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By Jimmy, 11/15/2011 10:57 am

As the departure of bullpen ace Jonathan Papelbon leaves a glaring hole in an already-unstable bullpen, the Red Sox will now need to find an impact arm or two to fill his absence.

There are some direct way to go about doing this, such as offer a large contract to a notable MLB closer such as Ryan Madson (the guy who Papelbon is replacing in Philadelphia). However, as we’ve seen with Papelbon’s new contract, pitchers with an established reputation as a closer will demand top dollar in this free-agent market. Let’s face it, teams aren’t just paying for the numbers, they are paying for the “bulldog mentality” or whatever intangibles are supposedly inherent in a guy who can finish close baseball games on a nightly basis. The magnitude of impact that these intangibles have on performance (assuming they even exist) is quite debatable, which leads me to believe that this may be an area where a more savvy GM can save a bit of coin without sacrificing too much in terms of actual talent.

I’ve always been a strong supporter of two types of moves:

1. Acquiring a middle reliever with good peripheral numbers but little/no closer experience.
2. Attempting to convert an inconsistent starting pitcher with good “stuff” into a reliever.

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By Jimmy, 10/31/2011 9:14 am

The solid play of Marco Scutaro in 2011 made it a certainty that the Red Sox would pick up his $6 million option for 2012. The decision is made even easier by Jed Lowrie’s inability to stay healthy, as well as Jose Iglesias’ inability to hit AAA pitching.  While the latter might change, it doesn’t seem like the former ever will, and Lowrie will always be a “10th man” type of player.

Keeping in mind the fact that Scutaro celebrated his 36th birthday yesterday, the Sox will need to brace themselves for the inevitable plummit in productivity which may or may not occur next season.  The easy approach would be to use a loose RHP/LHP platoon with Lowrie, who hits left-hand pitching very well.  A more bold approach would be to kick the tires on free-agent superstar Jose Reyes, shop Lowrie, and use Scutaro as a utility infielder. This, of course, is less likely.

Other notes:

• In relation to my Reyes note above, the worst possible effect of the John Lackey / Carl Crawford contracts would be Red Sox management and ownership becoming irrationally gun shy on the free agent market. Even ignoring the strong possibility that Crawford turns things around next season, there have been many, many success stories resulting from teams taking on long-term risk in free agency. Consider where the Yankees would have been without C.C. Sabathia over the past few years, or the Cardinals without Matt Holliday. Or, the 2004-2007 Red Sox without one Manuel Aristides Ramirez.  We can only hope that Ben Cherington isn’t the reactionary type.
• The Sox begin interviewing candidates for the manager role today, starting with Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin. My early wager is on DeMarlo Hale being promoted internally, but I suppose a lot of that will depend on the scope of the political fallout (if any) from Terry Francona’s departure.

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By Jimmy, 10/21/2011 12:57 pm

Pitching coach Curt Young is the latest staff member to grab the nearest unoccupied escape pod and blast his way to safety. Young, who I was very optimistic about when the Sox initially hired him last Novermber,  returns to his previous job in Oakland.

While the Red Sox clearly have their problems, the Oakland A’s have not had a winning season in 5 years.  I guess, sometimes, the low-hanging fruit tastes pretty sweet.

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By Jimmy, 10/19/2011 9:08 am

2004:  ”Oh look, they were drinking Jack Daniels and eating KFC!  LOL!  What a bunch of blue collar dirt dogs!  Look at them taking shots together. What great chemistry! This really was a team of destiny!”

2011: “Oh my God, they were drinking beer and eating Popeye’s! How DARE they disrespect the game like that!  They clearly lost all of their desire to win! I want a full investigation into this!  WHY WON’T ANYBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!”

The point is: as always, it’s all about winning. Public opinion will be framed around the on-field result. Kevin Millar could have passed around a spoonful of black tar heroin during the 2004 ALCS, and the media would have found a positive spin on it.

Interestingly enough, in both 2004 and 2011, the team was one strike away from a very, very different media narrative.

