Tuesday Night Takeaways

Typed up on the blackberry while delayed on the subway this morning.....

As a sad and irrational Red Sox fan, I guess it comes as no surprise that I'm actually excited about this team right now. The pitching is starting to come around and the bats are about as lively as they can get given the lineup limitations. Do I think they'll win 96 games and make the playoffs? Not in this division. But I'm still convinced they'll make some noise, and if they can make the right trade deadline move, who knows. I've yet to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing for my health...


On to some takeaways....


-Pretty safe to say I can call Lester "Big Jon Stud" again....with the approval of Soxin10' of course


-2-0 since the return of Heidi. Just sayin.


-Lowell is doing everything right, even managing not to freak out given the circumstances. Ortiz seems to be doing everything wrong, seems like an equation that's really easy to solve to me.


-Just in case you missed another priceless post game Pedey quote in the comment section yesterday: talking about Ortiz and his struggles: "He's only had 60 at bats, a couple of years ago, I was hitting 170 after 60 at bats, and then what happened?.....THE LASER SHOW!"


-Pedey talks the talk (see below post) and walks the walk. I love Tek and all, but it's pretty clear who has stepped into the captain role


-Lester's splitter was filthy. 120 pitches is nothing. He's the definition of a horse (that's what she said?)


-Hoy es cinco de Mayo...5/5/2010...it's also Nomar night at Fenway.I can hear Ozzie Guillen saying "that's as close to being Mexican as he'll ever get"


-We know the Angels are struggling (I can't type that word without thinking of Joe Namath anymore). They're a team with comparable issues to the Red Sox.....we assume we'll be there at the end of the year....but are they too flawed? (Keep in mind the same can be said for the Sox)


-With the above said, I still don't know if the Red Sox won that game or if the Angels just finally found a way to lose it. Juan Rivera looked like a 7 year old tee ball player trying to run down Hermy's 3 run double to put the game away.


-Ahhhhhhh Hermida?


Lackey against his old ball club tonight in the Fens, let's keep it rolling....

Once Again the Center of the Sports World

To be honest, going into tonight, I told myself to be happy with one win out of three....I thought I was reaching when I hoped for two W's....little did I know that Boston would once again be the center of the sports universe.

Clay Buchholz may have had his worst start of the year, but he didn't exactly go Josh Beckett on the Sox either. That's a little thing called composure. He kept the Sox in the game and maintained the lead as the bats showcased their frustration all night.

Clearly, Heidi's return made all the difference in the world. The bats woke up to beat an Angels team that is underachieving the exact same way as the Sox. Perhaps, we can also give some credit to NESN newcomer Jade McCarthy who is clearly bringing her A game of late:

More to come....but for now, I'll go to sleep with a smile on my face, instead of trying to choke myself with a blanket like the video below....

Morning Lineup

It's a good thing I can't sleep well as a result of the Sox.....and the stress of my graduate program's workload....because it's 9am, the lineups are out and the players are taking swings in the cages. What boggles my mind more than that, is that it's 6am in LA, lineups are out, and most of the Angels fans are probably still dreaming about their terrible screenplays being picked up.

The only real change is flipping J-Bay and Ortiz, with Scott Kazmir on the mound. Our old friend from Tampa is 6-4 with a 3.05 ERA in 13 career starts at Fenway, all with the Rays. He's thrown the ball well for Anaheim in what's turned out to be a fantastic deadline move.

Anyways, here is the Sox lineup for today's win or go home game, be sure to check back with ITM as we're considering trying out a live game day blog....better late than never:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Victor Martinez, C
4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
5. Jason Bay, LF
6. David Ortiz, DH
7. Mike Lowell, 3B
8. J.D. Drew, RF
9. Alex Gonzalez, SS

-- Clay Buchholz, SP

Upside Down

This was not how it was supposed to go. All year, we maintained this team was built for the playoffs, and they still might be, but as of now, the 2009 Red Sox have a lot of convincing to do.

