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June 30, 2008
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| 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
Baseball Today: Thursday, June 26
AP Photo
HALFWAY THERE: They hit the 81-game mark last night, the exact midpoint of the season, and while it may not seem like the Red Sox have done what former Packers running back Travis Williams once (delightfully) described as "anything fantabulous," they're on pace for 98 wins. That's how they'd finish if they repeat their 49-32 first-half record, a mark they reached with a 5-0 win over the Diamondbacks that, Joe McDonald writes, was the result of some stout pitching by Tim Wakefield and a nice performance from his personal catcher, Kevin Cash. Cash's contributions included a put-it-away three-run homer in the eighth -- for which he received congratulations in the above picture -- that put the game into the "safe" category.
As impressive as 49-32 may be, it's actually a game behind the 50-31 record they had at the midway point in each of the last two seasons; in neither year were they able to maintain that performance over the second half. But there's a big difference this time around. They played their 81st game this year on June 25. Last year they didn't play No. 81 until July 2. In 2006, it came on July 4. And that's pretty much when it always falls -- July 4 in 2005, July 6 in 2004, July 1 in 2003, etc. The fact that it came more than a week early this year means there's a lot of air built into the second-half schedule . . . time the Sox can use to a) rest their everyday players, b) get extra days off for their starters, c) better manage their bullpen, etc. Did you realize that the longest consecutive-day stretch the Sox have from now until the end of the year is 13? (They'll do that twice, from tomorrow to July 9 and then again from Aug. 8-20.) They'll be off on 10 of the remaining 14 Thursdays this year (counting today), and 3 of the remaining 13 Mondays.
These Sox aren't particularly old and creaky, but some of the regulars do show some age; the more time off they can get, the better. And Peter Gammons had a particularly telling quote on this topic during his last ESPN Radio appearance -- more on that in a moment -- when he said: "I’m still firmly convinced that the reason the Red Sox won the World Series was the 50 less innings pitched that Josh Beckett threw as opposed to C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. I think those guys just hit the wall in that series and Josh Beckett was pitching in the World Series like it was April 20."
The more rest you have now, the more energy you have later. That's why it may be easier for the Sox to continue to play at their current pace in the last three months.
IT STARTS NOW: Speaking of rest, the suddenly slumping J.D. Drew got some last night; McDonald gets Terry Francona's reasoning. Drew was replaced by Brandon Moss, and perhaps there's no more telling sign of Randy Johnson's mortality than the fact that the Red Sox were willing to start a rookie left-handed hitter against the Big Unit. Can you imagine that happening in 1997 or so?
AS FOR THE GAME . . . Steven Krasner breaks it down, with explanations of Wakefield showing why he's more than just a knuckleballer, how Manny Delcarmen benefitted from following Wake's soft tosses with some heat of his own, more failed strategy from Arizona manager Bob Melvin and a Red Sox rally that wasn't in the fifth inning.
BACK IN ACTION: Kevin Youkilis returned to the lineup last night, missing only a day after getting hit in the eye with the Mike Lowell throw on Monday. (projo.com)
STILL WAITING: The Sox have yet to receive word on the appeal of Coco Crisp's suspension. But the Boston Herald's Jeff Horrigan reports the Red Sox should be covered if Crisp's ban begins this weekend because it looks as if Manny Ramirez is good to go in left field.
THE FIRST STEP ON THE LONG JOURNEY: David Ortiz took 25 easy swings off a tee Tuesday night. Krasner reports it went as well as expected and that Big Papi is two or three weeks away from returning.
IT'S POSSIBLE: Curt Schilling thinks he'll be able to pitch again if he wants to following successful shoulder surgery. (projo.com) He's still unsure if wants to, though.
NOTHING'S OVER UNTIL I SAY IT'S OVER: If you thought the end of Schilling's season, and perhaps his career, would at least put his feud with Dan Shaughnessy on hold, guess again. Schilling updated his "Not a thing in the world to be upset about" entry on 38pitches.com to call Shaughnessy a liar over a specific piece of Shaughnessy's farewell column the other day -- in which Dan said Schilling announced his impending surgery on WEEI Radio without telling Red Sox management he was doing so -- and then went on to a number of remarkably personal insults, which, if nothing else, will play spectacularly to Schilling's target online audience.
Your serve, Mr. Shaughnessy.
THE CUTTING EDGE: Peter Gammons' latest appearance on ESPN Radio, as reported by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog, deals with the Red Sox' strengths in protecting their pitchers and in helping players adjust to the big leagues once they arrive in Boston.
KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: Clay Buchholz doesn't want his stay in Pawtucket to be a long one, apparently. Paul Kenyon reports he was dominant last night as he pitched the PawSox to their sixth straight win, 10-1 over Richmond. Speaking of the PawSox, McDonald has news that Mike Timlin will throw an inning for them tonight.
DUELING POLLS: The Red Sox are No. 1 in SI.com's power rankings, but sit third, behind the Cubs and Angels, on foxsports.com.
DEDICATED TO THE ONES I LOVE: One of Chad Finn's most entertaining features on his Touching All The Bases blog is the Random Baseball Cards. Writing for Baseball Analysts, he composes An Ode To Baseball Cards and he concludes with something I've always thought: "The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book is a literary classic and should be taught in all high schools throughout the United States and certain parts of Canada."
FISH FRY: James Shields won his first game in more than six weeks last night, but that news got lost in a barrage of hits and runs as the Rays romped to a 15-3 win over the Marlins. The bad news in Tampa Bay: Troy Percival's balky hamstring is still barking and it "could limit his availability indefinitely." (Both stories St. Petersburg Times)
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Our friend Terry Nau, the sports editor of the Pawtucket Times, is a Yankee fan. So what does it say when he writes the Rays are a bigger threat to the Red Sox this year than the Yankees?
FORESIGHT: It's a hot topic today, but Joe Maddon was warning us about maple bats back when his team was still known as the Devil Rays. I had to go to Google to get the cached version of a Tampa Tribune story from July 24, 2007, in which he raised the issue "because I really believe somebody's going to get hurt if there's nothing done about it."
JOBA RULES: "The debate is over," declares Peter Abraham (LoHud Yankees Blog), and it certainly appears that way after Joba Chamberlain pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings in picking up his first win as a starter as the Yankees blanked the Pirates, 8-0. (New York Daily News) The Yanks, point out Abraham, have won four of the five games started by Chamberlain (even though last night was the first time he got credit for the victory) and the evidence is incontrovertible that the best utilization of his skills is in the rotation. Now, he adds, all they need to do is find another starter.
THE LINE FORMS HERE First up in the audition: Sidney Ponson, who will pitch Friday night against the Mets. (New York Daily News) The New York Post says reports of Ponson's being loud and drunk in a St. Petersburg bar the night before he pitched for the Rangers against the Rays last month are greatly exaggerated.
WAS THAT HANK WHO JUST WALKED BY IN THE 'GOT RINGS?' SHIRT? After hearing Hank Steinbrenner say he might feel different about rehiring Willie Randolph had Randolph gone off to manage the Red Sox, ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra asks, "Does anyone else find it disturbing that the owner of the biggest franchise in American sports sees the world in such a simple, provincial way?" If Hank's father felt that way, we'd have been spared the sights of Wade Boggs, Don Zimmer, Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon in pinstripes. Not to mention Alan Embree and Mike Myers. Or Joe Kerrigan.
SO SORRY: Umpire Brian Runge apologized to Jerry Manuel for his actions during their argument, which led to Manuel's ejection, Tuesday night. (New York Post)
'MAYBE IT SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED': That's about as close to remorse as Shawn Chacon would get after he was suspended for grabbing general manager Ed Wade by the neck and throwing him to the ground during an argument that ensued over the Astros' removing Chacon from their starting rotation. (Houston Chronicle) The Chronicle's Jose de Jesus Ortiz, writing on his blog, thinks "[in] time, I really believe Chacon will regret his actions, but all sides agree there's no way Chacon will ever play in Houston again. On ShysterBall, Calcaterra had a more succinct reaction: "Forgive me for being a lawyer, but when I read [Chacon's comments] . . . I think 'wow, Wade's lawyer could win this one on summary judgment right now!' "
HECK, NO, I WON'T GO: There's no independent-league stint in Barry Bonds' future, according to his agent, Jeff Borris. (espn.com)
HAH? It doesn't appear as if Jim Thome will reach the 664 plate appearances he needs to guarantee his 2009 contract, but he says "stuff like that doesn't cross my mind." (Chicago Sun-Times)
'THAT'S A FIRST': So says Jim Leyland to the news Brandon Inge is headed to the disabled list because he reinjured his oblique muscle while fixing his 3 1/2-year-old son's pillow. (Detroit Free Press)
'THE AGES' IS A RELATIVE TERM: The Rockies made a comeback for the ages last year in reaching first the postseason and then the World Series. Thanks to their puny N.L. West foes, Tracy Ringolsby thinks another one could be in the offing. (foxsports.com)
ONE OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD: SI.com's John Donovan thinks the Mets may be helped by last week's change of managers, but the other two firings -- by the Mariners and Blue Jays -- won't make any difference at all.
THEY LIKE MIKE: Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports has a nice feature explaining the success of Mike Scioscia with the Angels.
IN DEFENSE OF JOE MORGAN: Joe Posnanski knows it will make him an Internet pariah, but he explains -- and defends -- Morgan's aversion to statistics.
HERE AND THERE: The Nationals have offered Christian Guzman a two-year contract extension (mlb.com) . . . Andy Phillips is the latest big-leaguer to spend time in both New York boroughs as the Mets claimed the ex-Yankee off waivers (foxsports.com) . . . The Pirates have acquired Denny Bautista from the Tigers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Francisco Liriano took another step backwards last night, allowing nine hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings in a start for Rochester against Louisville (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) . . . Scott Proctor's elbow is apparently why he was "(bleeping) pathetic" (self-description) the other day, and he's headed to the disabled list. (Los Angeles Times) Incidentally, the blog Fifth Outfielder looks into the numbers and is astounded at the love Joe Torre has shown Proctor in both New York and Los Angeles, considering what Proctor has actually delivered when he's pitched . . . Looks like all the optimistic talk was just that, as now the Mariners say Felix Hernandez will miss at least one start because of the sprained ankle he suffered Monday (mlb.com) . . . Hank Blalock's hand is still swollen and he doesn't know when he'll be able to return to the Rangers. (Dallas Morning News)
OLD FRIENDS: Carlos Pena is joining Rhode Island's Rocco Baldelli in Sarasota on rehab (St. Petersburg Times) . . . Jay Payton hit a pair of home runs off Ted Lilly (and is now 10-for-20 in his career against veteran left-hander) in the Orioles' loss to the Cubs (Baltimore Sun) . . . The Dodgers have moved Gary Bennett to the 60-day disabled list (Los Angeles Times) . . . Josh Bard is still at least two weeks away from returning to the Padres. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
AND FINALLY . . . All those "Hi Don and Remdawg!" signs don't cut no mustard in Cleveland, where Orsillo and Remy -- unable to ride Manny Ramirez' coattails, apparently -- had a tough time getting into Jacobs Field one day:
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:20 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 25
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
Posted by Art Martone at 6:46 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 24
 |  |
FACEOFF: They say reality never matches anticipation, but that wasn't the case last night. We figured we'd get quite a pitching duel between Josh Beckett (above left) and Dan Haren (above right), and did we ever. In the end, reports Joe McDonald, Haren was just a shade better as he pitched the Diamondbacks to a 2-1 win over the Red Sox, but it wasn't easy. He escaped a second-and-third, two-out jam in his final inning, the seventh, by striking out Jason Varitek. Then, in the eighth, after reliever Tony Pena had surrendered the only Boston run on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by J.D. Drew, Manny Ramirez almost beheaded Mark Reynolds with a scorching line drive that, writes Steven Krasner, knocked the Arizona third baseman to the ground; Reynolds, however, held on for the final out, preventing the tying run from scoring.
The Diamondbacks scored both their runs in the seventh, which Krasner says was the result of a good piece of hitting by Chris Young and a good piece of strategy by manager Bob Melvin. Not to mention some good Arizona fortune; Kevin Youkilis was forced from the game in the fifth after a bounced throw from Mike Lowell during pre-inning warmups hit him in the eye (projo.com) and the inexperience of his replacement, Brandon Moss, may have been a factor in the Diamondbacks' second run. And Moss was only in there because Sean Casey last night began serving his four-game suspension for his role in the fight with Tampa Bay earlier this month. (projo.com)
In the end, it lived up to its billing. And how often does that happen?
OCTOBER IN JUNE: The Diamondbacks came to town on the heels of three straight losses to the Twins, and perhaps for that reason they were reveling in last night's win a bit more intensely than you'd expect. Or maybe it was just because it came against the defending World Series champions at one of baseball's shrines. Whatever, the Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro said that, for the D'backs, the victory "felt nearly as meaningful as any playoff victory." On his Diamondbacks Blog, Piecoro talks more about how much some of the young Arizona players were soaking up the atmosphere at Fenway . . . and he seemed awed by it himself, particularly during Ramirez' at-bat in the eighth inning.
SAVIOR: Thanks to Daisuke Matsuzaka's one (inning)-and-done on Saturday, and the 13-inning game Sunday, the Boston bullpen had a severe case of the shorts last night. The Sox needed Beckett to give them a long outing, and he delivered. (Boston Globe)
FEELING IT AT LAST: Baseball Musings' David Pinto notes the Red Sox have scored only 25 runs in their last seven games and wonders if David Ortiz' absence is finally catching up with them.
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS: You hardly ever hear anyone say surgery went worse than expected, so Dr. Craig Morgan was a true baseball traditionalist when he announced that Curt Schilling's shoulder operation "was a success." (projo.com) The Herald's Rob Bradford was in Delaware with the Schillings and has a more detailed report.
YAY, CURT! Terry Francona tells McDonald he's never really thought whether or not Schilling belongs in the Hall of Fame, but says he'd be "a cheerleader for [Schilling's candidacy] because he’s pitched for me for so long."
YEA, CURT: Tim Marchman of the New York Sun delivers another 'yes' vote in the Schilling-for-Cooperstown debate.
NOW WHAT? The news that Schilling is finished for the season, and maybe forever, prompted everyone to look back at his sterling career. Now Sean McAdam looks ahead and asks if, with Schilling gone, the Red Sox will be in the market for a No. 2 starting pitcher at the trade deadline since you can't help but wonder if they "have enough experienced starting pitching to withstand three rounds of baseball in October." This is, of course, based on the notion that Jon Lester is still battle-untested, at least when it comes to the postseason (Game Four of last year's World Series notwithstanding), and they have absolutely no idea what to expect out of the riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma that is Dice-K.
SLOW IT DOWN: On his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty talks with pitching coach John Farrell about Lester. Among the more interesting tidbits: The Sox may lessen his workload in the weeks ahead to bring down his innings total; right now he's on pace to throw 211 this year, and they think that might be too high.
FAREWELL TO THE BIG LUG: No one can accuse Dan Shaughnessy of being Curt Schilling's best friend -- or vice-versa -- but Shaughnessy gives Schilling his props in a goodbye column. (Boston Globe) And at the risk of offending "the fragile psyches of Schill-o-phants, blog-boys, and others who worship at the altar of Curt," that goodbye includes inquiries to ownership as to whether they regret the $8 million contract they gave him last November, for which they received absolutely nothing.
BEST WISHES: Also on Schilling's not-my-best-friend list is Randy Johnson, his partner at the top of the Diamondbacks' starting rotation in the early part of the decade. But the Herald's Steve Buckley reports the Big Unit also has nothing but good wishes for Schilling, and even hopes he'll be able to return so he can "go out on his own terms, like I’m doing."
THE NEW TRADITION: From here on in, we can be fairly certain a weather delay at Fenway Park will mean only one thing: A showing of the Jonathan Papelbon/Manny Delcarmen video "Blame It On The Rain." Haven't seen it? (Don't worry; you will.) Well, it you can't wait, check it out on Ian Bethune's Sox and Dawgs site.
ENOUGH, ALREADY: The nationwide backlash against Boston's recent sporting fortunes -- and, more specifically, the fans who are basking in it -- is reaching epidemic proportions, which prompted Red Sox fan Russ Smith (who lives in Baltimore) to offer a defense for his fellow Nation members. Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra thinks the bandwagon fans will abandon the Sox eventually and says "it's those marginal fans ["I spent two years of grad school in Boston, so I'm a total Sawx fan!"] who are the most annoying."
ACCURACY IN POLLING? Derek Jeter, the most overrated player in baseball according to SI's player poll, is playing like it so far this year. (New York Daily News)
MELK DELIVERY: Steven Goldman, writing for the New York Sun, thinks the Yankees may have gotten about all they're going to get out of Melky Cabrera and says they should trade him for pitching.
IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE It's possible Carl Pavano will be pitching again for the Yankees before Phil Hughes. (New York Post)
THE INSIDE STORY: SI.com's Jon Heyman takes a closer look at what went into the firing of Willie Randolph. Meanwhile, Mets owner Fred Wilpon defends the move and the man who made it, Omar Minaya. (Newsday)
WATCH YOUR MOUTH: The 'fertilizer' incident has taught new manager Jerry Manuel there are things he can say, and things he can't say, now that he's managing in New York. (New York Daily News)
CAN'T WIN FOR LOSING: Three innings after becoming the first American League pitcher to hit a grand-slam home run since 1972, Felix Hernandez suffered an ankle injury that forced him out of the Mariners' game at Shea Stadium. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) The M's still beat the Mets, though, and Hernandez vows he won't miss a start.
WHAT IT'S LIKE: Our friend Jason Rosenberg of the blog It Is About The Money, Stupid has a fascinating interview with player agent Matt Sosnick. Among the interesting tidbits in Sosnick's remarks: That there's no organized conspiracy to keep Mitchell Report players out of baseball ("the risk doesn’t equal the reward"), that the level of competition and bitterness between agents competing for players is incomprehensible ("worse than you can ever imagine") and what's the most important character trait to be a successful agent ("character, not deception"). A very good read, and well worth the time to click the link.
LAYING IT OUT THERE: Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reaches no conclusion as to whether they will or not, but he examines all the factors that would go into the Indians' deciding whether or not to trade C.C. Sabathia.
FIRST UP: As McAdam noted, there could be a lot of big-name pitchers -- Sabathia, Erik Bedard, Rich Harden, Roy Oswalt, Greg Maddux -- available next month. That being the case, expect to hear about many teams lining up to acquire them. Beating the rush and getting right in line: The Phillies (Philadelphia Inquirer) and the Cubs (Chicago Tribune).
| (11:30 a.m. update) MOVE OVER, BUCKNER: Our buddy the Tao of Stieb saved us from ourselves: The Keith Law-J.P. Ricciardi dustup we had linked to in this spot earlier in the day is a couple of years old. (Since Vernon Wells signed a long-term deal with the Blue Jays in 2006, we kinda should have known that.) Now I know why Kevin Youkilis gets so frustrated when something goes wrong; unlike Youk, however, I have no umpire to blame. Sorry, folks.
(And thanks, Tao, for the heads-up!) |  |
HERE AND THERE: It looks like Gary Sheffield's return from the disabled list will come sooner rather than later (Detroit Free Press) . . . It doesn't appear Ian Snell will need to go on the DL (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) . . . The snakebitten Nick Johnson may miss the rest of the season because of a wrist injury (Washington Post) . . . The Mariners don't expect J.J. Putz to return until the All-Star break (Seattle Times) . . . Omar Vizquel may be losing his starting job in San Francisco. (San Jose Mercury News)
OLD FRIENDS: The St. Petersburg Times lists Eric Hinske as one of the four unheralded Rays who've helped Tampa Bay so far this year . . . The Rays think Carlos Pena is still a week away from returning to the lineup (Tampa Tribune) . . . The Cardinals are moving Matt Clement to the bullpen due to his inconsistency as a starter during his rehab. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
AND FINALLY . . . Our thanks to Pinto for tipping us off to this incredible catch by a ballgirl at a minor-league game:
http://view.break.com/524970 - Watch more free videos
Word is filtering in that it's a fake, but so what? It's still worth watching.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 23
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: By the time Kevin Youkilis came to bat in the 13th inning yesterday it was pretty obvious that the Red Sox-Cardinals game was only going to end with a home run; both teams had demonstrated to the satisfaction of everyone there wasn't a clutch hit to be had on this day. (And when there was a semblance of one, like Adam Kennedy's 13th-inning single, someone in the field -- in this case, J.D. Drew and Jason Varitek -- would take care of it; more on that later.) So Youkilis pulled down the curtain on the 5 1/2-hour (rain included) day at the ballpark with a two-run shot into the Monster Seats in left-center, enabling the Red Sox to escape with a 5-3 win that salvaged the finale of the weekend series. Joe McDonald has the details of a long and unfruitful day at the ballpark, which included, among other things:
-- The Red Sox wasting leadoff doubles in the 10th, 11th and 12th innings.
-- Three members of the Sox (J.D. Drew, Alex Cora and Jacoby Ellsbury) striking out in extra innings with the winning run on third base, Drew and Cora doing so with one out.
-- The Cardinals squandering a pair of first-and-second, one-out opportunities in extra innings, one of which morphed into a bases-loaded, two-out chance.
-- There was even a little bad luck thrown in on the Sox' side, as well, as Steven Krasner relates.
But, thanks to Youkilis, the Sox were dancing at the end (above). "I know it’s a heck of a lot better hearing the music" -- the trilogy of Dirty Water, Tessie and Joy To The World that accompanies each Fenway Park victory -- "than coming in frustrated after a long day," sighed Terry Francona.
STOP THE MUSIC: But the reason the Sox missed hearing the Standells, the Dropkick Murphys and Three Dog Night about an hour-and-a-half earlier may actually have been the news of the day. Jonathan Papelbon blew his fourth save of the year, and the second in his last four chances, and this one was perhaps the disconcerting of them all. Krasner has a detailed breakdown of how it happened; it involved Papelbon abandoning the fastball that had blown away the first two hitters in the ninth and going to his splitter. The result was a four-pitch walk to .234 hitter Chris Duncan and a run-scoring double to Kennedy -- who came to the plate with a .305 on-base percentage and a .306 slugging percentage -- that tied the game. (In Papelbon's defense, Kennedy's ball, as well hit as it was, probably should have been caught by Coco Crisp, who's not throwing the leather the way he did in 2007.) The Globe's Nick Cafardo looks a little closer at the bullpen and notes, "When you couple Papelbon's blown saves and the struggles of set-up man Hideki Okajima, the concerns are clear. "
NO, KEEP THE MUSIC GOING: The Herald's Tony Massarotti, on the other hand, thinks the fact the Sox win games like this makes the question not can they win another World Series, but can anybody else beat them?
'DISGUSTING': The good news, bullpen-wise, was the five-up, five-down performance of Craig Hansen, who kept the game tied in the 11th with a three-pitch strikeout of Ryan Ludwick with the bases loaded. Krasner reports Manny Delcarmen judged Hansen's performance as "disgusting." If you think that's a bad thing, you're showing your age.
NOT SAFE AT HOME: When Hansen was lifted one batter into the 13th, the Cardinals arose. Duncan greeted Javier Lopez with a double off the wall and Kennedy followed with a single to right, prompting third-base coach Jose Oquendo to wave Duncan home. But Drew and Varitek combined to keep the score tied, Drew with a throw that beat Duncan to the plate by about 15 feet and Varitek by hunkering down and absorbing the knock-him-over, knock-it-out collision without
dropping the ball. Krasner tells us all about it, with reaction from the Sox' principles.
OTHER NOTES OF THE DAY: Crisp's defense yesterday wasn't all bad; he and Ellsbury both turned in some nice plays in the field . . . Lost in the excitement -- or whatever it was yesterday turned into -- was another fine start from Jon Lester . . . Dustin Pedroia had a four-hit afternoon and has lifted his average from .260 to .282 over the last 10 games . . . Krasner has all the details.
IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: The blog Bird Land thinks yesterday's was one of the greatest games in Cardinals history.
THE BIG PICTURE: Apparently that's a majority opinion in Cardinal Nation. Tony La Russa was proud of the way his team battled over the weekend and Bernie Miklasz -- a sometimes critic of the manager -- thinks La Russa deserves much of the credit because, as he says, "I don't know if we realize how difficult it is for a team to go into Boston and win two out of three." (Both stories St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Which, when you step back and think about it, is true; the only other series the Sox lost at home this year was to the Angels in April.
OTHER NOTES OF THE WEEKEND: The series began Friday night with the Sox honoring the Celtics for winning the NBA championship, but -- in a sneak preview of yesterday -- wasting scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity in a 5-4 loss. McDonald recaps it all . . . Saturday was a disaster, Boston-wise, as the back-with-the-big-club Daisuke Matsuzaka was routed in the second inning of a 9-3 defeat. Sean McAdam, though, tells us of Chris Smith's major-league debut, which looks pretty good in the box score but -- in true, other-than-that, how-did-you-like-the-play-Mrs.-Lincoln? fashion -- was marred by a grand slam allowed to the first batter he faced.
WHERE THEY RANK: Speaking of the Celtics and championships, Chad Finn ranks the six Boston titles of the 21st century. Not surprisingly, Red Sox 2004 comes in on top. Me, I'd put the 2001 Pats a little higher.
AP Photo
END OF THE LINE? Just about the same time we were signing off here last Friday, Curt Schilling was on WEEI Radio announcing the end of his season, and possibly his career. (weei.com) While yours truly had the news, Sean McAdam had the more important piece. He put the Boston portion of Schilling's career into perspective and demonstrated how -- with his fearlessness in big moments and willingness to tackle situations that past Red Sox teams, and players, had shrunk from -- he helped turn Boston into a place where "October isn’t something to dread, but to welcome." The bloody sock (above) is the iconic symbol of all that; it forever reminds us of a night when he limped on one leg into what Theo Epstein called "the belly of the beast" and did something -- beat the Yankees, in Yankee Stadium, in a game that meant everything -- that no Red Sox pitcher, or team, was allegedly capable of doing.
The temptation is to attribute too much credit for what's happened here since 2004 to one guy, and that's wrong because Schilling certainly wasn't alone. Nor is it accurate to whitewash Schilling into an heroic knight on a steed; he had plenty of moments when he was more blowhard than braveheart, especially since there didn't seem to be anything he could refrain from commenting on, sometimes inappropriately. But there's no underestimating what he did in Boston, either, and he's inextricably intertwined with the change-of-fortune success the Red Sox have had since 2004. Like him or hate him -- and, truth be told, most Boston fans adored him -- you can't deny him his place in this franchise's history.
As we speak today, he's undergoing shoulder surgery; his baseball future hinges on the outcome. Good luck, Curt. We'll never forget you.
'NOT A THING IN THE WORLD TO BE UPSET ABOUT': Sometime Friday afternoon Schilling took to 38pitches.com to say his own goodbyes and said that if this is end, he has no regrets.
KNEW IT WAS COMING: McAdam and McDonald report that the Sox, both in the front office and the clubhouse, were saddened, if unsurprised, by the news.
GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES: And now the Schilling-In-The-Hall-of-Fame debate begins. The first salvo is fired by The Sporting News' Sean Deveney: He says yes.
THE BEST TRADES ARE THE ONES . . . Remember how close the Sox came to picking up Todd Helton? If this story in the Denver Post is any indication, be thankful they didn't.
QUIET FINISH: A homestand that picked up steam with a sweep of the Cubs ended on a down note for the Rays, who lost to the Astros yesterday and dropped two out of three in the series to Houston. (Tampa Tribune)
HANG ON A SECOND: Yankee fans had double reason to celebrate yesterday: Andy Pettitte beat the Reds, avoiding a three-game sweep, and their favorite whipping boy, Kyle Farnsworth, hurt his finger. (New York Daily News) But the blog River Ave. Blues says Farnsworth isn't "totally useless. Yet."
THE DEAD HORSE SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE: The New York Daily News' John Harper says "there is a very real sense these Mets are in good hands with Jerry Manuel taking over for Willie Randolph. Smart, relaxed and self-assured, Manuel's ascension seems to have loosened the atmosphere around the Mets and helped them refocus on baseball." In what may or may not be a related incident, Manuel compares Mets fans to fertilizer. (New York Post)
LET'S GO BACK TO BEATING IT ANYWAY: The Daily News' Bill Madden says Randolph had no chance with the backstabbers in the Mets front office. And his former teammates, Jim Kaat, says Willie deserved better. (yesnetwork.com)
TURNAROUND: Right after being swept by the Rays, the Cubs come home and sweep the White Sox. (Chicago Tribune) The vanquished manager, Ozzie Guillen, salutes the victors. (Chicago Sun-Times)
HE DID IT ONCE (ACTUALLY, TWICE), SO . . . The Blue Jays are giving Cito Gaston the chance to do it again. (Toronto Star) Our pal the Tao of Stieb is aghast. As are we.
NUMBER ONE: The Jays won their first game for Gaston -- after two defeats -- yesterday. (Toronto Globe and Mail) One last Jays note: Matt Stairs is happy Gary Denbo was shown the door, along with John McLaren and Ernie Whitt. (National Post) Well, one really last Jays note: Whitt's firing drove the long-time Blue Jay to tears. (Toronto Sun)
NOTHING'S CHANGED: His high school graduation was covered live on national radio, and Bob Feller henceforth acted like someone who felt his high school graduation deserved to be covered live on national radio. (Which should be a lesson to all who think athletic self-absorption is a novel concept.) Shysterball reports the years haven't mellowed him any.
