Projo Sox Blog

Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl

CAPTAIN CRUNCH: "It’s frequently said about [Jason] Varitek," writes Sean McAdam, "that his main contribution comes from behind — not at — the plate and that any offense he provides is purely a bonus. But this was getting ridiculous."

That it was. According to calculations from Baseball Musings' Day By Day Database, Varitek entered last night's game hitting .127 (10-for-79) in the one-month period since May 24, with correspondingly horrid on-base (.198) and slugging (.190) percentages. Those numbers didn't get any better in his first three at-bats, either, as an 0-for-3 dropped Varitek to 10-for-his-last-82 (including 4-for-his-last-47). So when Mike Lowell walked to the plate in the eighth inning with runners on second and third, two outs, and the Diamondbacks holding a 4-2 lead, a lot of people -- yours truly among them -- expected Arizona manager Bob Melvin to defy baseball dogma and intentionally walk Lowell, putting the go-ahead run on base, because the on-deck hitter was Varitek. But Melvin, writes Steven Krasner in his Inside The Game feature, didn't bite, and he paid for it: Lowell doubled off the wall, tying the game. (Had he been up on his stats, Melvin might have been even more reluctant to pitch to Lowell.) And then, reports Joe McDonald, Varitek came through anyway with a single to right (above), driving in Lowell and giving the Red Sox a come-from-behind 5-4 win.

McAdam says the relief in the stoic Varitek's demeanor was almost palpable after the game, and there's no questioning how happy Terry Francona was. You don't have to hit much when you're as valuable to a team in as many ways as Varitek, but you do have to hit something. Last night, that "something" enabled the Red Sox to come away with a victory on a night when, reports Krasner, they were baffled for the first seven innings by the soft-tossing Doug Davis.

AND THE BENFICIARIES WERE . . . Justin Masterson, who avoided being saddled with a loss after six laborious innings, and Chris Smith, who got his first major-league win with two sterling innings of relief. Krasner and McDonald have the details.

QUITE A SIGHT: Kevin Youkilis (left, shown in the dugout during the game) reported to the ballpark with a shiner, some swelling, and, writes McAdam, an attitude in the wake of being hit in the eye by an errant Lowell throw during between-innings warmups Monday night. He didn't start the game, but he did come and play first base in the ninth inning to finish it out. ALSO ON THE RECOVERY LIST: David Ortiz may begin hitting off a tee today in anticipation of his return to the lineup, which is still a couple of weeks away. McAdam has the report. SUSPENSION UPDATES: Coco Crisp is still awaiting word on his appeal and McAdam notes it could cause a problem; if the suspension kicks in this weekend and Manny Ramirez is still unable to play the field because of his hamstring problems, the Sox could be short of outfielders during their three-game series in Houston. Sean Casey, meanwhile, is in the middle of his three-game ban and Krasner reports he's chomping at the bit to get back.

SWEET: There are people around here who are getting sick of it, but the nightly Sweet Caroline chorus is really something to people -- like the Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro -- who've never heard it. Check the column on the right for his take.

IT'S REACHED THESE EARS . . . That Jerry Remy isn't too thrilled with NESN's latest hire, Heidi Watney. At least that what Baseball Musings' David Pinto is hearing; he passes it along in a post saluting Remy, who -- as you know if you watched any of last night's broadcast -- was honored by NESN and the Red Sox yesterday. You can see some pictures from the ceremony, and the game, in last night's projo.com slideshow.

HOW FAIR IS THAT?? The blog Fire Brand of the American League isn't happy about the disparity in the quality of interleague schedules for the Red Sox and Yankees; taking away their common opponents (the Reds and Astros), the Sox' N.L. foes are a combined 27 games over .500 and the Yanks' are 17 games under .500. Maybe so, but it's hard to muster much outrage since the Sox are 9-5 in interleague play this year and the Yankees are 7-5.

MINOR MONSTERS: In case you haven't noticed, the Pawtucket Red Sox are having quite the season. Rob Lee tells us about it.