They're coming home from the make-believe land of Southern California, tail between their legs, but not totally defeated. The players are saying the right things "it's not over, we've got a lot of baseball in front of us" - Dustin, I can't hit a thing, Pedroia, and "I welcome this kind of responsibility" - Clay, don't blow it, Buchholz. I can assure you however, that Red Sox Nation, at least the non pink hats, are waking up this morning with an empty feeling in their stomachs. That same feeling that makes typing this such a struggle, it's the concern that after coming this far, stressing this much, pouring it all out for this team, the Sox are not who we thought they were.

Through two games (the most important of the year I may add), they've looked like the Red Sox of early August. They've thrown out their two big studs, and not that they pitched poorly, but they have nothing to show for it. TMurph called it a few posts back when he voiced his concern that this team hasn't shown it can hit good pitching.....spot on, even he has to be right once in a while. Don't blame the umpires, don't blame Beckett or Lester, don't blame Tito or even Theo, blame the terribly inconsistent lineup. Blame the fans and the media for completely overlooking a talented Anaheim team, who we thought somehow would disintegrate because of past playoff performance.

The worst part may not be the fact that the Sox are down 2-0, it's that the Yankees are up 2-0 and doing it in fine fashion. Combine the two and you have the worst of both worlds, loud-mouthed Yankee fans who are only good for fist-pumping on the Jersey shore, pounding their chests and rubbing it in at every chance they can....and "blow it up" Red Sox fans who all of a sudden "knew this team was terrible" and want Theo to be fired.

So far, the playoffs have been turned upside down, with the Sox being silenced by the Halos, and Arod actually hitting the ball in NYY. There is still time for things to right themselves, but if they don't do it quickly, be prepared for a long, long off season.

Behind the Plate Tonight, the Worst Umpire in the League...No Joke.

(Thanks to JoyofSox for the pic)

Clearly safe right? I nearly flipped the coffee table over last night after two piss poor calls from CB Bucknor....aka, the worst umpire in baseball. I'm not even making this up: in multiple surveys of 400 different MLB players over the past few years, Bucknor was overwhelmingly voted the worst in the game. I honestly don't know how Youk didn't flip out and power bomb the guy after those calls.

So this is exactly the guy you want behind the plate calling a very important ALDS game right? Unbelievable.

You can feel the tired anger in the financial district today....it was only game one, but it was such a frustrating game, from only mustering 4 singles, to terrible umpires, to Torii Hunter going bazerk, it was rough. As a result, tonight's game becomes as close to a must win as possible.

Let's all hope Beckett bounces back tonight....because alliteration tends to win ball games. I'm convinced of that. Somewhere in Needham, I can hear Tommy Heinsohn screaming "Big Bang Boom Beckett!".....that was terrible. Ok, Go Sox.

Sox-Angels Preview

Okay, so that title's not entirely accurate. It's more of an ITM anxiety preview. I'm worried. I'm sitting here with a glass of whiskey neat - what should be a warm treat on a crisp October night. But undeniably, this is just medicine for my nerves. There's nothing pleasurable or autumnal or old-fashioned about this drink. It might as well be robitussin going down my throat.

Were you aware that the Angels hit 15 points better than the Red Sox, with a league-leading .285? Or that they had as many hits as the Yankees - over a hundred more than the Red Sox? That they actually were right around the league average in walks, something the old Angels never even approached? Or how about that they actually struck out fewer times than the Sox? I used to calm myself by noting that they were the free-swinging Angels, a strategy that never worked in the cool twilights of October. That was then. Now I'm looking at pregame clips of Bobby Abreu. The man travels between Venezuela and the U.S. on an ocean liner, that's how patient he is!

But we've got Jon Lester and Josh Beckett and a hell of a bullpen. I try to tell myself that a few times every minute. And we've got J.D. Drew. Don't ask me how, but I've convinced myself that he's gonna be the hero this series. It must be the whiskey writing.

