9/29/04 at Devil Rays L 9-4

I have to say that I'm a little concerned that Pedro didn't bounce back tonight. I think he probably pitched a little better than his line would suggest, but still not what could be considered a solid performance by any stretch of the imagination. For the Sox to win the East, I really felt that a sweep in Tampa was going to have to happen. They would have also had to have some help from the Twins, which did not happen either. After seeing how poorly they played against the Yanks tonight, I'm almost hoping that the Sox get to play them in the division series.

The game started out well enough, I nice double - base hit combo by Manny and Papi, but beyond that, the Sox didn't have much offense tonight. The one good piece of news is that it looks like Tek has broken out of his slump with a 2 for 4 effort. Trot continues to hit the ball well, and Damon got the night off so he should be well rested for the weekend.

It's pretty obvious that BK Kim cannot be counted on to do anything but pitch in the mop-up role. This shouldn't surprise anyone, since he has not pitched well in twelve months, and went 4 months without pitching at all over the summer. At least he can eat some innings and keep the relievers fresh that we will need to count on next week.

Day off tomorrow and the last regular season series kicks off on Friday. It's hard to believe that it nearly October, but here it is.

9/28/04 at Devil Rays W 10-8 11 innings

This team has heart. No one can question that. Our starting pitcher gave up 4 runs in the first two innings? No problem. We can score 4 back. We tied the game and our starter gave up another? No problem, we'll score 2. They don't ever give up. They feel like they can put up whatever the numbers of runs that are needed on any given night. It's not true of course, but they are right more often than not.

How huge is David Ortiz? He could very easily end the season with 50 doubles on top of his 40 homers and what is to be certain more than his current 135 RBI's. This is a guy that was carrying this team on his back after the All-Star game. Manny was sick and hurt, when he got back he was slumping. Francona decided to swap lineup positions between them (a move I did not like at the time), and within the week, Manny had broken out of his slump, and was carrying the offense himself. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect on Papi. He dropped from a scorching .365 in June to just .259 in August. Did you hear him complain? Of course not. This guy is a pro, and an honest-to-goodness team player.

Derek Lowe is finished. Whatever his problem is, he very obviously not get it corrected this season. Likely he will not get it fixed with the Red Sox. I can't imagine them shelling out anything near to what he will want for a contract in the off-season. I remember watching the Braves-Sox game on July 4th. The Sox had spotted him to a 4 run lead in the 3rd inning. He had done a nice job of setting down the first two frames. I was on the phone with my sister, and I remember telling her: "The telltale sign here is how he can handle pitching with a lead". He gave up a run in the third, and struggled to get out of the fourth, and then the floodgates opened in the fifth. He managed to get only one out in that inning (a FC hit by the pitcher). When Jimmy Anderson finally got the third out of the inning, the Sox trailed 10-4.

Don't get me wrong, at one point he had a nice stretch. In August he posted a 3-1 record in five starts with a 4.19 ERA. But he only managed to pitch 34 1/3 innings over that period. For a guy considered to be your 3rd starter, that's just not good enough. At this point, the way he's pitching, I don't even think you can put him on the playoff roster. If you do, he's got to be a long reliever and nothing else. This guy can not be allowed to pitch if the game is on the line - period.

Look for Pedro to bounce back with a big performance tonight in Tampa. Everyone has made such a big deal about the "Yankees are my daddy" comment, I think he'll be out to prove it was meaningless. The hilarious thing about that comment and all the garbage media coverage about it - AT LEAST HE DIDN'T PUNCH A WALL AND BREAK HIS HAND! Get over it. He was shaking it off, nothing more. What would you rather see; an off-the-cuff remark, and a complete tirade. I think it means nothing. I hope it means in the same situation, he'll be lifted after 7.

9/27/04 at Devil Rays W 7-3

Just caught bits and pieces of this one through MLB Audio. Weekday 7:00 PM Eastern start times are a bummer, because unless I can happen to leave work at 3:30, I will undoubtedly miss a portion of the game. Anyway, between that other necessary domestic chores, one of the parts I did catch was the Millar HBP. It didn't sound to me like he hit him intentionally, but once the warning goes out, it's tough to leave a pitcher in after a hit batter.

