My friend Matt went to the Braves-Red Sox game on Monday. Before he left, he told me that every time he went to a Red Sox game, they lost. Well, his Ripkenesque streak is certainly intact...
In addition to that, Curt Schilling is on the DL - with off-days coming up, (namely the next two Thursdays, beginning tomorrow) the Red Sox may be able to fudge a 4-man rotation, but they'll have to bring up another pitcher. I'd give Jon Lester time and bring Kason Gabbard back up - after his cameo against the Braves last month, he deserves a chance to prove he can contribute.
The Sox thundered back - outscoring the Braves 15-0 over the last two games. J.D. Drew continued to thrive in his new role as leadoff hitter, until leaving the game tonight with a sore leg. Drew's trip to the DL this season was first prophesized by Nostradamus back in the 16th century, but hopefully he'll be able to delay it awhile longer. At least Pedroia is an attractive option to leadoff in his place (Memo to Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo: stay buried at the bottom of the order)
With Schilling hurt - not that he'd been terribly consistent - that puts more pressure on Beckett and Dice-K to prop up the rotation in his absence. Wakefield will continue to be a feast or famine guy, but perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the season can be summed up in this quote:
"Tavarez is 4-0 with a 3.65 ERA over his last seven starts"
Not too shabby for a guy who last year was to the Red Sox bullpen what big buckets of scotchguard were to the Sofa Superstore in West Ashley.
(Note of Explanation: the furniture store fire in Charleston, SC that made national news this week occurred less than a mile away from my apartment - such that I could see the smoke even before I knew that there was a fire to know about)
On a happier note, Mike Timlin failed to do something tonight that he had only managed to fail at 4 times in 13 prior appearances this season - that is, give up a run. Forgive me if my euphoria seems forced and insincere.
The Sox have a long weekend against the Padres - Dice K against Chris "Swing and a Miss" Young, Wakefield against Maddux (a clash of old titans), and Beckett against Peavey (a clash of young ones).
The Sox have a much more potent offense than the Padres - I'm hoping to see them take another two out of three.
Two days until Teddy arrives - big fun for the Rivalryredux boys is soon to come...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Hindsight and Foresight: Yankees Review June 11th to June 24th
Off of a bad day where the doctor told me I'd need surgery to remove a cyst, things are still looking up for the Yankees. I gave my mid-June assessment of the Yankees (and Red Sox) here so I'm going to make this weeks Hindsight and Foresight quick and painless (as I hope my future surgery is, though the recovery won't be fun).
Hindsight: June 11th to June 17th
Another two series won in the bag, one of which was a sweep. The Yankees were able to handle the D-Backs three decent starters, Webb, Hernandez and Davis handidly, and held Arizona's offense to four runs over the series. It was quite a dominating performance as Wang, Mussina, and Pettitte all went at least seven innings deep and combining for three quality starts. The pitching towed the line this week, though the Yankees offense did their part scoring an average of 6.5 runs/game. This was capped by the 4-5 hitters A-Rod and Matsui. Here are their weekly totals below:
A-Rod .429/.480/.952 3 HR 10 RBI
Matsui ..429/.500/.619 1 HR 8 RBI
The Yankees were blanked on Friday by Oliver Perez. On a sidenote, I used to think Perez would be the bomb and he was in 2004, but after that he's been erratic. It looks like Peterson has calmed him down. Clemens put up a decent performance, but I still think he needs to be tested against an AL team--as in AL East. Overall, the Yankees were solid as the stats below show:
Weekly Stats
W-L: 5-1
RS/RA: 37/14
Offensive Numbers (BA/OBP/SLG): .297/.376/.503
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 2.67/1.09/8.0/.231/.347
Who's Hot: Chen-Ming Wang. I pointed out how well he'd been doing last week. It continued as Wang went 2-0 1.72 ERA 15.7 IP 0.83 Whip 6.89 K/9 (double his career average).
Who's Not: Tyler Clippard. He looked good the first few starts, but after the next few he's landed back in triple-A.
My Yankee of the Week: Hideki Matsui. Matsui's been quiet this year, not doing anything too great or too aweful, but his bat finally got my attention.
Foresight: June 18th to June 24th
I am off to Charleston, SC--what's that, not for work--but to hang out with Doug for a few days. I'm not sure what will transpire on the blog, but forgive us if the posts seem like we've had a few too many because that's what's most likely to happen. As for the Yankees, they hit the road going to Colorado, which could be fun for the offense (and not for the pitchers) and then off to San Francisco. I am seeing Igawa back in the rotation going on Friday. Too bad Clemens won't be pitching against Bonds. I remember the last time he was in pinstripes and playing the Giants he told the paper before the game he was going to hit Bonds in that "plated armor on his elbow". And then he did just that. San Fran is in last place in the NL West and CO is next to last, but is one game over .500. As I have said in earlier posts on here, these are the kinds of teams the Yankees need to win against to keep pace up with the Red Sox.
