Sports Writing

Manny Ramirez came up with a novel plan for spending his share of the postseason kitty. “My whole share is going to the groundskeeper who had to fix what I did to left field,” Ramirez giggled of the turf he unearthed while committing an error in Game 1. (Link)

Time for Lowe to sack up.

“We’re up 3-0 - that’s a good way to start a series,” said Boston’s Johnny Damon. “But we’re not done. We’re not satisfied. We know they’re a good team, and we know they’re going to come out and play like a good team tomorrow.” (Link)

Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through. Sylvia Plath, “Daddy” No more of this Daddy talk. No more of the doubt. What a game by Pedro. The usual bad first inning blues, and a fourth inning saved by Suppan’s awful baserunning. (Suppan looked like he threw the third base coach under the bus there.) But otherwise, magnificent. Stepped it up in the limelight, like he always does. Even worked the count against Suppan (hitting a ball foul, taking) and forced Suppan to issue his only walk of the game. I am so glad I saw this man pitch live back in the day. Even on TV I’ve got goosebumps. And Timlin in the 8th, Foulke in the 9th is exactly what Francona was brought in to do. Foulke is stone cold: gives up a long bomb, Pujols hits a long fly, no worries, gets the K.

Aaron Gleeman talks about the Sox over at Hardball Times. Great para here: It’ll be interesting to see the reaction in the baseball world if Boston can win two more games. When Arizona won the World Series in 2001 behind Randy Johnson and Schilling, the reaction from the mainstream media and the average fan was that “pitching wins championships.” When Anaheim and Florida won, the reaction from the same people was that “doing the little things wins championships.” Since I’m highly skeptical that those same people will come around to hitting being just as important as pitching and defense, I suspect a Red Sox victory will be spun as “having a pitcher with a bloody ankle wins championships” or “reversing a silly, meaningless curse wins championships,” without any mention of the actual qualities of the team that won.

12 hours to go, barring rain outs. Pedro’s first World Series start. People seem to have reduced their expectations of him, but going 6 innings in all 3 games he’s started and giving up 3, 3, and 4 runs against some of the best offenses in the American League is actually pretty good. Here’s hoping the maestro comes through with more RBI than runs allowed.

This is just freakin’ cool, even if the opening clause is trademark Shaughnessy snark. Continuing the “Mighty Wind” theme of introducing bust-out acts from the 1960s, Sox choreographer Dr. Charles Steinberg brought back The Standells to perform “Dirty Water” on a makeshift stage in front of the center-field bleachers. (Link)

Back in March, Boston magazine ran a piece by Theo Epstein on why Boston is a great sports town. He compares his life in San Diego: Next you notice that people don’t talk about sports – not in the office, not at bars, not on the street. They just don’t care. There’s no buildup to the game, no sense of personal stake in the outcome. Fans don’t walk around with their heads down after a tough loss.

So the AP writes an article on far-flung Sox fans and 3 out of the 4 people they interview live in America? (Alaska, South Carolina, and Brooklyn) Tashkent is cool, but BROOKLYN? Look, I’ve watched games in Park Slope. It’s hardly far-flung or obscure or lonely to be a Sox fan there. I feel slighted!

Okay, maybe not.

I get Rick Sutcliffe and Dave O’Brien for the games (ESPN International broadcasts), instead of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, the man who everyone wants to shut up. Sometimes it’s good to follow baseball overseas.

Random fact: with the elimination of the Astros (Jeff Bagwell) and the Yankees (Worcester’s own Tanyon Sturtze), Mark Bellhorn is the only player left in the postseason who was born in Massachusetts.

Somehow, it seems less cool to know that the Nike “Fenway Park” commercial was actually made in 2003.

For that magnificent fin de siecle. For the Cy you were robbed of in 2002. For 17 Ks in Yankee Stadium. For the luminescence of a right-handed Koufax. For 6 no-hit innings in relief. For being the first pitcher I ever saw pitch at Fenway Park. For being an icon. Happy 33rd birthday Pedro. Now go out there and get them.

I’m not a big Tony LaRussa fan, and I’m really not understanding these moves thus far: Not having Steve Kline on the roster So Taguchi starting in left yesterday Using Jason Marquis as a pinch runner in Game 1 Marlon Anderson DHing today Using Jason Marquis as a reliever in Game 2 Pitching Matt Morris on 3 days’ rest I know NL strategy is different, but is it really that different? Seems like sometimes LaRussa tries to hard to do something ‘clever’. We’ll see when we head to Busch.

Thanks to some sneaking around at Cards Clubhouse, I learnt that there will be a lunar eclipse during Game 4. I guess Moonshot Manny will just be Nightshot Manny for that game.

The Brushback (sort of the sports version of the Onion) has a funny “report” on a boorish Red Sox victory parade through New York. “This is really rude and insensitive,” said Mary Densome, 38. “I mean, they won fair and square. Why can’t they just be happy and leave us alone? There is absolutely no need for this kind of thing, especially when you consider how humble and dignified Yankee fans are when they win.”

This is the agony of following the team from THE FUTURE (okay, Monday morning Singapore time). When I left the house, all they were showing was Schilling warming up. When reached the office, the Sox were already up two-zip. Then I had to skedaddle off to the regular Monday morning meeting, which was tortuous - assigned to finish a task, and trying very hard to wish good vibes, chanting “Sox 8 Cards 2, Sox 8 Cards 2” in my mind. Well, it wasn’t 8-2, but good enough. Can’t wait to get home to see the repeat. First postseason game I’ve missed, and it sounds like a doozy. Great to see Schilling in form, terrible that we had 4 errors, great that we won. But then, I figured this was definitely a win for the Sox: I don’t believe in pitching on 3 days’ rest, Matt Morris is terrible away, and the Sox love batting against contact pitchers - just foul off the strikes and take the balls until you walk or get something to hit.

By the way, since my stats seem to show that most Google visitors to my site are looking for information on some of the Sox players’ ethnicities and nationalities, here’s some info. Bronson Arroyo’s dad is Cuban (Bronson clearly isn’t a Spanish name: he was named for Charles Bronson). Johnny Damon’s mother is Thai. This article in the Nation (the Bangkok paper, and a good one) explains his parents meeting during the Vietnam War. Funny quote from Damon’s mother on his dad:

I know Jayson Stark’s ESPN column is more “interesting trivia” than deep baseball analysis, but he’s got lots of stuff on the Sox this week that I thought was interesting, especially the stuff on Tim Wakefield: