No comment today on the Sox taking 2 out of 3 from the Yanks in the Bronx...it's no fun kicking a dog when it's already lying down. I mean, Julian Tavarez got a win for Christ's sake! Karma will rear it's head at some point this season, trust me, the Yanks will be in the running for the East, as usual. So, that was 3 sentences about something that I said I had no comment on...wow, the coffee is really working this morning!
So the NFL draft was this weekend, of course, and once again the Pats seemed more interested in stockpiling draft picks and proving how smart Belichick and Pioli think they are. First round pick Brandon Meriweather definitely fills a need and was a good pick, all character issues aside. Maybe they just drafted him to stomp on Eric Mangini if there ever was a brawl. What I don't understand is New England trading away their other 1st round pick when they definitely had another need to fill. Maybe they'll just keep trading picks until they end up with 30 first round picks in the year 2016. Their linebacking corps is getting old and could have been improved with the addition of a player like Paul Posluzsny, who has all the makings of the next Mike Vrabel. Seeing him go to division rival Buffalo could be a painful mistake for the P-Men.
A big part of the draft festivities, of course, was the trade for Randy Moss. They didn't have to pay a very steep price to get him, who'd have thought 5 years ago that Moss trade value would be equal to that of Josh McCown and Mike Williams (traded to the Raiders for a 4th round pick)? I'm not worried about Moss' attitude, he genuinely wants to win, but he doesn't seem to be a fit for what the Patriots try to do on offense. They have never been a team that throws a lot of deep passes, and that is all Moss is able to do. Granted, they have never had a deep threat like Moss, but isn't that why they signed Donte' Stallworth? The biggest knock on the group of wideouts that the Patriots had this past season was that none of them were able to establish any sort of chemistry with Tom Brady...well, there's NO way that Moss will ever develop that relationship. He won't go over the middle, he'll take plays off if he's not the main target, and he just doesn't run any crisp patterns. Moss will have a few good games here and there, but he alone does not suddenly make the Patriots Super Bowl favorites...sad to say, but Wes Welker will probably end up leading the team in receptions this year.
Also, I do need to say kudos to the Vikings for grabbing Adrian Peterson with their top draft pick. I was terrified they were going to select the un-mighty Quinn, but it looks like they are committed to the 2nd year guy Tarvaris Jackson at QB. Peterson and Taylor will give the Vikings one of the strongest running games in all the league...if their passing game can catch up, they could challenge the Bears in the NFC Norris this fall. I would have preferred Dwayne Jarrett or Steve Smith to Sidney Rice though, I don't trust underclassmen receivers out of South Carolina...paging Troy Williamson! (The only good thing about Williamson is, unlike the rest of the Vikings, you know he'll never commit a crime, because if he got sent to jail, he'd be so worried about Bogs that he would constantly be dropping the soap in the shower.) And on that horribly lame joke, I'm out like Jeff Karstens' leg.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Yanks
So that was a nice and comforting series with the Yankees. Good to know that the Sox can show a pulse against their stiffest competition. Each one of those games definitely had a playoff feel to it...ordinarily in a baseball game, there are several at-bats where the intensity level is very low. In these games, every pitch felt like the game was on the line...
While the sweep was well earned, it is a little worrisome that the Sox fell behind in every game, even though the pitching matchups were in Boston's favor. If Schilling, Beckett, and Matsuzaka give up 5+ runs/game, I can just imagine what would have happened if the Sox had thrown Timmy or Tavarez out there, and this was an injury-depleted Yankee lineup. Depending on the pitching matchups, I think this weekend's series in the Bronx will be a truer barometer of where these teams are competitively.
That being said, I think the key to this series was the ability of the Sox starters to limit the damage done to them. With the exception of Schilling in game 1, the Yankees weren't able to really put together a big inning. They were able to consistently wriggle out of trouble, which really spared the bullpen. The pen has been excellent so far, but that is due, in part, to the fact that they haven't been needed that much. The Boston pen has thrown the fewest innings in the American League so far this year...if the starters can keep eating innnigs while keeping their team in the game, the Sox have a real chance to finally win the East this season.
Meanwhile, is there much doubt that Joe Torre should be done after this season? His amazing ability to utterly mismanage his bullpen is undoubtedly one of the major factors in New York's failure to win a World Series since 2000. Yes, the Yankees have had more than their fair share of injuries over the years to their pitchers, but Torre has made a career out of overusing his middle relief guys...calling Paul Quantrill! Just look at last night's game; he brings Pettite in from the pen on his scheduled throw day, and Andy looks great, getting through his inning of work in just 9 pitches. The Yanks have the lead at this point...why wouldn't Joe just keep Pettite in for another inning? He had only thrown a few pitches...what was the point in bringing in an obviously overworked and tired Scott Proctor? A few batters later, and the lead was gone and Torre had to bring in Sean Henn to finish the game out. It wouldn't surprise anyone, I don't think, if Joe Giradi was calling the shots in the Big Apple next season...
While the sweep was well earned, it is a little worrisome that the Sox fell behind in every game, even though the pitching matchups were in Boston's favor. If Schilling, Beckett, and Matsuzaka give up 5+ runs/game, I can just imagine what would have happened if the Sox had thrown Timmy or Tavarez out there, and this was an injury-depleted Yankee lineup. Depending on the pitching matchups, I think this weekend's series in the Bronx will be a truer barometer of where these teams are competitively.
That being said, I think the key to this series was the ability of the Sox starters to limit the damage done to them. With the exception of Schilling in game 1, the Yankees weren't able to really put together a big inning. They were able to consistently wriggle out of trouble, which really spared the bullpen. The pen has been excellent so far, but that is due, in part, to the fact that they haven't been needed that much. The Boston pen has thrown the fewest innings in the American League so far this year...if the starters can keep eating innnigs while keeping their team in the game, the Sox have a real chance to finally win the East this season.
Meanwhile, is there much doubt that Joe Torre should be done after this season? His amazing ability to utterly mismanage his bullpen is undoubtedly one of the major factors in New York's failure to win a World Series since 2000. Yes, the Yankees have had more than their fair share of injuries over the years to their pitchers, but Torre has made a career out of overusing his middle relief guys...calling Paul Quantrill! Just look at last night's game; he brings Pettite in from the pen on his scheduled throw day, and Andy looks great, getting through his inning of work in just 9 pitches. The Yanks have the lead at this point...why wouldn't Joe just keep Pettite in for another inning? He had only thrown a few pitches...what was the point in bringing in an obviously overworked and tired Scott Proctor? A few batters later, and the lead was gone and Torre had to bring in Sean Henn to finish the game out. It wouldn't surprise anyone, I don't think, if Joe Giradi was calling the shots in the Big Apple next season...
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Ouch, babe
So I guess my earlier comparison of Felix Hernandez to Francisco Liriano was more on point than I thought. Now that King Felix has "tightness" in his elbow, Seattle fans better get Dr James Andrews on speed dial, because elbow enjuries don't seem to go away without the Tommy John procedure. Hopefully, this doesn't amount to anything, but it looks like a long season just got longer in the Pacific Northwest.
Elsewhere, Sox use the long ball and a THIRD straight awesome performance from Tim-may to beat the Jays in Toronto. Big win for the Beantown boys, since Julian Tavarez is getting thrown to the wolves today against Big Doc Halladay, who is coming off a 10 inning complete game victory.
The big bad Yankees pounded Cleveland again last night, with Duke Temple hitting yet another homer. It looks like the only way to beat them is to score 10 runs, since they are consistently getting 6 or 7 every night, their performance against Ramon Ortiz not withstanding. This team is a constant rebuttal to the conventional wisdom that good pitching beats good hitting. It actually takes great pitching to beat good hitting, and great pitching versus great hitting is pretty much a toss-up.
Elsewhere, Sox use the long ball and a THIRD straight awesome performance from Tim-may to beat the Jays in Toronto. Big win for the Beantown boys, since Julian Tavarez is getting thrown to the wolves today against Big Doc Halladay, who is coming off a 10 inning complete game victory.
The big bad Yankees pounded Cleveland again last night, with Duke Temple hitting yet another homer. It looks like the only way to beat them is to score 10 runs, since they are consistently getting 6 or 7 every night, their performance against Ramon Ortiz not withstanding. This team is a constant rebuttal to the conventional wisdom that good pitching beats good hitting. It actually takes great pitching to beat good hitting, and great pitching versus great hitting is pretty much a toss-up.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Halos
After cursing out the Boston offense at the end of my last post, I have to say that they brought the bats out of hibernation for the last game of the Mariner series and the entire Angels series. I know a lot of that had to do with the seriously lackluster pitching they were facing, but good teams take advantage of their favorable matchups, and that's precisely what the Sox did. John Lackey did a good job shutting down the lineup for most of game 1, but after Darren Oliver's fiasco (how is he still pitching, by the way?), the game was definitely out of hand. I've gotta say, I'm loving how Fran-coma is using Papelbon so far...why wouldn't you bring your best pitcher out of the pen to put out the biggest threat, even if it isn't the 9th inning? Of course, it could backfire if the other team puts together a rally against an inferior pitcher and you've already used your closer, but it's a risk that you definitely take.
