I was at the game last night. Scoring those 5 runs was probably the most exciting moment in my life. Seeing Wily Mo Pena actually hit a breaking ball was like seeing Jesus walk on water. Thinking back on it, any game where Wily Mo is the hero can't be a good sign. Lugo's bunt was amazing. I don't think I've ever loved that guy more than that one moment, and that's saying a lot because I put him on my list of bums who can't hack it in Boston a while ago. I'm also starting to think that Gagne is damaged goods. He's pitched horribly everytime we've brought him in. J.D. Drew is a bum, too, because he should have given up his body to block that ball. The pretty boy didnt want to hurt his fragile body, I guess. But the real idiot award goes to Francona. Why bring in a righty to face lefties, a lefty to face righties, and leave your best arm sitting in the pen? I'm so demoralized right now.
Go Sox.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
755*
Barry finally hit it. The all-time home run record is one of the most important records in all of sports. As a fan, I felt that I had to witness that piece of history being made, and to tell the truth, I smiled when I saw the ball go out of the park. But when I think back on it, I wasn't happy that Barry was breaking the record; I was happy that I was watching the record being broken. It's true that without steroids Barry would never have been able to do what he's done, but it's also true that without steroids he still would have been a lock for the Hall of Fame. The very fact that we have to wonder and question if his pursuit was fair tarnishes the glory of the moment. Yes, I was happy as I watched Bonds round the bases, but all I could think was how I wished he had done it like Hank had. I liken the ceremony to what's said about the loser in a Presidential race. The comment is often made that if the losing candidate had carried himself the way he did in his concession speech, he would have won the race by a landslide. If Barry Bonds had let us into his life, had showed he was a real, emotional person like he did after breaking the record, I think people would have gotten behind him. Even with the allegations of steroids if Barry Bonds had been a guy you could root for, a bit more of the glory would be restored to his achievement.
Not only has Bonds tarnished one of the greatest records of all time, but he's tarnished the pursuit of it. Alex Rodriguez has the best shot of any player to break whatever record Bonds sets, and now he's going to have to answer the same questions that Bonds is being asked. Jose Canseco has already hinted at allegations he may throw at A-Rod that perhaps he isn't as natural as we all seem. Whether this is just a ploy to make more money or not will remain to be seen, but it is sad for baseball that it's greatest players will have this monkey on their backs for the foreseeable future. I think a lot of things about A-Rod and many of them aren't nice, but you can't deny he's one of the best in the game and no matter what anyone says, I have a real hard time believing that he's a juicer. So questions aside, I hope in 10 years or so I'm watching this record breaking achievement one more time.
Now onto the regular stuff...
I've come to the conclusion that no matter how good or how bad the season begins, I'm always going to be worried by August. I'm still confidant that we're going to win the division, but I'm still worried. The Yankees are now only six games back, thanks to a brilliant comeback last night, and this time of year the Yankees always scare me. They really might find a way into the playoffs this year, and once you're in October you might as well forget the regular season even happened, because it's literally a whole new ballgame.
But just for a second let's talk about that comeback. I kind of see the Angels series as a spiderweb that you walk into in the woods. It sticks you and holds you down for a while, and even though you get out of it, it took a hard fight and you feel tired and disgusted afterwards. We blew so many chances to make a statement against the team that we're going to end up facing in October. Last night when I went to bed, the Angels had just gone up 6-5 and they still had two men on with only 1 out. I was disgusted. I hate going to bed with that feeling, but I couldn't bare to stay awake, lose more sleep, and only perpetuate that horrible feeling in my belly. When I woke up and checked the score, I really had a hard time believing it for a second. We really had some tremendous plays from the usual cast: Petey, Youk, and Lowell. We really should start calling Pedroia "Little Papi" with how clutch some of his play has been this season. That tie-breaking solo shot was HUGE! But then again, so was the fact that Garrett Anderson was playing left. With Vlady getting the night to rest his legs at DH, Reggie Willits was put into right. That kid is a gamer and I'm sure he would have found a way to get two inches higher and rob Petey of that home run. Anyway, I think last night was the perfect example of how good the trade for Frenchy really was. Having him at the back end of the pen allowed Okie to come in and hold down the fort. There were seven important outs we had to get before even getting to Pap, and I don't know if we could have done it without Gagne. Now if we can get Manny and Papi to start hitting with the rest of the team? Say hello to the World Series.