HERE AND THERE: The Pirates' Ian Snell has a sore elbow (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . After his latest dismal outing, the Dodgers' Scott Proctor described himself as "(bleeping) pathetic" (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Astros have lifted Shawn Chacon out of their starting rotation (Houston Chronicle) . . . Mark Teixeira had a three-homer day for the Braves yesterday (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Tigers still don't know when Gary Sheffield will return (Detroit Free Press) . . . Moises Alou's career may be over. (New York Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Bronson Arroyo has heard the rumors that have him headed to the Yankees and sounds like he's lukewarm about it, since he's come to enjoy life in baseball's slow lane (New York Daily News) . . . Justin Duchscherer has a big fan: Baseball Musings' David Pinto . . . Ken Harrelson talks about his career, and his life, with the Chicago Sun-Times.
AND FINALLY . . . It's not really baseball news, but interesting nonetheless: Newsday reports that the end may be near for WFAN's Mike And The Mad Dog show.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:04 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, June 20
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
IF THIS IS AN OFF-DAY . . . it must be time for examinations of all sorts of things that normally get lost in the normal crush of news. With the Sox not playing yesterday, we now have time to look at . . .
-- Manny Delcarmen (above), whose resurgence in the Red Sox bullpen is analyzed by our own Steven Krasner.
-- The lack of good young catchers in baseball, with the Boston Globe's Amalie Benjamin talking to people about why that's so. She also looks at Jason Varitek and notes how lucky the Sox have been not to have had to worry about their catching situation for the last 10 years.
-- Jacoby Ellsbury, whose speed, says Terry Francona, has brought the Red Sox "a brand of baseball we’re not accustomed to." (Boston Herald)
The games resume tonight and when they do the Sox will have a special ceremony to honor the Celtics for winning the NBA championship. (Boston Globe) And they may be catching the Cardinals at the right time: St. Louis is coming off three straight home losses to the Royals. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
| MYSTERY SOLVED: Ever wonder just what in the world Hideki Okajima (right) and several of the other Red Sox wear around their necks? Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald finds out what they are: Phiten titanium necklaces, brought over from Japan by Daisuke Matsuzaka to "keep the evil spirits away." Says Dustin Pedroia, who now wears two during games: "I don’t know if they do anything, but Daisuke swears by them."
WHO NEEDS 'EM? We've yet to see one on J.D. Drew, whose recent hitting exploits have gotten Manny Ramirez' attention. (Boston Globe) WELL, HOW ABOUT A.L. PITCHERS? Because Jim Donaldson thinks their inability to run bases or swing bats without injuring themselves is a disgrace. |  |
| TIME AND A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING: In Boston, dancing means the Celtics are on the verge of another victory and the dancers -- especially good old Gino (right) -- are folk heroes. (Riverside Press-Enterprise) But in New York, dancing, at least on the baseball field, is poison to old timers like Goose Gossage, who thinks the antics of Jose Reyes and his ilk are one of the reasons Willie Randolph got fired. (New York Daily News) |  |
THE HIGH ROAD: Though he thinks "I deserve better" than to be fired in the middle of the night -- or, actually, late at night on the West Coast, which is where he got the word -- Willie Randolph wouldn't rip the Mets or Omar Minaya as he met reporters outside his house yesterday. (New York Daily News)
THE LOW ROAD: But Randolph's friends think his replacement, Jerry Manuel, angled for the job by undermining Willie to Mets management, particularly vice-president of player development Tony Bernazard, whom, the New York Post reports, is "a known Randolph detractor." When asked about it yesterday, Manuel denied the charge. (As for Bernazard, Newsday's Ken Davidoff didn't hear many kind words when some well-connected friends offered their opinions of him.)
THE LOWEST ROAD: Furious at what he considers the cowardly way they fired Randolph, Mets fan Martin Silver sent five whole chickens to owner Fred Wilpon. (New York Daily News) He also says he plans to return his season tickets.
THE ROAD BACK: The Mets won their first game under Manuel, beating the Angels in 10 innings on Damion Easley's home run. (New York Post)
THE ROAD TO GLORY: Writing on sportingnews.com, David Pinto notes that Randolph was dismissed 30 years after the Yankees fired Billy Martin in midseason, lists the similarities between the situations and wonders if a Yankee-like resurgence is in the Mets' future.
ZAMBRANO REVISITED: More on Carlos Zambrano: He had to leave last night's start against the Rays in the seventh inning because of shoulder discomfort and he's flying back to Chicago to be examined. (Chicago Tribune)
THE TIME IS NOW: Saying that every major-league game "is an accident and lawsuit waiting to happen" because of the danger represented by the flying shards of broken maple bats that we see several times every night, SI.com's Tom Verducci urges MLB to ban the use of maple bats immediately.
TAXMAN COMETH: Prince Fielder has no comment on reports he owes the IRS $409,149. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
IT'S NEVER GOOD WHEN 'TOXIC' IS A WORD USED TO DESCRIBE YOUR CLUBHOUSE: But that's the word Jose de Jesus Ortiz uses in talking about the Astros. (Houston Chronicle)
LOCAL BOYS: In his second rehab game at Vero Beach, Rocco Baldelli hit two home runs. (Outs Per Swing)
WHISPERS: Jason Lloyd of the Journal-Register News Service thinks the Indians-Rockies series could help Cleveland decide whether or not to make a run at Matt Holliday or Garrett Atkins . . . Some scouts think the Giants' Randy Winn could draw some interest at the trade deadline, particularly from Atlanta (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . The Mariners may soon release Richie Sexson (Everett Herald) . . . Judging by J.P. Ricciardi's comments, you can be fairly certain the Blue Jays have no use for Adam Dunn. (National Post)
THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE: It's rare that a trade helps both teams, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today says last winter's Reds-Rangers deal that sent Josh Hamilton to Texas for Edinson Volquez and a minor-league prospect was, in the words of fired Cincinnati GM Wayne Krivsky, "the perfect trade, the perfect match."
HERE AND THERE: Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit suffered a concussion after taking three foul tips off his mask (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Hideki Matsui sat out last night's Yankees-Padres game after getting fluid drained from his knee (New York Daily News) . . . The new Yankee Stadium will feature a year-round Hardrock Cafe. (AP via nj.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Even though Dave Trembley says the bleached hair makes him look like "a box of Crayola crayons," Kevin Millar delivered the game-winning hit for the Orioles in the 10th inning last night (Baltimore Sun) . . . One day after hitting a two-run homer in a rehab game for Las Vegas, Nomar Garciaparra woke up with discomfort in the strained right calf that landed him on the 60-day disabled list and didn't play yesterday. Nor will he play today (Los Angeles Times) . . . Derek Lowe bested Bronson Arroyo as the Dodgers beat the Reds. (Los Angeles Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:08 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 18
AP Photo
My apologies for the delay in posting this; as I mentioned earlier, Cox Cable's Internet access went down for about an hour this morning. But we're here, and so with no further ado . . .
'WE HAVE THE FULL PACKAGE HERE': That's Coco Crisp's assessment of the Red Sox, and last night that package included a team-record six stolen bases (including one from Julio Lugo, above). It also included shutout pitching from Jon Lester, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon -- quite a feat in the bandbox known as Citizens Bank Ballpark -- as the Sox defeated the Phillies, 3-0. Steven Krasner has the details, focusing on Lester's more-than-impressive seven-inning, 99-pitch performance. He also has a separate blog item on Papelbon, who rebounded from Saturday's blown save in Cincinnati by blowing away the three batters he faced in the ninth, striking them all out on fastballs in the 95-97 mph range. And they weren't chopped liver, either; Papelbon's victims were Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth.
They play again this afternoon as they attempt to complete the road trip with two wins in three games against the Phillies and four wins in six games overall. Check back for all the details.
INJURY UPDATES: Bartolo Colon was forced to the disabled list because of the back injury he suffered while unhinging himself with his nuclear batting swings the other night. Chris Smith was recalled from Pawtucket for the second time this year, and he'll probably be here until Daisuke Matsuzaka is activated on Saturday; let's see if he gets into a game this time. Curt Schilling, meanwhile, is headed back to Boston to have his balky shoulder checked. Terry Francona says he hopes it's just "a bump in the road" in Schilling's rehab. Krasner has both stories.
DROPPING A BOMBSHELL . . . MAYBE: I assume this is a typo and that he meant "weeks" and not "days," but Jim Rice did say he expects David Ortiz to "get back into games in the next 4-5 days. Maybe sooner." (ask14.sullivantire.com)
SIGN OF THE TIMES: It's all good when none of your players are on anybody's All-Overpaid Team, and none of the Red Sox show up on Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan's squad. Derek Jeter does, though.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The New York Times, for goodness sakes, has discovered our own Charlie Zink. He celebrated his day in the national consciousness by subduing those Iron Pigs, 5-1. (projo.com)
ONE OF THESE DAYS WE'LL FILL THE JOINT WITH OUR OWN FANS: The good news is there were 31,607 at The Trop last night, which at first glance would indicate that Rays Nation is finally getting excited about its young -- and very good -- ballclub. The bad news is about half of them were there to root for the Cubs. But the home half went home happy as Tampa Bay pulled out a 3-2 win over Chicago. (Tampa Tribune)
 | WHO CALLS ME DUMB?? The blog DRays Bay is discovering that a "team's winning percentage in directly proportionate to the amount of dumb in it's fanbase." But the blog Rays Index is personally offended at the notion that Rays fans are dumb.
I know, I know. F Troop references are a sure sign of age. Wonder if my friend Repoz still regards me as "ever-hip"? (Repoz . . . now he's hip!) |
YEAH, WE TEASE HIM A LOT 'CAUSE WE GOT HIM ON THE SPOT, WELCOME BACK: Now to further bury myself with Welcome Back Kotter references. But it fits -- I guess -- as the Rays celebrated the return of ex-manager Lou Piniella. (Tampa Tribune) The St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton was happy to see Piniella, but is happier that Joe Maddon, and not Piniella, is now in the Tampa Bay dugout.
GLAD ALL OVER: Okay, how about The Dave Clark Five? (At least this'll please Sean McAdam, perhaps the world's biggest Dave Clark Five fan.) It described the feelings of yet another ex-Rays skipper, Larry Rothschild, who's also with the Cubs these days -- as Piniella's pitching coach -- and is happy his old team is doing so well. (Tampa Tribune)
TO WHICH ALTERNATE UNIVERSE HAVE WE BEEN TRANSPORTED? Big League Stew is wondering if this Rays-Cubs matchup will prove to be a World Series preview.
IF THE RAYS ARE TO GET THERE . . . they'll have to overcome their schedule, which the blog Baseball Playoffs Now describes as the toughest in either league.
ACE AUDITIONS: With Chien-Ming Wang sidelined, the Yankees are looking for a new No. 1 starter. Andy Pettitte put in his bid with seven shutout innings, his second straight strong performance, in an 8-0 win over the Padres. (New York Post) Joba Chamberlain, incidentally, says he wants no part of the 'ace' moniker. (New York Daily News)
DUELING OPINIONS: Wang says he'll do everything he can to pitch again for the Yankees this season. (New York Daily News) But Peter Abraham, reading a report from a doctor who was contacted by Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll, says there's a good chance the next time Wang throws a baseball will be next February in Florida. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
SHAMELESS: The president of Teamsters Union Local 202 in New York is furious that the Yankees keep asking for taxpayer subsidies as they complete construction of the new Yankee Stadium, saying the money the Yanks want is "the money we've been asking for from the city to save our members' jobs from leaving the Bronx." (New York Daily News)
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CONDITION AS EXPECTED: When you fire your manager via press release at 3 a.m. Eastern time -- in New York, no less -- you can be pretty sure you're not going to be lauded for your organizational skills. So as Omar Minaya was on the Left Coast explaining that his early-morning axing of Willie Randolph was just an example of his take-charge, up-front, be-honest-with-people style (New York Times), media outlets in the Big Apple were feasting on a Minaya shishkabob. The Daily News' Bill Madden, repeating what he'd said on the radio yesterday morning, called the manner of Randolph's canning "shameful, indecent, undignified [and] ill-conceived." The Post's Joel Sherman says Mets ownership has done the impossible: "They have made Hank Steinbrenner appear the level-headed baseball owner in town." The Daily News' Mike Lupica, meanwhile, thinks yesterday's beheading of Randolph was just a warmup to the inevitable execution of Minaya, whom he doesn't believe can survive this nightmare.
CHANGE OF HEART: On Sunday, Randolph told a friend he felt like a "dead man walking." But yesterday he describing himself as "stunned" and surprised" at his firing. (New York Daily News)
WE'LL SURE MISS 'OL WHATZ-IS-NAME: Mets players were, ah, less than emotional at Randolph's dismissal. (New York Post) Randolph's friends, however, were a bit more upset. (New York Daily News)
'THIS IS DOG EAT DOG': The seeds for Randolph's fate were planted last September when the Phillies overtook the Mets and won the N.L. East. There wasn't a shred of remorse in the Philadelphia clubhouse, however, no matter how much they may like Randolph as a person.
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? Yogi Berra feels bad for Randolph but says being fired is part of the gig for a manager. (New York Post)
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: So how often is a manager fired after he's already been named to his league's coaching staff for that year's All-Star Game? Randolph's one of the few, if not the first, and N.L. manager Clint Hurdle will probably replace him with someone else. (Rocky Mountain News)
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Jerry Manuel Era started inauspiciously. Jose Reyes threw a mini-tantrum when Manuel took him out of the game after he tweaked his hamstring in the first inning -- though they appeared to kiss and make up later -- and Johan Santana got clipped around in a 6-1 loss to the Angels. (New York Daily News) It was, says the Post's Mike Vaccaro, a fitting end to the Mets' day.
ALL IS NOT LOST: In spite of all this, Michael Salfino says the Mets aren't out the playoff picture. (sny.tv)
YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME HERE: Randolph -- whom Jorge Posada apparently calls "Will-o" -- could wind up back with the Yankees in some capacity, according to Hank Steinbrenner. (New York Post)
REPLACING RANDOLPH ON THE HOT SEAT . . . is the Brewers' Ned Yost. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Michael Hunt wonders whether or not Yost will join Will-o on the unemployment line soon.
MY KIND OF PLACE: Trade rumors have been flying, but Ken Griffey Jr. says he'd like to win a championship with the Reds. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
BASEBALL'S ALGONQUIN ROUND TABLE: The Baltimore Sun's Roch Kubatko gives us a glimpse into the raconteur that is Dave Trembley.
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli went 1-for-3 with two walks and drove in two runs in his first rehab appearance for Class A Vero Beach last night (Tampa Tribune) . . . Paul Konerko is on the disabled list for the first time in his career. (Chicago Sun-Times)
MEDICAL REPORT: The Dodgers have plenty of injury issues, what with Brad Penny headed to the DL and Hiroki Kuroda headed to the doctor's office; now news comes that Rafael Furcal won't be back before the All-Star break (Both stories Los Angeles Times) . . . Alfonso Soriano hopes to be able to recover from his broken hand in time to play in the All-Star Game (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Cardinals' Chris Carpenter is give the okay to restart his rehab. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
HERE AND THERE: Jose Canseco is being sued by his lawyer (New York Daily News) . . . Freddy Garcia, who attracted some mild interest from the Red Sox this spring, may be headed to the Tigers (Detroit Free Press) . . . New Reds GM Walt Jocketty disputed a New York Post report that he's about to clean house, saying "it's not necessary." (Cincinnati Enquirer)
OLD FRIENDS: Matt Murton is back with the Cubs, though they may only be showcasing him for a trade (Chicago Tribune) . . . David Riske struck out the side in his first rehabilitation outing at Nashville and could be back with the Brewers as soon as today (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Braves will activate Mike Gonzalez today. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
AND FINALLY . . . Congratulations to the Celtics, whose 17th NBA championship is celebrated by old friend Chad Finn. (And, not to be selfish or anything, but now that the quest is finished it'll be good to have Chad back on baseball again.) The Boston Herald's Rob Bradford says talk in the Red Sox clubhouse after their game was all about the Celts . . . and he also has an interesting anecdote about a Philadelphia rooter whose bitterness at Boston's overflowing sporting fortunes was self-evident.
One last note: Joe Posnanski says the Celtics' 39-point win -- or, rather, the Lakers' 39-point loss -- should, once and for all, put an end to the Kobe Bryant/Michael Jordan comparisons.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 8:59 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 17
WHEN YOU'RE RIGHT, YOU'RE RIGHT: It's Hank Steinbrenner, so everybody laughs. His pitcher (above) gets hurt running the bases -- (much) more on that later in our show -- and Little Stein goes off on how ridiculous it is for one league to play by one set of rules and the other league to play by another set. (New York Daily News) And he demands the National League join "the 21st century."
Ha, ha. 'Ol Hank, always good for a laugh. All because his pitcher can't travel from third base to home plate without incapacitating himself.
And then it hits a little closer to home, when Bartolo Colon makes a cartoonish spectacle of himself flailing wildly at various Cole Hamels deliveries and has to come out of the game because he hurts his back on one of his corkscrew swings. (Boston Herald)
Forget the sideshows -- Hank Steinbrenner, the ridiculous way Colon was injured -- and focus on this: Nine times a season (the nine games A.L. teams have to play on the road during the interleague period), you're asking a subset of professional athletes, in this case American League pitchers, to utilize a set of skills they've let atrophy over the years. Most times they can handle it, at varying degrees of competency. And sometimes, as Chien-Ming Wang and Bartolo Colon can attest, they can't . . . at the cost of their livelihood and their team's on-field chances.
And why? Because one league plays by one set of rules, the other by another.
I don't want this to be interpreted as a big-market whine about losing a pitcher. I understand that pitchers, even if they don't have to do it very often, should be able to swing a bat or run the bases without suffering debilitating injuries. And I understand that position players get hurt doing the very same things, even though they work on those tasks daily.
Fact is, though, that neither Wang nor Colon would be injured today if they hadn't been playing in a National League park. That, in the end, winds back to what is -- and always has been -- my point: One league plays by one set of rules, the other by another. People ask me why I hate interleague play. That's why. You build your team to play the game a certain way and then, for the nine games a year you have to play on the road during the interleague period, it all goes out the window. It's utterly absurd. Do the Celtics lose players on four fouls when they play in the Western Conference? Do the Patriots have to play with 10 men on offense when they face an NFC team? Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, how is that any different than what baseball actually does?
Most times it's just annoying. And sometimes, like in the last two days if you're a Red Sox or a Yankee, it's infuriating.
I don't often hear Peter Abraham of the LoHud Yankees Blog say he agrees with Hank Steinbrenner, but he did today.
Me too, Pete.
SIDESHOW: Colon's injury didn't have much of an affect on the Red Sox game last night, except that it forced them to use Mike Timlin when the outcome was still in question . . . and that, sad to say, isn't a good thing these days. Timlin allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning and Steven Krasner has the gruesome details of the veteran reliever's 2008 season in the aftermath of last night's 8-2 defeat: 40 baserunners (29 hits, 11 walks) in 21 2/3 innings, with a 7.06 ERA.
AP Photo
AS ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS: The news of Colon's injury was tempered -- at least a little -- by Daisuke Matsuzaka's more-than-encouraging rehab start for the PawSox (above). Tom Robinson, writing for the Providence Journal and projo.com, said not only did Dice-K dominate the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs -- not allowing a hit until he appeared to tire in the fifth -- but reported that Matsuzaka had no problems with his shoulder. There was already talk Matsuzaka would start Saturday in Boston against the Cardinals; if Colon's on the shelf, that would seem to be a certainty.
It all speaks to the Sox' pitching depth, something Peter Gammons discussed on ESPN Radio as transcribed by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog.
AND YET ANOTHER CLOSES: They'll need that depth. Krasner says the news on Curt Schilling isn't good and wonders if the thin chance that Schilling would actually pitch this year has gotten "even thinner."
ALMOST IN THE SWING: A pain-free David Ortiz had the hard cast removed from his wrist and, Krasner reports, will begin some range-of-motion exercises to help in his rehabilitation. The Phillies' Pat Burrell, who had a similar injury in 2004, is glad Ortiz didn't have surgery; he decided against surgery after he got hurt and was back in the lineup in five weeks. (Boston Herald)
MR. REINCARNATION: When he was managing the Red Sox, Jimy Williams used to say that Nomar Garciaparra was such a throwback that "it's like he's been here before." Now he's a Phillies coach and he's saying the same things about Chase Utley.
PHILLY PHAVORITE: J.D. Drew -- who refused to sign with the Phillies after they made him their No. 1 draft choice in 1997 -- has always been held in a special ring of hell by Philadelphia fans. They gave him their normal venomous greeting last night but he had the last laugh when he homered.
HE'S BACK! Manny Ramirez returned to left field.
THE VERDICT: Out until September . . . at least. That's what both the New York Daily News and the New York Post are reporting about Chien-Ming Wang, who suffered a partially torn tendon and a sprain of the Lisfranc ligament in his right foot. So, naturally, the lonely eyes of Yankee Universe turn to C.C. Sabathia, but the New York Post's Joel Sherman tells them to forget it, that these Yanks aren't about to back up the minor-league prospect truck for a free agent-to-be. As of now there appear to be few external options, as Brian Cashman says there is no trade market at the moment. (New York Post) But Abraham -- the voice of reason, as always -- says there doesn't need to be, since the Yankees will only need a fifth starter four times between now and July 24. That, he says, gives Cashman some time to explore options.
BUT THE BIG NEWS IS . . . I can guarantee you Chien-Ming Wang and Hank Steinbrenner and C.C. Sabathia and God knows what else will not be Topic One on New York sports talk radio today.
And why?
Because the Mets (finally) fired Willie Randolph.
At 3 a.m. Eastern time.
After they'd won a game, 9-6 against the Angels in Anaheim. (New York Daily News)
Can you make this stuff up?
The Daily News has the down-and-dirty report of the firing -- pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto were also let go -- as does the Post, which called it "a bizarrely timed housecleaning." Mets GM Omar Minaya isn't scheduled to meet the press until 5 p.m. EDT today, so speculation and opinion will rule the day until then. And it's already started:
-- On his Matthew Cerrone's Mets Blog, Cerrone says he's "embarrassed this morning, and I feel a little dirty . . . [The] Mets took so long to make this decision that it made them look foolish, classless and disorganized."
-- The blog It Is About The Money, Stupid reports reaction from various folks, none of whom particularly praise the Mets. (The Daily News' Bill Madden, on a radio appearance, calls it the most "undignified, atrocious" firing he's seen in 30 years of covering New York sports, and that includes all of George Steinbrenner's dismissals.)
-- The blog Can't Stop The Bleeding says that "for all the credibility the Mets purchased with their acquisitions of Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana, there isn’t enough money in Flushing to erase the sort of ill will their handling of this episode will generate."
-- The blog Sportsthodoxy says Omar Minaya "has used his last bullet. He's out of cover, and the next body to hit the floor will be his."
-- The blog Sliding Into Home sums it up in succinct, NSFW fashion.
And so forth and so on, etc., etc.
Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra has the best take on it all. The Mets, he says, turned Randolph -- who he thinks deserved dismissal -- into a sympathetic figure by deliberately timing his firing until after the print media's final deadline had passed, meaning it would miss today's newspaper news cycle. But it reality it means "the bloggers, while not nearly as widely read and heard as the traditional outlets, are going to be twice as shrill as they try to fill the void; and . . . the print and radio people" -- who won't be far behind, since they all have online outlets -- "are going to level about five times as much artillery at the Mets due to the shoddy way in which this was all handled."
In fact, it's already started. Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post posted an online column in the last 15 minutes in which he absolutely eviscerates the Mets. I wanted to cull through it for the most inflammatory comments, but there are so many of them I don't know where to begin. ("Disgraceful. Utterly, completely, disgraceful" . . . "miserable cast of miscreants" . . . "sinister men, cowards" . . . see what I mean?)
Just brilliant, guys.
ONE LAST NOTE: The Mariners fired GM Bill Bavasi (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), but before you read the story after clicking this link, check the picture. All I could think was: Kevin Youkilis in 20 years.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 16
AP Photo
MISSED THE MEMO: They don't have David Ortiz, obviously, and Manny Ramirez' balky hamstring prevents him from playing the field, which keeps him totally out of the lineup in National League parks. So, naturally, you'd think the Red Sox would have trouble generating offense. Well, that may have been true Friday night, when they managed just a single run in a 3-1 loss to the Reds, but the Sox were operating on all cylinders the rest of the weekend. They got back-to-back, 10th-inning home runs from Kevin Youkilis and Coco Crisp on Saturday, erasing the pain of a particularly irksome Jonathan Papelbon blown save, as they pulled out a 6-4 victory. (Over at Joy of Sox, Allan Wood has more info on the Sox going back-to-back in extra innings.) And yesterday they got home runs from four different players -- including both Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury (above, meeting at home plate after Ellsbury's homer) -- to back the shutout pitching of Josh Beckett, David Aardsma and Mike Timlin as they ran away with the rubber game of the series, 9-0. All the games are recounted by Steven Krasner, who points out that Boston's batting exploits may have been aided by the Great American Ballpark, also known as the Great American Smallpark for how it plays. ("This place is a bandbox," writes Steve, "a pitcher’s nightmare but a hitter’s delight, especially to right-center.") But the Sox needn't worry. Now they're in Philadelphia for three nights and, writes Kraz, "[the] Phillies’ ballpark is another bandbox."
DOESN'T MATTER: Or maybe it's not the venue. David Pinto of Baseball Musings shows that the Sox' team batting average and slugging percentage have gone up since Ortiz went down.
DARE WE SAY IT? The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo wonders if these next three games might prove to be a World Series preview.
GOD SAVE US: Even if they are, Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer isn't looking forward to them because they signal the "annual invasion of the denizens of Red Sox Nation. (Motto: In Us We Irritate.) It is a nation whose currency is based on being cloying, self-important, pompous, overly loud and, regrettably, ever-present, and the economy is great. Axis of Evil? You make your list of nations that belong and I'll make mine."
GETTING SO MUCH BETTER ALL THE TIME: Francona reports Ortiz' wrist is now pain-free, and he'll be examined today to see what the next step in his rehabilitation will be. (Boston Herald)
SIDE ORDER OF SPEED: Lost amid the fireworks yesterday was Ellsbury's breaking of the franchise's 100-year-old record for stolen bases by a rookie, with details provided by Krasner. Ellsbury's on a never-before-seen -- at least by these eyes when it comes to Red Sox players -- baserunning roll, with 14 stolen bases in his last 14 starts, and the proof of just how unique it's been is in the pudding of the names he's erasing from the record book; who's ever heard of these guys? (I mean, Amby McConnell? Really.) At the rate he's going Ellsbury will finish the year with 74 steals, which won't just break the Sox' record for stolen bases in a single season (54, by Tommy Harper in 1973) but shatter it into a million pieces. As it is, he's two bags away from tying Patsy Dougherty and Tris Speaker for 10th place on the Sox' single-season list . . . and that milestone (35 steals) was last reached 98 years ago. The Worcester Telegram's Bill Ballou says Ellsbury has a chance to be "a once-in-a-generation player," but I wonder: How many generations back do you have to go to find Amby McConnell and Patsy Dougherty?
NUMBER ONE: Papelbon was one strike away from his 20th save Saturday afternoon, but Edwin Encarnacion drove a hanging splitter into the seats in left field for the game-tying home run. All that did, however, was give Craig Hansen the chance to record the first save of his big-league career, and he delivered.
NEVER LET ANYONE OUTSIDE THE FAMILY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING: Speaking of Papelbon, Terry Francona was none-too-pleased with his public pronouncement that hostilities between the Red Sox and Rays aren't over. As for the Rays, they were more surprised than anything else. (mlb.com)
IRON PIGS ON DICE-K'S MENU: Daisuke Matsuzaka will make a rehab start for the PawSox tonight in Lehigh Valley.
FATHER'S DAY TALES: The holiday gave J.D. Drew a chance to be thankful for his 2-year-old son's return to health. (Boston Herald) Closer to home, it also gave PawSox manager Ron Johnson a chance to reflect on how baseball has enabled him for forge a bond with his son, Astros farmhand Chris Johnson. Laura Meade Kirk tells how RJ -- who divorced Chris' mother when Chris was very young -- credits baseball for allowing the two to reconnect. "I do wonder sometimes, if it hadn’t been for baseball, if we’d have been able to come back around," he told her. And Chad Finn of Touching All The Bases -- sitting in seats remarkably close to where a friend and I had season tickets for 25 years -- tells a touching story of taking his daughter to her first game.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: The Rays failed to complete their sweep of the Marlins as Edwin Jackson was hit hard in a 7-3 loss. (St. Petersburg Times) Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune says that for Tampa Bay to stay a contender, Jackson -- and the Rays' other young players -- "have to step up and stay up."
NOW THAT WOULD BE A FIRST: When did you ever hear a star player -- in this case, Ken Griffey Jr. -- say he'd waive his no-trade clause to go to Tampa Bay? (Tampa Tribune) Griffey's agent, though, says there's nothing to it. (St. Petersburg Times)
BOY, WE SURE DON'T MISS YOU: The blog Rays Index is watching Elijah Dukes' latest incident with the satisfaction of knowing that he's someone else's problem now.
LOSE WHEN YOU WIN: The Yankees won 13-0 yesterday and completed a three-game sweep of the Astros, but there are no smiles in Yankee Universe this morning. Not when Chien-Ming Wang injured his right foot and had to be helped off the field. (New York Daily News) The New York Post is reporting the Yankees think it could be a Lisfranc fracture, which would probably end his season. So the C.C. Sabathia talk, which was loud enough before Wang went down (nj.com), will now begin escalating to 130-decibel levels. But Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra wants to know why the Indians would trade Sabathia at all since they're only "5.5 games out . . . I probably don't think about unloading Sabathia until the All Star break, and then not at all if the margin is around the same or smaller. Why? I know my team is better than it has shown, and I have no faith in the While Sox keeping it up all year." The LoHud Yankee Blog's Peter Abraham looks at the various options to replace Wang, Sabathia included.
