Re-Awakening the Red Sox "Dynasty" (and this blog)

Other than a somewhat promotional post about the Ultimate Fan Experience, BigP has been a pretty quiet corner of the internet for the last 45 days. We were busy. Life got in the way. It's summertime, what do you expect? No need for excuses, but it's time to get back down to business.

On the eve of the Red Sox elimination from playoff contention, I'd like to ask you all one question...

What do they need to do in the off-season to compete against the Yankees and the Rays in 2011?

The current goat is our namesake, Jonathan Papelbon. He's had eight blown saves this year and last night certainly showcased his recent struggles. But that's not enough to fix this team. What moves would YOU make if your were Theo? Take your time. I want your best work.

Redsox and Yankees in 2010: Who you got?

Following the announcement of the Red Sox signing Adrian Beltre last night, a discussion broke out on Twitter about whether this was a good or bad thing. We bantered a bit about whether a one year contract or a move to the friendly confines of Fenway Park might be a good thing or a bad thing. Then my good friend (and fellow Big Papelbon conspirator), Tim Walker, dropped the bomb on us...

@adamcohen @jimstorer @aaronstrout @peplau @DougH Bigger picture: the #redsox will not contend for the division this year, and that's that.

Whoa! If Tim wasn't a fellow Red Sox fan, I'd consider those fighten' words. Of course Tim has a point and that isn't that the Red Sox don't have a chance in 2010. Just that they don't stack up well against the men in pinstripes. So this got me thinking. For one, if you look at the Red Sox starting rotation, I'm pretty confident that we have an edge over the Yanks, particularly in numbers 3-5 (I'll give the Yankees a "push" on Sabathia and Burnett vs. Beckett and Lester). Yes, the Yankees did sign Javier Vazquez but he wasn't that impressive with the Yanks back in '04 (arguably one of their better years minus their ALCS performance). But the Sox have Lackey, Wakefield, Dice K, and Buchholz with up and comers Michael Bowden and Boof Bonser to boot.


Tim was willing to concede to my point about the pitching but correctly asserted that the Sox lineup wouldn't hold a candle to the "murderer's row" that the Yanks have assembled. While I don't think that there is as much of a disparity as Tim points out (Youk, Pedroia, Scutaro, Drew and VMart are all pretty decent hitters in their own right), I can't in good conscience try and argue that the Sox have a leg up on the Yanks. However, I will make the point that other than last year, the team with the best offense in the majors over the last decade has NOT been the World Series winner. In fact, teams like the '01 Arizona Cardinals, '03 Florida Marlins and '08 Philadelphia Phillies all won with a combo of good defense, great pitching and some timely hitting.

To back up my claim, I've listed the World Series winner and then the top run producer (my take on offensive dominance) in the column next to it. While I know there are a 1,000 different other stats/measurements like RBIs, OBP, OPS, etc., I think this is a fair measurment:

• Year ----------------- Won WS ----------------- Best Offense (by runs)
  
• 2009 -----------------Yankees ----------------- Yankees (915)*
  
• 2008 ----------------- Phillies ----------------- Rangers (901)**
  
• 2007  ----------------- Red Sox ----------------- Yankees (968)***
  
• 2006 ----------------- Cardinals ----------------- Yankees (930)****
  
• 2005 ----------------- White Sox ----------------- Red Sox (910)*****
  
• 2004 ----------------- Red Sox ----------------- Red Sox (949)
• 2003  ----------------- Marlins  ----------------- Red Sox (961)
  
• 2002 ----------------- Angels ----------------- Yankees (897)
  
• 2001  ----------------- DBacks  ----------------- Seattle (927)*******
  
• 2000 ----------------- Yankees -----------------White Sox (978)********
  

*Red Sox were 3rd in runs w/ 872 in spite of losing in 1st round of playoffs

**WS winner, Philadelphia, was 8th in runs scored with 799

***WS winner, Boston, was 4th in runs scored with 867
****WS winner, St. Louis, was 14th in runs scored with 781
*****WS winner, Chicago (AL), was 13th in runs scored with 741
******WS winner, Florida, was 17th in runs scored with 751
*******WS winner, Arizona, was 7th with 818
********WS winner, NY (AL), was 10th with 871

At the end of the day, this is why we play the games, right?