Saw this in Rob Neyer's blog on ESPN.com (it's for ESPN insiders, so I can't link to his blog itself) and it's an interesting, if kind of superficial read. In my opnion, the game really needs more characters like Manny around; it's funny, I absolutely hated him and thought he was worthless when he was in Cleveland, but I love him as a Boston player. Now, I know that Manny always starts very very slowly, but I have to wonder if last year's shutdown and his drastically slow start this year are connected. The guy obviously loves to play too much to be purposefully stinking, but what if he's been watching the Celtics intentionally tank games for the last 2 months and is getting ideas? Quick, call up the CHB, we need to start a controversy for no good reason!!! (Yes, I know that's not his blog, but as they say, why would you want to read his stuff?)
Saw this in Rob Neyer's blog on ESPN.com (it's for ESPN insiders, so I can't link to his blog itself) and it's an interesting, if kind of superficial read. In my opnion, the game really needs more characters like Manny around; it's funny, I absolutely hated him and thought he was worthless when he was in Cleveland, but I love him as a Boston player. Now, I know that Manny always starts very very slowly, but I have to wonder if last year's shutdown and his drastically slow start this year are connected. The guy obviously loves to play too much to be purposefully stinking, but what if he's been watching the Celtics intentionally tank games for the last 2 months and is getting ideas? Quick, call up the CHB, we need to start a controversy for no good reason!!! (Yes, I know that's not his blog, but as they say, why would you want to read his stuff?)
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
I'm back
Well, good to know it wasn't me jinxing the bats...
8:06 Looks like Donnelly lit a fire under Guillen's ass yesterday...he's raking tonight.
8:07 Let's see if Pineiro can get anybody out...throw a strike numnuts!
8:08 Note to Pineiro...your slider sucks, stop throwing it! He has come on looking just like he did Sunday night against Texas. He needs to get ahead before he can throw a breaking pitch. I can't believe management (and me) thought he had a chance to be a closer!
8:10 Betancourt will get fined in kangaroo court for flying out weakly on the first pitch after Pineiro had showed no ability to be anywhere near the strike zone so far. Stupid play by a young kid.
Hey, did you know that Felix is still throwing a no-hitter? JINX!
8:12 Hey, it worked! JD Drew drills a first pitch fastball into center for the Sox's first hit. The Fenway crowd gives Hernandez a standing ovation, nice gesture (of course they were probably just cheering Drew, but it could have been good sportsmanship).
8:16 It looks like Varitek might turn around and beat Jerry Crawford with his bat any second now. After starting 0-2, the last two pitches were exactly the same as the first 2, but they were called balls.
8:18 Hey Richie, you have to catch the ball to make an out.
On another note...it's almost halfway through the Yankee-Twin game and A-Fraud doesn't have a homer yet...what a slacker, a TRUE Yankee would hit a home every time he saw Ramon Ortiz. Oh, and Mike Mussina left the game with an undisclosed injury. Looks like they may HAVE to bring up Philip Hughes already, otherwise Ron Guidry is gonna have to come out of retirement and help them out.
8:22 ESPN tells us that Ichiro has the third highest BA amongst active players behind only Helton and Pujols. I still think Helton would look awfully good in a Sox uniform. Ichiro flies out, and Coco takes a horrendous route to the ball, breaking in several steps, before sprinting back to the ball. Has he been taking fielding lessons from Manny?
8:24 Speaking of bad fielding, Lugo just made a nice pickup on a ball in the hole, but he doesn't set himself enough and air-mails Youkilis for a 2 base error. Let's see if Pin-head can focus himself and get out of the inning.
8:26 Sure, my fantasy team hasn't had a save yet all season, and they don't bring Putz out of the pen for an easy 3 run save. Stupid baseball.
8:33 The curve ball that Youkilis just struck out on looked eerily like the first pitch that DM threw to Ichiro. Fitting way to end the ball game. That kid is just ridiculous, 17 groundouts and 6 strikeouts? You don't see a strikout pitcher get a lot of groundballs, but he has got such nasty stuff, you just can't level it up as a hitter.
Well, looks like my e-mail to my brother was prophetic yesterday, I was afraid of the Sox using all their hits up yesterday, and that was definitely the case. Boston's offense just doesn't impress me, and hasn't since '04. It's Ortiz and Manny and a bunch of nothing after that. If those 2 don't drive in 140 runs each, they're not going to contend. And that isn't a reaction to tonight's game, not many teams would have gotten more than 1 hit off of Hernandez tonight, it's been an ongoing issue now, as I said, for a couple of seasons now, and Julio Lugo is NOT the answer, sorry.
Anywho, they're 4-4 now, time to win tomorrow and take the series. Wakefield will try to flutter his way to a win in the snow, wouldn't it be just right if the Mariners had another game snowed out?
