Bronx Zoo

Its too early to celebrate their demise, but that does not mean I can't enjoy it.

I find this really interesting - from todays Post Derek Jeter, who normally makes few public stands, stepped outside his persona to firmly voice that "in no way is [Torre] responsible for how we are performing" and that the firing talk "is unfair and it should stop."

Yet, when it came to offering support for A-Rod, let's just say he was less supportive than he is now being with Torre.

Craps, you lose

In 4 of their 5 victories over the Yankees this year, the Sox have scored 7 runs...

In the other? 11...

Strange.

Tragedy

Well, I guess since they won the WS last year, you can't say they are cursed (curse of Curt Flood?). With former Sox farm hand dying in a car crash on top of the Kile tragedy a few years back, it reminds us it is just a game. And the strange thing about this one is that just like with Kile they were playing Chicago.

On a lighter note, the Pats trade for Randy Moss? It could be great for Brady. But it also could be a disaster. Hopefully he is done with his immature phase like Dillon and now wants to actually win.

A look back at April (Fantasy land)

Pardon me for my brief diversion into fantasy land. The casual reader (that includes you too CHB) can guess that the main contributors (Earl, X, Grieve, and IBID) to GYS are also in a fantasy baseball league together. I know fantasy baseball has little to do with reality but I thought a brief diversion might be nice, seeing that we'll all be surfing the net anyway tonight as rain soaks NYC.

So, here is a list of the top ten hitters and pitchers in our league. The question is, who will remain hot and who will not. It should be noted that our league is an AL-only-no-yankee-no-arod league. Yes, we made sure if he got traded we couldn't pick him up. (Although Earl cleverly drafted him in the final round to see how long it would take us to notice). For the sake of comparison I threw in any Yankee that scored in the top 10.

Hitters: (Runs, HR, RBI, SB, Average)

0. Arod - Holy crap! Might this be true?!
1. Ian Kinsler - I think he's the real deal. He might plateau but he won't drop far.
2. Vlad - Is it me or are we just waiting for the next injury?
3. Vernon Wells - So solid, the Jays were smart to sign this guy long term
4. Magglio - WTF?
5. Sizemore - Honestly, I don't know... my guess is he will plateau
6. Hunter - WTF2?
7. Ortiz - Likely to climb the rankings
8. Hafner - Will be right on Ortiz's heels if not slightly in front
9. Crawford - Crazy good
0. Abreu - What can I say.. this guy rocked in Philly... he rocks in the Bronx
10. DeJesus - Ah... I love early season anomalies

Ok. Honestly, I don't get paid to do this so I'll do the pitchers later this weekend.!

Bloody Hell!

By now I am sure you all have caught wind of this he-said-he-said story regarding the HOF sock. Mike and Mike in the Morning brought my attention to the story, and coined the phrase "he-said-he-said". Deadspin put their typical humorous spin on it, and Curt hasn't addressed it yet. Not sure if he will, my guess is he tries to ride this out (e.g. hopes the story goes away).

Personally, I think the story is a dead-end. It's interesting that Thorne called out Mirabelli by name, which certainly lends some credibility to his story and/or at least puts Mirabelli in the hot-seat. The team has circled the wagons and has presented a unified front, which leads me to believe the story will go no-where. As the Deadspin guys point out, are any of us surprised at the thought of Curt "self-aggrandizing"? No, not really. Should we have the HOF test the sock? I hope it doesn't get to that, but that certainly would put end to the story. I am not sure I can take another fake story right now.

Panic or Good Managing?

With the rainout last night for NY, there was excitement because Pettitte will now be able to pitch during the Sox series. He would have pitched tonight.

Hughes pitches tonight instead.

Is Torre trying to give Hughes the start that he thought he was going to get, or matching up Pettitte against the Sox? Both?

It is only game 20 or so. Again, even if the Sox sweep this weekend and go 7-8 games up, it will still only be April. As a Sox fan, I would be concerned to fall behind that much this early, but with 140 games to go, 7-8 games isn't a huge deal.

Isn't it just as important to beat Toronto tonight as the Red Sox this weekend to the Yankees?

The reason I really ask is because the Sox claim to play every game as if it is as important as any other. Of course, the argument can be made that Francona gave Tavaras that in between start before the Yankees series to line up Schilling, Beckett, and Daisuke.

So what is the real story with pitching matchups this early in the season?

Puttin' on the Brakes...

So this morning I did a bad bad thing. I listened to the sports radio despite my current ban...
All the yahoos were out in full force claiming the Yankees are done. Seems to me like we've had this early-season conversation a few times before.

As a Sox fan it is very tempting to jump all over the Yankees right now. A sweep, a four-game lead. As well, the Yankees are rushing Hughes up to pitch this week despite saying this wouldn't happen...3 of their 5 starters are on the DL. Their bullpen is already tired and looks very weak. But we've got to stay focused and realistic here.

The Yankees lineup is silly. They are going to score a bazillion runs and there are a lot of teams with bad pitching out there right now. They will win many of those games. I was too lazy to look it up, but most of us agreed in a post last year that beating up on the bad teams is a great way to notch many wins...And they will again add Matsui to the mix...They will score a ton and just outscore teams.

They will also shower Clemens with money...
They will also make trades for relievers...
Their "lower" payroll will again skyrocket well over $200MM.
They will be there all year.

The Sox, meanwhile, are winning with pitching, but have also lost many low scoring games due to lack of offense. They are scoring like crazy at home and go silent on the road. Until the Sox show consistency on the road and offensively, and Mussina and Wang do not come back, I am holding up my victory parade.

I do, however, think the Sox have vastly superior pitching in all aspects. The starting rotation from 1-5 at this point is better than the Yankees (and this will probably be the case for the entire season). The middle relief is better, and the closer is better. They have extra pitching in Pawtucket.

Manny hasn't started to hit, yet, and A-Rod will cool off a bit. Lowell looks like he is going to have a better year than last, as does Crisp. That lengthens the Sox lineup a lot which means they will eventually be consistent. And don't rule out the acquisition of another big bat at some point.

Playing at their current pace, the Sox would win 108 games. I don't think they'll get there, but (if they find offensive consistency), 100 is not out of the question. If they don't find that consistency (and struggle on the road) 93-95 wins...

With their lineup, I see the Yankees very capable of winning 92-93 games with their current pitching situation. If Mussina and Wang come back strong, they should make the playoffs, and could win 95-96 games.

That's kind of close to call, isn't it? There are a ton of what-ifs? And let's not forget the injuries...We saw what happened last year...

I am not being pessimistic here...just realistic. There are so many games to play, and such a small current sample size on which to make judgements.

Of course, another 3-game sweep in the Bronx could push me over the edge...

Best of the week Part III

The look on Chase Wright's face pretty much says it all. What a great weekend.

Runners up include a montage from former Red Stocking Freddy-I-can-dance-like-Michael-Jackson-Sanchez and this photo of what happens when you mess with Freddy

Back to back to back to back

Don't think I've ever seen that before. Think they figured out something about this Chase guy?

Of course, Daisuke just gave up a ground rule double to Mientkiewicz, so this game is far from over.

Also, I hate the term "back to back to back". Makes no sense.

Well, then.

The other day Grieve4Eva made the comment that the one upside to A-Rod's insanity is that he could actually get 74 HR, knocking Bonds off the single-season record books (which, if the Yanks were out of playoff contention, might even be worth rooting for). I realized that's a big reason I don't really care about Bonds's overtaking Hank Aaron. It seems so temporary - barring some huge injury problems (which he's never had so far) A-Rod's a lock to pass both of them. He'll very likely be the first to the 800 club, and 850 even seem possible. I was thinking about posting something about this, but then the Mysterious Baseball Hermit ("Andrew") came out of nowhere (in only his fourth post of the year!) with a far better discussion of this topic than I could have possibly done. So I'll just leave it to Andrew.

On the topic of goodness from other blogs, via Twitch 124, here's a ridiculous ad for ESPN fantasy baseball starring John Kruk, Peter Gammons, Joe Borowski, Carlos Lee, Bronson Arroyo, Gary Sheffield, a lecherous Florida Marlin, some others I can't identify...and the lead singer of Rush. Holy crap.

Random Thoughts for a Saturday

Great game last night. I will try to keep it in perspective but the matchups now favor the Sox for the last two games. And as we know, a sweep in April does not mean much. That being said, it reveals one more chink in the pinstriped armor.

