not so bad 2 days out

i agree with the globe editorial; it isn't as painful as '03 or even '06. we went deep into the playoffs with beckett, lowell, and ortiz all hurt. we went to game 7 of the alcs. we won an incredible game 5. i have no doubt we would've crushed the phillies, and it still stings a bit though.

listened to bits and pieces of game 7 on the radio driving back from the hudson valley, with reception spotty in parts. watched the end from professor thom's and the 8th was the best shot we had. when drew struck out, i knew it was over. i don't blame francona for game 7; garza was unhittable and lester was worn out from the season. this team showed fight, but the rays outplayed us.

joba the what?

from ny post:

Taunts about his team's lousy season prompted Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain to storm out of a Nebraska strip joint just before he was busted for alleged drunken driving, associates said yesterday.

The pitcher was spotted tossing back at least two Grey Goose vodka drinks at a friend's watering hole before hitting a topless club, where patrons said he had been enjoying the sights and tipping big - before stomping out early Saturday morning after a customer teased him about the Bombers' poor performance.

"Too bad you didn't play for the Red Sox," the customer said, according to another patron at the club. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting here in a strip club in Nebraska."

i feel slightly better now.

the press on last night

in case we didn't know how amazing last night was, check this out.

"a miraculous rally." - jack curry, ny times

"one of the greatest comebacks in postseason history." - tim kurkjian, espn

"the greatest postseason comeback in 79 years to stay alive" - bob ryan, boston globe

"one of the most incredible things these eyes have seen... the 2nd biggest comeback in postseason history." - dan shaughnessy, boston globe

"it still doesn't seem possible." - jim caple, espn.com

"baseball miracle... a magical comeback victory." jerry crasnick, espn.com

YouTube From Fenway

ah, citizen journalism...

Coco Crisp's epic at-bat (10 pitches? or 11?):



Drew's game-winning double (single?):



Another angle on game-winning hit:

wow

more soon. for now, check out dan shaughnessy raving about the comeback last night:

elimination game impressions

after getting very wrapped up in the first few games, i'm feeling oddly serene about the prospect of losing to the rays. i'm glad dice-k's on the mound and the sox have a good shot at fenway. but with papi and beckett not 100%, this may not be our year. we'll always have '04. and '07. and '09! planning to enjoy one last baseball game of the year tonight before it gets cold and dark.

huh?

wha?

pre-game 4 thoughts

* is ortiz a diminished player permanently or just until the wrist heals?
* lester should pitch game 6 instead of beckett. he's be on normal rest.
* which wakefield shows up tonight?
* i heart amalie benjamin.
* ellsbury needs to drop down a bunt one of these days.
* so does papi.
* is varitek's divorce affecting his hitting?
* the noise makers in tampa bay remind me of football fans. so obnoxious.
* we were down 3-1 to cleveland last year. we can come back 2-1 again the rays.
* are lester's innings catching up with him?
* poor derek lowe. can't catch a break in la.

wake up francona

i usually like francona, but he needs to "make adjustments" as the commentators are so fond of saying.

listening to part of game 3, then watched much of it, giving up after the top of the 10th. i really think francona lost this game for the sox. was on the cape for mom's wedding so got the game intermittently.

first of all, beckett had nothing. you've got to pull him after 4 and go to paul byrd. but francona, loyal to a fault, sticks with beckett, who coughs up a 6-5 lead. then, after papelbon pitches, he goes to timlin, who's had nothing all season. now this has a predictable result, with timlin walking the bases loaded and then giving up the fatal sac fly. where was byrd at this point?

or perhaps the rotation should've had lester following beckett directly, which wouldn't have given him such a long layoff before game 3, which the sox have just about lost as a type this.

the sox showed a lot of fight in game 3, but could've put away the rays at several points and didn't.

Elvin Bishop at MLB.com

visited MLB.com with my client, the bluesman Elvin Bishop a while back, and they just put up this awesome streaming video. He's fishing buddies with Dusty Baker!

Bob Ryan's predictions

i think he's pretty right on in this analysis. also, is it coffee that bob ryan is addicted to, or something stronger? he's become more and more of a caricature all time!



espn.com's keith law says rays in 7.

gammons on alcs

espn.com's great sage Peter Gammons writes, "Baseball folks tend to write this series off, but because of Boston's injuries and the unusual nature of the home-field advantage, Tampa Bay probably should be favored." honestly can't disagree.

More from Baseball Prospectus:

STAT OF THE DAY

World Series Odds

Team, Shot at All the Marbles

Red Sox, 32.8%
Rays, 27.9%
Dodgers, 20.2%
Phillies, 19.1%

Game 3

Photos from Game 3.

Game 3

Toby & I went Sunday night to Game 3. We were pretty tired and down by 12:35 am, to say the least. It was sad to watch Lowell barely able to walk around, and poor Beckett, not ready for prime time. 

Monday night made up for all the agony however--what a slide! Magic.  Maybe I'll wear a Red Sox hat at my wedding 10/12! 

of Pedroia and iPods

from espn.com, dustin pedroia flew back from CA and promptly declined to unpack:

"I left all my stuff in the car, because I didn't want to jinx anything," Pedroia said.

just renamed my ipod, previously BellhornPod, now dustin PODroia

bring on the rays

listened to last night's game and was counting down outs. was convinced that papelbon should've pitched the 8th and then masterson the 9th. the 8th, with the heart of that angels order, was obviously the more important inning. guzzling tea w/ a sore throat sitting on my bed so tense during that inning. when lowrie hit the single, i yelled out "yes", even though i have a sore throat and probably couldn't have made that noise 24 hours earlier. it brought me back to being a kid, listening to the radio under the covers, hoping for late-inning heroics in '88 and '90 against the a's, which back then, never came. of '86, '04, '07, and this year, this is the best angel team we've beaten, and if it'd gone back to california, we would've lost.

i truly believe that whoever wins the alcs will win the world series. those rays are a likeable bunch, with heart, fire, punch, and resolve. this is going to be a battle and i predict it goes a full 7 games.

i've been group emailing with a few sox fans, all mutual friends of a friend of mine. my friend just wrote, cc'ing all of us, "Me, I love the conversation going here between a bunch of Sox fans from disparate parts of my life who otherwise (mostly) have no idea who each other actually are... "

exactly.

From Baseball Prospectus:

STAT OF THE DAY

World Series Odds

Team, Shot at All the Marbles

Red Sox, 30.3%
Rays, 24.9%
Dodgers, 16.9%
Phillies, 15.5%
Cubs, 4.8%
Brewers, 3.2%
Angels, 2.5%
White Sox, 1.8%

listening to alds game 2

and wondering how they'll pitch to the angels heart of the order in the 8th. in game 1, they gave those hitters to masterson and then saved pap for some weaker hitters with a bigger lead in the 9th. i'm wondering if they'd go to pap in the 8th, then go to delcarmen for the 9th. the angels 2-5 hitters scare me a lot more than their 6-1 hitters do.

in other news, i just renamed my ipod "dustin PODroia."

wondering if this is going to be a rays vs. sox alcs. would be a fascinating and tough matchup. those rays are 100% for real. given that any american league team is favored in the world series, i think the rays have a solid shot at taking it all.

go sox. we need 6 more outs to take it back to fenway and beckett.

tito as shrink

tito finds a way to relax the players, focusing on the little things to win. this is why he is brilliant.

Francona, who is not big on team meetings, will sit down with the players for approximately 10 minutes today. But it's not for inspiration. Instead, he'll give a refresher course on signs, bunt defense, and things of that nature. "They know what we're doing," Francona said. "We've been together all year. We view every game as big around here. I think you start viewing games, making them bigger, and that doesn't really help."

attn: mets fans

i'm sorry. time to fire your GM.

i heard the last out in the car. truly a sad occasion that shea couldn't see one more postseason. believe or not, despite 1986, i will miss that place.

in other news, beckett is hurt? oblique strain? this is bad. how bad? we're cooked if he can't pitch.

