Sports Writing

Wow, I thought this was the most winnable game in the series, going up against Colon. Guess not. If the opposing pitcher keeps walkin’ ya, and you don’t take advantage, it’s your fault, really. Let’s not ride Wakefield too hard: 5-6, 4.43 ERA - it’s average numbers for a #4 starter.

Another thought on the ump last night: there are some days when you just wish Questec would call the games. Or maybe Bellhorn the Human Questec could’ve called the balls and strikes, since he wasn’t playing. Even the Angels might have preferred that.

Got to watch the whole Sox-Angels game. Friday night games in California end up becoming for me the equivalent of those Patriot Day games: they start at 10am Singapore time and end at 1.30pm. Mixed blessings today:

Joe Morgan on why he prefers the format of alternating home-field advantage for the World Series between the AL and the NL, versus using the teams’ records to decide:

Don’t you hate it when everyone knows that the starter should be pulled but the manager? Yup, me too. I know it’s hindsight speaking, but I think there’s a difference between those situations where you can see the manager’s point of view, and the situation today.

Youks down, Mendoza the Embedded Yankee up?! Argh! I love Youks! But then I guess that’s good news: Mueller really must be recovered from his injury, and the rookie needs playing time.

A new Sox blog I’ve discovered, Earl Snyder’s Dead Ringer. Been added to my blogroll, since the blogger was gracious enough to link to me. :) Welcome and thanks! What’s with Sox fandom and worship of arcane baseball personalities? First Sam Horn, now Earl Snyder? I’m off to form the Abe Alvarez support group.

I had a horrific vision: Derek Lowe gets traded away to another team, rediscovers his form, and pitches his way to a World Series ring, a la Chad Fox.

All together now… where is Roger? Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap. In the shower… clap-clap-clap-clap-clap. So, a great day for the All-Star Game: Rocket got rocked, AL won, Manny Ortiz get their homers. (5 RBIs, nice.) Piazza tipping the pitches? Funny to see Clemens shake off so many pitches only to throw a slider that hung…

About those Randy Johnson (his name would get him laughed out of the schoolyard in England) rumours… I think whoever gets RJ will probably have to swing some sort of three-way deal. I don’t know what Boston has to give, but what with our offensive performance lately it looks less likely that there’ll be a go-for-broke kill-the-farm-system move. At least, I hope not.

Weird, I missed the news that Ortiz had a kid over the weekend. Congratulations to David and Tiffany. Don’t get too bleary-eyed, Tim Wakefield-style.

No baseball but the All-Star game. This Time It Counts? Bleah. Selig overreaction. If there was a tie game in 2002, and people booed, hell why not have fun with the whole exhibition thing and have the position players pitch, throwing junk out there. (Actually, I’m perfectly okay with tie games in exhibitions. But maybe that’s my football/“soccer”-fan upbringing speaking.) If you want something besides random arbitrariness to decide which league has homefield advantage, and you think “better record” doesn’t work (why does it work for the Division Series and Championship Series, but not the World Series? Are the logistics of booking hotel rooms etc. that much harder?) why not just take the league that has the winning percentage in interleague games?

No posts in a long while, due to personal commitments. My apologies. Was following the games, though, and I figured if the streak was continuing I shouldn’t be posting. That’s the fatal flaw of blogging baseball: if the team’s on a streak and I wasn’t posting, I’ll continue being superstitious and not blogging, which kind of screws over the quality of the site. Anyway, Singapore Sox Fan will present a mid-term report on the Sox soon… but can I say, 5 out of 6 from Oakland and Texas (amid a very dubious loss) was great, being in first place for the wild card and not completely out of it in the division is even better, and Johnny Damon is en fuego, as Ortiz said. (I have limited knowledge of Spanish, but shouldn’t it be “caliente”? Isn’t “en fuego” a sort of direct translation?) All good signs.

Yes because they had toiled for ten innings yes because mueller doubled and good to see the return of the king well not king but at least batting average champ yes because while we don’t blame tito for starting schilling in the sixth why did he let oakland get four consecutive hits yes because embree came out to soon and foulke’s starting to waver but everything is right in red sox world because when was the last time we won something in extra innings the oakland bullpen really lacks depth and i love that dirty water yes yes i said yessssssssssss

Finally, two in a row. Sweet to see the Sox piling it on - that Damon dash for 2nd that scored Kapler was a great bit of baserunning with no outs. Millar brought the bat yesterday, and Kapler piles it on today - woo hoo, a bench that hits! How much this team missed Mueller. I love Youks and Pokey, but the idea of the 2003 lineup finally reunited, with Bellhorn for Todd Walker? Let the light shine.

Why do people want Schilling to start the All-Star Game? Boston Dirt Dogs gives quite-good reasons, but as a Sox fan I want to see him get some rest in, not hit the Marcaine. Let Mulder have the start.

Zit was spilling Wake was dealing A Mueller blast sent the Oakland As reeling The Sox came to Fenway with something to prove And what comes next? They bust a move…

Okay, these are the All-Stars. Glad to see Ortiz make it in. (June stats: .365 BA, 10 home runs, 31 RBIs. 31 RBIs!!!) Jason Giambi at 1B? Crazy. But then I think, in one of my rare moments of objectiveness, much as I like Victor Martinez, that it should have been Jorge Posada. (Maybe the other players voting got pissed when they found out how he toughens his hands in spring training? “To think of all the times I high-fived him…”) Not much Sox representation, but then I’d rather have them all nice and rested, and ready to play the 2nd half of the season, rather than see 2002 all over again. Sorry not to see Foulke in. Pedro should be in too, I feel, but hey, rest for the K-meister is a good thing. Both victims of the we-need-a-rep-from-each-team syndrome, which led to Ted Lilly’s and Esteban Loaiza’s appearances on the list.

And the false dawn breaks. After Schilling’s schplendid performance, unfortunately, came the Derek Lowe Implosion. (Ladies and gentlemen: opening for Dashboard Confessional tonight, the Derek Lowe Implosion!) But instead of focusing on the bad, let’s look at how the Y*nk**s got swept by the Mets. Lessons to be learnt: 1) momentum doesn’t carry, or the pendulum sure as hell swings far back and 2) you really SHOULD pitch your best reliever in a tie game in the 9th, instead of Tanyon Sturtze. For the first time in ages I’ve loved that the Mets are the Y*nk**s’ interleague rivals.

(NB: Posting issues prevented this from coming in till much later, but the date/time reflects when the text was written.) (Cue AC/DC chords) Hey hey hey hey hey Hey hey hey hey hey