Curse of the Big Papi

It's not supposed to be like this...

2007-10-13T04:06:00.000-07:00

The ALCS game one was supposed to be a battle of Cy Young contestants...instead, Sabathia broke down early and never recovered. Now we have to deal with Carmona's nasty pitches...at least we will be at Fenway where we have the crowd on our side. I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but I am very optimistic about this series. I think the media hyped inevitable game 7 will not come to pass. I am guessing that the rockies and Sox will both have plenty of time to rest before the Fall Classic. Here's hoping (no jinxes!).

2007 Countdown to Opening Day

2007-01-05T02:04:00.000-08:00

First day of Red Sox baseball is 4/2 at Kansas City Royals. Unlike last year, I will actually be posting to this site with somewhat regularity once the season is underway.
I am still in Los Angeles so catching games isn't as easy as it used to be but I do have Tivo now so that should help.

gone for the winter

2006-01-31T01:22:00.000-08:00

now that the '06 team is actually shaping up, i am looking forward to the new season. the games, the articles, the countless blogs... i am also looking forward to seeing some old sox team members here in town at dodger's stadium and at petco park.
just a couple more months to go! and with the world baseball classic, it should go by quickly.

i came back for this?!

2005-09-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

my month long, self-imposed hiatus from blogging has finally come to an end... and for what? leading he yankees by 1.5 games? i guess it wouldn't be red sox baseball if it weren't nail biting. at this rate though we're not only going to lose the division but we may be squeezed out of the playoffs altogether. wouldn't that be something? cleveland is rolling, the a's are still charging (though may end up the winner in their division too). and the yankees are riding on giambi's back (where can we get our players some of the as yet undetectable steroids?) i'm not bitter though. remember those games where sveum got guys thrown out at the plate? where an injured foulke was sent to close games? bellhorn's strikeouts with bases juiced? all those things added up to a least a handful of games that could have been the cushion this team needed to put the yanks out of the picture. but as i said earlier, i guess it just wouldn't be red sox baseball if it didn't involve nausea and frustration to go along with my disbelief and exasperation.

-k rocka- where the hell are you?!?!?!

countdown to red sox at angels

2005-08-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

just a few more days until the sox stomp some angel ass. i have tickets to friday night's game and plan on pretty much camping out to be one of the first in line. i am hell bent on getting some nice pics and an autograph or two. i am going with my uncle who is a lifelong angels fan so it will be nice to gloat.
i've been watching a couple games a week over at sonny mclean's, where the some of the sox have been known to visit when in town. this weekend though matt damon and ben affleck are taking part in some jimmy fund charity event there at $1500 a head. needless to say, i will not be attending. i may go see bronson play at a guitar shop in hollywood though. i saw him in boston, he's not too bad.
anyone else have tickets to this weekend's series?

somebody give berroa a hug (and manny too)

2005-08-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

berroa booted three balls (2 errors officially) and the sox roll on! we're up 4.5 games over the yanks and our immediate schedule is pretty soft. things are looking pretty good at the moment.
did anyone else have flashbacks of the damon/jackson collision today? after renteria and manny smacked into each other, renteria went down and laid on the ground like his shoulder was broken. luckily he was able to shake it off and stay in the game. with manny taking the worst of the impact, he may not be around for a couple games. i wouldn't be angry if he was on the bench for tomorrow's game against kc and possibly into the next series.
the countdown is on to the sox coming to california. i only have tickets to one of the games (friday the 19th's) but there is a good chance i will be able to get into the diamond club thanks to my uncle knowing the stadium's head chef.

anyone have the latest on bellhorn?

k-rocka you're mia! and you're going to owe me some booze since your precious orioles are stinkin' up the place.

gangster manny staying put

2005-08-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

i'm really not sure why i let myself fall for this whole manny being traded business, the boston front office is too smart to let him go without a considerable amount in return. now we can go on with the rest of the season without worrying about any trade talk sideshows. who knows, maybe this little scare might even have done some good in bringing the club a little closer. we're already on a 5 game winning streak with kc coming to town. hopefully, we use this upcoming series to put more distance between the us and the yanks (who should have been swept by the angels).

where is manny?!?!?

2005-07-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

manny was scratched from tonight's lineup against the twins. apparently he didn't take batting practice either so he probably was never going to play today. i really hope this isn't what it looks like. moving manny would be one of the stupidest moves for this team right now. seriously, who are we going to get to replace him? i am really hoping theo is smarter than that.

manny's not going to no mets...