MEANWHILE . . . Sabathia, still in an Indians uniform, outpitched Greg Maddux and led Cleveland over the Padres. (Akron Beacon Journal)
UH, OH: It's never a good sign when a manager begins publicly blaming players and players answer by subtly blaming the manager. But that's the scenario that seems to be unfolding in Houston in light of the Astros' three straight losses to the Yankees. (mlb.com) Phil Allard of nyyfans.com thinks Cecil Cooper, the manager in question, deserves some blame, especially for a specific tactical decision in Friday night's game.
THE NEVER-ENDING DEBATE: Now it's Jim Kaat who thinks Joba Chamberlain should have stayed in the bullpen. (yesnetwork.com)
IF IT'S MONDAY, HE MUST BE SAFE: In the minute-by-minute referendum on Willie Randolph's job performance, yesterday's doubleheader split with the Rangers means he's still on the job . . . at least for today. (New York Daily News)
STATE OF THE GAME: Many of my favorite baseball writers -- some of whom I link to on a regular basis -- participated in a "State of Major League Baseball 2008" discussion on The Biz of Baseball blog.
THE UNSPOKEN TRUTH: Peter Abraham -- one of the people who was part of that discussion -- says the end of the performance-enhancing drugs era "is changing baseball in ways both subtle and conspicuous." And, in light of the ban on amphetamines, one of them is that "young players -- the kind who don't need a prescription to have energy -- are quickly becoming the biggest factors in the game." It's a fascinating take, and well worth your time. (Journal American)
STAND UP AND BE COUNTED: Allen Barra, writing in the New York Sun, says the players he helped over the years should push for Marvin Miller to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
AT LAST, REINFORCEMENTS: Fernando Rodney has rejoined the Tigers and Joel Zumaya may be there by the end of the week. And Gary Sheffield could be just days away. (Both stories Detroit Free Press)
TRAGEDY AVERTED: It looked a lot worse than it ended up being, as the Cardinals say Yadier Molina has a mild concussion after an horrific home-plate collision with the Phillies' Eric Bruntlett. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli is recovered to the point that he'll soon begin a Class A rehab assignment. (minorleaguebaseball.com)
TRADE TALK: Suddenly there's a lot of it floating around, and not all of it involves C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees. To wit: A.J. Burnett says he'd accept a trade from the Blue Jays to the Cubs (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Angels are looking for offensive help (Orange County Register) . . . As the Pirates' season disintegrates, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette expects teams to make pitches for Jason Bay and Xavier Nady, among others . . . Now it's the Mets allegedly interested in Brian Fuentes. (Denver Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Trot Nixon is back in the majors, having been picked up by the Mets (Newsday) . . . Billy Werber, who played for the Red Sox way back when, celebrates his 100th birthday. (Palm Beach Post)
AND FINALLY . . . Tim Russert, the NBC journalist who died suddenly Friday, was a Red Sox fan and the team mourned his passing. (Boston Globe)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:55 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, June 13
Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson
ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD . . . IN BOSTON: Combatants on one Thursday, friends on the next (above); Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis making nice after Youkilis' eighth-inning home run last night is just one more symbol of the smooth seas the Red Sox are currently sailing. The journey continued with a 9-2 rout of the Orioles, recounted here by Joe McDonald. It was the finale of a 7-2 homestand, which lifted their overall Fenway record to 28-7 and increased their A.L. East lead to 2 1/2 games. But the sailing's been a lot smoother in Boston than elsewhere this year -- as their 14-20 road record indicates -- so now, says Sean McAdam, it's time for the Sox to show they can be just as successful away from the friendly confines . . . because if they can't, it's "something that could prove to be a serious obstacle to their repeating as World Series champions."
HERE IT COMES AGAIN: And that quest begins in Cincinnati, of all places, as interleague play resumes tonight and continues for the next two weeks. McDonald and McAdam report Terry Francona still isn't an interleague fan -- you're hardly alone there, Tito -- even though the Sox have been pretty successful at it in recent years; they're 31-8 against National League teams since 2006. (And that's not counting last October.) But Sean Casey (who played there) and Kevin Youkilis (who grew up there) are looking forward to visiting Cincinnati. (Boston Herald) The Reds are eagerly anticipating the Sox' arrival, too -- probably more for the crowds they'll attract than anything else -- and they warmed up for the series with a 6-2 win over the Cardinals that features that rarities of rarities: A Bronson Arroyo home run. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
REMEMBER WHEN? When the Red Sox last were in Cincinnati, Reggie Cleveland was their starting pitching, Juan Beniquez was in left field batting leadoff and Carlton Fisk was hitting cleanup. (baseball-reference.com) It was Game Five of the classic 1975 World Series, and the 6-2 Reds victory gave Cincinnati a 3-2 series lead. The Enquirer's Bill Koch remembers '75 from a Reds perspective; co-worker Joe Fenton, a New Englander, looks at it from our point of view.
THE BIGGEST VICTORY: Bernie Carbo played for both the Reds and Red Sox, and the teams' matchup gives him another chance to talk about how he overcame his drug and alcohol addiction. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
GET READY FOR ROUND TWO: Jonathan Papelbon -- saying "it is a bunch of bull what [the Rays] did" -- warns that "this thing isn’t all settled and done" between Boston and Tampa Bay, adding that "what comes around goes around." (projo.com)
DOWN ON THE FARM . . . Jed Lowrie is alive and well and riding a 14-game hitting streak for the PawSox. Mike Szostak has the details.
GRAND FINALE: The Yankees closed out their series in Oakland with a 4-1 win highlighted by birthday boy Hideki Matsui's grand slam. (New York Daily News) They play tonight in Houston and Joba Chamberlain will have a longer leash than he did in his first two starts. (New York Post)
LET'S MAKE A DEAL: The LoHud Yankees Blog's Peter Abraham wonders if the Yankees will make a run at C.C. Sabathia, even though he'll be a free agent at the end of the season. The New York Times says it could happen.
OUT FOR THE YEAR: The Yankees will be without rookie reliever Jonathan Albaladejo until 2008; he has a stress fracture in his right elbow. (New York Daily News)
THEY'RE HEARTBROKEN ABOUT THE PAST, UNENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THE PRESENT . . . and now Michael Salfino talks to a scout who examines their team's draft and concludes Mets fans have nothing to look forward to in the future, either. (web.sny.tv)
ANOTHER TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: Red Sox-Reds isn't this weekend's only World Series rematch. The Orioles and Pirates will meet in Baltimore for the first time since the 1979 Series. (Baltimore Sun)
NOT SO FAST: Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra isn't so sure the wave of talent that will eventually flow out of Cuba will be as robust as some people think.
THE LONG ROAD TO NOWHERE: Wondering how the Mariners got to be so horrible? David Cameron of Baseball Analysts says "the foundations for this failure were laid years ago" and goes over all the bad decisions that landed them where they are today.
POWER OF THE PEN: One day after ESPN publicized the job-seeking letter he sent to all 30 major-league teams, Jay Gibbons says he expects to sign with an Atlantic League team. (Baltimore Sun)
NOW THERE'S A REASON TO CHANGE YOUR REPRESENTATION: The blog It Is About The Money, Stupid talks to player agent Matt Sosnick, who says he was dropped by Josh Hamilton -- just as Hamilton appears to be on the verge of a huge payday -- because Hamilton said Jesus told him to switch agents. I can only wonder how this guy would have reacted if Vincent Chase told him the same thing . . .
YOU'RE IN THE NAVY NOW: And, so, a Cardinals draftee is going to have to pass up a baseball career. (AP via nbcsports.com)
MY GUYS: Regis Philbin has adopted the Marlins. (mlb.com)
IT'S THE WOOD, STUPID: The president of a company that makes maple bats -- the kind that are constantly shattering; the kind that MLB will discuss at a June 24 meeting with the union -- says maple is a safe ingredient for bats. He thinks companies trying to capitalize on the craze are using inferior grades of maple and that, not the maple itself, is what's causing the problem. (New York Times)
'GET TO KNOW ME': Milton Bradley says he wouldn't have fought Ryan Lefebvre had he gotten to the Royals broadcast booth the other night. He said he only wanted "to give the two TV announcers a chance to meet the person who was referred to on the air as someone who 'clearly has no control over himself.' " (Dallas Morning News)
HERE AND THERE: The Phillies have released Steve Kline (mlb.com), which may mean the veteran left-hander's big-league career is over . . . The Brewers informed Jeff Weaver they wouldn't be recalling him from New Orleans, so he asked for and received his release (mlb.com) . . . Jason Isringhausen will return to the Cardinals today and could be activated this weekend (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Indians have placed Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield on the disabled list. (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Martinez needs elbow surgery and will be out six to eight weeks (mlb.com) . . . This may be Ray Durham's last year (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Moises Alou should just take up permanent residence on the DL (New York Daily News) . . . The Cubs may be interested in Scott Podsednik (Denver Post). . . The Royals have cut loose Brett Tomko. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Kevin Millar's x-rays were negative and he's listed as day-to-day after having to leave last night's game against the Red Sox because he fouled a ball off his knee. (Baltimore Sun) There's talk the Mets may be interested in Millar, but Matthew Cerrone's Mets Blog isn't so sure . . . Freddy Sanchez is hitting .239, which is bad news since rotoworld.com says he's "entirely without value when he's not hitting for average" . . . Kason Gabbard is back in the major leagues with the Rangers and will start on Saturday night (mlb.com) . . . Chris Coste is slowly wresting the Phillies' catching job away from Carlos Ruiz. (Philadephia Inquirer)
AND FINALLY . . . We haven't linked to Chad Finn much recently because he's been focusing on the Celtics. And, boy, did he ever have something to focus on last night. (www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases)
WELL, ALL RIGHT, ONE MORE: At the end of a long post in which he tried to identify The Greatest Play Ever, Joe Posnanski writes of getting completely caught up in the emotion of last night's Celtics-Lakers game and having "no idea why I’m so happy" about the Celts' win, especially since "I have despised the Celtics my whole life, going back to ‘76, when they beat the Cavaliers in the playoffs."
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, June 12
ALL SMILES: And why not? Bartolo Colon (above) improved his record to 4-1 with a 6-3 win over the Orioles last night that Joe McDonald said started with Colon's Al Bundy impersonation and ended with his resembling "his former Cy Young self." Not only that, but the Red Sox picked up ground on all their A.L. East brethren, as everybody but the Sox lost yesterday. Want more? David Ortiz became an American citizen . . . even though McDonald said he wouldn't own up to it.
But there's a bigger element in play here, and it goes beyond winning individual games. Sean McAdam has a very interesting piece about the Red Sox working to keep their starting pitchers rested and refreshed so they're better able to withstand the demands of October. He wrote it on the same day Paul Kenyon was reporting (and demonstrating) from Pawtucket how the organization has, in the words of director of amateur scouting Jason McLeod, "implemented a system, and everybody's bought into it at every level." The underlying theme -- of both stories -- is that the Red Sox' focus goes beyond winning individual games, and toward building a structure that gives the major-league team the greatest chance for sustained, and sustainable, success. And, as it happens, we simultaneously have Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News writing about the other end of this spectrum: Yankee manager Joe Girardi overusing his aging core players in an attempt to avoid falling too far behind in the postseason races, which, he thinks, creates "a worrisome situation which may grow worse by August or September, if you are inclined to think negatively."
There's a danger in thinking you've reinvented the wheel; it leads to the sort of hubris that was the backdrop to the old saying "Pride goeth before a fall." I point all this out not to laud the Red Sox for creating a revolutionary new approach to the grand old game -- other teams are pretty smart and do similar things -- but just to illustrate that sometimes we get a glimpse of a very sound organizational philosophy that usually flies pretty far below the radar. When it does surface, it's usually when the major-league team is in crisis and there's a lot of pressure to do something different.
Nice to take a calmer look at it on a day when the sun is shining.
TWO-TRICK PONY: Colon helped the Sox win last night's individual game, and Steven Krasner goes Inside The Game to show us how. David Pinto of Baseball Musings wonders what the Red Sox saw in him this spring that other teams didn't, and recommends a raise for the scout who advocating Colon's signing.
THE BAD NEWS: There's always some, and last night's revolved around the continuing struggles of Mike Timlin, as reported postgame by Krasner on this blog. He also reported that the torrid J.D. Drew shattered his bat during his fifth-inning plate appearance, and wonders if -- like Robert Redford in The Natural -- his luck will turn now that the bat is in pieces.
GETTING READY I: McAdam reports Daisuke Matsuzaka will make a rehab start for the PawSox next Monday.
GETTING READY II: Interleague play resumes tomorrow, so McDonald has details of how Sox pitchers are preparing.
WILL HE BE READY? Manny Ramirez' hamstrings are still bothering him, and there's no guarantee he'll be able to play left field when the Sox arrive in Cincinnati tomorrow night. (Boston Herald)
APPEALING: Sean Casey is officially appealing his four-game suspension for his part in last week's fight with the Rays.
MORE PLAYERS IN THE MIX? On the same day Sarasota held an open town forum to debate whether or not to build a new spring-training facility for the Red Sox, McAdam reports "at least one other Florida city has demonstrated serious interest in the Sox." No one from Arizona has come calling yet.
TURNING IT DOWN A NOTCH: In the wake of last week's shoving match with Ramirez, widely believed to be a result of Manny -- among others -- getting fed up with his emotional explosions when things don't go his way, Kevin Youkilis says he's "trying to be a little more mature about his outbursts, while not surrendering his passion for the game." (Boston Herald) Youk admits some teammates have gotten on his case about his screaming and flinging of equipment, but says others have told him not to change a thing.
THEY ALWAYS FAILED THE TASTE TEST . . . but now, reports The Boston Globe, Fenway Park's concession stands also failed preseason city health inspections. They're back up to code, as they fixed the problems and passed a May 16 inspection.
BASKETBALL? WHAT IS THIS BASKETBALL OF WHICH YOU SPEAK? Curt Schilling has another blog entry in which he doesn't mention Kobe Bryant or the Lakers. (His Monday entry turned Bryant into a Yankee fan.) In this one he talks of his Tuesday bullpen session, which he says "wasn't a great day" but one he's willing to write off to the vagaries of rehab.
NOT ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL, BUT NEVER BORING: It was quite a nine-game road trip for the Tampa Bay Rays. First there was the fight in Boston. Then there was the fight among themselves in Texas. And yesterday they turned their ire on the umpires -- Derryl Cousins, specifically -- in their 4-2 loss to the Angels in Anaheim. (St. Petersburg Times) And you wonder if more suspensions are in the offing, since, according to Times writer Marc Topkin, Rays starter Scott Kazmir "[complained] not only about missed strike calls during several key at-bats but [questioned Cousins'] reputation and integrity, accusing him of making certain calls to make up for others." Joe Maddon wasn't happy, either, and his unhappiness resulted in the eighth ejection of his career (Tampa Tribune); four of them have come against the team he once worked for as a coach, the Angels.
So the Rays finish 3-6 on their cross-country road trip. Not much of a record, but they made memories that will last a lifetime. (St. Petersburg Times)
TAKE A BREAK: Carl Crawford now begins serving his four-game suspension for his role in L'Affaire Coco, but he doesn't mind because the Rays are returning to Tropicana Field and staying off the artificial turf will ease the strain on his sore legs. (Tampa Tribune)
THE JOY OF BEING A BALLPLAYER: It's a glamorous life, eh, Troy Percival?
OH, YEAH? The Rays could take a lesson in rapid response to those nasty Torontonians from Jonathan Papelbon:
CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT: That's Peter Abraham's take on the Yankees, who fell back to .500 with an 8-4 loss to the A's that spoiled Darrell Rasner's sort-of homecoming. (New York Daily News) He grew up in Carson City, Nev., which is 3 1/2 hours from Oakland.
'YOU CAN NEVER COUNT THE YANKEES OUT': So says Tino Martinez, but he adds that "they can't dig themselves too much more of a hole then they're in right now . . . There's too many teams playing good." (New York Post)
MAY WE PRESENT . . . "Your 2008 Toronto Blue Jays: Crushing your spirit, shredding the crushed remains, then lighting the whole shredded heap into blazing inferno. Rinse. Repeat."
Think our buddy Tao is frustrated?
THE CHIPPER JONES WATCH: Pinto has one started on Baseball Musings. But both SI.com's Tom Verducci and The Wall Street Journal's Carl Bialik tell us a .400 season is unlikely.
CRISIS AVERTED: Milton Bradley attempted to confront Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre over comments Lefebvre made about him on the television broadcast of the game. He was intercepted before he got there, then screamed at his teammates and finally broke down in tears in the clubhouse. (Dallas Morning News)
JOB SEEKER: Former Oriole outfielder Jay Gibbons, who was named in the Mitchell Report, has written letters to all 30 teams saying he's sorry for his mistakes and is asking to redeem himself. "[All] I need is a chance and I will prove that I can be an extremely productive player and a great addition to your organization." (espn.com)
HERE AND THERE: Alfonso Soriano will be out four to six weeks after suffering a broken hand when he was hit by a pitch last night (Chicago Tribune) . . . Albert Pujols' calf strain will sideline him for at least three weeks (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Marlins have designated Jaque Jones for assignment (Yahoo!) . . . As if the Mariners didn't have enough problems, J.J. Putz has a sore elbow (Seattle Times) . . . Manny Acta and Elijah Dukes got into it in the Nationals dugout Tuesday night, but Acta says the incident is over. (Washington Post)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:07 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 11
Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl
LEAPIN' LIZARDS: For the longest time last night, it looked like a bull market for the Red Sox. Coco Crisp made a spectacular catch to end the fifth inning (above). Josh Beckett survived without his best stuff and, says Steven Krasner, turned in an ace-like performance without ace-like numbers. Manny Ramirez moved into sole posession of 22nd place on the all-time home-run list with No. 505, which, reports Joe McDonald, delighted Eddie Murray, the ex-teammate and friend he was tied with at 504. Krasner tells us Jacoby Ellsbury had a more-or-less successful return to the lineup. The Sox had a 6-4 lead after six innings and handed the game over to Hideki Okajima in the first step down a path that would inevitably lead to Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.
And then came the explosion.
When it was over the Sox, relates McDonald, were 10-6 losers to the Orioles but, far more importantly, a disconcerting issue was raised: Wither Hideki Okajima? He had another abysmal outing -- one-third of an inning, two hits, two walks, three runs -- and it had Sean McAdam asking if Okajima "was . . . a one-year flash in the pan?" When Okajima "can’t locate with precision," writes Sean, "his stuff isn’t good enough to overmatch hitters." He certainly didn't overmatch anyone last night, making the 2007 words of some scouts -- "who predicted [Okajima] would become more hittable the more opposing teams saw him" -- prophetic . . . and worrisome.
He wasn't the only bullpen culprit last night. Krasner reports that, at least partially due to a ninth-inning misjudgment by Dustin Pedroia, Craig Hansen had his scoreless string snapped as the Orioles tacked on three more runs. (It was part of a six-run outburst against Sox relievers, only the second time in the last 16 games the bullpen's been scored upon.) But because of the role he occupies -- Tonto to Papelbon's Lone Ranger -- Okajima's failures were the ones that raised the most warning flags.
There's a danger in overreacting to one bad outing or even a series of bad outings; it could be nothing more than Oriole hitters having Okajima's number this year. (The Baltimore Sun reports Okajima "has a 13.50 ERA and three blown leads in five appearances against the Orioles this season . . . [and] a 0.40 ERA, having surrendered just one earned run in 22 2/3 innings, against everyone else.") But when a team that had lost only six home games all year prior to last night coughs one up in such gruesome fashion -- and with such an obvious goat at the middle of it all -- well, a little overreaction is understandable.
DON'T ASK US: Oriole hitters say they have no idea why they're so successful against Okajima. (Washington Post)
ON THE OTHER HAND . . . There's always good news to offset the bad in baseball, and Krasner reports that last night's ray of sunshine was shining on the comebacking Curt Schilling. And Terry Francona threw a little sunshine at Clay Buchholz, while he was at it.
IT'S JUST A BASKETBALL GAME, FOR GOD'S SAKES: Folks in Baltimore are so phobic about Kevin Millar's not-so-secret affection for all things Boston that they come down on him for something as innocuous as attending Game Two of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers. (The Loss Column Baltimore Sports)
COMPARISON TEST: Remember when Jim Rice claimed Papelbon was the only member of the current Red Sox who could have displaced a starter on Rice's 1975 American League champion Sox? Both AOL's Josh Alper and SouthCoastToday.com's Jon Couture look at the rosters and find Rice's analysis to be a little skewed . . . specifically at first base, second base, third base and the pitching staff.
C.C. OF SURPRISE: On his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty reports ESPN's Jayson Stark threw the Red Sox into some C.C. Sabathia trade talk, saying on the Mike and Mike In The Morning radio show that the Indians are "heavily scouting" the Sox. And since they don't play Boston until September, it can't be game scouting.
DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO: Curt Schilling has long skewered media members who make categorical statements with just a surface knowledge of the situation. Then he does exactly what he claims to hate in a 38pitches.com entry about Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, even though, as he admits, "I have no idea how the guys in the NBA play or do things . . . " And that gave T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times the opportunity to tear into Schilling, saying there's "no bigger sissy than a hit-and-run blogger."
DO THE RIGHT THING: There's some controversy over who caught Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run Monday night, as two fans in Miami are claiming ownership. (Miami Herald) But Damon Woo hopes that whoever has it does the same thing he did when he caught Manny Ramirez' 500th: Return it. McDonald talked to Woo, whose life has been a whirlwind since he brought the historic ball back to Ramirez in the Red Sox clubhouse that night.
 | HE DID JUST THAT: Griffey -- widely regarded as baseball's greatest player in the 1990s -- has slowly slid into the background in recent years, partly because injuries limited his playing time but also because his numbers never shot into the chemically aided stratosphere of the late '90s and early '00s. And Griffey's clean-as-a-whistle reputation was suddenly front-and-center yesterday as Number 600 prompted the baseball world to rediscover a player it had all but forgotten. His name, wrote Hal McCoy in a story reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, "never has appeared on a police blotter, has never been listed among those who cheated to gain an unfair advantage, has never been listed on any delinquent tax lists or bankruptcy lists for flushing his money away on drugs." SI.com's Jack Wilkinson concurs, saying Griffey's achievement "was not only extraordinary, but untainted" The Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer remembers a childhood spent idolizing Junior, and notes the reality of what Griffey actually did was always better than the fantasy." Even players, like ex-teammate Todd Jones, were delighted. The Seattle Times, which covered Griffey over the early part of his career, compiles a list of his 10 most memorable home runs. And Mike Greenberg of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike In The Morning compares Griffey to Barry Bonds . . . and gives the edge to Griffey. |
Six hundred home runs is quite a milestone -- only five other players (Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa) have ever done it, and Bonds and Sosa are widely believed to have had medicinal help in clearing the bar -- and just getting there is an achievement to be celebrated. But this was more. This was the virtual rediscovery of a player deserving of the praise we'd unfairly heaped on others during baseball's blighted past.
Congratulations, Junior. You earned it.
MAINTAINING THE PACE: The Red Sox lost no ground to the Rays in the A.L. East standings, as James Shields was knocked around a bit in a 6-1 Angels win over Tampa Bay. (Tampa Tribune)
NEW MEANING TO THE TERM 'ON THE BUMP': The Tampa Bay Rays can do with more with their fists than pummel Coco Crisp:
RIGHTING A WRONG: Remembering the time Cito Gaston left him warming up in the bullpen without bringing him into the game -- and thus depriving Mike Mussina, then with the Orioles, of pitching in front of his hometown fans in the 1993 All-Star Game at Camden Yards -- Cameron Martin of ComcastSportsNet wonders if Terry Francona would select Moose to start this year's All-Star Game, which is being played in Mussina's current baseball home (Yankee Stadium).
MOOSE TALES: John Feinstein's latest book, Living On The Black, focuses on the 2007 seasons of Mussina and Tom Glavine, who were both in New York last year and were both staying in the major leagues on their brains and guile thanks to fastballs that had long since deserted them. Ken Davidoff of Newsday relates some of the Mussina stories, which include examples of his contempt for Carl Pavano and how then-pitching coach Ron Guidry stopped speaking to him when he was removed from the starting rotation last August.
BACK IN THE GROOVE: Chien-Ming Wang was his old sinkerballing self as he pitched the Yankees over the A's in Oakland last night. (New York Post)
NO, THEY'RE NOT: The New York Daily News' Filip Bondy says nobody "is talking about the Yankees as a championship team anymore -- not this year, anyway -- and that means the arrow continues to point in the wrong direction for this franchise." And he bemoans the fact that "[over] the past eight years, the Bombers have slowly devolved from perennial champions to chronic playoff disappointments, then to a wild-card team and now to a mere wild-card contender."
OH, SHADDUP: Tino Martinez has a piece of advice for those -- like Johnny Damon -- who feel the need to comment on the Joba Chamberlain situation: Zip it. (New York Daily News)
REACHING OUT: Andy Pettitte says he hasn't spoken to Roger Clemens since the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs erupted over the winter but says he hopes they'll talk soon. (New York Daily News) As for whether that will happen this weekend, when the Yanks go to Clemens' (and Pettitte's) hometown of Houston, Pettitte replied: "I have no idea. I don't know what to tell you about that."
UPS AND DOWNS: Speaking of PEDs, Yahoo! Sports' David Brown looks at how all the players mentioned in the Mitchell Report are doing this year.
WHOA! There's been a Phil Hughes blog sighting!
PROUD MOMENT FOR MY PROFESSION: The Sporting News is reinventing itself as a print/online hybrid and it's making a part-time journalist out of Hank Steinbrenner. (AOL Sports Fanhouse)
LET ME PUSH THE DETONATOR BUTTONS: Tim Marchman of the New York Sun, in an interview with the blog The Biz of Baseball, provides an antidote to the flood of tears being shed over the imminent demises of Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium by saying he's "utterly appalled" by both parks. He's particularly appalled by Yankee Stadium: "Yankee Stadium is on the merits one of the worst places in the country to watch a ballgame, and there’s really little that’s more hilarious in baseball than the pretense that this giant concrete bowl is some magnificent cathedral and monument to the glories of the game."
'L' BEFORE 'W': The New York Daily News reports the Mets had a players-only meeting before last night's game against the Diamondbacks and passed around a sheet that contained such inspirational phrases as "team above self" and "We B4 I." Then they went out, blew a four-run lead and lost to Arizona, 9-5. Even so, Moises Alou says the Mets "definitely" are a playoff- team. (New York Post)
PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND: With the Mets' season swirling down the sink, focus is beginning to shift away from Willie Randolph and onto Omar Minaya. (New York Daily News)
AND FOR MORE THAN JUST THE TEAM'S ON-FIELD PLAY: John Delcos, on the LoHud Mets Blog, rips into Minaya and the Mets for their "shameful" handling of Ryan Church's concussion. "Just dumb and arrogant from top to bottom," he concludes.
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? As low as Class A if you're Dontrelle Willis. That's where the Tigers sent him in an attempt to see if he can regain his lost pitching skills, which have deserted him to the tune of a 10.32 ERA. (espn.com) Baseball Musings' David Pinto wishes Willis the best because baseball "can use characters like him."
BI-POLAR: Last winter, Peter Robins-Brown of Bugs and Cranks admits he "joined the chorus of cheers" when the Tigers traded for Edgar Renteria and was so euphoric about acquiring Willis and Miguel Cabrera from Florida that he "made an allusion to taking the deal itself out for a fine dinner and trying to make love to it. Or something like that." Now, on June 11, his tune is a little different: "They’re done. Stick a fork in ‘em. And all those other cliches. The 2008 Detroit Tigers can no longer be considered a team with any chance of making a run to the playoffs."
AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM . . . : SI.com's Jon Heyman says this year's Philadelphia story will be as good, if not better, than it was in 2007.
JET LAG: The Washington Post has results of a study that shows teams lose 60 percent of games played in a time zone three hours from the time zone they just left, and 52 percent of games in time zones one or two hours away. But the study also shows teams "only rarely have to play games right after traveling across the country . . . In fact, for only about 16 to 20 times a season did [all MLB] teams [combined] have to travel three time zones and then promptly play a game."
R.I.P. Eliot Asinof, author of the essential Eight Men Out -- the story of how the White Sox threw the 1919 World Series -- has died at age 88. (AP via Yahoo!)
