We have a closer!

So, the Sox signed Matsuzaka. Sweet.

We have a freakin' awesome looking rotation now and an awesome line up. Now everyone's talking about the bullpen and how we need to get a closer in here.

Has everyone forgotten that we have the best closer in the game on our team already. Big Papelbon damnit.

I know the kid wants to start, but I say that it is too important a role to give to an overpriced mediocre free agent (all that's left). Also, I don't want to trade any of our position players (Youk or Coco), for an iffy closer. It won't matter how good our rotation is if, they all get no decisions because of the closer giving it up.

They should sign Clemens for the one year and move Pap back to where he belongs. Theo should be singing in his ear on a nightly basis, 'you're the next Mariano Rivera, you're the best closer in the game, you're going to get into the hall because you'll be the most feared closer...ever'.

-JS

Trade Manny (updated on 12/1)

I read an interesting article in the Globe today about the Sox offering Nixon arbitration. The thesis was that the Sox may be looking at a realligned outfield in 2007 with Nixon splitting time with Wily Mo in right, JD Drew in Center and Coco Crisp in left. This would allow the Sox to trade Manny to San Diego for Jake Peavey (a starting rotation of Schilling, Beckett, Papelbon, Peavey and Matsusaka would not suck).

Losing Manny's bat (and thus Big Papi's protection) in the lineup would be a big blow. However, two things might soften that blow:

• Wily Mo having a banner year in 2007 -- he's projected by Hardball Times as the "player under 26 most likely to have a break out season in '07".
• A healthy JD Drew whom Schilling defended on WEEI yesterday. I know, coulda, woulda, shoulda... anything could happen but if Schill likes him and says he's a monster if he's healthy, you have to at least listen.
  

I will say that I'm okay with the Sox continuing to move toward a younger starting rotation, outfield and infield (Mssrs. Schilling, Lowell and Varitek excepted). If the Sox can exchange talent for youth and expectation, I say trade Manny and trade him today!

Cold

Just checking in.
But my guess is that the "cooler" has such a slick nickname because he's so cool and calm when his team doesn't need any production from him. To paint the picture: it's the top of the ninth, 0 outs, 3-1 count. The yankees are up 7-0 over the Devil Rays. He's sure to hit the 3-run homer then. If they're in Yankee stadium in October and the score is within 2 runs either way, he's surely going to strike out at every chance. At that point they probably call him the "cold". Who knows. But when he pouts in the dugout with Jeter, and they are on TV 57 times looking like their puppy just got run over (this never gets old) - those lips do look even more purple. good call.

Must be a combination of the above.

The Cooler

Remind me again why they call A-Rod "the cooler"? Is it because he is such a cool dude? Is it because he always looks cold with his big purple lips? Or is it because he likes to drink a lot of beer at the beach and thus always has a cooler with him. Inquiring minds want to know...

Watching the Tigers beating the Yankees

Well. The brutal disaster that was the end of the Sox season had left me too depressed to post for awhile. However, there was at least one positive that came out of the last couple weeks. That being Papi breaking the Sox season record for home runs.

I did make it to a few games at the end of the season, the highlight: bringing Max, at 5 months old, to his first game and having him in the park when Papi hit #50 to tie Jimmy Foxx's record.

Didn't suck being there the next night to see 51 and 52 too, either. Other than the Ortiz story, the end 'o the season was quite the kick in the johnson, with the capper of finishing 3rd to Toronto.

Anyway...that's over. And the Pats looked like the Pats again last Sunday. And Detroit split in the bronx and is now up 3-0 in the 6th in Comerica.

Go Tigers.

Cheers,
-JS

Da Pats

Damn the Pats looked good yesterday. I love the fact that other then in the Denver game, they are running roughshod over other teams. Any questions about whether or not this team misses Deion Branch? I didn't think so.

Next...

Where's the Reality?

I'm working to "re-inspire" myself to blog more on Big Papelbon. It ain't easy with the Sox many games out of first place, and the wild card race. As I've said several times before, "thank goodness for the Pats," even if they are turing out to be the heart attack kids!

A quick side not on the Sox since I can't seem to write a post without at least referencing them. WHY could they not have taken 3 out of 5 back in August vs. the Yanks instead of taking the 3 out of 4 this past weekend? The thing that amazed me was that the Sox threw the "all $150,000" pitching staff against the "all $15 million" dollar Yankee staff. And we still took 3 out of 4. I even think that Terry Francona and Papa Jack slipped themselves into the game as pinch hitters at one point.

