Friday, August 29, 2008

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.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

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."

Monday, August 25, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Get Well Soon, Yaz

He's undergoing a bypass right now.

Friday, August 15, 2008

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:

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

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!

Monday, August 11, 2008

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.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Pedroia profile

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

Monday, August 4, 2008

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.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

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)?

Friday, August 1, 2008

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: