Morales Puts Sox, and My Fantasy Team on Notice

I know I'm about a day late in posting this video....but give me a break, it's memorial day weekend. That said, the Kendry "Gramatica" moment from Saturday night is an unfortunate instant classic. But if you consider the Angels a likely competitor in the eventual wildcard and playoff race, maybe you don't feel quite as bad.

What makes this injury worse is that Morales is a cornerstone stud on my fantasy team (Roger Dorn's Revenge). I finally get Curtis Granderson back from the DL and now my best power hitter ruins himself in celebration.

A few of us were at a bar Saturday night when a buddy of mine told me he saw the news scroll across the bottom line. Naturally, I assumed he was joking since he knew Morales is on my fantasy team (we do this all the time, I tell T Murph at least once a week that Adrian Gonzalez was just deported). "How do you even dream up this crap"....at this point, I wish he was kidding.

Anyways, how many times have we seen a Red Sox player hit a walk off and have celebrations of tackling, punching and kicking each other? Good thing Sox players drink a glass of milk everyday. Youk would have ruined Morales years ago.

You Heard it Here First....Unfortunately

(I still can't believe someone was serious when they made this pic)


I went to Remys last night hoping that I would be wrong. As soon as Dice-K nearly threw a no-no last week I called a few people to say he would go 4 and 2/3rds, giving up 5 runs and 5 walks in his next outing.

While I wasn't exactly right, but I was damn near close enough. Dice-K threw the same amount of pitches last night as he did in his 8 innings of dominance over the Phillies (112). This time the output was far from the same. 4 and 2/3rds innings, 8 walks!, 1 k, and 3 runs later, Dice-K was out of the game asking his interpreter how to say over-hyped in English.

That's just who Dice-K is. Impressive at times but amazingly frustrating too....with the frustrating times taking the severe majority. He's far from the phenom from the far east we were sold on....but he's just good enough to keep you wondering if and when he'll turn the corner.

One let down loss to the Royals at home shouldn't derail this team from their current run of great play, but I wonder when Tom Verducci will start to rethink his article on Dice-K's resurgence (ITM note: the velocity seemed to be there last night, but what kind of major league pitcher walks five guys in one inning? T Murph didn't even do that in his little league days.....and if anyone was going to do it, it was him).

See How Much The Sox Are Pouring?

(the pic may not make much sense to you, but believe me when I say, it's funny)

The Celtics have us all on edge....there is fear throughout New England of an unprecedented back to back 3-0 collapse....

But have you been watching the Sox lately? They're the only team that actually matters in my mind, and they just ripped through the best competition the league has to offer. In the words of naughty Mazz "talk about a turd cutter" (ITM note: I still don't know what that actually means, but i've been using it in day-to-day conversation without issue).

Things seem to be falling into place for the Red Sox. They finally leaped over the Blue Jays in the AL East standings last night....and are right on the Yankee's tail for 2nd.

More importantly, the Sox just brought the other-worldly Tampa Bay Rays back down to earth, defeating the AL East leaders in every facet of the game. The Sox went into an environment where they've had little success over the past few years, against the hands down best team in the league, and made them look like the Devil Rays of old (I honestly would have been somewhat happy with winning one game, forget all three).

Will Ortiz continue to average 4 taters every 6 games? Nope. Will Adrian "my main man" Beltre continue to hit .344 and end up with his project 130 RBI? Probably not. But this is still a banged up lineup....as they continue to get healthy, and Pedey finds his swing again, everyone will be able to chip in.

Suddenly the Sox are back, Gonzo is not needed, and teams are likely wishing they would have taken Buchholz in a trade last year (for now at at least...fingers remained cross). With the sweep of the Rays and their recent run through the league's best, they've sent that message to everyone in baseball (including their own fan base).

Next up for the Sox? The Royals and Oakland at home, followed by away series against Baltimore and Cleveland.....they came back to life against the league's best, now it's time to get fat on the league's worst. Go Sox.

They Are Who We Thought They Were.....

Turns out these Boston Red Sox are who we thought they were......it just took a while

The Sox sure had us fooled, and fooled bad. It wasn't the way Theo and company drew it up, but I think we can officially welcome the Boston Red Sox back into the world of competitive baseball. They're somehow still in 4th place in the AL East, but are only a game and a half behind the second place Yanks.

While it's been the balanced combination of pitching, hitting and defense that has led to the Sox winning 6 of their last 7 and going 8-4 against the league's best over the past week, three individuals have to be singled out as the main reasons the Sox have pulled out of the doldrums of the first 5 weeks of the season....

Big Jon Stud Lester: We held our breath throughout April, praying he would do the typical bad for one month, masterful for the rest of the year act. Take a look at his last 5 starts and you'll see why he continues to rival CC for the "best lefty in baseball" title. He has put the Sox rotation on his back, assuming the true ace role while Beckett figures his body out and Lackey stumbles along. He has set the tone, challenging the rest of the staff to play in his league, thus far, only one other pitcher has managed to accept the challenge....