Image credit: MLB

This Decade's World Series Winners

At some point in time, I "okay-ed" some sort of sports app in Facebook and so from time to time, I remember to look at the notifications. Most of them are shit but today's asked an interesting question... "Can you name the World Series winners from this decade?" Amazingly, I not only knew everyone of them but I also remembered who they played against.

Without looking, can you name all ten winners? And as an extra bonus, the losing team? For an extra, extra bonus, name that year's MVP.

Falling into Place

No, I'm not ready to declare that the season is over yet. Nor am I ready to say that the Red Sox are a lock for the playoffs. But what I will tell you is that they went a LONG way over the past few days at solidifying their chances for a deep playoff run. Two weeks ago, I wasn't sure this would be the case with Beckett struggling mightily, Buchholz looking good but having little track record behind him and the Sox bats wavering between scoring 10+ runs a game and none.

Fast forward to Saturday night's gritty five plus inning gem by Beckett (with the Sox bats erupting in the third inning for nine runs) followed by game one of yesterday's double header where poor Matt Garza pitched his heart out, only to get kicked in the crotch by Ortiz and Pedroia in the seventh. This combined with Lester's "ice water in the veins" eight innings of shutout ball in game two was a real shot in the arm.

So why am I so jazzed all of a sudden? Well, the Sox have a four game lead on Texas and Tampa Bay is all but eliminated from the Wild Card. And the Sox still have an outside chance at catching the Yanks (I know, I know, I sound like Kyle Flaherty here). Most importantly, Boston is looking like the dangerous offensive AND defensive team that we thought they might be at the beginning of the season.

With Beckett, Lester and now Buchholz as a solid 1-2-3 punch (yes, it would be great to see two more solid starts out of Beckett), we're in good shape to match up with the "always hapless in the playoffs" Anaheim Angels of LA. And who knows, lightning may might rise up and strike Detroit who matches up pretty well with the Yanks and deliver us an ALCS party with Detroit and Boston as the lucky entrants. The bullpen is now back to form with a much needed shot in the arm from Billy Wagner and you have weapons like Martinez, Gathright, Green or Kotchman coming off the bench. Not a bad place to be. Most importantly, all the key guys are healthy (yup, just knocked on wood after saying that).

Am I being a bit cocksure? Yes I am. But hey, I've seen Francona work his magic under more adverse conditions. I like where we are and feel bullish going into October. Who knows, this could be the year where we do actually see Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots world championships in the same year.


image courtesy: http://www.maniacworld.com/

Gotta Like Theo's Approach

That's right, the approach I'm talking about in the title of this post is that of a Mr. Theo Epstein, GM of yooouuuuurrrrr... Boston Red Sox. With a little luck in 2009, the Sox could have one of the two or three best teams in Major League Baseball...

Have you stopped laughing yet? I hope so because I'm serious. Want to know why I'm not crazy? Well, here's six reasons for starters:

1. The Sox already had three of the top 25 pitchers (who are all under the age of 27 btw) in baseball. There names are Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsusaka. This year, Josh Beckett should have a healthy back, Lester will be one more year removed from cancer and Dice K will have two years of facing MLB hitters under his belt. I'm willing to wager money that those three go a combined 52-21 this year.
2. IF Brad Penny is healthy (this is where the "little luck" part comes in), he could be the best number four starter in the league. Arguably if he's healthy, he could be even better than he was in 2006-7 when he finished 3rd in Cy Young voting in the NL given the fact that he'll have a much better offense and an equally good defense behind him. I'm predicting he goes 15-10 this year (slow April and May will give way to a rock star June - October).
3. As our number five in the starting rotation, the Sox can choose from the likes of Clay Bucholtz, Tim Wakefield, Jon Smoltz or Justin Masterson. My money says they start with Wake/Smoltz depending on Spring Training and then either move a AAA arm into that spot or give way to Justin Masterson whom they claim will play a key role in the bullpen again (IMHO he's too valuable an arm to waste on the pen just like Joba Chamberlain was for the Yanks).
4. While it sucks that we didn't get Teixeira, it would have been tough to have to part with Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz or Mike Lowell given the fact that they are three of the most dedicated/hard working/clutch guys in baseball. In 2009 a little more "luck" is needed here given Ortiz and Lowell's injuries last year. My $$ says Ortiz comes back in the best shape of his life and Lowell eases into the season hitting his stride by July.
5. The Sox have a pretty freaking solid outfield offensively and defensively with Bay, Ellsbury, Drew and now Baldelli (one more request for "luck"). They also have one of the top five offensive/defensive infields s in the AL (assuming Lowell is healthy and that they trade Lugo for a box of baseballs so that Lowrie can play short).
6. Did I mention the bullpen? The Sox have the most dominant closer in baseball. A former dominant closer/starter in Smoltz, a stud in the making in Masterson (who I still want starting), a new stud in Ramirez and a mostly-good-but-still-young Delcarmen. Oh yeah, let's not forget Oki-Dokie who seemed to come on strong in the second half of 2008. On top of that, you know Theo will pick up another 3-5 "maybes" to compete in spring training.