2005-07-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

the idea of trading manny is ridiculous. he may be unhappy playing here but he's still been plenty productive. if theo wants to try moving him in the off-season that's one thing, but i think this team can ill afford to lose the offensive numbers manny has put up so far. there is no one that the sox have a shot at getting that would have the same impact as manny does for us, no one.
last year when theo traded nomar, he was said to have a bad attitude in the clubhouse, his production was down, and we got a solid defensive 1st baseman to go along with the flashy glove of cabrera (roberts came in a separate deal, right?). manny's production is down for manny but still very strong. and i don't think he is too much more of a distraction now than he has been all along. plus, the idea of sending him to new york for more privacy, seems pretty silly.

huff and cameron combined have 3 more rbi than manny does. and as far as the $60+ million still owed to manny, big deal, boston is a rich team.
unless we are getting pedro back and beltran too, i don't think manny has much of a chance to leave boston by the trade deadline.
the sox should concentrate on a starter and another solid outfielder to help out kapler - who is still probably not an everyday player.

now i'm back (from outerspace)

2005-07-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

last night's game against tampa bay was the first i had been able to watch in over a week. i went down to LAs finest "boston" bar, sonny mcclean's, which is really the only acceptable place to watch new england sports here. even tom werner was there last night. what should have been (and started out as) a runaway game by the sox turned out to be an extra inning thriller. this would have been an incredible game had it not been against the 18 1/2 games out devil rays.

with clement leaving the game due to injury so early it was really just a matter of time before the devil rays overcame the 5 - 0 deficit. manny, sveum and schilling to an extent, tried their best to lose the game for us but damon and captain 'tek foiled their plans.

graffanino looked sharp defensively with at least four excellent plays. i haven't seen him bat but his stats look decent. does anyone know if bellhorn if supposed to be getting his job back? what about cora when (if) bellhorn comes back?

young delcarmen looked good last night. this seems like the perfect stretch to bring him up since neither minnesota nor kc are offensive powerhouses. he'll have a number of innings before having to face texas or detroit.

with nixon out and manny wanting out of boston (again) and kapler on the dl for now too, i'm am eagerly awaiting the trade deadline. c'mon theo, work your magic.

the bats are dead

2005-07-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

don't everyone get too worked up about this half a game out business. our bats are dead right now, not the first time and certainly not the last. yes, the timing sucks since the yankee bats are on fire but it won't be forever. look back to the first half of their season, very streaky. eventually the gaping holes in their starting rotation will catch up with them. they have mussina today, aaron small tomorrow (who?) and tba for thursday. come on, there is no way a team is going to end up with the division when they can't tell you who is pitching in two days.
the sox bats will wake up and we'll go on a streak of our own. maybe not the kind where we win multiple games in a row (because that's just not our style) but a streak of some sort will come.
as for baltimore, not even the addition of aj burnett will mean a playoff spot for these clowns. they're not getting the wild card and most definitely not going to have the al east title. they have a lot of talent on that team but not enough to beat both the sox and the yankees in the end.

Note to the Yankees........

2005-07-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

it's go time!

2005-07-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

ok, the 1st half of the season is behind us now and we're leading the al east by a couple games. like most sox fans, i think that number could have been 6+ games considering the yankees inconsistent play and the orioles slide prior to the last series, but 1st place is 1st place.
imo, the yanks will continue to run hot and cold especially since they currently have just johnson and mussina as proven starters. both pitchers have shown major vulnerability on the mound too. the o's pitching isn't going to hold up down the stretch either so the division is ours to lose.
i am still looking for epstein to mastermind at least a couple more (relatively) major moves to improve the club. whether that means more (or improved) arms, trading for millar, signing kapler, or anything else he can dream, i don't know. but he has proven in the past to make great deals that benefit the team now with the least amount of sacrifice for the future so i have all the trust in him.
the sox upcoming schedule looks pretty good including a million games against tampa bay, kc, and detroit, also i am pretty sure there are a lot of home series coming up.
i've read others write about how huge this series against the yankees is. i agree, in part, since it could mean a big shift in the standings but i really don't expect anything other than to trade games. i think the pitching matchups end up slightly in our favor but i'm thinking most will be slugfests.
this leads me to a couple of comments. sheffield has proven to be a bigger idiot than i had previously suspected. he seems like such an ass, first bithing about being traded, than yappin' about next year's 'world classic' or whatever it's called, now he's talking about how the sox better not mess with a-rod. wtf does he care, everything that comes out of this man's mouth is me, me, me, me, me but all of a sudden he's trying to be a team player. i certainly don't wish harm/injury on any player but if a pitch happened to get away a nail this idiot in the ass, i wouldn't be that upset.
one more quick subject that i hope to expound on in a later post... i think francona needs to grow some nuts and be more firm in the dugout or hit the pavement (no, yelling at payton when he was probably already cut from the team doesn't count). i'm not suggesting he's doing a terrible job but a few games were definitely lost by his mismanagement. at least a couple games have been lost due to bonehead roster moves which i think come from catering too much to his players. i don't know, resting practically all the starters in the same game just seems dumb. yeah, i read that the team got in really late from texas, but come on, this is the big leagues. as i said, i'd like to go into it more and see what others think. maybe i'll have a chance this weekend.

yeah, i've got nothin'