HOME RUNS: Ex-Sox star Mo Vaughn is buying two threatened apartment complexes in Boston as part of his expanding campaign to preserve low-cost housing. (Boston Globe)

WALKING THE WALK: The Rays were the beneficiaries of a pair of two-out, bases-loaded walks in the eighth inning, which enabled them to take the lead, and then survived a four-walk peformance in the bottom of the ninth by closer Troy Percival as they beat the Marlins, 6-4, in a sloppy game in which some uncharacteristic Tampa Bay defensive lapses aided almost all of Florida's rallies. (Tampa Tribune) Joe Maddon wasn't basking in any all-that-counts-is-the-final-score glow afterwards, warning his young troops that "we're not going to beat the Red Sox, and the Yankees as they're coming on, and all these really good teams, if we continue to make these kind of mistakes. They've got to go away. Mistakes of assuming. Mistakes of assumption. Just mistakes (that) have to be eradicated. Mental mistakes." (St. Petersburg Times) But Maddon didn't escape criticism, either; the blog DRays Bay chided him for sticking with Percival during the closer's ninth-inning walk on the wild side.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING IN LIFE: And it appears the Rays will survive the anticipated serving of Akinori Iwamura's suspension this weekend just fine thanks to the return of Ben Zobrist and the fact that Jason Bartlett's wife will have their baby in time for him to get back to the team by Friday. (St. Petersburg Times)

SPIRIT OF '60: The Yankees hadn't played a game in Pittsburgh in nearly 48 years; the last time they were there, Bill Mazeroski was homering over Yogi Berra's head in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Seven to give the Pirates one of the most improbable World Series victories of all time. (baseball-reference.com) But there was no revenge forthcoming last night, as the Bucs -- who trotted out Mazeroski to throw out the first pitch (mlb.com) -- routed Darrell Rasner and coasted to a 12-5 victory. (New York Daily News) Joe Girardi, for one, wasn't very pleased. (New York Post)

EVER HEAR OF REASSESSING YOUR OPTIONS, JOE? While Peter Abraham admires Joe Girardi's loyalty to (or, as he puts it, "blind faith in") his players, he thinks continuing to send Kyle Farnsworth out to pitch the eighth -- in the absence of any evidence Farnsworth is actually good at that particular job -- is getting ridiculous. (LoHud Yankees Blog)

DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME: Sidney Ponson's already tarnished reputation was marred further by recent goings-on in Texas -- prompting the pitching-poor Rangers to a) release him and b) say they were better off without him no matter how well he was performing -- but he's with the Yankees now (actually, with their Triple-A team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) and he promises "to be low key . . . a ghost if possible." (New York Post)

ON PROBATION: Phil Allard of NYYFans.com hands out his midseason Yankee report card. I doubt it's going to be pasted on anyone's refrigerator.

ONE OF US: Hank Steinbrenner says that if Willie Randolph "had left [the Yankees] to [manage] the Red Sox, maybe I would have had a problem with that." But it was only the Mets, so Hank says Randolph -- "a Yankee, and he'll always be a Yankee" -- can have a job with the Yanks any old time. (New York Post)

WELL, THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: The love-fest that seemed to be building for Jerry Manuel in Mets Nation over the weekend came to a screeching halt after back-to-back drubbings at the hands of the woeful Mariners, and now Manuel is warning that "tough decisions" are in the offing if things don't improve very soon. (New York Post) It looks one of those tough decisions may be determining the fate of hitting coach Howard Johnson (New York Daily News), whose job can't be too secure after Manuel declared the Mets are a "bad offensive club."

FIRED UP: At least the Mets -- or some of them, anyway -- are still playing with passion. Carlos Beltran got tossed for arguing balls and strikes and called umpire Brian Runge's actions "weak" and "brutal," adding that "[if] I get suspended, he also should get suspended." (New York Daily News)

KID STUFF: First he angered the Mets by appearing to angle for Willie Randolph's seat when Randolph was still sitting in it. Now he's taking on the Yankees, claiming Joe Girardi's main qualification for their managing job is "[the] pictures . . . [he] must have on Steinbrenner." (New York Post) In these politically correct times, Gary Carter is a breath of fresh air . . . or something.