HERE AND THERE: Albert Pujols had to be helped off the field after straining his calf in the Cardinals' win at Cincinnati last night, and the team fears he'll be out a while (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Orioles, as expected, designated Steve Trachsel for assignment (Baltimore Sun) . . . Tom Glavine, who avoided the disabled list for the first 20 years of his career, is headed there for the second time in three months because of a strained left elbow (mlb.com) . . . It doesn't look as if the Dodgers' Rafael Furcal will even be starting a rehab assignment for at least two weeks (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Francisco Liriano had another strong outing in Rochester as he tries to make his way back to the Twins (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) . . . Troy Tulowitzki has begin his rehab assignment (mlb.com) . . . The Braves say there are "a lot of unknowns" concerning John Smoltz' future after his shoulder surgery (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Juan Uribe's buried on the bench, but he says he still wants to stay with the White Sox (Chicago Tribune) . . . Gregg Zaun's about ready to return to the Blue Jays. (Toronto Star)
OLD FRIENDS: Anibal Sanchez, recuperating from shoulder surgery, is close to being able to pitch in a rehab game (Miami Herald) . . . Because of Furcal's injury (see above), Nomar Garciaparra is going to play some shortstop (Los Angeles Times) . . . Trot Nixon has 10 home runs in Tucson and rotoworld.com wonders if it isn't time for someone, like the Mets, to give him a look . . . Wilfredo Ledezma has been designated for assignment by the Padres (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Cliff Floyd can't get back into Tampa Bay's lineup. (St. Petersburg Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 10
NOT SO HOT: They say that into each life some rain must fall, and -- record-setting temperatures to the contrary -- it's pouring in Clay Buchholz' world right now. All the talking in the world (above) couldn't stem the tide of a three-inning, six-hit, two-run struggle against Buffalo at McCoy Stadium last night that, Paul Kenyon reports, was a) abruptly cut short by PawSox manager Ron Johnson and b) then explained by Johnson in the middle of the game's local television broadcast. The heat and humidity was part of it, Johnson said, but so was the fact that it took a Matsuzaka-like 73 pitches for Buchholz to labor through those three innings. Buchholz was singing a happier tune afterwards -- he felt better physically than he has all year, he feels "it won’t be much longer" before he's ready to return to Boston -- but with the Red Sox' starting rotation clicking on all cylinders at the moment, it'll take more than three-inning/six-hit/two-run performances to punch his ticket back northward. So I guess the message is, fear not if you weren't able to get out to McCoy to see Buchholz last night; odds are you'll have more chances this summer.
YIN AND YANG: Buchholz was part of a good-news/bad-news smorsgasbord at McCoy last night, according to Kenyon. Among the good news: Chris Carter continues his torrid hitting. Among the bad: Bobby Kielty (strained oblique) is back on the disabled list.
LABOR DAY: Buchholz' former Red Sox teammates had a break in the schedule yesterday, but that didn't stop a few of them from getting some work in at Fenway Park anyway. (projo.com) Most notable: Matsuzaka playing long-toss in preparation for a Wednesday bullpen session as he works his way back from his rotator-cuff strain, and Jacoby Ellsbury taking batting practice in advance of a return to the lineup, perhaps as soon as tonight.
OH, WHAT A RELIEF: Craig Hansen has allowed just one hit and no runs in his last six appearances and Jim Donaldson explains why.
JUST LIKE THE WEATHER: J.D. Drew's hot streak was the subject of off-day stories by the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman and the Boston Globe's Amalie Benjamin.
BEYOND THE NUMBERS: Josh Beckett's 6-4, 4.07 record heading into tonight's start seems a comedown from his 2007 season, when he won 20 games and put himself in position to be remembered as one of the all-time great postseason pitchers. But he tells the Herald's Rob Bradford that very little has changed for him since last year.
MOVE YOUR CLOCKS BACK: Just as they did last Thursday, the Red Sox have pushed the starting times of tonight's game and Thursday's game back to 6:05 p.m. to avoid conflict with the Celtics in the NBA Finals. (projo.com)
ANOTHER FIRST: The Rays continue to do a lot of things they've never done before. Last night they hit back-to-back-to-back home runs -- Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar and Dioner Navarro -- for the first time in franchise history in a 13-4 win over the Angels, which also was Joe Maddon's first victory at Anaheim in three years at Tampa Bay's manager. (St. Petersburg Times)
LESSON LEARNED? The Times' Gary Shelton thinks Sunday's dugout scuffle between Navarro and Matt Garza will prove to be a good thing if it makes Navarro more assertive and forces Garza to grow up . . . two things the Rays want to see happen.
'A BASEBALL NECROPOLIS': That's how the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro describes the Big Apple, what with the Yankees sitting at 32-32 at 64 games and the Mets at 30-32 after 62. The Yanks are back at .500 after yesterday's 3-2 loss to the Royals, a game decided on a ninth-inning Jose Guillen home run off Mariano Rivera. (New York Daily News) The homer was a continuation of two factors: Guillen's astounding four games in the Bronx (Daily News) -- 9-for-16, 4 homers, 11 RBI -- and Rivera's inexplicable struggles in tie games this season, as related by Peter Abraham on the LoHud Yankees Blog. The good news for the Yanks was the continued excellence of Mike Mussina (New York Post), who continues to make monkeys of those -- like me -- who thought his days as an effective pitcher had passed. And, for those who want to continue to avoid looking in the mirror, there was umpire Ed Montague, with whom the Yanks had their second dispute in four days. (New York Post) But accentuating the positive and blaming the umpires would obscure some hard truths, as laid out by the Daily News' John Harper: "Monday's loss dropped [the Yankees] to .500 for the 22nd time this season, which tells you they haven't been a team of ups and downs so much as one playing to its level." Harper notes the Yanks have recovered from slow starts before -- particularly last year -- but can't help asking: "Is this the season the magic runs out?"
If it's not, Mussina has some sage advice: "We've been saying for a month that [a takeoff] is inevitable . . . If it's inevitable, it better happen soon." (New York Post)
AP Photo
NUMBER 600: There are better venues to celebrate baseball history than the sparsely populated Dolphin Stadium, but the 10,000 or so who were there last night were witness to a great moment: Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th career home run (above). (Cincinnati Enquirer) The Dayton Daily News' Hal McCoy said Griffey was rendered nearly speechless by becoming only the sixth player in history to reach the 600-homer plateau. Four of the other five are still alive; Griffey said he's heard from Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, but not from Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa. FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry says, as great as this achievement is, he can only wonder what Griffey would have accomplished had it not been for all his injuries. Joe Posnanski, focusing on what Griffey did and not what he might have done, has a very nice tribute to Junior in a short (for him) 600 or so words.
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: The Daily News yesterday linked Roger Clemens to yet another performance-enhancing drug: Viagra. How is that a PED -- baseball-wise -- you ask? The newspaper also explains.
FOOD COURT: The New York Times has a great interactive map, showing the best and the worst food at each major-league ballpark. I must say, I never even knew the Red Sox sold what the Times considers to be the best Fenway has to offer. Under Section 7, eh?
SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE: Tigers manager Jim Leyland says he plans ro alternate Ivan Rodriguez and Brandon Inge at catcher on a daily basis. (Detroit Free Press)
OH, PLEASE: Shysterball presents "Great Moments in Melodrama," Detroit-style.
WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? To all those wondering how the pitching-starved Rangers could cut loose Sidney Ponson, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jim Reeves has another question: Why didn't they do it sooner? And then he runs through the incidents that led Texas to cut ties with the erratic right-hander.
MEASURE THIS: The Huffington Post's Dave Hollander -- while claiming he's not anti-analysis and that you need to understand statistics to understand baseball -- says there are certain baseball intangibles that simply can't be measured and holds up Cliff Floyd as an example of someone whose "presence" makes his teams better. I'd laugh at this argument anyway; I'm laughing harder because I didn't see where Floyd's "presence" did a damn thing for the 2002 Red Sox, who brought him in at the trading deadline to bolster the postseason drive and went 30-26 the rest of the way (compared to 63-43 before they got him), falling from a tie for the wild-card lead to finishing six games out of a playoff spot.
LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli went 1-for-4 with a sacrifice fly in an extended spring-training game. (draysbay.com)
MEDICAL REPORT: David Pinto has a breakdown of the day's injuries on Baseball Musings.
HERE AND THERE: The Mariners replaced hitting instructor Jeff Pentland with Lee Elia (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), then went out and beat the Blue Jays (Seattle Times) . . . The Brewers deny a report that they're interested in the Orioles' Brian Roberts (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Blue Jays' interest in Erik Bedard is said to be cooling (Seattle Times) . . . The Royals' Gil Meche, who has a no-trade clause, laughs at rumors that have him heading to the Cubs (Kansas City Star) . . . Noah Lowery says he hopes to pitch again this year, contrary to what the Giants said the other day. (San Francisco Chronicle)
OLD FRIENDS: Doug Mientkiewicz nearly got into it with Randy Johnson yesterday (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Ponson's release may mean a return to Texas for Kason Gabbard. (rotoworld.com)
AND FINALLY . . . At last, a baseball promotion you can actually use: A woman at a minor-league game won a free funeral. (cbs11tv.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:03 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 9
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
ON THE BALL: How wonderful to be talking baseball again; we weren't doing much of that when last we spoke. And J.D. Drew is giving us a lot to talk about. His sixth-inning home run (above) delivered the winning run in yesterday's 2-1 win over the Mariners, which, Steven Krasner notes, also featured a Drew RBI in the third and a Drew run-saving catch in the second. This on the heels on what Sean McAdam pointed out could have been a five-hit game on Saturday when Boston buried Seattle, 11-3; as it was, two of his line drives were caught, so he had to settle for a 3-for-5 afternoon in which he tripled and homered. It is, Krasner wrote Saturday, "a great illustration of hitting the ball where it’s pitched, an approach that, given the compact, flawless mechanics Drew has been showing at the plate recently, puts the Sox' right fielder in a position to succeed every time he’s in the batter’s box." He's been succeeding just about every time he's in the batter's box, too, hitting .519 in his last eight games and .400 in his last 16. I don't think I have to point out Drew's resurgence couldn't have come at a better time because, as McAdam reports, David Ortiz may be feeling better but he'll still be sidelined for the next several weeks. Nor are the other walking wounded much farther along than they were Friday, though Krasner says Jacoby Ellsbury hopes to be back tomorrow and Manny Ramirez may return to left field Friday when interleague play resumes. But as long as Drew continues this torrid streak, hey, who needs 'em?
CALM DOWN, WILL YA? I know, I know; let's get real. It's hardly a one-man show. Even yesterday, Drew wasn't the only hero. McAdam has the details of another superb outing from Justin Masterson, and puts it into an interesting context: "There’s not enough pitching [in the major leagues today], and for what little exists teams gladly overpay. Then there’s the Red Sox." Daisuke Matsuzaka -- the 8-0 Daisuke Matsuzaka -- goes down, and Masterson steps in so ably that the Sox don't miss a beat. (And his games are certainly more esthetically pleasing than some of the walk-a-thons authored by Dice-K.) Krasner reports that Craig Hansen continued his stretch of lights-out relief. And Steve goes Inside The Game to laud Dustin Pedroia, hitless again yesterday -- and now 10-for-his-last-70 -- but who may have had the key at-bat in the victory, a nine-pitch walk that led to the tying run and helped drive up Erik Bedard's pitch count to the point that he had to be lifted from the game in the sixth. It was in the sixth inning, against Bedard's replacement, that Drew delivered the game-winning homer.
INTO EACH LIFE, SOME RAIN MUST FALL: The bad news from the weekend: Kevin Youkilis' record streak of errorless games at first base came to an end Saturday. McAdam and Krasner tell us all about it.
THE REAL CULPRITS: The weekend actually started with a bit of Rays hangover (which, reports Joe McDonald, manifested itself in a lifeless 8-0 loss Friday night), along with the inevitable fallout from the testosterone fest. It didn't take long for MLB to hand down its suspensions for Thursday Night At The Fights -- McAdam broke the story, at least in regards to the Red Sox penalties, at about 4:30 Friday afternoon and updated it with reaction and news over the next hour-and-a-half -- and most of the media reports centered what the Sox and Rays thought about it. (The Rays continued to salute themselves for their noble reaction to the evil Coco; Joe Maddon told Marc Lancaster of the Tampa Tribune they were "sincerely aggressive in a good way, and I liked it.") But McAdam had a different take: He blamed the umpires for not taking charge of this thing Wednesday night, specifically when Maddon and Crisp began screaming obscenities at each other in the middle of the diamond, and as a result "invited the players to implement their own brand of frontier justice." And so they did. (Sean also takes Crisp to task, saying he "clearly overreacted" to Jason Bartlett's dropping of the knee.) You get the sense MLB agrees with Sean about the umpires; after all, it suspended Jon Lester for acts -- hitting Carl Crawford, throwing behind Willy Aybar's legs, coming up and in on Cliff Floyd -- the umps didn't even deem worthy of a warning, let alone an ejection.
In any case, let the suspensions begin and let's get on with life. It's over.
At least until June 30 in St. Petersburg.
DON'T MISTAKE SILENCE FOR ACCEPTANCE: Jon Lester may have been relatively quiet about his suspension -- which he chose not to appeal, mainly because the timing was such that the Red Sox won't have to bring up another pitcher to make a start in his place (thanks to today's off day) -- but that doesn't mean he agrees with it, or isn't angered by it. (Boston Herald)
THEY SAID IT: Best quotes from the whole thing:
-- "I believe that. I will agree with him. It’s true." -- Crisp, when told James Shields described his actions as "bush league" (projo.com)
-- "I don't think I had a very good case to appeal" -- Jonny Gomes, on why he accepted his five-game suspension (Tampa Tribune)
WHAT, DID YOU SLEEP THROUGH 2004? Last year the Red Sox skated through the season with relative ease, health-wise, and no one said a word. Now they've had some injuries so Bill Chuck of Foxsports.com's Dugout Central trots out "The Curse" as an explanation.
PROBLEM? WHAT PROBLEM? MAYBE YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM, BUT WE HAVEN'T GOT A PROBLEM: As expected, the Sox arrived at Fenway Park Friday insisting all was well between Ramirez and Youkilis, one day after their dugout contretemps was caught by the television cameras for all the world to see. Curt Schilling, in the middle of a newsy post that touches on a number of topics, calls the showdown "a TOTAL non-issue and an event that happens far far more than you ever see or hear about." (38pitches.com) Most of you agree. (Stories and surveys via projo.com)
Even so, Allan Wood says that if reports are true -- that it started because Ramirez was tired of Youkilis' complain-about-every-call, scream-obscenities-when-things-don't-go-his-way, slam-down-the-equipment-in-disgust-when-he-makes-an-out act -- then he's with Manny. "Yook's Paul O'Neill impersonations have always grated on me," he writes. (joyofsoxn.com)
PROBLEM? WHAT PROBLEM? MAYBE . . . OH, YOU ALREADY HEARD THIS: The Rays were saying the same thing after yesterday's battery, pitcher Matt Garza and catcher Dioner Navarro, exchanged words and then shoves in the dugout in the middle of their 6-3 loss to the Rangers. (St. Petersburg Times) The blog DRays Bay thinks the Rays are right in keeping things under wraps, and also comes to the same conclusion as everyone else: The culpable party here was Garza.
CELEBRITY IMPERSONATOR: My wife calls Joe Maddon "Spencer Tracy" because of the way those glasses make him look. Me, I'll start calling him "William Buckley" if he continues to say things like "The strike zone was slightly amorphic today." (St. Petersburg Times) (It probably was; the normally placid Eric Hinske got tossed for arguing a call with the plate umpire, James Hoye.) But the blog Ryan Goes To ASU is calling him "A.L. Manager of the Year."
BOSTON EAST: The Rays now head to Anaheim, and they've historically struggled there as much as they have at Fenway Park. (Tampa Tribune)
A DREAM COME TRUE, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE: Chris Carter's major-league debut Thursday -- as the Red Sox left fielder -- meant more to him than anyone could have known. He told McDonald that his father grew up as both a Red Sox fan and a Ted Williams fan, and his grandfather -- who's now blind -- was in the stands Thursday as his grandson played for his son's favorite team, in the position that was made famous by his son's hero.
BACK FOR SECONDS: Joba Chamberlain lasted almost twice as long in his second start as he did in his first and this time the Yankees won the game, 6-3 over the Royals. (New York Daily News) Not that Chamberlain had a whole lot to do with it -- the score was tied, 3-3, when he was lifted with one out in the fifth, having reached his pitch-count limit -- and the New York Post's Larry Brooks is looking forward to the day when pitch locations mean more than pitch counts. One good thing: Now Johnny Damon thinks Joba as a starter isn't such a bad idea, after all. (New York Daily News)
THE ORACLE: Jim Bouton once wrote that, in baseball, the more successful you are on the field the more people listen to you. They're hanging on Damon's every word now after he became only the second Yankee in history to get six hits in a nine-inning game in Saturday's wild 12-11 victory. (New York Daily News)
PARDON ME, DID YOU SAY SOMETHING? The Royals, on the other hand, are 24-39 so no one's paying attention when they speak. Good thing, because Yankee Universe might be a little rattled by their postgame review of Chamberlain: "Nothing special," "Just a guy throwing hard" and "Nothing we haven't seen before." (New York Post)
TAKE YOUR MEDICINE: Um, all you folks who were ready to bury Jason Giambi in April? Your order of humble pie is ready. (New York Post)
THE BLUEPRINT: Peter Abraham says the Yankees have been handed "an engraved invitation" to make a move in the A.L. East, and tells us why. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
'WE DON'T DO THAT HERE': And making a move is something Jorge Posada expects, because he says "rebuilding" is what they don't do. (yahoo.com) But the writer, Jeff Passan, isn't so sure. And another writer, Joel Sherman of the New York Post, says the Yankees better start wheeling and dealing if they hope to win this year.
THE BEAUTY OF THE INTERNET: About 60 folks who spend time on the LoHud Yankees Blog had a gathering with Abraham in Scranton the other day in which they watched Kei Igawa stifle the Syracuse Chiefs and raised some money for a cancer charity. "It was a real privilege for me to attend," said Pete.
AH, THAT HOME COOKIN': The Red Sox aren't the only team with a skewed home-and-road record. The New York Daily News reports that all across MLB home teams are winning at a record pace.
ALL IS FORGIVEN: We called out Jim Rice for abandoning his blog the other day, so what happens? He apologizes, then looks at home-road split from the other angle: How difficult it is to play on the road. And, no, before you get the wrong idea, I don't think I had anything to do with it.
LET'S SEE: Mark Cuban gets a look at the Cubs' books today as his bid to buy the franchise -- which may or may not be derailed by Bud Selig at the some point in the process -- continues. (Chicago Sun-Times)
HERE ARE WORDS YOU NEVER WANT TO SEE ATTACHED TO YOUR RESUME: Saying he "had disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations that were unbecoming of a teammate" -- don't quite know what that means, but it sure doesn't sound good -- the Rangers abruptly released Sidney Ponson late last week despite the fact that he was 4-1 with a 3.88 ERA and Texas, last in the majors with a team ERA of 5.10, isn't exactly rolling in pitching. (Dallas Morning News) Manager Ron Washington doesn't care; he says the team is better off without Ponson (Canadian Press), which makes you wonder exactly how onerous his behavior was. My guess: Very.
SO WHAT? HE CAN PITCH! None of that has stopped the Houston Chronicle's Jose de Jesus Ortiz from advocating the Astros snap up Ponson before someone else does.
SEASON-ENDERS: Like maybe the Indians and Tigers, both of whom are looking for pitching after Jake Westbrook (Tommy John surgery, story by Akron Beacon Journal) and Jeremy Bonderman (blood clot of the axillary vein due to thoracic outlet compression syndrome, story by Detroit Free Press) were declared finished for the year. The Free Press' Drew Sharpe says it's "important to look at [Bonderman's] injury less as another thing going wrong in a bad season and more that he's a lucky young man that a potentially life-threatening circumstance was discovered before something truly disastrous occurred."
LOCAL BOYS: The blog Outs Per Swing has labeled Warwick's Dan Wheeler 'Cardiac Dan' as he continues to close games for the Rays in Troy Percival's absence.
REALLY LOCAL BOYS: Three Rhode Islanders -- including one from the old alma mater, Cranston West -- were selected in the second day of the baseball draft. (projo.com)
THIS IS WHY YOU ALWAYS READ JOE POSNANSKI: Because in the middle of a post, he'll drop in a great story . . . like this one about how, in writing about a Kansas City golf tournament, he once inadvertently offended Jamie Farr and received three angry messages -- and a subsequent apology -- from Farr. (joeposnanski.com)
RARITIES: Barry Zito got the victory as the Giants beat the Nationals in Washington. (San Jose Mercury News)
WHISPERS: The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers thinks the Mariners may shop Erik Bedard.
HERE AND THERE: Juan Rincon's job in Minnesota may be in jeopardy (St. Paul Pioneer Press) . . . As is Steve Trachsel's in Baltimore, especially after, the words of the Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec, Trachsel "failed to close out an eight-run Orioles lead and appeared incredulous when Dave Trembley came to the mound to take him out" . . . Moises Alou says he's ready to return to the Mets' lineup on Tuesday (Journal-News) . . . Tuesday is also the day Matt Holliday returns to the Rockies (Rocky Mountain News) . . . Jake Peavy wasn't pleased with how his 61-pitch simulated game went last week, but he's still on pace to return to the Padres rotation Thursday (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Knee surgery will sideline the A's Mike Sweeney for four to six weeks (Costa Contra Times) . . . Chipper Jones' quest for .400 has been halted for a day or two by a slight tear in his right quadriceps. (espn.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Tony Clark's eighth-inning home run off Billy Wagner enabled the Padres to complete a four-game sweep of the Mets (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Eric Gagne isn't the only ex-Red Sox reliever struggling in the Milwaukee bullpen. But just as he did with Gagne, Brewers manager Ned Yost is standing behind Guillermo Mota. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, June 6
SWING SHIFT: Let's start with the fight. (projo.com) That's what caught most everyone's attention.
Or maybe we'll start with the wrist injury to Jacoby Ellsbury, which is what most concerns the Red Sox.
No? How about the intramural dustup between Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis in the dugout, which had the Sox circling their wagons afterwards?
Oh, and there was a game in there: A 7-1 Boston rout that completed the Sox' second consecutive three-game sweep of the now second-place Rays.
On a normal morning, any one of those things -- accounts of each were written by Steven Krasner -- would be headline news. This time around? Take your pick.
Safe to say that on a night the Celtics and Lakers were across town, playing the opening game of the NBA Finals, the Red Sox and Rays did everything they could -- and then some -- to shift the spotlight away from the North End and back to the Fens.
The brawl, of course, is what's on everybody mind, and if we'd been paying attention -- actually, most of us were, so we did see it coming -- we'd have know what was in store after Wednesday night. Coco Crisp was defiantly unapologetic about his eighth-inning rumble into second base, claiming his actions were justified by the knee block of Tampa Bay shortstop Justin Bartlett in the sixth . . . something the Rays felt just as strongly was unworthy of Crisp's over-the-top reaction. The lack of any pregame conciliatory words from either corner -- when asked directly by Joe Castiglione if his team was "moving on," Rays manager Joe Maddon gave a non-answer that would have done a politician proud -- indicated that trouble was brewing.
It arrived in the second inning, when Rays starter James Shields plunked Crisp in the thigh with his second pitch. Crisp, who obviously came into this game loaded for bear, charged the mound, ducked a Shields punch, took one of his own (above), and we were off. Bob Breidenbach captured much of it in a series of photos.
Crisp absolutely got the worst of it, pinned by catcher Dioner Navarro, pummeled by a piling-on Jonny Gomes and punched, pinched and scratched at various points by Carl Crawford and Akinori Iwamura (among others; they were the ones we saw). He finally emerged with a cut on his cheek, bruises on his face and cheers in his ears, as the Fenway Park crowd reacted the way most fans do to these demonstrations of tribal solidarity: With great affection for their combatants and hateful contempt for the enemy. (Boston Herald) Ian Bethune's essential Sox & Dawgs has video of both the fight and of Crisp's postgame comments, in which he didn't exactly turn down the heat; he claimed the Rays fought "like a bunch of girls."
(So far, this is the only amateur video I've seen of the fight:)
As for the Rays, they were patting themselves on the back for standing tall and standing together. (Tampa Tribune) Shields all but guaranteed himself a suspension, and probably a lengthy one, by admitting he threw at Crisp intentionally, but he didn't care. "We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and that’s not going to happen any more," he declared.
Well . . . maybe. They may have been losing for the last 10 years, but they've always been pretty feisty, especially against the Red Sox. (ProJo Sox Blog) And they, too, were lauded by their fan base, such as it is. The blog Rays Index crowed that Crisp "got what he deserved." Rays television announcer Joe Magrane piled on a bit, as well. (Joy of Sox)
But there was some sanity sprinkled into the madness. The cognoscenti at Sons of Sam Horn entitled their discussion "Coco Crisp Is Completely Insane." Also lost amidst the testosterone fest was the fact that the Rays pretty much ensured their defeat -- and a complete of the sweep in what they were calling a stand-up-and-be-accounted-for series against a rival they've never been able to beat on the road -- by having Shields throw at Crisp; his ejection meant the game had to be turned over to the bullpen for the last seven innings, with predictable results. DRaysBay pointed all that out, calling it "truly the lowest moment of the season, and for more than the result in the boxscore." The St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton agreed, noting: "Yep, the Rays showed those infernal Red Sox that they weren't going to take any guff. On the other hand, they also gave away their best shot at retaking first place. Forgive me for wondering, but isn't that the thing that is supposed to matter?" He also pointed out that Shields, Gomes and Crisp were all thrown out of the game and asked, "In what world would you ever trade Shields and Gomes for Coco Crisp?"
Good question. As a Red Sox partisan, that's a deal I do every time it's offered.
What was most interesting, to me, was what the Red Sox had to say -- and not say -- about Crisp's actions, both Wednesday and Thursday. Terry Francona, who normally stands shoulder to shoulder with all his players, couldn't back away fast enough Wednesday night, deflecting all questions by saying he was "in the bathroom" (he even mentioned something about his zipper) when the shouting match between Maddon and Crisp erupted. And he was just as vague when asked about the fight last night; the only thing close to pro-Red Sox/anti-Rays commentary out of him was when he mentioned that Crawford seemed a little overenthusiastic in the midst of it all. Both times, he tried to deflect attention off the topic by making some sort of joke about Brad Mills.
It's always dangerous to interpret people's words without really knowing what they think, but, hey, when has that ever stopped me? My take: It's not hard to conclude that the Red Sox actually agree with the Rays that Crisp shouldn't have done what he did, on either night, but can't say it -- and have to back him -- for obvious, team-related reasons. Take it for what it's worth.
So now what? We can be sure that suspensions -- and long ones, if the punishment to Matt Kemp for his row with Yorvit Torrealba is any indication (Los Angeles Times) -- will follow. To who? Crisp and Shields certainly. Gomes most likely (ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra expects Gomes "to see more Rays games via HD-TV than from the inside of a stadium for the foreseeable future"). Maybe even to Crawford. And others. Who knows?
And the funny thing is, that wasn't even the news of the night.
No, that -- from the Red Sox' point of view -- was the injury to Ellsbury, who rolled his wrist while making a diving catch in right-center field. (And not to beat a dead horse or anything, but if Crisp hadn't been tossed he'd have been in center field and Ellsbury would be just fine this morning.) The Sox didn't know last night exactly how serious it was; the hope is that it's not too bad and he won't be out more than a day or two, if at all. (Boston Globe) But it's potentially serious enough that they summoned Brandon Moss immediately after the game, shipping out Chris Carter moments after his two-hit, major-league debut. (projo.com) And long-term help could be rounding into shape, as Bobby Kielty looks like he's getting his stroke back after an injury-induced layoff. (projo.com) We'll know more today; check back this afternoon when news begins filtering in from Fenway.
As for Youkilis v. Ramirez, well, good luck trying to get anybody to say anything about that. Sox & Dawgs has video.
In the end, though, the Red Sox won and they're back in first place and that, says Julio Lugo, is what everybody should be focusing on. (Boston Herald)
It'd be a lot easier, Julio, if you guys would just stay on point.
(VERY) QUICKLY: Krasner calls days like yesterday "My Cousin Vinny days" -- "Let's see. How much [crap] can we pile on?" -- and Mr. Gambini would have been proud since it was also Draft Day. And one of the Red Sox' draftees was none other than our own Ryan Westmoreland, the pride of Portsmouth High. Joe McDonald has all the draft news, and projo.com's HS Gametime has plenty of news on Westmoreland. In the last month, John Gillooly has reported on how he became a hot item to major-league scouts, on an arm injury that knocked him off the pitching staff and his winning the Rhode Island Gatorade Player of The Year award for the second consecutive season.
AND FINALLY . . . Just as Sean McAdam reported two days ago, surgery is unlikely for David Ortiz. (Boston Herald)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, June 5
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
HAPPY TO BE HOME: At Fenway Park? Or in first place? Whichever one the Red Sox consider to be their true address doesn't really matter, because they're enjoying a bit of dual occupancy after last night's 5-1 dispatch of the Rays, which, as Sean McAdam notes, was their 12th straight win at Fenway . . . a streak, incidentally, that started with a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay on May 2-4. The Sox' home record is an incredible 23-5; more than anything, that's why they also sit atop the A.L. East standings this morning. Their road record being what it is (a not-so-incredible 14-20), it's hard to get worked up over being in first place, and by only half-a-game, at this stage of the season, especially since they still actually trail the Rays by a game in the loss column. (Baseball Musings' David Pinto, writing for sportingnews.com, examines why the Sox are so much better at home than on the road.) But you can only win the games in front of you; fixing their road woes is another task for another time. For now, it's home sweet home. In either location.
NOW, IF YOU WANT TO GET WORKED UP ABOUT SOMETHING . . . The juices were flowing last night not over the change in standings, but over a couple of plays at second base involving Coco Crisp that resulted in a clearly profane, on-field shouting match between Crisp (in the dugout) and Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon (on the mound for a pitching change). McAdam has the details of the incidents, which left Crisp with a bruised thumb and an angry disposition. (You can see video of it all at the blogs Sox & Dawgs and Bugs And Cranks.) The Rays weren't too happy, either (Tampa Tribune), though the Tribune's Carter Gaddis thinks Maddon's outburst was at least slightly calculated to light a fire under his sagging troops. In any case, both the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo and the Boston Herald's Karen Guregian think this could be the start of a true Red Sox-Rays rivalry.
