Another Ludicrously Draining Series

After the Sunday night blip, the Red Sox clinched the series after more than a few plays going their way during the ALDS.

Now, after going 1-13 against the Red Sox in the post season since 1994, including 11 straight losses, I can understand the Angels being less than happy. I agree with the Halos' ace John Lackey when he says:

[On Sunday] they scored on a pop fly they called a hit, which is a joke

And it must be difficult to contain the emotions, and in fact it's not healthy to, after another difficult exit, but the Halos have many other points that I'll just give them the benefit of the doubt considering their new vacation plans.

[On Monday], they score on a broken-bat ground ball and a fly ball anywhere else in America [except in Fenway Park]. And [Pedroia's] fist-pumping on second like he did something great.

Ehh...yes. Pedroia kind of did. He used his surroundings to the fullest. Whilst the Green Monster turns what would have been fly ball outs into doubles, it also turns what would be line drive homeruns into doubles. Pedroia is a good example. On would on the surface expect that his diminutive stature is helped by the Green Monster, giving him a home run advantage at home. However, looking at his stats, it's the opposite. He's hit 7 of his 17 HRs at Fenway this season. True, of his 54 doubles, 35 came at home, clearly an advantage, but you have to wonder how many of those would have been a homerun in any other park.

Finally Lackey brings out the old chestnut to disparage the winning opponent:

We are way better than they are. We lost to a team not as good as us.

Ehh....no. If you win, you are better. If you lose, you are not. It's a pretty simple equation. Of course the Angels point to their league leading 100-62 regular season record. Looks good on paper, doesn't it?

A closer look points out that the Angels went 36-21 within the AL West, against such powerhouses as the Rangers (79-83 final record), Athletics (75-86) and of course the punching bags the Mariners (61-101) who the Halos went 14-5 against (The Red Sox when 6-3 against the Mariners). The Mariners won all season series agains their AL West opponents.

In comparison, the AL East had 4 out of 5 teams with winning records, with the Red Sox only winning one season series (Baltimore, 12-6), whilst tying the season 9-9 with the Blue Jays and Yankees and losing 8-10 against the Rays.

So sure, following the motto "You can only beat the team put in front of you" the Angels were clearly better in the regular season, including a spanking 8-1 record against the Red Sox.....

...but the Red Sox have gone from October hopeless to October hopefuls. The Red Sox, always sure to lose in the most agonising way in the post season, or even stumble on the last steps leading there, are now the mental giants of the pressure cooker that is October baseball (or November if we let the MLB decide).

No matter what obstacles arise, the Red Sox believe that plastic wrap will adorn the locker stalls come October. They expect closer Jonathan Papelbon to dance a jig eventually, designated hitter David Ortiz to man the clubhouse stereo with flair, and the home clubhouse carpet to require about four industrial strength cleanings over a four-week span.

The new mindset is analysed by ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, and it does indeed seem as the Red Sox is a different animal after its recent post season success. However, you only need to ask the Patriots if you think that a feeling of entitlement gets you anywhere...

(And as a matter of full disclosure - going into this series I thought Papelbon would be playing golf in Florida by now...)

Finally, a quick look at the upcoming ALCS;

Thankfully, the MLB seems to have listened to my complains about the starting times of many games ;)

Game 1: Friday, Oct. 10, 8:37 p.m. (at Tampa Bay)
Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 11, 8:07 p.m. (at Tampa Bay)
Game 3: Monday, Oct. 13, 4:37 p.m. (at Boston)
Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 14, 8:07 p.m. (at Boston)
Game 5*: Thursday, Oct. 16, 8:07 p.m. (at Boston)
Game 6*: Saturday, Oct. 18, 4:37 p.m. if NLCS is still being played; 8:07 p.m. if not (at Tampa Bay)
Game 7*: Sunday, Oct. 19, 8:07 p.m. (at Tampa Bay)

It seems as we might be able to get 2 reasonable start times and two weekend evening starts, which obviously helps the sleep deprived of us, in and outside the US.

As for roster, the biggest debate is which rotation to go with. The Red Sox are announcing their starting pitcher for Friday's game 1 sometime today, and Francona have a few conundrums to deal with.

Does he start Lester on 4 days rest on the road, or does he save him for game 3 at Fenway where Lester has been almost unbeatable this season? A Game 3 start would mean Lester would start a possible game 7, alternatively Game 1 of the World Series if the Red Sox make it that far.

If not Lester, who to start? Beckett could go on his normal 5 days rest, but Sunday proved that this is not the same Beckett as last year - or perhaps this Sunday's game was a blip? His start against the Rangers at the end of September was magnificent. Still, I think there are some remaining physical issues going on.

Or Francona could go with the long term record and start Wake? The main question is which Wake would show up - the one who went9-1 at Tropicana Field up to September 2007 or the one who went 0-2 in three starts there this year.

Finally, there's Dice-K, who somehow laboured himself to a somewhat deceiving 18-3 record this year, but finally showed that he can pitch with runners on, something he struggled with in 2007.

I suspect the rotation will be:

Game 1) Dice-K
Game 2) Beckett
Game 3) Lester

after that it's a crap shoot!

Now to wait another two days....

Geography

As I have no real affiliation to any particular region in the US, but instead picked my NFL team based on the first game I ever saw and my MLB team on a multitude of factors, including feelings for that particular city and events from moments there, I sometimes end up in strange emotional places.

Also, subsequent directly and indirectly related events and other people's affection for certain teams have elevated a general feeling of indifference to a true sense of dislike of the coach and certain supporters.

With this in mind, I still found it a bit odd that I found myself on Sunday night rooting fiercely first for my beloved San Francisco 49ers against the increasingly loathsome Patriots, and a few moments later passionately for my Red Sox against the Los Angeles/Anaheim Angels of California/Anaheim/Pasadena/Los Angeles. Now, I am the first one to admit that Tom Brady reminds me in many many ways of my first football idol; Joe Montana. Brady's poise in the pocket, with small adjustments to get away from pass rushers before launching another beautiful pass and his cool head in the face of extreme pressure is very reminiscent of the Bay Area favourite. Still, whilst Belichick has proven that he is a superb coach, he's also proven that he has can bend and break rules without compunction, both in his professional life and his personal life, thus at least for me not a deserving target of my respect. Also, my feelings towards the Patriots are compounded by the presence of Randy Moss and some fans.