Jed Hoyer on Curt Schilling, Winter '03-'04

"One thing you don't know... Curt took the very unusual step of representing himself. He was well prepared and detail oriented throughout the process. Whenever we would exchange offers, Curt would take it and then disappear to his office for an hour or so before responding. After we were done with the deal, I went into his office to find a quiet place to type up the final terms. On Curt's desk was 'Negotiating for Dummies' or 'My First Negotiation' or some such book. Theo and I just cracked up. Prior to leaving Curt's house for the press conference, Theo showed him what we had found. Curt thought it was pretty funny, though I think he was glad we found it after the fact."

playoff celebrations!

Did Papelbon steal a base and give it to a fan?

Is Pedroia beard longer than his hair?

What's Ortiz's tattoo about?

Wow, this looks fun.

wild card clinched tuesday!

it's still exciting to make the playoffs. i hope i'll never be like a yankees fan and take it for granted!

rays losing

is 1st place truly out of sight? the rays are down 7-2 and we've got lester going tonight.

Mets Seats

The Mets just put up actual Shea seats for sale. No, not tickets, but the seats themselves. They are a whopping $869 a pair. Blue and orange are already sold out. No word on whether that comes with a hot dog, a Coke, or a visit from Cow Bell Man.

let's go red sox

listened to yesterday's game and it was looking bad until the destroia came up. amazing last play. totally reminded me of the mother's day miracle game (which i was at w/ mom!).

also, here's a gem about giambi walking into a door.

random notes

doug mirabelli said that manny delcarmen had the best stuff on the sox staff, bar none. unclear why he's not more consisten.

also, the sox play 20 of their last 29 games at fenway.

spotted on the nh/vt border, july 5

no show

just heard on wrko that hank steinbrenner was at yankee stadium yesterday for the first time since opening day. lester has settled down a bit but mussina's in a groove. 0-0 after 3 1/2.

No Police Escort Though...

Mark Kotsay joins the Sox.

numbers are reassuring

based on runs scored versus runs allowed, the top 4 teams in the AL and their records should be:

Boston 76-55
Tampa Bay 73-57
Toronto 73-58
New York 70-61

wow.

also, way to shut down a-rod tonight. i caught glimpses of the game before and after a gig at sidewalk cafe. good stuff.

Drew to DL

Just heard it on WRKO.

Varitek re: Yankee Stadium

"Not being a Yankee, I don't really care," Varitek said. "You ask me that about Fenway, and it'd be different. I respect what all the greats that have played there [have done]. That's not what I'm saying. We're not a part of that. We have Jim Rice and Luis Tiant to come into our locker room and talk to us. We're not a part of what goes on there."

Shaughnessy Does His Best To Jinx Us

Shaughnessy notes that this will be the last time the Sox play at Yankee Stadium. He also thinks the Yanks will miss the playoffs; please Dan, don't get cocky.

Return Of Billy Buckner

No, not that one. This one, a pitcher for the Diamondbacks, born in '83 in Decatur, GA.

Get Well Soon, Yaz

He's undergoing a bypass right now.

american idyll?

this is apparently kelly clarkson, at a sox game, singing "sweet caroline" atop the green monster. she's the one who pops her head in and out of the frame:

lowell to dl

ugh.

sox call up david pauley.

get well soon, mikey.

gammons on lowrie

from boston.com:

I think Lowrie is their SS at least for the next couple of years. I realize that his is a very brief window but one NL team that does defensive ratings like Red Sox and Indians has Lowrie's defense ranked 5th among the 62 ML shortstops. I might add that Derek Jeter and Jose Reyes were in the 40's. Whether or not his range holds up way above ave. over an entire season is something we'll have to see but he is an above ave. offensive SS who brings a grinding approach to every at-bat. I think they'll have to figure out what to do with Lugo once season is over. If he accepts it it will be interesting to see if he goes back to his role with tampa which is a super utility man. He's played 2nd, 3rd, and the outfield and might be valuable in that role again if he would accept it.

manny manny manny manny manny manny manny

my friend emailed me yesterday to say that he missed manny. i guess that prompted manny to actually show up in a dream i had last night. was a cameo at a family bbq. at least he wasn't selling a grille!