WELCOME TO LIFE IN THE FAST LANE: To this point, the rivalry's been a bit one-sided; after the Rays "got [the Sox'] attention," in the words of Carl Crawford, with a three-game weekend sweep in St. Petersburg on April 25-27, the Red Sox have responded with five straight Fenway wins over the Rays and none of the games have really been that close. "Do woodsheds really come with leftfield walls this large?" asks St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton, who worries that "the last 48 hours look like a dandy piece of evidence for those who doubt whether this Rays' team can hold up over the summer, don't they?" Gaddis concurs, calling yesterday "one of the toughest days the Tampa Bay Rays have experienced during this coming-of-age season." It wasn't just the game defeat; the Rays also lost first baseman and middle-of-the-order bat Carlos Pena, who suffered a broken finger in Tuesday's game. (St. Petersburg Times)
AD INFINITUM: The list of blown home-run calls by umpires continues to grow, and the Sox were the victims last night. Steven Krasner relates how they missed a first-inning homer by Dustin Pedroia, huddling together before calling foul a ball that clearly passed to the left of the foul pole. Note to Bud Selig: Instant replay can't get here fast enough.
(Late note: Pinto, back on Baseball Musings, isn't sure the replay is as cut-and-dried as I've made it out to be. I don't know, David; I thought the ball disappeared as it went past the pole.)
TOUGH NIGHT ALL AROUND: Crisp's problems weren't limited to his dustups with Maddon, Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura. As Krasner notes in his Inside The Game feature, he also committed a baserunning blunder in the sixth inning -- though, to be fair, he may still have been steamed over the incident with Bartlett a batter or two earlier -- that may have cost the Sox a run. Kraz also went inside the game to look at how locked in at the plate Manny Ramirez is at the moment, a pretty hit-and-run play executed by Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek, a rare stolen base by Eric Hinske that was the result of his familiarity with Josh Beckett, and how a couple of Tampa Bay hitters fared when they correctly guessed what Beckett was going to throw.
AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: McAdam has news of Curt Schilling throwing off the mound for the first time, a day earlier than planned.
JUST LIKE THEY DREW IT: It's taken over a year, but the Red Sox are finally seeing the J.D. Drew they thought they were signing. (Boston Globe) And in the nick of time, too, what with David Ortiz on the shelf.
NOW WHAT? Speaking of Ortiz, his injury has thrown into question his Home Run Derby participation at the All-Star Game in which a fan would get to call where Ortiz would hit the ball. (New York Times) MLB is seeking alternatives to save the promotion.
STAYING PUT: Krasner reports Justin Masterson will be sticking around awhile, presumably until Daisuke Matsuzaka comes off the disabled list. In the meantime, Clay Buchholz continues working his way back to Boston; last night he threw five solid innings in the PawSox' loss at Charlotte. (projo.com)
JUST LIKE HE WAS AS A PLAYER: All of sudden Jim Rice is silent on his blog.
DRAFT DAY: Used to be the annual baseball draft was the anonymous selection of no-names who, if they were lucky, might make it to the major leagues in four or five years . . . and it was treated as casually as one might expect. Not anymore. SI.com's Tom Verducci explains that "[given] the growing inefficiency of the free-agent market . . . the demise of the late-30s ballplayer, and the trend to tie young players to long-term contracts, you'd better get the draft right if you want to build a sustainable winner." And players picked now are making it to The Show far faster than ever before, as the 'Ol Towne Team -- bolstered by such recent picks as Masterson, Pedroia, Jacoby Ellbsury and friends -- can attest. And the 'Ol Towne Team has built itself into a sustainable winner mainly through the draft.
Which is why, as we mentioned yesterday, today might be the most important day of the year for a baseball organization. Baseball Analysts has a draft primer for the uninitiated. The best place to follow it is on MLB.com.
WE'RE NOT SAYIN': This year's first pick belongs to the Rays -- they choose in inverse order of last year's standings -- and they're mum about who they'll take. (mlb.com)
MAKING AMENDS: Dave Winfield had an idea to honor the last living members of the Negro Leagues, and MLB embraced it. In today's draft, each team will draft a former Negro Leaguer -- 30 in all -- and pay them a small stipend, thought to be about $5,000. (yahoo.com) It's a way to pay tribute to players who were barred from the big leagues in their primes, and SI.com's Jon Heyman says it's great.
MOVE OVER, MICK: Derek Jeter -- with what John Sterling called "a Jeterarian hit" to right-center -- passed Mickey Mantle and moved into third place on the Yankees' all-time hit list. (New York Daily News)
ANOTHER COUNTY HEARD FROM: Now it's Johnny Damon saying he doesn't think moving Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation is such a good idea. (New York Daily News)
HOW CAN YOU LAUGH WHEN YOU KNOW I'M DOWN? Hank Steinbrenner channels Paul McCartney as he discusses the Yankees' state of affairs. (New York Post) But that won't stop him from talking contract with Brian Cashman. (nj.com)
COMINGS AND GOINGS: Jorge Posada is back, Bob Sheppard is about to return, but Jason Giambi is sidelined, at least temporarily, in the latest installment of As The Yankees Turn.
THE BOILING POINT: It was reached -- and passed -- in Seattle yesterday, where Mariners management staged a series of tirades that would have done Ozzie Guillen proud before and after the Mariners' 5-4 loss to the Angels. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) First the team president yelled at the coaches before the game. Then equipment, and a garbage can, were tossed around in the clubhouse after the game. Finally, manager John McLaren delivered an X-rated monologue in his 45-second postgame press conference that was reminiscent of someone asking Tommy Lasorda what he thought of Dave Kingman, or Larry Bowa about Cubs fans, or Earl Weaver about Terry Crowley. Still, the Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer thinks McLaren's outburst was "too thin, too late and too inconsequential . . . forced . . . a strange, calculated event." And it remains to be seen if the Mariner players -- accused by one of the newest team members, Carlos Silva, of being too selfish and only playing for themselves (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) -- respond in any way to all the theatrics. The Times' Larry Stone talks with general manager Bill Bavasi, who attempts to explain the depths of the organization's frustration.
NEVER SAY DIE: Season-ending shoulder surgery at age 41 would seem to spell the end. But while John Smoltz admits he may never pitch again, he also says he's going to do everything he can to try and get back on the mound. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
If he doesn't -- and the odds are pretty steep against it -- then one of the greatest pitchers of our generation has reached the end of the trail. A tip of the hat, John, for a wonderful career. If we don't see you in Atlanta next year, see you in Cooperstown in five.
GOING THE FULL NINE: Francisco Rodriguez says he wants to play nine more years, until age 35. (mlb.com) Or, rather: He wants to be a closer for nine more years.
CARRY ON WITHOUT US: ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra looks at teams that may be ready to assume the symbol-of-futility cloak if the Cubs actually win it all this year, then gives a forum to a Philadelphia writer who felt slighted that his team, and his city, weren't mentioned. Having retired from that discussion in October 2004, all I can say is: Thank God we don't have to think about things like that anymore.
ON THE MOVE: A few weeks ago the Brewers were floundering and Ned Yost's job security was in question. But now they're flying high, completing an 8-1 homestand with a 10-1 rout of the Diamondbacks. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
LOCAL BOYS: Paul Konerko hit a walkoff home run last night to give the White Sox a 15-inning win over the Royals. (Chicago Tribune)
HERE AND THERE: With the Padres going nowhere, a Chase Headley Watch may soon begin (Portland Tribune) . . . Esteban Loaiza is back with the White Sox (yahoo.com) . . . Former Royals first baseman Willie Mays Aiken is being released from prison (Kansas City Star) . . . The Giants now wonder if Noah Lowry, who underwent surgery in March for exertional compartment syndrome in his left forearm, will pitch at all this season (rotoworld.com) . . . The Cardinals may send Jason Isringhausen on a rehab assignment next week (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Troy Tulowitzki thinks he's close to returning to the Rockies. (Denver Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Yesterday we were celebrating Casey Fossum's return to the major leagues. Today we're mourning the fact that he gave up four runs without recording an out in his Tigers debut (rotoworld.com) . . . Lenny DiNardo's been outrighted to Sacramento by the A's (rotoworld.com) . . . Nomar Garciaparra says doctors believe an unidentified blood-flow problem to his legs may be the cause of his frequent calf pulls (Los Angeles Times) . . . Our pal the Tao of Steib is learning to love David Eckstein.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:30 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 4
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES: The mood in Red Sox Nation was one of despair yesterday at this time, but things look a lot brighter -- the weather notwithstanding -- today. First and foremost, Sean McAdam reports that the worst-case worrries of David Ortiz' wrist injury may be unjustified, as the Red Sox fully expect that Ortiz will heal with rest and may be back in action in a month. And that good news was followed by a 7-4 win over Tampa Bay in the opener of a three-game A.L. East showdown with the Rays. Steven Krasner has the details of the victory, which featured some unlikely heroes . . . like Coco Crisp (above, delivering a key two-run double) and Dustin Pedroia, both of whom have been slumping. Yet more reason to smile: Craig Hansen continued to pitch well, and may have been the key to the win by wriggling out of a two-on, no-out mess he inherited from Javy Lopez in the eighth. Krasner fills us in on all of that, along with the news that Daisuke Matsuzaka may begin throwing again this weekend.
They say if you don't like the weather in New England, wait 10 minutes. Sometimes, in baseball, the same sentiment applies.
EVEN DEFEAT TASTES SWEET THESE DAYS: The Rays were disappointed they came up short in what they considered to be their first real test of the season (Tampa Tribune), but the St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton says "This is the way defeat is supposed to feel" . . . a real sting, rather than just one of another in a long list of losses that can be shrugged off. Jim Donaldson talks with Warwick's Dan Wheeler, a mainstay in the Rays' bullpen this year, about how different things are in Tampa Bay.
MANNY BEING CAUTIOUS: Crisp was a late addition to the lineup; Krasner reports that, originally, Jacoby Ellsbury was in center field with Manny Ramirez in left and Sean Casey as the DH. But Ramirez' legs have been bothering him, so Terry Francona pulled Casey. made Manny the DH, shifted Ellsbury to left and put Crisp in center.
DON'T PUNCH THAT BALLOT JUST YET: After taking a closer look, msnbc.com's Ted Robinson says he's not sure Ramirez is the slam-dunk Hall of Famer he originally thought.
WHERE'S THE BEEF? The world -- at least hereabouts -- went crazy when Manny hit his 500th home run. So Adam Dunn wants to know why there's no buzz about Ken Griffey Jr. closing in on 600. (Dayton Daily News)
LEFT IS ALL RIGHT: The blog Batter's Box challenges its readers to come up with a stronger single franchise position than Red Sox left fielders, whose run of excellence started with Duffy Lewis and ran through Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice all the way to Ramirez. (Do they take points away for Troy O'Leary . . . ?)
WELCOME: McAdam and Krasner have the details of Chris Carter's first day in the big leagues. His promotion was first reported yesterday morning on this very blog by Joe McDonald.
KEI ZONE? Among the many interesting tidbits from Peter Gammons on his weekly local ESPN radio appearance -- as transcribed by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog -- is that the Red Sox were prepared to claim Kei Igawa if the Yankees put him on waivers.
HE'S GOT A POINT: Jason Varitek complained recently that the Red Sox' lack of speed at certain positions has hurt them offensively (Boston Globe) -- "We've got a lot of big donkeys who clog up the bases," he said, and I assume he includes himself in that assessment -- and Baseball Musings' David Pinto says that may be a reason the Sox are scoring fewer runs than could be expected under the runs-created formula.
DRAFT NOTICE: McAdam reports on the Red Sox' strategy in tomorrow's amateur draft, which -- because the players selected are getting to the major leagues so quickly these days (think Pedroia, Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Justin Masterson, et al) -- is perhaps the organization's most important day of the year.
THEY SAY THE ROAD MAKES BUMS OF US ALL: And McDonald's experience with a, ah, unique Baltimore cabby on his way to the airport yesterday may be one of the reasons why. (ProJo Sox Blog)
THE VIEW: Television won't show you the sometimes hilarious goings-on when a fan runs onto the field during the game. But we will. (Projo Sox Blog)
YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS . . . Or maybe you didn't since, as the Jays' Shannon Stewart so delightfully observed, "I thought [Babe] Ruth had come back." (New York Post) No, Shannon, it was just Joba Chamberlain's first start that turned an evening in early June into World Series time at Yankee Stadium. (New York Daily News) But both Bill Madden of the Daily News and Joel Sherman of the Post made the same point: This was spring training, not October, as the whole point was to begin the process of stretching out Chamberlain as a starter. Too bad for the Yankees it wasn't spring training, since then you could shrug off Chamberlain's two-run, four-walk, 2 1/3-inning performance and yet another bullpen meltdown (Projo Stats) in a 9-3 loss as a step toward the future rather than a stumble in the present. Not in New York you can't, at least not when it comes to the relief corps. (New York Daily News) And maybe it shouldn't since, as stated so well by the blog River Ave. Blues, what this game really was, was "more of what we know and hate from the 2008 Yankees. The bullpen couldn’t get outs, and the offense was inconsistent."
At least Harlan Chamberlain had a good time. (New York Daily News)
THE LIGHTNING ROD: The mood at Yankee Stadium last night was sour enough; thankfully, Joe Girardi didn't bring in Kyle Farnsworth or the joint might have collapsed five months before the wrecking ball is due to arrive. The blog It Is About The Money Stupid is so fed up with Farnsworth that its author has actually begun an I Hate Kyle Farnsworth group on Yahoo! and is urging Yankee Universe to "come and join."
SEARCHING FOR . . . WHAT? I want to thank ShysterBall for tipping me off to the Farnsworth item. And, Craig, I'm also baffled by one of the two top search requests on your blog.
(P.S. Thanks for the link!)
STAY FOCUSED: Peter Abraham admits that the education of young pitchers is "painful to watch at times" but insists that it's the proper, and only, course for the present-day Yankees. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
THERE'S ALWAYS GOOD NEWS SOMEWHERE: Jorge Posada provided it for the Yanks yesterday with another strong outing in extended spring game, meaning he might be activated as soon as tonight and could play again tomorrow. (New York Post)
TROUBLE WITH A CAPITAL 'T': Having compared them to the Red Sox and Rays during all three teams' trips to Camden Yards, the Baltimore-based blog Birds In The Belfry concludes: "The Yankees Are In Real Trouble. Not 'wishful thinking' trouble. REAL trouble."
AMAZIN': Across the country, in San Francisco, the other New York team had much more success with its starting pitcher. Pedro Martinez, making his first big-league appearance since pulling a hamstring muscle in early April, worked six strong innings as the Mets beat the Giants. (New York Post) The Daily News' Adam Rubin summed it up neatly: Joba Chamberlain got the hype. Pedro Martinez got the win.
REMEMBER ME? Jane Jarvis, the organist at Shea Stadium from its opening in 1964 until 1979, is now 93 and heartbroken that they're tearing down Shea. She'd love to be part of the farewell ceremonies but isn't sure the current management even knows who she is. (sny.tv)
JUST ANOTHER DAY IN OZZIELAND: So let's see. Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams have their meeting, after which Williams declines to speak publicly and Guillen says he regrets some of the things he said -- specifically, the stuff that was interpreted as criticism of Williams -- and was just trying to get the team back on track. (Chicago Tribune) Guillen puts his normal lineup on the field and it scores nine runs in a rout of the Royals. (Chicago Sun-Times) The Tribune's Rick Morrissey says it's all typical Guillen: A lot of sound and fury signifying virtually nothing.
But there was some collateral damage: The long friendship between Guillen and former-teammate-turned-current-hitting-coach Greg Walker, which appears to be ruptured thanks to Guillen's comments about Walker during his Sunday evening rant. (Chicago Tribune)
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE: You'd think this would be a 3-and-0 cripple for Jay Mariotti. But, having vented his spleen against Guillen on Tuesday, he was too busy yesterday waxing poetic about the Cubs and wondering if this could be the year they "fathom the unfathomable" and win the World Series for the first time since 1908. (Chicago Sun-Times)
NAH, THIS IS CUBS NATION. WE CAN'T: But on the same day Mariotti is thinking the unthinkable, Moises Alou drags out Steve Bartman again. (espn.com)
WHY NOT? The good times continued to roll last night with a 9-6 win over the Padres. (Chicago Sun-Times)
TWO STRIKES, TWO OUTS, BOTTOM OF THE NINTH . . . and it looks like it'll take a miracle to save Tiger Stadium. (Detroit News)
DEAR CECIL: The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice likes Cecil Cooper and wants him to succeed as Astros manager. So he's posted some advice for Coop on his blog, advising him to lighten up, end the public mood swings and begin to exude a facade of public confidence.
YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT: The Brewers say they're not inclined to grant Bill Hall's trade request. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
ENOUGH! The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Art Thiel says it's time for the Mariners to cut loose Richie Sexson.
HERE AND THERE: The Denver Post reports the Yankees could soon ask about Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes, who was Colorado's version of Eric Gagne -- Boston-style -- in last year's World Series . . . John Smoltz' shoulder is "pretty sore" after his first relief appearance (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Randy Johnson moved past Roger Clemens into second place on the all-time strikeout list. (Arizona Republic)
OLD FRIENDS: Casey Fossum, who was tearing up the International League with Toledo, has been called up by the Tigers (mlive.com) . . . Scott Hatteberg, designated for assignment by the Reds 10 days ago, becomes a free agent today, but Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal says there doesn't appear to be a significant amount of interest in him . . . The peripatetic career of Kent Mercker may finally have come to an end as the Reds placed him not on the 15, but the 60-day disabled list because of a bad back (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Matt Clement pitched for the first time in nearly two years yesterday, going six innings for the Palm Beach Cardinals (minorleaguebaseball.com) . . . Edgar Renteria, who came to the plate last night with 12 men on base, went 0-for-5 with a walk and rotoworld.com muses that if the Tigers could go back in time, they probably wouldn't have traded for him . . . Tomo Ohka beat the PawSox last night. (projo.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, June 3
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
BIG PROBLEM: David Ortiz normally points skyward in thanks, usually after hitting a home run (above). Now he -- and the Red Sox -- may instead be pleading for help. Yesterday's MRI revealed "a partially torn ECU (or extensor carpi ulnaris) tendon sheath in his left wrist," reports Joe McDonald, which placed Ortiz on the disabled list for what the team says is an indefinite period. But the co-author of Ortiz' autobiography, the Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti, lays out a grim scenario: A month's immobilization of the wrist, with season-ending surgery a possibility if rest fails to correct the problem. The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo has a slightly more optimistic take, saying Ortiz will need two weeks in a soft cast and could be back in the lineup two weeks after that; he mentions surgery only as an after-the-season possibility, quoting Terry Francona as saying an operation in the near future is "highly unlikely."
Such reporting variance usually means the outlook is muddled and that no one really knows what the future holds. (Sean Casey, whose playing time figures to increase, worries that it won't hold good things for Ortiz, telling the Globe's Gordon Edes how important the wrists are to a hitter. And ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra notes that a similar injury ended Ken Caminiti's career.) But nature, and Red Sox Nation, abhors a vacuum, so my friends at Sons of Sam Horn and Royal Rooters -- along with our own Your Turn board and the folks at The Baseball Think Factory's Sox Therapy -- are discussing the issue as we speak, and one name continues to pop up, over and over and over:
Barry Bonds.
The blog LyfLines lays out the case for Bonds ("a perfect fit"), but wonders if the Sox have the "guts/brain/nerve/common sense/chutzpah/arrogance/what-have-you" to sign him. Lyford, I'd say that the attributes you lay out are mutually exclusive. Do they have the guts, the chutzpah, the arrogance? Sure. You'd need all that, and more, to sign Barry Bonds. But brains and common sense? Those gifts tell you to avoid Barry Bonds at all costs, at least for now.
First things first. We just don't know a) how long Ortiz will be out and b) how affected he's going to be by all this. Suppose Cafardo is right and Ortiz is back in the lineup, good as new, in a month? Then what do you do with Bonds? Bench him? Platoon him? (With who?) Release him? The only position Bonds can possibly play is left field, and that would give you a three-into-two LF/DH quandry with Bonds, Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. One of them would have to sit out every game. You might be able to do that in Strat-O-Matic or a fantasy league, but in real life? How do you think that's going to go over?
But here's a far more important piece. You'd have to be a Bill James Online subscriber to read them, but Bill James did two Bonds columns last week, pre-Ortiz injury. In the first of them, he states: "I don’t want anything to do with Barry Bonds. Why? Simple: I don’t believe in his future, I’m not convinced of his value in the present, and I’m not interested in the past." And the reason he doesn't believe in Bonds' present: "Bonds, in my view — like [Babe] Ruth in 1934 — has reached a point of such extraordinary narrowness of his skills that there is an imminent danger that the structure will simply collapse at any moment — as it did on Ruth in 1935."
Then, when called out on it, James explained further a few days later:
"[When] a player reaches the point where ALL that he does is hit, he is normally very near to the end . . . .if you look at old players who have a very high OPS and essentially no other skills, what happens to them is that they suddenly collapse. They go from 'valuable' to 'out of the game' or 'still in the game, but worthless' in one year." And he lists examples: Mark McGwire. Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell. Henry Aaron. Willie Mays. Stan Musial. Ted Williams. Jackie Robinson. Joe DiMaggio. Hank Greenberg. Mel Ott. Indian Bob Johnson. Edgar Martinez. Even Jason Giambi, who, he points out "had an OPS of .971 [in 2006], one of the highest in baseball. In 2007 he suffered a dramatic dropoff. He may not be finished; maybe he’ll come back, but. . . . it wasn’t a good experience."
(It's all available in great detail in Bill James Online. If this doesn't convince you that the nominal subscription fee -- I believe it's $1 a month -- is worth it, nothing will.)
And one last thing: Bill James is a member of the Red Sox baseball-operations staff, so you know this viewpoint will be heard in organizational meetings in the days ahead.
Signing Barry Bonds right now, at this moment, is a panic move and we've seen where panic moves have gotten the Red Sox in the past. It led them to trade Josh Bard and Cla Meredith for Doug Mirabelli. It led them to bring in (the other) Javy Lopez as a backup catcher. One of the best things about the last two years is that the team has built such organizational depth that it's lessened the need for panic moves. Thanks to that depth, the Sox have other options; the blog Sox and Pinstripes lays them out.
Maybe it'll all change. Maybe two weeks of Sean Casey as DH, or of an everyday outfield of Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp and J.D. Drew (with Ramirez as the DH), will demonstrate the need for more offense. Maybe the news on Ortiz will get worse, and the team will decide it needs to find another big bat. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Don't make decisions based on maybes. It's June 3. There's plenty of time to decide what the right path should be.
Right now, Barry Bonds shouldn't be on that path.
AP Photo
AND IN KEEPING WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE NIGHT . . . Thanks to Hideki Okajima (above), the news about Ortiz didn't dampen the joy of a thrilling, come-from-behind victory. Instead, it merely deepened the gloom as Okajima, entrusted with a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, allowed three singles, two walks and a bases-clearing double to the seven batters he faced and handed the Orioles a 6-3 victory. (projo.com) Why Francona left him in for seven batters when it was pretty obvious after three -- at the most -- that it wasn't his night is a matter that was trampled by the postgame news about Ortiz; nevertheless, that didn't stop our friends at SOSH from discussing it. Okajima told the Japanese media afterwards -- apparently, he didn't talk to American reporters -- that he was disappointed in his performance. (Boston Herald) That makes all of us, Hideki.
NO REST FOR THE WEARY: The Sox don't get the option of mourning Ortiz' loss. Tonight starts an A.L. East showdown with the Rays, who are anxious to prove themselves worthy of the first-place position they've been holding for the last week or two. (St. Petersburg Times) They're being fueled by their pitching (Tampa Tribune), and who thought we'd ever be able to say that about a Tampa Bay team? Orioles manager Dave Trembley told the Herald's John Tomase that the Rays are in it for the long haul -- "They're not going to go away . . . They're a good team" -- which means this is actually the first of several showdowns the Sox will be facing in the next four months. (They go to Tampa on June 30-July 1-2, and Sept. 15-17; after this series, the Rays make their final visit to Fenway on Sept. 8-10.) And even though the attendance figures at The Trop don't yet show it, excitement is mounting in central Florida if the blog Rays Index is any indication; they're already talking magic numbers. After last night's Red Sox loss, it's down to 99.
MASTERING THE MOMENT: McDonald reports that Justin Masterson, still unbeaten in the major leagues, will get the start for the Sox tonight.
GET THIS MAN A SCHEDULE: When Coco Crisp was seen packing his bags after Sunday's game, the whispers started. Had he been traded? Was he finally sick of his situation and jumping the team? It was none of that, McDonald discovered: Coco merely thought it was a three-game series and that the Sox were heading home Sunday night.
AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: Ortiz is hurt. Sox cough one up in the late innings. And now comes word that Hazel Mae is leaving NESN. (projo.com)
NO HELP HERE: Don't count on Kyle Snyder to bolster the bullpen any time soon. Last night he apparently reinjured the groin strain that had him on the DL from May 16-27. (projo.com)
WHY, IN MY DAY . . . In his Historical Baseball Abstract books, Bill James used to run a series of quotes from retired players in each decade (heading: Old Ballplayers Never Die) saying how much better the game was when they played and how modern players couldn't hold a candle to the old-timers. Jim Rice made his bid for the next edition in a speech Monday when he trashed Manny Ramirez and said Jonathan Papelbon was the only member of the current Red Sox who could have cracked the starting lineup of the 1975 team. (watertowndailytimes.com)
IT'S STARTING: The angst about Joba Chamberlain's move to the starting rotation -- the "Who's gonna pitch the eighth??" wail from the keep-Joba-in-the-bullpen crowd -- is growing this morning after the dastardly Kyle Farnsworth turned a tie game into a Yankee loss in five pitches as Minnesota rallied past the Yanks, 6-5. (New York Daily News) Peter Abraham says don't blame Farnsworth; blame, instead, the guy who put him out there in the eighth inning despite the mountain of evidence that proves irrevocably that you can't trust Farnsworth to pitch with the game on the line. (LoHud Yankees Blog) Besides, says Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, the real culprit last night was Andy Pettitte, who couldn't hold leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 5-4.
TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT: The guy who didn't pitch the eighth last night will be out there in the first tonight, making his starting debut. The Daily News' Mike Lupica says Joba Chamberlain now starts his attempt to live up to the hype. "They ask an awful lot of this kid," Lupica concludes. "Time will tell if they have asked too much."
HERE AND THERE: The focus on Ortiz kept me away from my normal Web-surfing spots and the deadline to upload this is here, but two last items: Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams will attempt to clear some very thick air between them sometime today (Chicago Tribune), and Bill Hall has asked for a trade from the Brewers. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:46 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, June 2
AP Photo
TRIPLE THREAT: Pitching. Offense. Defense. That just about covers it in baseball, and when you have all three working then your problems -- which seemed so insurmountable at times last week -- melt away. Yesterday Bartolo Colon (above) took care of the pitching and his teammates took care of the rest as the Red Sox won their third straight in Baltimore, 9-4. Joe McDonald has the details of an afternoon in which things went so smoothly that even Julio Lugo ("Yes," writes Joe. "That Julio Lugo.") contributed with the glove. The Boston Herald's John Tomase focuses on the field work of Dustin Pedroia, who "made a trio of stellar defensive plays that left his uniform a nice shade of dirt ." They play the series finale tonight and, as the Boston Globe's Gordon Edes notes, a victory will enable the Sox "to break even on a 10-game trip that had appeared to be a disaster in the making when they lost five out of six on their first two stops."
Tomase reports that as Colon was walking back to the dugout after being lifted in the seventh inning, Orioles coach Juan Samuel told him, "You've got your (expletive) back." So, it appears, do the Red Sox.
AP Photo
THE DARK CLOUD AROUND THE SILVER LINING: But it's not all blue skies with the Sox these days, not with David Ortiz sitting on the bench, his left wrist in a brace. He said he felt a "pop" in the wrist when he fouled off a pitch in the ninth inning Saturday night (above) and the pain was such that he couldn't continue the at-bat. Nor, obviously, could he play yesterday. McDonald reports x-rays were negative but Ortiz will return to Boston for an MRI today. The Herald's Rob Bradford talks to J.D. Drew, who had a wrist injury in 2005, and who says, "Hopefully it’s nothing major. Wrists are tricky, man."
AP PhotoHISTORY MAJOR: But the big news of the weekend was Manny Ramirez, who finally reached the 500-homer plateau Saturday night in Boston's 6-3 victory. (projo.com) He'd said he wanted to do it at home, but with so many Sox fans at Camden Yards (above) it was the next-best thing. (When I called McDonald in the press box Saturday night after he'd done it, Joe was laughing. He reported that as Manny took the field in the middle of the seventh after hitting No. 500, the P.A. system starting playing Sweet Caroline and the scoreboard read something like, "Here's a treat for all you Red Sox fans here tonight." And then the music stopped abruptly and the scoreboard flashed: "NOT!") McDonald has many details from the milestone moment, including an interview with the Woo brothers, who caught the historic homer; the reaction of Sean Casey, who's now seen three players hit their 500th homer, and how Ramirez' teammates felt afterwards.
We even got to know how Ramirez felt about the whole thing because -- unlike years past -- he talks to reporters nowadays. And that, reports the Herald's Rob Bradford, is because of a decision Ramirez made over the winter to be more approachable and accessible. ("I decided that talking to the media wasn’t going to hurt.") The result is that the public now sees what only his teammates and friends used to see. Which is, as Kevin Millar told Tomase: "He’s got a uniqueness about him that’s easy to like when you get to know Manny. He’s very soft-hearted and a warm guy. Fans see that side of him now more than they did earlier in his career."
