Posts from the ‘MLB 2007’ Category

Red Sox Midseason Report

With the halfway point of the season just around the corner and the All Star break following soon after let’s step back for a moment and hand out some midseason grades for the 2007 Red Sox.

Offense The Sox offense has been sufficient so far. In the vital categories of runs, home runs and batting average the Red Sox rank sixth, sixth, and fifth in the league respectively. Good enough all things considered but in the words of Johnny Drama the haggler, “I like it–I don’t love it.” For an offense that should be in the top two or three statistically in the AL, there are two glaring reasons for their rather ordinary offensive standing. Their team batting average of .273 has been heavily weighed down by Julio Lugo, who has the worst batting average (.193) among everyday players in baseball. As for their lack of run production and home runs, look no further than the men in the middle, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. Combined they have fewer home runs (24) than each league leader, Alex Rodriguez (28) and Prince Fielder (26). For some reason or another they don’t seem to be sweating it, and neither should we. Both are hitting over .300 and if Manny ever spoke to the media he’d likely be the first to point out that he’s hitting .400 over the last month (with a whopping four home runs and 13 RBI). But in all seriousness the only people who need worry about Manny and Papi are opposing pitching staffs (like, maybe Texas and Tampa Bay’s when they arrive at Fenway at the end of the week. Just sayin.) The runs haven’t come in bunches just yet, but they will. Grade: B

Starting Pitching The performance of the starting staff this year is undoubtedly the most significant reason the Red Sox have the best record in baseball. The two elder statesmen of the rotation, Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield, have had their ups and downs but are still a combined 13-12 with a 4.35 ERA. Schilling appeared to have expended a little too much too early in the season against Oakland a couple weeks ago when he nearly threw a no-hitter. The result was consecutive starts against Colorado and Atlanta in which he had no velocity on his fastball and little control of his all-important splitter. The ever-streaky Wakefield has had his fair share of struggles as well, but he continues to battle and rarely exits a game before the sixth inning. At this stage of his career we know what we’re getting from Wake.

The most unexpected lift has come from Julian Tavarez. After a horrid start Tavarez has pitched exceptionally. Over the last five weeks he’s unbeaten in seven starts (six of them Red Sox wins) with a 4-0 record and an ERA of about three and a half. Then there’s the dynamic duo of Josh Beckett and Dice-K. Quite simply they are the most dominant top-two tag team in baseball. They’re both on pace for 20 wins and both have answered the critics. Beckett has effectively changed speeds on his fastball this season, as opposed to trying to blow everyone away with 97 mph heat. He’s also fine-tuned his breaking ball to the point where it has become a primary out-pitch. Matsuzaka meanwhile, has given up a total of five runs in his last four starts, while striking out 34 in 26 innings. Wildness in the early to middle innings continues to be his only significant problem, but he is clearly getting better with each start, and has lived up to his proclamation of being a slow starter. With no structural damage in Schilling’s shoulder and the possibility of Mark Buehrle arriving via trade it sure looks like this already-potent staff is only going to get stronger. Grade: A-

Bullpen A case can be made that Hideki Okajima is the best setup man in baseball. One can also be made that Jonathan Papelbon is the best closer in baseball. Aright, I’ll take the honors. Okajima has a 0.98 ERA with a 2-0 record, four saves and 12 holds. Opponents are hitting .151 against him and he’s given up four runs all season (one of which came on his first big league pitch). Papelbon has 18 saves in 19 chances and a 1.65 ERA; 38 strikeouts in 21.1 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .153 against him, and are consistently overmatched and/or blatantly intimidated when facing him. Cases closed. The rest of the bullpen has been solid as well. As a core, the Sox relievers have the second-lowest ERA in baseball behind San Diego. Brendan Donnelly was earning his paycheck before he landed on the 15-day DL. Kyle Snyder and Javier Lopez have been workmanlike and productive as matchup relievers. And now Manny Delcarmen is slowing being reintegrated back into the pen. With far less of the load on his young shoulders this season look for Delcarmen to make significant strides and become more important as the campaign continues (especially if Donnelly is slow to return). All and all the AL’s deepest and best bullpen. Grade: A