Some other thoughts on BeerGate:

• I felt a little better about the situation when I heard that the Lester/Beckett/Lackey trio was drinking Bud Light. These guys weigh 250 lbs, they would have to drink a gallon of that swill to feel any sort of impairment. If anything, it quenched their thirst.
• A lot of people are more outraged over the rumor that the pitchers might have been drinking in the dugout, as opposed to the clubhouse. But really, why does it matter? The situation is the same: drinking during a game in which they were not scheduled to pitch. Is the dugout somehow more sacred than the clubhouse?  It certainly doesn’t look like it, with all of the sunflower seeds and tobacco spit on the floor.
• It appears that everyone is assuming Larry Lucchino leaked this story, but I don’t buy it. If there’s one thing Lucchino is not, it’s stupid. He wouldn’t create this sort of shitstorm over his own organization. My guess is that the source is much lower in paygrade, someone you’ve probably never heard of. A middle-management type, or perhaps even a clubhouse employee.
• The one thing that I am a tad outraged over is that it appears that (according to Jon Lester’s rundown on the situation) some of the team was treating Terry Francona like the blind substitute teacher in a 6th grade social studies class. Just walking all over him with little regard to authority. Francona has always had a laissez-faire style of leadership, but it seems as if some of the players were taking advantage of that.

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By Jimmy, 7/5/2011 10:12 am

Now that the actual MLB All-Star rosters have been constructed, it’s time to do what every other baseball fan with spare times does at this point: pedantically critique the selections and offer our own unsolicited opinion on the matter.

Here are my 2011 All-Star rosters:

The names in blue are players I selected, but were left off of the real All-Star teams.  The names in grey are the final omissions from my All-Star squads, names that I had difficulty leaving out.  I did adhere to the mandatory representative rule, so every MLB team has an All-Star amongst my selections.

Now, let’s take a look at the scrubs; the guys who don’t deserve to be going to Phoenix for this year’s Mid-Summer Classic:

American League Scrubs:

1) Derek Jeter, SS, Yankees
No commentary is really needed.  It’s been said thousands of times before.  Jeter is a living, breathing example of a flawed system.  If he really did “respect the game” or whatever, he would gracefully bow out and allow a more deserving player to take in the festivities (there are about 5 other shortstops who fit this description).

2) Jose Valverde, RP, Tigers
In modern-day baseball, as a general rule, closers tend to be overrated and middle-relievers tend to be underrated.  The All-Star game is an annual reminder of this.  Jose Valverde averages 5 walks per 9 innings, and is the third-best reliever on his own team.  I could probably find at least 20 other relief pitchers in the American League who I’d rather call upon in a close situation.

3) Michael Young, DH, Rangers
I guess I just don’t understand the logic of choosing an actual DH to be the “backup DH” on your team, unless that DH happens to be the best hitter available for the spot (Young isn’t). I’d much rather have seen Konerko in this role.

National League Scrubs:

1) Chipper Jones, 3B, Braves
The Jeter selection is almost understandable, because he was chosen by idiots.  You don’t blame a dog for shitting in your yard, you just grab a plastic bag and deal with it.  This, however, is ridiculous.  An actual baseball person selected Chipper Jones to be an All-Star, in a year where he is one of the most unproductive third basemen in the league.  Yes, he’s a future Hall of Famer.  Yes, he deserves recognition for his play over the past 18 years.  But, this isn’t the proper forum for that.

2)  Jonny Venters, RP, Braves
Yeah, an ironic choice, given what I wrote about Jose Valverde.  Venters is a middle reliever who was chosen instead of the closer on his own team (Kimbrel) who is having a much more dominant season.  It looks like the selection was based upon ERA, and not much else.

3) Brian Wilson, RP, Giants
He’s a MLB poster boy, and he’ll probably go to a few more All-Star Games before his career is over, but 2011 hasn’t been a standout year for him.  There are a bunch of other more deserving pitchers.

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By Jimmy, 6/14/2011 8:43 am

Just a few quick thoughts as I try to get back on my regular schedule after a few grueling weeks.  Yes; recaps, previews, and rankings will continue here posthaste.