*Without steroids
Not only has Bonds tarnished one of the greatest records of all time, but he's tarnished the pursuit of it. Alex Rodriguez has the best shot of any player to break whatever record Bonds sets, and now he's going to have to answer the same questions that Bonds is being asked. Jose Canseco has already hinted at allegations he may throw at A-Rod that perhaps he isn't as natural as we all seem. Whether this is just a ploy to make more money or not will remain to be seen, but it is sad for baseball that it's greatest players will have this monkey on their backs for the foreseeable future. I think a lot of things about A-Rod and many of them aren't nice, but you can't deny he's one of the best in the game and no matter what anyone says, I have a real hard time believing that he's a juicer. So questions aside, I hope in 10 years or so I'm watching this record breaking achievement one more time.
Now onto the regular stuff...
I've come to the conclusion that no matter how good or how bad the season begins, I'm always going to be worried by August. I'm still confidant that we're going to win the division, but I'm still worried. The Yankees are now only six games back, thanks to a brilliant comeback last night, and this time of year the Yankees always scare me. They really might find a way into the playoffs this year, and once you're in October you might as well forget the regular season even happened, because it's literally a whole new ballgame.
But just for a second let's talk about that comeback. I kind of see the Angels series as a spiderweb that you walk into in the woods. It sticks you and holds you down for a while, and even though you get out of it, it took a hard fight and you feel tired and disgusted afterwards. We blew so many chances to make a statement against the team that we're going to end up facing in October. Last night when I went to bed, the Angels had just gone up 6-5 and they still had two men on with only 1 out. I was disgusted. I hate going to bed with that feeling, but I couldn't bare to stay awake, lose more sleep, and only perpetuate that horrible feeling in my belly. When I woke up and checked the score, I really had a hard time believing it for a second. We really had some tremendous plays from the usual cast: Petey, Youk, and Lowell. We really should start calling Pedroia "Little Papi" with how clutch some of his play has been this season. That tie-breaking solo shot was HUGE! But then again, so was the fact that Garrett Anderson was playing left. With Vlady getting the night to rest his legs at DH, Reggie Willits was put into right. That kid is a gamer and I'm sure he would have found a way to get two inches higher and rob Petey of that home run. Anyway, I think last night was the perfect example of how good the trade for Frenchy really was. Having him at the back end of the pen allowed Okie to come in and hold down the fort. There were seven important outs we had to get before even getting to Pap, and I don't know if we could have done it without Gagne. Now if we can get Manny and Papi to start hitting with the rest of the team? Say hello to the World Series.
