, All-Star starter Roy Halladay was beaten up badly, allowing the most runs over two starts that he has ever allowed in such a span.  Things were under control until the third inning, when the Sox delivered 6 straight 2-out hits, including the back-breaker: a Mike Lowell 3-run golf shot over the left field wall.  Halladay was noticably less sharp than usual; his fastball was only around 90 MPH, which made his slider much less deceptive (Lowell’s HR was on a low slider). 

Tim Wakefield, on the other hand, finally got some run suport to go along with his beautiful pitching performance, as he allowed only 3 hits in 7 scoreless innings.  He now stands at 4-3 with a minuscule 1.79 ERA, and has been arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball thus far this season.  The game was finished off by Hideki Okajima (who threw his 800th inning of the season), and J.C. Romero.

It was refreshing to see J.D. Drew with a couple of hits, hopefully emerging from the cocoon of futility which had entrapped him over the past week and a half.  One of his hits was a Texas-Leaguer, and if you believe what “they” say, sometimes that type of thing gets you out of a slump.  Of course, that sounds silly, and we can only hope that he just gets a better read on the ball going forward, perhaps with a tad more confidence after a mulitple-hit game.

Also joining in on the hit parade was Kevin Youkilis with 2 doubles and a single.  Kevin, who seemed to be hobbling a bit after being nailed by several pitches recently, raised his OPS to .873 after his 3-5 performance.  Alex Cora also chipped in 2 hits, which actually decreased his batting average to .415, and continued to make our second base situation interesting.  Manny Ramirez had a couple of singles, raising his batting average to .250.

Tonight, the Sox come home and take on a bird of a different color, the Baltimore Orioles (16-18).  Julian Tavarez will try to pace the Sox to their 4th straight victory, as he takes the hill against rookie left-hander (UH-OH!) Brian Burress.  Burress has pitched well, fanning 18 in 17 innings, but he does have control issues, with 10 walks over those 17 innings.  Hopefully he takes pity on the Red Sox offense, who tend to lie down like diseased three-legged dogs at the feet of rookie lefties.  I’m actually kidding, because I’m fairly confident the Sox will handle this kid tonight.  Those control issues will not play well against this offense right now, and the more patient bats (Jason Varitek, Dustin Pedroia) will likely be back in the lineup. 

After this recent streak, there just isn’t much for me to gripe about. I’ll leave you with 2 intriguing stats:

1) Mike Lowell now has only 1 less HR (7) than he does strikeouts (8).
2) The last time the Red Sox had a 7-game lead in their division was 1995 (which is, incidentally, the last time the Sox won the division).

Enjoy your weekend.

Comments (8)

By Zach, 5/10/2007 7:35 am

Call it workmanlike, stoic, or boring.  Daisuke Matsuzaka doesn’t have the fire we saw this spring.  Maybe he’s been humbled a bit by the best hitters in the world or the cultural adjustment has worn, but something is missing. I can’t complain about the results on Wednesday, or any start thus far.  But I’m looking for something more.  My buddy Eric’s take: “He pitches like Pedro, but without the chip on his shoulder.”  Is that what I loved so much about Pedro?

I’ve been lulled to sleep by this starting rotation.  Beyond their vanilla personalities, they’ve been so good that each win seems like the expected outcome and each loss a terrible surprise.  Well, Julian Tavarez has been neither awesome nor boring, so I guess that’s why I look forward to his starts more than say, Josh Beckett’s.  If wins are expected, they simply aren’t as fun.

Pedro was fun to watch because he brought the best to their knees, but he was so fragile that at any moment his shoulder could explode and his season would be over.  Daisuke has some attitude, but it’s been buried inside for his last three or four appearances.  Let the fire out.  No one on this staff would think about throwing Don Zimmer to the ground; Pedro didn’t think twice.  More importantly, no one on this staff would provoke Don Zimmer.