• HBO’s Game of Thrones is currently the best show on television, and last Sunday’s episode left me unable to sleep.  With all the different versions of “NCIS”, “Top Chef”, and “30 Yuppies Fighting Over an Expensive Prostitute” (or whatever that show is actually called), it’s great to once again have something worth using the DVR space on.
• If the NBA Finals had gone a different way, I probably would have lost 100% of my interest in the league.  Lebron James is simply too despicable.  This guy actually made statements after the game to the effect of “It’s God’s plan for me to eventually win” and “My critics are just bitter because they’re poor and miserable”, and such.  Sure, I am poor and miserable, but correlation doesn’t equal causation, Bron!
• Before the 2010 season, I predicted a bust-out All Star campaign from Jacoby Ellsbury that included a modest increase in power to go along with his high batting average and dominance of the basepaths.  Of course, he had his collision with Adrian Beltre and that never happened.  However, I feel somewhat vindicated considering his torrid play this season.  Right now, he is one of the best lead-off hitters in the game.
• Beer recommendation: this is something that I imagine would be very difficult to get outside of the Boston area, but there is a local craft brewery called “Pretty Things” that has a few outstanding selections.  Yeah, the name is a little dainty and they’ll likely serve it to you in a tulip glass, but once you swallow your pride and have a sip or two, you’ll thank me.
• While it seems like just about everyone on the Red Sox roster is on fire, the one guy who was hitting back in April has cooled down considerably.  Jed Lowrie is hitting .226/.293/.323  since May 1st.
• J.D. Drew has also been quiet this year, but sadly, I think it’s a function of him getting old.  Drew, of course, was always injury prone, but when you hit your mid thirties, the tightness and the soreness that once would go away in a 24 hour span now lingers for quite a bit longer.  It’s not a fun thing to encounter.
• Catching prospect Ryan Lavarnway, a guy who has shown an improvement in his defense this year, has been promoted to Pawtucket.  He is certainly someone to keep an eye on.
• The one thing that will get me out of my seat quickly: seeing Sarah McLachlan appear on the television.  As soon as her Canadian face pops up on my screen, a frantic scramble for the remote ensues.  I swear, I’m like Vince Wilfork going after a loose ball; my lightning-quick hands and feet propelled by immense fury and hunger as I grab that piece of plastic and push either the “Channel Up” or “Channel Down” button (it doesn’t matter which).  I have nothing against Sarah or her music, but I just don’t feel like seeing any more footage of a one-eyed puppy, you know?
• A re-worked prospect list will be published shortly, however, I’m not going to include any of the draftees until they actually sign.

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By Jimmy, 6/6/2011 8:29 am

Early June is usually a busy time in sports (mostly of the non-baseball variety), so the Amateur Draft will occasionally sneak up on you if your mind is on other things, as it did to me here.

This is one of those years that you will want to pay close attention, as the Red Sox have 4 picks in the first 40, and their rivals down in St. Petersburg have 10 picks (!) in the first 60.

We’ll provide coverage of the Red Sox draft picks in real-time, or close to it, depending on my work schedule.

As far as a preview goes, there are quite a bit of interesting prospects but the one that stands out to me is a high school outfielder from Texas by the name Josh Bell.  Bell is committed to attend the University of Texas and has reportedly made statements suggesting he will be very difficult to sign, but the Red Sox are known to pursue this type of prospect and have the financial resources to make just about any high school kid break their academic commitments.

Much to my chagrin, the first day of the draft is now held at night; it will be televised tonight at 6pm on the MLB Network.  It’s a practice that began last year, and I still haven’t warmed to the idea.  For decades, professional baseball has slowly been migrating from a daytime sport to a nighttime one.  The new MLB Draft is just the latest example of that.  I should probably just stop my bitching and accept it.  So, I will.

Heck in here tonight for draft coverage and commentary.

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By Jimmy, 5/4/2011 2:08 pm

Notes

• Bobby Abreu has faced Josh Beckett 101 times in his career, more than any other hitter in the game.  The 2nd guy on that list is Captain Intangibles (Derek Jeter) with 83 plate appearances against Beckett.
• The Sox have now won 15 out of their last 16 games against the Angels.

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By Jimmy, 4/28/2011 9:23 am

“This is a Hockey Town”

Box Score

The Reverse Lock Theory was applied at Camden Yards last night, as Red Sox hitters were not able to generate any offense against the awesomely mediocre Jeremy Guthrie, while Josh Beckett gave up four runs.  I suppose I deserve this after mocking Luke Scott yesterday.  He did not seem to be phased by the thick coating of egg on his face, hitting a 2-run blast in the 4th inning, and proudly flipping his bat (much to Beckett’s chagrin).  You might call the move a “Freedom Flip”.

Top 5 Goats

Silver Lining

Jacoby Ellsbury, again, looks to be hitting line drives much more often that what we’ve seen since his injury.  However, his defense is another story…

Quote of the Day

“Those things have a way of working themselves out.”