I understand the whole 'tit-for-tat' mentallity of hit batters, but these guys have got to realize that Arroyo is not hitting batters on purpose. The first batter - maybe, but putting two runners on base is like putting a noose around your own neck. He's hit more batters than anyone else in baseball, not because he has a control problem, but because his fastball tails.

Other than the two runs he gave up, he really pitched quite well. Looking back over the past two months, he has thrown a quality game about 4 times out of 6. That's a pretty good average for your fifth starter. I think his performance recently justifies giving him the fourth spot in the playoff rotation, or even the third if Wake can't manage to find his groove.

Toot, Toot! If you don't know what that is, you aren't paying attention. Another homer and 2 more RBI's, turned out to be the winning run when it was all said and done. He is on such a roll, he couldn't have picked a better time to get hot, we can only hope that it carries on past nect Sunday.

I'm still perplexed that Scott Williamson didn't get any work tonight. If leading by a 7-2 margin isn't going to get him into the game, I don't know what will. Leskanic (hereforto referred to as Letspanic) needs consistent work st stay fresh, I get that. But I still don't understand why Timlin pitches the 8th.

No complaints tonight though. The Red Sox are in the playoffs. I'm not sure who I'd rather see them meet; the Twins, Angels, or A's. Tredding along the 'be careful what you wish for' road, I'm going to say I prefer the A's. Since game 3 in the Division Series last year, the Sox have owned them. If the Yankees are Pedro's daddy, then I guess that makes them the A's grandaddy!

9/26/04 vs. Yankees W 11-4

First, I just have to say, Rick Sutcliffe is a bonehead. The same guy that was claiming during the Friday night broadcast that there was no way Kevin Brown should start on Sunday was thoroughly convinced by the start of the game this afternoon that he was not only ready to play, but seemingly should be considered for some award. Of course, 30 pitches and 4 runs later, he had changed his tune to the "Joe Torre felt he had nothing to lose" song. Get a clue Sut, it wasn't that he had nothing to lose, it had EVERYTHING to do with the alternative. Esteban Loaiza has been a complete bust this year, succumbing to Scott Elarton disorder (where you have a great season, receive a big contract, and promptly begin to suck). And the last few appearances from Brad Halsey makes Loaiza look like an obvious choice.

Anyway, Schill notches another fantastic performance. The game seemed so out of hand by the 3rd inning, no one really seemed to notice that he was pitching a perfect game until A-Rod walked on a questionable call. Even after walking the bases loaded with one out, he managed to escape by giving up just a pair. He really has become the stopper of this pitching staff. As I noted in yesterday's post, he's the only starter to have a winning decision in the last half of this month. Regardless of what happens in the off-season, Theo has to be given credit for bringing such a class act to town. He does it on and off the field, of all the things Sox fans can find to complain about, Schilling is not one of them.

Toot, Toot. You heard it... the MVP horn is blowing again. Before today's action, where incidentally he had another clutch hit to setup the first two runs of the game, Manny is hitting .340 with runners in scoring position; .366 with RISP and 2 outs! Upon discussions during the game, our un-esteemed ESPN announcers believe that Sheffield will win the MVP and Johan Santana will win the Cy Young. Santana 'obviously' because of his ERA which leads the league. That's fine, I think that it will probably come down to the final starts of the season before either Santana or Schill is the obvious choice. But I'd like to look at this logic a little closer:
Before today's game, here were Manny's numbers: .310 170 105 42 126 .399 .614 1.013
here were Sheff's numbers: .293 164 115 36 119 .395 .544 .939

17 points higher in batting average, and the only category that Sheff leads in is runs scored (115-105). It's one thing to think that a split vote between Manny & Papi will lead to Sheff receiving the award, it's quite another to think that he has had a better season. By the way, Manny was 5-11 with 4 runs and 4 rbis in this series; Sheff was 3-10 2&2.

What the hell was Astacio doing? If you're going to hit someone, plunk the guy. What is the point of coming close twice? I think after the first one he got the message, the second time is just asking for trouble. Don't kick a dog when he's down. The last thing we want is a cause to bring the Yankees together. It seems to me that they have been on the verge of a clubhouse meltdown all season. Unfortunately, Sheffield has obviously matured and learned to keep his mouth shut. Damn!