Simply put - I don't like the Patriots.

Of course this causes raised eyebrows considering my immense devition to the Red Sox, as "normal" people follow the teams from the same city. If you're a Boston devotee, then it should be the Celtics, the Red Sox, the Patriots and if you're a glutton for punishment - the Bruins.

However, when I decided to follow the MLB, I could not bring myself to follow a team with Barry Bonds, and the A's are almost as close to Candlestick as the Mariners, so that was not really an option.

So here I am, cursing the Patriots one second and rooting for the Red Sox the next. I suspect something only a non-US person can relate to.

And those years when I was knee deep into Fantasy Football it got even worse...I once found myself wanting the Cowboys to score because I had Cowboy WR on my FFL team.

That's probably a step too far.

Wow...

Jason Bay is doing his best to make us forget about the Manny era...

4 runs against the Halos, all with 2 out, in the top of the first. And pushing Santana's pitchcount close to 30 after 1.

As I write this, Dice-K sat down the first two Halos...this could be a hole the LA gang might not crawl out of.

And yes, this one I am watching live...wearing my 38 jersey :)

Another 100 years?

The Cubs really have run out of excuses this time.

Despite a very good performance from Carlos Zambrano (if you exclude the pitch to Martin in the third and Manny's homer), this time there was no Goat Curse, not Bartman to blame it on. In a game where all four infielders committed errors, including a howler by second baseman Mark DeRosa that essentially blew the game for the Cubbies, they are now in a hole that I doubt they'll be able to get out of. With the Dodgers flying, and with one loss in the next 3 games knocking the North Siders out, I suspect that Going Back to Cali will be more enjoyable for the LA natives than the Cubs.

Interestingly, this is a series that the "experts" all got wrong. Of ESPN's ten strong jury, only Jim Caple went with the Dodgers.

Admittedly, this is a little bit late, but here are my predictions:

ALDS: Red Sox over Angels (3-1) and Rays over White Sox (3-1)
NLDS: Dodgers over Cubs (3-1) and Phillies over Brewers (3-0)

CS: Red Sox over Rays (4-2) and Dodgers over Phillies (4-3)

WS: Red Sox over Dodgers (4-1)

As for the Red Sox, I think that unless Dice-K is actually willing to challenge batters on the inside half of the plate and keep his off-speed pitches down (he leaves a lot of them way to up in the zone), the Angels have enough power to take advantage of him. Luckily we should have Beckett on Sunday and Lester either in game 4 on Monday or certainly if needed in game 5 on Wednesday.

The Puppet Master

Following on to Bill Simmons brief post about Scott Boras' puppet master role that I commented on in an earlier post, Bill has now followed up with a very intruiging post on ESPN's Outside The Lines.

He is to some extents flabbergasted about the sudden change in attitude towards Manny and his antics, considering that his "Manny Being Manny" act hardly was news. Even in his Cleveland days did he act like he didn't really care about anything.

Wasn't it hypocritical for any Boston fan to turn on Manny after we willingly signed up for the Manny Experience in December 2000 ... for better or worse, like marriage? We knew we were getting a happy-go-lucky, mercurial slugger with Hall of Fame numbers whom everyone described as "odd but lovable."

He also looks at the role played by the sometimes incredibly virtiolic Boston press (That means among others, you CHB), and the control of the media the Henry ownership has established since taking over the club:

Although it's usually impossible to jettison a popular star without a backlash from fans, the Red Sox wield unprecedented sway over nearly every relevant media outlet that covers them. One of the team's minority partners, the New York Times Company, happens to own Boston's signature newspaper (The Globe). The team owns a cable channel (NESN) that shows every Sox game, pregame show and postgame show. The Sox signed cushy deals with Boston's signature sports radio station (WEEI) and sister station (WRKO), and since those rights always can be shopped to a competitor down the road, you'll see CC Sabathia hit an inside-the-park home run before a Red Sox owner gets ripped to shreds on WEEI. They even have good relationships with every relevant national writer, including Peter Gammons, the face of baseball for ESPN, a beloved figure in New England and a longtime friend of general manager Theo Epstein.

This is not a mean feat considering the animosity between the Yawkey trust and the Boston press prior to Henry's purchase of the Red Sox, as Seth Mnookin chronicled in his book Feeding the Monster that I wrote about earlier this year.

Simmons highlights one of the biggest issues in Manny's departure from Boston, something very rarely mentioned in the press. As the original 8 year contract with two option years held by Boston at $20m per year was negotiated by Ramirez' previous agent, Boras would not get a cent of commision if the Red Sox picked up the options, as was generally expected of them.

As Manny Ramirez's memorable Red Sox career began to crumble for good, two people were to blame (Manny and Boras), and yet we only heard about one of them. Had the identity of the second villain been revealed, maybe Boston fans wouldn't have been so eager to downgrade from a first-ballot Hall of Famer to Jason Bay.

I myself, like many others, was getting more and more tired of Manny's antics this year, especially his treatment of Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick. However, Simmons points out that apart from the McCormick event and the fracas with Youkilis in the dugout, what was Manny doing differently than before?

But what was Manny doing exactly? How was Manny's latest "funk" much different than Carlos Delgado seemingly mailing it in until Willie Randolph was fired, then miraculously regaining the ability to smile and hit home runs for Jerry Manuel?

He also points out the obvious - if Manny had not been traded, would Boras have allowed Manny to tank the last 2 months of essentially a contract year?

Once the trade was complete, the hatchets were brought out in full by the Boston press, with only Jerry Remy being the single voice of restraint.

