"Wake"ing Up The Red Sox

Wednesday, Tim Wakefield flirted with a perfect game, and might have restored the Red Sox confidence in themselves.


It feels as though these first two weeks of baseball, the Red Sox have been trying to start a car. Sometimes the ignition turns over, but it doesn't last long. Maybe Wake's start is the jump they need to really get moving. It does not help, of course, that they had to face first the Rays, and then the emotionally charged and always difficult LA Angels.

Looking at the stats for the first two weeks of the season give me hope, however. They have allowed the second fewest runs in the AL East, the Rays have allowed two fewer, but the Red Sox are one of the three teams with more runs allowed than runs scored. So there is your problem. Well, Dice-K and Lowrie being injured doesn't help either, but truly, the issue is offense.

The Red Sox have just 35 RBIs so far this year. That's 27th in the league. Their on-base percentage is ranked considerably higher. Which leads me to one issue: they can't hit with runners on. While more of the team has moved above .200, Varitek (who's right at .200), Pedroia, Ellsbury, and Ortiz are all still below the .200 mark. Dustin is a traditionally slow starter, so his engine should start going soon, Papi had his first extra-base hit of the season, so maybe that will kick him into gear, and Ellsbury seems to be coming back, he's hit much better in the A's series than the others.

Maybe Wake's brush with history will rejuvinate the entire team. Right now, Youkilis and Bay are on fire. Youk's hitting .472 and Bay is hitting .345, both with two homers. Varitek's average might be a little low, but of his five hits, two are doubles, and two are home runs. He's hitting for much more power than last year and is tied with the lowest number of strike-outs on the team.

I'm an eternal optimist. So maybe all of this is nothing, and they're going to continue to be below .500 for the first time in years, but somehow, I doubt it. Maybe Tek is going to have another bad year, but what I've seen so far says otherwise. Maybe Bay won't hit 30 homers, but I think he will. And maybe Kevin Youkilis will slump after the All-Star break, but I have faith.

The Sox return home tonight to take on the Orioles at 7:10. Penny takes on Guthrie, who has looked pretty good in his two starts for the birds. The Orioles are a game back of the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays. Raise your hand if you saw that one coming. If Penny can locate tonight, and the bats can get moving, I think the Sox turn it around and get back above .500.

Confessions of a Stats Freak: Red Sox 2009 Preview (Part 1)

Its time for a little baseball prognosticating. I'll admit to being a stats addict, and I'm going to look at the stats from Spring Training 2008, compare them to the stats from the 2008 regular season, and then see what conclusions I can draw for this coming season based on the 2009 Spring Training stats. Whew. Good thing I'm a stats freak 'cause that's a lot of numbers.

We'll look first at the Captain, and see if his 2009 will be better than 2008.

'Tek hit .320 in 2008 Spring training, with 3 homers and 7 RBIs.

In 2008, he hit .220 with 13 home runs and an astounding 122 strike-outs in 131 games.

So far this spring, Varitek has hit .206 with 3 homers and 12 RBIs. Maybe the lower spring training batting average bodes well for 'Tek, his 2007 spring training batting average was .108, and he ended up hitting .255 with 17 home runs in 2007.

My prediction is that 'Tek will hit somewhere between .229 and .245 for 2009. We'll see.

Next, we'll take a look at Jacoby Ellsbury

In 2008 spring training, Jacoby hit .209 with 4 RBIs and 3 runs scored.

During the regular season, despite slumps, Jacoby finished with .280, 47 RBIs, 98 runs scored and 50 stolen bases.

This spring, Jacoby has hit .250 with 8 runs scored, 5 RBIs, and 1 steal.

Look for him to hit around .300 this season, with more runs scored and more stolen bases if he can avoid the slumps. Since this will be (sort of) his third year in the majors, maybe he can avoid the sophomore slump? If he does, Ellsbury will be one of the game's elite lead-off hitters, combined with his great defense, should lead to an excellent player.

Now lets look at the AL MVP Dustin Pedroia.

In 2008 spring training, Dustin batted .179 with 1 homer and 4 RBIs.

The 2008 season, he stepped up his game considerably, hitting .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs.

This spring, not including his brief stint at the World Baseball Classic, Pedroia has hit .370 with 4 RBIs and 10 hits.