2005-07-08T15:09:00.000-07:00

last weekend was entirely devoted to wedding activities, then recovery on monday and between work and school, i have not seen a game since last week. all that will change in less than an hour though as i should be able to watch the rest of the series against the o's.

since i last posted foulke has gone to the dl, schilling has designs on the bullpen, jay payton and ramon vasquez are gone and we are welcoming alex cora and adam stern, among others. there are a number of rumors out there about a deal for payton, about kapler returning, millar wanting a trade, about jason schmidt... to me the last one is the most intriguing. our starting rotation is packed right now but who would turn down schmidt? having a rough year, he still has a great arm and maybe a change of venue and a boatload of run support might cure his woes.

we can really throw a monkey wrench in the o's whole program by kicking some ass the rest of this series. and since it sounds like all of our starters are rested up i am looking forward to a lopsided game in our favor.

missed opportunities

2005-07-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

my call for a clean sweep of the blue jays didn't really work out. the sox had plenty of opportunity to beat one of the best pitchers in the league but couldn't manage to take advantage of base runners. we stranded 8 men today including bases loaded with no outs.

is there anyone else out there scratching their head about why bellhorn wasn't pinch hit for in the 9th? he was 0 for 3 with 3 ks. with bases loaded, 1 out and batista crumbling on the mound i think a fresh bat off the bench could have made a difference. even though batista wasn't sharp, bellhorn swings at the 1st pitch he sees and pops up to the infield. that at bat certainly wasn't the reason we lost the game but it's disappointing to me to see francona not make a move in that situation.

the homeplate umpire today was worthless. he blew a key call on what should have been a strike to end the 9th inning. instead the missed call lead to a walk that would later score and help put the game out of reach. he was totally inconsistent, especially in the later innings and was probably still bent out of shape about well's outburst yesterday.

tomorrow we start a series against texas which should produce a nice homerun show between the two offensive powerhouses (go with the over everyone). i have decided not to jinx the team with any predictions. i'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best.

disappointing game today but we're still in first place. happy 4th of july all.

you should be ashamed of yourselves (according to foulke apologist)

2005-07-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

i just read this lame ass article by tony massarotti regarding foulke's comments following game 2 of the recent indians series (the one with the grand slam in the 9th - as if you had forgotten). the article starts out with this...

we set the expectations absurdly high here, though that is hardly anything new. And then, when our standards are not met, we seem to take great pride in lambasting those who fail to measure up.

is this some kind of joke? this is major league baseball, right? isn't the expectation of having your closer actually close a game within the realm of what would be considered normal? massarotti says foulke "performed even worse" when making comments like "if they don't want me to do the job, tell 'em to go tell management" and "i've done a lot of good for this team. let 'em boo." next massarotti makes up this stuff about how johnny from burger king (read: boo birds) expect foulke to keep his mouth shut and take the heat. truthfully, i don't know of a single fan that is at all concerned with how foulke responds to the boos off the field. we're all a bit more focused on what he does on the field.

for his poor performance in that game, foulke deserved the heat the crowd was giving him, all of it. yes, the strike zone was postage stamp small and the ball was hit to the shallowest part of the stands, but it wouldn't have been a grand slam without the hit and two walks that preceeded it.

it's true foulke did a fansastic job last year and was pivotal in the sox winning the world series, but that was then. all the reminiscing about him being lights out last year won't do us a damn bit of good right now. should he be given some slack for last year's performance? i don't think so. having a bad game is one thing, it's unavoidable, and the stretch of games preceding this one were pitched well. but trying to distract fans from the fact you got your ass handed to you in the top of the 9th by reminding them of past glory seems pretty cheap.
i have faith that foulke will find his form again and as long as he does he can say whatever he wants. he may sound like an idiot doing so, but that's his right.

as for massarotti, i hope his attempt to shame red sox nation, at least that made up segment unhappy with foulke speaking his mind, works.

does trot nixon suck? sheffield sure does

2005-06-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

i was making my daily rounds on some of the sox blogs when i came across comments by a couple of people who are not very happy with trot nixon's performance. amy of red sox bat girl blog said "...I would sell him so fast his head would spin" and "...he sucks donkey balls." as i wrote in my reply, i only watch 1-2 games a week but hadn't noticed any serious flaw in his game, either offensively or defensively. i decided to find some evidence of his poor playing by checking out his stats a few places (mostly on cnnsi's stat page) and found the following:
his offensive numbers look good .298 BA is 18th in the AL and 3rd among RF,
he ranks 12th in the AL for OBP and 14th for OPS.
as far as defense goes, it looks like he's ranked 3rd behind vlad guerrero and ichiro.

it wasn't until i went to his month by month totals that i noticed any significant decline. some of his april/may/june numbers are as follows:
BA : .281/.329/.276 (not terrible)
OBP: .429/.402/.304
BB : 17/9/3 (in part explains the drop in OBP)

so it appears that may was a very good month for trot and june some drop off.

to me, on paper anyway, things seem to be pretty well in order. especially if he increases his BA slightly and definitely walks more.

