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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: The lead is shrinking, shrinking »
September 18, 2007
BIG HURT: History is on their side (projo.com), but the Red Sox can't depend on history to carry them through the next two weeks. They were tired -- having arrived in Toronto at 4 a.m. after their Sunday night game with the Yankees -- and banged up and they looked it in last night's 6-1 loss to Toronto, which dropped their A.L. East lead to 3 1/2 games, the smallest its been since May 1. Frank Thomas (AP Photo, above) had the second three-home-run game of his career; the first was also against the Red Sox, 11 years ago, and it was also against Tim Wakefield. The Sox' hitters, meanwhile, were stifled by Dustin McGowan, whose complete-game five-hitter bore a striking resemblance to the masterpiece spun against them by Seattle's Felix Hernandez at Fenway Park on April 11. (Boston Herald) At least our friend the Tao of Steib is happy.
FUTURE PLANS: Sean McAdam reports the Red Sox will turn to Clay Buchholz to start Wednesday night's series finale, his first start since the Sept. 1 no-hitter against the Orioles. It's all part of a master strategy to set up the pitching rotation for the playoffs, with the additional benefit of getting Daisuke Matsuzaka a little extra rest. Down in the story McAdam also has disconcerting news on Kevin Youkilis, who doesn't feel any better after being hit on the hand by Chien-Ming Wang on Saturday -- and, even more worrisome, is being churlish about it; that's usually a bad sign with an injured player -- and who can't even have an MRI because the swelling hasn't yet gone down. If you're looking for Manny Ramirez to come riding to the rescue, don't; he won't play again until this weekend in Tampa at the earliest.
ANOTHER GOAL . . . is to get Eric Gagne ready for the postseason. (Boston Herald)
START THINKING ABOUT IT: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the Red Sox will have some interesting postseason decisions to make if they finish with the best record in the A.L. It's assumed they'd choose the eight-day ALDS if they get the choice, in order to force the Yankees to play the seven-day series; that would limit the number of times Joba Chamberlain could pitch and, theoretically, expose the Yankees' lack of pitching depth. But if the Sox play Cleveland in an eight-day series, it could mean facing C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona on full rest two times each, whereas they'd force the Indians to use one of them on three days' rest -- or use their fourth starter -- in the seven-game series.
NOT TO WORRY: Rosenthal's FoxSports.com counterpart, Dayn Perry, analyzes the landscape and concludes the Red Sox ''are clearly the class of baseball when it comes to having the kind of team that thrives in the postseason.''
CONGRATULATIONS: Our friend Don Orsillo will be broadcasting some postseason baseball on TBS, though it most likely won't be the Red Sox (projo.com). That means he'll miss the first round of Soxtober on NESN. I actually thought that was a pretty clever word choice by the network's creative folks, but it looks like the phrase was first used in Chicago in 2005. (susanasherself.blogspot.com)
JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU'VE SEEN IT ALL . . . you find out some guy is doing live blogging of Sox Appeal. I have to admit, though, it made me laugh.
TOP TEN OR BOTTOM TEN? The blog MLB Trade Rumors lists the top 10 trades of the last calendar year and the Sox-Rangers deadline line (Eric Gagne-for Kason Gabbard, David Murphy and Engle Beltre) comes in at No. 6 . . . in Texas' favor.
ROCKS OF AGES The New York Observer's Howard Megdal breaks down Sunday's showdown between old warhorses Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, and thinks both the Red Sox and Yankees ''had to be asking questions about what their once-great pitchers will have left for the postseason.''
BEST OF THE WORST: ESPN.com's Jonah Keri has both a Red Sox and a Yankee division in his list of 100 players you love to hate.
NARROWING IT DOWN: Chad Finn reserves his hate -- okay, his "strong dislike'' -- for the Yankees, and gives 26 reasons why. (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com)
GETTING CLOSER: I'm sure his hate didn't diminish one little bit after the Yankees beat the Orioles last night. (New York Daily News)
WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO . . . The Yanks have to decide whether or not Phil Hughes will make their postseason roster. (New York Daily News) But even if he doesn't make it, the New York Post's Kevin Kernan says Hughes and the other Yankee rookies have been the key to the season.
WAVE THE RED FLAG: You can't say a discouraging word about Derek Jeter in Yankee Universe, so the blog The Fantasy Baseball Generals had best be prepared for some incoming after putting forth the notion that Jeter is having the worst season of his career.
AND WAVE IT HARDER: Especially after Jeter set some Yankee history last night. (New York Daily News)
TWO SHOTS: The blog Vegas Watch lists Jeter and Robinson Cano among 10 players with a chance to hit .400 some season in their careers. The odds, however, are pretty long.
LOOKING BACK: Horace Clarke has become the player who most symbolizes the Yankees' decade in the wilderness from the mid-1960s to the mid-'70s. But he wasn't that bad a player -- good enough to play regularly for the Yanks for 10 years -- and his career is remembered in SABR's Baseball Biography Project.
A.L. RACES: The Indians may have driven a stake through the heart of the Tigers' playoff chances with a 6-5, 11-inning win at Jacobs Field (Akron Beacon-Journal). The Tigers, who had a 5-1 lead in the eighth, were devastated (Detroit News) . . . The Angels closed to within 1 1/2 games of the Red Sox in the race for the best record in the A.L. by beating Tampa Bay (Los Angeles Daily News).
N.L. RACES: The Cubs beat the Reds (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Phillies beat the Cardinals (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . The Brewers beat the Astros (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Nationals beat the Mets (New York Daily News) . . . The Giants beat the Diamondbacks (Arizona Republic) . . . The Padres beat the Pirates (San Diego Union-Tribune).
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
HISTORY IN THE MAKING? The Times-Herald's Michael P. Geffner says the Mets may join the 1951 Dodgers and 2004 Yankees in pulling off one of the greatest chokes in New York baseball history.
TIME TO TALK: The Orioles' Jay Gibbons met with MLB officials over reports of his receiving a shipment of HGH and steroids. (Baltimore Sun)
QUICKLY: Orioles reliever Rob Bell goes public about his bouts with anxiety (680news.com) . . . Jeremy Bonderman might pitch again yet this year (Detroit News) . . . Carlos Zambrano thinks he'll get a warm reception tonight at Wrigley Field (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Cardinals' Mark Mulder may be done for the year (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Astros are closing on on a new GM (Houston Chronicle) . . . The Washington Times says it's time for the Nationals and Frank Robinson to kiss and make up.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 7:06 AM | Permalink