As the eighth inning started and the game looked lost, I kept reminding myself of what seemed like 10 series in the last 4-5 years where the Sox would drop a tough series opener to the Yanks and then storm back on Saturday (in fact I think both the 17-1 games were on the heels of tough Friday losses). So, I’m sure the Yanks will brush it off and be ready to go this year.

Seeing Posada leave the game made me think he could be the most irreplaceable Yankee of all.

That being said, I need to be careful what I wish for. Boone gets hurt, the Yanks get A-Rod. There is not that big of an impact catcher out there, but you never know. I’m sure the Yanks wish they had not traded for the Unit even more, having gave up Navarro.

I’m very happy Fox is doing only one game of the week to start the season. That means no blackout out here.

And I sure hope they have Dick Stockton calling the game today, like they did last week. What a refreshing change.

A-Rod

Dude is insane. 10 HR (2 walkoffs), 25 RBI in just 14 games. Pretty amazing how one guy is singlehandedly carrying the entire team - reminds me of Vlad with the Angels the last couple weeks of 2004. But then I see pictures like this and get all pissy. Is it just my intense anti-Yankee bias, or does he seem incredibly obnoxious in most of his celebratory photos?

On the topic, this - from a week ago! - is pretty hilarious.

Off the topic, so is this. And this and this.

Come from behind! It's our favorite way to do it

Oh yeah! Manny tied it with Coco on base. What's that you say, "Coco who?". Well as it turns out Coco figure into today's come from behind victory in a couple key ways, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 RBI. The one run was in front of Manny which tied the game and his RBI was in the form of a sacrfice fly in the 9th to help seal the deal. Way to go Coco. It is nice to see some production, finally! It begs the point to look at Coco's production by situation:

Batting 1st: .261/.308/.366
Batting 2nd: .313/.358/.482
Batting 8th: .268/.321/.429
Batting 9th: .230/.269/.339

I know this year is a ridiculously low sample size but it works in my favor so of course I am going to reference it. His recent production came from batting 2nd and 1st in the order. The rest of the season he has struggled at the bottom of the line up (mostly 9th). Would they consider a move? In my opinion, you can't move Lugo. He's a table setter as well and when you compare Coco to Lugo, Lugo wins. However, if you look at Youk and his production batting 6th (.389/.421/.611) you have to wonder if it could work (18 AB - so this is really silly). Just because I am on a ridiculous roll, here goes my proposed line up change:

Lugo
Crisp
Ortiz
Manny
Drew
Youk
Lowell
Varitek
Pedroia

It's a long shot, but I just might be able to say, "you read it here first".

Time to play the jinx game

Buerhle no hitter through 8.

Question

Even with the masterful pitching of King Felix, the Sox have scored 39 runs in their last 5 games. Are they out of their offensive slump, our does the Angels pitching just suck?

It's On!

Wow...I never would have thought that this morning there would be a game played in Boston today. Yet, it is underway and the Sox are crushing. 6-1.

Nice job by the offense in the first...aided by a horrible throwaway by LAA of A.

Best of the week Part Deux

Did you really expect me to be so foolish as to actually take my weekly gig seriously?! I didn't think so.

I liked the Lugo photo because it actually looks like he slapped Cabrera and it was a perfect analogy to what the Sox did this weekend.

There were only a couple other key images worthy of note from the week. As this is a biased blog, I make no apology for my focus on the Sox. The Sox started the week with a bang. The team hit a slight bump at the weekly hump when they ran head on into an exceptional pitching performance that went the wrong way. However, those Red Stockings responded with, dare I say, an unexpected performance from Curt and a reemergence of the offense that was helped by a hot-hand in Hinske. This should provide enough to at least kindle the fire under the boo-birds who are likely to focus their cacophany Coco's way.

Still, this image of Lugo is priceless and speaking as a Sox fan it is certainly nice to see him on base. This kid has speed! He showed that he can consistently score from second even on line drive singles. This fact should work out well for him this year.

notes: By the way, it's good to see that Bronson is still sporting the rock-star look. I hope this is not a trend!

Things that make you say, "huh"?

Toriiii Hunter (whom I generally like) and C.C. Sabathia (whom Dino generally loves, at least on draft day) both think Sunday's Jackie Robinson tribute is "watered down." Take it away Toriiiii:

This is supposed to be an honor, and just a handful of guys wearing the number. Now you've got entire teams doing it. I think we're killing the meaning.