8:06 Looks like Donnelly lit a fire under Guillen's ass yesterday...he's raking tonight.
8:07 Let's see if Pineiro can get anybody out...throw a strike numnuts!
8:08 Note to Pineiro...your slider sucks, stop throwing it! He has come on looking just like he did Sunday night against Texas. He needs to get ahead before he can throw a breaking pitch. I can't believe management (and me) thought he had a chance to be a closer!
8:10 Betancourt will get fined in kangaroo court for flying out weakly on the first pitch after Pineiro had showed no ability to be anywhere near the strike zone so far. Stupid play by a young kid.
Hey, did you know that Felix is still throwing a no-hitter? JINX!
8:12 Hey, it worked! JD Drew drills a first pitch fastball into center for the Sox's first hit. The Fenway crowd gives Hernandez a standing ovation, nice gesture (of course they were probably just cheering Drew, but it could have been good sportsmanship).
8:16 It looks like Varitek might turn around and beat Jerry Crawford with his bat any second now. After starting 0-2, the last two pitches were exactly the same as the first 2, but they were called balls.
8:18 Hey Richie, you have to catch the ball to make an out.
On another note...it's almost halfway through the Yankee-Twin game and A-Fraud doesn't have a homer yet...what a slacker, a TRUE Yankee would hit a home every time he saw Ramon Ortiz. Oh, and Mike Mussina left the game with an undisclosed injury. Looks like they may HAVE to bring up Philip Hughes already, otherwise Ron Guidry is gonna have to come out of retirement and help them out.
8:22 ESPN tells us that Ichiro has the third highest BA amongst active players behind only Helton and Pujols. I still think Helton would look awfully good in a Sox uniform. Ichiro flies out, and Coco takes a horrendous route to the ball, breaking in several steps, before sprinting back to the ball. Has he been taking fielding lessons from Manny?
8:24 Speaking of bad fielding, Lugo just made a nice pickup on a ball in the hole, but he doesn't set himself enough and air-mails Youkilis for a 2 base error. Let's see if Pin-head can focus himself and get out of the inning.
8:26 Sure, my fantasy team hasn't had a save yet all season, and they don't bring Putz out of the pen for an easy 3 run save. Stupid baseball.
8:33 The curve ball that Youkilis just struck out on looked eerily like the first pitch that DM threw to Ichiro. Fitting way to end the ball game. That kid is just ridiculous, 17 groundouts and 6 strikeouts? You don't see a strikout pitcher get a lot of groundballs, but he has got such nasty stuff, you just can't level it up as a hitter.
Well, looks like my e-mail to my brother was prophetic yesterday, I was afraid of the Sox using all their hits up yesterday, and that was definitely the case. Boston's offense just doesn't impress me, and hasn't since '04. It's Ortiz and Manny and a bunch of nothing after that. If those 2 don't drive in 140 runs each, they're not going to contend. And that isn't a reaction to tonight's game, not many teams would have gotten more than 1 hit off of Hernandez tonight, it's been an ongoing issue now, as I said, for a couple of seasons now, and Julio Lugo is NOT the answer, sorry.
Anywho, they're 4-4 now, time to win tomorrow and take the series. Wakefield will try to flutter his way to a win in the snow, wouldn't it be just right if the Mariners had another game snowed out?
Ode to Bill Simmons
I figure in honor of tonight's possible monumental Hideki Okajima vs Kenji Johjima showdown, I should attempt to do a running diary, ala Bill Simmons. I should say right away though, that I will have to leave at 7:30 to pick the wife up at school, so I will probably miss a few innings of game action.
Glad to see that the WWL sends us the very underrated Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, and Steve Phillips to cover this game, I'm not sure I could have handled 9 innings of Joe Morgan's senseless ramblings. Oh yeah, and Bonnie Bernstein is in the house tonight...always a nice addition.
6:10 First pitch is a nasty curve ball for strike one...atta boy.
6:12 Jerry Crawford seems to have a tight zone early on, but K-Zone says they were balls. Fitting that Ichiro would ground right back to the mound for out number 1. He had a lot of those against the Royals too.
6:14 Already seeing DM mixing up not only his pitches, but his deliveries...he looked quick to Ichiro, but now is really pausing versus Vidro.
6:17 Lots of ground balls in the first inning tells us that his breaking ball has some nasty late movement. Orel chips in to say that scouts are advising batters to go after the first straight pitch they see. Probably a good idea, since even though his fastball touches 97 on the overzealous radar gun, it's pretty straight.