Okay, so we have one glaring weakness (assuming health works in our favor) at the catcher position. While it was nice to get Josh Bard back, he's not much more than a nice upgrade over Doug "We Loved You Because You Could Catch Wakefield but Won't Be Said to See Your .201 Average Go Elsewhere" Mirabelli. Greg Zaun could be a decent stop gap for another year or so but really, they need to make a trade. here's the good news... with the acquisition of Smoltz, my money says they go after Jerod Saltamacchia of the Rangers with Bucholtz and one or two topp AAA prospects. I also wouldn't completely rule out 'Tek coming back for one more year, especially since Boras doesn't seem to be working his normal, "let me turn chicken shit into chicken salad" magic this year.

Have I got you fired up? At the very least, I've given all my BigP home boys some fodder to tell me why I'm off my rocker. Let 'em rip!

Photo: Courtesy MLB.com

Into the Belly of the Beast

I've been to many ballparks. By far, Fenway and Wrigley are my favorites for many reasons, but the primary reasons are the passion of the fans and the aura, tradition and old school feel. It wasn't for a Red Sox game, but last night I attended my first game at Yankee Stadium. Here are some anecdotes and thoughts from the game. First, my view from the seats, upper deck behind home plate, a great spot to see balls and strikes:

1. The park looks a thousand times nicer and more intimidating on TV. In reality it's just a big, cold ballpark with awful infrastructure.
2. It is painfully clear why a new park is needed. The place sucks - in an emergency, there is no way I could ever get out when sitting in the upper deck. The advertising is old, tired and consists mostly of translucent panes backlit with fluorescent lights.
3. The scoreboard is old and there are no replays shown. This was annoying when a very controversial "safe" call was made at 1B.
4. The sound system is atrocious. I was stupefied by this - is it that hard to wire speakers around the park? They only have one stack of giant speakers in a pile atop the center field bleacher wall. I think my fraternity house had the same stack in the basement for parties back in the day.
5. I've heard much about the field dimensions and how they are no longer the House that Ruth Built. The center and LF wall configurations are just plain odd to look at, and the fans seem so far away from the game.
6. The field was in horrible shape. The grass had been worn down from the all-star game and looked like my backyard after a 4-year-old's slip-n-slide birthday party.
7. The lighting is weird - all those lights shine on the field but there are pockets of darkness covering the fans. It made it look cloudy even at night.
8. The ballpark frankly looks tired. The hallways look like a dirty subway station. The place has just been neglected over the years and it shows. It really makes me appreciate the Fenway ownership and what they have done to invest in the infrastructure, down to details like getting rid of the trough toilets.
9. My buddy Larry who brought me is a season ticket holder and has been for 12+ years. 5 years ago, the seats were $18. Today they are $60. In the new park they will be at least $100 and have TVs and waitress service.
10. One tradition I kinda liked - in the first inning the right field bleachers chant each NYY fielder's name until they wave or acknowledge them in some way - even when the pitcher is about to throw. I also liked that Jeter has a recording of the old announcer still announce his name when he comes up to bat.

Sure, I'm biased, but I did want to see the park before it gets replaced. Now that I've been? Good riddance.

A convert---finally!