Pedroia throws off the stats a little, because so far, he's been a slow starter (he hit .196 in 2007 spring training, then hit .317 for the year). But because of the World Baseball Classic, we don't have all his stats. If you figure them all out, Dustin's spring average is .279, considerably higher than his usual spring training average. That means I have to forget stats and just guesstimate.

I'd look for Pedroia to do better than his stellar year last year and hit around the .335-.350 mark. This may be overly optimistic, but he's got the will and the drive.

That's it for part one, next I'll look at Lowrie, Lowell, and Youkilis and see what kind of years they will have.

Varitek, Sox Together Again. Officially.

Finally, the Varitek saga, which has kept us all hitting "refresh" on google news/Boston Globe/ESPN, whatever, is over. Reports are that Jason Varitek has agreed to the one year , $5 million dollar contract with the club/player options for the second year. All I have to say is hal-le-freaking-lu-jah!


Of course, now that the Captain is back, what am I ever going to obsess about? I mean, spring training doesn't officially start until Feb 14th, which is two weeks from now. And yes, there is that little game called the Superbowl on
Sunday, and I can obsess about the
Cassel questions and the NFL off-season.

Note to Patriots, if you are even listening: half the Baltimore defense are unrestricted free agents this year. Grab as many as you can get your hands on. Please. As for the Cassel/Brady drama...maybe that will be enough to keep me occupied now that the Tek saga is done, and the Sox unlikely to make any more off-season moves. But of course, since its the Patriots, the amount of information we'll be able to get on the Brady/Cassel situation (how is Tom's knee, are the Pats keeping Cassel, are they going to tag him...etc) will be slim to none.
Thanks for the closed-mouth attitude, Bill. Most days, I don't mind that, but when you want to know something, the Patriots can be down-right annoying.

Back to baseball. Red Sox Nation rejoice, we have a catcher. I know Tek was like an automatic out last season, but its not like there's anyone out there who can step in and take his place. Now we'll just ease Tek out of the position, introduce a new catcher, get the staff acclaimated to the new guy, so that we can phase Tek out in 2010. And you never know, he could have a brilliant season in 2009 and bounce back a little. Call me crazy, but it could happen.

Sox Reportedly Make Offer To Varitek

According to a Boston Globe article found here, the Red Sox have formally offered Jason Varitek a deal. While the specifics are unclear, it is likely that it is less than the previously offered $10 million arbitration deal, it may be for two years or contain an option for a second year contingent on at-bats or something.

If you ask me, its about time.

While there is no word on any deadline for Tek and the Prince of Darkness (Boras) to accept this deal, pitchers and catchers report on February 12th, a few short weeks from now.

Back In The Backstop: The Case For Tek

Of the Red Sox active roster, the average age of the pitching staff is 28. Take out the highest and lowest two ages to avoid any one larger or smaller number significantly affecting the stats, and the age you get is 26.7.

That's a young staff, and with such a young staff, we need, and everyone say it with me, a VETERAN catcher. I really think Schilling said it best. The Sox need Tek so they can wean our lovely young pitching staff off the Captain and acclimate them to the "catcher of the future".

This may take some time. In the big leagues, Bowden, Buchholz, Masterson, Lester, Delcarmen, and Paps have never had a different catcher. It has always been Varitek. You are talking about a potential ace, several potential starters, and a firecracker of a closer who have developed a really close relationship with the Captain. Schilling also went on to say that Varitek "knows some of us better than we know ourselves."

Strong words. Now, we know the Sox have a standing offer on the table for Tek, and we know it is not the $10-$12 million he would have gotten earlier, however, I have to believe that for his pride's sake alone (a Captain needs a bit of pride to be a good leader!) they're going to offer $2-$5 million over a year or two. I'd say two with an option for a third year, because though he doesn't need to be starting, you could have the "catcher of the future" training under one of the greatest catchers of all time.

Now what several people have suggested (and while I believe its none of our business, I think it might be true) is that Tek is waiting for his divorce to be finalized before agreeing to any deal. It makes logical sense from a financial stand-point.

You know what else makes logical sense? A collective firing of the Prince of Darkness (Boras) by all the Free Agents his greed has royally screwed over this off season. Or the baseball owners pool their money and have him "taken care of".

Regardless, I think Tek will be back in the backstop come spring training, with some new young guy watching his every move, trying to learn. And who knows, maybe he'll have a comeback year. Call me crazy, but it could happen.

