Nomar was the Red Sox Bledsoe

Dan Patrick just brought his up on his ESPNRadio show, and I thought it was fitting. I was never a big fan of Drew Bledsoe back when I was a Patriots fan. I always thought he was over-rated and quite frankly thought too much of himself. While it never really came out, he was behind the departure of Curtis Martin - and utimately my NY Jets conversion. Remarkably, as close as he took the Pats; even to the big game, he couldn't get it done. In comparison to Nomar it really is amazing. While not as cocky and full of himself as Bledsoe, he did clearly attempt to push the Sox management behind the scenes. Ultimately it got him a ticket out of town.

I don't want to spend a lot of time dwelling on the negative, but I think a few minutes to examine the impact of Nomar and his attitude on this team is appropriate. Here is a guy who turned down a pretty impressive four year contract extension in 2002. Then, after the signing of Tejada in Baltimore, turned down a market adjusted deal, and actually complained about it. As good a player as Nomar is, he is not as good as Tejada or Edgar Renteria for that matter. And beyond that, he has spent at least some part of the last three season injured. Then the unthinkable happened - the Red Sox had an opportunity to aquire Alex Rodriguez (perhaps the best all around player in baseball, not just shortstop). What an insult! Supposedly he heard about the trade on SportsCenter while on vacation in Hawaii. What a bunch of jerks in the Sox management for not calling him and notifying him that there were lots of offers and nothing was done yet...

Of course we all know how that panned out. The A-Rod trade was nixed by the MLB Players Association. Manny and Nomar were staying in Boston, Ordonez was staying in Chicago. Somehow, Manny was able to put this behind him (even after being put on waivers) before he even showed up to spring training. Not only did he put it behind him, he consigned himself to being a part of this team. With a little help from Kevin Millar, he opened up to the press, and we started to get a glimpse of what this guy was really like. On the flip side, Nomar was sulking. His achilles was injured in the first spring training game, and it was all downhill from there. It was very obvious that his heart just wasn't in it. I'm almost convinced that if it had not been a contract year for Nomar, he may not have made it back at all. But speculation aside, it was apparent to everyone that Nomar was not happy, and it was having an effect on the team.

Once he finally made it back into the lineup he struggled. He complained when he was dropped to the bottom of the lineup. When he finally warmed up and started to hit, it was apparent to everyone that his range in the field was not the same. As big a fan favorite as he was, when he was traded, the uproar was minimal. I'm not talking about the Boston media, anyone who reads my stuff knows I'm no fan of theirs. I'm talking about the fan base, who were disappointed, but could no longer put up with his attitude. For the first two weeks after the trade, OC struggled. Who could blame him? This guy was going from a place where they could barely get 5000 people in the stands to playing at Fenway where there aren't enough seats for everyone.

About a month after the trade, suddenly the few wimperings about the trade stopped. OC began to hit, and the Sox went on an unbelievable winning streak. Back to the subject: in comparison - Pats not playing well, Bledsoe gets hurt, Pats go on a winning streak. Nomar will always have his place in Red Sox history, but the loss was his. Instead of stepping up and making the most of his situation (ala Manny), he decided to take the low road.

Yahoo! News - Manny Ramirez Named World Series MVP

Yahoo! News - Manny Ramirez Named World Series MVP

Yahoo! News - A lot has happened since 1918

Yahoo! News - A lot has happened since 1918

Anticlimactic

I thought for sure that after actually getting into the Series, that it would certainly be more gratifying than just beating the Yankees in the ALCS. Maybe it's because after game one, the Cards never challenged for the lead, maybe it's because it was a four game sweep, but it was certainly more thrilling winning game seven of the ALCS than game four of the World Series for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that they finally got it done it just seems a bit hollow. I didn't expect this. When people were saying that it was enough to have beaten the Yankees, I initially disagreed, but now that's all said and done, it may have been after all.