- Josh Beckett, implying Luke Scott will experience four-seam retribution for his post-HR bat flip.

Whenever Josh Beckett is angry, there tends to be a few of these to choose from.  It was a difficult decision, but the above quote wins by a narrow margin over “Is this TMZ?!“ 

Prospect Watch

• AA – Miguel Tejeda again had a good night, going 2 for 2 with 2 walks.  Just like that, he’s now hitting a respectable .296/.345/.426 on the year.
• High A – Salem scored 16 runs on 17 hits in the first game of their double-header, and were shut out on 4 hits in the second.  Most of the regulars had at least two hits in the first game, but catcher Dan Butler in particular continues to shine, now hitting an other-worldly .362/.455/.745.

Off-Topic Rant:

I’m a 98.5 FM “The Sports Hub” listener.  The night guy, Damon Amendolara, is OK in my opinion.  He’s listenable and seems to be knowledgeable enough, he seems like a decent guy, and he’s a paisan so I give him the benefit of the doubt.  However, he never really keeps my attention or adds any insight beyond what most dedicated sports fans already know.

Now, let me add that I don’t know very much about hockey, so I could be talking out of my ass here.  In a late-night Tweet after the Bruins won in OT, Amedolara wrote this: “B’s proved they are a different team than last year’s el choko. Thank God.” Given how easily they could have lost that game, and how easily they could have won Game 7 against the Flyers last year, is this really true?  Does that OT goal suddenly prove that this team is much different that the one we watched last year?  This seems like sports radio cliche-ism at its worst.  And I don’t mean to pick on D.A., because he’s certainly not the only guy who says this type of thing on air or in print.  I read and hear statements like this quite a bit (regarding all four major sports), and it annoys me each time; absolute proclamations about a team or player’s make-up based on one isolated moment that could have easily gone in either direction.

Again, I don’t know hockey, so somebody school me if I’m off base here.

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By Jimmy, 4/27/2011 12:55 pm

Most of you are quite familiar with Baltimore starter Jeremie Guthrie, as he’s a guy the Red Sox have faced 3 or 4 times per season for the past several years.  Guthrie is the type of pitcher where you can’t help but wonder how he manages to be as effective as he is.  He’s not a strikeout pitcher, and he’s not a ground ball pitcher, yet he’s been the most reliable pitcher in Baltimore over the last few seasons.

While Guthrie has pitched well so far in 2011, the Red Sox (and their left-handed hitters in particular) have crushed him in the past.  This could be one of those nights where the Sox approach double-digits in the runs column.

Speaking of Luke Scott, check out his numbers against Beckett.  Yikes.  Will he take out his Real American Joe Sixpack™ rage against those blue-blooded elitists from Boston?  We shall see.

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By Jimmy,

Normally these matters are above my pay grade, but since the Red Sox are playing the Orioles this week I figured I’d quickly touch on the subject.

Baltimore left fielder Luke Scott is a notorious nutcase, and has been in the news quite a bit for spewing his swamp muck encrusted opinions in front of any microphone within spitting distance.

For example, here’s a Luke Scott gem regarding the current President of the United States: 

“He was not born here”.

Well, it turns out that he sort of was.

If you are interested in heckling this guy (it’s your constitutional right as a Real American, dag nabbit!) there are plenty of empty seats in Camden Yards.  I think my undergraduate alma mater baseball team drew a bigger crowd that the one on Eutaw Street last night, and I went to a shitty Division II school.

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By Jimmy, 4/25/2011 3:16 pm

It’s a little late, but I’ve finally added a Power Rankings page to the site.  See here (or click the “Power Rankings” link at the top of the page).

My formula for each team’s power score goes something like this:

.10 (Prior Year Coefficient) + .05 (Age Coefficient) + .35 (Predicted Win Coefficient) + .50 (Actual Performance)

• Prior Year Coefficient = a number based on the team’s Pythagorean record in 2010.
• Age Coefficient = a number based on the team’s average age (used to deflate scores based on injury probabilities).
• Predicted Win Coefficient = A number that I determine based on how many wins I believe a team will have at the end of the season, based on current information.
• Actual Performance = a number based on the team’s current Pythagorean Record.

The first two variables will remain constant over the course of the season (I might update the average ages after the trading deadline), while the last two will be changing regularly.