what i am curious about are the opinions of others out there that think trot sucks. those comments were the first i had read maligning nixon and i read sox blogs all day long. he has had injuries and doesn't start against lefties but i don't think that's the reason amy (and others) think he sucks.

my opinion is that he is a solid (at very least, plenty adequate right fielder) with a clubhouse presence that it every bit as important as guys like damon and captain tek. those of you that watch more consistently should be able to tell me what the stats do not.

on the topic of right fielders, i am sure happy we don't have a guy like gary sheffield. i detest the yankees as a team as much as the next sox fan but really don't have much animosity against any individual player with two exceptions. 1. i think tanyon sturtze is a little punk, local boy or not, he should have had his ass kicked by gabe kapler last year. and 2. i can't stand sheffield. he's a little bitch. from crying when pedro hit him with a pitch, to that lame incident near pesky pole, to whining about his contract negotiations and now his bitching about being the subject of trade rumors involving the mets. he's such a loser, a miserable loser.
joyofsox has tons more on his selfish behavior over the years.

wakefield gettin' it done

2005-06-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

daytime tv shows are absolutely terrible, considering the typical audience, i am sure this is on purpose...but i think these clowns announcing the sox game for espn today actually managed to dumb it down even more. this is probably the worst broadcasting team i've ever heard. does anyone know what a trademark deal is? because that's term one guy used to describe the rumored sheffield-for-cameron deal

wakefield pitched a nice game and the sox bats had some life too. back-to-back home runs by mirabelli and k-rocka's bf bellhorn put the sox at a 3 run advantage in the 6th. turns out that would be all and also enough to avoid the sweep.

starting the 8th inning, to my surprise, was mantei and not wakefield who was still doing just fine. mantei started out by throwing 6 balls nowhere near the plate. he recovered to get through the inning with no damage. still seems a curious move to me.

timlin closed the game but nearly pulled a foulke when, with two outs, cleveland got a couple hits and runners on the corners before the final out. this style of "closing" a game is not much fun and definitely getting old.

next up is toronto who is playing .500 ball and must be swept. no excuses. halladay or not.

foulke that!

2005-06-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

"No excuses. Just a bad day at work"- Keith Foulke.
bad day indeed. he's been pitching pretty well recently so it wouldn't have been impossible to forgive him not coming away with the save. you know, maybe had he allowed just a tie game setting up an opportunity for another walk-off hero...but, no. a triple shy of having cleveland hit for the cycle (not to mention two walks) and that demoralizing grand slam... the sox batters in the bottom of the 9th looked like they just wanted to get the hell out of there and fast.

tonight's loss makes game 3 a must win, preferably by an embarassing margin. i'd like to see the sox take out the frustration of losing a game that should have been in the bag by hitting the bejesus out of indian's starter elarton (TR 0-4 in his day games). seriously, someone's gotta pay.

sox rule, yanks drool (whilst playing crummy baseball)

2005-06-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

los angeles isn't the best place to watch the sox consistently (obvious) so i haven't been able to catch a single game against the phillies and watch the sox charge into first. i've had to settle for box scores and a few blogs out there that are updated daily. from everything i'm reading, it seems the sox are really rolling right now with both the offense 'whooping ass' (big papi) and the pitching staff doing a phenomenal job at the same time. this momentum is nice as we square up against teams who play well against us in the coming weeks (toronto, texas, the o's...).
i'd still like to know what the plans are for extra bullpen arms. it just occured to me though that with schilling returning one of our starters will be heading to the bullpen so that in itself should help, right?

i saw a clip of manny's 19th career grand slam and it reminded me of a conversation i had with k-rocka the other day. we were guessing at what a dugout chat with manny might be like...

'how's everything going manny, feelin' good?'
'jeah, i'n feel pretty goo these days, everything es alrigh, jou know?'
'that's good, you still creating your own destination?'
'oh jeah, everything will yus happen the way es suppose to, no problem'
'yeah, i hear ya', so that early season slump behind you?'
'well, for me, i don't belief en slump, i yus play how i play, feels good'
'right, right...say, listen, we're gonna need you to hit a homerun in your next at bat, ok tiger?'
'oh...alright (with accompanying slightly indifferent shoulder shrug)'

i have been able to catch games 1 and 3 of the subway series and can report that the yankees just look pathetic. their defense is absolutely terrible. i almost feel bad for them. womack as a cf looks absolutely lost, giambi has no business on the field at all and even the talented cano at 2nd looks a little uncomfortable as he misplayed what seemed to be a routine play. they were able to avoid the sweep by the mets but it wasn't pretty i can tell you that much. mets pretty much gave the game away in the 9th with terrible pitching by r. hernandez and looper. next up for the yanks are the o's and i'm hoping they just trade games while the sox continue to roll. i'd like to see a whole lot more games between us and any 2nd place team. there is no mercy in this dojo!