Overall It’s hard to be a Red Sox fan not loving life these days. At 48-26 they are the best team in baseball, they have an 11.5-game lead over the Yankees and are 4-2 on their current high-mileage road trip (through Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle). Because of their strong pitching staff they’ve only once lost more than two games in succession. And the curious way in which Manny and Papi are hitting (ie very well with little power) makes me wonder if they have some sort of wager on who can get to the All Star break with the fewest home runs and still crack 45 this year. It’s been that kind of season for the Sox. Through all the question marks, from Schilling to Lugo and J.D. Drew, from Coco Crisp to Manny and Ortiz, the wins have just kept coming, and there ain’t nothin wrong with that. October baseball will be returning to Fenway this fall, that much I can assure you of. And if all goes well October baseball will be going through Fenway this fall. In the meantime though, sit back, relax and enjoy the boys of summer. Grade: A-

AL East Points

 (Note: this is the last piece I wrote for my blog, published on June 18)

The Yankees won nine straight and 11 of the last 12 to get back within 8.5 games of the Red Sox. With the Mets sliding and the Yanks taking two of three in the Subway Series this past weekend (a solid Roger Clemens outing resulting in the only loss), Yankees fans have re-acquired that winning two-step. (And of course the swagger comes complimentary.) They really believe it’s only a matter of time before they’re back knocking on the door of first place in the division. It’s certainly not out of the question, and a pennant race in September is imminent. But it’s still an uphill climb like these Yankees have never known.

Two years ago around this time the Red Sox took decisive control of the division (from the Orioles believe it or not) while the Yankees were mired in a prolonged stretch of losing baseball. Behind A-Rod and Jeter the Bombers made their token late-summer run and beat the Sox in the first two games of the final series of the season, to clinch the AL East. The two clubs finished with identical 95-67 records (the Yanks took the season series 10-9 for the tiebreaker).

An impressive/expected comeback? Indeed. Will history repeat itself? I doubt it. Why? First, because of the sheer numbers. I picked the Red Sox and Yankees to each win 98 games this year, so let’s work with that number. For the Sox to win 98 they must go 54-40 the rest of the way, which is a .574 clip. The Yankees on the other hand, need to string together three and a half months of .663 baseball (or a record of 63-32), in order to win their 98. Truthfully, I think the Yankees can do that. They’ve done it before.

As opposed to ’05, however, the Red Sox are not going to fall drastically off their current pace, which is 105 wins. The reason is pitching. The ’05 team had a front four of Matt Clement, David Wells, Bronson Arroyo and Tim Wakefield. There wasn’t even a single viable number two starter in that rotation. Then there was Curt Schilling, who spent half the season on the DL before returning as a very pedestrian closer. Their horribly insufficient pitching staff was the explanation for both their sustained mediocrity over the last two months and for the thrashing they took in the ALDS against the White Sox.

When you look at their top four right now (Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K, Wakefield) there still may not be a viable number two, only because there are arguably three number ones. All have pitched like aces more often than not. And most important, they pick each other up. Opponents have yet to solve them in succession, which is why the Sox have not been swept this year. With Papelbon anchoring the best bullpen in the league there is simply no reason for the Red Sox to cease playing at least .600 ball the rest of the way (which would assure them of their first 100-win season since 1946).

Are the Yankees starting to hit their stride? Sure seems so. Will they be participating in October festivities? Umm, is Derek Jeter still a Yankee? Nuff said. All I’m saying is for once, I really don’t care. Curt Schilling declared the ’04 squad the “best Red Sox team ever”. And you know what? He was absolutely right. But this one just may be better. Only time will tell.

For now all I have to say is enjoy that wild card race, Yanks.

Sox-Yanks and 24 Points

Have times ever changed. Tonight the Red Sox and Yankees renew their rivalry on ESPN while the two hour season finale of “24” runs simultaneously on Fox. If this were three years ago I would be beside myself. I would be angered at the level of my own excitement, because, of course I would be mired in a serious conundrum.

24 or Sox-Yanks? Jack or Pedro? Kingsley or Jeter? Since this kind of dilemma occurred annually from 2003-05, I got used to biting the bullet and taping 24, because Sox-Yanks was just too riveting to miss.

These days the “rivalry” is watered down to the point where one run games are the anomaly as opposed to the norm, and the singular buzz that used to surround every series ceases to be. Sure, they still attract wild amounts of fans and media and play the occasional fantastic game. For the most part though, the matchups have assumed the feeling of just another baseball game, and not yet another chapter in the ongoing saga of the Red Sox and Yankees. There hasn’t been a brawl since ’04, hasn’t even been a game so induced with emotion and passion that Derek Jeter has seen fit to charge into the stands to procure an out.