I'm not sure how many more Octobers I can take. I profess to love all these chilly thrills, but really, I'm sort of a dog-days kind of guy. I like the slow pace of baseball. The oh-well-there's-always-tomorrow attitude. The statistical evening out. These games count. How am I supposed to handle that?

I looked to my ITM-comrades earlier today for the answer to that question, but instead we ended up sending this link back and forth:

I'd say that about sums it up. It's gonna be a long ALDS.

A Cardinal Q&A with TMurph

He may not be posting as often...partly because we're scared of being sued, and partly because his work has banned him from reaching any websites (he reached the end of the Internet twice recently)....but TMurph is still very much in the background of ITM....providing us with stupid movie quotes and irrational banter on a daily basis. Recently, ITM was contacted by C70 At the Bat, a Cardinals blogger and fellow Baseball Blogger Alliance member to provide our perspective on the Sox, and the upcoming playoffs......TMurph chimed in with the following:


C70 At the Bat: What are the Sox Strengths going into the playoffs?

ITM: The strength of the Red Sox heading into the playoffs is its' starting pitching. Many across baseball, in especially here in Boston, believe we have two number 1 starters in Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. There has been questions about each players' health after Beckett was scratched from his last start and Lester took a line drive off his knee/quad in NY last weekend. Lester will start tonight and Beckett on Saturday, presumably meaning Lester will start game 1 of the ALDS. Couple that with Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching well down the stretch and one would assume this team goes as far as their starting pitching takes them.

I would also consider the bullpen a strength of this team with 3 power arms in Bard, Wagner and Papelbon. Lastly the veterans on this team and playoff experience can't hurt. The majority of this team went to game 7 of the ALCS last year, and another high percentage of those players won the World Series in 2007. Players like Ortiz, Becket, Pedroia and Youk have been around the block in October before.



C70 At The Bat: A few things worry you about this Sox team?

ITM: First is their lineup's ability to hit good pitching. The addition of Victor Martinez in the middle of line up definitely makes them more formidable, however in game 7 of the ALCS in 2008 they scored 1 run and lost 3-1. Matt Garza shut them down in that game and Zack Greinke shut down the Sox last week in KC. The Angels pitching staff doesn't worry me as much, but pitchers like Sabathia and Verlander can definitely quiet the Sox bats.
Secondly, the health of some key players worries me. Mike Lowell got a cortisone shot in his hip yesterday and Josh Beckett had a back spasm which was reported as minor but still kept me up for a few nights.


C70 At the Bat: Any roster moves or surprises expected with October changes?

ITM: I'm not sure that there will be any surprises either way if someone is added or left off the Red Sox playoff roster. The veterans on this team and the stars will all be there. The way Manny Delcarmen has pitched lately it wouldn't be shocking if he's left off the roster in favor of Paul Byrd being the emergency long man out of the pen. Delcarmen has been able to get left handed batters out, but that is about it. The last positional spot would probably go to Joey Gathright or rookie Josh Reddick. Gathright offers more speed off the bench (the Dave Roberts comparisons have been unavoidable here in Boston) but Reddick is probably better overall and gives Terry Francona an extra outfielder. Jacoby Ellsbury was instrumental in the Sox winning the 2007 World Series as a rookie.




C70 At the Bat: Who is the one key player for the Red Sox, the player that if they don't go well, the Red Sox will be home quickly?

ITM: If Josh Beckett isn't healthy or continues to pitch more like he did in August then he did in June and July then the Red Sox will be lucky to beat the Angels. If he pitches like he did in 2003 or the 2007 playoffs the Sox could very well be celebrating their third championship this decade.


C70 At the Bat: What are the expectations for this team? Is anything less than the Series a disappointment?

ITM: The expectation every year in Spring Training is for the Red Sox to compete, if not win the World Series. I believe this team has the talent to win it all this year, but I'm not sure I would call it a disappointment if they didn't win the Series. If the Angels sweep them out of the first round that would be considered disappointment in my book, but any kind of success in October is something to hang your hat on. We've become very spoiled here in the New England area this decade and have come to expect championships year in and year out; but these things are as much luck as they are talent.