wanted: quality bullpen arms

2005-06-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

can someone please tell me, in detail, what we're going to do about our bullpen woes? i mean, we shouldn't have to score 10 runs just to win a game. i don't mind scoring 10 runs to demoralize a team now and then or to remind those who may have forgotten just what kind of offensive juggernaut this sox team is, or even to pad some stats, but not to eke out a win.

now when i see halama, mantei, embree, and foulke i get that same funny feeling in my belly that i used to get when bellhorn would come up to bat with men on (btw, i've come to a certain peace with bellhorn's ks). that kinda sick feeling that something bad is more than likely going to happen, you all know what i'm talking about, you feel it too.

there are more teams in contention at the moment than usual, right? so what does that mean for our chances of getting quality help? and how steep will the price be with regards to our top prospects? or do we just wait it out with the guys we have? embree has proven himself to be a very effective setup man especially when working back to back with timlin. right now, i'm not finding a lot about trade buzz (maybe i'm looking in the wrong places) so please feel free to let me know how this is going to be solved.

also...everyone in the entire universe knows that 98.65% of all media reps are pro-yankee but things are really getting out of hand lately. last week, for example, mlb.com had the nerve to headline "don't look now but here come the yankees". yahoo sports had a similar heading. this despite the fact that they had gained one game in the standings. i know i should consider the source but there are plenty more media outlets that are trying so hard to pretend the yankees are something to be feared this year. i guess on paper they are but on the field it's another matter entirely. now the devil rays are continuing to have their way with the yanks. i am aware of the final score of yesterday's game but they did manage to chase randy johnson out after 3 innings with 7 earned runs before allowing 112 runs in the 8th. the point being this, no one seems to be afraid of the pinstripes anymore and no one should be. it's strange that a group of all-stars are having they're asses handed to them by pretty much everyone.

Addendum

2005-06-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Actually, It's mostly cause I've been concentrating on other writing I want to get done, so I am not sure how much posting is going to get done until that gets finished. Rook, let's see some insightful commentary and in depth analysis. And no, not on B's dog bed either.

It's offical.....

2005-06-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

.....Rook and I have shown our true colors as Red Sox fans and have nothing to say when the team is going well. ......................... Now I just need to start swearing with every other word out of my mouth oh wait.........shit I do that already anyway.

Let's talk about something that everyone seems to be overlooking....Mark Bellhorn

2005-06-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

Just kidding.But here is a Friendster link to his profile for all of you out there that just can't get enough of number 12. http://www.friendster.com/user.php?uid=13656588 If you add him as your friend, maybe he'll sign an autograph for you next year when he's in AAA. I'm just joshing ya Mark, keep it funky.

let's go pirates!!!

2005-06-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

here's hoping the pirates take it to the yankees.

I know what we need now.....

2005-06-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

.....we need Sean Casey in a Sox uniform. He would tear it up here, and it would solve the 2 hole issue that's been going on. Although that would leave us a bit lefty-heavy at the top of the order, I would love to see him stroking gappers into right-center and using that wall.

Tie game, bottom of the 9th, John Halama steps to the mound....Wake up John, time to take out the garbage!

2005-06-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, I started thinking about writing about Halama on the way to work today, but all I could see in my mind was Francona looking and up and down the list of guys available in the 'pen in the 5th inning of a game the Sox are trailing by 2 but the starter is gassed, hoping that he might see anyone else.......and up jumps up Halama, waving his arms wildly in the bullpen, telling everyone within earshot that this time is gonna be different, by gum! Sure, buddy. Whatever waters your petunias. A finesse-type lefty with a crummy breaking pitch and a fastball that looks like a flashing neon bocce ball rolling slowly towards home plate. Does he have a brother?

So, after I thought about Hit it here Halama for about 30 seconds, my mind wandered to the other teams in our division and how we stack up against 'em. So let's take a close look at our division and see what's cracking:

BALTIMORE ORIOLES: We are SO sick of your guys' shit, Mssr.'s Yankee and Red Sox.

Dudes and dudettes, take heed. I hear many of the pundits from around baseball(mostly pro-sox) saying things like, "Well, they have to prove themselves for 162 games." or "The starters aren't going to hold up like this all year." Let's not fool ourselves here, barring injury, they are going to be right there at the end of the season. They have been powerful offensively for a bit now, but this is a hungry team filled with talented position players and the starting pitching that can provide enough innings to keep its bullpen fresh. If they can play well into the deadline, maybe they can acquire another arm for the pen so they can dispatch one of the two Strugglin' Steve's (Kline and Reed) . All-in-all a solid team, and while I don't think they have a chance to win it all this year, they should provide more than the usual amount of heartache to the Sox this year.

NEW YORK YANKEES: Shuffleboard Tuesdays!

Ok, I think every possible angle of the "Demise of the Yankees!!!!!" has been covered from back to front so I'm going to let the proof be in the sweet, delicious pudding. One quick note though, I saw Derek Jeter on ESPN news talking about how everyone seemed to be mailing it in and how the team's overall play was unacceptable. Makes you think that lots of aging superstars all cashing in their last big paycheck and waiting around for everyone else to win the game for them doesn't always work. Anybody have a way-back machine handy so I can tell Lou Gorman that?

