Is it hot stove season already?!

Is it me, or do the hot stove conversations keep moving up each year? MLBrumors.com has all the action of the AIG bailout retreat, I mean GM retreat at Dana Point.

It sounds hot and heavy.

It really looks like the Yankees will be a new team next year and the only news the Sox have managed is to sign boy-genius.

Phillies on a roll and my new favorite name in sports

The Phillies are sort of my NL team, so I have to admit I am a little happy to see them winning. The unfortunate thing is that it isn't so much that the Phillies are winning as the Rays are losing. That being said, the first 5 innings last night were masterful for Blanton. It seemed fitting for him to go yard.

It's not over. If the Rays can get hot tonight they might pull a Red Sox roll.

Also, from the Pat's game this weekend. Who is this man? Nobody knows!!! He is always incognito.

Congrats to the Rays

Well, that elimination record's now 16-4. Sucks. But: it was fun while it lasted. Games 5-6 reminded us what a good team the Sox are, and therefore what a good team the Rays are. I'll be rooting for them in the Series.

F.... TBS

Wow...technical difficulties from TBS have made me miss almost the whole first inning. I hope that they never get to carry a game again. Ridiculous.

Upton already with a home run. Crap...

holy...

Since 1999, Sox are 15-3 when facing elimination in the postseason. Pretty exciting team.

1999: won 3 from the Indians (3-1)
2003: won 3 from from A's, 1 from the Yankees (7-2)
2004: won 4 from the Yankees (11-2)
2005: *cough* (11-3)
2007: won 3 from the Indians (14-3)
2008: beat the Devil Rays (15-3)

Let's make it 17-3.

Game 2

Anyone online? I'm in China, "watching" it on Yahoo Gamechannel. (Last year at this time I was watching the ALCS from Finland.)

Holy crap, Pedroia with a HR. 4-5 Rays. Not quite the pitcher's duel of yesterday...

I Like Baseball

Seriously, Earl, were you at the game last night? The sign "I Like Baseball" just smacked of something you would bring to a game. Kind of like when you yell "Hey!" way off-time...

That being said, my comment in our last post was "almost" spot on...Last night had me greatly worried. Lester was way better than I thought he'd be, and he is clearly an ace. Lackey was great, too. When it went to the bullpens and I saw how Shields was throwing, I thought it was going to Game 5.

Now it is on to Tampa. The Sox haven't played well all year, but that doesn't count now. The Angels owned the Sox this year. How'd that work out? However, the Rays went with 4 starters in a 5-game series, and they all pitched well. Kazmir, Garza, Sonnanstine (sp?), and Shields. The Sox had two great starts from Lester, one decent start from Daisuke, one not so great start from Beckett. I am guessing that Wake is the fourth starter with the series having a minimum of two dome games.

The Sox faced very good starting pitching in the Angels series, and didn't produce a lot of runs. That was to be expected. They ground out at-bats, and took advantage of opportunities (capitalized on mistakes). They also coughed up two leads, and clearly stayed away from members of their pen as much as possible. Francona's managing was outstanding.

The Rays looked fantastic against the White Sox. They didn't show jitters. Solid starting pitching, solid pen. An aggressive offense, and athletic defense. When they beat the White Sox, they weren't jubilant, young players. They looked like they had no doubt that they belonged.

I can't help but think Rays in 6. The Sox are the underdog. At least in my mind.

Booo

Man, we all suck. An incredible last month and we've barely logged on to this site. Some random thoughts on the last few days, in no order:

- That trade for CC looks pretty good now, I guess.

- And he's the favorite for the Cy. I'm sure it'll be over all the papers (maybe it is already), but how often has a Cy Young/MVP winner switched leagues midseason?

- I just can't get worked up about coming in second to the Rays. It's a pretty exciting turnaround for the franchise. If the Sox lose in the playoffs, I'm going to have no trouble rooting for the Rays the rest of the way.

- On that topic, I cannot believe that changing their name actually worked. Stuff like that never works.

- Also: I love that they have no idea who should throw out the first pitch. I think I speak for all of us when I say: Ben Grieve!

- There's plenty of stuff not to like about the Mets (their hoarding of Big Free Agents; their firing of Randolph; 1986), but they've grown on me the last few years, given their fanbase - plenty of them stayed loyal throughout the entire Yankee dynasty. So this second collapse in a row has to hurt - my heart's out to Mets fans.

- Go Tigers.

Random items in the news today

Lee is the first 20 game winner Did anybody see that coming?

Koby Clemens arrested Did anybody see that coming?!

Drew and Beltre each hit for the cycle! Which is more statistically relevant: Beltre hit for the cycle or the Mariners won a game?

Frenchy

Gagne strikes again.