Anyway, back to the main topic... Reality TV. The good news this season? Reality seems to be dying on the vine. Yes, I know that it still exists. Survivor is hanging on by a thread with their attempt to stir people up using race as a segmentation. Big Whoop! And shows like Wife Swap are still rearing their ugly head. But I'm sensing a new trend and so far, I like what I see.

Last night I watched a couple of new shows. The first was, How I Met Your Mother. Not a show that I'm necessarily going to be doing a "record all" for on my DVR, but worth a few chuckles nonetheless. Neil Patrick Harris carries over his "booze and stripper loving" persona from the movie, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. If you've seen the movie, you'll appreciate what I'm talking about. The second show was the much anticipated, Studio 60. I know one show does not a season make but I'll tell you what, so far I'm hooked. Anyone that liked the first couple of seasons of West Wing can see that the old (and riveting) Aaron Sorkin is back and he's got fire in his belly.

The only thing that is pissing me off about "Studio" is that I found out last night on IMDB that the show is just a pilot and as a result, the network only filmed five shows. That means that we're going to get a two month hiatus come early November just as we're starting to get into Amanda Peet... I mean, the series. I can deal -- that's why God invented Monday Night Football -- I'm just not looking forward to hurrying up and then waiting.

On that note, it is encouraging to see that there are a half a dozen decent options to watch now (Lost, Studio, 24, Grey's Anatomy). The other encouraging news is that I've yet to see an add for "the Bachelor goes to Romania" or "Fear Factor -- The Gay and Lesbian Series". Maybe this is reality TVs last gasp.

Any good shows that you've wached recently? If so, let me know!

Big Papelbon Blues

Ever notice how unexciting it is to read the sports page/ESPN when your baseball team is shitting the bed? That might be one of the reasons that I've dreaded coming in and posting to this blog for the last month. To be honest, I'm still recovering from the five day "Boston Massacre 2.0" that happened over a four day stretch with the Yanks back in August. I've never seen a team go down the toilet so quickly.

On the happy times front, football season didn't come a day too soon this year. Thank goodness we have the Patriots to think about now. Yes, I know they barely squeaked by Buffalo last week but that's what the Pats do. I also think the Bills are going to be a lot better this year under Dick Jauron then the were the last few years. Don't get me wrong, they won't be playoff good, but I think they will go 7-9 or 8-8 and will be a team that nobody wants to play down the stretch.

By the way, do you think Deion Branch is getting the respect he deserves in Seattle yet? Granted, I think the Pats were a little short-sighted in the way they treated him, but at the end of the day, a contract is a contract. I think Deion is also going to be in for a big surprise when he realizes a) there is a guy named Shaun Alexander who will get 30-35 touches per game (that's "Shaun", not "Shawn", not "Sean", not "Shawon" but "Shaun") and b) as good as Matt "toupe" Hasselback is, he's no Tom Brady.

That's all for now. I just couldn't stand the thought of leaving the blog untouched for such a long period of time. Until next time, let's go PATS!!!

Baseball in Play

Have you ever wondered how long the baseball is actually in play during the average baseball game? Here is the unscientific answer from Rick Reilly and Dick Wade (heh heh... he said dick).

Makes that day I spent watching parts one and two of the recent Boston Massacre seem like a complete waste of time. I think I'm going to adopt a curling team. It's probably more action-packed than baseball.

Fat lady is belting out her aria...

Well to say, it's over at this point...seems pointless. The sweep by the Mariners is what put it to bed for me. I was still holding out hope after they took 2 of 3 from the Angels.

What is really amazing to me is how fast this all fell apart. It took less than a month from being in first place, over 3 games up, to being out of the playoff race...that is freakin' crazy.

Does anyone remember a team falling apart that fast? I can't think of an equivalent.

Hard to believe that August isn't over, but our baseball season is.

-JS

UGH

UGH..

I didn't want to say it after game 3 of the last series, I still didn't want to say it after game 4. But giving up game 5 (and any wild card optimism) started pushing me into it. And then to lose to Anaheim, something I was sure wouldn't happen even if they had sent Matt Clement out to pitch the game - just for the fact that giving up 5 in a row to the Yankees would light a hypothetical fire under the back side.

Well, it pushed me over the edge. I can't watch anymore, I can't do it. Maybe I'll watch a D.O. at-bat if I'm flipping through the channels and happen to notice. But...

It's football season, there I said it.

Draft Pick

Hope the Sox understand that baseball doesn't work like the NFL or the NBA. When you have 600 rounds in which to pick 1/2 of the 18-23 year old boys in the US, picking first isn't that different from picking last. Anyone have Theo Epstein's number so I can call him and let him know?

Homestand

Yeah. That didn't work out so well.