Ode to the Red Sox

From Damon’s hair to Manny’s flair
From Papi’s smile to Pedro’s guile
From Nixon’s arm to Schilling’s charm
From Mueller’s glove to Veritek’s shove
From Millars’ talk to Bellhorn’s walks
From sinkers by Lowe to Arroyo’s rows
From Keith Foulke’s change to Cabby’s range
From Wakefield’s knucks to Timlin’s guts
No curse, no Babe, no ghosts so eerie
In my lifetime, never thought I’d see the Sox win the Series

Highs & Lows

Here are some quick hits on what were my high & low points of this post-season:

High: 8 innings of shutout ball from the bullpen in extra innings of games 4 & 5 in the ALCS.

High: Big Papi letting it fly by going for 22 for 55 in the three series.

High: Derek Lowe taking the mound in game in game 4 without any notice, after being left out of the post season starting rotation.

High: Curt Schilling making two starts after having a torn ankle tendon sutchered out of the way.

High: Pedro pitching seven shutout innings in game 3 of the World Series, looking like he was 25 again.

High: Manny & Papi flashing their defensive skills by throwing at runners at home and third respectively in game 3.

High: Interviews before game one with Johnny Pesky and Red Schoendienst who played against each other in the 1946 World Series between Boston & St. Louis. Classy gentlemen.

Low: Manny's foot catching turf while sliding to make a catch and having the fly ball bounce off his glove.

Low: Giving up 19 runs in game 3 of the ALCS, and eventually losing losing 19-8 at Fenway.

Low: Pedro intentionally hitting A-Rod with a pitch after giving up the homer to Olerud in the 2nd game of the ALCS.

Low: Fox shameless promotion of not only their own series, but also of their major advertisers. Interviews with Jimmy Fallon (and not Ben Affleck or Matt Damon?) and Tom Hanks, and the worst of all - the imaginary Leon surrounded by the 'slamma-lamma-ding-dong girls'.

Lowest: Jimmy Fallon on the field celebrating after the game.

10/27/04 WS Game4 at Cardinals W 3-0

It's rainy day in the desert, there was a lunar eclipse tonight, and apparently the next thing that will happen is that Hell will freeze over, because the Red Sox have won the World Series. Once again this team almost seemed to be playing unconciously with Damon's lead-off homer. From there on out D-Lowe took command and just laid out the Cards hitters one after another. Trot Nixon drove in the insurance runs in the third, and somehow Jason Marquis continued to pitch out of jams to keep it 3-0, but it really didn't matter, because the pitcher on the other side was absolutely lights out.

10/26/04 WS Game3 at Cardinals W 4-1

With rain throughout the day, it really looked as if they wouldn't get this one in, but as magical as this post-season has been for the Sox, the sky cleared just at the right time, and the game was not even delayed. Save for the rather large puddles in right field, one of which sent Trot Nixon down onto his butt, the wet field did not seem to play into the game. It was a pretty nasty fall for Trot, on a quick stop his feet went out from under him and he came down squarely on his backside. Hopefully there won't be an repercussions for his back.

For most of the day the talk on sports radio was "Which Pedro will we see tonight". My consistent thought was that if you've been watching the Red Sox all along, you'd expect the same Pedro we've seen all season. It amazes me how a career high ERA (3.90) - and that's not so bad folks; you can probably count on both hands how many AL starters with 200 IP had sub-four ERA's this season - makes people think that somehow he's lost his stuff. For the true Sox fans, everyone knows that other than losing some of his velocity, he's essentially the same pitcher we've been watching for the past seven seasons. While he's no longer blowing hitters away, he's never been a high innings pitcher, never even been a high pitch count pitcher. The difference is the strikeouts; when you're getting 10-12 per game, you're typically throwing less pitches than if you're only getting 6-9. And this season, he's been outstanding from pitch 20 to pitch 100. It's been the first and the seventh innings that he's had most of his trouble. It would have been no different tonight had it not been some outstanding fielding plays (and some poor base running for the Cards).