The start of the season and every team has a shot, anything can happen. This year is no different. Evidence- the Royals swept Detroit to start the year. The Royals! After a dozen games, Baltimore is in first and the Sox in the cellar. Imagine that? Obviously, there’s a long way to go in the season. But for me, the season doesn’t really start until the first Red Sox Yankees series. That’s when it’s time to get serious. But this year, things are different. I have finally converted. After growing up in NY and living 20 years in Boston, I have finally kicked my addiction to New York laundry. Of course, I had to move 3000 miles away to do that. It wasn't easy. But more on that later.

It’s not that I haven’t tried before. I’ve been in enough kick the Yankee habit 12 step programs to recognize the absurdity of it all. My family, friends, and co-workers all rooting for the Sox, and me watching the game alone in another room. These last few years, I’ve channeled my grandfather and his Brooklyn Bums as I would say, “wait ‘til next year”. For 20 years, I’ve admitted that I can’t control my addiction of Yankee fandom and recognized that there was a greater power (Big Papi?, Beckett?, no, definitely not Schilling) that could give me the strength.

Having lived in the area for so long, I knew the history of the players, the front office, the reporters, and Fenway itself. I gobbled it all up, I really was a fan, just not for your team. In fact, I probably knew more about the Olde Towne Team than the Yankees. But for every endearing Coke bottle sign, Wade Boggs chicken recipe, Mike Gimbel hiring, Manny being Manny event and every thing else, I would still root for the team from the Bronx.

I knew the nastiness first hand, too. The Jeter su*ks calls, Larry and the evil empire, the A-Rod blonde wigs, Pedro and Who’s your daddy, the awful comments on sports radio and beer thrown on me in the bleachers. And all of that was just one day at Fenway! No, Boston fans are not nice to New Yorkers. In fairness, I never had a problem at Yankee Stadium. But then Yankee fans treat every other team equally--- poorly. They don’t discriminate.

As a sports fan, I devoured every Shaughnessy Curse of the Bambino and Boston is better than New York article with disgust. Even though the crude inside jokes on the Big Show annoyed me, I listened. I watched and read, but from the sidelines, never crossing to the other side.

So how does a leopard change its spots. And why after so many years. The answer is in the distance. Living in Seattle for 3 years, my passion for baseball hasn’t diminished, but my exposure to the passionate has. Our caffeine obsessed, slacker culture has dialed things down. I watch the games, check the stats, but things are less intense. I am immune to the behaviors that used to bother me and turn me off. And that is how I found the will to convert. By not hearing the offensive arrogance, I can love the team for what it is. Now I can enjoy the games with my kids, my friends and share the joy. I don’t cheer for Jeter anymore, but then you won’t hear me saying Jeter su*ks either.

Redemption!

Magic number is now zero. The playoff matchups are set (I'm not so secretly relieved to be playing Anaheim vs. Cleveland in the first round).

One picture sums it up...

Time to Sweep out The Yankees

OK. After last night's 16-0 loss to the Tigers in which we saw Mike Mussina's 3rd(?) bad loss in a row, I think it's finally, finally, time to put the Yankees to bed. It did get scary there for awhile. Less so, because of how close it got in the standings, but more around the fact that they were playing great and the Sox were just plodding along. Coming off a glorious four game sweep of the White Sox, granted they suck, where the Good Sox scored 46 runs, our guys have to be feeling pretty confident...and the Yanks must be feeling like John Daly waking up with a new wife after a hard bender.

So, in order for the Spankees to have any hope of getting back into the division race, hah, they need to sweep. If they win 2 of 3 this series, it's a loss for them. One game is not enough. On the other hand if the Red Sox win 2 of 3 the Spanks can probably start booking their October tee times, as they will have lost 8 of their last 10 games.

Now I don't want to jinx it, (knock, knock) but I think we might be in for a treat in which the Red Sox get some revenge for the Boston Massacre of last year, and sweep the Yankees right out their home park. Baseball gods please don't get angry, but there it is. Just like we needed the pain of '03 to make '04 happen, I think the pain of '06 will help to make '07 glorious.

Here's looking forward to a great series in which the Red Sox can finally claim the division.

