TITO!!! CALL ST. LOUIS NOW!!!

The World Champion St. Louis Cardinals have a job opening!
Their Hall of Fame manager is leaving on top.
They have the foundation of a great team being left behind.

They can hand the reigns of the team over to a coach like Jose Oquendo or Dave McKay or Joe Pettini.

Maybe long time pitching coach guru Dave Duncan can manage the team.

Or 800 pound gorilla Mark McGwire.

OR they can insert a respected manager who happened to have a bad month.
Someone with two World Series titles of his own... including one at the expense of the Cardinals.

Terry Francona... Cardinals manager.
St. Louis is just as great a baseball city as Boston without the grief or inferiority complex.

The inferiority complex is in Chicago... and who is running the Cubs now? THEO!

Oh this could be a NEW wrinkle in the Cubs/Cardinals rivalry!!!

Become the Cardinals manager, win a World Series title in St. Louis... be beloved forever and rehearse your Cooperstown speech.

Give them a call.

Slamming out the string

Carl Crawford should have a nice talk with J. D. Drew. Drew's first year in Boston was a mess as expectations for big stats were flushed down the toilet in 2007 and he looked like a bust.

Then he hit that grand slam in the ALCS and had a great World Series. Say what you want about him. The Sox don't win the 2007 World Series without him.

And if the Red Sox won the 2008 ALCS, Drew would have been the MVP.

So Crawford's first year in Boston has been up and down. But if today's grand slam was any indication, he has a little in the tank to contribute in October.

As for the post season, it is looking more and more like it is in the bag.

Yeah they can get into a dog fight with the Yankees for the Division. But for what?

The Red Sox have a Magic Number of 16 to make the playoffs with 24 games left.

If the Sox go 12-12 in their last 24 games, the Rays would have to go 21-3 just to force a one game playoff.

I'm not saying the Red Sox should start sitting their regulars, but the only way they aren't playing in October is if their September looked like their April.

The Sox and Rays play each other 7 times between September 9th and September 18th. If the Red Sox go 3-4 in those games, that would take 6 off the Magic Number right there.

Maybe even J. D. Drew will be healthy for October.

Nahhhh.

I'm glad I saw the Red Sox win 2 World Series before the Rapture

I guess I am a glass half full kind of guy.

Sucks for Indians and Cubs fans.

This looks like it REALLY is it for Okajima

Hideki Okajima was designated for assignment... again.
And I am betting he has pitched his last game for the Red Sox.

Then again, I made that bet LAST December as well.

I can't say good bye too many times.
But everything I said in my tribute to Oki last December still stands.

Let us salute a very valuable member of the 2007 World Champions.

How Josh Beckett and the Star Trek films mirror each other

Josh Beckett’s tenure with the Red Sox is in sync with the quality of the Star Trek movies. Don’t believe me? Don’t understand me?

Follow along… it is logical.

Josh Beckett’s first season in Boston (2006)
mirrored Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Both were eagerly anticipated by fans:

Red Sox fans were getting the 2003 World Series MVP who conquered the Yankees.

Star Trek fans were getting to return to the Enterprise for the first time in more than a decade.


Both were trying to recreate a success from 2 years before:
The Red Sox needed an ace to fill Pedro Martinez’s shoes and replicate the 2004 World Championship.

Paramount needed a science fiction blockbuster in 1979 to answer the staggering success of Star Wars.

Both were incredibly expensive:
Beckett cost the Red Sox budding superstar Hanley Ramirez, a good pitcher in Anibal Sanchez and a big fat $30 million contract extension.

Star Trek The Motion Picture was, at the time, the most expensive movie ever produced. It’s price tag was around $45 million.

Both were initially big let downs:
Beckett let up way too many homers, his ERA soared to 5.01 and Red Sox fans shook their heads. “This is NOT what we wanted in an ace.”

Star Trek The Motion Picture lumbered along with a not exactly action packed plot. And the flight through V’Ger was the longest and most dull special effects sequence in history, rivaled only by the laborious introduction of the Enterprise.

Both had some decent numbers, but not what was expected:
Beckett won 16 games and pitched over 200 innings, which would be fine for most pitchers. But for Pedro Martinez’s replacement, it was a let down.

Star Trek The Motion Picture grossed over $130 million world wide and made $30 million in profits for Paramount. Impressive, but not even close to Star Wars.


Both had, in retrospect, some bright spots:
Beckett pitched brilliantly out of the gate, winning his first three starts convincingly. He homered in a game against the Phillies. And on September 21, in his second to last start of the season, he out pitched Johan Santana in a game where the Twins were trying to take over the Division lead. Beckett went 8 innings of shutout ball.