The one great thing about today's game is a new Yankee to hate. I've never liked Kenny Lofton through his entire career. He always seemed like a poor man's Rickey Henderson to me. Always had a penchant for running his mouth, and as far as I'm concerned, never backing it up with much. On the opposite side of the coin, Dave Roberts is a great player. I've been watching him in LA for a couple of years now and he really is a professional ball player. Never complains about his playing time, always gives 110%, too bad there's no place for him on the roster after this season. Someone is going to get a class guy in free agency this off season.

3 1/2 out with 6 games left. The only thing the Sox can do is try and win every game. They have as good as chance as any to sweep the Rays, who after a nice stretch in the middle of the season have returned to playing like also-rans. The Twins come to the Bronx for 3, and in a perfect world could leave there putting the Sox just a half game out of first. Then it would come down the Orioles. I can't say I'm looking forward to that matchup.

9/25/04 vs. Yankees W 12-5

Looks like the Yanks Achilles heel has been found. As good as their bullpen has pitched this season, long relief is obviously a problem for them. Gordon & Quantrill can go an inning each, but asked to go any further and they are pushing their luck. All in all, I guess we shouldn't be surprised when you look at some of the names in the pen: Heredia, Nitkowski, Sturtze. I watched Strutze pitch at AAA Las Vegas this summer; I'm pretty sure the Dodgers were the only ones even interested in his services over the offseason.

Toot the MVP horn for Manny some more. Another huge hit to put them ahead in the 8th. He just continues to get those clutch hits. I don't want to take anything away from Big Papy, he's probably my favorite player on the team, but there are so many narrow minded sports writers out there that think he shouldn't even be considered because his primary position is DH. I don't even want to get started on that discussion.

Well, it only took us 153 games to see that Terry Francona can actually get fired up. Unfortunately, I was limited to listening to the game tonight so I didn't get to see his tirade, but it seemed like he did successfully light a fire under the collective teams butt.

An interesting move bringing in Foulke in a tie game. I have to admit I was a little concerned when they went to Leskanic, but he was able to produce his 'once every three appearance' solid performance. I'm still hopeful that they will get Williamson some more work down the stretch. If he is truly healthy and can get back into shape, he is quite obviously our best setup man. He could clearly be a closer on just about anyone else's ballclub.

I was a little disappointed in Wake when he gave up the lead in the 6th. He seemed to be throwing pretty well, and once the Sox went up, I thought he might cruise. It just seems like every starter besides Schill has been victimized by the big hit for the last two weeks straight. Including this game, Schilling is the only starting pitcher in the past 13 games to get a win. This is not a good sign heading down the stretch.

Looking forward to watching Schill pitch tomorrow. The games on ESPN2, so the added visual is nice. If only the MLB Audio would synch up with the TV broadcast, then I wouldn't have to listen to Sutcliffe and his ridiculous statements. I remember earlier this season catching a Padres game that was on locally, and he was announcing. I didn't know it was him, but I kept saying to myself: "Who is this idiot?". About two weeks later his was calling games for ESPN. Yuck! Maybe I'll luck out and they'll send Miller & Morgan to Boston.

9/24/04 vs. Yankees L 6-4

What do you think the most important question for Grady Little's replacement would have been during his interview? Perhaps something like: "The Sox are up by 1 run against the Yankees in a very important game. Pedro is pitching pretty well, but his pitch count is just over 100 after completing the 7th inning. What would you do in the 8th inning? And just as a side, keep in mind the guy we just fired left him in."

At what point does the manager decide that he has his bullpen rotation set? If you cannot trust your setup man to start the 8th inning in an important 1 run game, then he probably shouldn't be your setup man. Now I'm not saying the Timlin/Embree combination is unhittable, but someone from the bullpen is going to have to step up in an important game, and Terry Francona is going to have to put some trust in them.

Next point, remember the name Tim Mcclelland. Or forget it. It doesn't matter you won't see him on an umpiring crew come October. You don't get to blow two calls right in front of your face in a game like this and get to ump a playoff game (or God forbid - a World Series game). I'm not sure what his problem was tonight, he was in position for both plays. In particular, he was looking directly at Ruben Sierra's back, there is just no way he did not see the tag applied. The A-Rod call on the other hand could be forgiven if it didn't turn out to be a run. When the tag is applied inside one of the arms, it's hard to spot.