Clay "I look like a child molester" Buchholz: He saw Lester's challenge and whether we want to believe it or not, has pushed himself into the number two starter role. He may not actually be the number two starter, but he's been pitching like one all season. He's been the most consistent arm and has the best ERA (3.07) in a rotation that was supposed to be the best in the league (they still may be).

David "Ride or Die with me" Ortiz: Youk may be the hottest hitter in baseball right now, but we've come to expect that at times. David Ortiz however, has managed big hits and small ones....he's broken out of his slump in a big way, and is letting us all know about it. He's finally pulling his weight in the middle of the lineup (and batting his weight as well). Let's be honest, the offense wasn't necessarily the problem in April and early May.....but Ortiz is the X factor to put the offense over the top.


Honorable mention: Youk, Manny Delcarmen (yes, you read that right) and JD Drew (T Murph is flipping out in Alabama/Mississippi/Louisiana ((they're all the same to me)) right now).

I'm usually not one to wave the Red Sox pom poms at the first sit of resurgence....but given the teams they've managed to do it against, I'm on the bandwagon and excited about the possibility of this team going forward.

Just building myself up to only be let down again? Possibly.....god I hope not, because I'll break someone or something if they return to the abyss that was April.

Verducci: Dice-K is the Key

I generally like Tom Verducci of SI.com. I think he's a great baseball writer and provides good perspective from the national level. ITM contributor Joe Murph swears by him, has his column set as his homepage, and I'm pretty sure they chat on the phone every other night or so.

Today however, Tom and I are in disagreement. In his most recent piece, he nearly describes Dice-K as an ace reborn and goes on to call him the key to Boston's success. He provides a solid argument to believe in a possible Dice-K turnaround with the return of his velocity and aggressiveness......but expecting an ace and calling him the key to the team's success may be a bit premature. (ITM note, Tom points to that himself at the end of his article)

When you consider the struggles of Beckett and Lackey, you've got to look at a potential rebound in their performances as the real key to Boston's success....plus....have you seen Dice-K pitch over the last three years?

I was his biggest fan when he was searching for the no-no. I want him to succeed and truly earn his 103 million dollar value....but even after Saturday's masterpiece I was screaming at T Murph that Dice-K will go 4 and 2/3rds, giving up 5 runs on 9 hits and 5 walks in his next outing.

He's only started 5 games this year, Saturday's 8 innings of dominance and shutout baseball still leaves him with an ERA of 5.76. Keep in mind he had a great start against Toronto a few weeks back, only to give up 7 runs to the Yankees in his next go-round.

I pray that history doesn't repeat itself with Dice-K's next start (Thursday against the Royals), but unfortunately that's all I know and expect at this point. Until he can show some longer term consistency and convince me otherwise, I'll consider him a nice to have as opposed to a key to Boston's success.

Clay Buchholz on the other hand....now he's doing some convincing.

Too Funny Not to Post....

As the Red Sox continue to punish the Rays (knocking on wood that by writing that they don't collapse in the 9th), I would be remiss if I did not post this video.

Many of you may have already seen this, but since it's related to the Washington Nationals, and no one actually cares about them, it may have snuck by others.

The fact that Adam Jones was able to score on an inside the park tater on this play is priceless....I only wish the play at the plate was a little closer to increase the dramatic effect. At least Morgan managed a solid gangsta strut when the camera finally got back to him....as if to say "yeah that happened, so what?".

A Surprising Weekend

T Murph is still rolling around in oil on the shores of Louisiana....or Alabama, one of those Southern States. He gave me a ring tonight to ask if this weekend actually happened (in regards to Boston sports). It's midnight on Sunday, so we'll need to elaborate more throughout the week, but for now, I'll stick with some highlights from the conversation:


TMurph: Did the Sox really take two out of three from the Phillies this weekend?

Me: Apparently, but since I missed a majority of the actual games, I'm not entirely sure I believe it.


TMurph: Who is this Celtics team and what did they do with the underachievers I knew when I left?

Me: Studly, that's who they are.


TMurph: Did Dice-K really nearly though a no-no? Or were your drunk text messages just to screw with me?

Me: The text messages were true, although, I'm pretty sure that wasn't Dice-K on the mound, rumor on the street says it was actually the black smoke from LOST.....just using Dice-K's body.

TMurph: That don't make no sense.

Me: I know, neither does the show.

Me: Either way, we've got some momentum heading into a big series against Tampa.


TMurph: &*#@! Tampa! I forgot about that. Southerner's don't get news on a daily basis. Is it home or away?


Me: At Tampa.

TMurph: Balls.


Me: Yes, that. Alright man, get back into the bar and drink some bud-heavies with that guy Ed who has three teeth.

TMurph: Dude, been doing that for days.



Add in a few Tommy Boy and Major League quotes and welcome to our life in a nutshell. This was an actual conversation......and officially one of the worst posts I've ever done. Give me a break, it's 12:15am on Sunday night.

Go Sox.


Random Update: By the way, I'm calling it now, Dice-K's next start, he'll go 4 and 2/3rds, giving up 9 hits, walking 4, and surrendering 5 runs.....because that's just how Dice-K rolls.