Sox Avoid Aribitration While Tek Clears The Air

Theo Epstein has now gone six years without actually going to the arbitration hearing.

Papelbon signed a one year, 6.25 million dollar deal to keep him out of arbitration in his first year of eligibility, and they may not be finished. This was the biggest deal ever for a relief pitcher in his first year of eligibility.

Of course, after locking up Youkilis and Pedroia with multi-year deals, one can bet the Sox, with their available funds, would likely try and lock up their eccentric closer as well.

Javier Lopez signed a $1.35 million deal, which is a $500,000 raise from last year.

Also according to reports, the meeting that Jason Varitek had with the Red Sox without the Prince of Darkness (aka Boras), it was to clear the air with the team because they had been ignoring Boras's calls. He also stated that he had no idea that teams would forfeit a draft pick when he decided against the Red Sox earlier offer. How true this is, I don't know, but it is possible that our beloved Captain, baseball smart as he may be, may not know all the ins and outs of trade deadlines and arbitration deals. From his comments, Tek sounds sincerely apologetic and a little ashamed.

For my part, I'm going to believe him, and maybe that is why he decided not to take the $10 million, which I never understood why he didn't. It made no sense to not take that deal, and now I am starting to understand his reasoning behind not taking it. If he didn't know about the draft pick, and PoD (Boras) wasn't about to tell him, then he was going along, blissfully ignorant that taking him from the Red Sox would come at such a high cost for another team.

30 Days Has September...

...and I think the Sox will be there (knock on wood and cross my fingers, do not be angered baseball gods!)

Right now, the Sox are 5 games back of the Rays, and 3 games ahead of the ChiSox/Twins (tied for the lead in the AL Central and for 2nd in the Wild Card) the Yankees, in 3rd for the Wild Card at 7 games back, still wait, ready to ruin someone's playoff hopes. I know that they are not likely to make it to October, but they are the Yankees, and you can never say never.

A few good things are happening this week: the return of Josh Beckett (hopefully to last year's sept-oct form), the possible (likely) return of Mike Lowell, and later we might see JD Drew, Colon, and maybe even Buchholz. Also, the Red Sox play mostly at home (even though it is against mostly decent teams), while the Rays, Yankees, White Sox and Twins play mostly on the road (Yay!). This might not necessarily make much of a difference, but it is a lot harder to win on the road and it's a lot harder for the Sox to lose at home (it happens, but our chances of winning double when we play at home).

I just want to say how proud I am of the way they've played this year. The Red Sox have been through the ringer this year (not as bad as '06, but not good) We lost Manny; Big Papi, Mike Lowell, JD Drew, Dice-K, Wake and Beckett have all had stints on the DL. Youk and Ellsbury have missed a smattering of games with random minor injuries and illness, Ellsbury has been having a hard time batting in the number 1 spot (his bat is inconsistent), Lowrie, Pedroia, Bailey, Casey, Youk, Lowell, Lugo, and Cora have all put in time in the infield, with only Pedroia playing daily at his spot. And to top it all off, the Captain has been like an automatic out at the plate (though he is hitting much better recently)

That's all the bad that's been the summer months of the 2008 season. Now for the good:

-JD Drew being Mr. June and winning MVP of the All-Star game (where the Sox were well represented)

-Dustin Pedroia (pictured). Building on a fantabulous rookie season, Dustin has become an RBI machine, with an astounding on-base percentage and playing like he's at home in every stadium. Excellent fielding, fast runner, and very good at adapting to other situations, he should be a candidate for MVP.

-Jacoby Ellsbury. Despite his struggles with the bat this season, that boy has wheels. He
steals bases like a kid snagging candy from a 7-11. He makes great catches, mostly
because he can make it from one area of the outfield to another in seconds and goes for it every time.

-Jason Bay. JBay fits in at Boston like he was meant to play here. He hits, he makes
plays, and most importantly: we have a left-fielder who's play gets him more headlines than
his attitude and his antics. (Sorry Manny, I will always love you, but I am looking forward to
Bay playing all of September)

-Jon Lester. In the years to come, he just might be the best pitcher in baseball. He threw a no-hitter, he's beaten cancer, and according to Varitek, who is an excellent judge in
pitchers, we've only begun to see what he can do.

