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RED SOX PREGAME: Notes on Casey and Ortiz, and an ominous stat

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

HOUSTON -- On the flip side of the suspension coin from Coco Crisp is Sean Casey, who completed his three-game suspension Wednesday at the end of the Red Sox homestand and is eligible to play tonight. He's not, however, in the starting lineup.

-- David Ortiz is on the trip and hit again off a tee this afternoon.

The plan is for him to gradually increase his workload, making sure that he suffers no pain and risks a setback as he returns from the wrist injury he suffered at the end of May.

-- Ominous stat of the night: The Sox are 2-10 under a roof this season, permanent or retractable.

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:08 PM | Permalink

RED SOX PREGAME: Francona catches up with Astros GM Ed Wade

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

HOUSTON -- Terry Francona spoke for several minutes on the field with Houston general manager Ed Wade during batting practice.

Wade was attacked by Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon earlier this week in a clubhouse confrontation. The Astros released Chacon Thursday for insubordination.

Wade was the Phillies GM when Francona was fired as the team's manager, but the two have always enjoyed a good relationship.

"It happened," said Francona of the dust-up. "It could happy to anybody."

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:06 PM | Permalink

RED SOX PREGAME: Crisp will play tonight in advance of his suspension

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

HOUSTON -- The Red Sox thought that Coco Crisp's suspension -- five games, reduced from seven after an appeal hearing earlier this week -- would begin tonight. But in an an apparent effort to keep Crisp out of the entire Tampa Bay series which begins Monday at Tropicana Field, Crisp's suspension won't begin until tomorrow and run through next Wednesday.

Eligible for one more game, Crisp is back in the lineup tonight before his mandated five-game suspension begins Saturday.

"That just makes the most sense," said manager Terry Francona, who added that Crisp wasn't originally going to play tonight.

"It's better than seven," said Crisp of the reduction. "They could have easily said seven."

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 6:00 PM | Permalink

Lineups

Crisp CF
Pedroia 2B
Drew RF
Ramirez LF
Lowell 3B
Youkilis 1B
Varitek C
Lugo SS
Matsuzaka SP

HOUSTON

Bourn CF
Newhan 2B
Tejada 3B
Berkman 1B
Lee LF
Blum 3B
Pence RF
Quintero C
Hernandez SP

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 5:55 PM | Permalink

Crisp's suspension reduced to five games

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

HOUSTON -- The Red Sox announced moments ago that Coco Crisp's suspension for rushing the mound in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays has been reduced from seven to five games.

Crisp will begin serving the suspension Saturday, and thus will miss all three games of the Sox' series in Tampa Bay next week. He will miss the final two games of the series against the Astros and all three against the Rays. He will be eligible to play again on Thursday, July 3 in New York against the Yankees.

Crisp's appeal was heard earlier this week.

Posted by Art Martone  at 3:00 PM | Permalink

Baseball Today: Friday, June 27

Journal photo / Kris Craig

'A TEAM WITH NO CENTER': In years to come, when we reflect on this slice of the Red Sox tale, many names will be inextricably linked to the history-altering success of the 2004-and-beyond teams. David Ortiz. Manny Ramirez. Curt Schilling. There are some we'll remember at one end (Kevin Millar, Keith Foulke) and some at the other (Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon).

Yet one name that probably won't come up is Mike Timlin.

Timlin has been here since 2003. He has begun to work his way onto the franchise's all-time lists in select categories. (Did you know, for instance, that only Bob Stanley, Tim Wakefield, Derek Lowe and Roger Clemens have pitched in more games for the Red Sox?) But his role -- setup reliever -- is a secondary one, and his contributions get overlooked, or lost, in the grandiose moments we'll never forget. Like Dave Roberts' stolen base, or Big Papi's extra-inning heroics, or Foulke's strikeout of Tony Clark, or J.D. Drew's grand slam, or Papelbon's pickoff of Matt Holliday, or . . . well, you get the picture.