Paul Byrd to the Sox

Hey, he's won his last four starts.

more from gammons

The Red Sox did want Brian Giles. With Jacoby Ellsbury struggling, Giles could have led off and played some right feld, with J.D. Drew moving center. And Giles could have been DH insurance should David Ortiz experience further problems with his troublesome left wrist. But Giles didn't want to leave the San Diego life.
The Red Sox head into their series finale against the White Sox on Monday losers of 16 straight one-run games on the road. They could use Giles. Acquiring Mark Kotsay would be a good substitute, and he can play multiple positions in the infield, which would allow Mike Lowell to take a breather in order to rest his injured hip.

Zink takes Wake's spot

Charlie Zink's starting Tuesday. It'll be interesting to see if the young knuckler can follow in Wake's footsteps.

gammons on ortiz

from espn.com:

1. Why there is so much made of who hits behind whom, when it's who hits in front that counts. Keep your bases-empty stats. The definition of a rally is hitting with someone on base.

David Ortiz can't hit without Manny Ramirez? He has experience doing just that.
In Sept. 2007, Ramirez played in six games, and Ortiz led the majors with a 1.341 OPS for the month. Ramirez batted behind him in one game.
In Sept. 2006, Ramirez again played in six games, Ortiz was second in the American League in OPS at 1.146.

In his Red Sox career, Ortiz's OPS with Ramirez hitting behind him is 1.000. With anyone else, it's .998.

dog days

just flipped my 2008 red sox calendar from july (julio lugo) to august (wily mo pena). guess i have to wait until '09 for jed lowrie and jason bay.

Pedroia profile

Great description of Dustin Pedroia smack-talking here. Thank you, Toby!

schedule

espn.com's sean mcadam, on the scheduling in the al east for the rest of the season:

AL East: The Tampa Bay Rays may have the lead, but they also have unquestionably the most difficult schedule of the three teams in the East.
The Rays have played the most home games of the three -- and by extension, of course, the fewest road games. Seventeen of their last 24 games will be on the road, including the final eight.
A seven-day stretch in the second week of September in which the Rays travel to Boston and New York could well determine their season.
The Red Sox, despite a just-concluded 4-5 homestand, still have the best home record in the majors and the schedule does them a favor -- they will play 19 of their final 28 at home, including the last seven straight. When the Sox finish their seven-game swing through Kansas City and Chicago on Aug. 11, they will have just two road trips longer than three games remaining.
The Yankees will play 16 of their 26 games in September on the road and will begin the month with a four-city, 10-game odyssey that will bring them to Detroit (makeup game), Tampa Bay, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Tampa, too, still has a West Coast trip remaining (this week); the Sox, by contrast, are done playing out West.

premature but...

i'd love to see the sox go after teixeira in the off season. how would a sox lineup look w/ bay in left, teixeira at first, and youk at third (sorry, mikey)?

sox win in extras; bay scores game-winner

not a bad debut. bay hits a wall ball triple, scores on lowrie's infield single w/ 2 down in the 12th off old friend alan embree.

more manny

there he goes! (courtesy of fangfriends):

who you gonna call

who gets called up to take hansen's place on the roster? no announcement's been made and aardsma's not ready yet.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

epstein, francona on the trade

talks about "exhaustion." says the deal is "reminiscent of 2004." he asserts, "there was an environment that was not conducive to winning surrounding this club."



francona talks about the importance of being in the moment:

gammons on manny

The deal that had to be done

Monday, July 28, 2008 | Print Entry

The text message from Alex Cora came not long after the deal was done. "I am very sad," wrote Cora, one of the game's best and brightest people. "I am happy for him because he wanted it, but he is a great guy. He taught me a lot. I will miss him."

That is what's so sad about the way the Red Sox had to spend $7 million, and trade two very good young players named Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen, to be able to trade Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers so they could get Jason Bay from the Pirates. But the way the past month had gone, there was no chance -- none, zilch, nada -- that Boston could make the playoffs with Ramirez on the team. In his mind, he had completed his obligation for the guaranteed $168 million the Red Sox paid him, and he was waiting to go on the market and collect the $100 million over the next four seasons he believes he is going to get, which would pay him through the age of 40.