There are some cool scenes in Star Trek The Motion Picture. The Klingons attacking the V’Ger cloud at the opening was neat. Spock’s spacewalk and mindmeld with V’Ger was a cool scene. And in retrospect, the film plays like a very good episode that happened to have some overlong special effects sequences shoved into it.

Josh Beckett’s second season in Boston (2007)
mirrored Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Both addressed what went wrong before:
Beckett stopped relying on his fastball and learned how to pitch in the American League with his breaking stuff and location. And along the way reduced the walks and homers that plagued his 2006 season.

For Star Trek II, they brought in a whole new creative cast and crew. And (get ready for some blasphemy) removing Gene Roddenberry in favor of Harve Bennet was the best thing to ever happen to Star Trek! The Wrath of Khan acted like Star Trek The Motion Picture didn’t even happen. It picked the story up with Kirk wanting the Enterprise back and, unlike the first movie, acknowledged the fact that the cast was old. Now the age of Kirk was no longer a distraction but part of the story and it worked big time.

Both obliterated all of the earlier doubts:
Beckett’s 2006 made people wonder if he was yet another National League pitcher who couldn’t make it in the American League. And some people started pointing out that his regular season stats weren’t exactly eye popping. Nobody was saying that after 2007.

Critics wondered if Star Trek was just a TV show that couldn’t translate to the big screen. I mean if they couldn’t make it work with a big budget and Robert Wise directing, what chance did it have? The new producers, writers and director solved that!

Both were so much better than anyone could have imagined:
Beckett was hoping for a good rebound season. What he got was a Cy Young caliber season where he played the role of ace and etched his name into Red Sox lore.

The Wrath of Khan became the gold standard of every Star Trek movie and episode since. It was more than a good Star Trek movie. It was a good MOVIE. Even non Trekkies (or Trekkers) admit that it is a heck of a good sci fi action film.


Both had a cool bad ass quality:
Beckett didn’t just win. He won with an unmistakable swagger and he was unflappable. Remember how the Red Sox were down 3-1 in the ALCS and Beckett had to save the season? He not only won, but he barely broke a sweat. The Indians hired his ex girlfriend to sing the national anthem. He didn’t care. Kenny Lofton tried to charge the mound, and Beckett shrugged. Nothing phased him.

Think Star Trek is nerdy? Check out Riccardo Montalban as Khan, chest out and out hamming William Shatner. There was nothing dorky about dropping creatures into Chekov’s ear. And Kirk was at his coolest, out smarting Khan and finding out he was a dad. Even Spock showed a unflappable side, lying in one scene taking one for the team at the end. The Enterprise was never cooler.

It just kept betting better:
Beckett just kept winning. On September 15th he faced off against the Yankees supposed ace Chien-Ming Wang and won easily. He opened the Division Series with a complete game shutout of the Angels. Won the ALCS MVP and probably would have been the World Series MVP if he got another start.

Wrath of Khan kept topping itself. The Khan sneak attack. The Genesis planet. Kirk screaming Khaaaaaaaan! The battle in the Nebula. And just when the film couldn’t get any better, Spock had a death scene. Are you kidding me?

The ending was not delivered goose bumps but promised more greatness:
Beckett won the opener of the World Series and set the tone for the Red Sox sweep. When they won, it felt different than 2004. There was the possibility of more titles on the way.

Wrath of Khan ended with the funeral of Spock. But then the camera swooped down to the Genesis planet with all new life forming from death… AND SPOCK’S COFFIN WAS INTACT! And the “Space The Final Frontier” monologue was said by Spock, not Kirk. You know what that means: There was going to be an awesome sequel with Spock in it!

Josh Beckett’s third season in Boston (2008)
mirrored Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Both had an impossible act to follow:
How could Beckett top his near Cy Young winning 2007 season where he built on his reputation of being an all time Post Season pitcher? He couldn’t.

Could The Search for Spock even come close to the awesome roller coaster that was Wrath of Khan? Nope.

Both seemed like hollow facsimiles of the previous triumph:
Beckett got some big wins to be sure. But he hovered around .500 around most of the season and his ERA hovered around 4.00. Not bad, but not great.

There were some nice scenes in The Search for Spock. But Christopher Lloyd was a poor man’s Khan. And destroying the Enterprise and killing Kirk’s son just didn’t hold a candle to Spock’s sacrifice.

Both saved the best for last:
Despite some bad outings against the Angels and Rays in the playoffs, Beckett won Game 6 forcing the ALCS to go the limit. It didn’t have the cool ending as 2007, but Beckett did his job at the end.

The Search for Spock felt a little cheap and slapped together after Wrath of Khan. But the finale on Vulcan and Spock raising his eyebrow was a great ending.