ROY Part II

*The three runs Pedroia scored gave him 101 for the season, leaving him two shy of matching Bobby Doerr's 103 in 1950 for the most by a Sox second baseman.


This kid is amazing....

Best Manny article ever written

Over here, of course.

It's about time

We haven't gotten any headline-friendly free agents or trades for a long time. Finally...

Paul Byrd Flies in at right time - Boston Herald
Byrd flies from Cleveland to Boston - MLB.com
Byrd is the Word - Masslive.com
Byrd is the Word - Surviving Grady
Byrd lands at Fenway - South Coast Today (MA)
Boston is Byrdland now - MVN
Bye, bye Byrdie - Chronicle-Telegram (OH)
Byrd in hand worth player to be named - Tucson Citizen
Byrd's In Hand - YFSF

(See similar lists after signing J. T. Snow, Coco Crisp, and Hee Sop Choi.)

Jeff Passan - clearly the second team now

I guess this is kind of like in the winter of 2005-6 when the Yankees kept saying all off season how they were happy to have Bubba Crosby as their CF. And then the Yankess swept in and signed Damon.

Well Passan must feel like Bubba right now. Gordon Edes is headint to Yahoo! as their national baseball writer. A huge step up if you ask me.

Bay

I saw him hit two homers a couple weeks ago.

Besides that, wow. No more Manny. Tons of mixed feelings, but: thanks for 2004 and 2007. Good luck in LA...

A-Rod and I-Rod

Have to say I never saw this coming. Looks like he didn't either.

Things to keep in mind when booing him: (1) he won the 1999 MVP instead of Pedro, (2) several former Rangers (Canseco, Palmeiro, JuanGone) have accused him of steroid use.

Holy crap, who'd have thought Boston may finish the season in third?)

Let's see if my no hitter jinx still works

lackey through five.

Manny Being Manny Part 33 and 1/2

It is a beautiful day in Boston. We survived the monsoon season and avoided a sweep by our AL East rivals.

Also, Manny has officially gotten out of his system. We all know he needs to have his temper tantrum every other year. Now that it's done, he's ready to go back to playing.

Money quote

Rob Neyer on George Brett:

"Most baseball players get married young, then likely spend most (all?) of their careers fooling around on the road. Not George Brett. He fooled around on the road for most of his career … but he was a bachelor. He didn't marry until late in his career, and he married a beautiful woman quite a few years younger than him; they're still together."

GYSN's favorite Royals fan

Something Jeff Passan recently wrote got torn to shreds (deservedly) by Fire Joe Morgan. Basically he (accidentally) said the Royals or Indians would win the AL Central. When confronted with his error, he didn't get defensive, and instead immediately fessed up and issued a correction. Well done Jeff.

We are worth $5,000 (see below)

Sweet.

On the topic of stadia...

...apparently Yankee Stadium stinks.

Remembering Shea: A Sunday evening with Baseball Tonight

I felt like storing up on some real baseball before the circus comes to town. So I lowered my standards and decided to listen to Joe Morgan for the evening. This week's feature game is the Rockies vs. the Mets. So naturally, the subject of a new Shea stadium came up. This is the second time I've heard the news today. I had not know previously that they were building a new Shea. I started to wonder and it turns out the Mets are entirely local news. According to google the new Shea story didn't get much reach, especially when compared to the mega-story of the New Yankee Stadium.

Anyway, here are some notable Shea Stadium moments, courtesy of the Baseball Tonight crew on ESPN. Oh, by the way that's the New stadium as seen from the current Shea.

Beatles Perform in 1965 &1966

Jets beat Raiders in AFL Championship 1968

Mets win World Series 1969 & 1986

Pope John Paul II 1979

Burgh

So I'm in Pittsburgh for a couple weeks, and last night I made it to PNC Park. Upper deck, behind home plate. Basically, everything I've heard about this park is true - it's a fantastic place to catch a baseball game, and the view is probably the best in baseball.

The game itself was...pretty good too. Starting pitcher was a AA callup, and was giving up runs pretty much constantly. By the 7th the Pirates were down by six. But then they tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, scoring 3 off Isringhausen. The crowd quickly shut up as Glaus got a go-ahead HR it the top on the 10th, but Jason Michaels (weren't the Sox looking at him some years ago?) got a two-run HR in the bottom of the 10th to win it. Pretty wild - I've never been so excited about a game I couldn't care less about.

It's official: the Pirates are now my NL team. Fifteen years of losing seasons gives you som,ething to root for.

Random notes:
- Both the Cards and the Bucs bat their pitchers eighth. Someone explained to me that La Russa does it because Pujols gets a tiny bit more at-bats (2.84 vs 2.83) by having three real hitters in front of him. That makes no sense to me since La Russa hates numbers; but also, why not just bat Pujols fourth?
- La Russa had his pitcher bat in the top of the 10th rather than use a PH. But then in the bottom of the 10th he took out the same pitcher after one batter. Now, I know nothing about NL baseball, but that seems completely, utterly stupid to me.