This clearly isn’t an exact science, and I may tinker with the formula in the future if I find a better way to do this.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s logo website, which is worth checking out for any baseball fan.  The historical logos are especially interesting.

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By Jimmy, 4/22/2011 12:52 pm

It’s Good Friday, so naturally, the pitching matchup is…good.

I’m assuming Kevin Youkilis will be out of the lineup tonight, since a) he sustained a minor injury yesterday, and b) he’s struggled against Haren (.188/.188/.188 in 16 plate appearances).

Other notes:

• Today is Terry Francona’s 52nd birthday.
• I’ll be touching on the proposed playoff expansion in the next couple of days.

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By Jimmy,

One of the things that has caught the discerning eyes of Red Sox fans this season (aside from Jed Lowrie’s ability to cure leprosy) is the decrease in velocity on Clay Buchholz’ fastball.  In the past, Clay’s heater sat at around 94 MPH, and was one of the faster pitches among the collective arsenal of all American League starters.   This season, however, he’s been at least 2 MPH slower, and he’s certainly looked a bit more hittable than he was in his All-Star campaign.

So, I decide to take a look at all of MLB to see if there was any sort of trend, or if Clay’s situation was unique.

The following graphs lists all pitchers who had a fastball averaging at least 90 MPH in April of last season, and their change in velocity from April 2010 to April 2011.  Data courtesy of Fangraphs.com.  The list is sorted with the most improved (David Price) on top, and the largest regression (Ubaldo Jimenez) on the bottom.

It does appear that most pitchers are showing less velocity in 2011 than they did in early 2010.  Not only Buchholz, but Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and a slew of other starters across the league.  There are some clear injury-related cases (Jimenez, Hughes), but even when you factor out those cases, the skew is clear.

I’m sure much of this can be chalked up to some sort of error term; radar guns are far from reliable and consistent.  However, this will be an interesting trend to monitor over the course of the season.

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By Jimmy, 4/21/2011 1:58 pm

As the Sox travel south on the Pacific Coast Highway and pull into Anaheim, they will prepare to face a pitcher whom they’ve never seen before, 21-year-old right-hander Tyler Chatwood.  Chatwood was the #4 prospect in the Angels organization, according to Fangraphs.

Now, maybe I’m falling into some sort of a heuristic bias trap here, but it seems like the Red Sox have generally struggled against this type of pitcher in recent years (a somewhat highly-touted rookie making one of his first few starts in the Majors).  This could be all in my head, or it could be a genuine trend attributable to the lack of data available for our hitters to use in preparation for the game.

In any event, here’s a quick scouting summary on Chatwood:

• 92-94 MPH 4-seam fastball
• Decent curveball
• Can be wild (3.7 BB/9 last year, combined)
• Isn’t a big strikeout pitcher (6.3 K/9 last year, combined)
• Was able to get lots of ground ball outs in the minors
• Pitched very well in Chicago in his last start (7 innings, 5 hits and 2 walks allowed)

It seems like the Red Sox might do well against this guy if they are patient and force him to throw strikes.  However, if the usual suspects get up there and choppity-chop-chop at everything in the zone, it could be a long, frustrating night with a lot of weak ground balls.

Here’s the pitcher vs. batter data:

Several of those Angels hitters have pounded Beckett in the past, but at this point you have to consider his split personality.  Were they facing the overweight Beckett who can’t throw his curveball without pulling an oblique muscle?  Or were they facing the current iteration of Beckett?  The differences are staggering.

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By Jimmy, 4/20/2011 11:07 am

The Red Sox were predictably flummoxed by Oakland’s good, young left-handed pitcher in yesterday’s loss.  Good thing they won’t be facing another pitcher like that tonight, right?  Oh, wait…

Gio Gonzalez, a 25-year-old lefty, is the current league leader in ERA (0.47).  If you have some episodes of House clogging up your DVR, tonight might be a good night to catch up on them.

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By Jimmy,

One of the (very few) problems with being a sports fan in New England is the fact that this region is a barren wasteland when it comes to big-time college sports.  Much of that has to do with the fact that the hyper-popular professional teams eat up most of the market share.

For example, let’s assume an average two-parent household in New England grosses $100,000 in earnings per year, and spends $2,000 of that on the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins (merchandise, television, tickets, concessions, etc.).   This same family is not likely to cough up an additional $1,000 to follow a local college team who happens to be playing well.  Think about all the other expenses their income will be allocated towards.

