Considering a Pathetic Start

The season opened with so much promise.  Suddenly the Red Sox were 2-6, getting slapped around on the West Coast.  And now their depth has evaporated.

• Lugo and Kotsay began the season on the DL.
• Lowrie’s wrist injury returned.  He’s on the DL and may need surgery.
• Dice-K is on the DL with shoulder fatigue, well before Smoltz is available.

But it isn’t just injuries.

• Big Papi is doing nothing to alleviate the fears of Red Sox Nation.  I’m ready to consider sitting him for a game or two to see how Chris Carter does.  Maybe he can help generate some offense.
• Ellsbury and Pedroia are also hitting under .200 so far.
• Lester and Dice-K have had 2 lousy starts apiece instead of looking like Cy Young candidates.  Dice-K’s one inning wonder put an incredible strain on the bull pen, which was already working too much with the problem with the other starters.

They really needed Wakefield, the old guy, to go deep into the game.  He did, going the distance.  He carried a no-hitter into the 8th and gave up 2 runs.  But the middle of the order finally produced today- 8 runs worth.

Just one game, but maybe it will restart their hopes and help them turn the corner in their first big slump, which has lasted the whole short season.

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Considering Youkilis’ Rise in Stature & Other Sox Stuff

Head Rub from Papi

An odd thing happened this year.  Kevin Youkilis made a transition from a hard-working, Gold Glove, OBP guy to a player on the brink of stardom.  He is hitting for more power, having equalled his career high in HRs with about 6 weeks to go, and should soon pass his career high in RBIs.  His 2nd spot in the line-up has gone to Dustin Pedroia, and Youk has been batting in the 4-6 range.  With the Ramirez trade, he is emerging as a potent clean-up hitter to protect Big Papi.  Mike Lowell’s injury means Youk is the natural choice to play that role.  And since he finds 3rd base less taxing physically, Youk will have more in the tank for those end of the season at-bats.

Extra Bases provides these stats which should set many a member of Red Sox Nation’s mind at ease.

Kevin Youkilis: batting average with men on base: .429
Manny Ramirez: batting average with men on base: .291 (Sox); .478 (Dodgers)

Youkilis hitting in 7+ innings: .390
Ramirez hitting in 7+ innings: .213 (Sox); .357 (Dodgers)

Youkilis OPS (on-base plus slugging): .948
Ramirez OPS: .786 (Sox); .899 (Dodgers)

I had been considering the Red Sox pitching needs with Wakefield injured and Clay struggling way too much for my comfort.  I had just picked up Byrd in my fantasy league.  He has rediscovered his curve ball, and also thinks he was tipping pitches.  He allows the Sox to put Clay back in the minors to regain his confidence.  This means Wakefield will be replaced by a combination of young guys from the minors.  That leaves 4 reliable starters.  And when Wake is ready to pitch again you could consider giving Lester a rest in early September.  He leads the team in innings pitched.

A funny thing happened around June.  Jon Lester “got it”.  I had a chance to pick him up in June, but decided against it because of his WHIP.  He walked too many guys.  But if you look at his most recent games, he isn’t walking batters.  He is attacking the hitters more (Dice-K may have finally realized that, and hopefully Josh will remember that).  He as emerged as their ace- the guy you can count on for a win, not just a quality start.  If Beckett.2007 returns, the Red Sox are well-situated for a run into November.  Starting pitching dominates in the playoffs, and I’d take the new & improved Lester, Beckett.2007 and an aggressive Dice-K against any other team’s best 3.  Yeah, no Manny- but a bunch of guys who want to prove they can win it without Manny.  And a bunch of guys who know it is about more than one player.

I confess I dumped Ellsbury from my fantasy team too soon.  He was killing me.  He wasn’t hitting, and he wasn’t stealing bases (the main reason I needed him).  He was mired in a horrible slump, and platooning with Coco.  He seems to have regained his stroke which is great for the Red Sox- but not so much for me.  Someone else picked him up off waivers.  The Rookie of the Year honors are no longer in sight, unless he hits .400 and steals 30+ the rest of the way leading the Sox to dominate and claim the best record in baseball (it helps that Longoria is on the DL with a fractured wrist).  Ellsbury seems over his own wrist issues, and has fixed any mechanical flaws that resulted from it.

This may explain Varitek’s struggles at the plate this year- he’s getting divorced.  He probably has a few things on his mind.  Knowing nothing of the details, I am sad.  As a professing Christian, I’d think he’d try to work it out.  But he may have biblical grounds- don’t know.  But it is difficult on the 3 kids regardless of the grounds for divorce.