I’m sure its just because the Red Sox don’t have a challenger in the division at the moment, but I haven’t enjoyed the recent success as much as I should have.  Excuse me, when I say “challenger” I should say the Yankees.  I need them to be in this race so that I may enjoy the roller coaster that will undoubtedly ensue.

Thursday:

Tim Wakefield (2-3, 2.11, 1.20) at Roy Halladay (4-1, 3.59, 1.06)

Examining the simple stats I’ve listed above reveals some interesting trends.  Wakefield has a ERA around 40% lower than Halladay, yet his WHIP is significantly higher.  This can either mean he has prevented fewer baserunners from scoring or the defense has been weaker around him, allowing unearned runs.  Also, Halladay’s record of 4-1 with a relatively poor ERA suggests he gets better run support, or has allowed his runs in bunches.  The former is true, he’s consistently given up 1-3 runs in each start in typical Halladay fashion, and has won because of decent support.  We all know Wakefield has gotten poor support and has been arguably best pitcher on the Red Sox.  Regardless, this is not a comparison I expected to write in April.

As you might expect, several Jays have faced Wakefield upwards of 30 times.  The only number that stands out is Vernon Wells’ .631 OPS.  Some guys can’t hit the knuckler, and it appears Vernon is one of them.  Ortiz loves hitting Halladay (5 HR, 16 RBI, .932 OPS, 63 ABs), and Lowell has raked (1.326 OPS) in a small sample.

Around the league, Brandon McCarthy faces Chien Ming-Wang in the “Present and Future” game and Tim Hudson goes against David Wells.

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By Zach, 5/9/2007 6:20 am

I’m sorry, DP.

I missed your first homer of 2007.  I feel like a Dad that missed his son’s first little league game.  What’s my excuse? I wasn’t saving a kitten from a tree or at the office bangin’ out those TPS reports – I was shopping.  Gasp! Hiss! Boo!  Calm down, I’ll just say it wasn’t by choice and I made it home for the bottom of the second.

While Pedroia’s blast put the Sox on top, it was Lowell’s that put the game in the W column.  Cy Beckett was efficient and Victor Zambrano was as terrible as ever.  I think I could have hit a bomb off him, or at least grounded out.  Some gamesmen engaged in some gamesmanship in the fifth; John Gibbons took offense to the Red Sox barrage of offense and sent Casey Jannsen out to hit Youkilis, taking him out of the game.  Who would have thought? Our Youk is now the target of other teams’ rage! How cute.  The lack of reciprocation could mean only one thing: no one cared as much as John Gibbons.

Not only did the Sox escape with Cy’s seventh win, they decimated the Blue Jays bullpen.  The trail of carcasses included Shawn Marcum, Jannsen, Brian Tallet, Jeremy Accardo, and Jason Frasor.  If your “closer” comes into a seven run game, things are not going well.  If that closer gets knocked around, you might want to take a step back and reevaluate.  All those guys are probably available today, but it will change Gibbons’ use (or misuse) of the pen.  The only two he didn’t touch are Scott Downs and Josh Towers.  With Tomo Ohka going on the mound, it could be another long day for the Toronto pen.

Wednesday:

Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-2, 5.45, 1.32) at Tomo Ohka (2-3, 5.50, 1.42)

Lowell (13-39, 3 HR) and Wily Mo (14 ABs, 2 HR) have had the most success against Ohka, but this will be the third time he has faced the Sox this season.  As Don Orsillo so eloquently pointed out, this is the first matchup of two native born Japanese pitchers…since Ohka faced Mac Suzuki.  Hopefully this one is more notable.  Daisuke looks to bounce back from a 5 walk, 1 strike out performance against the Mariners.  Apparently his off day routine has been overhauled, which seems like a strange solution to scattered mental lapses.