AND NOW? Baseball Musings' David Pinto believes Ramirez can reach 600 career homers, but wonders -- because "the [offensive] falloff we saw from Manny in 2007 appears to be real" --- if he'll still be with the Red Sox when he does.
THE REST OF THE STORY: This news-filled weekend began with a slump-busting, 5-2 win in 13 innings Friday night that, McDonald reports, had many facets besides seven scoreless innings from the bullpen (which he recounts in the game story): The contributions of Mike Lowell, both offensively and defensively; a running attack which set a franchise record for steals in a game, and even a defensive gem -- yes, again -- from Lugo. It wasn't all good, though; McDonald relates a busted suicide-squeeze attempt that cost the Sox a run and, it sounds like, swore Terry Francona off the play forever.
MOVING FORWARD: Craig Hansen delivered a scoreless inning in yesterday's game, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Prior to yesterday he had been the subject of a McDonald profile, in which Joe concluded: "[It] appears the hard-throwing right-hander has finally arrived."
FALLING BACK: Clay Buchholz, on the other hand, is back in the minors for a while, after his second rehab start for the PawSox didn't go too well. (projo.com)
THE VERDICT IS . . . It's old news now, but for the record: Daisuke Matsuzaka has a mild rotator-cuff strain. (projo.com)
REALITY STINKS (OR SOMETHING): The blog Oriole Post notes that the ratio of Red Sox fans to Oriole fans at Camden Yards was something like 80-20 this weekend, but puts the blame for it right at the organization's doorstep. ("[Ten] losing seasons, bad drafts, Peter Angelos, bad ushers at the Yard & horrible baseball have perhaps relegated a lot of Baltimore fans to stay home.")
MY HERO: Canadian high schooler Brett Lawrie, who's projected to go in the top 15 in Thursday's draft, says Dustin Pedroia is his role model. (baseballanalysts.com)
TOOL SHED: Joe Posnanski has a post about "how scouts judge players’ tools (hitting, power, speed, defense, arm) on that famed 20-80 scale" and does a Royals-Red Sox comparison that, ah, definitely favors Boston. (joeposnanski.com)
TREADING WATER: But the Sox, despite their string of success in Baltimore, haven't been able to gain any ground on the first-place Rays, who -- reports Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune -- are riding the destiny train after Gabe Gross' 10th-inning homer gave them their third straight win over the White Sox. Making it especially special for Gross: His parents and grandmother were there to see it. (Tampa Tribune) One reason for the Rays' success, writes the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin, is the team's unprecedented amount of depth.
SLOW DOWN THAT BANDWAGON, I WANT TO JUMP ON: Joel Sherman, writing on foxsports.com, is the latest to declare the Rays are for real.
THINK AGAIN: Ozzie Guillen went off after yesterday's loss, telling the media to expect changes before the White Sox' next game Tuesday because "[if] we think we are going to win with the offense we have, we are full of [bleep]." (Chicago Sun-Times) And, of course, when Ozzie Guillen says something controversial, can Jay Mariotti resist the temptation to unload? (Chicago Sun-Times) (That, folks, is Webster's definition of a rhetorical question.)
BULLET DODGED: It looked far worse than it actually ended up being; when Nick Blackburn lay spreadeagled on the mound after taking a Bobby Abreu liner off the face, you couldn't help but fear the worse. But Blackburn was okay -- he had to come out of the game, but didn't suffer as much as a broken bone (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) -- and the Twins went on to beat Darrell Rasner and the Yankees, 5-1. (New York Daily News) Abreu was relieved Blackburn wasn't hurt badly (LoHud Yankees Blog), as were we all.
CHANGES: When last we saw Morgan Ensberg, he was doing a guest spin on Phil Hughes' blog. Today he's an ex-Yankee, designated for assignment so the Yanks could recall Scott Patterson. (New York Daily News)
MARTYRDOM: Let's see. Scott Proctor threw at Kevin Youkilis' head last June and got away with it. Joba Chamberlain threw twice at Youkilis' head last August and was suspended. Chien-Ming Wang hit Youkilis in the wrist last September and knocked him out of the lineup for over a week. Kyle Farnsworth threw at Manny Ramirez' head in April and got suspended. But the blog IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS . . . caught says the pro-Red Sox/anti-Yankee persecution reaches all the way down to the minor leagues.
MARK IT DOWN: Willie Randolph thinks last month's Yankees-Mets rainout will be made up on Friday, June 27 as a day-night, Yankee Stadium/Shea Stadium doubleheader. (New York Daily News)
I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, BUT I'M SORRY I DID: Even though Gary Carter continues to insist he wasn't politicking for the Mets' managing job, he says he plays to apologize to Willie Randolph for the controversy his comments caused. (Palm Beach Post)
LATE THUNDER: The Rays weren't the only team to win in their last at-bat yesterday. Both the Angels (Los Angeles Times) and the Tigers (Detroit News) did it, as well.
SAY AGAIN?? According to Cecil Cooper, home runs when you're trailing in a game are rally-killers. (Houston Chronicle) Our friends at Fire Joe Morgan are speechless.
ON THE MOVE: Tigers manager Jim Leyland has decided to shift Carlos Guillen from third base to left field on occasion to get Brandon Inge more playing time. (Detroit Free Press)
HOLLIDAY TIME NEARS: The Denver Post's Woody Paige, declaring the Rockies' season to be over, says the Rox should trade Matt Holliday because if they don't, they'll get nothing in return when he leaves via free agency at the end of 2009.
HERE AND THERE: Mark Prior will undergo his second season-ending shoulder operation in two years. (San Diego Union-Tribune) Pinto believes it's time for Prior to hang up the spikes and start a new career . . . John Smoltz is altering his arm angle and moving to the bullpen because he says that, at age 41, he knows time is running out on his big-league career and these are the only things he can do if he wants to keep pitching (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Giants' Shawn Estes fractures the thumb on his pitching hand when he tripped on the stairs between the visiting clubhouse and dugout Friday night, and will be out indefinitely. (San Francisco Chronicle)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:17 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, May 30
ONE AND DONE? Justin Masterson's stay in Pawtucket might not be a long one, not with the Red Sox probably in need of another starter next Tuesday. If so, his first appearance at McCoy Stadium -- which he made last night against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (above) -- might be his last, at least for a while. And he made it a memorable one, reports Shalise Manza Young, throwing six strong innings in what everyone assumes was a tuneup for a start against the Rays at Fenway Park next week. Masterson and PawSox manager Ron Johnson review the performance (favorably, of course) and Johnson, for good measure, also gives a thumbs-up to a batch of butterscotch-oatmeal cookies baked by Masterson's wife. She apparently enjoys delivering cookies to the clubhouse of whatever team her husband is with; she could be dropping some off in Boston in five days.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Rumors are flying that Jeff Bailey might be joining the Red Sox for their weekend series in Baltimore; Joe McDonald reported them Wednesday and the Boston Globe's Gordon Edes repeated them today. We'll find out this afternoon sometime whether or not they're true, and if they are Bailey made his farewell to McCoy -- temporary though it may be -- one for the books. Young relates he had his second two-home-run game of the homestand in the PawSox' 5-2 win, and also had two pitches thrown behind his head by Scranton/WB starter Dan McCutchen. That little bit of Red Sox/Yankee nastiness earned McCutchen and his manager, Dave Miley, the 'ol heave-ho.
NOT SO MIGHTY 'PEN: Both the Globe's Amalie Benjamin and the Boston Herald's Jeff Horrigan look at the Red Sox' bullpen deficiencies. Benjamin's story is centered entirely on the relief corps, while Horrigan examines them as part of a review of the entire pitching staff.
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF: Javy Lopez, however, has been doing his job as a LOOGY -- Left-Handed One-Out GuY, for those of you unaware with the term (though I doubt many people here fit that description) -- to perfection. (Not that Terry Francona only uses him for a batter at a time, but he's been much better against left-handers this year than he was in 2007.) He talks about his season with Joe Haggerty on the Hacks With Haggs blog.
NO JOSHING AROUND: The Herald's Michael Silverman says now that Daisuke Matsuzaka may be sidelined for a while, it's time for Josh Beckett to step up and start pitching like an ace again.
WRONG COUNT: Baseball Musings' David Pinto examines Matsuzaka's game logs and concludes the Red Sox are "more interested in limiting his innings than his pitches," since Matsuzaka's highest pitch-count games have come in those instances when he's walking a lot of batters. Pinto sees walks as a sign that a pitcher's mechanics may be off; bad mechanics, he adds, may be a sign of fatigure, and fatigue can lead to injury.
HOP ON BOARD, BREWERS FANS: You may have seen this yesterday on this very blog, but Julian Tavarez forgot his World Series ring in his locker at Fenway Park after being let go by the Red Sox (Madison Times). Deadspin's Will Leitch, who's a Cardinals fan, says Sox and Cards fan alike have "ridden the Julian Tavarez crazy train."
UNFRIENDLY CONFINES: Baltimore -- where he hasn't hit a home run since May 16, 2006 -- might not be the best place right now for Manny Ramirez as he sits one homer away from No. 500. (Boston Herald)
'OUR JOB IS KEEPING THEM QUIET' That's new Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail challenge to his players since "so many people [come to Camden Yards] rooting for the Yankees and Red Sox." (Baltimore Sun) So far, so good; the O's are 6-2 against the Sox and Yanks in Baltimore this year, with Boston in town for a four-game series starting tonight.
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY: Word came down yesterday that Troy Percival's hamstring injury isn't considered serious. But the Rays placed him on the disabled list anyway (St. Petersburg Times), and the Tampa Tribune's Joe Henderson says it's a good idea "because that's what a team looking at the long haul does".
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW THIS? Trying to figure out when national baseball columnists, like the Philadelphia Daily News' Paul Hagen, were writing about the Rays at the beginning of June? "Never" would be my guess.
OR THIS? The blog Rays of Light is guiltily, but giddily, looking ahead to potential playoff previews.
NOT TO ME, THEY'RE NOT: The Hardball Times' Geoff Baker doesn't include the Rays in his look at early-season surprises.
TAKE YOUR PICK: You can either choose to believe that the Yankees' pilot light has been extinguished (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) or that they're just a hot streak away from another late playoff run. (New York Observer) The Star-Tribune's case, I have to say, would carry more weight if it hadn't described the Horace Clarke Era as being in the mid-1970s. As we well know around here, Clarke was long gone by then and the Yankees won the pennant in 1976 and the World Series in 1977 and '78.
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: The New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand warns that Joba Chamberlain won't "rule their starting rotation - at least not yet."
STOKE YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Jorge Posada says he's almost ready to rejoin the Yanks. (New York Daily News) And Hank Steinbrenner says he still has high hopes for Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. (New York Post)
KID TROUBLES: The Yankees are having more disciplinary problems with 19-year-old Trenton outfielder Jose Tabata. (nj.com)
'RUE-LESS JOE': Love that New York Post headline about Joe Torre, who's back in the Big Apple with the Dodgers and who couldn't have made it clearer that the Yankees are in his rear-view mirror. The blog River Ave. Blues makes it just as clear that the feeling is mutual on the other side of the fence: "I loved Joe in New York, and I think it’s too bad that he couldn’t still be around to manage the team into the new stadium. But I still think it was the right move for him and the Yanks to part ways."
WAKE UP, SMELL COFFEE: It appears Willie Randolph may be ready to pull the plug on Carlos Delgado, at least as an everyday player. (New York Post)
WAVING THE CAP: In a fascinating look at the salary-cap structure in the four major sports, Mark Cuban concludes MLB and the NFL can survive without a salary cap, but it's necessary in the NBA and NHL. (blogmaverick.com) Why? Because for a sport to survive without a cap "it must be a [sport] where it takes more than 1 or 2 players to lead a team to a championship. Otherwise, the richest teams can just buy those 2 players, with a 3rd as insurance, which means the competitive balance of the league is purely dependent on finances. That is not a good position to be in." While you may dismiss these as simply the musings of an NBA owner, ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra thinks Cuban may end up owning the Cubs when all is said and done.
LOSS LEADER: It's now 11 losses in a row (and counting) for the Royals, and as a result Joe Posnanski is back writing for the Kansas City Star. (His editor is one smart cookie; I'll have to remember her tactics.) The losing streak has resulted in Billy Butler being sent to the minor leagues and Jose Guillen offering to step into the role of Team Leader, which must have heads shaking and tongues wagging from Anaheim to Washington to Seattle. (Both stories Kansas City Star.)
THE RACE IS ON: It appears Jake Peavy will get back to the mound faster than Chris Young as the two Padre aces recover from their respective injuries. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
SO WHO'S WILLIE AND THE DUKE? The Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon says Josh Hamilton is the modern-day Mickey Mantle, from his on-field talents to his substance-abuse problems.
LOCAL BOYS: Pinto fingers the struggling Paul Konerko as one of the reasons that offense in the American League is down. But he had a good game last night against the Rays, and if he begins to hit more like Paul Konerko that bodes very well for the surprising White Sox.
HERE AND THERE: Time to start a Chipper Jones Watch? He's now hitting .420 after going 2-for-4 yesterday (mvn.com) . . . John Smoltz says his rehab is coming along nicely (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Wrigley Field is one of the spots under consideration for an outdoor NHL game between the Blackhawks and Red Wings (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Aaron Harang's four sterling innings in the 17-inning game at San Diego Sunday came back to bite both him and the Reds yesterday (mlb.com) . . . Randy Johnson tied Roger Clemens for second place on the all-time strikeouts list last night (mlb.com) . . . The Mariners eventually plan to put Brendan Morrow in the starting rotation, but his bullpen success so far means in probably won't happen this year. (Seattle Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Phil Dumatrait pitched what was, perhaps, the game of his career as he led the Pirates over the team that released him last year, the Reds (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Rudy Seanez may not have pitched forever -- it only seems that way -- but it's been 17 years in the big leagues now and he credits martial arts for his longevity. (Philadelphia Daily News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:51 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, May 29
AP Photo
JOURNEY TO NOWHERE: Not that it's a state secret or anything, but we introduced some numbers last week showing that the Red Sox are a different team offensively away from Fenway Park than they've been in Boston. Just six days later, it appears there's as much "insight" in that observation as in noting that the sky is blue, or rain falls down. These Sox appear to be on nothing less than a season-long quest to redefine the term Offensively Inept On The Road, as evidenced by last night's 1-0 loss to the Mariners. It was the second time they'd been shut out in the six games of this road trip -- record in those six games: 1-5 -- and Sean McAdam trots out some ghastly statistics: 14 runs scored in the six games, .169 batting average, grand total of three hits in the two shutout losses. I can trot out some ghastlier ones: a road OPS that's exactly 100 points lower (.757 to .857) than it is at home, an OPS-plus of 114 at Fenway Park and a Manny Alexander-like 88 on the road. (baseball-reference.com) Surviving Grady's question from last Sunday still rings true today.
Or maybe it's best to be philosophical about the whole thing. Like The Soxaholix.
THE GOOD NEWS: The offense should get a boost when they resume play tomorrow in Baltimore because Kevin Youkilis will return to the lineup. His recovery from some right-hand inflammation is at the top of McAdam's notebook.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS: It's a day later and the Sox still don't know exactly what's wrong with Daisuke Matsuzaka's shoulder. So, reports McAdam, they're sending him back to Boston for an MRI.
NO, IT IS GOOD NEWS: The Boston Herald's Michael Silverman says a little time off would be a good thing for Matsuzaka, as indeed for almost any pitcher. And he points out the team has been superb in managing their workloads because "[saving] bullets, so their pitchers still have some and some with pop, for a seven-month season is the name of the game for the Red Sox."
THE DOMINO EFFECT: With Matsuzaka almost certain to miss his next start -- even if Francona wouldn't say so -- the Sox began some organizational shifting to get ready. Joe McDonald reports Justin Masterson's first start at Pawtucket is being pushed up two days, from Saturday to tonight, which would put him in line to pitch Tuesday in Boston. Matsuzaka's next scheduled start is Monday but, because of today's off-day, Tim Wakefield can pitch Monday on normal rest.
GO WITH THE FLOW: McDonald talked to Masterson about the whole thing and he expressed confidence in the way the team has handled him so far. "They know what they’re doing," he said of the Red Sox’ philosophy. "You have to buy in and know what they’re doing is to help you." That was in contrast to, say, Jon Lester, who chafed at the organization's pitch-count restrictions while he was working his way back to the big leagues last year. (McDonald quotes PawSox manager Ron Johnson as saying taking Lester out of a start when he'd reached his pitch-count limit "was never a delightful situation. It was like sticking a finger in your eye.")
MASTERSON? WHY NOT CLAY BUCHHOLZ? Because his next scheduled start is Friday, and he won't be ready to pitch either Monday or Tuesday.
STOLEN MEMORIES: I know it's been a long time since I thought of Patsy Dougherty or Heinie Wagner. But Jacoby Ellsbury brought them back to life last night when he stole his 20th base of the season, tying him for fifth place on the list of most steals by a Red Sox rookie. (projo.com)
DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY: Manny Ramirez remains as carefree as ever one home run away from No. 500. (Boston Globe)
STILL GOING: The Rays, meanwhile, increased their lead to 1 1/2 games with a 5-3 win over the Rangers that was tempered somewhat by a hamstring injury to closer Troy Percival. (Tampa Tribune)
ALWAYS SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT: You'd think a team that's enjoying first-time success, like the Rays, would be basking in compliments. But the blog Beyond The Box Score is wondering what's wrong with Carl Crawford.
THAT DAMN OPEC: More W's in the standings have yet to translate into more fannies in the seats for the Rays, and a AAA spokesman thinks high gas prices are to blame. (newsadvance.com)
PRESENT . . . Andy Pettitte got the win and Mariano Rivera got the save -- just like old times -- in the Yankees' 4-2 win over the Orioles. (New York Daily News)
. . . AND FUTURE: All signs point to Joba Chamberlain making his starting debut for the Yanks next Tuesday. Guess Graig Nettles didn't get the memo; he wants to keep Joba in the bullpen. (Both stories New York Post)
SPORTS PARENTING: Ian Kennedy, as expected, is headed to the disabled list (New York Daily News), where he joins fellow phenom Phil Hughes. But the Post's George King says this still isn't necessarily a lost year for them. It all goes to show, points out Peter Abraham, that "[this] 'develop the kids' stuff is hard work." (LoHud Yankees Blog)
SETTING A DATE: Bob Sheppard, giving an interview to BustedHalo.com, says he hopes to be back behind the Yankee Stadium microphone by July 1.
SEE, SOME GOOD DID COME OUT OF IT: If nothing else, the Yankees' signing of Kei Igawa has bolstered Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's starting rotation. (projo.com)
PICK SIX: The Yankees are letting fans vote which six games should be included on the soon-to-be-released Essential Games of Yankee Stadium DVD. And no, don't think you can flood the ballot box with votes for Games Six or Seven of the 2004 ALCS; the games have been pre-selected and you have to choose from a list.
YANKED AROUND: A self-proclaimed "diehard Yankees fan" says the team reneged on its promise to give him 15 All-Star Game tickets in exchange for a pair of home-run balls he caught during a game last year. (New York Post) The Yankees say they promised nothing of the sort.
BRING IT ON, ROCKET: ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra explains in great -- and glorious -- detail why any defense lawyer with two brain cells firing would be drooling in joyous anticipation at sinking his or her teeth into Roger Clemens' "intentional infliction of emotional distress" claim in Clemens' defamation lawsuit against Brian McNamee.
AND IN THE MEANTIME . . . Mindy McCready is singing to the FBI. (New York Daily News)
I BEG YOUR PARDON? The Daily News' Filip Bondy can't believe some of the crowd totals being released by the Mets, who, he says, have "successfully . . . taken over the lead [from the Knicks] for fabricating attendance figures."
HOWEVER MANY WERE THERE SURE ENJOYED THIS ONE: Regardless of the actual attendance, the fans at Shea were smiling at the end of last night's 12-inning win over the Marlins. (New York Times)
WE DID HIM RIGHT: Omar Minaya defends the Mets' handling of Ryan Church. (New York Times)
LIEUTENANT INTANGIBLES: Derek Jeter's the captain of that outfit, so we'll have to assign the lower rank to David Eckstein. He's back in action with the Blue Jays (Toronto Star), even though the Tao of Stieb didn't particularly miss him and didn't seem to want him back in any hurry. And Baseball Musings' David Pinto points out that the Jays are 13-18 when Eckstein plays and thinks certain members of the Toronto media are "Jeterating" Eckstein.
Come on. You remember.
DEFEND YOUR POSITION: Joe Posnanski put forth the opinion the other day that Ron Gardenhire is the best manager in baseball. When the inevitable protests arrived, Joe admitted that Gardenhire may only look good in comparison to the Royals managers he's been watching up close for the last 12 years. Particularly Trey Hillman.
TOP OF THE HEAP: Foxsports.com's Tracy Ringolsby. on the other hand, throws some love to Bobby Cox, one of the most overlooked great managers of all time.
IT WAS COMING: The Royals' recent run of frustration continued last night when they blew a five-run, ninth-inning lead and lost to the Twins (Kansas City Star), which prompted the first blowup of the season from the tightly wound Jose Guillen. (royalsblog.kansascity.com)
YOU CAN'T FIRE ME, I QUIT! Even though neither one of them is playing at the moment, both Bret Boone and Sammy Sosa announced their retirements yesterday. (Both stories espn.com)
CHUMP CHANGE: Pete Rose now says he wagered "like $2,000 . . . that's it" on every Reds game while he was their manager. (si.com)
AND IN THE "THERE'S ALWAYS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING" CATEGORY . . . A minor-league game in Omaha was suspended because of a hydrochloric acid leak. (AP via Yahoo!)
KONG AVERSION: The Sporting News' Gerry Fraley thinks the Phillies are doing the right thing by not signing Ryan Howard to a long-term contract because he's "increasingly becoming a Dave Kingman-esque, one-note player."
HERE AND THERE: The Twins may be shopping Livan Hernandez (St. Paul Pioneer Press) . . . The struggling Vladmir Guerrero was given the day off by Mike Scioscia (Los Angeles Times) . . . Mark Cuban may be able to buy the Cubs, after all. (Chicago Sun-Times)
OLD FRIENDS: The Cleveland-based blog WaitingForNextYear thinks it's time for the Indians to find out what they have in Andy Marte . . . Pedro Martinez threw six innings in a rehab start for Port St. Lucie last night. (New York Post)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:41 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 28
AP Photo
THERE ARE LOSSES, AND THEN THERE ARE LOSSES: The routine ones -- like last night's 4-3 defeat at the hands of the bottom-of-the-heap Mariners -- you can live with, no matter how gut-wrenching they may be . . . and, as Sean McAdam reports, this one was pretty gut-wrenching. (To wit: Losing on a two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth single.) But the big loss for the Red Sox last night wasn't in the standings. It was Daisuke Matsuzaka (above) having to leave the game in the top of the fifth inning because of "shoulder fatigue." Bill James once wrote that caution flags should fly when teams describe injuries in such vague terms, because what it actually means is, "He's hurt and we don't know why . . . and if we don't know why, we can't fix it." They'll attempt to get a more specific diagnosis today, but both Matsuzaka and Terry Francona were saying last night that Dice-K's next scheduled start -- at least -- is in question.
So what does it all mean? Well, for one thing, it looks like Clay Buchholz' stay in Pawtucket will be a short one. And for another, it just goes to show that the old saying -- the minute you think you have too much pitching is when you should go out and get some more -- rings true every time.
AP Photo
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE . . . No one would ever accuse ex-Red Sox television broadcaster Sean McDonough of being a FOU (Friend of Umpires). He would routinely lambast the men in blue, more over their imperious attitudes than their actual job performance (though he didn't like that, either), and during a broadcast on May 31, 1998, he articulated his complaint against them in 23 words:
"In addition to being incompetent at their jobs, they're also combative, arrogant, and they create more problems than they solve on the field."
(Back in a former life, when I was the author of a daily blog known as Art's Notebook, I wrote it down.)
With all that in mind, may we present Angel Hernandez.
It's not that Hernandez is incompetent at his job -- he's actually known as a pretty good umpire (though the blog spudart.com might disagree) -- but combative? Arrogant? Creating more problems than he solves? Hernandez is a three-tool ump in those categories, and they were all on display last night in his inexplicable mid-inning ejection of Julio Lugo, which was followed soon afterwards by the tossing of Terry Francona (above). McAdam reports Lugo insists he did absolutely nothing to warrant getting thrown out -- he said Hernandez was staring at him, and gave him the thumb when he asked why he was looking at him -- and Francona (an "exasperated Francona," according to McAdam), said, "I wouldn't know where to begin" when asked for an explanation of what happened.
McAdam notes that Hernandez and Lugo have a history -- in April 2007, Hernandez denied Lugo's routine request for time out while he was in the batter's box and the Orioles' Daniel Cabrera delivered a strike after Lugo had stepped out; Lugo made some harsh comments afterwards (Boston Herald) -- and it couldn't be that Hernandez still remembers that. Could it?
The incident is already drawing commentary -- none too complimentary towards Hernandez -- in the blogosphere, on sites such as Sports of Boston and bleacher report. One of the more, ah, interesting takes on the incident is bleacher report's conclusion that subsequent in-game successes by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were a result of their wanting "to take a stand for their Latin American teammate and friend!" Uh, yeah, whatever.
In any case, I'm sure we'll hear more about all this. But maybe all we needed to know was said almost 10 years ago to the day:
"In addition to being incompetent at their jobs, they're also combative, arrogant, and they create more problems than they solve on the field."
Protesters to the contrary? Your point of view was made a lot harder to defend last night.
LOOK OUT BELOW: Worried about Julio Lugo's defense but heartened by his offensive resurgence? Allan Wood says that train's about to come rolling to a stop, too, and tells us why on his Joy of Sox blog.
NOT HERE: McAdam has an interesting piece on why the Red Sox aren't following the crowd in the new baseball practice of tying up young players to long-term deals.
STAR POWER: The Red Sox have the leading vote-getters at five of the nine positions as the first results of All-Star voting were released yesterday. McAdam reports Francona thinks it's "kind of a reward for the team’s success and their personal success."
The game, of course, will be played at the soon-to-be-closed Yankee Stadium and Francona probably hits the nail right at the head when he muses, "I can’t imagine a lot of (New York) fans will be thrilled that I’m sitting in the dugout." As for the Yankees, they hope their fans will start stuffing the ballot boxes soon so as many Yanks as possible can start in the game. (New York Post) Well, okay, they didn't use those words exactly, but that's what they meant. Wait a minute, I take that back; Derek Jeter did use those words. (New York Daily News)
DUSTIN FOR THE DEFENSE: Baseball Musings' David Pinto uses a nice play by Dustin Pedroia Monday night as a jumping-off point for a discussion on defensive range and positioning. On a somewhat related defensive note: I'm a subscriber to Bill James Online and among the treasure trove of information available are in-season fielding statistics from John Dewan's The Fielding Bible. Those stats rank Pedroia as the fourth-best defensive second baseman in baseball, through Monday's games. More accurately, it ranks him fourth in "the number of plays the player made, above/below the number that the average fielder would make."
POWERFUL FEAR: The sudden death of former Red Sox and PawSox pitcher Geremi Gonzalez when he was struck by lightning prompted Joe McDonald to ask some Pawtucket players about their experiences with lightning on the playing field. Some of them, like Charlie Zink, head to the dugout as soon as they see the first bolt in the distance.
DIRT DOG UPDATE: Trot Nixon is toiling away in Tucson, hoping someone notices and gives him a big-league job. (AP via Canadian Press)
NASTINESS IS ITS OWN REWARD: Joe Posnanski discovered that only three teams -- the Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies -- have not had an eight-game losing streak since 2002 and, noting that the teams play in the three most intense baseball cities in the country, wonders if "booing fans, the angry media, the intensive talk shows, the angry Internet boards . . . keep the players a bit more on edge."
OR AT LEAST THEY HOPE SO IN WISCONSIN: Sounds like Brewer fans are emulating their Boston/New York/Philadelphia brethren, if their letters to SI.com's John Donovan are any indication.
THE FIRST SIGN OF SUCCESS: The Rays are beginning to attract bandwagon followers. Among the first: The blog RaysGeek, previously known as MetsGeek. ("Unlike the Mets, we’ll never let you down. Because if the Rays’ season takes a turn for the worse, you can bet that we’ll be ready to jump ship again.") Its readers are thrilled, mainly because, as one wrote, "Finally I can root for [Scott] Kazmir without a guilty conscience."
SOMETHING'S IN THE AIR: The Red Sox weren't the only team who lost a pitcher last night. Ian Kennedy strained his right lat muscle in his start against the Orioles (New York Daily News), which may force the Yankees' hand with Joba Chamberlain. And the Sox weren't the only team suffering a gut-wrenching loss, either. The Yankees gave up two runs in the bottom of the 11th, after taking the lead in the top of the inning, and lost to the O's, 10-9, in a rain-delayed affair. (New York Post) Whipping boy LaTroy Hawkins was the loser (New York Daily News), but Peter Abraham says there was plenty of blame to go around in this one. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE? The blog Bugs and Cranks lists the only possible reasons Hawkins is still a Yankee. Me, I vote for "accepting money under the table from other A.L. East teams."
IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS . . . CAUGHT: There's actually a Yankee blog named for John Sterling's occasional misspeaks, and it must be proud today. Newsday's Neal Best reports Sterling had a memorable Memorial Day weekend when it came to on-air blunders. It started with the understandable, and forgivable, flubbing of the end of a recent game against Seattle when plate umpire Larry Vanover mistakenly rang up Jose Vidro for the final out when, in fact, it was only the second strike of the at-bat. (What was that we said a few steps back about "incompetent at their jobs" . . . ?) But I would have loved to have heard this one:
"Here is Molina. Matsui at second with two out. The pitch swung on and hit in the air to right center. Ichiro going back, a way back in deep right center. It lands for a base hit! How do you like that? Matsui scores, Cano goes to second with a double. Oh, it's a ribbie double by Robbie Cano, don't you know, and the Yankees take the lead! A ribbie for Robbie! . . . Excuse me, that's Molina. What am I talking about?"
Late update: Here's the audio, spliced into the game video, via dailymotion.com:
I don't mean to be harsh on Sterling; I actually think he's a good announcer and he makes the game entertaining. But when he begins trotting out his catch phrases ("Robbie Cano! Doncha know!") for the wrong guy, it sort of like setting off fireworks at the wrong time. All you can do is laugh.
ROCKET'S MAN: Roger Clemens may be gone, but he's still texting pitching advice to the grateful Joba Chamberlain. (USA Today)
THE SAGA CONTINUES: Clemens is now accusing Brian McNamee "of intentionally inflicting [him] with emotional distress." (Houston Chronicle)
THIS IS WHY WE GOT HIM: The Daily News' Filip Bondy lauds Johan Santana for coming through last night when the Mets most needed him.
YOU DON'T RIDE A HORSE TO WORK, DO YOU? No? Then why, asks FoxSports.com's Michael Rosenberg, should anyone want to stand in the way of progress and be against instant replay in baseball?
QUIT WORRYING: Red Sox fan Russ Smith, writing on the blog splicetoday.com, says all this talk about instant replay and long games is all a bunch of hooey. Baseball, he asserts, is "continually evolving . . . and interest hasn’t diminished."
FROM PROSPECT TO . . . Utilityman. That's the career path the Dodgers seem to have for Andy LaRoche. (Los Angeles Times)
THE BEST REVENGE: Bill Hall, angered about losing playing time with the Brewers, came off the bench and was the hero in the bottom of the ninth last night as Milwaukee rallied past the Braves. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
MEDICAL REPORTS: Ex-Yankee reliever Luis Vizcaino, rehabbing an injured shoulder, is inching closer towards rejoining the Rockies (Denver Post) . . . That's not the case with the Rangers' Hank Blalock, who's recovering slowly from carpal-tunnel syndrome (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Mets' Ryan Church is still feeling the effects of last week's concussion and the team is being criticized for bringing him back too soon (New York Times) . . . The latest players headed to the DL: Arizona's Eric Byrnes (mlb.com), Detroit's Gary Sheffield (AP via Yahoo!) and Atlanta's Matt Diaz (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Joe Torre says Jason Schmidt's velocity is down, and may remain so all season. (Los Angeles Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Julian Tavarez joined the Brewers yesterday. (mlb.com) He also pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, though none of the game accounts I saw mentioned anything about it . . . Steve Lyons is still bitter about his firing by Fox during the 2006 postseason (Chicago Tribune) . . . Kent Mercker is alive, kicking, and pitching a perfect rehab inning for the Reds' farm club in Louisville (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . Orlando Cabrera is developing a me-first reputation in the White Sox clubhouse -- for instance, he's twice called the press box to complain about errors that were charged to him this season -- and Ozzie Guillen is warning him to straighten up and fly right (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . Scott Hatteberg has been designated for assignment by Cincinnati (mlb.com) . . . It looks like Pedro Martinez will pitch for the Mets on Tuesday. (New York Daily News)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 7:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, May 27
TIMING IS EVERYTHING IN LIFE . . . and there's probably no better time to come to Safeco Field than right now, considering the Mariners had lost 19 of their last 24 prior to last night. (And looked pretty pathetic in the process, especially lately: They were outscored 31-13 in losing three straight at Yankee Stadium, directly on the heels of getting outscored 30-14 in losing three straight at Comerica Park.) But you'll forgive the Red Sox -- losers of seven straight road games before they arrived in Seattle -- if the needle on their sympathy meter didn't jump a whole lot, since they had their own ship to steady. And steady it they did, as Bartolo Colon (above) pitched seven strong innings and the Sox bats finally came alive against Felix Hernandez in the eighth in a 5-3 win that, as Sean McAdam reports, gave them their first victory away from home since May 10. The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo talked to some of the players about their away-from-Fenway struggles and lays out some pretty startling home-and-road statistics that perfectly explain how the Sox are 21-5 in Boston and 11-17 outside of it. David Pinto of Baseball Musings goes even deeper into the numbers -- comparing them to Tampa Bay's home-and-road stats -- and warns that a "falloff from [the Sox'] current .808 home winning percentage may mean trouble, as Tampa's home/road record looks sustainable." But these days Seattle is a pretty safe port in a storm (Seattle Times), and the Sox are resting comfortably there this morning after some rough seas prior to their arrival.
TROUBLE BY THE BAY: The waves were particularly harsh in Oakland, where the Red Sox lost 8-3 on Friday night, were almost no-hit in losing 3-0 on Saturday night and concluded their weekend of distress with a 6-3 loss on Sunday afternoon. Masochists are invited to click the links to any of McAdam's game accounts.
CHANGING TIMES: Used to be that managers under fire claimed they didn't read the newspapers. Now, if you're the Mariners' John McLaren, you claim you don't read the blogs. (USA Today)
PERSPECTIVE: The difference between real-life problems and what pass for problems in baseball was never demonstrated more starkly than on Sunday, when cancer survivor Jon Lester told the world that his father is also suffering from a form of lymphoma. (projo.com) He spoke optimistically about John Lester's chances of beating the disease, saying his father "will die with [cancer], not from it." Here's hoping that's true, Jon.
'MY FRIEND': Driving that point home further was the shocking death of former Red Sox and PawSox pitcher Geremi Gonzalez, who was struck by lightning in his native Venezuela on Saturday. McAdam has reaction from the Red Sox and Joe McDonald relates the comments of PawSox manager Ron Johnson, who was "absolutely crushed" by the news. Curt Schilling adds some thoughts on 38pitches.com.
THE COMEBACK TRAIL: Lester's no-hit twin, Clay Buchholz, had an impressive first outing with the PawSox on Sunday as he rehabs from his torn fingernail. Paul Kenyon has the details.
WHAT A SHORT, STRANGE JOURNEY IT'S BEEN: Bill Reynolds first met Buchholz in the McCoy Stadium clubhouse last August. He caught up with him again on Sunday and they talked about how different life has become since the no-hitter.
TALKING BASEBALL: Joe Haggerty provides the transcript of his Sunday interview with Buchholz on his Hacks With Haggs blog.
'RATHER WORK WITH HIM THAN POINT A FINGER AT HIM': That's the Red Sox' philosophy regarding the defensively challenged Julio Lugo, whom they're hoping will regain his glove skills by extra work with infield coach Luis Alicea. (Boston Globe)
SPEED KILLS: I admit, I'm puzzled about baseball's new speed-up rules. On Friday night we saw Dave Magadan kicked out of the game when umpire Tim Tschida wouldn't allow J.D. Drew to put pine tar on his replacement bat (projo.com), but I saw at least three -- and maybe more -- instances in other games over the weekend where a batter broke his bat, went and got a new one, and then retired to the on-deck circle to apply pine tar with no ejection, no warning, no nothing. But regardless of how the rule is enforced (or not), David Ortiz thinks it's stupid. (Boston Globe) So does Kevin Youkilis (Boston Herald) The Joy Of Sox' Allan Wood finds clips that point out baseball has been talking about speeding up games for at least 80 years, and then makes some tangible suggestion -- like cutting down commercial time between innings, or calling the strike zone as the rule book lays it out -- that would actually make things go quicker.
AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: As those of us hereabouts fret about the Sox -- and let's face it, the fretting came pretty easy this weekend -- baseball writers around the country continue to marvel about the 'Ol Towne Team. Rany Jazayerli of Baseball Prospectus, writing on his blog Rany On The Royals, says "I'm not sure there has ever been an organization that so towered above every other baseball team in every way -- financial, player development, statistical analysis, creative thinking, what have you -- as the Red Sox do right now." And on the heels of the Sox' arrival at Safeco, the Seattle Times' Larry Stone said they "might be the model franchise in baseball." He adds: "You don't hear much about the Curse of the Bambino these days."
See? There is a God!
THERE SURE IS: Back in November and December when the Johan Santana rumors were flying, Chad Finn pretty well articulated the reservations some had about emptying the minor-league shelves for him. The Sox resisted the temptation and now, Chad gleefully reports, it looks like they made the right decision. (Touching All The Bases)
ONE FOR THE BOOKS: Think you've heard of every obscure record in baseball? Bet this is a new one for ya: The Rays are the first team since 1900 to have the best record in baseball through Memorial Day after having the worst record in baseball the previous year. (Tampa Tribune) They got there with a 7-3 win over the Rangers, coupled with a Diamondbacks' loss to the Braves.
CLOSET STATHEAD: Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon wants to see if there's a way to determine how many runs a player costs his team defensively, which can then be added to the runs he produces as a hitter to create a baseball plus/minus rating. (St. Petersburg Times)
WHERE ARE YOU, MARINERS? The Yankees were hoping they were back on track after their weekend sweep of Seattle, but the Orioles brought them back to Earth with a 6-1 victory that featured five runs off Yankee relievers in the seventh inning. ShysterBall, noting the worrying that Joba Chamberlain's move to the rotation has sparked about who'll pitch the eighth inning for the Yanks, says forget that; what about the seventh?
THE DEBATE CONTINUES: Put down Phil Pepe as a 'no' in the Should Joba Be A Starter? poll. (yesnetwork.com)
HE'S NOT ALONE: Remember the complaints about Chamberlain's on-the-mound histrionics after recording key outs? The White Sox are now grousing about Frankie Rodriguez doing the same thing. (Chicago Tribune)
DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES: Joe Posnanski wants to like Derek Jeter. He really does. But he's so fed up with the empty veneration of Jeter -- for instance, as a great defensive shortstop when in fact he may be the worst in baseball -- that he's come up with a new verb: "Jeterate -- to praise someone for something of which he or she is entirely unworthy of praise." And what set this off wasn't even his defense. It was his getting caught in a rundown and staying in it long enough for the other runners to advance to the next base a few nights ago, which apparently set off a five-minute Sterling/Waldman lovefest on the Yankee radio broadcast. ("He waved them to the next base! What a leader! What a man! Who else in the world could have gotten caught in a rundown long enough to get runners to move up?") And then, writes Joe, "when Hideki Matsui singled to score both runners, they took it up another step and canonized Jeter."
And so did he, with a new word. Jeterate. Write it down.
RETHINK YOUR DECISION: A few hours after Mets management stated emphatically that Willie Randolph wouldn't be fired, fans at Shea started a "Fi-re Wil-lie!" chant in the waning moments of a 7-3 loss to Florida. (New York Post) But the Post's Joel Sherman thinks the fans should focus their anger elsewhere, saying, "Maybe this is not about the leader as much as it is about the led."
KID STUFF: Gary Carter is blaming the media for misinterpreting comments he made about the Mets' managing job that sounded as if he was campaigning to replace Randolph. Former teammate Keith Hernandez is a member of the media now -- color analyst on the Mets' TV broadcast -- and he called Carter "indelicate [and] graceless." (Both stories Newsday)
THINK THE BAR IS HIGH ENOUGH? The blog Driveline Mechanics breaks down Dodger phenom Clayton Kershaw and concludes he "exhibits all the performance of a Sandy Koufax without the mechanical flaws." O-kay.
START SHREDDING THE CONFETTI: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Mark Bradley likes what he sees regarding the Braves.
HERE AND THERE: Brewers third baseman Bill Hall is losing playing time and he's not happy about it (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . It looks like top prospect Jay Bruce is about to be recalled by the Reds (mlb.com) . . . John Smoltz may need another rehab appearance (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Alfonso Soriano has been catching some heat in Chicago, but yesterday he was defending by the Cubs (Chicago Tribune) . . . Chone Figgins may be headed to the disabled list. (Los Angeles Times)
OLD FRIENDS: There's been a Pokey Reese sighting! Even though he hasn't appeared in a big-league game since 2004 and hasn't been with a big-league team since spring training 2006, the Nationals signed him to a minor-league contract. (Washington Post)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:44 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Friday, May 23
Journal photo / Mary Murphy
HOME WARRIORS: We'll remember this for a while. A no-hitter. Another impressive start by a rookie hopeful. A just-as-impressive beginning from a veteran being counted on to bolster the rotation. And yesterday, two grand slams in one day, one of them from Mike Lowell (above). Yes, this series -- and this homestand -- was one for the memory books.
What may fade over time are the details, which is just as well because, as Joe McDonald reports, yesterday's 11-8 dispatch of the Royals -- which completed a four-game sweep of Kansas City on the heels of a three-game wipeout of the Brewers -- was hardly a thing of beauty. And the wart of the edge of the nose was, once again, Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose sterling 8-0, 2.40 record (Projo Stats) gives no hint to the agonizing manner in which he got there. Steven Krasner examines yesterday's 5 2/3-inning, six-walk, six-hit, two-wild-pitch 118-pitch torture session, which seemed to wear down even the eternally upbeat Terry Francona, based on comments he made during his postgame session with the media. Kraz reports Dice-K had a built-in excuse this time: It was his first game with Kevin Cash, who handled the catching chores as Jason Varitek was given the day off. (And, indeed, that fifth-inning exchange where Matsuzaka shook off Cash, what, 71 times as grass began growing through cracks in the grandstand cement speaks to that unfamiliarity.) Whatever the reason, Matsuzaka himself was less than pleased with the whole thing (Boston Globe), though pitching coach John Farrell was more upbeat about it. (Boston Herald) Still, there's no arguing with the results: 11th Red Sox pitcher since 1956 to begin 8-0; Sox victories in each of his last 12 regular-season starts, dating back to Sept. 22, 2007; first eight-game winner in the American League. Could be worse. A lot worse.
The reason it wasn't, at least yesterday, was the offensive show put on by his teammates, led by the grand-slam duo of Lowell and J.D. Drew. Paul Kenyon has their reaction to the whole thing, plus the slew of milestones -- first two grand-slam game since Bill Mueller in 2003, first time two Sox hit grand slams in the same game since 1995, first time two of them did it at Fenway since 1984, etc. -- they matched along the way. (Gordon Edes of the Globe has an interesting one: There have been 245 no-hitters since 1876, but only 72 two-grand-slam games.) It speaks to a bigger point, says Krasner: Namely, the relentless, 1-to-9 lineup that keeps producing as a whole no matter which of the individual parts -- like Manny Ramirez at present -- is misfiring.
Of course, that's mostly true at home, where they have a higher batting average (.303 to .286), a higher on-base percentage (.383 to .347), a higher slugging percentage (.474 to .450) and score more runs per game (6.0 to 4.54) than they do on the road. (baseball-reference.com) And, not coincidentally, they're 21-5 at Fenway and 10-14 on the road. Now they head out to Oakland, Seattle and Baltimore for a 10-game trip. Let's see if they can make those numbers even out a bit.
SHORT AND NOT-SO-SWEET: The flip side of the Sox' fireworks show: It led to a truncated Banny Log on joeposnanski.com.
MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW: Not doing anything Sunday? Head out to McCoy Stadium to see Clay Buchholz make a rehab start for the PawSox. McDonald and Krasner tell us all about it in their notebook, which includes items on Varitek's day off and various game notes.
NO, IT'S NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS: I'm sure many of us know someone who attended both Buchholz' and Jon Lester's no-hitters. Edes found a guy who not only went to both of them, but they were the only two times he's ever been to Fenway. Not only that, he's from Utah. In addition, Gordon reports that -- unlike the reward Tom Yawkey gave to Mel Parnell for his 1956 no-hitter -- John Henry had no bonus for Lester, and he answers a question I get all the time: What's the difference in salary between the major leagues and minor leagues? He gives us Masterson's numbers.
FINITO: It appears Kevin Youkilis' days as a blogger are over.
BIG DEAL: Writing in Slate, Pat Jordan says most athletes' blogs "are essentially self-aggrandizing and masturbatory . . . [and] reveal nothing genuine about the writer." It's part of a bigger piece in which he talks how the new celebrity status of athletes has put a moat between subject and follower -- a moat which reporters, once seen as allies in their achievements but now viewed as adversaries, are not allowed to cross -- and led to an angrier, less-forgiving relationship between player and fan.
YOU'RE NOT CALLING ANYTHING: The New York Times reports the Yankees -- hosts of this year's All-Star Game -- were unaware of a promotion in which a fan can predict where David Ortiz will hit the ball during the Home Run Derby (Biz of Baseball), with Ortiz getting one chance to hit it to that spot. And -- considering the damage Ortiz has done to them over the years -- they're not happy about Big Papi playing Babe Ruth in their ballpark and may attempt to stop it. Before Red Sox fans get all high and mighty, the blog YFSF makes an interesting point: "I am pretty sure (actually, I KNOW) that Sox fans wouldn't like A-Rod being the focus of an All-Star game gimmick at Fenway Park."
BE PREPARED: Jim Rice has an interesting Ask 14 entry on the way various players he's known -- Nomar Garciaparra, Wade Boggs, John Valentin, Manny Ramirez -- prepare for games.
WON'T BE LONG NOW: The Mets' fourth straight loss in Atlanta (New York Post) has everyone -- Mets fans such as those who run the blog The Musings and Prophecies of Metstradamas and media professionals like Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Consitution -- talking about what a mess they are. Considering that David Wright is publicly questioning the team's effort (mlb.com) -- though he later said he did nothing of the sort (New York Daily News) -- and team owners aren't returning his phone calls (New York Post), can Willie Randolph's head possibly be saved?
10:30 THUNDER: The Yankees -- energized, perhaps, by Joe Girardi's first ejection of the season -- scored a run in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Orioles, 2-1. (New York Post) It was set up by a good six-inning performance from Ian Kennedy (New York Daily News), though Baseball Musings' David Pinto thinks Kennedy was more lucky than good.
BUT THERE'S ONLY ONE STORY IN THIS TOWN: Still, all the talk in New York -- at least the American League side of it -- is on Joba Chamberlain's move to the starting rotation. (New York Daily News) It makes sense, says the New York Post's Kevin Kernan, because "Chamberlain was not put on this earth to be an eighth-inning setup man." And since the Yankees are "thinking about 2009 and beyond more than [they are] about 2008," according to the Daily News' John Harper, it's time to transition Joba into the rotation. Even so, Peter Abraham can't fathom what the excitement is about since Chamberlain is "a really good pitcher . . . [and you] know what you do with the really good pitchers? You start them." (LoHud Yankees Blog)
UH OH: While they're still saying his right-calf injury is minor, the Yankees have pushed Chien-Ming's Wang's next start back by a day. (New York Post)
AS EXPECTED . . . : LaTroy Hawkins was suspened for throwing at Luke Scott's head the other night. (New York Daily News). And, as expected, he appealed the penalty.
WE'RE NOT ALONE: Annoyed by the at-times-subterranean level of intelligence displayed by sports talk-show callers? Apparently they're no smarter in Canada, as our pal The Tao of Stieb tells us. Because, yeah, Ernie Whitt's time as first-base coach makes him the obvious choice to replace J.P. Ricciardi as Blue Jays general manager.
(Watch out, Theo. You're in Luis Alicea's cross hairs!)
'BLAND LIMBO LAND OF NOTHINGNESS': I hate it when my friends don't get along, so I wonder how Tao will take ShysterBall's none-too-flattering take on the Jays.
CENTRAL DEBATE: Today it's the Royals' turn in the "Someone Has To Win The Central" series on the blog WaitTillNextYear. In a totally unrelated post (I think) on Baseball Prospectus, Joe Sheehan makes a case for the White Sox.
AND WHY NOT? The White Sox completed a sweep of the Indians last night and now have won six in a row. (Chicago Tribune)
THE CLUB IS GROWING: The Indians, on the other hand, are floundering and Pinto wonders if Eric Wedge will soon be joining Randolph and Ned Yost in the Managerial Hot Seat Derby.
SPEAKING OF SWEEPS . . . Those surprising Marlins completed one of the Diamondbacks. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
YOU KNEW IT WAS COMING: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports baseball's first dip of the toe into the instant-replay waters will come this year in the Arizona Fall League, and it could be instituted in the majors as early as next season. ShysterBall isn't sure it's such a good idea. Not Joe Girardi, though; he loves it. (New York Post)
NO, NO, IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND! The blog Big League Stew says that good health will be a key to a potential Chipper Jones run at .400 this year. But Pinto has a study that demonstrates the chances of hitting .400 go up if you play less.
I LOVE THE THINK FACTORY: One of my stops every day is The Baseball Think Factory's Baseball Primer Newslog, and one of the reasons is Repoz, a poster who first caught my eye with a Rich McKinney reference several years back. At least once a week he makes me laugh out loud; he did it today when he mentioned Fred Harris and Brendan Boyd. Because a friend and I can still recite some of their lines verbatim. ("Hey, Mac, you wanna buy a hot Buick?")
VOTING PREFERENCES: It appears the Omar Vizquel-to-the-Hall of Fame debate has been decided in Omar's favor. The question now, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman, is whether or not he'll make it on the first ballot.
MY DAY'S COMING: Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Bert Blyleven's candidacy has been a hot topic for some time now. But in an interesting -- and sometimes hilarious -- interview with Big League Stew, he says he thinks he'll make it.
MINE'S NOT, IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT: Marvin Miller, on the other hand, wants no part of being in the Hall of Fame because of "the voting mechanism and what he feels are conflicts of interest that stack the deck against any labor executive who spent a career battling management." (New York Times)
STAR POWER: Bud Selig is expected to announce today that the Angels have been awarded the 2010 All-Star Game. (Los Angeles Times)
HERE AND THERE: Surprise, surprise: Moises Alou is headed to the DL (New York Post) . . . The Dodgers may soon summon phenom Clayton Kershaw to Los Angeles (mlb.com) . . . The Nationals will be without Austin Kearns for about a month (Washington Post) . . . Josh Hamilton's amazing season continued as he led the Rangers past the Twins, and Texas is trying to sign him to a long-term contract (Both stories Dallas Morning News) . . . The Angels shot down rumors that Chone Figgins is headed to the White Sox. (Los Angeles Times)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez denied reports that he's considering retirement (New York Post) . . . Eric Gagne has rotator-cuff tendinitis and will be sidelined indefinitely. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
AND FINALLY . . . Many thanks to Craig Calcaterra of ShysterBall for his kind words concerning this very blog. Believe me, we're aware of the changing landscape and are trying to adapt to it.
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:00 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Thursday, May 22
LOOKING GOOD: Granted, these are the flea-swinging Royals, so you probably should take it all with a grain of salt. But Bartolo Colon won his Red Sox debut last night (details provided by Joe McDonald), and there's more to it than that. Steven Krasner says Colon was better than his pitching line of 5 innings, 6 hits and 2 runs; he goes Inside The Game to break down Colon's performance and notes that every one of Kansas City's six hits was either a blooper, a bunt or a seeing-eye grounder. It's part of a pitching upswing that's explained by McDonald, Krasner and Paul Kenyon in their notebook, which also includes items on J.D. Drew, Manny Ramirez, Brad Mills as third-base coach, a suddenly rejuvenated bullpen, and more.
Before ordering the champagne and balloons, however, listen to Kraz:
"The Royals entered last night’s game 14th — dead last — in runs scored this year. They were 12th in slugging percentage and 12th in on-base percentage, and Kansas City had been shut out 12 times, the league’s second-highest total of whitewashes. The Royals also were 14th in home runs, 13th in total bases, 14th in RBI, 13th in walks and 7th in strikeouts . . . Just consider this information a dose of perspective."
Considered, Steve.
MAYBE SO, BUT . . . The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo talks to baseball people who think Colon will help the Red Sox this year.
ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL: Kenyon catches up with Brandon Moss, who's recovered from his emergency appendectomy and is headed to Pawtucket to begin playing again.
ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION, BOB? I have this friend who probably wouldn't qualify as the world's biggest Jason Varitek fan. So I strongly urge him to click this link, where Baseball Musings' David Pinto talks of 'Tek's offensive "renaissance".
NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES: Chad Finn declares that David Ortiz' slump is over and that he's not worried about Josh Beckett among Celtics tidbits in his latest Touching All The Bases entry.
OH, THAT'S WHAT THAT IS! The Boston Herald's Michael Silverman reports that the blue thing in Ramirez' mouth these days is a high-tech mouthpiece called a Pure Power Mouthguard.
THEY'RE THE TOPS: The Red Sox are now 19-9 when Jacoby Ellsbury leads off and Dustin Pedroia bats second. (Boston Herald)
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: In light of Jon Lester's no-hitter, Justin Masterson's two strong starts and Jacoby Ellsbury's overall play, Sportingnews.com's Sean Devaney says Twins GM Bill Smith "badly misplayed his hand by not jumping at" one of the two trade offers the Red Sox made for Johan Santana.
MORE NO-HIT MEMORIES: The Globe's Gordon Edes tracks down Mel Parnell, the last Sox left-hander to throw a no-hitter prior to Lester, and he talks about his own gem on a 1956 afternoon that started in rain and ended in sunshine . . . literally and figuratively. And in the Unbelievable Coincidence department, Parnell was diagnosed in 2002 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the same blood cancer Lester had. Thankfully, Parnell's -- like Lester's -- is in remission.
HISTORY LESSON: Baseball Analysts' Patrick Sullivan reminisces about the night Grady Little destroyed Byung-Hyun Kim's career.
HANGING UP THE PEN: At the bottom of an examination as to whether or not Mike Piazza was the greatest everyday player in Mets history, Joe Posnanski has a tidbit about Carl Yastrzemski, newspaper columnist. And that's all I'm giving you; if you want more, click the link.
SAVING GRACE: Writing for Sportingnews.com, Pinto explains why the Royals' signing of closer Joakim Soria to a long-term deal was a good move.
FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET, MORE POWERFUL THAN A LOCOMOTIVE . . . and able to leap the A.L. East standings in a single bound. Sports Illustrated (above) has taken notice of the Tampa Bay Rays. And who wouldn't notice Carl Crawford tossing Derek Jeter like a rag doll, I ask?
MISSTEP: After winning the first two games of their series in Oakland, the second-place Rays -- still sounds a little funny, doesn't it? -- dropped the finale of their road trip to the A's, 9-1 (Tampa Tribune), a loss the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin called easy to explain but not to excuse.
IT'S OFFICIAL: The Yankees are beginning the process of transitioning Joba Chamberlain from the bullpen to the starting rotation. Brian Cashman said Chamberlain "looked me right in the eye and said 'I want the opportunity to start,' '' so last night he pitched two innings in the Yanks' 8-0 win over Baltimore. (New York Post) But while Cashman made it sound as if Chamberlain got things moving, Joe Girardi says the move comes not as a reaction to anything that's happened recently; this, he asserts, was the plan all along. (New York Daily News) The news took the spotlight away from Darrell Rasner, who continued making his bid for this year's Aaron Small Award by improving to 3-0 since his arrival from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. (New York Daily News)
SO LET THE DEBATE BEGIN: Peter Abraham, who's been pushing for Chamberlain to start, says it's all good because "the Yankees will have a top-notch young starter and those are the most valuable commodities in baseball." (LoHud Yankees Blog) The New York Post's Joel Sherman presents the opposing viewpoint, the "whadda we gonna do in the eighth inning??" wail. (The blog It's About The Money, Stupid feels strongly both ways.) In any event, the Daily News' Bill Madden says it's a symbol of changing times in the Bronx. And that change should stay in the Bronx, says Pinto; writing back on Baseball Musings, he doesn't buy the notion that Chamberlain needs to go to the minors to be stretched out.
RED FLAG: The Yankees' one reliable starting pitcher (if you don't count Rasner) is Chien-Ming Wang, and he has a strained right calf. (New York Post) As of now, the Yanks are still calling it minor.
THE HOT LIST: Coming on the heels of Tuesday's 12-2 pounding at the hands of the O's, the Daily News recounts the worst Yankee regular-season losses of the last five years. One Red Sox game is among them.
KEEPING THE FAITH: Hank Steinbrenner says he's "very down" about the Yankees' slow start but is confident things will get better. (mlb.com)
MUST-SEE TV: Earl Weaver's long-ago tirade against Terry Crowley -- "He's lucky he's in (bleeping) baseball" -- was recorded on tape by someone and has been kicking around the Internet for years. Last night, somehow, someway, it actually got on the air during the YES broadcast of the Yankees-Orioles game. The blog NYY Stadium Insider has the video clip. [Warning: They didn't bleep it out, so keep your speakers down if there's someone you don't want to hear it.]
THAT'S THREE IN FOUR DAYS . . . AND COUNTING: The umpires did it again last night -- and did it again at Yankee Stadium -- as they blew yet another home-run call, this time on Alex Rodriguez. (New York Times) After this, their nationally televised blunder on Carlos Delgado Sunday night and their less-publicized miss of the Cubs' Geovany Soto's home run Monday night in Houston, expect the instant-replay train to start chugging down the track.
FROM EXPLANATION TO APOLOGY: Willie Randolph took that step yesterday as he said he was sorry "for his remarks on race and his feud with the Mets' TV network." (New York Post)
FROM THE PENTHOUSE TO THE OUTHOUSE: After sweeping the Yankees in the Bronx last weekend, the Mets proceeded to Atlanta, where they fell to .500 after their third straight loss, 11-4, last night. (New York Daily News)
LOCAL BOYS The blog MLB Trade Rumors says Chris Iannetta's surge in Colorado may make Yorvit Torrealba expendable.