6:19 Now we get to see King Felix go to work for the Mariners...man, if Beckett and DM can be as good as advertised, what a crop of pitchers we have in the AL this year and years to come. Johan Santana, Felix, Rich Harden, DM and Beckett should all be fighting for Cy Young awards.
6:20 Felix definitely lost some weight...he looks like half the man he used to be. He's gonna have to watch out unless he wants to be the next CC Sabathia.
6:22 Nice grab by Lopez on Youkilis' pop up...Seattle has got a nice young group of middle infielders...they've got a decent core of players to develop around if only they had a GM worth anything.
6:23 Hey Big Papi, hit it deep, bro. Nope, how about a weak groundout to right field, I mean, second base...I hate infield shifts.
6:25 I didn't think those Dr Scholls gellin' commercials could get any worse...I was wrong. Shoot me now, I am SO not gellin'.
6:26 Richie Sexson should bat from his knees, just to reduce his strike zone...Christ, the guy is 12 feet tall.
6:28 That's why you should always give Guillen the green light 3-0, if he gets a fastball, he can hit anyone's. But man, is he loco. Can you just imagine what would happen if Carl Everett was still on this team?
6:29 I knew I should have started Johjima in fantasy baseball.
6:31 And all across the nation, children weep as the M's take a 1-0 lead. Pretty good job by Manny, but the throw tailed just enough to let the nutcase Guillen sneak under the tag.
6:36 Boy, is Manny slow, but at least it looked like he ran hard out of the box as the ball pinballs off of Felix right to Beltre for out #1.
6:38 Felix is definitely grooved in already tonight. He just struck out Drew like he wasn't even there. 100 MPH fastball fouled off, followed by a ridiculous curve ball for the backwards K. Man, even Carlos Beltran wouldn't have bothered swinging at that...wait, Beltran never swings at 2 strike breaking balls, never mind.
6:45 Do all these numnuts in the stands with signs involving dice really think that they are being clever? First K for DM as he freezes Vidro with the breaking ball down and in. No sign of the mythical gyroball yet. Orel said earlier on Sportscenter that the gyroball was either a cut fastball or a screwball changeup...well, those pitches have exactly the opposite movement of each other, so it can't be both of them, which is it perfessor Orel?
6:49 Oops, I forgot another potential AL Cy Younger in the future...Francisco Liriano, if he comes back healthy. Felix definitely reminds me of Liriano only from the right side. When your slider hits 93 with late break, you're gonna win a LOT of games.
6:50 Nice catch there you dumb Mariner. At first glance, I thought that foul ball went off his head, but it only went off the wall right behind him.
6:51 The announcers say that Coco was overmatched by Felix...well so far this year and last, Coco has been overmatched by anybody and everybody.
6:52 Pedroia's at bat will NOT end well...
6:53 Holy crap, Dustin draws a walk. He looked like a little leaguer out there against Felix...he did foul one pitch off, but he had NO desire to swing the bat there.
6:54 I hate to say it, but after giving up only 2 hits on opening day, Felix just might better that tonight. Sometimes, you can just tell a pitcher has no-no stuff working, and he sure does tonight. Not saying it's gonna happen, but it has that feel right now.
6:58 OK, Orel has decided that the gyroball is a screwball. Let's see if he changes his mind later.
7:00 Crawford was even fooled on that fastball against Sexson...c'mon Blue, ring 'em up!
7:02 Come on, Steve, Sexson has a LOT of holes in his swing.
7:02 So, if DM wasn't Japanese, would the ump have warned the benches after plunking Guillen on the arm? This part of the order seems to be frustrating DM, he doesn't have the command that he did against Ichiro and the top of the lineup.
7:04 Guillen just looked for Manny as the Sox ran off the field...that could have gone any number of different ways...would anybody have been surprised if Guillen had thrown a wild haymaker at him as Manny went by? Fortunately, he just smiled and patted him on the back...so great, Guillen and Manny are buddies...hopefully crazy ain't contagious.
7:07 Youk draws a quick 4 pitch walk...this will be Felix's downfall if he has one, he tends to overthrow his fastball and lose command.
7:08 Have I mentioned I hate infield shifts?
7:10 That's why I dig Orel in the booth. He lets us know a little bit about the psyche of a major league athlete. Felix has been dominant his whole life and he relaxed a bit last year. Once he realized that he had to improve his physique to consistently get major league hitters out, he worked his ass off and got it done. Through 4, it's still 1-0 M's, and DM has been good, but the story has definitely been King Felix so far.
7:16 ESPN lets us listen to the Japanese broadcast of the third Ichiro at bat, and guess who our new color commentator is? Why it's Bert Blyleven's favorite name in the whole wide world...Shigetoshi Hasegawa! Nice to know that Japanese ballplayers just sort of drift into broadcasting too.
