Projo Sox Blog

While it's a truism that virtually all players hit better in wins than in losses -- that's one of the reasons teams lose individual games, because the players don't hit in them -- the numbers for Jacoby Ellsbury are particularly striking. (baseball-reference.com) (Compare them, for instance, to Dustin Pedroia's, or Manny Ramirez' or J.D. Drew's.) Steven Krasner takes a closer look at Ellsbury's importance to the Sox' offense and talks to various people about how he jump-starts the attack. And there's plenty of evidence that his down periods coincide with the team's . . . such as the recently concluded 3-7 road trip, when he hit just .225 with a .279 on-base percentage. (Baseball Musings' Day By Day Database)

All of it indicates just how important Ellsbury has become to the Sox in the short time he's been with them. And it's one of the reasons why the controversy we all anticipated if Coco Crisp wasn't traded hasn't developed. While it's true that various injuries have given the two of them adequate playing time, more than could have been anticipated had everyone stayed healthy, no one can reasonable argue that Crisp, he of the .259/.309/.410, OPS-plus 87 line, deserves to be in lineup over Ellsbury.

STARTING OVER: The Orioles come to town tonight, and Clay Buchholz returns to the starting rotation. (Boston Globe) The question: Is he ready? (Boston Herald)

STARTING UNDER: Down on the farm, Justin Masterson's first stab at relief pitching went well. (projo.com)

AIM HIGHER: Some players' goal is simply to make a major-league roster. Some aim to be a starter. Some want to make the All-Star team. Jonathan Papelbon? He 's shooting for the Hall of Fame. (Boston Herald)

HOLLIDAY WEEKS? When Peter Gammons sneezes, Red Sox Nation catches a cold. He mentions on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball that the Red Sox have had internal discussions about signing Barry Bonds -- an assertion denied by the Sox -- and it sparks a four-day talk-radio angst fest. Now he goes on New England Cable News and says the Rockies' Matt Holliday is a possibility to come to Boston between now and July 31, and my pals at Sons of Sam Horn are all over it. Tracy Ringolsby, writing for foxsports.com, says Colorado's asking price is two major-league-ready players and a prospect.

MIGHTY CASEY: He's hitting .371, and that might prompt some players to grumble about getting more playing time. Not Sean Casey (left, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach), , who's happy to be here and fill any role the Sox want. (Boston Herald)

THE LEADER: We're pleased to report that, based on midseason standings, our own Sean McAdam has been one of the two most accurate national media members in choosing which teams would win their divisions. (whereIstand.com)

HANDICAPPING THE FIELD: TampaBay.com's Tom Jones looks at the A.L. race and lists reasons why each of the teams could win . . . and why each of them could lose.

CATCHING UP: It was a productive off-day for the Sox as they picked up ground on the suddenly stumbling Rays, losers of four straight after their most one-sided defeat of the season, 13-2 to a team -- the Indians -- that entered the game on a 10-game losing streak. (Tampa Tribune) The talk in Tampa Bay clubhouse is still positive (St. Petersburg Times), as it should be, and Bugs and Cranks' David Chalk thinks it's all good: "The last time our beloved Devil Rays lost 4 consecutive games, we responded by winning 52 of our next 77 games -- winning at a .675 clip."

P.S. He called 'em the Devil Rays, not me.

BUT JUST IN CASE . . . The Rays are looking for midseason reinforcements, and Outs Per Swings' call for Xavier Nady may be answered; the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin reports Nady is one of several options the Rays are mulling as they seek more production from the right-hand side. MLB.com's Jim Molony says Tampa Bay is also interested in left-handed relievers Ron Mahay and, as reported ad nauseum, Brian Fuentes.

STAR POWER: The Rays did post one victory yesterday, and a big one it was: Evan Longoria won the online balloting for the 32nd and final spot on the American League All-Star team. (St. Petersburg Times) The National League winner was the Brewers' Corey Hart. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

EERIE PARALLELS: The blog The Blue Workhorse compares the 2008 Rays to the 1991 Braves and notes a lot of very striking similarities . . . right down to annoying fan practices (tomahawk chop vs. cowbells).

INOFFENSIVE: The Red Sox picked up ground on the third-place Yankees, as well, as New York's bats -- which have produced only 20 runs in the last 7 games -- remained silent for another night in a 4-2 loss to the Pirates, a makeup game that pulled down the curtain on interleague play for 2008. (New York Post)

ANOTHER LOSS: The Yanks' night started with news that Longoria had taken the final All-Star roster berth, meaning their push to get Jason Giambi voted in had failed. But the Mustache Man seemed nonplussed by it all. (New York Daily News)

'I'M A CATCHER': Not anymore he's not -- Jose Molina has started the Yankees' last six games behind the plate -- and Jorge Posada's not happy about it. (New York Daily News) Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra says Posada "is an unwitting victim of baseball's recent decision to outsource all Major League catching jobs to Molinas."

