The Ugliest Win of 2009
For a game to be labeled “The Ugliest Win of 2009″, it needs to be extraordinarily ugly, because the 2009 Red Sox have played their fair share of stinkers. It needs to be uglier than that dog who wins the “ugliest dog” contests, the one who resembles a microwaved gremlin. Uglier than that British reality TV star who looks like John Candy in drag. Yes, last night’s victory surpasses all of that on the scale of hideousness.
Things Nick Green Can't Do, Volume XVII
The usually dominant trio of Josh Beckett, Dan Bard, and Jonathan Papelbon combined for 7.1 innings, 13 hits, 4 walks, and 9 earned runs. Thankfully, some timely offense coupled with some untimely Toronto errors allowed the Red Sox to reclaim a share of the Wild Card with the Texas Rangers.
If you didn’t realize how old this team is, hopefully you do now. On top of the usual issues Terry Francona has with trying to keep Mike Lowell from wandering aimlessly around the room during Wheel of Fortune, we now learn that Jason Varitek was a late scratch with a “stiff neck”. The ol’ rheumatis, I reckon. Yup, I guess that means rain tomorrow night. Seriously, as skeptical as I am of Varitek’s god-like status as a handler of pitchers, I cannot completely dismiss the theory that his absence had at least something to do with one of the most dominant pitchers in the game having one of the worst outings of his career. I think there will be a period of adjustment for Victor Martinez as he slowly usurps Varitek’s regular catching duties over the next month and a half, one that hopefully won’t lead to too many more outings like last night.
NOTES:
- Dustin Pedroia is on paternity leave. Not sure when he’ll be back in the lineup.
- Rocco Baldelli will make one more rehab appearance for Pawtucket before returning from the DL, hopefully bringing the Brian Anderson Era to a merciful end.
- John Smoltz appears to be on the verge of joining Julio Lugo on the St. Louis Cardinals. That’s the first place St. Louis Cardinals. If the Sox don’t make the playoffs, the irony of watching these two on national TV in October will be about as enjoyable as ripping out my eyeballs and cooking them in a fondue pot.
Why are you so skeptial about Veritek’s reputation as a great handler of pitchers? He is exceptional at that, and is oing to be an excellent coach/manager when his playing days are done, assuming he chooses to go that route.
It’s not Tek’s fault that Smoltz was just plain over-the-hill when he signed with Boston, or that Matsuzaka has what amonts to a phobia where “pitching to contact” is concerned.
This is the sort of thing I’m talking about. Not to single you out, because most Sox fans feel this way, but…going by your two examples, when guys like Dice-K and Smoltz have horrible outings, it’s 100% on them, Tek can’t be blamed. But when they are outstanding, he gets a large share of the praise. Why is that? Why does he not take heat when these pitchers are terrible, he only is a factor when they are good? What about Clay Buchholz being the worst pitcher in the AL last season, and spinning a gem last night with V-Mart behind the plate? No praise for Victor’s pitch-calling abilities?
Also, we are making a lot of assumptions when we claim that Tek will make a great manager. We don’t know how he’ll handle in-game strategy, bullpen management, ego management, ect. All we know about him is that he’s stoic and is regarded as a tough guy, which doesn’t always translate to greatness in the dugout.
I am a believer that most myths are in part based on reality, so he probably does have decent leadership characteristics and makes pitchers at least feel somewhat comfortable on the mound. But, I also think he gets far too much credit when things go well, while conveniently not shouldering any blame when things deteriorate.
If it was up to me, Victor Martinez would start most of this team’s games behind the plate.
Okay, I might have gone a little overboard saying he WILL be a great manager, but don’t you think he’s a better candidate for that kind of job than most players would be? Or that having Francona as a role model is a big advantage for him in that regard?
Do I think he would be a better manager than, say…Jonathan Papelbon? Certainly. Do I think he’d be better than some of the other guys on the team who aren’t blatant pinheads? Mike Lowell, Alex Gonzalez, Ellsbury, ect? I don’t know. Being a catcher is sort of a unique position where you need to have a hand in a lot of things, so all things being equal, a catcher would likely make a better manager than, say, a DH, a pitcher, or a left fielder. But would Varitek, specifically, make a better manager than the average MLB (or AAA – think Eric Wedge) catcher? I don’t know that. If a gun was held to my head and I had to guess if Varitek would be a better manager than the average MLB player, I would hesitantly say “yes”, based on what I know of him from TV and blogs like this. But would I bet my mortgage on it? No way.