Cheers,
-JS

Pitching and Defense

This has been cross-posted on sister site - http://dicenation.com

Pitching and defense wins games. At least that's what they say when it comes playoff time in Major League Baseball. There are two reasons why I agree with that theory:

1. Anyone that has ever tried to hit a ball in 50 degree weather (the average nighttime temperature in late September/early October) can tell you that it's not a pleasant feeling. It's essential that you hit the ball with the meat of the bat. Anything below that and your hands sting for hours afterward.
2. By the time you've played a 162 game season, players are tired. Most batters have 400-500 plate appearances which translates into somewhere between 1,500-2,000 "rip your arms out of your sockets" swings for many big leaguers. Granted, pitchers grind through the same 162 games but in most cases, starting pitchers have only pitched 35-40 times at an average of 6-7 innings/game.
   

Why I'm harping on this age old concept of "pitching and defense?" is because it's exactly the thing that will win the Red Sox their 2nd World Series in three years. It's also the reason I am not worried about the Yankees unbelievable post-All Star break push where the Bronx Bombers have won 24 of their last 33 (25 if you count the delayed game they won against the O's).

I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't impressed by what the Yanks have done over the last month. I'd also be lying if I didn't tell you that I've kept a closer eye on the out-of-town scoreboard every night. But at the end of the day, the Sox are just too good to blow this lead. Put it this way. The Sox have been playing just slightly better than .500 ball since June and yet they still maintain the best record in baseball and are five games better than the second place Yanks.

Two things that support the "pitching and defense" theory. For one, the Yankees offense has averaged just a hair over 7 runs/game during their last 33 games. However, they've also given up an average of 4.9 runs/game in that same stretch including losses to bottom dwellers Baltimore ( 0-12), Toronto (4-15), Chicago (9-13) and Tampa Bay (4-14.)

If you look at the ERAs of the projected playoff teams in the AL -- Sox (3.77), Angels (4.09), Detroit (4.65) and potentially Seattle (4.61) -- the Yanks, on paper at least, don't win many games against these teams. Given the Yankees upcoming schedule (3 with LA, 8 with Detroit, 3 with Boston and 3 with the Sox), we can see if this theory holds true.

The second item that supports the theory of "pitching and defense" leading to victory for the Sox is the law of averages. If the Red Sox own the 2nd best ERA in MLB (1st in the AL) while the Yankees are 14th overall (7th in the AL), the 6th best fielding percentage in MLB (3rd in the AL) and 4th best offense in the MLB (3rd in the AL -- NY is first overall in MLB), this says that the Red Sox have to hang on to their lead over the next 43 games.

There is still a lot of baseball to be played before the fat lady sings but you have to like the Sox chances. A lot of apologists (myself included) have tried to argue that the upcoming schedule for the Sox and Yanks will level the playing field a bit. At the end of the day though, it's about execution. The Sox have it where it counts -- the Yanks don't.

See you in October!

Desperate?

You know your team is in trouble when in late May, your captain starts telling the media that "every game from here on in is a playoff." That may work when your the Cleveland Cavaliers and you're down 2-0 to perennial powerhouse, Detroit, in the NBA Eastern Finals but not when you're the New York Yankees. The difference is, the Cavs knew they needed to win four games to make it to the NBA finals. The Yanks have to win closer to 64.

The Bronx Bombers did make a valiant effort at treating every game like a playoff after a horrific losing stretch put them 14 1/2 games behind the white hot Red Sox. The Yanks were able to win 14 of 17 and pull within 7 of the Sox. However, there's a reason why an MLB season is compared to a "marathon" vs. a "sprint" because there are 162 games to play over the course of five and a half months. That's A LOT of baseball.

This weekend, we saw the "playoff mentality" of the Yankees translate into desperation as the Giants took two of three from the men in pinstripes. When a team feels compelled to trot out their 45 year old "rent-an-ace" pitcher in relief in late June, it has problems. This is particularly concerning when the team's payroll is $190 million -- the largest in baseball -- and the team has has pitchers like Villone, Vizcaino, Proctor, Myers, Farnsworth and Rivera who are supposed to get the job done.