Now, let’s take a very similar family who lives in, say, Oklahoma.  This family is likely to spend very little on professional sports teams per year; maybe $100 for some Dallas Cowboys t-shirts and hats.  Thus, if a local college team is playing well, they are able to devote much more attention, and money, to the cause.

With these obstacles in place, it’s really cool to see that the University of Massachusetts football team will be moved up to the FBS (a.k.a Division 1-A) next season, and will play part of their schedule at Gillette Stadium.  There really aren’t many options if you’re a college football fan here.  The Harvard games can be interesting and competitive, but lower-tier in terms of talent.  BU’s team was stripped away in an unfortunate budgeting decision (this would not happen today).  And yes, there’s BC, but they are sort of like the Vatican: they’re geographically located here, but they’re not really part of the community.

If you had asked me last week “Who is your favorite college football team?”, I probably would have answered “South Carolina Gamecocks”.  It feels good to have a local option.

Go Minutemen.

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By Jimmy, 4/11/2011 1:07 pm

There are two big stories here, neither of which have much to do with action on the field.

1. Manny Ramirez: yadda yadda yadda.  The writers who believe in the Norman Rockwell world of baseball (where no one cheats and players hit home runs for sick children in hospitals) will keep Manny out of the Hall of Fame.  Ironically, they will vote for dozens of other players who have used PEDs, but were savvy or lucky enough to not get caught.
2. Johnny Damon: the polarizing outfielder returns to Fenway for the first time in a non-Yankees uniform.  He should receive a raucous ovation from every paying customer in the park, and I think the greeting he actually does receive is something around 80/20 (mostly cheers).  This is based on my experience at the stadium last night.  If I were to map this out on a Venn diagram, you’d see that most of the people who loudly participate in “Yankees suck” chants are generally the same ones who will still harbor resentment towards Damon.  Disclaimer: I myself have participated in these chants, but only in special occasions (bench clearing brawls, etc); I’m far from the perfect Red Sox fan.

As far as the on-field action goes:

This will be the first time seeing Hellickson for most of the Red Sox hitters.  He’s a right-hander with very good command of a low-90′s fastball, a changeup, and a curveball.  Hellickson was terrific in AAA last year, and impressive is a handful of innings at the Major League level.  He doesn’t walk many people (33/8 K/BB last year), so the Sox might have some difficulty if they try the patient approach tonight.

I’m guessing Kotchman gets the start tonight as he’s hit Matsuzaka very well in the past.

Frankly, this pitching matchup scares me.  In a perfect world, Hellickson would be a good guy for aggressive left-handed hitters to face, such as Ellsbury and Crawford.  The problem is, neither of those guys are hitting right now.

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By Jimmy, 4/8/2011 4:24 pm

Some breaking news on the Red Sox radio broadcast: Manny Ramirez, on the roster of the Tampa Bay Rays, has announced his retirement from professional baseball.

More on this later.

Update: There’s been some murmuring regarding a drug-related issue.  If this is actually a second violation, and not some residual issue from the first time he was caught, then a) he’s officially pissed away his Hall of Fame chances, and b) he’s officially the dumbest player in baseball history.

Update 4:40 pm:  It is a new violation.  Manny failed another drug test during spring training.  He was facing a 100 (one hundred) game suspension, so he decided to instead retire. Sigh…

Here’s an old piece I wrote on Manny, ranking the top “Manny Ramirez Moments” during his time in a Red Sox uniform.

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By Jimmy,

Maybe it’s a good thing that the Opening Day crowds at Fenway these days mostly consist of the indifferent scenesters (I don’t like using this term but you’ve probably heard them referred to as “Pink Hats”) and bridge-and-tunnel corporate types, similar to a Super Bowl.  Otherwise, you might hear a smattering of boos here and there.

And just as a side note, I actually much prefer sitting amongst Pink Hats (I’ll use this term again for the sake of brevity) than I do the self professed “real fans” who scream at J.D. Drew because his uniform isn’t dirty enough. The difference between the Pink Hats and the idiotic blowhards is that the former population usually has the self-awareness to admit that they don’t know everything.  That, and they’re typically nicer to look at.

Here’s the match-up data for the first Sox-Yanks game of the year:

Sully, the guy who used to write this blog before I came in and chased away most of the readers, notes that Scutaro is starting again, despite not faring well against Hughes in the past.