Josh Beckett’s fourth season in Boston (2009)
mirrored Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Both were fun if a little light and less ambitious:
Beckett won a bunch of games including a terrific opening day start against the Rays and a complete game shutout against the Braves. He also showed his fire was there when he threw at Bobby Abreu’s head and got suspended. The Angels got revenge by beating Beckett in the playoffs.

The Voyage Home had no intention of topping Wrath of Khan. There was no bad guy and no great sacrifice. There were funny scenes in San Francisco and a save the whales message. It was the big screen equivalent of The Trouble with Tribbles.

Both were a nice return to form:
While he didn’t dominate in the playoffs, Beckett became an All Star starter and along side Jon Lester, it looked like the Red Sox had their aces back.

The Voyage Home was no Wrath of Khan. But all the crew was back and in uniform. Rand and Chapel had cameos. Even Spock’s mom showed up to say hello. And at the end, a new Enterprise was introduced meaning that the series was going to get a fresh start.

Josh Beckett’s fifth season in Boston (2010)
mirrored Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Both looked bad right from the beginning:
Beckett started the season against the Yankees got clobbered, being chased in the 5th inning. He looked bad and it wasn’t going to get better.

The Final Frontier opened with Spock, McCoy and Kirk singing "Row Row Row your boat" around a camp fire. It was worse than embarrassing. It was Mystery Science Theater material.

Both tried but failed to fix things in mid stream:
Beckett sat out a start in May before getting his butt kicked by the Yankees again. He was put on the disabled list after the Yankee start. But when he came back, he was dreadful, watching his ERA rising to 6.67 in mid August.

The Final Frontier went through so many different script changes and reedits that I am convinced that none of the actors knew what the plot was from scene to scene.

Both were so bad that you wondered if there was any hope for the future:
Forget being an ace. A 30 year old pitcher going 6-6 with a 5.78 ERA could be filed in the “he’s done” bin.

With the incomprehensible ending on the God planet, a return to the camp fire and a fat and old cast, the idea of another Star Trek voyage seemed unlikely.
Both made you think “better leave it to the next generation”:

Beckett was no longer the ace. Buchholz and Lester had that title. Should Beckett step down and give the Michael Bowden and Felix Doubronts of the world a shot?

Kirk, Spock and McCoy? By 1989 they should leave the “boldly going” to Piccard and company.



So where does this leave Beckett for 2011?

The good news is that Star Trek VI was the best written film of the series other than Wrath of Khan and gave the crew a great send off. So things look good for the Sox and Beckett.

Bad news is the NEXT Star Trek film, Generations, blew a great chance to have Kirk and Piccard team up. The film was a mess. Which means Beckett will probably flop in 2012.

However Star Trek: First Contact was a terrific and fun film. The Borg on the big screen? Awesome. Which bodes well for Beckett and the Sox in 2013.

The last year of Beckett’s contract is 2014. Sadly Star Trek: Insurrection was so forgettable that I forgot I saw it while I was in the theater. Doesn’t look good for Beckett that year.

And if a team signs him for 2015, bad news. I couldn’t finish Star Trek: Nemesis. I am guessing Beckett won’t finish that season.

A ray of hope for 2016? The Star Trek reboot wasn’t bad. Maybe he’ll finish in style.


Live long and prosper, Josh Beckett.

(How often can I combine two different childhood obsessions into one post?)

Whoops! My Hideki Okajima farewell tribute was premature!

You know that awkward feeling you get when you give someone a long and heartfelt good bye, maybe even shed a tear or two, only to find out they are going to stick around for a few more days.

It kind of makes whatever good bye you say later look kind of silly.

That happened with me here on Sully Baseball.

On December 5th, Hideki Okajima was nontendered by the Red Sox. I made sure on the blog that his time with the Sox did not end without a fitting tribute for a playoff and World Series hero.

Well, on New Year's Eve, Oke-Dokey resigned with the Red Sox. He's coming back.
I knew he'd find another job. He's left handed and has a pulse. I just didn't think it would be the Sox.

OK, Hideki... next time you leave, I am giving you a VERY SHORT post.

Bobby jenks and his bond with Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon

Today the Red Sox took a flier on former White Sox pitcher Bobby Jenks for some bullpen depth. How could it hurt?

But as Jenks changes the color of his Sox, he has a unique bond with current Boston pitchers Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon:

All three were the pitchers on the mound when their team won the World Series.

Beckett tagged out Jorge Posada on a little dribbler to end the 2003 World Series for the Marlins.

Jenks got Orlando Palmeiro to ground out to end the 2005 World Series for the White Sox.

And Papelbon struck out Seth Smith to end the 2007 World Seris for the Red Sox.

Personally, I can't think of anything cooler in all of sports than being the pitcher to end the World Series. More than a game winning home run. I used to reenact clinching a World Series as a pitcher on our front lawn... jumping up and being mobbed on the mound.