Only NESN's Remy handled the situation diplomatically, defending Manny's tenure in Boston while expressing the appropriate amount of outrage at his recent behavior. Remy said he believed the Manny soap opera had affected the clubhouse and needed to be resolved. You know, because these guys were tired of being distracted from more important things, like playing poker, texting their friends or having 15-minute conversations centered around topics like "Does my bat feel heavy?" or "If it burns when I pee, that's bad, right?"²³ But like me, Remy had developed genuine affection for Manny and seemed perplexed by those final few weeks. He kept coming back to the one question that nobody else seemed to be asking.

"Why?"

And that, folks, is the million dollar question. Do we actually think that Manny masterminded a plot to get him out of Boston, or did the greediest and most ruthless agent of all time have more than a finger in the pie?

I know who I think is responsible, but of course the Devil claims complete innocence.

Imagine a Red Sox - Dodgers World Series. How sad would it be to hear the Fenway crowd boo a player that contributed so immensely to the Red Sox two championships?

I for one hope that the Dodgers get knocked out, but with a 2-0 lead going back to LA, that looks difficult, and I'm not sure if the Phillies have enough to stop the Dodgers in a possible NLCS.

Simmons final point is the most difficult to deal with. What if he ends up with the Yankees and we get to face him 19 times per year. Here's to Frank McCourt doing the only sensible thing and giving Manny a 4 year deal - hopefully not for more than $20 per year. If Manny thought playing in Boston came with a media pressure he didn't like, imagine what it would be like in NYC. Or perhaps he can just ask A-Rod.

Image from ESPN.com

Speed kills

It is well known that excessive speed kills. It kills in people in traffic, and last night it killed the Halos too.

Jacoby "Roadrunner" Ellsbury got on base 5 times, stole 2 bases and clearly rattled Lackey everytime he got on. Not to forget his incredible speed to catch up to Teixera's bloop hit into shallow CF. Think JD would have caught up to that one if the Sox had agreed to that 4 year deal?

I think not.

Also, in this case a lack of speed from a previous speed demon killed a Halos rally when Youk's heads up play got Vlad out trying to go 1st to 3rd - Halos normal mantra.

So now the Red Sox are 10-0 against in the post season against Scioscia's men, and 1-0 in 2008 with Dice-K and Beckett to follow. If only TBS would even remotely consider the timeslot of these games...

Still, in the interest of full disclosure - I did not watch the game live. I caught the replay this morning, going out of my way not to find out the score.

At least game two is on Friday...

Actober time again

NFL is going country to country, playing games in Japan, Mexico, Canada and the UK, pulling out all the stops to make pigskin a truly international sport. Or at least have a truly international following. Sundays during the NFL season are quite easily enjoyed by fans in Europe with games starting at 6pm, 9pm, and if you have the energy, midnight.

In the mean time, the MLB is scheduling the post season games for the Halos-Sawx series to when?.....that's right, a lovely 3am GMT first pitch on a Wednesday. Even the people on the US East Coast must be going WTF??? Even if it's the best pitcher matchup in post season history and the game is only 3 hours long (they increase the inbetween inning breaks during the post season) it will finish at 1am local time in Boston.

Way to go MLB...

In other news, despite going 0-3 in his final game of the season, Joe Mauer managed to finish on a .328 average to sneak the batting title from Dustin Pedroia who finished with a .326. Still, I'm sure D-Ped is happier to be in the post season with the Sox sans batting title than Joe is, sitting in Minnesota watching the games on TV (if he can stay awake that is).

Also, with Beckett pushed to game 3 of the ALDS, The Kid Lester will take the mound for game 1. Unfortunately the Halos have very few lefty batters, but I still am confident in Lester and his 2.95 post all-star game ERA to give the west coasters a few things to think about when they take the batters box. And not to forget the shellacking the Red Sox gave Lackey in the last post-season game a year ago.

Sadly, the Red Sox are not the team they were a year ago. With lingering injury worries for Lowell and Drew, and a substantially more shaky bullpen, this will not be an easy series.

I just hope I'm able to see any of it...

MVP race

Remarkably, the second post of the day, albeit a short one.

Jerry Crasnick goes through the numbers and cases for the main 5 AL MVP candidates, and of course two of them are from the Red Sox; Youkilis and Pedroia.

Bitter grapes you say? I don't care, I still find it ironic that the Red Sox best shot at an AL MVP for several years is after Manny's departure...

However, I still find it wrong that MVP votes are affected by whether the team or not makes the playoffs - it shouldn't, and without Cliff Lee the Indians would have struggled to beat AAA teams.

Class act..and not

So, the Rays faltered, yet again, ever-so close to their ultimate dream and the first ever AL East title. With three games left, the Red Sox need to sweep the Yankees while the Tigers do the same to the Rays. Stranger things have happened (see Nationals vs Mets, Sept 2007), but I doubt it. Especially as Tito is setting up the team for the playoffs, holding Lester to an 85 pitch count last night.

I told him that was the first time I've ever rooted against him. The only way you're going to see something like that, it would've had to have been a group effort.

When Lester had gone through 5 innings without allowing a single hit, the Red Sox found themselves in the strange situation of wanting a hit for the Indians to break it up, so that Lester could have a short and nice 86 pitch outing instead of another essentially meaningless 130+ pitch bid for his second no-hitter of the season. (The first one was magic - trust me, I was there!). His forced departure after 6 innings also allowed Sox fans the comfort of actually watching three innings of 1-2-3 pitching by Masterson, Okajima and Pap. I think Masterson will turn out to be the ace in the hole for an intermittently shaky 2008 bullpen in the playoffs.

And although I didn't make it to the final in my fantasy team, I had the pleasure to ride Lester and Dice-K's arms all season...

On another note, and the reason for today's post title, away from the Yankees, their unceremoniously ejected former leader Joe Torre is enjoying another trip to the playoffs - and despite his statements to the contrary, I suspect it deep down inside Torre might be even moreso as his former team is looking forward to golf rounds in early October for the first time since 1993.

Although there are members of the Yankees that I do not care for, I've always respected some of them; Torre and Jeter comes to mind. In Stephen A. Smith's column on ESPN, Torre takes the high road, which is understandable considering his close ties to several of the Yankees players and current manager.

