Game was called after 6 innings on account of rain, with the Sox down 3-1. Nixon got picked off at 2nd with the bases loaded to end an inning. Besides that there's not a lot to say about a short game like that. O's, Yanks, and Jays all picked up a game on the Sox.
Lots of stuff off the field though. Keith Foulke had surgery, and will be out 4-6 weeks. Payton apparently blew up during the game on Wednesday, and has been DFA'd. Word is he'll be an A soon, thanks to a trade (presumably for bullpen help). Adam Stern was brought up. Vazquez was traded to the Indians for Alex Cora. After his strong start Wednesday, Clement made more comments expressing frustration at not being named to the All-Star team. Millar is apparently miserable platooning with Olerud, though probably won't be traded since no one wants him. Damon spouted off to the Globe the other day, complaining about both the Sox trying to get rid of Millar and moving Schilling to the bullpen, demonstrating a poor understanding of statistics. It looked like Francona confronted him about his comments before the game. Timlin also went off on the Schilling-as-closer idea. Schilling meanwhile pitched the 9th for the Pawsox; apparently looked pretty good but gave up 2 hits, and one ER; 2K's, 13 of 14 pitches were for strikes.
What a day.
[Update: The insanity continues. The Courant has a good article, Joy of Sox a good roundup. Remember when Damon liked to say the Sox could win, because they were all idiots and didn't know anything, and instead just went out and played baseball? What happened -- did he decide he all of a sudden became smart?]
Frankly I think a little too much is being made out of all this. There is an article on ESPN that says the Sox should pipe down and remember their care free ways of last year.
ReplyDeleteObviously these people did not follow that team, that had Millar chirping about playing time and roles.
We've known for 30+ years that you don't have to like a guy or be happy to play well on the field.
Yeah, I generally agree. Though the Globe made a comparison to the team in late 2001, which is a scary thought. Man, that was such a painful time. I hated everything they were doing on *and* off the field.
ReplyDeleteThat article was Skip Bayless... it was completely insane and stupid. I believeit went as far as to a) say that Schilling faked the blood sock thing (which led me to the question: even were that true, who gives a shit) and that b) Schiling is "the greatest winner in sports blah blah blah." While I'm happy to see someone not named Jeter given that distintion, it's still stupid.
ReplyDeleteWhich by itself is a contradiction. If the blood was really fake, then wouldn't that make Schilling a phony and thus not really eligible for greatest competitor status.
ReplyDeleteBayless is a jackass - he fills in on the Jim rome radio show and is terrible. He was a writer for the Mercury News here in CA and he was pathetic. How a guy like that becomes the ESPN writer/cold pizza guy is truly amazing to me.
He's the Cold Pizza guy? Well, that explains everything. A while back we were talking about Worst Sports Show, and forgot that one.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I have no problems with players being unhappy off the field, so long as they play well. But players second-guessing management I find annoying...at least when it's clear management isn't Evil, and actually wants to win.