What a dushbag

Okay, so the A-Rod/Madonna/Lenny Kravitz thing is pretty awesome. But this is way, way, WAY awesomer. (Baseball sideshows sure are fun when they involve non-Boston teams!!!)

Update on CC

Revisiting a previous post. Apparently, my prediction of C.C. coming to Boston was just WRONG.

Imagine that... IBID's prediction wrong?! Like that ever happens.

Desperate for pitching

The Yanks should sign Chacon. Lord knows they need the help. And A-Rod could use the company of another known choker.

Schilling end of an era?

Curtis Montague wasted no time announcing his end-game for his career. But in my mind, we ever there is loss there is opportunity.

how soon do we start talking about C.C. coming to Boston?

Celtics

So as you know I'm of two minds about Boston's ridiculous sports dominance as of late, but this is pretty damn funny:

Boston: our sports teams are so good that 18-1 football teams are considered historic failures.

A question, which I'm sure will be in tomorrow's papers: has a city ever done so well in sports in a single year? (The Revs made the finals as well.) Pittsburgh had a nice run in the late 70's, but that was "only" in 2 sports...

End of an era, part II

Mets finally fired Willie Randolph. It's wild that a year ago they were the best team in baseball, and essentially suck now. Even wilder that he lasted three years. Check out our post (and comments) from Pedro's first Spring Training Start in 2005: Mets = Disaster Waiting To Happen. (The followup post is pretty good too.)

[Dudes: this website is dying.]

End of an era

Sad to report Hazel Mae is leaving NESN. This could single handily result in traffic to this site dropping 50% or more.

So for old times sake (or maybe new times sake when she shows up in a new city and users want to see more of Hazel Mae..... "Hazel Mae Naked"

At one time Earl had the links for all the Hazel Mae Boobs search results, including one that I will always remember "Boobs of Hazel Mae." I think we still do well enough on Google to be on the first page for these searches.

Sorry to anyone late to the party.

Oh yeah, and "Jeff Passan sucks". Still.

Great rant

"But … this is Derek Jeter. And so, well, you know what’s coming. The Yankees radio crew — and these are good folk, hard workers, they’re just lost in the Jeter flood like so many — basically sang Hosanas to Derek Jeter for getting caught in a rundown. I’m not kidding here. They went on for five minutes about how the Captain willed those runners to second and third. They kept talking about how not only did Jeter stay in the rundown but he WAVED THOSE OTHER RUNNERS to the bag while he was doing it. Imagine. I was sitting there in the car absolutely stunned. This was Jeterating on a whole new level."

The whole thing is worth a read.

It's streaky...it's streaky streaky streaky streaky

April 12-15: 4 wins in row
April 17-21: 6 wins in a row
April 23-27: 5 losses in a row
May 2-6: 5 wins in a row
May 11-14: 4 losses in a row
May 17-22: 7 wins in a row
May 23-present: 3 losses in a row

This team gives me a headache. Four days ago I was psyched they were the best team in baseball, today I'm worried about losing the division to the freaking Rays.

Also, where is everyone?

This is too weird

On a whim I googled "Nartleb Solrac". Not sure why - I guess "I'm a soul man" has been stuck in my head all day. Anyway, the first hit was us. But the second was this. I can't for the life of me think of why anyone would make such a Google feature. But damn: they've thought of everything.

Play of the year

HOLYCRAPTHISISTHEBESTTHINGIHAVEEVERSEEN

Asdrubal!

Last night Asdrubal Cabrera turned an unassisted triple play, the 14th in (modern) baseball history. The list of all 14 can be found here. I know almost nothing about unassisted triple plays, except that my friend Mike was at Fenway when John Valentin turned his...but missed it (he was getting beer). A couple notes:

- 13 of them are the same - caught line drive, tagged runner from 1st, and touched 2nd (with the last two in either order). But in 1920 George Burns (a 1B) tagged the runner just of 1st, and then ran to second base for the third out. I guess the runner fell, or didn't realize the ball was caught?

- Six UTPs were turned in the 1920's...and then there was a 55-year span in which only one was turned (1968). But then two were turned in the 90's, and so far there have been four in the current decade. Any idea what caused this? Are double steals getting more popular? Are players getting worse at baserunning/hit-and-running?

- the previous Indian to turn a UTP was someone named Bill Wambsganss. That's a lot of consonants.

Sad headline of the day

Related to our ongoing discussion of "Tampa Bay's best season yet":

Win puts Rays five games over .500 for 1st time in team history

Um...congratulations?