I understand that the Yanks played 13 innings on Saturday and had to burn through their their bullpen more than they would have liked, but therein lies the problem. If the Yankees hadn't fallen 14 1/2 games behind the Sox (6 1/2 back in the Wild Card) early on, they wouldn't be forced to make desperation moves this early.

The beauty of baseball is that anything can happen. The Oakland A's seem to demonstrate that in the second half of every season. The Minnesota Twins proved it to the Tigers as they came roaring back last year (although Detroit got the last laugh by making it to the "Fall Classic.") Certainly Sox Nation knows it can happen as Bucky "Bleeping" Dent and the season of 1978 will be forever emblazoned in their minds. I don't see it this year though. The Sox pitching is too good and their bats have yet to all get hot at the same time.

On a related note, how good does if feel knowing that you've already got a stacked rotation (third best ERA in MLB) with Jon Lester in the wings only to find out that your team is the front runner (at least according to ESPN) on the Mark Buehrle chase. It may be a ploy to bid up the market so that the Yanks can't get him but hey, I'm okay with that too!

Friday Musings

Several random thoughts/questions as we head into what promises to be an exciting summer:

1) I can honestly say that I would not want to be in Danny Ainge's shoes right now. In listening to WEEI, watching Sports Center and reading various articles/blog posts, it would appear that people are split down the middle 50/50 on whether or not to trade Jefferson, the no. 5 pick and Theo Ratliff for KG or Amare Stoudemire. Apparently, the KG deal has been called off because KG doesn't want to come to Boston (big surprise) and rumors are that the same thing is happening on the Stoudemire front.

In a perfect world, I say they draft Jeff Green (go Hoyas!) or Corey Brewer and then field offers for a package of Green/Brewer, Jefferson and Ratliffe's expiring contract. If someone of the caliber of a Kobe or Stoudemire comes along, seriously consider it. If not, roll the dice this year and consider a trade for Pierce at the deadline if the C's struggle. I would not do the KG deal because a) he's too old and b) he's never had post season success (accept on trip to the Western Conference Finals).

For more on this front, check out Simmons latest if you haven't seen it yet. He wrote an amusing article about the draft and who should draft/trade for whom.

2) It appears that Miguel Tejada's consecutive games streak of 1,152, the longest currently in the majors, is about to come to an end due to a fractured wrist. Amazingly, the player with the second longest streak at present is Juan Pierre with 343. Teixeira had owned the second longest with 507 but that ended last weekend when he was placed on the DL.

3) Can't wait for the Jake Peavey/Josh Beckett match up this weekend. I'm predicting a Sox 3-1 victory with two of the runs coming in the 8th or 9th inning. The series in general should be fantastic with a showcase of great hitting against great pitching.

4) Did anyone notice that the Bruin's hired a new coach...? Didn't think so.

5) I have a bet with my friend Lil' Jim that the Rocket goes on the DL in the next five days after yesterday's poor outing. Haven't heard any news to substantiate this but I just have a feeling. If it doesn't happen in the next five days, I guarantee it happens very soon. Ditto for Mssrs. Mussina and Pettite. Just as the Yanks are finding their sea legs.

6) Speaking of the Yankees, do you think it's frustrating to win 14 of 17 and creep back to within 7 1/2 of the Sox only to be swept by the Rockies while the Sox blank the Giants and take two out of three from Atlanta? I've gotta say, unless the Yanks can trick San Diego into trading Jake Peavey for Mike Meyers and then making similar deals for the likes of Vlad Guerrero, Big Papi and Albert Pujols, you can stick a fork in them. With Detroit, Cleveland, Anaheim, and even Seattle hanging tough along with the inevitable run that the A's and Twinkies will put together in the second half, I don't see the Yanks even sniffing the Wild Card (never mind the AL East). Kind of breaks my heart if you want to know the truth.

Play ball!

Strange Daze

Is it me or does it seem like this is too easy? The Sox take two out of three from Minnesota in the Metrodome, and three from the Jays where the home team forgot to show up. Unless Beckett suddenly pulls a Matt Clement on us, we'll take the rubber game of the series against the O's today.