He insulted ownership and everyone in authority, and one player who really cares for Ramirez said he knew Ramirez could sit the last two months, collect his final $7 million and ride off into the $100 million sunset. The Red Sox knew that, as well. They already had threatened him with an unpaid suspension, but in a world in which the union fights for those who don't work, the last two months were going to be a living hell of sit-down strikes, followed by suspensions. It would have been a half-season of what the past two weeks have been, namely a choke hold on the team's baseball culture.

Ramirez tried to sit, citing his knee. Problem is, after Felix Hernandez and Joba Chamberlain had come and gone, the Red Sox ownership and medical staff ordered him to take an MRI. If Ramirez hadn't forgotten which knee was bothering him, he would have been more convincing, but he got mixed up. Massachusetts General Hospital performed MRIs on both knees and found nothing, and the next day, ownership served Ramirez with a written notice that if he did not play, he would be suspended without pay.

Someday, when we really understand the whole 1980-2005 steroids era of which one admitted user says, "The only guys who didn't do them after 1994 were either stupid or scared," we might ask the question: Was it worse to take performance-enhancing drugs to perform better and win, or to decline to play and steal money?

That is a question for another decade. The suspension threat was this past weekend, hence the "woe-is-me" stuff on Sunday and the absurd statements about a team that protected him time after time after time after time. But as soon as the deadline passed, if Ramirez were still with the Red Sox, there would have been one incident after another with Ramirez secure in knowing that he didn't have to play, hustle or give any regard to winning to collect his remaining $7 million. Anyone who was watching John Lackey's run at a no-hitter continue in the seventh inning Wednesday when Ramirez jogged to first in 5.7 seconds, realizes that he is one of those rare, gifted athletes who cares nothing about winning, about the integrity of the game or about his teammates. He can hit.

Oh, there had been attempts to rid the club of Ramirez. At first, it was about the contract Jeff Moorad snookered from Dan Duquette when no one else was bidding, a contract Ramirez decided he wouldn't abide by in the eighth year. The Sox put him on waivers. No one claimed him. They tried to trade him for Alex Rodriguez, but the union killed that. They tried to trade him to the Mets after the 2004 World Series, then at the 2005 deadline for a package that included Lastings Milledge and Clifford Floyd, but those deals fell through.

And they won two World Series with him.

But this season became a nightmare when Ramirez's attention span turned to the next four years, to the next contract. General managers said this past weekend that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein had begun calling around trying to get interest in the hitting machine, but by Wednesday night, there were but two teams, the Marlins and Dodgers. The way Boston looked at it was that, fine, Ramirez was gone, and Bay seemed the best replacement with his season averages of 32 homers and 102 RBIs. To get him at the end of the season would have cost more than Moss and Hansen, so they did the deal now. Their feeling was that if Bay adjusts to Boston right away, and they settle their bullpen, they will contend. They do not think they would have contended with their $20 million player on strike.

Florida made every honest effort to get him. On Wednesday night, the Marlins thought they were getting Ramirez and Pirates reliever John Grabow for Jeremy Hermida, second baseman-third baseman Chris Coghlan and left-handed pitcher Taylor Tankersley, who would have gone to the Pirates with a Boston prospect for Bay. The Red Sox had agreed to add $2 million, so they were paying $9 million plus a prospect to do Ramirez-for-Bay.

Pittsburgh wanted more in the deal, while Florida never wavered. The Pirates wanted another package, which was filled by getting Andy LaRoche and right-handed pitcher Bryan Morris as well as Hansen and Moss. It was a very good package for Bay, a package that frees cash to sign top draft pick Pedro Alvarez. Hansen and Moss were this year's Matt Murton, without whom the Red Sox could not have made the Nomar Garciaparra deal in 2004 that led to a championship.

Ramirez should be great in L.A. The Dodgers need the bat. Joe Torre and Don Mattingly are perfect for him. He helps maligned young players such as Matt Kemp and James Loney. The Dodgers essentially got Ramirez and Casey Blake with the Red Sox and Indians paying their salaries.

Ramirez will be there for only two or three months, and Torre won't have to live with the compromises that ate at Terry Francona. It'll be a nice stop en route to Cooperstown. Ramirez can blame Larry Lucchino as the reason for not running out ground balls or ducking Hernandez and Chamberlain or sitting out the last five weeks of 2006 when David Ortiz and his teammates needed him, and some of the L.A. media will sympathize.

The Angels continually prove that baseball is not a computer game but a human sport, and the gap between Ramirez's numbers and performance widened this season as he became obsessed with his next contract. It is sad, sad that he trashed Francona and those who tried to coddle him to the point that one of the best managers of his time lost weight and sleep trying to live with what he had to allow Ramirez to do, including deck the traveling secretary. It is sad because most of us will always like Manny Ramirez, because the best people on the team -- guys such as Cora, Ortiz and Mike Lowell -- tried to make it work and cared. In the end, though, Ramirez listened to and cared about no one when it came to the next $100 million.

He "tased" the 2008 team because management wouldn't pay him $100 million for four years. Now he has a chance to be happy, his back turned on the team with which he won two rings, a team that on Thursday turned the page and, in many ways, is morphing into a team far, far different from the Idiots of 2004, one built around Josh Beckett and Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester.

manny to florida

could it be true?

looking ahead

last series of the year is against, you guessed it, the new and improved yankees.

I-Rod to the yanks

looks like they picked up ivan rodriguez for kyle farnsworth.

sabermetrics to the rescue

some reassuring numbers: according to the mlb.com standings, the sox expected won-loss record is 62-44. rays are at 56-48. and yankees are at 57-47. so we've actually played better than advertised, though it does point to a bullpen weakness. meanwhile, espn.com gives the sox a 71.3% chance of making the playoffs. rays are at 50.7% and yankees are at a startling 39.5%.

run, manny!

big game against the yankees: manny just hit a line drive out to left and didn't run out of the batter's box. i've about had it with him and i hope they don't pick up the '09 option.

manny back

looks like manny's in the lineup again today.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

last night's game was heartbreaking. i was feeling what lowell was when he got ejected. he put up a battle in that at bat and it might've worked out if the umpire hadn't been generous with the strike zone all night. i think the pitching matchups favor us from here on out but we'll see.

go sox.

ballpark food

speaking of the times, here's their assessment of ballpark food around the country. at fenway, they like the turkey sandwich and the kettle corn. what? no clam chowdah?

at yankee stadium, they're into the cuban sandwich. at shea, they say, "trust us, stick to the dogs."

bleacher bar

some new food & drink options at fenway

zink

almost missed a great ny times feature on charlie zink from last month.

A visit to New York

stopper & closer

great article on how beckett works out in the off-season w/ the college team from his alma matter trinity university.

bob ryan notes in the globe today, "Is anyone concerned that the Red Sox' closer has given up seven hits and three runs in his last 4 2/3 innings, not counting the admittedly cheesy, error-aided run he gave up in the All-Star Game?" yes! i am...

After a game

ESPN.com's Page Two portrayed the scene at Fenway after a game.

My favorite part?

"10:30 p.m.: A bagpipe player in a black T-shirt and shorts plays magnificently as a group of five teens in VARITEK T-shirts chant, 'Yankees suck! Yankees suck! Yankees suck!' He takes a break, but they continue."

Public Service Announcement

Boisterous Sox fans beware: 

Massachusetts General Laws, Ch. 272, sec. 36A:

 

"Whoever, having arrived at the age of sixteen years, directs any profane, obscene or impure language or slanderous statement at a participant or an official in a sporting event, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars."

Trot Nixon

A couple of great articles in the Globe today about Trot Nixon.

Pictures from Saturday June 21

Lowell on first. Too bad they couldn't string together more hits than they did.

Hansen hurls.

Manny on deck, dugout denizens watching. John Henry to right of dugout.

The Onion on Mike Lowell

"Mike Lowell Second In All-Star Voting
But Leads In All-Star Superdelegates"

Drew On Boston Geography: "Difficult"

Courtesy of ESPN.com:

"It's one of the most difficult places I've ever driven in my life,'' [J.D.] Drew said. "There's no road that actually runs north and south. You'll be going north one minute and west the next. That's one crazy road system they've got there.''