And I've written a few posts like this one and this one about my fascination with the pitcher who got the final out.

I can't help but wonder if they will talk about it amongst each other in spring training.

They MUST talk about it. Heck, that's how I would preface every sentence. "As a man who clinched the World Series... I will order the chicken salad."

Maybe that's just me.

Thank you Hideki Okajima

The Red Sox non tendered Hideki Okajima the other day, thus ending his 4 year run in Boston. It was probably time. He had a mediocre 2010 and pitchers in their mid 30s tend to not improve over the years.

But before he goes off (and as a left handed reliever will inevitably find work) I ask my fellow Red Sox fans to tip their hats to him.

Remember this was the guy who was basically supposed to be Daisuke Matsusaka's caddy. A fellow countryman to keep the new ace company.

When he let up a homer to John Buck on the first pitch he ever threw, it looked like Okajima was Japanese for "Bust."

He didn't let up a run the rest of his outing... nor his next outing... nor the next one.
In fact he didn't let up a run in his next 20 outings.

And he had that bad ass delivery where he literally wasn't looking at the batter as he pitched. I have no clue how that worked... but it did.

His ERA was 0.42 in late May.
By the All Star break it was 0.82 and he was voted in by the fans (presumably by Red Sox Nation and the Nation of Japan) to the All Star Game.

As late as August 8th, his ERA remained sub 1.
Then his arm started to tire and the league caught up with him.

Theo and Tito rested him for a few weeks so he would be fresh for the playoffs... and he delivered.

He was unscored upon in the Division Series and ALCS, pitching 2 key innings in Game 7 against Cleveland.

Then, in the second game of the World Series, in a tense 2-1 victory, he pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings striking out 4.

He looked like a potential MVP candidate before letting up a homer in Denver. But he was a key player for the 2007 World Champs.

So off he goes to begin the journeyman part of his career. But thanks Oke-Doke. You combined with Papelbon in 2007 to give the Sox one of the best 1-2 bullpen punches in Red Sox history.

Something I DON'T want to hear from Giants fans

I do NOT want to hear Giant fans before this game saying crap like “I’d rather see the Giants clinch at home.”

You can’t be picky about how you want your franchise’s defining moment.

When the Red Sox were closing in on the 2004 World Series title, I had a couple of people who were RED SOX FANS say “I wouldn’t mind seeing them drop a few games and clinch in Fenway Park.”

I of course beat those people with ski poles.

We had been waiting 86 years for a World Series title after every sort of cruel near miss imaginable and these lunatics were thinking “Let’s tempt fate.”

It was the equivalent of having food air lifted into a starving country and one of the recipients saying “I’m going to wait. I hear the next airlift has better food.”

EAT THE FOOD! YOU ARE STARVING!

I heard more of this nonsense in 2007. “Oh it would be better to win it at home.”

So which games was I supposed to be rooting AGAINST the Red Sox? And remember in 2007 they had played a tough game against the Rockies in Game 2 and a back and forth Game 3… beating a team that had rattled off an incredible winning streak. Yeah, better let THEM refind their mojo so you can have your wittle party at home.

I will not have any tolerance of such insanity.

You root for your team to win.
When the Red Sox celebrated in St. Louis and in Denver… guess what? IT WAS AWESOME!

The only thing that compared to it emotionally was when the Red Sox won the 2004 ALCS and celebrated… in New York.

If the Giants win tonight, and I hope they do, you will be remembering this moment forever and reliving it in your head over and over.

And you won’t be thinking “Ah… it wasn’t that great.”

Haven’t you earned this, Giants fans?

I remember when my Red Sox won the 2004 and 2007 World Series, I got flack from a few of my Giant fan friends.

One of them, let’s call him Greg Lee… because that is his name… said “You couldn’t have been excited by those World Series. They were blow outs.”

I responded “Don’t blame the Red Sox for making those World Series boring. Blame the Cardinals and Rockies for not winning a game.”

The person we will call Greg Lee responded “Wouldn’t you rather have the games be dramatic?”

And I replied “I had enough drama as a Red Sox fan. Between 1986 and 2003 I had enough drama to last a lifetime. In 2004 I had to live through the 3-0 hole and facing elimination with Mariano Rivera on the mound. In 2007, the Sox came back from another 3-1 hole. I HAD DRAMA! I wanted a title.”

Then the hypothetical person I have dubbed Greg Lee asked “Wouldn’t you rather win the series at HOME?”

I responded “That would mean I would have to root AGAINST the Red Sox in a few games. I root for the Sox in every game. The celebration was sweet on the road.”

So now let me turn the question around.