-Bailey, Lowrie, and all the other new additions: The Paw-Sox were beastly this year. And every time the Sox called up a player to the Show, they've done well. Especially Bailey and Lowrie. (Lowrie has finally made Sox fans secure in who was playing at short. We weren't worried about the errors.) Plus the players we've added over the season, everyone has been pulling their weight.

-Youk. Kevin Youkilis should be the AL MVP this year. He's played first, he's played third, he's been an RBI machine. He's moved into Manny's spot and taken on the burden of hitting after Papi. But don't tell him about the MVP, he would much rather have a ring.

Now, to recap the game.

Byrd hung in there to get his third win, but the O's hung around until the last inning, threatening to take over, but Paps hung in there to notch another save. It was not a good night for the bats. We left 12 men on base. 12. Despite back to back HRs by Tek and Bailey, the Sox had a hard time producing with men in scoring position.
A W is a W and on a night where the Rays were idle, it was a good win to make up some ground on the AL East leading youngsters.

A good night for Boston, despite a shaky performance. That game should have been a blow-out. Up tonight is Lester vs. Liz. Last time the Sox took on Liz, they hammered him, scoring eight runs and knocking Liz out of the game in the 3rd. Lester has had a shakier month in August compared to some of the other months he's pitched, but his version of shaky is losing 2 decisions in six starts, and having one game where he didn't go 6+ innings. He bounced back after that particular start to hold the Yanks to just 2 runs, walking none and striking out 8. He is 2-0 against the O's this season.

As September gets going, look for the Sox to call up some players and have all their injured men come back from the DL, ready to make a strong push for October.

Now, onto Football:

The season kicks off with Jersey/A (NYG) vs. the Skins on Thursday, and everyone else follows on Sunday and Monday. The NFC East looks like a beast this season, so don't expect any of those teams to run away with the division. The Patriots should again take the AFC East, though the division did get a little tougher with the addition of the Farve and with the young talent added to Buffalo. Brady should start, despite a "sore foot" that has plagued him all pre-season. (Note, "sore foot" might be Bellichick speak for "not really injured, just trying to throw you off) So here's my NFL predictions, starting with the NFC.

NFC Champs: If the Cowboys can win 1 playoff game, they'll win them all. If not, go with the Saints or the Eagles or the Skins...maybe the Vikings.

AFC Champs: Patriots (sorry, they're beasts). Maybe the Colts, the Chargers (depending on Merriman) and the Jags, or the Browns.

Of Dice and Men and Perfect Pedroia

Dice-K had an astounding outing yesterday against the visiting chiSox. Which, I have a temporary complaint: we live in southeastern VA. I realize and understand that WGN is Chicago-based, but it is unnerving and annoying to watch a home game from the visitor's side and I HATE Harrelson. Rem-Dawg (NESN) is clearly biased, but no one, I mean NO ONE is as bad as the guys who do games for the White Sox. If I have to hear something repeated/hear "he gone" one more time, I will strangle someone.

(Sorry, I'm watching the game right now, and I am so tempted to mute the TV and pull up gameday audio with WRKO so I don't have to listen to these guys!)

Dustin was fantastic, going 4 for 4, and Papi, Youk and Tek had great nights. Talk about Tek, he has brought his batting average up, like .010 in a week and a half. (Note, this stat may not be so surprising for everyone, but for Tek, especially this year, that is great!)

Okay, game is on and commercial is over, I'll write again when the game is over (though, I have to say, I'm loving our bats tonight!)

PS - anyone see the beautiful bit of acting the Captain tried after catching a crazy in-and-out of the crowd bouncing foul? LOVE him! LOVE him!

On The Importance of Playing Wall-Ball

After a few days spent on vacation with my mom and sister (thus, sports were almost banned altogether) its good to get back into the news world. And to think, I've been missing all the minute-by-minute updates on Brett Farve!