7:18 DM gives up a rocket shot to Beltre for an RBI double. If Crisp had any sort of arm, then they probably nail Lopez at home, and now it's 3-0 as Vidro goes up the middle. I don't know how Vidro got on top of that high fastball...ugly swing but it worked. Ugh, need to get the bats going fellas. I wonder if in the backs of their minds, the Sox feel that they don't need to score a lot of runs because Matsuzaka is pitching.
7:23 Drew hits a shot to Lopez at 2nd, and Sexson has to bail out his 2nd baseman on a poor throw. The official scorer is probably glad he didn't have to rule that a hit or an error.
7:24 Lopez is everywhere! He gets Lowell on a ground ball right over the mound, grabs the ball, runs towards shortstop, eats a hot dog, writes a letter to his mom, and then finally throws the ball to first and Lowell still was only halfway up the line.
Well, time to go get Terrie, maybe my leaving will take the jinx off the Sox. Back later to check in.
Glad to see that the WWL sends us the very underrated Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, and Steve Phillips to cover this game, I'm not sure I could have handled 9 innings of Joe Morgan's senseless ramblings. Oh yeah, and Bonnie Bernstein is in the house tonight...always a nice addition.
6:10 First pitch is a nasty curve ball for strike one...atta boy.
6:12 Jerry Crawford seems to have a tight zone early on, but K-Zone says they were balls. Fitting that Ichiro would ground right back to the mound for out number 1. He had a lot of those against the Royals too.
6:14 Already seeing DM mixing up not only his pitches, but his deliveries...he looked quick to Ichiro, but now is really pausing versus Vidro.
6:17 Lots of ground balls in the first inning tells us that his breaking ball has some nasty late movement. Orel chips in to say that scouts are advising batters to go after the first straight pitch they see. Probably a good idea, since even though his fastball touches 97 on the overzealous radar gun, it's pretty straight.
6:19 Now we get to see King Felix go to work for the Mariners...man, if Beckett and DM can be as good as advertised, what a crop of pitchers we have in the AL this year and years to come. Johan Santana, Felix, Rich Harden, DM and Beckett should all be fighting for Cy Young awards.
6:20 Felix definitely lost some weight...he looks like half the man he used to be. He's gonna have to watch out unless he wants to be the next CC Sabathia.
6:22 Nice grab by Lopez on Youkilis' pop up...Seattle has got a nice young group of middle infielders...they've got a decent core of players to develop around if only they had a GM worth anything.
6:23 Hey Big Papi, hit it deep, bro. Nope, how about a weak groundout to right field, I mean, second base...I hate infield shifts.
6:25 I didn't think those Dr Scholls gellin' commercials could get any worse...I was wrong. Shoot me now, I am SO not gellin'.
6:26 Richie Sexson should bat from his knees, just to reduce his strike zone...Christ, the guy is 12 feet tall.
6:28 That's why you should always give Guillen the green light 3-0, if he gets a fastball, he can hit anyone's. But man, is he loco. Can you just imagine what would happen if Carl Everett was still on this team?
6:29 I knew I should have started Johjima in fantasy baseball.
6:31 And all across the nation, children weep as the M's take a 1-0 lead. Pretty good job by Manny, but the throw tailed just enough to let the nutcase Guillen sneak under the tag.
6:36 Boy, is Manny slow, but at least it looked like he ran hard out of the box as the ball pinballs off of Felix right to Beltre for out #1.
6:38 Felix is definitely grooved in already tonight. He just struck out Drew like he wasn't even there. 100 MPH fastball fouled off, followed by a ridiculous curve ball for the backwards K. Man, even Carlos Beltran wouldn't have bothered swinging at that...wait, Beltran never swings at 2 strike breaking balls, never mind.
6:45 Do all these numnuts in the stands with signs involving dice really think that they are being clever? First K for DM as he freezes Vidro with the breaking ball down and in. No sign of the mythical gyroball yet. Orel said earlier on Sportscenter that the gyroball was either a cut fastball or a screwball changeup...well, those pitches have exactly the opposite movement of each other, so it can't be both of them, which is it perfessor Orel?
6:49 Oops, I forgot another potential AL Cy Younger in the future...Francisco Liriano, if he comes back healthy. Felix definitely reminds me of Liriano only from the right side. When your slider hits 93 with late break, you're gonna win a LOT of games.
6:50 Nice catch there you dumb Mariner. At first glance, I thought that foul ball went off his head, but it only went off the wall right behind him.
6:51 The announcers say that Coco was overmatched by Felix...well so far this year and last, Coco has been overmatched by anybody and everybody.
6:52 Pedroia's at bat will NOT end well...