If the Giants win big tonight… would you be excited? Wouldn’t you rather have a close series? Don’t you want the games to be dramatic? Wouldn’t you want to clinch the series at home?

Or have you earned a blow out?
Have you seen enough close calls that you just want to win it as fast as possible?

The brand of baseball the Giants have played has been called torture.

If the Giants win the next two games with ease, I have a feeling Giant fans will be quite happy… just like I was in 2004 and 2007.

The Red Sox said good bye to a beloved player properly

The World Series MVP became an official award in 1955 and only two Red Sox players have ever received it.

Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell.

One had his Red Sox career end so badly that he couldn't be more hated in Boston if he took a crap on Paul Revere's statue.

And the other got to have a dignified day in his honor to celebrate all he meant to the club.

Not bad for a guy who was the expensive potential deal killing toss in for the Josh Beckett trade.

I am glad to see Mike not enter my "All Ungraceful Exit From The Red Sox" roster.

Oh the Red Sox TRIED to make it awkward... the aborted trade in the off season and Mike wanting to be released this season.

But instead we have a salute to a World Series hero.

Alas, Carlton Fisk, Luis Tiant, Fred Lynn, Wade Boggs, Dwight Evans, Johnny Damon and Roger Clemens never got this sort of farewell.

Maybe management is just better now.

Farewell Mike.
Thanks for the big hits.

Welcome to Colorado, Manny Delcarmen

It's a cruel place, Coors Field.
Old friend Manny Delcarmen, whom I paid tribute to the other day, let up a game tying homer to Jayson Werth in his first appearance as a Colorado Rockie.

The thin air stinks sometimes.

Bear down Manny... you still have a friend in Sully.

Good Luck Manny Delcarmen

Another member of a World Champion Red Sox team is gone.
And if I could salute Julio Lugo then I can damn sure salute Manny Delcarmen, who got traded to the Colorado Rockies (ironically the team he helped beat in the 2007 World Series.)

It may not have ended well in Boston, let's not forget what a wonderful Red Sox story his is.
He is a native Bostonian and "The Pride of Hyde Park" pitched at West Roxbury High School, dreaming of pitching for the Red Sox.

The Sox drafted him in the second round and in 2005 was called up to pitch for the Defending World Champs.

In 2007 he was up for good and contributing. With Papelbon and Okajima anchoring an All Star Bullpen, Delcarmen posted a 2.05 ERA over 44 relief innings. He kept the Angels off the board with 1 1/3 perfect innings in Game 2 of the Division Series that year (which ended on Manny Ramirez's walk off homer.)

He pitched in the clinching Game 4 of the World Series where he got to accomplish what so many kids in Boston had dreamed of and so few ACTUALLY have achieved:

He won a World Series ring as a player for the Red Sox.

He did it.
All of us who grew up in New England all wanted what he actually got done.

So while this year has been rocky and his season will end AS a Rockie, let me just say, from one life long Red Sox fan to another, thank you Manny Delcarmen for living out all of our dreams.

It was fun for us. I assume it was even more fun for you.

Lowell Spinner!

Well wasn't THAT a fine "Nice to have you back!"

Seriously, Youk gets hurt, Lowell comes back and BAM! Sox take the lead, Lowell makes a nice play in the field, Beckett looks dominating and the Red Sox beat Cleveland.

It's 2007 all over again!

OK, probably not. We'll probably have a MUCH different result. Yeah I know Lowell and Hall are essentially replacing Youk and Pedroia right now and they both homered last night. But the Sox are still a little too far back to realistically make a run at this.

But as long as they keep winning and the Yankees keep dropping games to Toronto... who knows?

Let's update the tally.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 35

April 4 - 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 - 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 - 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 - 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 - 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk's 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 - 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre's bases loaded walk.)

April 24 - 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 - 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 - 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 - 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)
May 4 - 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia's 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 - 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)
May 6 - 11-6 win against the Angels. (Dice-K puts the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole before they even bat. The Sox bats respond.)
May 10 - 7-6 win against the Blue Jays. (Sox blow an early 2-0 lead, take advantage of some errors and hang on.)
May 18 - 7-5 win in New York. (Sox climb back from a 5-1 hole. A day after hitting a walk off homer, Marcus Thames drops a fly ball to start the winning rally for the Sox.)
May 25 - 2-0 win in Tampa. (Big Papi supplies all the offense as Papelbon wiggles out of a 9th inning jam.)
May 29 - 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Zack Greinke holds the Sox to one run, but they make it stick)

June 1 - 9-4 win against Oakland. (Lackey puts the Sox in a 4-0 hole but Victor Martinez goes 5-5 and the Sox score 9 runs late.)
June 2 - 6-4 win against Oakland. (Dice-K puts the Sox in a 3-0 hole before they come to bat, but come back thanks to Papi's homer.)