Sportscenter:
Levy: Mort, what's happening with the Farve situation in Greenbay?
Mortison: Well, he got up to go to the bathroom, so clearly he thinks this meeting is going to go longer than he thought and he won't be able to hold it.
Levy: Any other updates? How does Aaron Rogers feel about this?
Mort: He feels that it is his turn, he thinks Brett can go to the bathroom, but how can he pee at a time like this? Aaron kind of feels like maybe Brett could be home in Mississippi using the bathroom, or in the front office.
Levy: So he's really being distracted by this whole situation, then?
Mort: If this continues, I wouldn't expect the Packers to be much of a threat this year. I mean, the Lions might actually win ten games (and Kitna might not get sacked every game), the Vikings could improve their quarterback overnight so they wouldn't have to lean on that fierce running game all season, and the Bears could have more than just an iffy defense, if they pick a quarterback that is not their number one or number two.
Levy: Well, that's all the time we have for this Sportscenter update. For baseball scores and any sports other than Farve-watching, go online to ESPN.com. Oh, and we love the Rays.

(sorry for the dabble into football, but I am SO over this Farve situation. We should be talking baseball and a little bit of pre-season football this time of year, not just about one washed-up player)

On to the Red Sox.

They look so much better. So much. Even in the loss, they were looking a lot better than they have in weeks. They seem to care about baseball again, they seem to be having some fun. Ellsbury has finally seemed to come out of his slump, Varitek has been on base more times than he's struck out in the month of August, Pedroia has struck out 4 times in the last 10 games (do we have a new Greek God of Walks?), and Youk has been settling into his new role as Manny. Seriously, when they got in a fight a few weeks back, maybe Manny transfered some of his bat-swinging mojo to Youk. He's having the season of his life, and I'm glad Tito moved him behind Papi. And Bay? Did you see the ball-rolling almost homer? Classic. And a second one for the Red Sox this year. Weird.



Tonight, Pedroia has the night off, which is not good, but well-earned, Jason Bay seems to be fitting right in and loving playing for Boston, and in other good news, the Platypus (Joba Chamberlain) is on the DL. No offense to the guy, but anything that hinders the Yankees makes me happy). Mikey and Papi seem to be OK, and Ellsbury has his wheels back. Here's to fifty stolen bags this season (hey, I can hope!)

Hey, the Olympics start Friday! Yay!

A Brand New "Bay"

We squeaked by again, but we're getting on base. Which is better than we did in the Angels series. Maybe next game we'll start scoring more?

Welcome to Boston, Jason Bay. While I will miss Manny's antics, I'm okay with moving on. Here's the conclusion of the game: Jed Lowrie hits a sac fly to score Jason Bay. Jed Lowrie hits a single to shortstop, Jason Bay scores. Sounds like a broken record. And I liked how all the guys mobbed them at the end. I finally felt like they were a team again.

Yeah. I think he'll be okay. He's glad to be here, too.

"I had a Red Sox onesie when I was growing up," the British Columbia native told reporters, noting that his father was a diehard Sox fan.

In his bedroom as a kid? Posters of Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski.

(see video here.)

Bad news: Mikey hurt himself running out a single in the 10th. Not good. Good news? It doesn't seem too serious. Papi was a little out of it tonight, but I think he'll adjust. JD looked fierce, so did Pedroia and our bullpen. (Thank goodness!) More good news is that New York lost again. Bad news? The Rays won.

You know what I heard on the radio today? John Seibel (or his guest host, I don't remember) said that by trading away Manny, the Sox had traded themselves out of the playoffs. Are you serious? These are the same guys who said before the break that the Yankees wouldn't be a force this year, only to see the Yanks go on a hot streak. Now they're saying we won't get into the playoffs? We have as good a shot now as we had before the deadline. I don't think one player can make that much of a difference. Not on this team. Take away Manny and we still have the best captain around, JD Drew, red-hot Pedroia, speedy Coco and Ellsbury, beastly Youk, lights-out Lester, Big Papi, and World Series MVP Mikey. Those guys, especially the experienced, veteran players, will not let that happen.

Hey, I think my faith has been renewed...weird.

Dice-K and Dustin: The Road Warriors

Okay. Dice-K wasn't dicey. At least until the 8th. That was a switch. And the Sox are looking good on the road, I mean, its against the Mariners, but still. I'll take what I can get.