HIS PLACE IS AT THE END: There's some thought that Mariano Rivera should start, rather than close, the 2008 All-Star Game -- so that a Yankee pitcher would be on the mound at the beginning of the last All-Star Game ever played at Yankee Stadium -- but Terry Francona, who'll be managing the A.L. team, doesn't seem to think that's a very good idea. (New York Daily News)

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK: His old man regularly recycled old managers -- the managerial merry-go-round included multiple tickets for Billy Martin, Bob Lemon, Gene Michael and Lou Piniella -- and Hank Steinbrenner is proving, once again, that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree: He's telling USA Today he plans to hire Piniella as an "assistant" when Sweet Lou "retires" as a manager. "That," writes Peter Abraham on the LoHud Yankees Blog. "should be good news for whoever the [Yankee] manager is at the time."

Hank also has disparaging words for the Red Sox, but he probably can't order a coffee at Dunkin' Donuts without some disparaging words for the Red Sox.

BEAR MARKET: Our fantasy guy, Michael Salfino, chatted with Tom Boorstein yesterday on SNY.tv about the Yankees' second-half chances. Neither is particularly optimistic.

AND THIS JUST PROVES IT: Watching the tabloid wringer that Alex Rodriguez is being put through is just further evidence to Barry Zito that he made the right choice in avoiding New York when he became a free agent. (San Francisco Chronicle) He certainly did, considering how Mets or Yankee fans would have reacted had he signed a seven-year, $126 million contract and then posted records of 11-13, 4.53 (last season) and 4-12, 5.62 (so far this season). He didn't pitch all that badly yesterday at Shea -- five innings, three runs -- but the Giants' bullpen coughed it up late in a 7-3 loss to the Mets, New York's sixth straight win. (New York Daily News)

JUST MORE PROOF: The Twins rebounded from what the Minneapolis Star-Tribune called "a confidence-zapping sweep at Fenway" by rallying to beat the Tigers. As far as Joe Posnanski is concerned, it just demonstrates once again that Ron Gardenhire -- "my current baseball beejo" -- is "the best manager in the game."

GOOD FOR ME, BAD FOR US: Chipper Jones' great individual season is being tempered by the Braves' struggles. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

SLUMLORDS: The Nationals are withholding rent payments to the District of Columbia because they say work at Nationals Park isn't finished yet. (Washington Post)

ON FURTHER REVIEW . . . The Diamondbacks finally came out and just said no regarding Barry Bonds.

DON'T IT ALWAYS SEEM TO GO, THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT 'TIL IT'S GONE: Richard Justice misses Bonds. (sportingnews.com)

OH, WE KNOW WHAT WE HAD: The tears continue to fall as Tiger Stadium comes down (AP via espn.com), though the city of Detroit now says it will keep the field, the foul poles and the center-field flagpole intact.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE PRESENT . . . Tigers manager Jim Leyland is furious with MLB schedule-makers, whom he says have given Detroit the worst post-All-Star-break schedule of any club over the last three years. But MLB says there's nothing to Leyland's charges, and that every team "has scheduling issues that seem specific to them." (Detroit News)

CONTINUING TO FIDDLE WHILE ROME BURNS: Baseball has imade countless rules shifts in recent years to speed up play and the latest, to be instituted next year, involves having hitters keep one foot in the batters' box at all times. (Bloomberg) That's all well and good, but until they address the two things that are really slowing things down -- the long commercial breaks between innings, and the constant (and frequently mindless) late-inning pitching changes -- nothing's really going to happen.

FAREWELL: Mark Mulder's career may not actually be over, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Bryan Burwell is sure writing like it is.

TRADE TALK: The Phillies are inquiring about the Blue Jays' A.J. Burnett (SI.com), though they may have some concerns about him (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . The Brewers' acquisition of CC Sabathia and the Cubs' pickup of Rich Harden has alarmed Tony La Russa, who wants the Cardinals to get him some pitching sooner rather than later (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Indians' Casey Blake is available (mlb.com) . . . Put the Erik Bedard trade talk in hold; he's been placed on the DL by the Mariners (Seattle Times) . . . The Denver Post reports the Rockies are likely to trade Brian Fuentes before July 31 . . . The Tigers say they won't do anything big this trade season. (Detroit Free Press)

HERE AND THERE: Moises Alou's career may be over after he was diagnosed with a torn hamstring (New York Daily News) . . . The Reds hope to have Aaron Harang back soon as an MRI showed nothing abnormal in his strained right forearm (mlb.com) . . . The Blue Jays' Dustin McGowan has a tear in his rotator cuff (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Mariners finally released Richie Sexson, more for his attitude than anything else. (Seattle Times) Even so, USS Mariner wants to know why Sexson instead of Jose Vidro. . . . Rafael Furcal insists he'll be back playing for the Dodgers this season (Los Angeles Times) . . . It looks like Francisco Liriano will be back with the Twins soon (rotoworld.com) . . . Vernon Wells has a Grade 2 hamstring strain and could be lost to the Blue Jays for as many as six weeks (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Indians said goodbye to Joe Borowski (ohio.com) . . . Dodgers GM Ned Coletti may be on the hot seat. (Los Angeles Times)

OLD FRIENDS: Hanley Ramirez put on a one-man show as the Marlins beat the Dodgers in 11 innings (Miami Herald) . . . Jeff Suppan will start the fifth game after the All-Star break for the Brewers. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

AND FINALLY . . . You might have seen this yesterday if you'd been on the ProJo Sports Blog, but it bears repeating: A-Rod! The Musical is one Broadway show I'd pay to see. (newyorker.com)

-- ART MARTONE