June 8 - 3-2 win at Cleveland. (With Papelbon unavailable, Okajima, Ramirez and Bard hang on to make a winner out of Wakefield.)

June 19 - 5-4 win against the Dodgers. (Sox make 4 errors, blow a late lead and let Manny homer, but they win it in the bottom of the 9th on a Pedroia single.)
June 20 - 2-0 win against the Dodgers. (Dodgers blow an early bases loaded scoring opportunity and allow Buchholz to settle down for the win.)

June 24 - 13-11 win in Colorado. (The bullpen lets up 9 runs in 5 innings, but Pedroia homers 3 times including with 2 outs in the 10th to win a wild and stupid game.)
June 26 - 4-2 win in San Francisco. (An injury running the bases takes Buchholz out in the second, but the bullpen and Mike Cameron's bat and glove win the game.)
July 2 - 3-2 win against the Orioles. (Wakefield gets the win and J.D. Drew homers twice, but it is Nava's 2 out 8th inning bloop that landed between three fielders that breaks the tie.)

July 11 - 3-2 win in Toronto. (Jesse Litch took a no hitter into the 6th but back to back homers by McDonald and Big Papi win the game.)
July 17 - 3-2 win against Texas. (Youk ties the game in the 9th off of Cliff Lee and wins it in the 11th with a sacrifuce fly)
July 19 - 2-1 win at Oakland. (Beltre homers and Dice-K holds on to the win.)
July 22 - 8-6 win at Seattle. (Lackey lost a no hit bid in the 8th and the Mariners scored 5 in the 9th to tie before the Sox won in 13)
July 23 - 2-1 win at Seattle. (Bill Hall's barely fair homer gives the Sox the win on Beckett's return.)

July 26 - 6-3 win in Anaheim. (Papi homers twice and Buccholz and Papelbon each wiggle out of jams to get the win.)
July 27 - 4-2 win in Anaheim. (Jed Lowrie's 2 run 7th inning double gives the Sox the lead and makes a winner out of John Lackey. )

July 28 - 7-3 win in Anaheim. (Youk ties the game in the 7th with a homer and Scutaro wins it with an 8th inning grand slam to sweep the Angels.)
July 31 - 5-4 win against Detrout. (Big Papi hits a 3 run walk off double to crush the Tigers in the 9th.)
August 1 - 4-3 win against Detroit. (Sox blow a 3 run 9th inning lead but the Tigers throw away a 9th inning sacrifice bunt to give the Sox the win.

August 3 - 3-1 win against Cleveland. (Lowell homers on his first pitch back and plays sparkling defense to preserve the win.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 33

April 6 - 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro's error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 - 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson's 10th inning homer)
April 9 - 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 - 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can't score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th... lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 - 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 - 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 - 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 - 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.
May 12 - 3-2 loss against the Blue Jays. (The Sox rally in the 9th comes up a run short and Kevin Gregg gets an ugly save.)
May 15 - 7-6 loss in Detroit. (The Sox blow a 6-1 lead and lose it on a 2 out bases loaded walk in the 12th.)
May 17 - 11-9 loss in New York. (The Sox come all the way back from a 5-0 first inning hole to take a 9-7 lead in the 9th... but Papelbon lets up a 2 run game tying shot to A-Rod and a 2 run walk off shot to Marcus Thames.)
May 21 - 5-1 loss in Philadelphia. (Big Papi's bid for a game tying 9th inning grand slam is caught at the warning track.)
May 27 - 4-3 loss to Kansas City. (Dice-K walks the go ahead run in and lets another score on a wild pitch as the Royals no name bullpen shut down the Hot Sox.)
May 28 - 12-5 loss to Kansas City. (Sox blow a 3-0 first inning lead to be blown out in Fenway.)
June 3 - 9-8 loss to Oakland. (Sox lose a slugfest where two Boston runners are thrown out at home.)