6:53 Holy crap, Dustin draws a walk. He looked like a little leaguer out there against Felix...he did foul one pitch off, but he had NO desire to swing the bat there.
6:54 I hate to say it, but after giving up only 2 hits on opening day, Felix just might better that tonight. Sometimes, you can just tell a pitcher has no-no stuff working, and he sure does tonight. Not saying it's gonna happen, but it has that feel right now.
6:58 OK, Orel has decided that the gyroball is a screwball. Let's see if he changes his mind later.
7:00 Crawford was even fooled on that fastball against Sexson...c'mon Blue, ring 'em up!
7:02 Come on, Steve, Sexson has a LOT of holes in his swing.
7:02 So, if DM wasn't Japanese, would the ump have warned the benches after plunking Guillen on the arm? This part of the order seems to be frustrating DM, he doesn't have the command that he did against Ichiro and the top of the lineup.
7:04 Guillen just looked for Manny as the Sox ran off the field...that could have gone any number of different ways...would anybody have been surprised if Guillen had thrown a wild haymaker at him as Manny went by? Fortunately, he just smiled and patted him on the back...so great, Guillen and Manny are buddies...hopefully crazy ain't contagious.
7:07 Youk draws a quick 4 pitch walk...this will be Felix's downfall if he has one, he tends to overthrow his fastball and lose command.
7:08 Have I mentioned I hate infield shifts?
7:10 That's why I dig Orel in the booth. He lets us know a little bit about the psyche of a major league athlete. Felix has been dominant his whole life and he relaxed a bit last year. Once he realized that he had to improve his physique to consistently get major league hitters out, he worked his ass off and got it done. Through 4, it's still 1-0 M's, and DM has been good, but the story has definitely been King Felix so far.
7:16 ESPN lets us listen to the Japanese broadcast of the third Ichiro at bat, and guess who our new color commentator is? Why it's Bert Blyleven's favorite name in the whole wide world...Shigetoshi Hasegawa! Nice to know that Japanese ballplayers just sort of drift into broadcasting too.
7:18 DM gives up a rocket shot to Beltre for an RBI double. If Crisp had any sort of arm, then they probably nail Lopez at home, and now it's 3-0 as Vidro goes up the middle. I don't know how Vidro got on top of that high fastball...ugly swing but it worked. Ugh, need to get the bats going fellas. I wonder if in the backs of their minds, the Sox feel that they don't need to score a lot of runs because Matsuzaka is pitching.
7:23 Drew hits a shot to Lopez at 2nd, and Sexson has to bail out his 2nd baseman on a poor throw. The official scorer is probably glad he didn't have to rule that a hit or an error.
7:24 Lopez is everywhere! He gets Lowell on a ground ball right over the mound, grabs the ball, runs towards shortstop, eats a hot dog, writes a letter to his mom, and then finally throws the ball to first and Lowell still was only halfway up the line.
Well, time to go get Terrie, maybe my leaving will take the jinx off the Sox. Back later to check in.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Results
Well, according to the WWL's boxscores, that was the 3rd best pitched game in the American League thus far this year. Of course, it was just against the Royals, so let's not get too carried away just yet. On another note, that was also a nice game for Zach Greinke in his first major league start in a couple of years. He's battled his way back from some emotional and mental issues (no doubt caused by pitching for the Royals...was that uncalled for?), and has the stuff to be one of the best young pitchers in the game. Dare I say it, if he can stay strong and Meche can pitch like he did Monday, then the Royals have a chance....to not finish dead last this year.
Thursday Thoughts
Who's ready for Matsuzaka-mania? You'd think that Cy Young had risen from the grave and started pitching again for all the hoopla around the Japanese import. The Sox better hope that he turns out a whole lot better than the last major Japanese pitching prospect in the majors...Hideki Irabu. Dice-K should be a stud, and against the AAAA lineup that the Royals will throw out there, he should be good enough for 7 innings and a couple runs allowed with 6 or 7 K's. Hopefully, he'll turn out to be worth all the fuss.
After seeing the highlights of last night's game, I don't see any signs that Josh Beckett has made the necessary adjustments to his game this year. He was waaaaaaaaaaay too excited out there, and looked like he was resorting to his old habit of just trying to blow everything by all the hitters. That works against lesser teams, but in Fenway against the slugging teams of the AL East, I don't see any way his ERA doesn't end up well over 4 again.
Theo should definitely start looking at the Todd Helton trade again...Craig Hansen or Manny Delcarmen are expendable now that Papelbon is closing again, so it's a worthwhile chance to take. Mike Lowell's bat looks very slow so far this spring, and I don't see him turning it on this season.
