Sports Writing

Great to win a close one today. Ortiz is really a Boston folk hero - Paul Bunyan with the bat, or something like that. Meanwhile, it seems really unfair that A-Rod times the dropping of his suspension appeal to coincide with his case of the flu.

How galling is the fact that Contreras got the win yesterday? Especially after that atrocious second inning where he couldn’t find the strike zone.

Pedro does it. 109 pitches, 10 Ks, shutout. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. The Sox need, need to sign Pedro - 1) because his ties with the Dominican Republic make him worthwhile for scouting purposes; and 2) because, rabid as Boston fans are, there’s a limit to how much people root for the laundry; 3) because, quite simply, the man is a pitching god.

In the mutual-affection division: What helped him in the lowest of times, Millar said, was his friendship with Kapler, who sits next to him in the Sox clubhouse. They each have autographed color photos of the other hanging in their lockers. (From Boston.com)

Nice to have a proper, thorough, let’s-bring-out-Ricky-Groundintodoubleplayez thrashing today. Youkilis is really ready for the big time and Millar was on fire. All we need is some Orlando magic. It’s really very encouraging to see the 2-out RBIs, and the big innings. I want to see that killer instinct, I want to see them go for the throat, I don’t want it to ever be close. I want to see such thrashings that Ricky G starts getting regular playing time. I want to see Embree/Timlin/Foulke stop coming to the ballpark and hang out at Patriots training camp instead. I want McCarty’s regular position to be RP.

Kevin Millar seems to be really lovin’ it now that his job is on the line, with a .440 OBP over the last 7 days. The weird thing is his .316 slugging - aren’t these big players supposed to be lumbering sluggers, not pokey singles hitters. But hey, it’s 2 innings into the Rays game, and he’s got 4 RBIs, so I’m not complaining.

Tito’s handling of the bullpen last night was much better - Mike Myers coming in for the LOOGY strikeout was great. I like that his theme music is the song from Halloween. Somehow Foulke , good as he can be, never comes across as that menacing.

Okay, I’ve figured out what it is that irritates me about Francona. It’s not when he pulls the starters, although that is increasingly questionable. It’s his unwillingness to have pitchers warming up. I don’t blame him for having Schilling start the 6th. I do blame him for not having Adams warmed up when Schilling clearly had struggled to finish the 5th. So bang-bang, the D-Rays are hitting Schilling’s meatballs, and there’s clearly no one ready to take his place. I know warm up pitches take something out of the arm, but not that much, and Adams is not a critical middle reliever in any case. There’s nothing wrong with insurance, y’know. It’s not unmanly. It’s not emasculating to the pitcher on the mound. It just says “hey, I got your back”.

Peter Gammons in his column this week writes about Nomar and why it was best for all involved to leave. Noteworthy is the fact that Nomar in the 2-hole is a great idea… meanwhile here in Indiana it’s all Cubs stuff in the malls. Sigh. Well, actually it’s all NASCAR. Five days here and all I want to do is ride in a pickup and watch stock car racing.

Alerted to this post by the good folks at Boston Sports Media Watch… Nuf Ced over at Royal Rooters talks about a giant Sox-for-Dodgers swap conspiracy. Hopefully (probably?) not true, but does make you go “hmm…” I think the sad thing is that I can believe anything is possible under Selig.

Again, better to be lucky than to be good - Wake gives up 6 HRs in Comerica Park (!), and somehow the Sox come out on top. It really looks like Youkilis is the real deal, and I’m so glad that he wasn’t included in any trade deal. And I do think Steinbrenner forgot to send Mendoza his paycheck, he’s become, inexplicably, the Sox’s best reliever at this point in time…

Also, the Nomar watch says Nomar went 3-5 with 2 runs scored for the Cubs. That gives him a .370 BA and an .898 OPS with 2 stolen bases in the NL. Pretty damn decent for a shortstop (although he does have a .923 career OPS, which is astounding). Is he going to turn in a Clemens-like “I’ll show the Sox front office” season? I can see why the Sox have to make some trades. I just don’t necessarily see why they need to burn bridges in doing so.

Pedro! Pedro! Any game in which he surpasses a Clemens record (most double-digit strikeout games) is a great game by me. So the 7-4 win wasn’t masterful, but only by the standards of the pantheon of greats. Of course, in the first ever Sox game I saw at Fenway, Pedro struck out 10, allowed only 2ER in 7 innings, and still got a no-decision - story of his Boston career.

First things first: I love Motown. It made me excited when I was in transit in Detroit a few days back just to see all the greats celebrated on the wall: Marvin Gaye, the Jacksons, even Mary Wells. But enough of that. This 4-3 loss stinks. These close 1-run game losses are infuriating - what do they say? “If you lose by more than 4 runs, blame the pitching; if you lose by 2-4 runs, blame the offense; and if you lose by 1 run, blame the managing.” Well, actually, I blame the lack of offense last night, but I’d like to see Larry Dierker try his hand with these Sox. Hey, so Dierker lost in the NLDS each time. I’d just like to take these Sox reach the ALDS.

Currently, Singapore Sox Fan is in Indiana. This is weird. It’s 7.30am in the morning, my usual waking-up time, but oddly enough there’s no Sox game on! Man, time zones, they are very confusing things. Meanwhile, it seems that while I was settling in: 1) Nomargate, Nomargeddon, or whatever you want to call it still rages on; 2) the Sox only won a series when it should’ve swept it. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose…. You are either with Nomar or the management, apparently, there’s no in between.

Good game today, we need to smoke the D-Rays. I can’t believe now Bellhorn is injured. This 2004 team is star-crossed. Broken thumb… hope he comes back soon. When I broke my hand (2nd metacarpal) in the army I was out for half a year, doing occupational therapy to try to relearn how to move my fingers. Hope Bellhorn’s injury is nowhere near as serious, it’s tough losing the #3 RBI guy. (Yes, #3. So that’s for the snarky people who say that since Bellhorn loves to walk and K, he could just get up to the box and not swing.)

Sad Nomar. Happy Nomar. Goodbye #5, and good luck. Or , the hysterical version: Fine. Just go. I never wanted you anyway. I never loved you. *hides paper with “Mrs Nomar Garciaparra” scribbles* You’re a horrible, horrible person! I hate you!!! Why don’t you want me? Am I not good enough for you? What does Chicago have that I don’t?? *sobbing* I hate you!!! Just go! How dare you walk away! I want you to tell me you don’t want me. *hysterical* How dare you tell me you don’t want me! You’re a jerk!

Peter Gammons has a column defending Theo Epstein and Paul DePodesta’s acquisitions and trades. It’s funny how Gammons likes to begin paragraphs with “Understand”. It’s like a subconscious tic, as though he’s trying to get people to believe him. But ignoring the practical criticism aspect of reading Gammons, the scary quote in the column is this:

It was the best of debuts, it was the worst of debuts. So Cabrera comes to Boston and promptly: 1. hits a homer and 2. makes an error. Um, that sounds familiar. I thought the high-OPS weak-defense model was done with?

People keep talking about Cabrera and Mientkiewicz’s Gold Gloves, but they don’t really mention that these two guys put up a lot of their defensive numbers playing on the turf of Olympic Stadium and the Metrodome respectively. Maybe Theo and the Sox know something about measuring defense on the tougher surface? One can only hope. Sox 1 Twins 1… Cabrera does his best to make himself welcome.