-JS

Post... Mortem

Following the sw**p this afternoon, I had the need to dodge countless f-bombs coming from Aaron's general vicinity (I may have also dropped a few myself). But in the end it was my 4 1/2 year old daughter Katie that summed it up best...

Me: "So, can I tell you about something that happened?"
Katie: "Sure!"
Me: "The Red Sox lost five games in a row to the Yankees."
Katie:...long pause... "That doesn't sound very good."

I couldn't have said it better myself...

Lester losing Luster?

First off, I totally agree with Aaron that the Sox are poised to get hot. I think they play to the level of the other team a lot, which sucks when the other team sucks and is great when you're taking two of three from a team like Detroit or the hated ones.

Being a lifer, I have to bring up something less than positive though. Anyone else not feeling so great about Lester? I mean if he wasn't pegged as 'the guy' wouldn't we all be questioning him a lot more? Really, he's had one start where he made it past the 6th inning. One. And it was against the (sometimes-not-so) hapless Royals at Fenway. It's really the only start where he dominated.

His first string of wins were really shaky and easily could have gone the other way with one squeaker past the infield. People keep saying he gets out of a lot of jams. That's great, but what it really means is that he gets in a lot of jams. Watching the first few innings yesterday was painful. In the first he was very lucky to get away with only one run. And watching him give up the 4-1 lead in the second after the Lowell grand salami was brutal. I'm on pins and needles whenever he pitches. We were lucky that the mighty sox offense pulled through yesterday because that game was this close to getting away from us. It was a "win" for Lester yesterday, but that had to be the shakiest of all his shaky wins. I'm getting the jitters just writing about it.

On the flip-side he is 22. And I do think he has the potential to be a great pitcher. The potential. He ain't there yet. I'm surprised cranky sox fans haven't been coming down on him more, but I think it's just a symptom of the way we all fall in love with these prospects that you keep hearing about when they're still in the minors. I remember being totally bummed that Hanley Ramirez got traded and I had never seen the guy play a full game.

Back to Lester. His stuff just doesn't seem that great. Eck keeps saying his fastball doesn't have the life that you would expect. It certainly doesn't have that Papelbon action. Very nervous to see how he pulls through in September/October considering he's never pitched in a season this long. I can imagine a scenario where Lester comes into his own at the end of the season. And through the playoffs. Here's hoping that he is able to step it up and that I have to eat the above stated words...it's not like we have any other options.

Anyway, I'm very excited for these next two series and I think we will be back in sole possession of first place by the time the yankees leave town.

Cheers,
-JS

PS Wouldn't you like to see someone like Abe Alvarez up here, rather than watch another Jason Johnson start? What's up with that?

Ever Get that Feeling?

Just watched the Sox nail their 8th walk off win this season vs. the hapless Orioles. Winning in this fashion is almost to the point of getting old -- wait a second -- nope, it will never get old. Just kidding. What was so sweet about this win was that it was Manny (not Papi) that got the walk off hit. That hit just happened to extend Manny's hitting streak to 27 games.

So what's "that feeling" of which this blog post title speaks? It's what I told a co-worker yesterday morning when he walked in gloating about the fact that the Sox had just dropped 5 of 6 to two of the American League's bottom feeders. He's a Let's Go Mets fan -- not quite as bad as a Yankee fan, but pretty close. The Mets are on a five game win streak which is why he felt so comfortable about rubbing it in about the Sox losing streak. I said to him, "Derek, would you rather have your team hot right now or in September?" I also mentioned that in spite of their losing ways, the Sox were ready to rip off 12 wins in their next 15 games to re-take the lead vs. the Yanks. Well, they're less than 20% of the way to 12 wins but with two consecutive wins, they're off to a good start.

Why I'm so confident about the Sox getting hot right now is that they have the team to get hot. Everyone is hitting. The starting pitching is starting to come back around (what about Wells last night?) It's amazing what a difference having your starters last more than 4+ innings has on the rest of the team. More encouraging is the fact that we get Tim Wakefield back sometime in the next week or so. All of a sudden, the Sox 1-5 starters start looking pretty good -- Schilling, Beckett, Lester, Wells, and Wakie.

No offense to Jason Johnson but he is NOT the answer for a 5th starter. He could be of assistance in the bullpen, especially in long relief however. Who knows, maybe Snyder -- their current long relief guy -- can become a 6th or 7th inning "bridge" to Big Papelbon giving them another bullet beyond just Delcarmen, Hansen, and Timlin.