Then the talk shifts to the defensive liability that is David Ortiz. Now let's get a few things straigt here. This guy IS a first baseman, it just so happens that there are two guys on the roster that are better fielders than he is. If he was playing for an NL team, this guy would be playing in the field everyday - guaranteed. And then we saw how big a liability he is when he made an excellent throw over to third to get Suppan, something that a first baseman does not typically do, by the way...

The chips continue to fall our way. I can only say I'm cautiously optimistic at this point. I've seen enough of these to know "it ain't over till it's over". This post season has seemed different for some reason. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but since the blow out in Fenway that was game 3 of the ALCS, this team has played with a different attitude, almost a flair. For once, the other team is making the mistakes that cost the game, not us. It's a pretty good feeling.

10/24/04 WS Game2 vs Cardinals W 6-2

Enough cannot be said about Schill's performance in the post-season. Not only does he continue to perform on an ankle and a half, but he blew off 4 errors tonight while he was pitching and made sure that we didn't pay for any of them. Apparently now with a hip flexor problem on top of the ankle tendon, it would probably be best if it didn't come down to him having to pitch again. I'm sure the Red Sox medical staff would never do anything to jeopardize his career, but you have to wonder how much longer he should be pushing his luck.

Tek cam through huge with a first inning triple and OC and Bellhorn provided the rest of the offense as the bullpen nearly coasted to the victory. Embree seems to be getting hot just at the right time, and Keith Foulke is about as unhittable as a pitcher can get. It's looking like if we can get six solid out of Pedro and D-Lowe and a few runs from the offense, we might be able to wrap this up in St Louis.

10/23/04 WS Game1 vs Cardinals W 11-9

For the rest of the series I will not blog during the game! I seriously considered it tonight, and went against me better judgement. Nice job talking about how well Arroyo was pitching, eh? He was still making good pitches, his line is a little decieveing with his throwing error with two out in the sixth. I don't think the game was as close as the score either. Everytime the Sox looked like they were pulling away, the let the Cards get back in it. Manny was charged with two errors in the same inning, the first one was bogus in my opinion because Marquis was clearly out at the plate. Veritek did an excellent job of blocking the plate and the home plate ump did not get into the proper position to make the call. Then I thought Joe Buck was a little harsh on the criticism on the second one when Manny's cleat got stuck in the turf and made his body skip up.

Keith Foulke was the hero, though. I think he actually is a much tougher ninth inning pitcher when has has already come in in the eighth. He looks much more sharp.

BA

Looks like Arroyo has found his curevball. Not that I ever thought he lost it. The outing he had in the ALCS was short (too short in my opinion) and he seemed a little unsettled. Toight he looks like he did at the end of the season, locked in and putting the pitches right where they need to be. Wake was really looking good up until the 4th, I wonder if the bottom of the the 3rd was just too long for him. Sometimes and long half inning from your batters can really either cool you off or throw off your timing. The knuckleball clearly was out of his control.

Currently 7-5 in the bottom of the fifth with two out and Manny at first.

Of All the Storylines

I can't believe the prevailing media winds were complaints about Francona bringing in Pedro. I too questioned the decision, but all-in-all, I think there are plenty of other topics that resound with a little more positive tone. My opinion on the Pedro outing is just this: Since game four, it was very obvious to me that Francona had a pitching plan going into each game (barring the idea of back-toback extra inning affairs). I think that he already had in mind the idea to throw D-Lowe six if he could do it, use Pedro for the seventh, Timlin in the eighth, and Foulke if needed in the ninth. I've mentioned previously, I thought he made some very gutsy calls in this series that had they gone the wrong way for him may have cost him his job. Just getting to the point that how many good decisions do you have to make to even out the bad mistakes? I guess that's a tough question for a Sox manager, eh?