Tim Wakefield, Carl Everett, Bob Tewksbury, Mike Lowell, and...

So there's usually no point in linking to Deadspin, since everyone goes there anyway, but just in case, this Freddie Lynn interview is pretty much a must-read.

(Also: am I missing anyone from the title of this post?)

Slumpbusters

Sox scored 26 runs in three games against the Rays. Compare that to their previous five games, where they scored...four.

JoS lists the MLB stadiums (stadia?) he's been to. I'm not sure I've ever counted mine. In order, they are Memorial Stadium (1982), Arlington Stadium (1984?), Veterans Stadium (1986), Fenway (1993), Yankee Stadium (1998), Dodger Stadium (1997), Wrigley (1997), New Comiskey Park (1999), Camden Yards (2001), Safeco Field (2002), Shea Stadium (2003), the Big A (2003). Only 12, which is pretty pathetic - given where I've lived, not sure how I've missed Toronto, or the SF/SD parks. Of those 12, only 9 are still in use - and soon that number will be down to 7.

It took this to get me back....

During the Sox-Rays broadcast Friday night, the trivia question was "What four Rookie of the Years have played for the Rays franchise?"

Well, I did not stick around for the answer, but I knew without hesitation that Ben Grieve was one of them. Canseco and now Hinske are the two others, but how great for Grieve. I wonder how his wedding was?

On another notes - Dino you (of all people!!!!) totally missed on the whole being out of the batters box - that is what sent Carl Everett to the moon (figuratively, not literally since we know thanks to Carl that man has never been to the moon) on his Ron Kulpa head butt rant. Dino, Dino, Dino.

Mike Lowell: Thinking Outside of the Box

Daisy and I had seats in the State Street Pavillion Thursday night. We got there early to catch some of batting practice and to treat ourselves to $17 hamburgers on top of Yawkey way. All said and done we both felt that it was a good experience but that we would prefer sitting amongst the true fans. Not sure why, but the vibe just wasn't happening up top. The fans weren't that into the game. To their defense it was a lame game. Still the energy that we've become accustomed to wasn't present and it took away from the enjoyment of the game. That being said, it was an interesting angle to watch the batters box. Clearly, Lowell is thinking outside of the box when he read the rule, your foot must be touching the line of the batters box. Way to go Lowell! Earl, can you run a quick calculation to determine how much extra time this gives a batter assuming a 90 mph fastball?

Please to hit the ball

Sox pitchers have given up just 6 runs in the last 4 games, which is amazing. Problem is, Sox hitters have scored only 4 in that same stretch. So it's actually pretty lucky they're 2-2. I can't remember a time pitching has been this hot and hitting has been this cold, for so long. Starters have gone 30 IP, with an ERA of 0.9 and and WHIP of 0.633...and have zero wins. It's a bit ridiculous.

Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk!

I think this line from yahoo says it all:

It’s all they needed against the Blue Jays, thanks to Jon Lester’s pitching and Dustin Pedroia’s fielding.

Pedroia's play on Wells in the 9th was sick. That ball was scorched up the middle.

I would also tip my cap to the heart of our order. Ortiz worked a good at bat to get on base in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs. Manny with 2 strikes against him hits a nice little bloop into center field. Then Youk gets up and smacks a line drive to center, with the help of Wells bobbling the ball allowed Ortiz to score.

Lucky for me, I was at the game. It was the fastest game I've ever attended. It had a slight delay, due to rain and was over by 9:40! It was the first time in 17 years or so that my brother had been to Fenway. So it was cool to watch his reaction to the crowd. After all it is not everyday that you see 36,000 plus people sing a Neil Diamond song.

Note: It was great to Lowell back in the line up. He got a standing ovation for his first at bat.

WTF?

I have to say, this was a great weekend for me and Daisy to go without TV. For earth day we decided to give up non-essential electricity for a week. Anyway, it looks like we saved ourselves a ton of headache!

Swept by the Rays?! WTF!

Still Manny being Manny steals second for some unknown reason... first in 2 years!

Plus - Where is everyone? THis is pathetic. I can't do this by myself!

Two down 16 more to go

Fox's coverage yesterday was pretty miserable. In fact, at one point Daisy was moved to scream, "why don't you go into the dug-out and suck on his balls?!", in reaction to Buck's and McCarver's typical ass-kissing. I love that girl! Naturally, the 131-minute rain delay made things interesting. It was good to see Pap shut down Arod with 3 pitches and go onto to a smooth 9th. Manny is the man and I can't wait for Ortiz to get out of his slump.