TORONTO BLUE JAYS: Say Hey Shea, Halladay and those other guys

Honestly, I don't give a shit about them at all. They do nothing for me either way. Just good enough to keep me from mocking them. Awaiting their inevitable collapse into the comfy little pocket of a dozen games out of first and the number 16 pick in the draft. I don't think a team has been so unexciting to talk about since.....well, ever.

TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS:The AAA team that could or you can drink when you turn 21 like everyone else All-Star's

Let's think about this realistically here, when the biggest draw you have as a franchise is your MANAGER and your FARM SYSTEM is a close second, you got major problems Jack. 4-27 on the road? Perpetually stingy with money in a division that spends more for an aging reliever with velocity issues than some teams spend all year? Christ on a cracker, even the D-backs realized they can't always build through the farm system and spent some money this offseason to make the fans happy. This isn't the 40's anymore Tampa owners, you can't put a crappy product on the field and expect anyone to show up. So until then, enjoy the crappiest stadium in baseball and all that revenue sharing money. Jerks.

not so friendly confines... sox lose again

2005-06-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

this is really starting to get pathetic. there's all this news about just how much the yankees have sucked this year and yet they are currently only two games behind us!

the last time we strung anything together was early may when we swept detroit and oakland while taking 2 out of 3 from seattle in between. since then we've gone 11-16 and are 2-10 in game ones away from fenway.
the good news is that our schedule seems to soften up a bit with series against the following teams:

cincinnati (.400)
pittsburgh (.492)
cleveland (.492)
philly (.548 but 20-11 at home)

the time to get on a winning streak is now. my prediction for the orioles fading away was based on their pitching not holding up down the stretch and the ownership's history of not making any moves to better the team. now i am starting to hear news on some of the sports shows about how baltimore may me forced to make trades in order to maintain/increase market share with new competition from the (nl east leading) nationals. if they end up getting lucky with the current pitching staff and trade for reinforcements, we are in a world of hurt.

the yankees seem to have all but lost their intimidation factor but are still built to go on a winning streak again at any time. meanwhile toronto hasn't gone away yet either and halladay is back to pitching his ass off.

while theo works on masterminding key trades, tito and papa jack need to do some serious work with manny. i don't know if it's mechanics related (i'm hearing something about his leading leg) or just a good pep talk but for now he is not earning the 20 something million bucks he's making. he was 0-4 heading into the 9th today. he also has only one multi-hit game in the past 11 and 5 rbi in the same period. our league leading team obp means a manny hot streak could inflict some major damage to the oppostion and put the division standings where they should have been all along.

time for the orioles to return home (and the sox to find a winning streak)

2005-06-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

IMO the birds have until somewhere around the all-star break to enjoy being in 1st place. after that they'll be headed to the middle of the pack where they belong. this is essentially the same team as last year that finished 23 games back! they aren't fooling me one bit.
2005 team offensive numbers - .288/.344/.485
2004 team offensive numbers - .281/.345/.432
they trail only texas in total runs scored this year with 313 (sox have 309) but unless they get more pitching they're not going to be in it for the long run. the owner just doesn't make moves and i don't see him changing that any time soon.

the second place sox refuse to put together a string of wins this season. with the yankees floundering, we really should be holding a commanding lead in the division instead of looking up at the orioles.
- wakefield has not been effective in 5 starts and the bats aren't helping him out any by scoring an average of 3.2 runs in those 5 games.
- miller has had good outings (except that one against toronto) and has been pitching through about the 6th inning. i don't know much about his injury/surgery but he seems to be doing just fine averaging over 95 pitches. this was a great pickup by theo and i think he will end up winning a lot more games in the second half.
- wells has pitched a couple good games back to back and should be headed in the right direction as long as the team keeps hitting for him the way they have in his wins (and even in the two NDs). his early meltdowns in games make it difficult for me to be overly optimistic but i'll just keep my fingers crossed that his veteran experience will help him continue to turn around his w-l record.
- clement's pitching is not dominant but has been very effective. his only loss this year comes by a team who has seen his plenty of times from his days with the cubs. he's currently our ace and when schilling returns we will have a nice 1-2.
- arroyo's last game would have been a win were it not for the efforts of the sabotaging bullpen. he's a solid middle of the rotation pitcher and surprised many last year. this year the expectations are higher and i see arroyo meeting, if not exceeding those expectations.
- schilling will be returning to the mound relatively soon from what i read. i know we need his arm in the rotation, i only hope that when he returns he is back to 100%. this guy has a lot of heart and i could see him returning to help out his team possibly before he is really ready to do so which is probably what happened to start the season.
- the bullpen, i hope to be doing some research into situational stats for foulke and company. until then i will withhold comment.