June 6 - 4-3 loss in Baltimore. (Sox rally to tie the game in the 9th only to lose it on a small ball rally in the 11th.)
June 10 - 8-7 loss in Cleveland. (Sox blow an early 5-0 lead and then after rallying in the 9th to take the lead coughed it up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th)
June 13 - 5-3 loss to Philadelphia. (Sox 9th inning rally comes up short)
June 22 - 2-1 loss in Colorado. (The Sox waste a solid Lester start and twice leave the bases loaded.)
June 23 - 8-6 loss in Colorado. (The Sox batter Ubaldo Jimenez around but Papelbon lets up 2 homers in the 9th to lose it.)
June 25 - 5-4 loss in San Francisco. (The Sox strand 11 runners in the last 4 innings wasting a solid Wakefield performance.)
July 5 - 6-5 loss in Tampa Bay. (Sox spoil a 5-1 lead and 2 homers by Eric Patterson when Dice-K and the bullpen couldn't hold down the Rays.)
July 6 - 3-2 loss in Tampa Bay. (Sox bats go dead and Kevin Youkilis goes down to injury.)
July 7 - 6-4 loss in Tampa Bay. (Matt Garza comes out of the pen, shuts down a late rally as the Rays sweep the Sox.)
July 10 - 9-5 loss in Toronto. (The Sox give Lackey an early 5-3 lead that he couldn't hold.)
July 18 - 4-2 loss to the Rangers. (Lester loses a rare game at home that included a Rangers steal of home.) July 20 - 5-4 loss in Oakland. (The Sox go up 4-0 after 2 but don't score again and lose it in the 10th)
July 21 - 6-4 loss in Oakland. (Buchholz can't hold on to an early lead as the Sox lose the series.)
July 24 - 5-1 loss in Seattle. (Lester's perfect game is foiled and the Red Sox bats die.)
July 25 - 4-2 loss in Seattle. (Okajima misplays a sacrifice bunt and the Mariners rally in the 8th to win.)
July 30 - 6-5 loss to Detroit. (Papi's grand slam makes it a 1 run game in the 9th but Cameron strikes out looking with the winning runs on base.)
August 2 - 6-5 loss to Cleveland. (Beltre drives in 5 runs by himself but the Red Sox leave the tying run on base with Big Papi on deck.)


Back up to +2

Lester tomorrow... hey he won the clinching game of the 2007 World Series. Maybe the 2007 feel good party can continue!

Cash was fine... but where's Dougie?

Seriously, if the Sox are going to bring back an old friend who can catch a knuckle ball, who did it better than Doug Mirabelli?

He's got the two World Series rings to prove it and seemed to have a job forever with the Red Sox provided that Tim Wakefield was there.

In fact when the Red Sox started the 2004 World Series, captain Jason Varitek was introduced with the "other players and pitchers" instead of the starting lineup. Dougie caught game 1 for Wakes. He went 1 for 3 with a run scored.

He played for the 2007 World Champs and received a police escort to Fenway Park when he was reacquired in 2005 from San Diego.

He doesn't deserve to be on my All Ungraceful Red Sox Exit Team.

Bring him back! Just for a few games at least.

Right now he's a baseball coach at St. Francis High School in Traverse City, Michigan and also sells real estate there.

While it is great to see Doug moving on and settling down... I want him back with the Sox!

Maybe the Sox can buy a few properties in the deal. Heck, how could that be a worse investment than Julio Lugo?

Does Kevin Cash belong in that elite group of Red Sox/Yankees champions?

The Red Sox today welcomed back old friend and knuckleball catching specialist Kevin Cash in a deal with Houston.

With Victor Martinez hurt, it is good to have someone with big league experience backing up "The Lobster" and catching Wakefield (who goes tonight in search if his 178th win in a Red Sox uniform.)

Cash was on the 2007 Division Series roster but didn't get into a game. (He played and homered in the 2008 ALCS for the Sox.)

So he earned a ring with the '07 Red Sox.

But remember, he also played for the 2009 Yankees... which as painful as it is to remember... also won the World Series.

Now he only played 10 games for the Yankees that year and was released in September... but I wonder if he got a ring from the Yankees as well.

I guess he would join Ramiro Mendoza, Johnny Damon and Eric Hinske as the only living players to get a World Series ring as a player with the Red Sox and Yankees.

But I have a hard time putting him in that list because Mendoza, Damon and Hinske were all on the active roster for the post season while Cash was cut from the team before the season was over.

It's the sort of thing that a lunatic like me thinks about at this late hour.

Either way, welcome back... and don't get hurt.

Beating a dead horse... you are nuts if you are against Interleague Pleay

The Red Sox and Rockies are squaring off...
The Rox beat the Sox in a thriller last night in their match up since the 2007 World Series, and the Rockies got revenge on Jon Lester, who won the clinching game in in '07, by beating him and also on World Series MVP Mike Lowell who was retired for the last out.

The Sox offense will probably come back in the thin air and deep power alleys of Coors Field.

But on the mound tonight for Colorado is Ubaldo Jimenez.

He's having a mind boggling first half of the season and is the Cy Young front runner.

Shouldn't the Cy Young winner have to face all the best teams in the game? The Red Sox have the second most wins in the big leagues and Jimenez is facing them while they are hot, last night's loss not withstanding.

And he could be getting revenge for Game 2 of the 2007 World Series... a game where Jimenez pitched and actually had the lead for a few innings before the Sox clawed a pair of runs off of him to get the lead and the win.