Simply stated, there hasn’t been a general, steadfast refusal to lose on the part of the players. That goes for both sides. Just look at recent history. Last year the Red Sox allowed the Yankees to come into Fenway in the middle of August in a pennant race, and disrobe them. Five straight? Excuse me? Then at the beginning of this season the Yankees watched, wide-eyed, as the Red Sox came from behind in three straight games at Fenway before getting smacked down in two of three the next weekend at the Stadium.

It’s almost as if the rivalry has turned into a give and take of touché. Humiliated at Fenway? Props Yanks. Toyed with at Yankee Stadium? Too-freakin-shay Sox.

Sorry but this would have never happened in the ’03-’05 heyday because those teams so mutually abhorred the prospect of defeat at the expense of the other that they would scratch and claw with everything they had to avoid that outcome. During that period if you took a sample size of any 12 consecutive games one team would have six wins and the other would have six wins. Game times would average almost five hours. The games themselves would average a good deal more than nine innings. Box and line scores would be irrelevant. Hell, there was only so much Sportscenter could do. Unless you were a part of it, the Sox-Yanks experience, you couldn’t do it justice. There was no such thing as the casual or outside observer; the magnitude of the thing wouldn’t allow it.

It used to be the same with 24. From 2002-04 every Tuesday night from 9-10 pm was specially reserved for another sixty-minute slice of Jack Bauer’s harrowing day. The audience was niche and the plots were taboo. The humanity of Jack was still a concept and not a punchline. The twists were unforgettable and the endings were groundbreaking. The purpose of the show was to present an adversarial point of view and run with it, even walk the fine line of subversion. It was timely, relevant, and realistic in a grisly way only achievable post-9/11.

Above all though, it was novel. No longer. Like anything in the entertainment realm, once it became too widespread it was doomed. Doomed to be ruled by the dollar and not the novelty. And let’s face it, when the first three seasons revolve around an elaborate assassination plot, a cohort of oil giants using Islamic extremists to detonate a nuke in LA to boost business, and the dispensing of a gruesome and deadly virus on innocents, there’s only so much horror to explore.

Then there’s Jack. Originally a Federal Agent-turned man apart, the character has become so banal that there are actually betting lines on the over/under on the number of his kills in any given episode. What used to be a unique narrative about a man struggling to salvage a few ions of humanity while fighting evil has turned into the Jack Bauer power hour. The questions surrounding season finales used to be along the lines of how is Jack going to save his wife and daughter? Or how is Jack going to prevent a school full of children from being attacked? And most importantly, will the hour end with Jack’s death?

Three seasons later, I’ve stopped asking those questions. Jack won’t die because Fox won’t let him. He’s too lucrative. Not to mention so uniquely lethal. Tonight, the question is something like how many Chinese and/or Russians and/or family members is Jack going to off in his latest blaze of glory? This is the question I ask myself, and in the same breath, who’s going to win, Red Sox or Yankees? On both accounts am I eager to discover the answer? Of course. Will I watch and be entertained? Naturally.

But will it ever be like it the old days again? With 24, not a chance. The show is now just another franchise, so if you want a real taste of it buy the DVDs of any or all of the first three seasons. The verdict is still out on Sox-Yanks because we do have a-now-three-years-pending ALCS rubber match to tackle, but that’s a long ways off.

In the meantime I’ll stake my rep on “over 11” for Jack tonight.’

Magic Sox Points

Okay, I’ve held off long enough. It’s time to write my “Red Sox are really freaking good” column. So here goes…

It’s May 14 and the old town club has an eight game lead over that team bombing in the Bronx. The good guys are currently on pace to win 112 games, and they just walked off at Fenway for the first time this season in most emphatic fashion.

And I missed it.

Being a Sunday game that was initially billed as Josh Beckett’s chance to stick his name next to Babe Ruth’s in the record books, this was the one that all of Red Sox Nation was tuned into.

Everyone except moi. At the precise moment when Julio Lugo was sliding into first base I was on a Long Island Railroad train returning from covering NCAA Lacrosse.

No worries though. In the words of the legendary-Tony Montana: “Isssoh-kay.”

In the two minutes or so that the train was underground in Brooklyn I received a barrage of texts and voicemails, and I pretty much got the gist. With a game like that, though, you really had to have watched it to capture it. In other words I couldn’t write about the game and offer a whole lot to my passionate and knowledgeable Sox-readership.

So in place of filling you in on my experience watching “Baseball Tonight” after the game (which was AWESOME), I will instead take you back to the last time the Sox overcame a five-run deficit in the ninth inning, because I was there.