Some really good things happened yesterday:

1. Dice-K went 7 1/3 and only let in 2 runs towards the end there...not too bad
2. Okajima looked good. It was like a flashback to last year, maybe he's out of his slump?
3. Paps notched save #30. That's the third year in a row he's had a least 30 saves in a season.
And its only July. We've got a lot more baseball to play.
4. Tek had another hit. Do we dare to hope?
5. Mikey had a good day swinging the bat, possibly signifying that he's coming out of his little mini-slump
6. Jacoby Ellsbury looked good. I mean, he didn't have a great night for a lead-off man, but he looked good.
7. Manny and Dustin extended their game hit-streaks to 11 and 23, respectively.
8. This afternoon's game will hopefully be the last one we play this season without Papi, who returns for Friday's home stand against the Yanks.
9. JD Drew homered. That's always a good thing.
10. The Rays lost. Actually, the Rays got spanked. Good stuff.


So now that we've discussed the 10 good things that happened last night, lets talk about something magical. I was watching the game, and there were a couple of balls hit to third, and I remember thinking: "okay, good, we got that out." when in fact Mikey had barely begun to field the ball. The duo of Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis is the most comforting corner combination ever. They are both tremendous defensive players, and sometimes I feel like any ball hit to them is an automatic out. And obviously Dustin Pedroia is up there too, they're all golden glove candidates (again in Mikey and Youk's case) in my book. That should have been your All-Star infield: Youk, Pedroia, Jeter, Mikey. (A-Rod is WAY overrated. I mean, at least Jeter is good and a class-act, but A-Rod...eh. not so much.)

Clay B. is starting for the Sox this afternoon (what a weird time for a game, not that I'm complaining, because I've been up late every night this week watching the late night games. I mean, I know its a 1:40 game in Seattle, but 4:40 is just a bizarre time to start a game ) hopefully this start will be better than the last few, especially since the Sox are up against Felix Hernandez, which is quite scary (especially for righties).

What do we need?

We need a quality outing from Buchholz, good, clutch bats from the boys, and I want to see Paps out there in the 9th. And a Rays loss wouldn't hurt either :)

Go Sox!!

Aye, Aye, Captain

Jason Varitek hit a 2-run shot to put the Sox over the Mariners last night. I feel like that needs its own headline.

I really hate west coast swings. I mean, the games go so late, and I have to work in the morning. But at least I got to go to bed happy.

Can we just discuss how much of a beast Lester is? I mean, in 103 pitches (which went well into the 8th inning) he threw 18 balls. That's enough to walk 4 batters. Just 4. And he didn't walk anyone. That boy is solid. And Pedroia. 22-game hit streak. 22 games. He doesn't always hit deep or hard, but he's a staple on base. Now if we could just get Papi back and get JD out of his double-play hitting streak, we'd be good. As for Ellsbury, I'm not too worried, I think he's just in a slump, and these things happen. We, as fans, just have to keep the faith and hope. We still have one of the best teams in baseball, and we're fierce down the stretch. I don't know what has gotten me into such an upbeat mood, maybe its because my boy got a hit...I don't know.

Lets talk about Tek. Tek is my boy. I have been waiting for him to battle out of this slump for months. And his contract is up this year...I don't think we should give him a 4 year deal, but I think the dumbest move the Sox could make would be to get rid of Tek. I don't care what he's hitting, if he gets into too bad of a slump we can always pinch-hit for him. There is nothing that compares to the defense and intangibles that he brings to the team. You can't get rid of the Captain...that doesn't even make sense.

Next up, Dice-K vs. Dickey. Here's to another late night. :) Go Sox!

The AL East, The All-Stars and the Rays, Oh My!

Sorry for the long hiatus...I was on vacay during the all-star break, but I'm back with notes and ready to go.

O's game first. We lost. Moving on. O's again, but this time, we weren't planning on losing. Wake pitched great, and Youk, fresh from the last strikeout to lose the game Friday, was angry. When is Youk not angry? He is always fired up. Anyway, its the 3rd inning, bases loaded, here comes Youkilis. I was sitting on the couch with my neighbors dog (I live with people who think its okay to have a cookout when the Sox are on TV. eh) and I looked at the dog and I said "I think Youk's gonna hit one hard." Sure enough, Grand Slam for Kevin. Yay.

Manny and J.D. hit solos....that was just a really bad inning for the O's. I remember thinking towards the end there: wait a minute. Pedroia and Ellsbury have already hit this inning...like I said, bad inning for the O's. And because it's an AL East game, they keep updating us on the Rays scores.