"Blame It On The" Fake Dreads

Before Friday night's game, during the rain delay at Fenway, they played a music video, from "two Boston athletes." Turned out it was Papelbon and Delcarmen, in the guise of Milli Vanilli, with dreads and all. Here's "Blame It On The Rain":

Dispatch from Fenway 6/20/08

Disappointing game last night as the Sox almost managed to keep pace with the Cardinals. Each time, they crept within a run but the timely hits didn't come as they lost. Fun to see the Celtics, whose enthusiasm wasn't dampened by the rain. Paul Pierce threw out a first pitch to Jason Varitek with a huge grin on his face.

A brand new music video featuring Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen in fake dreads singing "Blame It On The Rain" proved funnier in theory than in practice.

The curious case of Julio Lugo came into play as his two throwing errors cost Tim Wakefield a run. In the bottom half of the inning, after Toby remarked, "His first home run of the season would go a long way here," he promptly launched his first of '08 over the Green Monster. Curious that we continue to play a shortstop whose defense is lacking for his offense, which, most of the time, is also lacking. I guess $8 million keeps one in the lineup.

J.D. Woo

J.D. Drew in his first 59 at-bats in June: .441 / .547 / 1.085 , with 9 HRs, 2 triples, and 7 doubles. For the mathematically challenged, that's an OPS of 1.631.  In fact, J.D. has a very real shot at topping his HR total from 2007 this month.

Per the Globe, neither Papi or Manny have ever had a month in which they slugged so high. 

Nixon A Met

Given the Mets' outfield injuries, trading for Trot Nixon makes perfect sense. I hope I get to see him play at Shea, which is in my backyard.

Schilling not close

According to the Boston today, Curt Schilling isn't close to rejoining the rotation. Of his side session, Francona said, "It wasn't one of his better days."http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Rays not going anywhere

ESPN.com's Jayson Stark is taking the Rays for real:

Speaking of Tampa Bay, we continue to see no reason to assume the Rays will be coming back toward what they used to know as earth. One scout's review: "Here's the thing. [Evan] Longoria and [B.J.] Upton are guys who can hit good pitching. There are a lot of hitters out there who hit average pitching. But this club, if they can get to the playoffs, can do some damage because they can handle the good pitchers."

Schilling On Ortiz

"We will not not win the World Series because David Ortiz is not playing. We're not built around one player. That's not to diminish his value or importance."

Perhaps not not the worst way to have put it?

Jim Rice blog?

Can this be for real? Thank you Sullivan Tire!

Ortiz injury silver lining?

The Globe is reporting that Ortiz will be in a cast for 2 weeks, followed by a reevaluation that could lead to either rehad or season-ending surgery. But could it be possible that the rest for 2 weeks will heal his troublesome knee?

Nashua Pride adds former Sox player as manager

The Boston Globe is reporting that former Sox outfield Rick Miller has taken over for Butch Hobson as manager of the independent Nashua Pride team. I met Rick in approximately 1992 at a baseball card show (along w/ Sam Horn!) and my dad sold him a car when he was a hot, can't-miss prospect in the early '70s. Alas, his power never developed and he became a perennial backup. Over 15 years, he compiled 3,887 at bats, a .269 batting average and a respectable .346 on base percentage (not that they noticed those things then!).

Lester No Hitter

Jon Lester threw a no hitter at Fenway last night!
0 hits, 2 walks, 130 pitches over 9 innings, and 1 spectacular Ellsbury catch

Colon To Pitch For BoSox

Looks like we'll get our first taste of Bartolo Colon on Wednesday! He gave up only 1 hit in 6 innings with Pawtucket last Thursday.

Vizquel the answer?

ESPN's Peter Gammons is reporting that the Sox may look at the Giant's 11-time Gold Glover Omar Vizquel as a solution at shortstop, if Lugo doesn't get his act together defensively.

Manny Being Manny

This is too hysterical:

All Your Bats Are Belong To Us

Despite all of the fuss about the lack of offense from the Sox (at least before their sweep of the Dev- er, the Rays), they are currently first in the AL in average, OBP, and runs scored, and second to the Tigers in slugging. Not surprisingly, that also makes them first in OPS.

Also, despite being a middling seventh in the league in ERA, they lead the league in strikeouts.