the bats must come alive soon and consistently, preferably throughout the lineup.
- damon and varitek are both in the zone this year. damon is doing an excellent job leading off while varitek is doing a phenomonal job all around.
- youkilis and ortiz are also doing well. i don't think youk should be sent back down since he can play more than just 3rd base if necessary. ortiz has seen a couple of bad streaks but still has a tendency to hit at key moments (something i like to see manny do a bit more too)
- mueller can and will improve his numbers through the end of the season too. he always seems to fly under the radar - even the year he was batting champ. one hot streak and he will be back at his career averages.
- jay paytons numbers are down from his career probably due to not playing everyday. i like his replacement defense in the outfield though and if he can bring his offense up even just a little bit i'll be satisfied with his performance. vazquez, however, looks awful. i thought we would be getting a whole lot more.
- bellhorn still does nothing for me. i don't like him on the field at all. he does see a lot of pitches and draws a good amount of walks but i also see him ending a lot of innings. maybe i am just hypersensitive when it comes to his at bats. i wouldn't be crushed if the sox picked up another guy at 2nd either now or in the winter.
- millar has been hitting in the very recent past and if he can keep this up i won't start in on him either. for now i will just say that i am happy olerud is available as an alternate.
- manny's numbers seem fine except for his batting average. k-rocka told me that historically there's about a month in the season where manny seems to own every pitcher, i hope we see that soon. i haven't seen as many games as i would like to but still i haven't seen the happy-go-lucky manny from years past. c'mon manny, get loose, be happy and start hitting the bejesus out of the ball like we know you can!

lastly, the coaching staff has a few bonehead moves including premature substitutions and sending runners to home when they should have stayed put on 3rd. these missteps have probably cost us a few games already. hey, tito and co., stop making these silly mistakes, especially since the division will likely come down the last few games. maybe this year we can try winning the season deciding games now instead of waiting for the backs-to-the-wall-do-or-die-emotional-rollercoaster-blood-pressure-through-the-roof situations. don't get me wrong, i enjoy those exciting games as much as anyone and the years off my life from the stress are probably worth it but it might also be nice to have the division clinched with two weeks to spare. just something to think about.

all in all things aren't terrible, they're just so-so, definitely not at all where we should be if we're doing everything right. borrowing a few lines from moms and dads everywhere i'll say that i am not mad, just a little disappointed. this team has tons of potential and would like to see them really apply themselves starting now.

Definition of an arrogant Sox fan or how I act at a Sox game.

2005-06-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm at the Sox game on the 14th against the Mariners and in the top of the 7th inning Trot hits a grand slam to put the Sox on top by 3. I'm excited of course and the lone other Sox fan in my section and I are hamming it up, giving each other high-fives and generally being obnoxious while loving every second of it.
So I get done celebrating, not having had as much to drink as the other guy (who definitely was from Boston, he managed to piss everyone in a ten row radius off) and I see him pointing behind me and screaming rather pointedly at someone. I turn around and two rows behind me I see these two little kids with their parents (they couldn't have been more than 8 and 10) looking like they were about to cry since their beloved Mariners just fell behind late in the game.
I see this and after a minute of feeling bad for these tots that are probably seeing their heroes for the first time in person, and as I was pondering my first time at a Sox game ( I was 4, and all I remember is that it was Wade Boggs rookie season and that the benches on the 3rd base side were REALLY hard) I saw them looking over at me, possibly for some reassurance that enough I was a Red Sox fan, that somehow, someway their team was going to pull out a miraculous late-inning victory. I slowly shook my head from side to side, looked forward and then proceeded to turn my hat with its red B prominently displayed on its classic dark blue background backwards, pointed to it three times so they made sure to see it, laughed evilly and high-fived other Boston fan one more time.

I'm an evil bastard when it comes to my baseball, but I've never been able to feel so justified about it until my team was defending World Champs. Let's all enjoy it while we can, shall we?

Why Mark Bellhorn is not better than a fork in the eye.

2005-05-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hey there, y'all. I'm K-rocka and I'll be filling in on this edition of Curse of the Big Papi/ Smellhorn debate forum. So without further ado, let's jump right into the fire.

Ok, so I like Mark Bellhorn. Seems like a great guy. I mean, hell what Red Sox fan wouldn't love to crack a brew with him and just shoot the shizznit? We could play some foosball, maybe discuss some politics, start a canned good drive for the poor or even have an arts and crafts activities day. Those would all be some fun things I think Mark and I could both enjoy and with the exception of foosball could both excel at. But I wouldn't under ANY circumstances EVER EVER EVER talk to him about baseball. Cause then he would start to piss me off.