Still, whilst I rate Torre very highly - his post game press outings were always a smidgen more open and honest than you normally hear, although one of Torre's strengths was handling the rabid NYC media very well - as a Red Sox fan enduring Ramirez complete abandon of his duties and responsibilities until he got what he wanted (unbelievable that you can throw your toys out of the pram to such a degree when you're loved by the fans and paid $20m per year) it's a bit annoying that the ultimate reason the Dodgers made the playoffs was because of the arrival of a certain Manuel Aristide Ramirez.

Whilst I loved watching one of the best hitters of all time torment Red Sox opposing pitchers, his "Manny being Manny" act was tiresome, but somewhat manageable.

However, as Bill Simmons points out in his current ESPN The Mag column, we shouldn't perhaps focus the blame for Manny's transition from annoying yet affable to downright tanking and manipulative on Manny himself. Let's be honest, if he didn't have the best eye of the strike zone and pitches since the nineteenhundreds, his most common frase would most likely be "Do you want to supersize that?". Sharpest tool in the box he is not.

We must never forget that Scott Boras is the greediest, most manipulative agent in sports history.

How true that is. And to think I was considering a career in the sports agency business once upon a time....I only hope that GM's realise both sides to the Manny coin and do not fall for the sudden "resurgence" and give him the $25m per year, 4 year contract he wants. As soon as Manny gets it, he'll be back to "Manny being Manny".

Finally, it's worrying to see that more and more young Red Sox players are tempted by the dark side of the force...

Image from Soxnation.net.

Pesky Shirt

Despite the Sox win last night, the Rays improbable comeback from an 0-6 hole against the O's means that the Rays magic number for the Division title is now 1.

With 4 games to play.

I think it's safe to say that Tito will now turn his attention to the upcoming Halos of Southern California series starting either Wednesday or Thursday next week. The start date is up to the Halos - as the holders of the best record in the AL, they get to choose if they want to play a 7 or 8 day ALDS. The questions surrounding the playoff roster are many and could heavily affect the Sox chances. With two semi-healthy position players in Lowell and Drew, can Tito risk a recurrance of their injuries? John Tomase goes through many of these issues in today's Boston Herald.

Although I'm normally somewhat hesitant of retiring numbers in sport - for me it's the ultimate honour and possibly even carries more weight than the HOF - for Johnny Pesky I am willing to make an exception. In my limited lifespan as a Red Sox fan, I have never encountered a player that was so loyal to the team and followed them with a fervour so, so long after his playing days were over. It warms my heart to see that no.6 will be retired on Friday.

Finally, Steve Buckley goes through D-Ped's sensational season for the Sox. Honestly, I think he should be a very, very serious candidate for AL MVP. I'll go through the contenders later to see how he measures up stat by stat.

Insomnia time again...

After a lot of near misses in the last week or so, the Red Sox finally clinched a play off spot last night after taking 22 game winner and possible AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee of the Indians to the cleaners in an eventful 5th inning.

However, despite the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993 (Buster Olney at ESPN has an interesting look at the pillaging the Yankees did to its own farm system over the last money-laden, drug-binging years), the Red Sox still look unlikely to clinch the AL East like it did in 2007. Those Icarus like Rays have a 3 game lead over the Sox in the division, and despite ending the regular season on the road, one final game against the O's followed by 4 games at Tiger Stadium makes it unlikely they'll lose the grip on the division.

The Red Sox finish with two more games at home to the Indians before a three game series at Fenway against a demoralised Yankees. Despite the Yanks being out of it, there are several factors coming into play.

Will Tito go all out for the title in an attempt to avoid an away ALDS series against the Angels in Anahem and try to get a home series against the ChiSox/Twins, or will he instead rest players and adjust the rotation for the playoffs. I suspect everything hangs on tonight's games.

(Check out ESPN's Hunt for October for all the possibilities)

As usual, the NL is a mess, with teams falling over each other in an attempt to fall out of the playoffs....

As DC said, there's only one Soxtober..

Love/hate relationship

Being a relative newcomer to baseball (7 years) and as a Red Sox fan (almost 6 years), plus not being a Boston native, I have yet to develop the “standard” love/hate relationship to the Red Sox that many long time fans seem to have. At least those who became fans prior to 2004.

When I started following the Sox in 2002/2003, the general atmosphere was one of extreme loyalty, but also combined with the somewhat fatalistic view honed by decades of nearly-rans.

Sure, the Sox are great in June-July, but come September they’ll slump.

As I was not following baseball during most of the horrible 86 years between 1918 and 2004, (apart from witnessing my own obvious horror show hosted by Aaron Boone at 5am one October morning in 2003) I have had to understand history by reading many a book on baseball and the Red Sox. It is painfully obvious that being a Red Sox fan prior to 2004 was like being a sucker for punishment. Every opening day was filled with new belief, but also a little bit of trepidation of the inevitable letdown that will come at some point. You would love the Sox, but they would also break your heart every year.

Personally, the City of Boston nowadays holds a similar emotion in my psyche. Boston is without a doubt one of my favourite cities in the world. One snowy February night 5 ½ years ago I proposed to my then girlfriend there, and for years that amplified my attraction and love for Boston. Finding out years later that some horrible things affecting me personally had happened in the very same city shattered my love for Boston. I struggled very much just watching my beloved Sox on television, knowing what Boston now represented for me, looking in the crowd on the TV feed for people I loathed, and loathing even more that people I hated with a passion were also supposedly Red Sox fans.

How could I reconcile these conflicting feelings in my head? How could I love the Sox while having such a love/hate relationship with the concept of Boston itself. Only then did I realise a little what the long time Sox fans had been going through. Falling in love with the Sox, only to have your heart shattered. I truly felt like a “proper” Red Sox fan….

Today the atmosphere is very different. I returned to Boston, found love again, not only for the city, but also for people there. Like my love returned and healed my heart, Bostonians now encounter different emotions for the Sox than before.

8 games behind the AL East top? Doesn’t matter, we can catch them!