Speaking of the Rays, they've lost seven in a row going into the break. Seven. Now, for older teams, that doesn't worry me too much. But for the Rays...well, they're pitching will keep them in it, maybe, but it all depends on whether or not they let this slump affect them, shatter their confidence. They were on top for three weeks or so, and they couldn't hold it. Whether that's over confidence on their part, bad luck, or just some nerves, I don't know. I don't see the Sox giving the East up any time soon, and I don't think the Rays are going to go on a tear again, because as good as they are at home, they are that bad on the road. Unless the Jekyll and Hyde thing can be sorted out, they may fall out of the Wild Card race. Notice, I said "may". Its baseball, anything can happen.

Okay, so the O's fell to the Sox 12-1. I just think they had Liz's number.

On to the next game. The nail biter. I mean, not really, but really. Dice-K threw an enormous number of pitches (scary) walked five (really scary) and four hits (really, really scary) yet somehow, it was scoreless. Paps looked a little sloppy on the save, but thanks to a diving catch by Pedroia and a few other good plays, he notched his 100th save. Nice. And with this win and the Rays loss, the Sox pull a half game ahead of the Rays just in time for the All-Star break.



So, the All-Stars. Okay, in Paps defense, he really didn't mean that he thought he should close instead of Mariano Rivera. That was not what he said. What he said is exactly what every back-up was thinking: "I don't care if [name] is the best [position] in baseball, I want to start at [position]." Duh, people. And New York fans, you can hurl all the insults you want at the boys, they expect it, but leave the pregnant ladies alone, okay. That's just wrong. I wouldn't say a bad word to a pregnant woman that would seem threatening, even if she was covered in Yankees gear. So heckle the players, heckle the other fans, but leave the future mommies alone.

Now on to the All-Star game. There were a ton of Sox playing, which is wonderful, and I gotta say, listening to an interview by Tek, I understand so much more why he is so respected by EVERYBODY. (Except maybe A-Rod. They may still have some beef) That is the most humble, intelligent player ever. He was so honored to be there, and I don't care how bad he hits, you can not ask for a better captain or catcher. The oh-so-classy NY fans booed Tito and the other Sox. Surprised? I think Yaz and Fisk should have been on that field for the opening ceremony, but its the Yanks, what do you expect. This is what made me happy to watch the final All-Star game in Yankee Stadium:

Count 'em: 16. Yep. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Now really, onto the game. I think Tito did a good job, they all played, they looked like they were having a good time, and hey, the AL won. Again. After 15 innings. And in almost every one, either side had a chance to put the game away for good. It was a weird game. I was in bed, watching it, thinking, I can drift off to sleep to the post-game, it'll be here soon. (That was in the 11th inning)

You gotta love JD Drew in this game. He comes in, gets on base 4 out of 5 times, one of those was the game-tying 2-run homer. Combine that with good defense, he was an obvious choice for MVP. I mean, really, who else would you pick? Longoria? Its not even close. So congrats to JD.

In other news, Che-Hsuan Lin, a previously-unknown defensive replacement in the All-Star Futures game from Class A Greenville, was the MVP of that game. The Sox signed him, and are hopeful that with some work, the slugger and stellar defensive player will work his way up onto the Fenway roster, which is all that Lin wants to do. He wants to play for the Sox. I love a guy like that. So, the Sox come in with the most All-Stars for the AL, they get the MVP, and then the farm system gets the Futures MVP. Yep. That's exactly the way I wanted Yankee stadium to be sent off. Actually, had it been Drew instead of Young who hit the game-winner, that would have been great.


I should not go on hiatus, the blogs get really long. Well, here's to a strong second half.

In final, closing, seriously, the last bit of news...

I'm trying to be Governor of VA for Red Sox Nation. Its truly my passion, and I would love to do it, so anyone interested, you can endorse me, Sara Hannon, at RedSox.com, my email is: hannonse@gmail.com.

Thanks. See you in the second half! :)

And The Hits Go On

After a few games one-hit wonder one run squeaks, the Sox let it all go for Wednesday's game against the Twins. Final score? 18-5. Score in the first inning? 0-3. Yeah. We all got worried, and then, it was like someone flipped a switch.

Tek got some great hits. Maybe he's coming out of his slump to go on a hot streak. (Being a catcher myself, it is really hard to concentrate on anything but catching, so working out of a batting slump along with being a game manager...its really, really hard. So I've been rooting for him) The best part? His hits were RBI singles.