Let's expound on my main man's post from earlier and take a more in-depth look at Bellhorn through today (may 28th)
.242 BA 2HR 12RBI .353 OBP .409 SLG 13 doubles, and 54 SO through 44 games. Not too good, even if you think a second baseman should be primarily a defensive-type guy. Since the days of Spike Owen we haven't seen such an anemic output from our 2 bagger. It almost makes me long for Jose Awfulhands, er Offerman (just imagine him AND Millar on the right side of our infield shiver). Combine that with (and in my opinion, the deal-breaker) poor range in the field and it makes me wonder what the Sox front office is really doing here. Are they waiting for Hanley "only good prospect less than three years away" Ramirez to come up and play 2nd later on this year or are they hoping to swing a deal for a Junior Spivey-type for the strech run? Do they just not want to pay any more money on an established guy? This, like the 1st baseman issue, must be addressed, either by a dramatic improvment of the existing players at those positions, or the removal of Bellhorn and Millar from the team. I don't like having to be so blunt as to say that because these guys helped Boston win the Series with a combination of goofy antics,timely hitting(interspersed with weeks of ineptitude) and a resilience to criticism heretofore rarely seen in the Boston clubhouse. But that was last year, and even though as a whole the team may have some years to flub up and we won't go crazy that doesnt mean that we won't lose our friggin minds if one guy keeps blowing chance after chance to knock guys in and can hardly put the bat on the ball. Let's face facts here, the Sox are absymal offensively from the right side of the infield. The sole reason we have those two guys in the lineup everyday is to produce with the bat. And they aren't doing it so why are they still there, in the lineup making out after out? For the love of God, I would go 3 for 4 one night if you put me in there 162 times. That doesn't justify my being in there in the first place does it?

My take on the situation is this, let's survive with Olerud and Millar platooning at first, with Olerud starting the majority of the games, leaving Millar to pinch-hit off the bench when we need a little more pop than Olerud can provide. The Bellhorn situation needs to be resolved in a different way. He doesn't provide the clubhouse boost that Millar does and is consistently bad both offensely and defensively in comparison with other 2nd baseman across the league. I don't think he is capable of being an everyday major league ballplayer at this point of his career and we should explore every option to upgrade 2nd, whether solely on the defensive end or someone that can produce day after day at the plate. Move Youk over, Play more Mueller at 2nd, bring back Pesky, anything. The Sox have established themselves under this administration as being proactive when it comes to solving problems in the field, and while Francona's willingness to stand by his guys is admirable, it is certain in my mind, that the Sox are in dire need of a change.

take the k-train from seattle

2005-05-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

my pansy-ass blog is about to get some legit content from the one and only k-rocka. kevin, born and raised in southie (currently calling seattle home), has an insane amount of baseball knowledge and a lot of time on his hands. stay tuned.

saving it for the yanks

2005-05-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

turns out i wasn't able to watch any of the games this week and i must say i am rather glad. this team needs to turn things around in a hurry and hopefully a bit of intensity in the bronx will give us a spark (and slow the yankees down at the same time). woudl be nice to have some momentum heading down to camden yards too where the orioles always seem to play us well.

i read that olerud will be called up for the yankees series and i have a feeling that is going to be pivotal. late game defense plus a chance for him to stick to a team that didn't want him anymore. i only hope that it's not youkilis that goes back down. i think sending jeremi gonzalez down makes more sense.

i'm sure this weekend's series will be memorable. here's hoping the sox will seize the opportunity to start a nice run.

baseball withdrawals

2005-05-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

due to terrible scheduling at work i haven't been able to watch a game since late last week. should be able to catch most of the games the rest of this week though.

why are we losing to the blue jays???? they aren't that good. the yankees are on our heels after being what, 7 games behind us a couple weeks ago? and we certainly haven't made up any ground on the orioles.

since we have both the yankees and the oriole series' coming up, these next couple games (and hopefully wins) against toronto will be very important.

a boring day in baseball

2005-05-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

baltimore and toronto both lost today leaving the AL East as follows:
Orioles -
Red Sox 3.0
Toronto 5.5
Yankees 5.5
Tampa Bay 12.0

short outing for wells

2005-05-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

i ordered the mlbtv package from mlb.com today just in time to watch wells last 1 1/3 innings. maybe should have pitched that rehab game in the minors after all.
final score oakland 13, sox 6.
good news: back to fenway
bad news: we'll be facing hudson and smoltz.

bellhorn back on top

2005-05-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

bellhorn reclaimed his major league lead for strikeouts with two more in last night's loss to oakland, including a whiff with bases loaded and no outs. i only get a chance to watch about one game a week but it seems that so many of his ks come at just the wrong time. i do realize he was responsible for 2 of the runs last night and he certainly wasn't the only one who stranded runners.
checking out some stats on yahoo's mlb page i found his obp is .333 and half of his 26 hits to be doubles but his hrsp for this year is .179 down from .304 last year.

1,225nd red sox blog is here!

2005-05-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

because the first 1,224 sox blogs were clearly not enough...
is it just me or do you have to try really hard to lose 2 out of 3 to the mariners? hadn't they lost 10 of the previous 11 games prior to this series? hopefully we will have our way with oakland again. i'm trying to be optimistic but i wonder if the a's are getting tired of being swept.