You don't get this match up in a regular season game without Interleague Play.
There isn't this kind of intrigue about a late June game if it were two contending teams in the same league.

And yet some lunatics will still say it should be abolished.

And THIS lunatic will continue pointing out how insane that point of view is.
I don't care if the horse is dead. Give me that whip!

I won't boo ANY member of the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox... not even these guys

When I wrote about how I would give Manny Ramirez an ovation if I were at Fenway (and I do cheer for Manny when I go the six miles from my house to Dodger Stadium) I got some people asking me privately (and someone asked on the site) would I also cheer for Johnny Damon.

Of course.
Both Manny and Johnny were big parts of the 2004 team that all of us Red Sox fans waited our whole lives for. And the make up of the 2004 team was NOT a bunch of home grown Red Sox who all played together in Pawtucket. The 1975, 1978 and 1986 Red Sox teams were primarily home grown.

With the exception of Youk, Nixon, Varitek and Lowe, none of them spent their rookie years with the Red Sox. And even Varitek and Lowe were actually originally drafted by Seattle.

Most of the 2004 squad were picked up from other teams and assembled like a baseball answer to The Dirty Dozen, slapped together for a crazy mission to reverse the curse.

So it is disingenuous to get mad when a mercenary leaves for more money. Pedro, Damon, Manny, Foulke, Schilling et al came to the Red Sox via free agency or forced trades to make dough.

When Pedro signed with the Mets, Damon signed with the Yankees and Manny forced the deal to LA, they were doing to us what they did to the Expos, A's and Indians before coming to Fenway.

I just say "thank you" and have them on their way.
And I have my policy... if you were on the Red Sox playoff rosters for 2004 or 2007 then I can not boo you.

But there are a few guys who test that theory... and it isn't Manny nor Damon.

There are 4 guys who at first make me want to boo... then I have to stop and say "But they helped the Sox win a ring" and reluctantly say "Oh alright. I won't boo."

They are...

RAMIRO MENDOZA, Relief Pitcher. 2004

He always felt like a Yankee mole, didn't he? I still remember him being on the mound in 1999, clinching the ALCS. (No offense to El Duque, but Mendoza should have been the MVP of the 1999 ALCS.)

He was a big pile of "eh" in his 2 seasons in Boston, compiling a combined 5.73 over 2003 and 2004. And he was the last Red Sox pitcher to record a loss in 2004, getting the decision in the 19-8 Game 3 Fiasco... against the Yankees. It was the last game he pitched in a Red Sox uniform and the Sox went 8-0 the rest of the way. I admit it looked odd seeing his celebrate with the other Red Sox at Yankee Stadium after Game 7. When he received his ring the next season, he was a member of the Yankees again.

I never trusted him. But I can't boo him.


ERIC GAGNE, Relief Pitcher. 2007

He was supposed to be the pick up that solidified the bullpen and made the World Series a lock. Instead he became the 800 pound gorilla reliever and the very symbol of how badly someone could suck when they get off the juice.

By the time the playoffs came about, he was banished to mop up duty. The only time he pitched in a close game, it was Game 2 of the 2007 ALCS which he of course lost.

The only two positive things about Gagne's Red Sox stay were his closing out the Division Series (in a mercy move by Tito) and this song inspired by his time in Boston.

He has a ring and Yaz doesn't? It's sick. But I can't boo him.


JAVIER LOPEZ, Relief Pitcher. 2007

I watched a lot of Red Sox games in 2007. And I watched a lot of games where Javier Lopez came into the game. And I honestly have no recollection of him recording an out.

I'm not being snarky. I am sure he MUST have got a batter out. But I don't remember it. It seemed like all of his appearances were listed in the Box Score as 0 IP, faced 2 batters.

When he came into the game, you just KNEW that Tito was going to relieve him before the inning was over. You KNEW that the rally was going to continue.

He was tough to root for... and I bid him farewell last year. As poorly as he pitched, I can't boo him.

JULIO LUGO, Shortstop. 2007

Oh boy this is the ultimate litmus test. This guy was TOUGH to root for. Not only was he obscenely overpaid ($36 million for a guy who lost his starting job with the Dodgers) but was BRUTAL in the field and had an 0-33 stretch at the plate.

Someday we'll learn what Orlando Cabrera did to tick off the Red Sox front office. But until then, Sox fans will all be scratching our collective heads wondering why he couldn't stay instead of shelling out tons of money for Edgar Renteria and Julio Lugo.

But he won a ring with the Sox (and made a few nice plays in the World Series.) Swallow hard... I can't boo him.



And folks, if I refrain from booing those guys, then I think I can find it in myself to cheer some of the heroes of the '04 and '07 titles.