April 10, 1998. Home opener against the Seattle Mariners. I was in the right-center field bleachers with my mom. The Red Sox were down 7-2 heading into the last of the ninth and Fenway had emptied. But I knew something most didn’t.

The worst closer the Red Sox ever had, Heathcliff Slocumb, had finally been dealt in 1997. While he was traded for two unknowns named Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe (a whole other column in itself), the Nation was both ecstatic and relieved just to hear he was out of town for good. I happened to know where the trade had spit him out, and to my delight on that fateful afternoon at the ballyard, he popped up in the most glorious of places: the Seattle bullpen.

With the bleachers almost barren he was fortunate enough to have one obnoxious little 14-year old boldly reminiscing about days past while he attempted to get loose on a brisk April afternoon turning to dusk.

To this day I still don’t know why Lou Piniella made the decision to bring Slocumb in for the ninth. But if Sweet Lou is anything, he’s a manager who’s not afraid to throw a player to the wolves if he feels like he’ll learn something from it. He probably calculated that a five-run lead at Fenway on Opening Day was the perfect combination of leeway and pending-disaster for him to get a legitimate look at his new “closer”.

What resulted was a complete catastrophe as Slocumb took the mound with no control and even less composure. He scattered a few singles around a few hit batsmen without recording an out. I’m pretty sure he hit Nomar to force in a run, making the game 7-5 with still nobody out and Mo Vaughn on deck. By this time the undersized concourses and slim alleyways were more populated than the cramped seats in the old ballpark. People were literally trying to cram their way back in.

Lou then pulled the plug on Heathcliff (and his career). He summoned Paul Spoljaric who promptly gave up a mammoth-walk off grand slam to the “Hit Dawg”, which soared over my left shoulder and disappeared into the right field grandstands.

To my knowledge there is no YouTube clip of this home run, but there should be. And should it surface you will see a brief shot of a kid jumping onto the fence between the visitors bullpen and the bleachers, hands violently waving over his head, as the ball carries into the blue wood-paneled seats in right.

And if someone ever tracks down the Channel 56 news reel from that night, amid the bedlam in the tunnel underneath the stadium a skinny kid in braces will appear from the left and in the next shot will have a mic in his face, belting out some version of: “I LOVE HEATHCLIFF!!!! THANK YOU HEATHCLIFF!!!!!! YOU’RE THE BEST!!!!!!!!”

I look back at that day as a defining moment. I grew up watching and loving the Red Sox, but that game marked the first time when I convinced myself that “this is the year”. The Pedro-acquisition had certainly helped reinforce that belief, but it was Mo Vaughn who made me really, truly believe.

Coming back to the present there’s no way anyone within the Nation would classify Sunday’s surreal victory as an illuminating, perception-altering moment, because the whole “this is the year” thing simply doesn’t apply anymore (see: 2004). Neither does one ridiculous comeback give off the collective impression that the ’07 Sox are suddenly the comeback kids (again, see: 2004). That’s the whole purpose of a “precedent”.

2004 and precedents aside, this 2007 Red Sox team is rapidly turning into something special, just not in the way we were expecting.

What if I had told you in March that on May 14, 1) Manny would be hitting .250, 2) J.D. Drew would have 12 RBIs…in 34 games, and 3) Dice-K would have an ERA of nearly five. Now would that be something you might have been interested in? I think not. In fact if you were privy to that info before the season started all you would’ve been interested in would be showing up at Scott Boras Headquarters with a blowtorch. But I digress.

Yes, Manny is still Manny. Dice-K is still getting acclimated, and is a self-proclaimed slow-starter (a phrase he now knows in multiple languages since meeting Manny). And Drew, well, Drew still gives as much of a hoot when he’s sucking as he does when he’s productive. Which is to say either way he doesn’t seem to care too much, so at least we don’t have to worry about this slump getting him down.

Point is, maybe we should all take a page from J.D.’s book of caring, because who really gives a crap about stats when the Sox are 25-11, eight games up, and only gaining steam? Not I.

All we should care about is that this team is gelling and it’s already adopted an identity, something I didn’t think would be possible to even start fathoming until mid-summer. But it’s happened, and it’s happened without some of the big-money new guys contributing much on the field. That’s fine by me because they are clearly chipping in what’s necessary for this team.