Ellsbury

On 5/3 against Tampa, Ellsbury in the lead-off spot singled in the first to launch an exciting evening for the Sox offense. Here he prepares to smack a double in the 7th.

Moss has surgery; Sox over Tampa 12-4

Brandon Moss had his appendix removed at MGH during the late innings of the game Saturday night according to Terry Francona. His illness was first thought to be intestinal flu, but he was taken to the hospital before the game, where he was promptly treated.  Moss's homer Friday night sparked a 5 run 4th inning in the Sox 7-3 victory over Tampa Bay.

Saturday's 12-4 Sox win was played in chilly but dry weather which felt more like November than May. The cold did not stop the Sox offense. Though Beckett struggled in the early innings, he tightened up to pitch 8 innings, allowing 4 runs and 7 hits, striking out 5 and walking 1.

His own pinch hitter

The batting line for Diamondbacks' sophomore starting pitcher Micah Owings for his career? .354 avg, .388 obp, .671 slugging. Wow.

Dustin Hoffman Watch Out!

Dustin Pedroia's acting career has begun. In this priceless commercial with Jim Rice, Dustin shows incredible range, emotion and a true talent. Why Hollywood hasn't come calling is a baffling question!

old friend update

ESPN.com notes that Trot Nixon is playing Triple-A ball for the Tucson Sidewinders, in the D-backs system. Coincidence that their GM is Josh Byrnes, former assistant GM with the Sox? Good luck to Trot. We'll always remember your gutsy play.

Virtual no hitter

Billy Wagner of the Mets has yet to give up a hit after 9 scoreless innings thus far this season. Impressive for a pitcher born in 1971.

A or Fluke?

Oakland A's have a 3.18 ERA thus far.

Old friend Keith Foulke has a 0.86 WHIP and a 2.57 ERA.

Think they're for real?

Yankees Ban Candy

Looks like Joe Girardi has banned candy from the Yankees' clubhouse. Unfortunately, you can't take 7 years off Jason Giambi's life that easily!

lucky 13

Pedroia's got a 13-game hit streak going. I love that kid.

Sox Hit By Plague; Hansen Back; Events Unrelated

The Sox have been hit by the flu. The latest casualty? Dice-K, scratched from his start today.

In unrelated news, the million dollar minor leaguer Craig Hansen is back. Though hopefully following surgery for sleep apnea, he has regained the ability to throw his slider for strikes.

Happy Bday, Tito

Joe Castiglione just said it's Terry Francona's 49th birthday.

His first birthday present is a Jacoby Ellsbury leadoff home run!

At least it's not blisters

MLB.com is reporting that Josh Beckett's been scratched for tonight's game, with David Pauley taking the start instead. Boston.com is saying that Beckett's also fighting Jason Varitek's flu, and that's why we have a Pauley-Kevin Cash battery tonight.

Yankees at .500, run differential under .500

The Yankees have been outscored by 8 runs so far this season. That won't last long but maybe it portends good things for our Sox.

Lowell Recovering

The Boston Globe reports today that Lowell's on the right track. "'I was really encouraged by how it felt,' he said." Can't wait until he's back!

Also, sad news that '80s Sox catcher John Marzano died.

Necessity is the mother of $60 blankets

Chilly night tonight at Fenway. Leaving the old blanket in the car resulted in the need to purchase a Sox blanket: $60!!!! When will there be an end to this kind of price gouging! I love the Sox as much as anyone but really... And the final indignity: check the prices on the same blankets outside the park--one half. I hope this pays for some more great pitching!

Red Sox Come From Behind To Beat Rangers

Inaugural posting on the Oil Can Blog. Here's the report from Fenway tonight: Lester struggled with his control a bit but managed to keep us in the game for 6 1/3. Their pitcher, Jason Jennings, didn't look too hot either but managed to limit us to 3 hits even with an 85 mph fastball.

The Sox came from behind with a timely double from Pedroia and a Monster shot by Manny in the bottom of the 8th.

Loved hearing "Wild Thing" followed by the Dropkick Murphys as Papelbon came in!

Photos by Nick Loss-Eaton and Sandy Eaton at the game!