First positive storyline: This team went to work. Down by three games, and absolutely run out on a rail in game three at Fenway, this team got down to business. They focused on the game at hand, and each day they were only concerned with the game they were playing. The Yankees on the other hand appeared to be playing like "there's always tomorrow".

Second positive storyline: David Oritz. It's not like he was an annonymous player like last year. Everyone who pays attention to baseball knew who he was by the end of the All-Star game. When it seemed like no one could get a key hit for the Sox, he picked this entire team up by their bootstraps, threw them on his back and got it done night after night. It's really too bad that the playoffs don't count for the regular season MVP award, because he would be the hands down winner now.

Third positive storyline: Derek Lowe. Given up for dead (arm that is - sorry) by everyone including myself, he came out with something to prove. I think maybe not only to the team, the Sox management, and the fans, but to himself as well. He admitted that even though he had complained about being left out of the rotation in the playoffs that is was the right decision based on the way he pitched down the stretch. But yet from somewhere down inside, he sucked it up and pitched two incredible games.

Fourth positive storyline: This is a TEAM. Call them idiots, unkempt, hairy, whatever. These guys play together, plain and simple. From the role players like Doug Mirabelli, to the defensive replacements like Minky and Pokey, to the designated pinch-runner Dave Roberts, each and everyone of these guys felt like they contributed.

Looks like the Cards are going to take care of the Astros. Too bad, I was hoping to see the Sox take on the paper thin Astros pitching staff. Still hope though, Isringhausen coming on...

10/20/04 CS Game7 at Yankees W 10-3

Yankees win! Yankees win! The-e-e-e-e Yankees win! NOT! Man, I cannot tell you how completely annoying that Yankee announcer is. An amazing turn of events, starting with two overturned calls last night, and some unbelievable plays tonight. When Damon got his first hit of the night I thought - this is a good sign. Then he got thrown out the plate - here we go again. Then the bomb by Papi - Dale Sveum is an idiot. By the time that Loaiza made a bad throw to second which ricocheted into center field - this is the kind of stuff that usually happens to us.

Dan "the Duke" Davis from ESPN Radio, a notorious Red Sox fan, claimed this morning on The Dan Patrick Show that losing the World Series would be fine since we would have beaten the Yankees. I have to say that it's not good enough for me. A remarkable win, some of the best baseball I have seen, our first World Series in 18 years. If we don't win it will be a disappointment, how could it not be.

Outstanding performances all around on this team as usual, from a couple of excellent plays from third, first by Millar, short, and an unbelievable stretch by Minky to get Jeter to start the bottom of the eighth. A little strange bullpen move by bringing in Pedro in the seventh, but after giving up a pair of doubles and a base hit, he was really cooking - I think he actually hit 96 with one of his fastballs. Mike Timlin got five excellent outs, including an A-Rod whiffing strikeout after going down 3-1.

The Killer D's

Derek, David and Damon... they might not be the killer B's, but tonight they were just what we needed. I was worried that Francona relieved Lowe too quickly, he was really sitting them down. He hasn't had stuff like this in months, perhaps this was his most outstanding performance of the entire season. I'm a firm believer in judging a pitcher by the way he pitches when he has a lead, and I know I've mentioned it before, but Lowe had a pretty nice lead on July 4th and couldn't do anything with it. After watching him tonight it was like a completely different player. I'm beginning to wonder if he puts too much pressure on himself when he has too much advance warning that he is starting. He can complain all he wants that Francona doesn't inform him about anything if he keeps pitching like this.

David Ortiz is unbelievable. Plain and simple he hoysted this team on his back and carried the offense in games 4 & 5, and absolutely unloaded in the first inning with that bomb to right.

How about Johnny Damon? He got that seeing-eye single last night and I looked over at my wife and said "sometimes that's all it takes to get 'em back on track". Boy was that an understatement, he was back to hitting the ball with authority tonight, and if that continues if bodes well for the Sox in the upcoming series.