IF YOU PLAY A BALLGAME IN MIAMI AND NO ONE SEES IT, DOES IT COUNT IN THE STANDINGS? The Marlins handed Brandon Webb his first loss of the season last night with a well-played, fun-to-watch 3-1 victory over the Diamondbacks. (Miami Herald) Pinto, however, notes with sadness that the Marlins aren't exactly a hot ticket in south Florida and urges the fans to better support the franchise. (Baseball Musings)
THE MODEL TO EMULATE: Miami fans can take a lesson from those in Houston, where the Chronicle's Jose de Jesus Ortiz says Astros fans rock. And he explains why.
MAKE YOUR CASE The Cleveland blog WaitingForNextYear . . . when maybe someone other than Boston will kill our title dreams -- it's an all-sports blog, so the Celtics' dispatch of the Cavaliers ranks up there with the Red Sox' ousting of the Indians -- has asked fellow A.L. Central bloggers to explain why their team will win the division. First up: Detroit, on the Mack Avenue Tigers blog.
'MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN': Jim Leyland works in Detroit (and his boss owns the Red Wings). But he comes from Pittsburgh. So he's conflicted about this year's Wings-Penguins Stanley Cup final. (mlb.com)
WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: This is a recording. Major League Baseball is instituting measures to speed up games. (New York Times) This is a recording.
YOU WANT FASTER GAMES? Put Sidney Ponson in the mound. (Dallas Morning News)
OLD? OR WASHED UP? That's what the Chicago Sun-Times' Greg Couch is trying to determine about Jim Thome.
HERE AND THERE: Albert Pujols was shaken after hitting a line drive that broke Chris Young's nose and later causing injury to Josh Bard on a collision (more on that below) in the Cardinals' game against the Padres last night (mlb.com) . . . Braves manager Bobby Cox thinks John Smoltz, Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez will all return within the next two weeks (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Both Carlos Zambrano and Lou Piniella say the Cubs' ace is just fine (Chicago Tribune) . . . Ryan Church, who suffered his second concussion in two months on Tuesday night, hopes to be playing again for the Mets by week's end (New York Times) . . . Dontrelle Willis is back with the Tigers but he's headed to the bullpen. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez has left the Mets to be with his ailing father in the Dominican Republic (New York Daily News) . . . Josh Bard sprained his left ankle in the Padres' game against the Cardinals (signonsandiego.com) . . . David Eckstein's hip is still sore, meaning his activation by the Blue Jays has been delayed (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . The Brewers don't know when the sore-shouldered Eric Gagne will pitch again. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:36 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 21
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
WEALTH OF RICHES: Justin Masterson (above) knew the pressure was on when, in the aftermath of Jon Lester's no-hitter Monday night, a TV announcer remarked, "Justin, have fun following this one up." But the emergency starter -- while not exactly matching Lester's performance of the night before -- pitched just as well as he had in his first one-and-done appearance last month (ProJo Sox Blog) . . . and this time he was rewarded for it, as the Red Sox defeated the Royals, 2-1, for their fifth straight win. Joe McDonald has the details of the victory, which Jonathan Papelbon nailed down by striking out three of the four batters he faced; the biggest one, of course, was the fanning of Billy Butler with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth as he cleaned up yet another mess created by Hideki Okajima. Terry Francona insisted Okajima (double and two walks in two-thirds of an inning) "did OK" (Boston Herald) and the Sox are willing to blame rustiness -- he hadn't pitched in almost a week because of a sore wrist -- for his troubles. Maybe so, but the Sox are still worried about their less-than-airtight relief corps, which last night included an inherited runner allowed to score by the similarly wobbly Manny Delcarmen. So worried, in fact, that Sean McAdam reports the Sox may turn Masterson into a reliever later this year in the hopes he can fortify the bullpen in the same way Papelbon did in 2005.
THE MORNING AFTER: But the buzz at the ballpark still centered around Lester, who, as McDonald, McAdam and Steven Krasner report in their notebook, was just beginning to come back down to Earth yesterday. The Seattle Times' Larry Stone has a touching piece on how Lester's father John, back home in Puyallup, Wash., kept track of his son's no-hitter despite his superstition of not following the games when he's not at the stadium. (Hint: It revolved around listening for his wife's screams of delight.) Outside our little world, Rhode Island's Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer gets reaction from another cancer survivor, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, on Lester's feat. (Hint: He's thrilled.) Not surprisingly, Curt Schilling weighed in on Lester's no-hitter on 38pitches.com and had plenty of nice things to say. He also once again rues the decision he made to shake off Jason Varitek with two outs in the ninth inning last June 7 in Oakland. If he hadn't, Varitek might have caught five no-hitters in his career.
NOT-SO-EVIL EMPIRE: Among the people praising Lester yesterday was none other than Hank Steinbrenner. (Boston Globe)
PREMONITION: Joe Posnanski said he had the sense right from the first pitch that something unforgettable was going to happen at Fenway Monday night . . . and was he right. And, as you'll discover if you click the link, did he appreciate it. (joeposnanski.com)
THE REAL SURVIVORS: The Red Sox have four current and former players -- Jon Lester, Mike Lowell, Mark Loretta and Derek Lowe -- on Yahoo! Sports' All-Cancer Survivor Team.
SHORT-TERM FIX? Tonight, Bartolo Colon makes his Sox debut as Masterson heads back out (though this time to Pawtucket and not Portland). In his weekly ESPN radio broadcast, transcribed by Joe Haggerty on his Hacks With Haggs blog, Peter Gammons says the Sox may only get five or six good starts out of Colon before he begins to break down but that may be all they're looking for.
SURPRISE! In their notebook, McDonald, McAdam and Krasner also note the decision of Julian Tavarez to reject free agency and accept an assignment to Pawtucket. The state of pitching being what it is around baseball, it was thought Tavarez could have snapped up a job in an instant on the open market; instead, he decided to stay put. The Rockies were thought to be a potential landing spot for Tavarez, but the Denver Post reports that -- while they still might have taken a chance if he'd reached free agency -- their interest cooled when they signed Glendon Rusch.
STALLED: In his Inside The Game feature, Krasner wonders if the pressure of being two home runs shy of 500 is affecting Manny Ramirez at the plate.
NOTHING'S CHANGED: Coco Crisp sill wants to play every day and is waiting for the Sox to make good on their promise to trade him. (Boston Herald)
GETTING BETTER: Journal food critic Gail Ciampa says this year's batch of Red Sox wines -- Captain’s Cabernet (named for Jason Varitek), Vintage Papi (who do you think?), and Sauvignyoouuk Blanc (Kevin Youkilis) -- are "an improvement over last year’s inaugural selections."
LEADING THE WAY: In the latest installment of Ask 14, Jim Rice talks about clubhouse leadership in general and clubhouse leadership on the 1970s Red Sox in particular.
ROCK BOTTOM: That's where Joe Girardi hopes the Yankees are -- with nowhere to go but up -- after last night's 12-2 pounding by the Orioles, a loss that rendered even Hank Steinbrenner speechless. (New York Daily News) The game marked the return of Alex Rodriguez but, as the Daily News' Filip Bondy points out, "there are only so many leaks that Rodriguez can repair." The New York Post's Larry Brooks concurs, pointing to problems such as a Johnny Damon blunder in left field and Robinson Cano's lackadaisical play at second base (which led directly to the Derek Jeter throwing error that opened the door for the Orioles' first-inning explosion), and concludes: "Rodriguez would have to be a miracle worker in order to turn around this structurally flawed team."
STARTING WITH . . . Perhaps the biggest leak is on that big bump in the middle of the diamond, especially with the first guys the Yankees put out there every night. Last night the first guy was Mike Mussina, but he didn't get out of the first inning, departing after getting only two outs and putting the Yanks in a 7-0 hole. (New York Daily News)
'AT LEAST THE YANKEES LEAD THE LEAGUE IN SOMETHING': That something, points out Peter Abraham on the LoHud Yankees Blog, is suspensions, especially since another one may be in the offing after LaTroy Hawkins threw twice at the Orioles' Luke Scott -- the last time at his head -- in apparent retaliation for Derek Jeter being hit on the wrist a few innings earlier by Daniel Cabrera. (Both stories New York Post) The Orioles had no use for Hawkins throwing high at Scott (Baltimore Sun), especially since, as Abraham points out, Jeter a) dives over the plate on every pitch, b) has been hit 132 times in his career and c) if "the Yankees retaliate every time Jeter gets hit, they’re going to run out of pitchers." Hawkins will soon join Melky Cabrera, Shelley Duncan and Kyle Farnsworth as Yankee players who have been suspended this season . . . and Farnsworth also was nailed for throwing at an opposing batter's head.
What's that you were saying there, Goose Gossage, about Yankee class and dignity?
SPIRITUAL HEALING: Scott, who can regularly be seen reading the Bible in the Orioles clubhouse, said of Hawkins: "The Lord says to forgive those who wrong you. And I forgive him." (Washington Post)
THOSE WHO FORGET THE PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT: With a ton of money coming off the books at the end of the year -- among the bloated contracts that expire are Mussina's, Jason Giambi's and Bobby Abreau's -- the Yankees are expected to make a big splash in the free-agent market this winter as they prepare to head into the new Yankee Stadium. But the blog River Ave. Blues points out that handing, say, Mark Teixeira the seven-year (or longer) contract he'll undoubtedly be seeking means you'll soon be facing the same problem with him that you have with the Giambis now; to wit, paying a ton of money for a player whose skills are deteriorating.
DEAD OR ALIVE? The Yankees are one of five struggling teams examined by ESPN.com's Rob Neyer and Jonah Keri in an attempt to determine if their seasons are beyond salvage.
PILING ON: Now it's SNY.tv's Michael Salfino making a Rays-Yankees comparison that, ah, doesn't favor New York.
TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK . . . Bob Klapisch says that while all the attention in New York is focused on Willie Randolph, the clock is also ticking on Girardi. (northjersey.com)
THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT: Randolph hinted there are racial overtones in the criticism he's receiving from Mets fans when he talked to the Bergen Record's Ian O'Connor. But yesterday, as controversy over the remarks began to rise, he backtracked from the race angle. (New York Times)
KEEP ON COMING: Of course, the criticism won't get any softer in light of the Mets' losing a doubleheader to the Braves. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH: That's what Mindy McCready says she told about her relationship with Roger Clemens in an upcoming documentary. (New York Daily News)
OKAY, OKAY, I GET THE HINT: Mike Piazza, who spent seven months on the free-agent market without a nibble, announced his retirement yesterday. (mlb.com) Baseball Musings' David Pinto has a nice retrospective of Piazza's career, which should land him in Cooperstown in 2013.
THEY SAY THE BEST MOVES . . . are sometimes the ones you don't make. The blog SportsHubLA thinks the Angels' non-trade for Miguel Cabrera fits into that category.
COMING OUT SWINGING: Jim Leyland told Bob Nightengale of USA Today this has been the most exasperating of his 17 seasons as a big-league manager, and that exasperation apparently grew when ex-Tiger Jason Grilli said some of the team's offseason moves -- such as the jettisoning of Sean Casey -- "broke up our team chemistry". Leyland fired back at Grilli's seemingly innocuous remarks, basically telling him to mind his own business and worry about himself. (Detroit Free Press) "You’ve got to be (kidding) me," said Leyland. "We lost Sean Casey. I mean, please. Come on . . . I miss Sean Casey. But Sean Casey has nothing to do with the fact that the Tigers are where we’re at.”
WHAT?? When asked for comment at his present baseball address -- Colorado -- Grilli seemed as surprised as the rest of us at Leyland's reaction. (mlb.com)
THE (ABUSE OF) POWER OF THE INTERNET: You may have heard there was a blog report Monday that the Brewers were about to fire Ned Yost. I didn't link to it because there were about 84 smell tests it didn't pass -- at its worst, you could assume it was just a guy throwing something out there with no attribution whatsoever -- but some media outlets either reported it or attempted to follow up on it. Well, it wasn't true (duh!), and a furious Yost has some harsh words for the organizations that did repeat the rumor. (mlb.com)
DAMN STRAIGHT: Braves announcer Skip Carey chimes in on bloggers during a game broadcast. (www.cantstopthebleeding.com)
WARNING! WARNING! The Cubs are naturally concerned that Carlos Zambrano has stiffness in his right shoulder/right neck area. (Chicago Sun-Times)
DOUBLE WARNING! DOUBLE WARNING! Lost amid the euphoria of Edinson Volquez' fast start is the fact that he's been running up some high pitch counts (Middletown Journal)
WELCOME HOME: Rick Sutcliffe, who was diagnosed with colon cancer this spring, returns to the ESPN broadcast booth tonight. (AP via Chicago Tribune)
BACK ON THE AIR: Harold Reynolds, fired by ESPN in 2006 "based on accusations about his behavior that were never publicly detailed," talks to the New York Times about his dismissal, why he fought against it so vigorously, his current stint at SNY in New York, and his potential future in broadcasting.
INSTANT REPLAY: One night after they blew a home-run call on national television on a ball hit by Carlos Delgado at Yankee Stadium, major-league umpires did it again on a smaller stage Monday night, making an incorrect call on a home run by the Cubs' Geovany Soto in Houston. The New York Times reports MLB is working on a limited instant-replay proposal that may gain the approval of long-time replay opponent Bud Selig.
IF YOU CAN'T GET IT RIGHT, I'M NOT GOING TO TALK TO YOU: John Smoltz says he's finished giving medical updates about his injured shoulder because the media misinterpreted comments he made over the weekend. (mlb.com)
HERE AND THERE: Chone Figgins-to-the-White Sox rumors are surfacing (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Twins have lost Matt Tolbert for five to six weeks because of a torn ligament in his thumb (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . The Marlins' Josh Willingham has a herniated disc in his back and could be out for a month or more (Miami Herald) . . . The Brewers have lifted Carlos Villanueva, last seen getting cuffed around by the Red Sox, from their starting rotation (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Padres have put the ailing Jake Peavy on the disabled list (mlb.com) . . . Andruw Jones has fluid and a torn cartilage in his knee. (Los Angeles Daily News)
OLD FRIENDS: Pedro Martinez will throw a bullpen session today (New York Daily News) . . . It's always something: Now Eric Gagne's shoulder hurts (mlb.com) . . . The Dodgers have placed Gary Bennett on the disabled list (Los Angeles Times) . . . Lenny DiNardo is back with the A's. (Costa Contra Times)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 6:43 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Tuesday, May 20
NO NO? The pitcher was Jon Lester, the opponent was the Kansas City Royals, the site was Fenway Park . . .
YES YES! . . . and the result was the fourth Red Sox no-hitter in the last eight seasons, and the second in 8 1/2 months. (ProJo Sox Blog) It's funny; I came in from walking the dog as the Royals were batting in the sixth inning and I knew right away -- just by the tone of Don Orsillo's voice and the phraseology he was using -- that Lester had a no-hitter. (I'd left the house in the second, and knew from cell-phone updates that the Sox were ahead 5-0.) We all have our superstitions during no-hitters -- the Boston Globe found out what some of the fans' were -- and so, while my wife rocked anxiously and kept saying things like, "This is so nerve-wracking!", I was careful, like Orsillo, not to comment on what we were watching. Even when I was conducting business, such as when I talked on the phone to Sean McAdam in the press box in the bottom of the seventh, I didn't say what I thought was going to happen.
Because what I thought was: This is in the bag.
I really did. Sean has an excellent piece on the future of the Red Sox' young pitchers -- it's pretty rare when two members of your starting rotation, and the two youngest members to boot, both have no-hitters -- in which he talked extensively with Theo Epstein, and I was intuitively impressed, even just by watching from the sixth inning on, with what Epstein articulated: "Stuff-wise, [Lester] was very special. I was more excited about the stuff than the result. For the first time since 2005, he had that good velocity, up in the zone."
Lester looked better last night than I've ever seen him. Steven Krasner has an excellent breakdown of Lester's repertoire in his Inside The Game feature, and the Royals talked about it as well in the notebook, written by McAdam, Krasner and Paul Kenyon. Making it all the more remarkable is that, as the Boston Herald's Rob Bradford notes, Lester had a terrible bullpen session prior to the game.
Obviously, no no-hitter is guaranteed -- it was just as likely that he'd make a bad pitch, or someone would bloop something somewhere, or even that someone would just put a good at-bat on him and hit a pitcher's pitch into the gap -- but I was pretty confident he'd finish it off. And he did. Kenyon provides the game details.
THE REST OF THE STORY: Lester's medical history obviously makes this more than your run-of-the-mill no-hitter (if there is such a thing). Fellow cancer survivor Mike Lowell provides some insight in Gordon Edes' game recap. (Boston Globe) Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports quotes one of Lester's teammates when he comments on the pitcher's recovery to the point where he can throw such a dominating game: "Un-(bleeping)-believable. Unbelievable." But on Red Sox Monster, Dan Lamothe says we "short-change Lester and make this wonderful moment all about cancer . . . He deserves to be able to bask in the spotlight as what he now is: A growing talent who is quickly carving a longterm career for himself as a Major League starter."
THE SUPPORTING CAST: The lone defensive gem of the night was provided by Jacoby Ellsbury. (Boston Herald) And McAdam notes that Jason Varitek has now caught four of these things, a major-league record, and all of them for the Red Sox.
OUR TIME: The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy wonders"what New England sports fans did to deserve this glut of riches."
I REMEMBER MEL: If you're of a certain age, you remember Mel Parnell as the ace left-hander of the '40s and '50s Red Sox. If you're of another age, like me, you remember him as the likeable (if quiet) color commentator on the '60s radio and TV broadcasts. (You may have heard his inelegant call of the final out of 1967's season-ending win over the Twins: "Little soft pop up, Petrocelli will take it, HE DOES! The ballgame's over!" It paled in comparison to Ned Martin's "And there's pandemonium on the field!" declaration on radio.) If your memory doesn't stretch back any father than the '70s, you probably don't remember him at all. But, as Baseball Musings' David Pinto notes, Parnell was the last Red Sox left-hander to pitch a no-hitter prior to Lester . . . and that was back in 1956.
PUT IT ASIDE FOR A NIGHT: On the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham -- who notes that we've all been touched by cancer, either personally or through a friend or family member -- says everyone, "even if [the cap you're wearing] has an interlocking N and Y on it," should cheer Lester. "Sometimes it’s OK to root for the other team," he concludes. Most of the commenters agreed, though some -- while not wishing Lester ill -- said they couldn't root for a Red Sox pitcher to throw a no-hitter no matter what the circumstances. But poster "seriously" has perhaps the best take of all: "Robinson Cano had 18 [no-hit] games this season, Lester only one. Don’t worry,we’re still the winner."
VIDEO ENTRIES: Already, amateur videos of the final out are popping up on YouTube. This videographer had wonderful seats just to the right of home plate:
While this one was in Conigliaro's Corner on the right-field roof:
And this one -- who had terrific fan reaction immediately after the last out -- was in the upper boxes on the third-base side:
Quite a night.
THE FLIP SIDE OF THE COIN: Rany Jazayerli, the remaining half of Rob and Rany On The Royals (it's now, of course, Rany On The Royals), wasn't quite as thrilled as we were up here, though he says if the Royals had to be no-hit by anybody, he's glad it was by cancer survivor Jon Lester. Blogger Mark Laflamme, a Royals fan who lives in New England, describes it as hurting as much as "a bicycle crossbar to the crotch." Ouch. In the mainstream media, Joe Posnanski -- saying "[there] are not many places in the world that are quieter than the losing clubhouse after a no-hitter" -- gets the post-mortems from the no-hitees. (Kansas City Star)
TEMPORARY SETBACK: Despite behind no-hit by Lester last night, Hall of Famer George Brett thinks the Royals can contend in the A.L. Central this season. (Kansas City Star)
THE LAST WORD: ShysterBall says: "It figures. The first night in what seems like forever where the national game isn't the frickin' Red Sox, and a no-hitter happens." You know, I thought that myself.
DOWN ON THE FARM: Newly promoted Daniel Bard had an auspicious debut for Portland. (rotoworld.com) Bard is one of the players examined by Baseball Analysts in a Prospects-Or-Suspects? analysis, and says he's still a prospect.
NEARING THE END? Pedro Martinez' contract with the Mets is up at the conclusion of this season and he says he may retire to go home and take care of his 78-year-old father, who is suffering from brain cancer. (New York Daily News)
WELCOME BACK, NOW GET GOING: Alex Rodriguez returns to the Yankee lineup tonight and -- with an offense performing at 1990 levels (New York Daily News) -- both the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro and the Daily News' Mike Lupica say he needs to jump-start the Yankee attack.
'HE'S PLAYING THE HAND HE'S BEEN DEALT': Hank Steinbrenner had praise for the card-player (Joe Girardi) but not for the dealer (Brian Cashman) as he discussed the Yankees' slow start. (New York Times) Still, the Daily News' Bob Raissman says Cashman needn't worry; he believes Hank -- or "Hankenstein," as he calls him -- is more hot air than fire, unlike his father.
CASH MAN: The blog River Avenue Blues defends Cashman.
WILL THE INDIGNITIES NEVER END? First it was Gary Shelton in the St. Petersburg Times saying the Rays are better than the Yankees. Now it's Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun saying we may be heading back to the days when the Orioles were one of the most stable organizations in baseball and the Yankees one of the most volatile. (He's talkin' about you, Hankenstein.)
THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO JINX A YANKEE: That construction worker/Red Sox fan who buried a David Ortiz jersey at the new Yankee Stadium -- which the Yanks dug up at enormous cost, to break a potential Big Papi hex -- is now telling friends he also buried a program from the 2004 ALCS there. (New York Times)
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Old pal Rob Neyer tries to get to the bottom of one of the Thurman Munson legends -- the one where he becomes infuriated by an item in that day's press notes that he had two fewer assists than arch-enemy Carlton Fisk, so he deliberately dropped three third strikes in order to throw the batters out at first and pass Fisk in the assists category -- and concludes there's nothing to it. (ESPN.com, printing an excerpt of Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends)
WE NEED FURTHER REVIEW: After the nationally televised fiasco of Carlos Delgado's home-run-that-wasn't on Sunday night (New York Daily News), Abraham says it's time for a limited form of instant relay in baseball. (LoHud Yankees Blog) The Washington Times' Dan Daly agrees, but has almost no hope MLB will pull its head out of the sand long enough to do what needs to be done.
FEELING THE PAIN: Willie Randolph admits he's hurt by the never-ending stream of criticism he's hearing from Mets fans. (Bergen Record)
BACK UP THE TRUCK: Padres general manager Kevin Towers is promising "wholesale" changes to his bumbling team because "I’m certainly not going to watch this for another four months." (yahoo.com)
HERE'S HOW TO MAKE A GOOD THING BETTER: Yahoo.com's Jeff Passan starts off by saying he likes interleague play, then makes five suggestions to improve it.
WHY BOTHER? IT'S GOOD ENOUGH AS IT IS: SI.com's John Donovan takes up the MLB mantra that increased attendance proves that fans love interleague games and so it's here to stay.
VALENTINE'S DAY: Bobby Valentine is a hero in Japan, leading SI.com's Jon Heyman to wonder why no team in the United States is willing to give him another shot at a managing job . . . and if Valentine would accept if they did.
THE FALLOUT: Ryan Braun says he didn't think the Brewers went into Boston expecting to win last weekend -- and they didn't -- and general manager Doug Melvin believes it's a matter of confidence. Milwaukee had it last year, he thinks, and now the players have to get it back. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
CHANGE IN PLANS: The Toronto Star's Richard Griffin says things haven't exactly gone as planned during J.P. Ricciardi's term as Blue Jays general manager. The Jays, he says, have not become the player-development machine -- to coin a Theo Epstein phrase -- Ricciardi promised when he took over seven years ago.
FATHER TIME: The Hardball Times salutes the career of Julio Franco . . . and puts his never-ending career in historical context.
MUST READING: SpliceToday's interview with Craig Calcaterra, author of the always entertaining ShysterBall blog.
HERE AND THERE: Dan Uggla says he's not upset that the Marlins signed Hanley Ramirez, and not him, to a multiyear contract (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) . . . Mark Mulder has suffered another setback in his rehab and will be sidelined for 10 to 14 days (mlb.com) . . . Shane Victorino says he's "disappointed" at being benched by the Phillies. (phillyburbs.com)
OLD FRIENDS: The Cubs have placed Chad Fox on the disabled list (yahoo.com) . . . Nomar Garciaparra's comeback has stalled and the Dodgers are sending him for more tests. (Los Angeles Times)
AND FINALLY . . . Many, many thanks to our good friend Allan Wood for the callout on his terrific Joy of Sox blog. We appreciate it!
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone at 9:18 AM | Permalink
Baseball Today: Monday, May 19
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
STANDING TALL ONCE AGAIN: When last we spoke, the Red Sox had lost four in a row and fallen behind Tampa Bay into second place in the A.L. East. But then along came the Brewers . . . or, perhaps more to the point, along came interleague play. Sean McAdam tells us that's been a boon to Boston in recent years and this weekend was no different, as the poor Brew Crew soon discovered. The Sox beat them Saturday afternoon, they pretty much beat themselves Saturday night, and the Sox overpowered them yesterday. (All stories projo.com.) So now it's Monday morning, the four-game losing streak has turned into a three-game winning streak, and the Red Sox once again lead the division. Hate interleague play (which, I'm ashamed to admit, was our stance last Friday)? Forget that. We're counting the days until June 13, when it resumes.
PAPI KNOWS BEST: Yesterday's double-and-two-homers afternoon would seem to indicate that David Ortiz (above) is finally, definitively, back on the beam (as they might have said in the 1940s). Steven Krasner goes Inside The Game to examine Ortiz' at-bats yesterday, and Joe Haggerty talks with Red Sox hitting instructor Dave Magadan, who tells how Ortiz has worked his way out of his early season slump. (hackswithhaggs.com)
WELL, THAT EXPLAINS IT: We all know the Red Sox have won two World Series in the last four seasons and we all know the roles Ortiz and Manny Ramirez have played in hanging those two flags. Makes sense, then, that SI.com's Jon Heyman would rank the signings of Ortiz and Ramirez as two of the five greatest free-agent acquisitions of all time -- Ortiz at No. 1 and Ramirez No. 5. And how I wish I could somehow travel back in time and show the piece to all the folks back in December 2000 who thought the free agent the Sox should should have signed back then was not Ramirez, but Mike Mussina.
THE WAITING GAME: The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes points out that Ramirez has stalled -- at least in terms of hitting home runs -- as he approaches No. 500.
STRAIGHTENING IT OUT: Friday's rainout threw a monkey wrench in the Red Sox' pitching plans, and McAdam, Krasner and Paul Kenyon report the fallout: Justin Masterson starts Tuesday and Bartolo Colon starts Wednesday.
THE BAD NEWS: The weekend wasn't all peaches and cream. Jacoby Ellsbury was caught stealing for the first time in his major-league career. (Boston Globe)
WELCOME ALWAYS: Kenyon chronicles the return of old friend Gabe Kapler.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: The Bleacher Bar inside Fenway Park, a year-round operation that you can enter on Ted Williams Way, opened Friday. Just don't drive your car there. (Both stories Boston Herald)
HERE THEY COME: MLB.com's Dick Kaegel takes a close-up look at the Royals, who'll be in town for the next four days.
UP IS DOWN, BLACK IS WHITE . . . and a journalist -- in this case, the St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton -- is actually writing that the Rays are better than the Yankees . . . a reasonable assertion, actually, if you look at the standings. (Projo Stats) Or is it? Bugs and Cranks says "it is way too soon for chest-thumping [and] gloating" and goes over Shelton's position-by-position comparison, agreeing with all the ones that favor the Yankees and disagreeing with several that favor the Rays. The Bronx Block puts it out there for its readers to discuss. But the Red Sox-oriented blog Wicked Clevah is, in its own words, terrified of Tampa.
PROOF POSITIVE: Shelton's argument -- while not necessarily advanced by the Rays' 5-4 loss in St. Louis (Tampa Tribune) -- was certainly bolstered in the Bronx, where the Mets completed a rain-shortened weekend sweep with an 11-2 pounding of the Yanks last night. (New York Daily News) And in the change-a-minute world of New York baseball, that means Willie Randolph is off the hot seat and Joe Girardi's on. (New York Daily News)
JOE COOL: That's Girardi, even though the Yanks are floundering. (New York Post) Still, he's blaming the Yanks' struggles on himself. (New York Daily News)
LATE TO THE PARTY: The Jason Giambi/thong story, which has gotten play far beyond its importance, is explained by Peter Abraham. (LoHud Yankees Blog) As is true of most hot items of this type, it's much ado about nothing.
'HEY': That Phil Hughes' greeting on his blog after three weeks of silence. He doesn't say much beyond that, either.
REFRESHING CANDOR: Umpire Bob Davidson admits -- in colorful terms -- he messed up in calling Carlos Delgado's shot off the left-field pole, which should have been a three-run homer, a foul ball. (New York Daily News)
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: Alex Rodriguez should return to the Yankee lineup tomorrow. (New York Daily News)
'FATALLY FLAWED': NBCsports.com's Mike Celizic takes a look at the Yankees and Mets and concludes there's much to dislike in both Queens or the Bronx.
RICH IN OTHER WAYS: They may seem weak on the field at the moment, but the New York Daily News' Juan Gonzalez examines just how strong the Yankees are financially.
FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE: The New York Post reports former Yankee pitcher Dock Ellis -- who kicked drugs and alcohol nearly 30 years ago and became a drug counselor -- has cirrhosis of the liver and is deteriorating rapidly.
MEET THE MUSINGS MAN: I link to an item or two in Baseball Musings