So today is the rubber match: Dice-K vs. Phil Hughes. It's actually quite fitting. The Yankees have finally stopped their annual binge and purge of dead-arm veteran pitchers and over-the-hill sluggers. Phil Hughes is the face of the "Next Generation" Yankees, along with Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain. On the other side, Dice-K is the Sox's 100 Million dollar man.

Advantage, Dice-K: With a BB/K ration of 9/22 and an ERA of 1.47. Hughes struggled against the new look Royals, but rebounded against the Blue Jays (5/6 BB/K and 5.00 ERA). Of course, this could come down to bullpens. As we all know, Dice-K can take an inning or two to find the strike zone. If the Sox can build an early lead, that might help motivate Dice-K to challenge hitters out of the gate.

Home opener

This is awesome. Three years too late (I still get pissed off when I think about that "We forgive you" banner), but a great gesture. I'm surprised (and happy) he agreed to do this.

Game at 2:05pm. Anyone around for a game thread?

update: today's Boston Herald: "All is Forgiven". God I hate the media.

Some good news...

...as the Sox sit in the AL East basement. (On pace to win 69 games! Oh no!)

The New York Times is (probably) about to fire Murray Chass.

Trivia

Okay, so the Sox are back to being a .500 team. That puts them in 4th, behind the Bay Rays, Orioles, and Blue Jays. Question: what was the latest in the season the Rays were first in the division? What was the latest they had a winning record?

0-4

The Tigers just lost their fourth in a row (3 to KC, this one to CHW). Small sample sizes are fun, but: rough start, or are they just not as good as people expected? Anyway, I was a little shocked to read this:

Not exactly the start hoped for by Detroit, which at $138.7 million opened the season with the second-highest payroll in the major leagues behind the New York Yankees.

This hasn't gotten that much press I think - everyone thinks of the Red Sox as having the 2nd highest payroll. In fact, they're not even third - the Mets have a higher payroll as well. Full list here. Top 2008 salaries are here - Yanks have the top three (ARod, Giambi, Jeter) and five of the top 12 (Abreu and Pettitte). Red Sox only have one player in the top 25 of salary - Manny Ramirez, in at #4.

Also, this is great.

Also, where is everyone? (Busy sulking about your crappy fantasy teams?)

Special Agents Embree and DiNardo...

...still on the payroll evidently. Nice to see the Sox pick up where they left off last year - getting the starting pitcher out of the game early.

"Guyner?"

The Sox recently signed 26-year-old right-hander Terumasa Matsuo, who will report to Fort Myers later in the week. Matsuo pitched for the "Kagawa Olive Guyners", whose logo and mascot are shown here. Apparently all the teams in Japan's Independent Shikoku Island League (of which Matsuo was the MVP last year) have similarly ridiculous team names and mascots. While I like the Olive Guyners (it looks like a Pixar movie!), the "Tokushima Indigo Socks" may be my favorite.

Opening Day...

...in Washington DC. Check out these two videos, of the same event; the crowd noise is very different...





(I like the first one better.)

Coliseum

Not too often, but sometimes, I miss Southern California. The restaurants, the weather, and this. Man that looked fun - 115,300 fans! I especially like this:

“Wakie’s a fly ball pitcher. That’s great,” Varitek said some 3 1/2 hours before the game as he walked down the Coliseum tunnel and glanced toward the left-field screen.

Then, in his best broadcast voice, Varitek he intoned: “Dodgers 85, Red Sox 81.”

And the 2-8 putout (Andruw Jones was playing behind 2nd base) is not bad either.

Second game today at 4:10 eastern.

Today's headline

Southern California man gets 30 days in jail for throwing bottle at Piazza

[Roland] Flores pleaded guilty last week to misdemeanor counts of using force and violence to assault Piazza, and for intentionally throwing a substance while at the stadium, [Police St. Rick] Martinez said.

He pleaded guilty? Idiot. He should've just said he thought the water bottle was a baseball and he wanted to give it back to Piazza. That defense works every time.

Anyone awake?...

...for a Game 2 thread?

Nice start to the season...

So, you gotta love that. And here's to 161 more. Now that the season's officially begun, we need to get back to posting on this site. After my hiatus, I'm on board. Anyone else?

I'll start: we never made our yearly predictions. Here I go...

AL East: BOS (96-66), NYY (92-70), TB (81-81), TOR (80-82), BAL (3-159)
AL Central: CLE, DET, MIN, , KAN, CHW
AL West: LAA, SEA, TEX, OAK

NL East: NYM, PHI, ATL, WAS, FLA
NL Central: CHI, STL, MIL, HOU, PIT, CIN
NL West: LAD, ARI, COL, SDP, SFG

Anyone else?

The Next Dimaggio

(AP)—Tampa Bay’s Rocco Baldelli will begin the season on the disabled list because of a condition that the oft-injured outfielder says leaves him feeling extremely fatigued after short workouts.