Timlin, however, didn't just have a front-row seat to history; he helped shape it. In a fascinating conversation with Joe McDonald last night at McCoy Stadium, where's he rehabbing with the PawSox, he talked about how -- and why -- things finally changed:

"When I played against Boston" -- Timlin, don't forget, had been around for 12 years before he ever got to Fenway, and had competed against the Sox as a member of the Blue Jays, Mariners and Orioles -- "it was a team with no center. Guys would just go out and play and then scatter in the wind. When I first got here in 2003 it was more of a collective agreement among guys that we need to change things. All the guys who were there in 2003 started working together and it started showing. Things started to go in the right direction . . . "

Did they ever. And Timlin says he knows why.

"It’s always about the team. You have to get the concept of the team is greater than the individual. Even though the individual does most of the work, the team is still greater. That’s not a theory; it’s a fact."

I'm not one to overemphasize the importance of character and spirit and togetherness towards a team's success; talent is almost always more important, and there's no question the 2003-to-the-present Red Sox had/have plenty of that. But I'm not one to underemphasize it, either, because there were lots of Red Sox teams in my lifetime that had talent. These are the ones that cashed in on it.

Timlin's 42 years old now, and his days with the Sox are coming to an end. This is his second Pawtucket rehab stay this year -- the first was in April (above) -- and, truth be told, there's no guarantee he'll be part of an another October run this time around. His pitching this year has been so erratic (that's a kind way of putting it, eh?) that the Sox may not have a roster spot for him come playoff time.

But after it's over for him, I'll still remember Mike Timlim. And maybe I'll remember him most for the attributes he talked about to McDonald last night, attributes that led to one of the touching moments of the 2007 postseason:

Yes, they talked the talk. And then they walked the walk.

"We didn’t just verbalize it," Timlin said. "We did it."

Yes, they did.

THE TRUE LEGACY: And if Timlin had anything to do with this, then his memory will really live on at Fenway Park:

LOOKING AHEAD: The Red Sox sit where they sit this morning -- 49-32, first place in the A.L. East -- not due to the contributions of 42-year-olds, but in great part because of the success of pitchers at the other end of the age spectrum. Steven Krasner takes a closer look.

JUST DANDY: That could be what the J.D. actually stands for in Drew's name. Krasner tells us why.

CASHING IN: The Sox hope the home run he hit Wednesday night in an indication they'll soon be getting more power from Kevin Cash, who shows plenty of it in batting practice. (Boston Herald)

EASING INTO THINGS: This doesn't figure to be a smooth road trip for the Sox -- they play the Rays and the Yankees next week -- but Krasner says it's starting in just the right place: Houston. The Astros have begun the process of attempting to release Shawn Chacon (Houston Chronicle); resistance is expected from the Major League Baseball Players Association. (Bugs and Cranks reports Chacon's banishment means there are no longer any active MLB players who were born in Alaska.) The Houston Press blog Ballz thinks the problems in the team's clubhouse go far beyond Chacon, and wonders how much culpability management deserves for all this. The Astros did manage to put the whole smelly episode behind them for a night as they beat the Rangers, 7-2, in advance of the Sox' arrival. (Houston Chronicle)

COMING OF AGE: Josh Byrnes, one of Theo Epstein's assistants from 2003-05, is running a very successful operation these days in Arizona. Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington, two of Epstein's current aides, could be on the short lists of teams looking for GMs this offseason. Epstein talks to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald and says he hopes Hoyer and Cherington -- and others in the Sox' front office -- soon get the chance that he and Byrnes received.

THE GRADES ARE IN: And any one of us would be proud to receive a report good as the one Chad Finn gave the Red Sox.