As strange as it might seem, there are young Red Sox fans who think that the team always wins in the end. There are new “fans” that came to the Nation after the 2004 glorious (yet for me personally with hindsight very difficult) win, certain people without any baseball interest paying fortunes for World Series tickets so that they can say “I was there”. Whilst I’m of course happy that people flock to the gorgeous temple that is Fenway, like with any other successful team there will be bandwagon jumpers (see: Manchester United). Although I do not feel that the pink B caps are an abomination like Kristen does in her great Basegirl blog, (in fact I got my girlfriend a pink cap – sorry…), I feel more annoyance towards the bandwagon fans who think the Sox will do no wrong.

Similar to my personal life where I am now a little bit guarded, I follow the Red Sox with a smidgen of concern, knowing how fragile a team ultimately is. A season ending injury (god forbid) to Lester or Beckett would have serious effects on any post season chances.

However, I still find myself opening up and allowing old battle scars to fade, knowing that life will go on even if the Sox lose, but life will be just that little bit better if they do win.

Upside down world...

What has happened?

Was that one of the four horsemen I saw?

Since when do the Red Sox utter a sigh of relief that they're leaving the Trop and heading to the Stadium?

Sure, the Rays are for real, no doubt. They have, after 12 or so consecutive top 3 draft picks managed to field a very talented and young team (and let's not forget the Kazmir for Zambrano trade - yet another brilliant move by the Mets). Longoria leads a superb defense and they are certainly for real. However, the difference maker this year is that several players are having career years, including the old sock Hinske, who's playing out of his skin.

We'll see if the Rays are still in it when injuries hit in August/early September, as they inevitably will.

Still, not complaining that we're 6 games ahead of 4th (!) place Yankees.

Book report

‘Tis the season to be reading. With the sun out, many lunch breaks have been filled by sitting in the park reading various literary masterpieces.

A truly fascinating read was the delve into the front office mechanics in the book Feeding the Monster, by Seth Mnookin, where it seems as Mnookin has had great access to all of the Red Sox front office and to many of the counterparts in various situations. On many contentious points; Nomar’s trade to the Cubs, the Henry group acquiring the Red Sox, Theo’s departure and conflicts with Larry Luchino and subsequent return to the Red Sox all are depicted with quotes from both sides, and give for me an unprecedented look into the goings on in the front office. Hey, it looks like any other workplace!

Still, how to convince the Red Sox powers that be that half Swede/half Brit who only discovered baseball 6 years ago is a perfect hire for the Baseball Operations department will be a tough nut to crack. I think I will just ignore the part of the rules that say the competition is just open to US residents

After Feeding the Monster, I am continuing through my stack of baseball books I received from Santa (and various other kind souls). Authors and die-hard Red Sox fans Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King (yes, the same SK of scary books fame) are able through their running diary of the year to instantly take me back to the tumultuous year (both for the Red Sox and for me personally) of 2004 in their best-selling book Faithful. Both Stewart and Steve write almost daily notes throughout the season and also include their more suitable email conversations throughout the season.

After the glory of actually winning it all, it is sometimes easy to forget the agony we all went through, and how little faith we on occasion actually had in the team – although many times they gave us very little to believe in.

Francona’s several meltdowns, especially in failing to play hands defence during the later innings whilst ahead, and his mismanagement of the bullpen show how far Terry came in a short while to become the manager he is today. The curious moves by Theo, which of course turned out to be masterstrokes and not to forget Millar’s complete ineptitude, both in the field and at the plate before turning it around.

With 20-20 hindsight, it’s hilarious (and hair-raising), to see how close we were to trading away Youk, and to see the endless parade of no-name bullpen arms being led through the Red Sox clubhouse – Curtis Leskanic anyone? How did the pieces actually fall into play? How did the Red Sox actually think that Millar/Giambi (the less 'roided one) was the answer at 1^st?

Much of the writing is hilarious and very recognisable for any die-hard Red Sox fan, and some of the quotes are brilliant, such as this from Stewart to Steve in an email conversation where they have discussed connections between Red Sox players and possible movie remakes such as the Coen Brother’s remake Mueller’s Crossing:

Stewart O’Nan: Was at a game last year against Clemboy and the Yanks where John Williams threw out the first ball (I think he bounced it), and when Clem jogged out to the pen, the PA played Lord Vader’s March – perfect for a guy who started out as a headstrong young Jedi apprentice from a dusty forlorn planet, then felt betrayed and hurt, grew powermad and crossed over to the dark side.

On a more personal note, SO also writes:

April 13^th 2004: A dark, cold day.

You have no idea how right you are Stewart. Talk about the Evil Empire. Or perhaps another sign of the impending doom that was about to happen. Thanks again to those involved.

I highly recommend both books, available through an internet retailer that shall not be named.

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On another note, the Red Sox put up Matsuzaka, Lester and Beckett against the Astros and still only took one game?? Truly a sign of the apocalypse that we go into a three game series in Tampa with the 4^th best record in baseball, a half game behind the team with the best record….Tampa Bay Rays??? Seriously, where’s the Kool-Aid? Still, Masterson is on the hill, and he’s beaten the Rays before this season, and I suspect the Red Sox line-up will need no further motivation to spank James Shields after his altercation with Coco Crisp, who perhaps on one level fittingly begins his 5-game suspension for said altercation, whilst Jonny Gomes might be a marked man during the next few games as he decided, yet again (remember the Shelley Duncan fight during spring training?), to get involved in the fight during the Red Sox 3-game sweep of the Rays at Fenway in early June. This from Rotoworlds coverage:

Gomes must have started running from the dugout even before Coco Crisp charged the mound, because he was out there in a flash to delivered several blows in Crisp's general direction with Boston's outfielder on the ground. He single-handedly took the whole brawl up a notch and deserves a significant suspension.

Rarely do I agree with the Yankees Insider, but I think we have found common ground.

However, whilst it might cool some heads to not have Crisp for the Rays series, his replacement is not faring too well right now.