To date, the starting pitching has been outstanding. Amazingly, the bullpen has been even better (2.20 ERA if you throw out Davern Hansack's garbage time against the Jays). The bats have started to heat up to the tune of 42 runs in the last five games. Oh yeah, the Sox are actually stealing bases, bunting and manufacturing runs too. Who are these guys?

What scares me is our lack of injuries when the teams around us are falling apart at the seams. The numerous woes in the Bronx have been well-documented in this blog. The Jays and O's must have been jealous and decided to follow the Yanks lead losing key components like BJ Ryan (Jays) and half the starting rotation (O's). Based on Doc Halladay's last two starts, he'll be on the DL soon.

As much as I love our early season success, I'm starting to get a little nervous. We've seen this pattern before where a team goes out and blows away the field early. The knights of the keyboard talk about how the team is going to run away with it. Next thing you know, the team is struggling down the stretch and either limps into the playoffs or misses the playoffs because they catch the losing bug when the games count.

The Sox, at least on paper, seem to be different. We know that the the starting rotation is a proven commodity. None of us are surprised that Beckett, Dice-K, Schilling and Wake are all off to good starts. We also expected the line up to produce and at least pieces of the bullpen to hold down the fort once Papelbon was re-elected to close. What we didn't expect is to be this healthy (was I the only one that thought JD Drew might already be on the 60 day DL?)

So maybe we will be more like the 1998 Yanks who won 114 games and went on to win the World Series. That team averaged 19 wins a month and maintained momentum all year long. Let's hope we're not the 2001 Mariners who won 116 but then lost in the second round to the Yanks.

Looking forward to today's game and Beckett being the first 8 game winner in MLB. Until then...

Money it's a gas...Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

Money get back

I'm all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.

Money it's a hit

Don't give me that do goody good bullshit

I'm in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set

And I think I need a Lear jet

Today's announcement that Roger Clemens is coming out of retirement (the 4th time for those that are counting) and joining the New York Yankees came as no surprise to this observer. In fact I predicted as much in my earlier blog about Mo Rivera and his struggles. At almost every step of his career Roger has always been about the money and the Yankees were always going to be the highest bidder. I'm just thankful this happened as quick as it did so we wouldn't have to read crap article after crap article about this being such a tough decision for Roger and how torn he is over 3 teams. Roger is all about the money and if you can kiss his ass while handing over a king's ransom than all the better. Kudos the Yankee's organization for doing a great job on both counts.

This is a solid move for New York but one that they absolutely had to make given the state of their pitching. While it makes the Yankees better I remain quite happy he didn't come back to Boston. It would kill me to have to root for a Sox starting rotation that included two guys that make me cringe almost every time they address the media. Roger is a complete phony and despite his better living through chemistry I have doubts on just how effective he is going to be in the American League at age 45.

I prefer my lasting memories of Roger in a Red Sox uniform to be:

• Asking out of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series (go ask McNamara about this one)
• Wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shoe laces and eye paint before purposely getting himself tossed out of the final game of Oakland's sweep of Boston in 1990
• Being fat and out of shape his final four years here where he compiled a 40-39 record and cavorted around town with someone definitely not named Debbie

Boston Sucks Chant?

Apparently it actually happened:
Boston Sucks Chant Heard in Bronx

Wow. That's awesome. See my post on 4/25 if you're wondering why I think this is cool.

Did anyone else here this?

Cheers,
-JS

Oh Mo!

It's never a good sign when your team is losing by three runs in the 9th inning and your manager decides to bring in your closer. It's even worse when that closer is Mo Rivera and he is forced to give way to Mike "I can't believe I tricked the Yankees into signing me" Myers with one run in and the bases loaded. What I found most pitiful was Rivera feeling the need to throw over to first base FIVE times to keep Coco Crisp from stealing second (which Coco ultimately did anyway). That's not the Mo Rivera I've come to know and hate over the years.

You're right, it's still April. These games don't really count. However, just like NFL pre-season games, you'd rather see your team win than watching them consistently get crushed. It might not mean anything but you can't help but let the doubts creep in. Well, the Yankees just fell to 6 1/2 games behind the Red Sox (and own the rights to last place in the AL East). 6 1/2 games certainly isn't an insurmountable lead for the Bombers to overcome but if I'm a Yankees fan right now, I'm beginning to second guess my team a little.