YO! I have a friend who's perhaps the world's biggest David Pauley fan, and he must be pleased that Pauley raised his record to 10-2 last night with a victory over Richmond; details are provided by McDonald. But whenever I think of David Pauley, all I can picture is the hysterical Boston Dirt Dogs photoshop you see on the right. END OF THE LINE: Tonight we bid a fond farewell to Hazel Mae, whose days at NESN are at an end. (Boston Herald) Rumors persist, however, that she'll land somewhere in Boston before too much longer. NOT OUR COLOR: The Boston Globe is sensing a growing backlash against pink hats, a term which has come to represent bandwagon fans.

THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: Life is good in Tampa Bay. The Rays closed to within a half-game of the Red Sox as Matt Garza allowed no hits through the first six innings before settling for a one-hitter in a 6-1 dispatch of the Marlins. (Tampa Tribune) It was, reports the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin, the sixth series sweep of the year for the Rays, a franchise record. To top it all off, Carlos Pena will return to the lineup tonight when the team plays in Pittsburgh. (Tampa Tribune)

BACKSTOPPING THE WHOLE THING: Gary Shelton of the St. Pete Times calls catcher Dioner Navarro "the most improved player on the most improved team in baseball."

DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS: Interleague play (mercifully) concludes this weekend, and in New York that means the final four games of Mets-Yankees. The New York Daily News reports the teams are coming into the series from opposite directions.

RAIN AND FURY: The Yanks were rained out last night after starting the game against the Pirates (and jumping out to a 3-1 lead), and Mike Mussina voiced the anger of many Yankees when he blasted . . . well, someone (even he wasn't sure who) for not scheduling yesterday's game in the afternoon in light of the fact the Yanks have a day-night, separate-stadium doubleheader today. (New York Daily News) The weather was beautiful all day and the game would have been played without incident, but the Pirates wanted the game to be at night for greater television ratings.

THE SWORD SWINGS BOTH WAYS: Players/coaches/managers aren't the only ones to be disciplined by Major League Baseball for on-field disputes. Umpire Brian Runge was handed a one-game suspension for his actions during a dispute with Mets manager Jerry Manuel the other night. (New York Post)

CHANGE IN PLANS: First he wanted to manage the Mets. Now, angry because they didn't hire him, Gary Carter wants to manage someone else "and beat the heck out of [the Mets]." (New York Times)

STILL FLYING: Those waiting for the annual Orioles collapse -- like me -- are still waiting. Yesterday the O's beat the Cubs, handing Chicago a rare series loss at Wrigley Field. (Washington Post)

THE SWEETEST REVENGE: Joe Posnanski says baseball has kicked the Royals in the teeth for the last 20 years, so it's time for them to kick back by signing Barry Bonds.

SHOOTING FOR THE STARS: Carlos Zambrano says he hopes to be recovered from his shoulder woes in time to pitch in the All-Star Game. (Chicago Tribune)

STAR SWITCH: If Zambrano is able to make it back in time, he'll be joined in New York by his manager, Lou Piniella, who yesterday was named to replace Willie Randolph on the N.L. coaching staff by this year's National League manager, Clint Hurdle. (Denver Post) MLB, meanwhile, is trying to figure out a way that Randolph can still participate in the activities. (New York Post)

'THE MEAT HAS AGED. IT'S BETTER MEAT': That was Charlie Finley's chortle when he raised the price on some of his players during his Kuhn-aborted attempt to sell off his stars in 1976. The present-day A's, though, might be saying the same thing about Rich Harden after his dominant performance last night against the Phillies. (San Francisco Chronicle)

HERE AND THERE: The A's and Rockies could be cooking up a multiplayer deal involving Matt Holliday (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Pirates have placed Ian Snell on the disabled list (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . The Nationals swapped pitchers on the DL, putting on Shawn Hill and taking off Odalis Perez (Washington Post) . . . Ryan Church has begun to work his way back to the Mets (New York Post) . . . The Yankees may have to put Hideki Matsui on the disabled list. (New York Post)

AND FINALLY . . . Many thanks to Tim Daloisio and Paul Testa, who invited me to be a guest last night on one of their Fireside Chats on the blog Fire Brand of the American League. I had a great time, guys, and hope we can do it again soon.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments 1