COINCIDENCE . . . OR NOT: The epidemic of broken maple bats was addressed by MLB yesterday -- or at least MLB started to address it -- with a conference call in New York of baseball's Safety and Health Advisory Committee to discuss player and fan safety. Among the results: The committee will consult with bat manufacturers and experts in the field, conduct field studies, conduct laboratory tests of bats, and gather information about protective measures in Major League ballparks. And then last night, to underscore just how urgent this issue is becoming, umpire Brian O'Nora was hit in the head by a piece of a broken maple bat in the Kansas City-Colorado game and had to be taken to the hospital for observation. (Both stories mlb.com)

EVERYTHING'S OKAY IN MY WORLD: The New York Daily News has a nice piece on Astros farmhand Koby Clemens, who isn't letting his father's troubles distract him as he strives to reach the major leagues.

'GETTING RIDICULOUS': That's Pinto's take on the gap between the American League and the National League, as A.L. teams now have a 109-76, .589 edge in this year's round of interleague play.

GET YOUR CHECKBOOKS READY: With the state of pitching being what it is in the major leagues, any decent starter figures to make a killing on the open market. And so it is that Ben Sheets announced yesterday he has every intention of becoming a free agent after the season. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

WELCOME BACK: It's hard to say who was more emotional, Omar Vizquel or the Indians fans, as the veteran shortstop returned to Cleveland for the first time since his 11-year run with the Tribe ended in 2004. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

NEVER HAPPENED: Adam Dunn says that, prior to reports out of Toronto, he didn't call J.P. Ricciardi to discuss Ricciardi's swipe at him on a radio show last week. (Cincinnati Enquirer) Nor, he says, does he intend to.

HOW DARE YOU? The blogosphere, particularly in Chicago, is up in arms over Joe Morgan's insinuation on national television Sunday night that Ernie Banks' career home-run total was inflated by the "basket" placed atop the bleacher walls at Wrigley Field (Walkoff Walk blog) The "basket," they point out, wasn't put up until 1970, only a year before Banks retired, and some, like Bleed Cubbie Blue, want Morgan fired.

HERE AND THERE: It's official: Nick Johnson is out for the season (Washington Post) . . . More bad news for the Nationals: Shawn Hill appears headed for the DL (Washington Times) . . . Josh Hamilton left last night's game because of left knee inflammation, but even though it's the same knee on which he underwent surgery in 2006 the Rangers don't seem to think it's anything serious (Dallas Morning News) . . . Erik Bedard may be headed back to the disabled list because of a bad back (Seattle Times) . . . Jon Lieber, wasting away in the dustiest corner of the Cubs bullpen, is talking retirement at the end of the year (Chicago Tribune) . . . Like Curt Schilling, John Smoltz isn't quite ready to say he's all done (Atlanta Journal-Consititution) . . . The Astros' Kaz Matsui is headed for the disabled list. (Houston Chronicle)

OLD FRIENDS: Johnny Damon's foot hurts and he admits he may need to go on the disabled list (New York Daily News) . . . Bronson Arroyo's been talking recently like he doesn't want to leave Cincinnati, and he may not have anything to worry about anymore. His trade value is probably negligible today after he was pounded for 11 hits and 10 runs in one-plus innings as the Blue Jays routed the Reds, 14-1 (Dayton Daily News) . . . The rehabbing Eric Gagne pitched a perfect inning for the Nashville Sounds last night (oursportscentral.com) and will make one more minor-league appearance before rejoining the Brewers . . . There was a rare Andy Marte sighting in the Indians game last night, and rotoworld.com thinks Cleveland needs to figure out what to do with the one-time phenom . . . Speaking of the Indians, they signed Tony Graffanino to a minor-league deal (Cleveland Plain Dealer) . . . Phil Dumatrait, who was placed on the disabled list by the Pirates on Sunday, has been diagnosed with left shoulder bursitis (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) . . . For the second time in a month, Julian Tavarez appeared to accept, but then ultimately rejected, an assignment to the minor leagues. This time he turned down Milwaukee's request to go to Triple-A Nashville and is now once again a free agent. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

-- ART MARTONE

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