For starters, the Yankees have A LOT of money tied up in several aging veterans. While A-Rod seems to be earning his $27.7M/year, the Yanks have $10M wrapped up in perpetual DL inhabitant, Carl Pavano. Jason Giambi makes $23.4M, and while he can still hit, that is some serious cake for a DH that can't run. Abreu is making $15.6M a hefty sum for a guy that instills fear into no one right now. What's crazy is that among those four players, the Yanks are spending more than the individual payrolls of the bottom 13 teams in MLB.

At the risk of stating the obvious. the Bombers pitching situation is a mess. Bob Klapisch of ESPN wrote, "[the Yankees] best game this week was the one they didn't play -- Wednesday's rainout against the Blue Jays, which allowed Andy Pettitte to start tonight against the Red Sox." Hindsight being 20-20, one might argue that didn't end up being such a big advantage (he got pulled in the 5th inning of tonight's game.)

What's tough about the Yanks lack of consistency with their 9 man rotation these days is the fact that they are averaging 4.9 innings/start, lowest in the majors. History shows that this can kill your bullpen in a hurry. Poor Scott Proctor is on pace to pitch 162 games this year (yes, I'm exaggerating on that one.) Mariano Rivera's less than stellar showing tonight is one more data point supporting the argument that his best days may be behind him.

Two more games to go in the series. While I like our chances tomorrow with Wake facing off against Jeff Karstens, my rationale brain tells me that odds do not favor us in Sunday's game with Tavarez leading the charge against Yanks new ace, Chien Ming Wang. Even so, splitting the remaining two games is still a major victory for the Sox (that would be five out of six to start the season). Still a long way to go until September but I like what I'm seeing...

Cocksure

I love this word. It's a childish thing really. Cocksure sounds like it's a dirty word. It's not.

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: cock·sure
Pronunciation: 'käk-'shur
Function: adjective

1 : feeling perfect assurance sometimes on inadequate grounds
2 : marked by overconfidence or presumptuousness : COCKY

One might think I chose the word cocksure as the title of this post to describe the collective state of mind of Red Sox Nation after a two spectacular come from behind winds against the Jays and Yanks followed by another solid win over the Evil Empire again today. I didn't. The title of the post describes the look on the face of the man in the Yankees on-deck circle in the 9th inning of today's game.

To frame the situation, the Sox are up 7-5 in the 9th. They've squandered numerous opportunities to break the game wide open including a bases loaded situation in the 8th. At no point during the game did I get that "uh oh" feeling. However, this is the New York Yankees and they haven't exactly been putting up goose eggs recently (on the offensive or defensive side of the ball). We get to the ninth and in comes this blog's namesake, Jon Papelbon.

Game, set match, right? Not quite. Papelbon gets a fairly quick out against Johnny Damon. Then walks Melky Cabrera on four straight balls. Next up, Derek Jeter. The Nation's palms begin to sweat a little (not a lot, after all, we have uber-closer, Jon Papelbon, pitching for us). Papelbon makes Jeter look like Dustin Pedroia against Johann Santana on a couple pitches, the last of which sends Jeter to the bench. Now we get the mighty Bobby Abreu. Not a world beater but still dangerous.

So here's where the title of this post comes in. The Fox camera flashes to A-Rod swinging the bat in the on deck circle. He's got a little smirk on his face as if to say, sorry Boston, I'm about to ruin your Saturday night. And you know what, the guy should feel that way. I dislike A-Rod immensely but I will give the him credit. He's been lights out so far this season (of course this will not last when it counts -- mark my words). Except A-Rod never gets a chance to ruin our night. Abreu flies out to deep center. Game over. No more cock-surity from Mr. Rodriguez.

I know it's early. I know the games we care about come in months that start with "O"s, not "A"s. Still, it's sweet being a Boston fan and constantly getting a chance to tweak A-Rod's, and the Yankee's noses. It all stems back to the 2004 ALCS. Ah, the memories.

Two side notes. First, it looks like Varitek has broken out of his funk. Same goes for Coco. This will be huge for the Sox down the stretch. Second, I love Alex Cora. Guys like this make the game worth watching. Can't wait for tomorrow!