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By Jimmy, 5/8/2007 6:12 am

~ Don’t blame The Rocket.  I can’t stress this enough to Red Sox fans, even though I am in the vast minority here.  I’m hearing the words “Mercenary” and “Texas Con Man” being thrown around quite a bit, but the fact is, the Yankees outbid the Red Sox by a whopping $10 million.  Clemens made the same choice that 99.99% of you would have made. 

~ It comes down to the situation: New York was desperate for pitching, and a desperate animal will go to extreme measures to survive.  If you corner a red squirrel, that squirrel will tear out your vas deferens.  Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. 

~ Just tip your cap to Theo Epstein for driving up the price a little, and don’t let this effect your personal opinion of #21.  He’ll go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Red Sox cap (barring a change in the cap policy), and I feel sorry for the Red Sox fans who will refuse to enjoy that moment. 

~ The one thing that disappoints me about the Clemens deal is that I am now forced to root against him.  I enjoyed watching him pad his win totals and ERA in the weak National League Central, but now I must root for him to lose every game (again).  It’s not easy; his 20 K game in 1986 was the reason I became the fanatic I am now.

~ Last season with Houston, Roger averaged 5.96 innings per start.  Now that he is moving to the AL East, a league with some powerful, patient DH types (rather than pitchers hitting 9th), and with another year on that arm, we can expect that number to decrease a bit.  If New York is hoping Clemens will take the burden off of their overworked bullpen, they might be in for a rude awakening.

~ Roger’s ERA during his first 5 seasons with the Yankees: 3.99 (at ages 36-40).  Pretty good.  If healthy, I can see him pitching to the tune of 125 innings and a 4.25 ERA.  Again, pretty good, certainly an improvement over the Chase Wrights and Matt DeSalvos of the world.  But, $28 mil?

~ Clemens’ salary during that same stint with the Yankees? $10.3 million dollars.  When your economics professor tells you that inflation is around 3%, point to this and laugh at him.

~ Dan Shaughnessy is letting his bitter personal feud with Curt Schilling ooze onto the pages of the Boston Globe in every column he writes, and it’s actually quite amusing.  Of course, Schilling fires quite a few shots in CHB’s direction, so the barbs aren’t exactly unprovoked, but shouldn’t a guy who is considered one of the most prominent sportswriters in America have thicker skin, and be able to do his job without letting Curt dominate every thought?

~ Bronson Arroyo is looking impressive once again in Cincinnati.  Pitching much better than I would have thought in that junior high school ballpark.  Credit where credit is due.

~ Why is the theme song on the new “Kentucky Fried Chicken” commercials none other than “Sweet Home Alabama”?  I’m waiting to hear the new Legal Seafood commercials with Ravi Shankar’s satir in the background. 

~ I can read your mind.  Let me guess, you were wondering “What ever happened to Mark Bellhorn?”  I knew it!  Well, he’s in AAA Louisville, and having an excellent Bellhornian year: .277/.406/.506, but with 20 Ks in 86 at-bats.

~ Sox CF prospect Jacoby Ellsbury update: .435/.510/.600, 8 stolen bases, split between AA and AAA.  At his point, he might be among the Top 20 prospects in baseball.

~ Brendan Donnelly has been used in less than 9 innings (nearly half that of Hideki Okajima).  Terry Francona should really have a bit more faith in this guy.  Donnelly can be a nice 8th inning asset when Okajima needs a rest.

~ Derrek Lee is back with a vengeance, hitting .414/.496/.612 for the Chicago Cubs, and looking like the monster that he was back in 2005.

~ If anyone is feeling like complaining about their team’s radio or TV announcers, I implore you, please try listening to Suzyn Waldman.  Just don’t do it while there are any sharp objects or poisons within reach.  Her voice reminds me of something from my early childhood, and I just can’t pinpoint it.  It might be The Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. 

~ Tonight, the renovated ace Josh Beckett takes the hill against Victor Zambrano, a name that has become synonymous with disappointment in the pitching department.  Vegas would tell you that the Sox take this one, but it just seems like the perfect let-down game, doesn’t it?