Really, what the hell is he talking about? Does this make sense to anyone? He's pissed off that other people besides him (and a select few) get to wear number 42? In order to honor someone who deserves to be honored by everyone? God I hate it when reporters don't ask for followup when the people they're interviewing say something stupid.

(...Also, I like that Mariano Rivera is listed as one of the players who "will be wearing no. 42 on Sunday.")

(...Whoops, someone beat me to it.)

Continuing on our theme of lame, very short blog posts...

After 7 innings, Felix Hernandez is throwing a NO-HITTER. He is NO-HITTING the Red Sox. The Red Sox have gotten NO HITS off Felix Hernandez. NOHITTERNOHITTERNOHITTER.

update (6:14 pm, 1 batter later): works every time...
...like here (in comments), also with King Felix...
...and here, with Weaver vs. Halladay...
...and here (in comments), with the Unit...

update 2: dammit, getting no hits but still getting the win would've been a hell of a lot nicer than that result. Yuck.

Hmmm... Delicious? No.. Dice-K-licious!

This is a bit odd. Brigham's is renaming their ice cream "reversed curse" to "Dice-Kream" I am not sure how that makes me feel. In fact, it makes me feel a bit gross. Some times RSN can go TOO far.

"There will be a lot of teams involved in deciding who goes to the playoffs this year."

One of the best Fire Joe Morgan articles ever, on one of the worst Joe Morgan chats ever. It's going to be a fun year over at ESPN.com.

Bestest of the week

Best of the week

(As of 5:46 PM this is my favorite image of the week in Baseball). Global warming meets Baseball? Yes, people global warming means more freak storms along with the melting! On the other side of things, Sexson's horsing around in the snow is a chilling reminder of the cool start to many of the leagues big sluggers and in the Red Sox case, an ace as well. Maybe my favorite image will change later this evening, but one thing is for sure, it's not Slappy et el feeling, "Foolish running around the bases like it was Little League." The psychological image of a child trapped in ARod is too torturious to contemplate. That being said, I am mildly cheered by the pending let down ARod will cause the fans the very first time he's cold again in the clutch.

Daisuke commercial

This is pretty cool.

And one other funny note. I was listening the Jim Rome show the other day and he had CHB as a guest. Rome asked him about the Schilling Blog article and CHB shrugged it off as just fun. But then said that when he was flying to KC a day or two after the article, he was seated on the plane in the seat right next to Shonda Schilling. Classic. And he said she was very classy and did not talk about it. Although I did get the sense she did not talk very much.

On another note, how long is it before CHB writes a book about the Gyroball? Or any book about Dice K?

Random News around the League

Two examples of wizardry in the news today:

1. FRod's magic tricks are revealed
2. Mathematician declare Yankees 110 game winners in 2007!

My favorite of the two is the later. Apparently, the mathematician didn't bother to take into consideration the possibility of injuries.

Our long national nightmare is finally over

Damn, that had to be the single longest off-day I have ever experienced. Opening series really ought to have no breaks in them. That first loss didn't sting that much (I seem to remember a season opening loss in 2004...) but having no baseball to "move on" with, and instead being stuck reading crap like this puts me in a foul mood.

Here's hoping the Sox bats show up. A score of 19-4 or so would be nice.

Predictable

Me, in the comments, 5:03 pm (3rd inning, score still 1-2):

Ugh. I can see it now...Shaughnessy making some snarky comment in tomorrow's paper about Schilling "thinking too much about what he'll write in his blog that evening rather than what pitch he'll throw next"...

What CHB actually wrote:

Blogmaster Schilling threw like a man suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, yielding five runs on eight hits and two walks in just four innings. 38pitches? That's almost how many Schill needed to get out of the first inning...

Yes, I admit, I was out-Shaughnessied. Hard to beat the master. But damn, I really should've seen that "38 pitches" "joke" coming from a mile away. (You just know he was rooting for a full 38 pitches that inning...)

Opening remarks

I'm stuck with a giant deadline here at work, so for the first time since 1999, I won't be taking off work early to catch the first Red Sox game of the season. Which totally sucks. (But I'll see what I can do about the one-beer-an-inning thing.)

Anyone else catching it live? Up for a game thread?