And if that weren't enough, Jacoby got 4 hits, Manny, Youk and Casey got three (including Youk hitting a homer) The Sox had 23 hits, 10 for extra bases. Jeez.

And this wasn't the Mariners we were beating here, its the Twins. The Twins who came to Fenway winning 19 of their last 25 games. Why can't we play like this against Tampa Bay? Maybe we can now. Maybe it won't matter, if the Rays continue the slump they are on. The Sox are 1.5 games back on the Rays, hanging around and making things difficult for the young team.

Congrats to the All-Stars. I think Mikey should be at third, but that's a rant for another day...and Cheers to the Nation for giving J.D. Drew one of the biggest voting boosts in the history of the All-Star game. Nice. We've got seven, eight if you count the skipper, I think that's a fitting way to end the days of Yankee Stadium - filling it with Red Sox players. :)

This may sound terrible, but I need Evan Longoria to suck it up from now on and I need Jacoby to have the season of his life from now on. I want him to win Rookie of the Year, but as long as everyone is in love with Longoria, that's not going to happen. I'm not saying this out of spite for the Rays, I want Jacoby to be the Rookie of the Year, and anyone who stands in the way of that goal is the enemy.

Clay Buchholz is back after his stint in the minors, and since he had such a strong few games in Pawtucket, spending that time to work on his mechanics, we'll be getting a really good pitcher back who can take out the O's.

Final thoughts: Manny is always going to be Manny. It's how life is. But this? I feel like we could have a highlight reel of Manny's antics and never mention how good a slugger he is. I mean, you have the catch, give a fan a high five, and still get the double play highlight, his often confused base-running, or this:

Manny has climbed into the Monster before. But the cell phone? Oh well, its just Manny being Manny.

So Good, So Good, So Good

Before we begin, I'd like to take a moment of silence for the city of Seattle. I can't imagine what they're going through.

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Done. Okay. On to baseball! It's always a good day when we beat the Yankees. When we beat the Yankees with a Jon Lester complete game shut out? Lets just say the Rays series stings a bit less (no pun intended) And Tek got a hit. Yay! All is right in my world tonight, and I can start praying for a Tampa Bay meltdown...probably not going to happen, but hey, its something we can hope for.

Congrats to Dustin Pedroia (or, D.P. as we lovingly call him) on extending his hitting streak to 11 games. J.D. was Mr. June...could Dustin be Mr. July? Don't know. We also find out how many of the boys will be taking the field for the All-Star game. Probably a lot. And Tito gets to run the show. I feel like this is just torture for the Yankees, and its sadistic, but I love watching them get tortured.

And who doesn't love Lester? I mean, how can you not? He's one of those players who you have a grudging respect for even if you hate their team (like my relationship with Jeter. Respect him. Great player. I'd love him if he played for anyone else, but I can't hate him. He's too much of a class act.) Lester is one of those guys that you just have to love. I think this is Lester's year. I mean, he's got the no-no, two complete game shut-outs...could we add a ring to this to top it all off? I think so.

Here's to Beckett and the Fourth of July! Happy Independence Day, y'all! (What, I may like the Sox, but I'm still a southerner) Shouldn't we automatically win on the 4th since Boston was like, huge in winning this whole Independence thing? Ya know, Paul Revere, Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre...isn't there some karma from that or something?

And I'll leave you with a few thoughts.

-Burn Notice is a great show. Check it out! (It has the line: "Guns make you stupid. But Duct tape? Duct tape makes you smart.")

-Jacoby Ellsbury is like the Speedy Gonzales of Baseball. No joke.

-One of the issues facing the Sox at the end of the year is Jason Varitek's free agency. Normally, I am against falling in love with a player and thus not letting them go when it's time, but removing Tek is like taking away the soul of the team, a great defensive player, and an almost coach. How stupid would you have to be to trade the Captain? The guy who manages games better than any other catcher in the league? (Note: I fully believe the Sox will re-sign Tek, but this is just me getting out my two cent)

-A sweep of the Yanks would be great. Really, really, really great.

One final thing: this is from March, but it's too funny to pass up. Look up "Mike Lowell's Dancing With the All-Stars". This isi from March but it still makes me laugh. There should be four videos that go along with these three pictures, along with mentions of Nutrisystem, being turned on, and the ownership of a particular shirt.

So good, so good, so good.