We need to take 2 out of 3 from this series, although the bullpen seems to be a mess for the umpteenth time in the last, oh say 20 years. That Red Sox are renewing their interest in the freefalling Rockies closer Brian Fuentes could be a welcome help to a bullpen ailing from an out of sorts Okajima.

At least J.D has been able to focus now that his personal issues (his young son had serious health issues during 2007) have faded. I know how you feel J.D, and whilst I never derided you, I still want to offer my Mea Culpas. You clearly have the tools, and now you’re finally using them at a time the RSN needed you more than ever. Good timing, sir.

Also, a very interesting story on CNNSI about Wake and the dying art of the knuckleball. As I wrote a long time ago, a pitch described by Tek as trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. Luckily, the Red Sox have Charlie Zink, a prospect at Pawtucket who is 8-2 with a 2.33 ERA and an impressive 1.01 WHIP. (Knuckleballers, when they’re having an off day, tend to walk more than a “normal” pitcher.)

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Also, with scarcely a thought across the pond, but a big event here in Europe, the Euro 2008 football champion ships are over, and the Spaniards have finally won a title after decades of league prowess and international futility. Whilst this tournament lost a little of its appeal to me after Sweden predictably got knocked out as they were more afraid to lose than they wanted to win, it’s good to see that my local fan favourite, El Nino was the match winner – Suddenly Merseyside is turning bilingual:

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Finally, despite a torn hamstring, I will finish my 10k run for charity this coming Sunday. Donations are very welcome at www.justgiving.com/nicholashk.

Stumbling on history...

My travels unfortunately prevented me from following up on my previous short post. There I was, spending a week in New England with The Girl, including a long weekend in Boston, soaking up Yawkey Way, Cask N' Flagon, Jillians (not to mention several superb sausages with onions and peppers for sale under the grand stand concourse...with the odd pint of Smithwicks), just happy that I was going to get two Fenway games and my first trip to McCoy Stadium. Sadly the Cape Cod league had not started in time for our trip to Chatham....next time though.

However, I digress. We get to the Landsdowne Road entrance about 90 mins before game time, just after a short downpour but with skies clearing, and lo and behold, plenty of tickets left ($50 face value for 14 rows behind home plate!) - we get our tickets and are kindly allowed back to C&F to have a $5 beer instead of a $7 beer at Fenway...

The game looked interesting for nothing else than getting a chance to see yet another team - (The Royals now join the list together with the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Twins, Mets, Nats, A's, Cubs, Tigers (although the last two I saw 16 years ago, and I have no idea who they played against...I call the era "B.B")), and also a chance to get a look at the highly touted and somewhat controversial Luke Hochevar. Hochevar pitched in the 2005 CWS for U of Tenn, was drafted by the Dodgers the same year, failed through his agent Scott Boras to come to an agreement with the Dodgers, fired Boras and made a $2.9m deal with the Dodgers only to resign Boras and renege on the deal. He then re-entered the 2006 draft after pitching in independent leagues and was picked no.1 overall by the Royals, one of the few teams not sick and tired of Boras.

We sit down, get some peanuts and proceed to watch a thing of beauty. However, it actually took me a while to realise Lester had a no-hitter going. After getting two easy fly outs and a 4-3 ground out in the first, Lester walked Butler in the second, and two plays later over threw his pickoff move trying to get Miguel Olivo out who had reached on a Fielder's Choice.

In the third the Red Sox opened up the offensive floodgates. Despite a double play on Varitek and Lugo, the Red Sox scored 4 runs with 2 outs to add to Drew's initial run, including a sensational triple by Ellsbury. (Remember the debate a few years ago about who would be the next CF of the Red Sox when Damon left for the retirement home....that's been solved ;).

Talking about Ellsbury, it was his amazing catch to rob Jose Guillen of a hit to end the 4th that made me look at the scoreboard and notice that the H column still said 0. It slowly started to dawn on me what was going on in front of us. Although some Red Sox fans might be under the belief that it's a relatively commonplace occurance considering Nomo's in 2001, D-Lowe's in 2002 and Buchholz's last year, only 9 no-no's by Red Sox pitchers have happened at home since the opening of Fenway in 1912 (18 in total in Red Sox history).

In the break between the 6th half innings when I went for a needed beer run, half of the concourse screamed "SHUT UP!" at the TV when a stupid Sportscenter anchor with into a segue with the words "And now over to Fenway where Jon Lester has a no-hitter going into the 6th".

Lester was completely ignored by the other Sox players, and for the last 2 innings, all of Fenway stood up for every Lester pitch. Although Lester had reached 100 pitches after 7, Francona would never dare to pull a no-no, and with the 134th pitch, a 95MPH fastball off the plate to draw the final swinging strike out, the crowd roared for a magic evening.

Sometimes you plan. Sometimes you're just lucky.

Mecca

If I could, I probably would never leave the area around Yawkey way...

Even with our game rained out on Friday night, we had a few great hours at the Cask and Flagon, followed by a tour of the Yawkey Way store, and got to go back for the extra scheduled game against the Brewers on Saturday night....3 rows behind the home plate!

Tonight, the Royals are in town, and with Ortiz hitting form, hopefully we'll see him climb closer to the .300 mark.

I love this game.

Like pigs, time flies

The Rays are in first place, London endured a week of 80s temprature in May and I'm finally, 2 years delayed, off to Cape Cod. The world is truly off it's axis :)

Despite best intentions, I seem unable to maintain the weekly posting, although I realise I'm mainly orating to a very select few. Still, the spring has been exciting;

• Liverpool put up a good fight, but Chelsea ultimately was the better team in the Champions League Semi Final. Whether they can beat ManU on Wednesday remains to be seen. I for one think ManU will come out on top.
• The Red Sox looks like they have an abundance of young talent, although Schill's injury is something I'm increasingly worried about.
• Richmond has three teams which all could be contenders for playoff spots this year.

Bring on the sun...

Tide is turning

And with an almost impeccable timing we welcome back the pitchers' nightmare that is Big Papi. After my post, and RSN wide worrying about long term injury problems for our DH, Big Papi returned from New York and quickly proved the "doubters" (I use this phrase very lightly, in the long run nobody doubts BP) wrong.