Side note to this blog entry... how beneficial do you think a 6-8 week vacation for Jason Varitek is going to be come late September/early October? Anyone can see that he's been scuffling as a result of pulling his glut muscle back in April during the World Baseball Classic. It didn't affect his defense much but it dramatically affected his hitting. I can see him coming back as a force and hitting 6-8 HRs/.300+ avg. in his last 80-100 ABs.

Getting Varitek hot in the five hole (huh.. huh... hmm... huh... huh... I said "five hole") would also make a huge difference to how opposing pitchers face the 2nd through 4th hitters. The Sox lack of production from the 5th spot in the lineup has been the Sox Achilles heel to the point that the D-Rays and Royals both realized that it wasn't the worst strategy in the world to walk Ortiz and Manny and take their chance on Youkilis or Lowell.

I know winning 10 games in the next 13, especially with 8 of thos games coming against the Yanks and Tigers, is a tall order but I've got a feeling. By August 26th, we'll have a pretty good idea whether or not there was anything behind that feeling. Who knows, maybe Manny will have passed Dom Dimaggio's record 34 game hitting streak by then too. We'll just have to wait and see...

Relentless

There’s a funny line that belated comic, Mitch Hedberg, used in his somewhat schitzofrenic monologues. He would deadpan, “yesterday I played tennis against a wall… that thing was fuckin’ relentless.” While I apologize for the colorful language, the reason that line comes to mind is that it reminds me of David Ortiz. After he hit his second HR last night to break a 2-2 tie (ultimately the game winner) the DRays, I turned to my dad and said, “that guy is freakin’ relentless.”

To bring my point home, if you're a pitcher and there is one guy in the American League you absolutely do NOT want to face with the game on the line, I’ll bet that 140 guys out of 140 guys (Sox pitchers included) would tell you that Ortiz is THAT guy. How could you not. The guy hits a home run every 10 at bats. The only guy who’s potentially more dangerous is Albert Pujols. Thank goodness the Cardinals locked him up for eternity, otherwise, you-know-who (rhymes with “fine tenor” would be paying him $60 million a year.

The thing that is crazy is that the Sox got Ortiz for nothing. You think the Twinkies wouldn’t trade their owner’s first-born child to get him back? In my mind, acquiring Big Papi wiped away any of the bad Karma that was left over from losing the Babe, trading Bagwell for Larry Anderson, and even losing Pedro and Johnny. After all, they did win the World Series two years after acquiring Ortiz, right?

One last note before I sign off. I'm happy that the Yankees are winning right now. That's right, you heard me correctly. And no, I haven't lost my mind and switched over to the dark side. The reason I'm happy is that now is the time I want the Yankees to be winning. Let them get all pumped up. Let their fans get their swagger back. You know why -- because the Yankees are going down this year. When I say that, I mean they are NOT going to make the playoffs. Yes, that's a bold claim but I'll bet anyone $25 bucks that will happen. Sox win it all in the AL East by 3 games and the White Sox win the Wild Card.

Happy Saturday!
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Walkoff

I can't believe I just watched that happen again. I was watching and thinking there's no way he can do it again. Maybe he'll hit a double or something and Manny will hit him in, or something like that. It just seemed like too much to ask. Jerry even said, 'everyone in this park is thinking 3-run home run', but I was like nah, they'll rally and win or something, but it's just too much to ask. I mean he just had a walkoff single two games ago.

...and then, like it's scripted, the ball rockets off his bat to dead center and it's yet another walkoff.

Wow.

-JS

PS: I like the non-move at the trading deadline. Didn't like the sound of any of the rumors that surfaced.

Contract Year

OK. I've been out of the loop a little bit, was on vaca, blah, blah. Trying to get back into the swing of things here as the Sox have done so well over the past few games. I'll admit that I fell asleep during the game last night, but hey we were up 4-0 and the game seemed to be in good hands.

It was nice of the Yankees to complement our win last night with their third loss in a row, bringing our lead back to a comfortable 3 1/2 games. I've been thinking that not only is this the year that we win the division outright, but could this be the year that we make it to the playoffs without a nailbiting end-of-season dogfight...I'd like to think that it is.

I'd like to echo Aaron's distaste for the likes of one Mister Jerry Callahan. That guy is a boob. Usually I hate him for his politics, but acknowledge that he is pretty smart on most things sports. However, I agree with Aaron, that in this case he's on the total wrong side of the argument.