What is this world coming to. In the old days, we would just say this guy is out of shape. And what else is in the news.

Billy Crystal is going to play a game for the Yanks. I expect this nonsense from the Padres. What's next? Put it on ebay - the chance to play for the Yankees. If NY's governor will pay $80K for sex, certainly there are some fans that will pay at least that to play in a spring training game.

So, Beckett's back is hurting. Is it my fault for jinxing the Sox rotation with my question of what it would look like without him? Also, give me the pulse of the nation. Panic? The whole thing could be a smoke screen for the Sox wanting to have Devern Hansack and Julian Tavarez pitching their first two games of the season.

And I love that today Girardi protested an exhibition game. Okay, what if he wins. Do they have to play the exhibition game over from the point of protest?

2008 SOX

So the reason Earl created this blog was to reduce the zillion emails that could sprout up during a season and then fill someone's inbox with the 46 reply to alls. So in the interests fo that, i will pull in an email from GR and myself and get it going out here.

My message -
I'm looking forward to the season. I worry about a world in which the Sox are the favorites, and that first month looks like a killer. Tor has an easy schedule that first month, so it will be funny to hear all the writers say they are for real on May1 or 15th - right before Burnett goes on the DL, BJ Ryan needs more surgery, and Rolen gets hurt again. The only thing more predictable is the annual Ken Griffey JR hamstring injury.

GR response
I think that Schilling is actually more of a loss than people think. Yes, he wasn’t that great last year, but Lester doesn’t fill me with confidence in that role, yet…Also, a blister from Beckett could prove devastating to this team…AND there are lots of old guys to boot.

So what do you guys all think? It looks like I was early on my BJ Ryan prediction as he is already hurting. Oh no, wait it was AJ Burnett who is now hurt. And GR is worried about a Schilling-less staff. I think there are some people that are saying "no worries" about missing Curt. In the long run, it is probably a game or two in the standings (and that assumes that Curt would have made 25 starts). So a game or two could be HUGE. Or it could be nothing. We won't know for sure. Hopefully he can come back in the second half and *pitch* like he did late last year.

But to pull a page from the GR book, I would argue that the Sox rotation looks great, especially in comparison to the Yankees. GR worst case scenario is a blister to Beckett. And blisters heal fairly quickly.

Take Beckett out of the rotation and match up the Sox versus the Yankees.

Dice-K vs. Wang - edge Sox. Wang gets killed by good teams and the yanks bad fielding is bound to catch up with him one of these seasons.
Pettite vs Wake - slight edge NY
Mussina vs Lester - sorry, even with the walks I'll take Lester
Kennedy/Hughes et al vs Bucholz/Tavarez et al - a complete wash.

Now put Beckett back in and the Sox likely win all those "matchups."

And bullpens. I'll take Paps over Mo, Joba over Delcarmen and all the rest of the guys on both staffs are question marks.

So which team gets Sabathia when CLE is 15 games out in June - could be the difference in September/October.

What we live for

Taking a brief break from hibernation to note Sox's newest minor league signee. Not sure how I feel about it in terms of baseball - no downside, I guess - but the headlines are nothing but good.

Red Sox agree to terms with Colon
Colon hoping to regain form
Sox believe Colon's worth gambling on
Colon has work to do
Colon makes the scene

Brings a little sunshine to my day.

Wake up!

Where is everyone?

Has anyone seen the Sox April schedule? Pretty brutal. We've all heard the Yankee whining about the Japan trip in 2004. So, I won't add to that. Thankfully they are playing a AAA team. So that trip and the ensuing two game set in Oakland should yield 3 wins.

But then, it is on to Toronto. Followed by 10 games (no off days) vs DET, NY and CLE. Yikes.

And then a four game set vs. TEX is followed by 3 against LAA.

Oh, and I have a new player to cheer for. Patrick Currin. On Thursday, his fiancee delivered our second baby. Pretty cool.

Ah... so much better

It's great to see the boys start to trickle into camp!

Slow News Day

Daisy pulled out her DVD collection of Sports Night a week ago. Six Feet Under fans will be pleased to see the role of Casey played by Peter Krause. Anyway, it's pretty good. Witty banter with a tricked out laugh track (only for the first ten episodes). Apparently, it was Aaron Sorkins way of shoving it to the man (so to speak). Well, they have this episode about a slow day in news and it was a slightly more tamed down version of this.

Desperate for news myself, I started my typical blog-run (Deadspin,Baseball Musings, MLBrumors.com, and Boston.com Extra Bases. I didn't need to go far to finds today's musings. The Berman clip above is from Deadspin.com, if you didn't already click on it.