With karma-like help to bring him closer to the Mendoza line of course he was aided by the Rangers SP Luis Mendoza. After a very solid start from Mendoza, allowing no baserunners in the first 2 innings, including two K's and getting BP out on a weak grounder in a 1-3 play, Mendoza took the mound and promptly got two outs, Varitek on a foul out and Casey on a line out to shortstop.

Then it all unraveled. First rookie 3B/SS Jed Lowrie doubled to left, then he walked Ellsbury and Pedroia on 9 pitches. After a visit from the pitching coach, (and you know the Rangers bench, slump or no slump were worried at this point) Ortiz lumbers up to plate, takes his normal effortless (for him, not for us mortals) swing straight through a 93mph fastball right over the plate and puts it opposite field over the Green Monster. Grand slam, thank you...ehh...Mendoza.

Whaddaya mean "grown up"?

Last night also saw me venture to the famous Astoria club in London, for what might have been one of the last gigs there before it being torn down.

Tom Delonge's acrimonious split from his other Blink-182 band members saw him venture into a new style of music with his new band Angels & Airwaves. Whilst his music might have changed, it was good to see that the infamous juvenile banter from his Blink-182 days have not changed a bit. Self proclaimed maturity was somewhat counter acted by admittedly quite amusing talks about various body parts.

Despite horrible soundmixing in the beginning, the concert was enjoyable, with the highlights for me being Tom, alone with a guitar, playing the old 182 song "Reckless Abandon", and one of their encore songs - the opening song of their first album, Valkyrie Missile.

Good fun was had.

Now to look forward to gigs with Clapton, Mayer, the Foos and Linkin Park/Jay-Z. And that's just barely into June!

A tale of two...fortunes?

The two pillars of the Red Sox lineup are enjoying success on a vastly different scale.

Manny, Oh Manny, Ramirez, in a contract year with the Red Sox having a $20m option for 09 and 10 is batting like a man on a...well, contract year. After 17 games, he's batting .343 with 5 homers and 18 RBI, including going .444 and hitting 4 homers in the last 7 games.

In the mean time, the surgically repaired David Ortiz now has the infamous negative triple crown position. He's last in the league (among players who've had the required number of at-bats) in average (.111), slugging (.179) and OPS (.401). Yes, last time he travelled to Japan he also had a slow start, but I'm wondering if everything is healthy with Big Papi.

Joshua Patrick however showed last night why he is possibly one of the two best pitchers in the league (albeit with a slightly inflated 5.12 ERA). Going 8 innings on a very controlled 105 pitches, he allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and only one walk against probably the second or third best (on paper) lineup in the league. His three runs came in the 5th inning when he allowed back to back hits to Jeter and Abreu, when the Red Sox where up 7-0. He followed the 5th by not allowing another Yankee baserunner in 3 innings, so clearly he has learned to control his previsiously somewhat troubesome composure. With Beckett in form after the spring training back problems, and Dice-K pitching lights out, the Red Sox 1-2 punch is one of the most fearsome lineups in the majors.

Today the Sox host the Rangers at Fenway with Dice-K taking the mound.

To steal a phrase from the NBA - I Love This Game.Which is more than I can say about my interest in the upcoming NBA playoffs. I don't know why, but it just doesn't appeal to me anymore...

Also, as if Fenway, The Girl and the Cape wasn't enough to have me chomping at the bits for my upcoming Boston trip, the official announcement of the impending summer was made on Kristen's excellent blog:

And finally, the third awesome thing that happened yesterday is that bars in Boston now have Sam's Summer on tap. Which means summer is officially coming. It can't get here fast enough.

Oh yes, can't wait.

Once more into the fray

Finally, tickets booked for flight to Boston for the first visit to Fenway of 2008 (or, as it shall be named, the back-to-back year). After the barren years of '05 and '06, I finished '07 with a fantastic 2 game visit for the final regular games at Fenway.

Travelling around the NE area for 9 days should allow me to take in at least two games at Fenway during the intraleague series against the Brewers and the following one against the Royals. Sadly, as intraleague game is held at the AL stadium, the DH rule will still be in effect. Although of course if it wasn't, one of Youk, Big Papi or Lowell would sit, and as I love all three, I guess I'll manage :)

On the agenda is also a goal I've had for a long time, a trip to a minor league game. Ever since I saw Bull Durham, the grind and authenticity of minor league baseball has been very close to my heart.

The Pawtucket Red Sox host the Twins AAA affiliate Rochester Red Wings. Hopefully I'll get a real life glimpse of some of the future Red Sox major leaguers. Recently called up SS of the future Jed Lowrie should be down in Pawtucket by then, so it will be a treat to see him tear up minor league pitching.

Now, what to do for the next month? Oh yes, I think there's a Red Sox @ Yankees game on tonight. Here's to Lester finding his locations better than last time. And I don't only say that because he's on my fantasy team!

With a spring in the step

So, after a very, from a Red Sox perspective, uneventful Hot Stove league, the regular season is upon us. With the only real issues during Spring Training being the battle for CF between Coco and Elsbury and the sad, but but as it seems inevitable end of Gehrig38's career, not only in a Red Sox shirt, but as a player too, we're finally at a stage where games start to matter.

However, as "spring" is here, the snow hits London...go figure. Yes, I also realise this post is already a week into the season, but seeing as the Fenway home opener is tomorrow, after the Red Sox travelled about 10 time zones and four venues before returning home after a 20+ day roadtrip, it is fitting to look at the state of the nation, n'est-ce pas?

If we start with Schill, it is a sad end to a HOF career. With no.38 only having a one-year deal with the Sox, and at 42 years of age, it is not in the clubs interest to look at anything past 2008. Schilling's personal physician, the same doctor who performed shoulder surgery on Schill in the 80s, Dr. Craig Morgan, does not mince his words.

If Schilling has the surgery, there’s a “75- to 80-percent chance,” said Morgan. “And the percentage of him being able to pitch effectively with conservative treatment is probably between zero and five percent.”