On that note, it's nice to see the Sox signing guys BEFORE they're contract is up. I just never got that strategy. If the guy has a bad year, ok, you get to cut your losses, but if the guy has a good year you have to pay through the nose to get him back or watch him waltz over to another team, ala Pedro. Even given the horrible outing he had against the Sox, tell me you wouldn't want Pedro stepping up to the mound during the postseason this year. Wouldn't it have been better to have signed Pedro for a 2-3 year extension after the '03 season, or sometime in '04? We could have signed him for a lot less money than he's making now and we would've got to see Pedro retire a Red Sox. Instead they wait until the contract year is done and let someone else swoop in and woo him away...and we end up trying to replace him with Ooh-My-Head Clement. That worked out well.

We probably could have wrapped up Johnny Damon for a lot less cake than we ended up offering him. Yes, I hate him now. But his numbers sure look a lot better than Coco's at this point (though he definitely could not have made That Catch), and for '03-'05 I had him on my list as the second most clutch hitter on the Sox behind you know who. There are many, many other examples of how the wait-till-their-contract-year-is-over strategy sucks, but I know you have your own list in your head too.

That's it for now. Just wanted to get something up and get used to writing again.

Cheers,
-JS

Dennis and Callahan

I've tried hard not to use this blog to rant. I've refrained from doing much bashing. I've even put positive spins on games the Sox have lost. Not this time.

The focus of my ire is Jerry Callahan of the Dennis and Callahan show (WEEI's primetime "drive" programming). I don't normally listen to WEEI in the morning for a variety of reasons but I happened to have it on the other day. The topic of discussion was the Josh Beckett contract extension. For those living underneath a rock in the New England area, the Sox gave Beckett a three extension to his existing one year contract at an average of $10M/year locking him up until 2010.

Now here's the thing. I know that Beckett isn't perfect. He's had some tough games this year where he's given up the long ball WAY too many times. But at the end of the day, he's 26, he throws 95-97 mph, he has a lifetime record of 53-39 with an ERA of 3.68. Oh yeah, he's also 12-5 and leads the league (along with Schilling and Halladay) in wins. One more thing, he single handidly took the 2003 Marlins on his back and did the impossible by beating the Yankees and winning the World Series -- as a result he was named WS MVP. He was 23 at the time.

In spite of those impressive stats, and a pretty darn good record this year, Jerry Callahan was all over the Red Sox about doing Beckett's extension now. Callahan's point was that Beckett isn't reliable enough due to the FOUR bad games he's had this year. FOUR. He also was nervous about Beckett's past injuries (blister problems). This is a legitimate concern but you know what, it's a concern with any player in any sport at any time.

What really got me was the fact that Jerry Callahan is a pretty smart guy. In spite of being a smart guy, Callahan insisted on complaining about how stupid it was for the Sox to do this deal. "You don't know what you're getting in Beckett over the next four years," he contended. "Why not wait until his contract is up to see what kind of pitcher he turns out to be for the Sox before extending his contract?"

Jerry, here's the problem with that stupid logic. 1) We know exactly who Beckett is. He's a flame throwing stud who CAN pitch in the big game, doesn't seem phased by the Boston fans (no small feat). He's also 12-5, has 10 quality starts, and is the second best pitcher on the Sox this year. 1) So far, he's been the oppitomy of health with no blister problems at all. 3) Premium pitching is almost impossible to acquire these days and as a result, teams pay exhorbidant sums for mediocre performers. To wit:

• Andy Pettite (Houston): 8-10/5.08 ERA -- Salary = $16.4M
  
• Chan Ho Park (San Diego): 6-6/4.64 ERA -- Salary = $15.5M
  
• Mike Hampton (Atlanta): NA/NA -- Salary = $14.5M (out for 2006)
• Matt Clement (Red Sox): 5-5/6.61 -- Salary = $9.8M
• Eric Milton (Cincinatti): 6-5/5.48 ERA -- Salary = $9.8M

Do you think any of those teams would like Beckett on their team? Well, the Sox are one of those teams that invested in a stinker (Clement) and I guarantee that they are happy to have Beckett.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, Callahan sounded like a complete ass trying to make a case as to why the Sox shouldn't have re-upped Beckett now. Really Jerry? Should they have employed the same strategies they did with Pedro and Damon? The "let's wait until their contracts are up and the player is on the verge of free agency" tactic? That didn't seem to work out too well in those negotiations. It also bit them in the behind with Varitek when the market for decent catchers dried up and they were stuck paying him $10M/four years when they really wanted to go $8M/three years.

I don't always agree with Boston's front office moves. I also know that Beckett has been far from perfect this year. But more often than not, he's pretty freakin' dominant. He's also entertaining to watch, he's a competitor, and more importantly, he's 26 years old -- with a World Series ring. I will now step off my soap box but I can promise I won't be listening to Dennis and Callahan anytime in the near future.