Venturing forth, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ben Watson hanging out at the MIT Sloan Business Conference on Sports Management with David Pinto, Sal Baxamusa, and Rob Neyer. Earl you should look up Sal, he's a chemical engineer. I posted on Basemall Musings as the first comment. I was tempted to do something stupid like, "FIRST", but thought better of it. He posted my comments, so I am sure Pinto gave the GYS a run-down. I am also sure he didn't see anything terribly mind-blowing, expect maybe of awesome connection to the creator of Darkman.

Oh, and funny this, while digging up all these links I came across this. I especially like Peter N's comments - vintage Peter!

XLII post-mortem: the bright side

1) It wasn't the Sox. That loss sucked, but everything is relative: compared to the repeated punching in the 'nads called "Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS", that was a skinned elbow, tops.

2) Boston sports fans could use some humility. Things have been a bit insane lately, and Boston fans have gotten cocky, and are now the most hated fanbase in sports (deservedly so). This will hopefully shut up the bandwagoners and college kids who have never seen a Boston-area sports team lose an important game.

3) Think about that for a second: there actually are "bandwagoners and college kids who have never seen a Boston-area sports team lose an important game". Can you imagine even thinking that, say, 7 years ago? We have it good.

4) Pitchers and catchers report in less than 2 weeks.

Johan to the Mets

I can live with that. It will be fun to analyze over the next few years. Based on Omar's history of signing players, we can now expect Johan to suck or be hurt in 2009, floowing the lead of Pedro and Beltran.

3

The GYS Network began three years ago today. Happy Birthday all. I have to say: I think we used to ramble on about random things much more than we do now. So here's a conversation topic: why don't baseball teams record their own ridiculous songs and music videos? The NFL has the Superbowl Shuffle, Fear Da Tiger, and this bit of awesome piece of awesomeness which I learned about only today. Why can't the 2008 Red Sox record an early-90's-style rap video? That would be great.

Update: Holy crap. Via Deadspin today, here's another, which may be the best/worst.

Random notes for an endless offseason

• Via FJM: Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi referred to the Red Sox and Yankees as "dirt bags". But he also said that about new Blue Jay Scott Rolen. And then Rolen himself announced "I need to play baseball and be a dirt bag." Apparently they think that's a complement.
• Great article by Doug Glanville (remember him?) in yesterday's NYT on motivations for players to use steroids.
  
• Q: How do you make Bud Selig and Rob Manfred seem like sympathetic figures, reasonable guys with cogent arguments? A: Pit them against the biggest blowhards of them all in this steroid mess, the World Anti-Doping Association. Apparently my favorite official, Dick Pound, stepped down as WADA head, and has been replaced by some guy named "Pubus Sweatsack". (Correction: his name is "John Fahey". My bad.)
  
• Bill Simmons just keeps getting worse. As if the rest of the nation didn't need more reasons to hate Boston sports fans...
  

Mitchell vs the blowhards

I've been following the testimony via NYT's Bats Blog, which is fun. I'm liking George Mitchell more and more:

“Why should cheating be a matter of collective bargaining?” [Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.] asked rhetorically to Mitchell – who, as usual, had a measured and informed response.

“It has been settled law in the United States for more than 20 years that drug testing in the workplace is a subject of collective bargaining.” Showing some restraint, Mitchell omitted the requisite “duh”, given the solemnity of these proceedings...

Shays continued, and later during his five minutes referred to Rafael Palmeiro as “Palmerry.” Mitchell kept his composure during a confounding question, regarding whether Palmeiro had tested positive “before his three-hundredth hit?”

A knowledgeable baseball fan despite recent events, Mitchell responded: “I’m sorry, before what?”

Just awesome. Hard to imagine Mitchell was once in Congress himself.

More inconsistencies

From 60 mintues:

WALLACE Did you know ahead of time what was going be in George Mitchell’s report?
CLEMENS I did not.
WALLACE Did Brian McNamee tell you what he was going to say to—
CLEMENS Didn’t tell me a word.

Yet now we learn that there is an audiotape of a conversation between McNamee and Clemens' investigators from the day before the report was released. Why would they be talking to McNamee? Seems odd to me.

I am Getting Worried

Listen...Pitchers and catchers report in only a few weeks, and the Red Sox haven't filled a couple of key bench spots, yet...

Yes, they've won the World Series...Yes, they have an epic starting rotation...Yes, they have arguably the best closer...

But, besides Crisp, who backs up the outfield? Is there another backup infielder besides Cora? Who is this year's Eric Hinkse? Right now it is Chris Carter (X-Files Creator???)...

Ok, I was trying to rant here, but really this Sox team is ready (again) to compete. They do need to bring in a catcher (Cash, Mirabelli, or Kotteras), they need a backup corner infielder...

I hate to say it but it is a boring off-season because they are so set...Definitely not like only a few years ago...

Jeff Passan fan club

So, as we all know, if you Google Jeff Passan, the second link that comes up (after Passan's column) is Dino's classic post from almost 2 years ago, "Reading Jeff Passan is like snorting coke off the back of Anna Benson's naked body". (Actually, now that I type that, I realize it makes no sense: "the back of her body"? Why not just "her back"?) And of course, even Mr. Passan himself emailed me to express his approval. Which is awesome.

Anyway, that post gets more hits than any other at The Network (other than posts about "Hazel Mae naked"). Check out the comments! There are around 50; sort of a meeting place for people to complain about the guy. Then the spambots come by and really mess things up. But they go away, and people keep posting. Most recent post was just over a month ago:

Jeff Passan is about as enjoyable as reading about natural disasters.

God I love the internet.

Class of One

No real surprise, given Keith Law basically tallied the votes beforehand: Goose Gossage made it in to the Hall, Jim Rice didn't. But Rice fell short by only 16 votes; next year he'll almost certainly get in because of the "sympathy vote" arising from his last year of eligibility. Here is Rob Neyer's argument that Rice doesn't belong in; he got almost 800 comments, yet no one disagreeing with him made a very strong point. Thoughts?

In any case, you have to wonder how much Gossage, Rice, etc. are benefiting from the weak field. As we've discussed before, there are many (20+) active major leaguers who are very likely to make it into the Hall, but only a couple retired ones (Rickey and Alomar) who are. I think this gives the borderline players a huge boost.

60 Minutes

Anyone else watching? So far, not so good. Clemens looks really angry (I'm sure it was rehearsed); Mike Wallace is awful. Random moments:

• Clemens argues that if he was using all these steroids, (paraphrasing) "Who I am getting them from? Why aren't they coming forward?" Uh, maybe because people who make a living selling illegal substances prefer not to announce that to the whole world?
• Clemens said he couldn't have taken steroids because if he did "I'd have a 3rd ear out of my forehead, I should be pulling tractors with my teeth."
• The "Swear?" "Swear." exchange is as cringe-inducing as you'd think.
• Clemens (correctly) argues that lie detector tests may not work, but actually doesn't sound defensive while arguing that.
• He mentions he's a target because people will try to take you down when you're "High on the flagpole, people can see your butt." Probably best not to bring up your butt in this context, Roger.
  

...And suddenly, it's over. Now Andy Rooney is talking to me. Holy fucking shit, he's awful

Anti-trust exemptions

In the comments of the previous post, X calls me out for mentioning baseball's antitrust exemption as the reason Congress gets involved in baseball. He was right in that I had no idea what the "anti-trust exemption" actually means. But after some reading on the web, I'm pretty it's not a small thing. Here's my current understanding:

The idea of the exemption is based on two Supreme Court cases, 1922's Federal Baseball Club v. National League (which held that in baseball, interstate commerce "was not the essential thing") and 1958's Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc. (which held that "Congress had no intention of including the business of baseball within the scope of the federal antitrust laws"). But the antitrust exemption doesn't make baseball exempt from labor laws, thanks to Flood v. Kuhn, 1972.

Today there are basically two things that Major League Baseball (an umbrella organization of 30 privately-held companies) can do that most other interstate businesses cannot:

1) MLB can control franchise sales and moves, something no other organization - not even the NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. - can do.

2) The Sport Broadcasting Act of 1961 gives teams in ALL the pro leagues (though not the NCAA) the ability to pool resources to get exclusive TV broadcasting rights. This had previously been ruled illegal under antitrust laws.

As far as MLB is concerned, these are both a big deal. Without #1, baseball teams would be all over the place; for example the SF Giants would have moved to St. Petersburg in 1992. (Which probably means no Devil Rays*). Also, the whole possibility of contracting teams arises from this exemption.

Exemption #2 is probably even bigger - without it, broadcasts could only be made by individual teams, and national broadcasts basically would never happen (unless paid for by very rich teams). This was actually just in the news: Sen. Arlen Specter's threat to revisit NFL's antitrust exemption is why those of us who don't get the NFL Network got to see the Patriots play the Giants last Saturday.

* and if that's not an argument for getting rid of the exemption, I don't know what is!

Now the fun will begin

Clemens asked to testify. It is being called an invitation, not a subpoena. So we shall see if he attends.

We'll also see if Clemens learned anything from Bonds. He's kind of screwed. If he pulls the McGwire, he destroys his legacy. If sticks to the B-12, Lidocaine story, he will likely end up with every investigative journalist in the country following him around. A new book next spring - The Rocket's Shadow?

2008

Happy New Year everyone. The first month of this offseason was really great, but damn...it's been boring for a while. I suppose this is pretty awesome. Other than that...