After seeing the highlights of last night's game, I don't see any signs that Josh Beckett has made the necessary adjustments to his game this year. He was waaaaaaaaaaay too excited out there, and looked like he was resorting to his old habit of just trying to blow everything by all the hitters. That works against lesser teams, but in Fenway against the slugging teams of the AL East, I don't see any way his ERA doesn't end up well over 4 again.
Theo should definitely start looking at the Todd Helton trade again...Craig Hansen or Manny Delcarmen are expendable now that Papelbon is closing again, so it's a worthwhile chance to take. Mike Lowell's bat looks very slow so far this spring, and I don't see him turning it on this season.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Opening Day...3 days later
I figured I should probably start this blog-thing with a brief description of what you can expect to read on here. I'll pretty much just be talking sports, since that's just about all I know anything about, but I'll try and mix in a little pop culture and other non-relevant information from time to time. I know, I know, if I'm going to be writing a sports blog, then I should be using Fox sports or something, and I did, but I didn't much care for it and I was too lazy to keep entering stuff on there. So hopefully you like what you read, and if not, well, as Homer Simpson would say, "If you don't like it, you can move to Russia!" (Hopefully by linking to the Simpsons' website, Fox won't send any hired goons after me for using a Simpsons' quote..."hired goons?"...oops, I did it again.)
A lot of my content will most likely be a reaction to my brother's blog about the upcoming season of the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, there are way too many Red Sox "fans" out there, but growing up in New England, rooting for the Sox was a way of life, and true fans like my brother and I are much less annoying than the so-called "Red Sox Nation" members who wear pink hats and couldn't tell you who Carlos Quintana was to save their life. Anyway, Pat is going to try and post a little bit about every Sox game this season, and I'm going to try and rip his opinions apart...oughta be fun, huh? Kind of like a blogged version of PTI, except we'll probably agree a lot more than Wilbon and Kornheiser do.
Anyway, the random question for today is, if they made a baseball version of Space Jam, who would the Looney Tunes recruit to take on the evil alien lineup? Come to think of it, who would the aliens abduct for their lineup? I'm thinking something like this...
Bad Guys-
CF-Alfonso Soriano
SS-Edgar Renteria (or Rent-a-Wreck, as my brother would call him)
1B-Albert Pujols
LF-Manny Ramirez (he may actually have been abducted already)
3B-Alex Rodriguez (aliens are welcome to abduct him whenever they want...I don't think anyone would mind)
DH-Barry Bonds
RF-Bobby Abreu
2B-Ray Durham
C-Ivan Rodriguez
SP-Roger Clemens
RP-Armando Benitez
Good Guys
SS-Jose Reyes
C-Joe Mauer
DH-David Ortiz
1B-Mark Teixeira
CF-Grady Sizemore
2B-Chase Utley
3B-David Wright
RF-Vladimir Guerrero
LF-Adam Dunn (for comic relief)
SP-Johan Santana - duh
RP-Joe Nathan
Well, gotta go, I need to start getting ready for my drive to London. (see step #19)
A lot of my content will most likely be a reaction to my brother's blog about the upcoming season of the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, there are way too many Red Sox "fans" out there, but growing up in New England, rooting for the Sox was a way of life, and true fans like my brother and I are much less annoying than the so-called "Red Sox Nation" members who wear pink hats and couldn't tell you who Carlos Quintana was to save their life. Anyway, Pat is going to try and post a little bit about every Sox game this season, and I'm going to try and rip his opinions apart...oughta be fun, huh? Kind of like a blogged version of PTI, except we'll probably agree a lot more than Wilbon and Kornheiser do.
Anyway, the random question for today is, if they made a baseball version of Space Jam, who would the Looney Tunes recruit to take on the evil alien lineup? Come to think of it, who would the aliens abduct for their lineup? I'm thinking something like this...
Bad Guys-
CF-Alfonso Soriano
SS-Edgar Renteria (or Rent-a-Wreck, as my brother would call him)
1B-Albert Pujols
LF-Manny Ramirez (he may actually have been abducted already)
3B-Alex Rodriguez (aliens are welcome to abduct him whenever they want...I don't think anyone would mind)
DH-Barry Bonds
RF-Bobby Abreu
2B-Ray Durham
C-Ivan Rodriguez
SP-Roger Clemens
RP-Armando Benitez
Good Guys
SS-Jose Reyes
C-Joe Mauer
DH-David Ortiz
1B-Mark Teixeira
CF-Grady Sizemore
2B-Chase Utley
3B-David Wright
RF-Vladimir Guerrero
LF-Adam Dunn (for comic relief)
SP-Johan Santana - duh
RP-Joe Nathan
Well, gotta go, I need to start getting ready for my drive to London. (see step #19)
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