I'm not saying this loss was due to poor officiating. I thought the work behind the plate was exceptional. Tony Randazzo did an excellent job of keeping the strike zone consistent, got into position to help out with the long foul ball that A-Rod hit... Of course, the one bad call ended up costing the Sox a run, but this pitching staff has got to get it together. They are not going to get out of a five game series with anyone giving up 6 runs every night.

The good news tonight is that both the Angels and Rangers lost, so the Sox stay up 6 games in the Wild Card race.

Manny is looking more and more like the AL MVP. What a fantastic season. I was not surprised at all that he didn't take it personnaly when they put him on waivers or when they tried to trade him. He has had more clutch hits this season than I can remember one guy having. He seems to be constantly coming up with the tying run in scoring position. And then coming through. A professional hitter if there ever was one.

What was the point of pinch running Kapler instead of Dave Roberts? There is no way - NO WAY - Posada could throw this guy out. I understand that you could want to put him in as the tying run, but wouldn't you rather have a runner at 2nd with no outs? Let's just say that Tek gets a hit, is it really going to make that much of a difference who is on first? The ball would have to be in a gap to score from first anyway. In my mind, I had Roberts run for Nixon, steal 2nd and advance to 3rd on Tek's ground out.

How about Trot Nixon? This guy has an unbelievable heart. I think most guys in his position woul dhave given up the season. We thought he was coming back just to be a pinch hitter, he looks like he hasn't missed a day in right field. What a great sliding catch!

I nice light breeze blowing in from right would be just perfect tomorrow. Wake needs every little piece of help he can get at this point. It seems pretty apparent that Lowe is not going to be able to start a game in October. He had a great August, but whatever his problem was in June-July has obviously returned. A solid outing for Wake would go a long way to boosting his confidence.

Reduced to MLB Audio tomorrow, but back on ESPN on Sunday. I have had the opportunity to see more Sox games this season than any other since we moved to Vegas. Love it!

9/23/04 vs. Orioles L 9-7

Sub night. Francona is driving me crazy with his lineup changes. If there's one thing I can't stand (ala Jimy Williams), it's a manager who cannot put up a consistent lineup. Tonight's is somewhat understanable, defensive adjustments with Pokey and Mienk in the infield, and apparently Damon needs a night off. Tek has a 2-game hitting streak, so I guess he gets to bat in the 6 hole again. Of course, he had to go 1 for 23 before he was moved down in the order, so we shouldn't be surprised.

Just one word to the pitching staff: The defensive replacements don't do you any good if you let the hitters knock them out of the park.

Too bad the D-Rays don't take the Yankees games as serious as these Orioles do with the Sox. This must be their only redemption this year. They seem to be playing for spite, that's a tough one to overcome.

The good news is that Foulke got the night off. We can only hope that he used this time for quiet contemplation as to what has happened to his stuff. If his arm is tired, he ought to say so now so he can get some rest. Come October 2, if they're winning, he'll be pitching.

Initial Post

I had considered publishing this blog for over a month now. When I read that Stephen King and his friend were keeping journals of the entire Red Sox season, I thought "what a great idea for a blog". Since I obviously can't start at the beginning of the season, now seems liek a great time to journal the playoff drive. The Sox are currently 3 1/2 out with a weekend series against the Yanks at Fenway.

I should tell you that I am a lifelong suffering Red Sox fan. I vividly remember the 1975 World Series as an 8 year-old boy, I faked a stomach ache at school in 1978 so I could go home early to watch the now infamous one game playoff in which BFD hit that homer. I was serving in the USAF in Germany in 1986 when they came back and won three straight to get to the WS, only to lose games 6&7. It's hard just to think about it...

I felt like the baseball that was played in the Division and League Championship Series last year was the best I had seen in my life. For nearly two straight weeks, I sat before my big screen and chewed my fingernails to nubs. The disappointment of the 2002 season, and the inablility to make the playoffs even after winning 95 games, all I wanted to see in 2003 was the chance for the Sox to play a seven game series with the Yanks. I got my wish.

This year the expectations are higher. The core team is intact, the pitching is bolstered. I've watched them play great, I've watched them play terrible. Let's just hope the great team shows up this weekend.

The C3PO Reference

"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life."

C3PO to R2-D2 in Star Wars.