*Without steroids
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Bonjour, Monsieur Gagne
This was quite possibly one of the most boring trade deadlines ever. There was so much hype for so long, and now that it's over there were really only four teams that did anything significant. While some of you may accuse me as being a "homer" I'm crediting the Red Sox with the best move the trade deadline, although Atlanta comes in at a close second. We didn't really lose too much in this trade. As much as I love Kason Gabbard and as sad as it made me to see him go, I realize that it was a great move. This guy already has four elbow surgeries under his belt and only projects to be a back end of the rotation kind of pitcher. With several great pitching prospects in the pipeline (Bucholz, Bowden, and Masterson), losing Gabbard is definitely not a long term problem. David Murphy, while good defensively, may never play better than your average major-leaguer, and it's not like the Sox are short on outfield prospects with Jacoby Ellsbury and Brandon Moss only a year or so away from the bigs. The real piece in this deal for Texas was Engel Beltre, who scouts have compared to Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Bonds. Although, he's four or five years away from the majors so there's plenty of time for his stock to plummet. But now that we've talked about what the Rangers got, let's salivate over the fact that we now have three of the best bullpen arms in the majors in our bullpen. It really sounds like some sort of bad, baseball comedy with a Deep South Redneck being setup by an uber-cool, yet French-Canadian hurler and a ninja-like Japanese lefty. The unintentional comedy that these three guys bring to the fold is surely too much to bare, but what really counts is that all three are lights out, and the Red Sox have now made every game a six inning contest. Even Julian Tavarez might be able to thrive in this starting rotation, not that we need him, because the second biggest trade we made this summer was a Mr. Curt Schilling traded from the Disabled List for Lefty Lopez (sent to the minors), who will surely be back at some point with the alternately lights out and decrepit Mike Timlin still trolling around the Boston bullpen. Seriously, I dare someone to try and beat us. We have the best rotation in baseball, especially now with Schilling coming back. We have the best bullpen in baseball. We have one of the best lineups in baseball, because even now when not all our cylinders are firing, we're still sitting pretty atop the AL East. We've also proven we're better than all the other post-season bound AL teams. Detroit doesn't have the bullpen to get us, the Angels don't have the hitters to get by our rotation, and Cleveland doesn't have enough pitching, either in their bullpen or their rotation, to hold us down. The only team that scares me is the Yankees, and it's not because of the surge they're in right now, it's just because I'm a Red Sox fan and they're the Yankees and no matter our records, lineups, pitchers, or circumstances, those games are never predictable.
The team I award second place in the deadline deals to is Atlanta. They really earn a close second, because they failed to improve their rotation which will be the reason they don't make it to the end of October, unless they get performances not seen since Jeff Weaver forgot he was Jeff Weaver and thought he was Jered Weaver. There were some starters that were available, or at least one that was but I'll get to that eventually. Adding Dotel and Tex were huge moves. Atlanta now has arguably the best lineup in the NL East (reason to argue, the Mets if they're all every healthy at the same time), and one of the best bullpens in the entire National League, but I don't know if anyone is getting past the Padres starters. The NL will be very interesting to watch come October. I think the Padres are guaranteed a spot in the NLCS, with the other going to either the Cubbies or Atlanta. I think I like Chicago a little better than Atlanta in that matchup, since they seem like a more complete team (i.e. they're afraid of Lou Piniella like Whiffy Mo Pena is afraid of hitting singles), but San Diego's rotation really does scare me, from the standpoint of any NL lineup.
The third place award, which I'm renaming the "Oh Shit!" award goes to the Philadelphia Phillies. The perennial stretch run failures seemed to take a huge loss when Utley went down with a broken hand. In a very un-Pat Gillick move, the Phillie's GM traded for Tad Iguchi to replace Utley. Tad isn't the player that Utley is, but he's a clear step above any bench player that KFC Charlie could have thrown in there for the month, or so, that Chase will be out. Surprisingly, and I swear I'm not making this up, Manuel speaks Japanese, and it is hoped that will help Tad's transition onto the team. Stop laughing, and keep reading. I swear it, he really does speak Japanese. Add to the Tad trade the acquisition of Kyle Lohse. This is the pitcher I was hinting at with Atlanta, but I am glad to see the Phillies make a move to bolster the real part of their team that was in need of help: the starting rotation. They have offense, a good enough bullpen, but the Phillies rotation was holding them back all season. This isn't to say it still won't hold them back, but despite the lack of virtually any starters at the deadline, at least they didn't just stand pat. Sadly, the injury bug has been all over the Phillies like Manuel is all over a bucket of Original Recipe as the Flyin' Hawaiin Shane Victorino and speedy Michael Bourn have both gone down. I really think the Phillies season is over. I mean, even without all the injuries, any team that relies on Pat Burrel to carry them for a month is not a team I would ever put an ounce of faith in.