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Freaky Night in Boston

One of the stranger nights in Boston sport’s history started in Fenway Park last night.  Forgetting that they moved up the start time, I missed the most explosive part of the game.  It began Wednesday night when Coco Crisp slid hard into 2nd base.  The Rays, about to fall out of 1st place, were not excited about the play, calling it dirty.  Coco expected payback.

In the 2nd inning, it came.  Shields hit him with a pitch.  And then came the brawl.  Seems like old times.  In the late 90’s – early 2000’s these 2 teams did not like each other.  A brawl led to bad blood and Brian Daubach was vilified by Rays’ fans.  That feud didn’t die until Daubach left the Sox.  The odd part was that the Rays weren’t very good at the time.

Now they are fighting for first place, and bad blood is back!  Makes things interesting, though I’m not in favor of brawls in sports.  In this go round, Gomes is playing the role of villain.  He is the one who pounced on the pile and threw cheap shots at Crisp- which is what Daubach is accused of doing.  This fight may be the catalyst the Sox needed to pull together in the midst of injuries to key players.

With Crisp tossed, Ellsbury moved to center.  It was the 4th inning when all Boston held its breath as he came up hurting after catching Longoria’s drive.  He would leave the game with only a strained wrist, but it was scarry.  With Coco possibly getting suspended, the timing is quite unfortunate.

But it got stranger as Youk and Manny had to be pulled apart between the 4th and 5th innings.  No word about what the fight was about.  Could be Youk was not wild about playing in the outfield.  Who knows.  But the Sox prevailed 7-1 to take a 1.5 game lead in the AL East.

The Celtics-Lakers game was looking good, though mundane.  It was exciting, but in the 3rd period it got scary as Boston again held its collective breath.  Captain Paul Pierce went down holding his leg.  Scary.  Carried off the court.  Scarier.  Brough to the locker room on a wheelchair.  Level 9 anxiety attack for Celtics Nation.  The guy is finally in the Finals and this is how it ends?????  Are our chances shot????

Next thing we know, Derek Fisher falls on Perkins’ leg after a free throw attempt.  Now he’s limping off the court and heading to the locker room.

Pierce pulled his best Larry Bird impersonation.  Like Bird he would emerge from the locker room to a thunderous applause and entered the game to lead his team to victory.  He showed leadership and courage, and the Lakers couldn’t stop the Celtics despite lots of horrible shots by KG.  It was Pierce who didn’t just play but drained shots and hustled.  While Garnett owned the first half, Pierce owned the second half and the Celtics came up with an exciting win.  This is what Lakers-Celtics is all about, folks.  And somewhere David Stern is rolling on the floor with delight- the string of less-than-interesting Finals is OVER.

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Considering a No-Hitter

A huge congratulations to Jon Lester on pitching a no-hitter for his very first complete game.  It was not a perfect game due to an error and 2 walks.  But this is still an amazing accomplishment for the young lefty.  It adds to his expanding resume.  Jon struggled to start the year but has pitched well lately.  Tonight he did something even the great Pedro Martinez never accomplished.

For those who think Jason Varitek is over-rated: he now holds the record for catching the most no-hitters.  It is not an accident, folks.  If memory serves me correctly, the others would be Nomo, Lowe and Buchholz.  That is 2 in 2 seasons for the young Sox pitchers.  Farrell probably deserves a fair amount of credit there too.

Jon helped his cause with 9 strikeouts, which is great to see for the guy.  His K/BB ratio has not been great.  But it was tonight.  He got some help from Jacoby and Youk, 2 other guys who came up through the Sox re-vamped system.  The made some great defensive plays to preserve the no-hitter.  And the Sox hitters provided ample run support. 

This is a feel-good story.  Not just because he had to beat cancer first, but the great bond he now has with Francona.  They shared a long hug after the game.

“He just said he was proud of me,” Lester said. “I’ve been through a lot the last couple of years. He’s been like a second dad to me. It was just a special moment right there.”

Sadly, this meant that righthander Chris Smith didn’t get into a game during his brief call-up.  Due to the double-header and Oki’s wrist issues, he was called up just in case.  But he’ll head back the minors so Masterson can pitch tomorrow night and he’ll be promptly sent down for Bartolo Colon can pitch Wednesday night.

One piece of advice- don’t let Papelbon’s dog near the ball!

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