For Dice, and J.D., and even Julio Lugo, the numbers will come in time. (The Sox play 81 games at Fenway, remember?) All we need to concern ourselves with right now is that these guys are having fun, playing great baseball, and could care less about where they stand statistically in the league rankings.

Throw in a game like Sunday at the Fens and that’s when you know it’s a good time to be a Red Sox fan.

Matsu-Manny-zaka Points

The guy’s already a legend, and he hasn’t even thrown a pitch in the bigs. The Sox posted over $51 million for Dice-K. They courted him; tempered his piranha of an agent, and finally, signed him for another $50 mil.Since then they’ve knocked down walls in the Fenway clubhouse to accommodate his massive media contingent. They’ve morphed the mighty baseball enterprise that is the Boston Red Sox into a multinational and bilingual operation. They’ve even researched the finest Japanese cuisine the city has to offer. All this was done just in preparation of his arrival to Boston, and eventually, Fort Myers.

Now, he’s finally there. And it’s all about him.

So of course Manny has found a way to make headlines. Big shocker.

Who else, but Manny, could possibly report to spring training both late and early?!? Like all Manny side-stories, this one is murky. All that’s known for sure is that for the second year in
a row the team allowed Manny to arrive on March 1, approximately a week after normal position players are required to report. His mother may or may not be in the hospital. And Manny may or may not have known that he was scheduled to appear at a car auction in Atlantic City this past weekend.

Regardless, this morning Manny arrived at camp, big as life, a full three days before schedule, and about three days after position players living in the real world. You know how Manny likes to keep things on an even keel, right?

Well he also likes to be the center of attention. And since it probably only recently occurred to him that all those team mailings he’s been getting actually say, “Welcome to Boston, Dice-K!”, and not “Welcome back Manny!”, my bet is Manny’s had a lot to take in of late.

So he most likely deemed it necessary to arrive early. Or not as late. Whatever. What’s relevant is that Manny is now fully aware of Dice-K’s presence, which may or may not have pulled him away from whatever it was that he was allegedly doing. Get the drift?

What’s known is this: Manny upped on the scene today and wasted no time getting his first glance of Dice-K. Barely before he had a chance to show off his new doo to David Ortiz, Manny had a bat in his hand, and had stepped into the batters box during a session of live batting practice being thrown by the new guy himself.

He looked at three pitches Dice-K had to offer, without offering back at one. It was his so you’re the guy who’s been taking the attention away from me and I’m not yet sure if I like it or not moment with Dice-K. Which is why I’m officially excited about this season. The three-ring circus has gone international.

While the evolving dynamic of this Japanese infusion overlapping “Manny’s world” will undoubtedly produce some hilarious (and possibly awkward) anecdotes, I’m of the mind that Manny and Dice-K are really going to hit it off.

First of all, Manny can relate to Dice-K. He showed up in the spring of 2001 and had to immediately deal with a significant language barrier because he never really had to speak in Cleveland (English at least). It is his personality that has become larger than life in Boston, and when he does speak, it serves to merely enhance that Manny-mystique, as opposed to define it.

Dice-K strikes me as a similar breed. The guy is clearly a character. He’s played some “Lost in Translation” games with Theo and the Trio, as well as the media. His grasp of the English language is surely not fluent, but no one knows what his true level of proficiency is at the moment. And he seems to like it that way.

Aside from the fact that I think their personalities will mesh well together, the two have a lot to learn from each other. Manny’s approach to the art of hitting is unmatched in both ethic and implementation. Dice-K will definitely have questions. Manny, conversely, being the truest student of hitting, will be fascinated at the prospect of adding another dimension to his understanding of this innate and finely-honed skill of his.

In addition, they are both machines in their respective disciplines, which will be an immediate source of mutual respect. They also play a game that revolves around one guy using a piece of wood to try and strike a tiny round object being hurled at him by another guy who’s sole objective is to make him miss. Mano-a-mano.

Face it, these two are natural, primal adversaries, best at what they do, foreign to one another, and now teamed up. Anyone else get the feeling they won’t have to do a whole lot of talking in order to communicate?

No matter what, this is just the beginning. It will be interesting, and no doubt amusing, to see how this current conglomeration of spirits and egos mold together to form the 2007 Boston Red Sox. It will also be extremely well-documented so expect the bizarre, and watch as it is beamed back and forth over the Pacific. Who am I kidding, though? We’re a fan base that has become accustomed to putting our undying faith in circus acts featuring the likes of cowboys and idiots.

Manny and Dice-K? This year’s act just might become the main event.