But I'm not quite done analyzing the Phillies just yet. If we look back on some of Pat Gillick's trades over the past few years, we see an interesting trend. Aaron Rowand, Tad Iguchi, and Freddy Garcia, all mediocre players, were all traded for by the Phillies. What else do these players have in common? That's right, they all won the 2005 World Series. Perhaps Gillick thinks that by adding World Series winners to his team, he can win one too. If I read in Truth and Rumors that Gillick has been showing interest in So Taguchi, Preston Wilson, Aaron Miles, or any other such players, I promise you I will find Pat Gillick and fire him. I'm not sure if he'll listen, but I think if I sound official enough and yell loud enough, he'll do anything I say. I'll just wear a White Sox 2005 World Series Champions t-shirt.
The team I award second place in the deadline deals to is Atlanta. They really earn a close second, because they failed to improve their rotation which will be the reason they don't make it to the end of October, unless they get performances not seen since Jeff Weaver forgot he was Jeff Weaver and thought he was Jered Weaver. There were some starters that were available, or at least one that was but I'll get to that eventually. Adding Dotel and Tex were huge moves. Atlanta now has arguably the best lineup in the NL East (reason to argue, the Mets if they're all every healthy at the same time), and one of the best bullpens in the entire National League, but I don't know if anyone is getting past the Padres starters. The NL will be very interesting to watch come October. I think the Padres are guaranteed a spot in the NLCS, with the other going to either the Cubbies or Atlanta. I think I like Chicago a little better than Atlanta in that matchup, since they seem like a more complete team (i.e. they're afraid of Lou Piniella like Whiffy Mo Pena is afraid of hitting singles), but San Diego's rotation really does scare me, from the standpoint of any NL lineup.
The third place award, which I'm renaming the "Oh Shit!" award goes to the Philadelphia Phillies. The perennial stretch run failures seemed to take a huge loss when Utley went down with a broken hand. In a very un-Pat Gillick move, the Phillie's GM traded for Tad Iguchi to replace Utley. Tad isn't the player that Utley is, but he's a clear step above any bench player that KFC Charlie could have thrown in there for the month, or so, that Chase will be out. Surprisingly, and I swear I'm not making this up, Manuel speaks Japanese, and it is hoped that will help Tad's transition onto the team. Stop laughing, and keep reading. I swear it, he really does speak Japanese. Add to the Tad trade the acquisition of Kyle Lohse. This is the pitcher I was hinting at with Atlanta, but I am glad to see the Phillies make a move to bolster the real part of their team that was in need of help: the starting rotation. They have offense, a good enough bullpen, but the Phillies rotation was holding them back all season. This isn't to say it still won't hold them back, but despite the lack of virtually any starters at the deadline, at least they didn't just stand pat. Sadly, the injury bug has been all over the Phillies like Manuel is all over a bucket of Original Recipe as the Flyin' Hawaiin Shane Victorino and speedy Michael Bourn have both gone down. I really think the Phillies season is over. I mean, even without all the injuries, any team that relies on Pat Burrel to carry them for a month is not a team I would ever put an ounce of faith in.
But I'm not quite done analyzing the Phillies just yet. If we look back on some of Pat Gillick's trades over the past few years, we see an interesting trend. Aaron Rowand, Tad Iguchi, and Freddy Garcia, all mediocre players, were all traded for by the Phillies. What else do these players have in common? That's right, they all won the 2005 World Series. Perhaps Gillick thinks that by adding World Series winners to his team, he can win one too. If I read in Truth and Rumors that Gillick has been showing interest in So Taguchi, Preston Wilson, Aaron Miles, or any other such players, I promise you I will find Pat Gillick and fire him. I'm not sure if he'll listen, but I think if I sound official enough and yell loud enough, he'll do anything I say. I'll just wear a White Sox 2005 World Series Champions t-shirt.
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