Obviously, this is two different opinions coming from two very different sides. Red Sox is out $8m for a Schilling who they say would not be able to pitch in 2008 if he had surgery. Dr.Morgan has nothing invested in Schilling pitching this year, although one would assume it is his goal that Schilling pitches again.

The Red Sox said:

“Curt Schilling was examined by Red Sox doctors in January after he reported feeling right shoulder discomfort. Curt has started a program of rest, rehabilitation and shoulder strengthening in an attempt to return to pitching.”

Morgan replied with:

“In all honesty and respect for the Red Sox, they are relying on medical advice from people within their organization, and in doing so they truly believe that that’s the best thing for them and Curt,” said Morgan. “I’m not faulting them on that, and I want to make that clear. I just have to disagree with that — strongly.”

“I know his shoulder better than anybody who breathes on this planet,” said Morgan. “I’ve known it for thirteen years. The other two operations that I did are carbon copies of the controversy that is going on with this one. I was told by the organization he was with for those two other operations that my approach was way out on the fringe, wouldn’t work and had no shot at success. How did I do?”

One has to give Morgan a point here. Whilst I think Schilling sadly will not pitch again, I truly hope that Morgan for once is wrong. Let's hope the Red Sox are not blinded by the contract, but actually look past the next few months here.

On another note, what magic wand does the Blue Jays hold over the Red Sox. No team has beaten the Red Sox more times over the last three years than the Blue Jays, and it continued this weekend. Despite a relatively solid effort by Beckett (3 of his 5 earned runs came on Frank Thomas grand slam hit off Manny Delcarmen's poorly located fastball, but the base runners were inherited, thus they go against Beckett), the Blue Jays swept the BoSox on the horror that is the artificial turf in Rogers Stadium. How Scott Rolen, with his rickety body volutarily went there I don't know. I'm sure Torii Hunter is in heaven on the green grass of Angel's field, regardless of how they're doing or how crowded the outfield is.

Finally, despite having potentially the best lineup since the Yankees Murderers Row, the Tigers are experiencing that pitching and defence are still key to the game. The loss of Zumaya and Rodney is creating a big problem for Leyland, and as all MLB personnel guys (including the Red Sox in 2003) knows, one of the most diffcult holes to fill early in the season is relief pitching. (Remember the Byun Yung-Kim nightmare?)

All we need now is an actual spring here too...playing bball in cold weather is something we have to live with, but in snow - even I draw the line there...

Another madness?

With interest piqued by a lot of friends suddenly deciding to enter various mad greek runs, I too seem to have caught the bug. Boosted by technology, and a pretty competetive nature, I'm now running distances I haven't done for more than a decade.

It's not marathon level, but 10k races or even half marathons might not be out of the question.

I love gadgets though, and below is the results from the distance add-on I've bought for my iPod - can't beat technology....well, unless you're Sarah Connor....

On that note, off to break a "recent history" personal best in regards to time and distance - 7km in less than 42 mins.



Update: 7.01km in 38m39s. Not marathon distance nor the speed I want just yet, but beat both of my targets :)

Grape Hardball League?

One of the more amusing side stories to spring training has been the Devil Rays...eh, sorry, the "Rays" v the Yankees mud-slinging about how to play in spring training.

It all began when the Rays' Elliot Johnson bowled over Yankee catcher Francisco Cervelli last Saturday on a play at the plate where Cervelli broke his wrist. New Yankee manager Joe Girardi, himself a former major league catcher, thought that Johnson's play had been a bit over the top for spring training, but former Yankee coach and now Ray "consultant" Don Zimmer refuted Girardi's views and said the game is supposed to be played hard but fair.

Forward to the return game, played on Tuesday night, and what happens? First a buzzing of Rays 3B prospect Evan Longoria (no more Visteria Lane jokes, please!), followed by Yankees hurler Heath Phillips immediate ejection. Next inning, just a "normal" hard play into second. Shelley Duncan, who was out by about a cup of coffee and a bathroom break, even tried to pretend it was normal. One Gomes charge from CF later, and both teams have lost 2 more players and a coach each. Spring comedy at its best.

Still, the Rays and the Yanks can pummel each other as much as they want. I'll bring the popcorn, the lounge chair and the soda. Have at it boys!

(Now I think there are some Yankees who are beginning to understand Pedro's olé move - Zimmer is an old fart:)

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.

Ode to spring...but not to "Mr. Red Sox"

Sitting here in what only last week was a promising spring, but today saw frost on the ground, I develop yet another layer of envy towards the guys getting paid to play ball in Florida and Arizona this time of year.

Sure, it is not a walk in the park for those on the cusp of the major league squad, or even less so for the journeyman trying for the umpteenth time to break the trend, and really make this year the spring when everything goes his way. When the hard run to first results in a basehit instead of a ground out. When those two extra hits per week mean a +.300 avg and a call-up, instead of that .250 average, and yet another April on endless bus journeys in the minors, making in a year what some of the major leaguers make in an at bat.

Pondering things like that, nothing pisses me off more than reading about someone who used to be one of my favourite players in baseball - Nomar Garciaparra. The guy with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas. Ok, I am somewhat weary about Jeff Pearlman, as some comments on his story point out, but I also remember the extremely unfriendly Nomar of 2003 and 2004, the man who thought he was entitled to everything - someone who thought the fans were a nuisance, that they should be awed by him. I don't agree with the theory that fans can heckle players to whatever degree they feel like (see Beckham, David - effogies post World Cup 1998), but ultimately it is impossible to get away from one point. Without fans, Mr. Garciaparra would most likely not have made it through college (he was on an Athl. Scolarship). He has about $50m reasons to be grateful for his life, but now at the tailend of his career he almost hisses at the very fans that put him in a situation of being financially independent for his, his kids and his grandkids lives.

Everyone is entitled to a bad day or two at the office, and I hope that this was one of yours Nomars. Please prove me wrong and show how grateful you are for being able to have had a career that most people would die for.

Still, spring is soon here, I can watch Grapefruit League games on my plasma, and look forward to go out and throw in freezing cold on the weekend. I love this game.