Hindsight: June 11th to June 17th
Another two series won in the bag, one of which was a sweep. The Yankees were able to handle the D-Backs three decent starters, Webb, Hernandez and Davis handidly, and held Arizona's offense to four runs over the series. It was quite a dominating performance as Wang, Mussina, and Pettitte all went at least seven innings deep and combining for three quality starts. The pitching towed the line this week, though the Yankees offense did their part scoring an average of 6.5 runs/game. This was capped by the 4-5 hitters A-Rod and Matsui. Here are their weekly totals below:
A-Rod .429/.480/.952 3 HR 10 RBI
Matsui ..429/.500/.619 1 HR 8 RBI
The Yankees were blanked on Friday by Oliver Perez. On a sidenote, I used to think Perez would be the bomb and he was in 2004, but after that he's been erratic. It looks like Peterson has calmed him down. Clemens put up a decent performance, but I still think he needs to be tested against an AL team--as in AL East. Overall, the Yankees were solid as the stats below show:
Weekly Stats
W-L: 5-1
RS/RA: 37/14
Offensive Numbers (BA/OBP/SLG): .297/.376/.503
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 2.67/1.09/8.0/.231/.347
Who's Hot: Chen-Ming Wang. I pointed out how well he'd been doing last week. It continued as Wang went 2-0 1.72 ERA 15.7 IP 0.83 Whip 6.89 K/9 (double his career average).
Who's Not: Tyler Clippard. He looked good the first few starts, but after the next few he's landed back in triple-A.
My Yankee of the Week: Hideki Matsui. Matsui's been quiet this year, not doing anything too great or too aweful, but his bat finally got my attention.
Foresight: June 18th to June 24th
I am off to Charleston, SC--what's that, not for work--but to hang out with Doug for a few days. I'm not sure what will transpire on the blog, but forgive us if the posts seem like we've had a few too many because that's what's most likely to happen. As for the Yankees, they hit the road going to Colorado, which could be fun for the offense (and not for the pitchers) and then off to San Francisco. I am seeing Igawa back in the rotation going on Friday. Too bad Clemens won't be pitching against Bonds. I remember the last time he was in pinstripes and playing the Giants he told the paper before the game he was going to hit Bonds in that "plated armor on his elbow". And then he did just that. San Fran is in last place in the NL West and CO is next to last, but is one game over .500. As I have said in earlier posts on here, these are the kinds of teams the Yankees need to win against to keep pace up with the Red Sox.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Deleted Scenes and Bonus Footage
Continuing to make as much use of the internet as I can before the hiatus...
- The line I referenced before in SI, "With a little more than a third of the season gone, baseball has one bona fide superpower (the Red Sox) and a small handful of bottom-feeders," was something of a throwaway line in an article about whether teams will be buyers or sellers at the trading deadline - not a full analysis, but certainly careless.
- I'll concede the giddiness of Yankees' fans when the Sox are down on their luck. The dynamic of the rivalry seems to go like this: The season begins and the Red Sox are up, the Yankees are down, Red Sox fans gloat, Yankees fans ignore it; The season continues, the Yankees surge, the Red Sox fade, Yankees fans gloat, Red Sox fans pout.
- Barry Bonds has yet to homer against the Sox this series (though he did go wide right of the Pesky Pole on at least one occasion), but today the Sox are putting Wakefield on the mound, and his flutterball tends to facilitate batters trying to "Dial 8". Has anyone else actually heard that expression - "Dialing 8"? I came across it the other week as a euphemism for hitting a homerun - apparently it has something to do with needing to hit the number 8 prior to making an outgoing call in a hotel.
- With the possibility of Bonds lurching closer to Aaron's record, I'm sure Curt Schilling will be hunched over his own laptop, typing on his own blog, throughout the game. This may be the day that he demands to be traded to every team that the Giants play for the rest of the season sequentially, pitching in the remaining 95 games this season, walking Bonds every time he faces him, and automatically receive a $13 million extension from the Dodgers. (Interesting Note: After being traded to the Red Sox, Schilling had an incentive clause built into his contract, guaranteeing an option year if the Sox won the World Series. This kicked in, of course, after '04, and I believe that this is that option year. Shortly thereafter, MLB banned this incentive clause, so Schilling remains the only player to benefit from this. Had the Sox not won, Schilling would have been a Free Agent this past offseason, coming off a 15-7, 3.97 ERA, 183 K/28 BB year)
- Donnelly went on the 15-day DL, so the Sox have called up Manny Delcarmen. Manny D's been pitching better than I thought he had been in AAA (3-2, 3.49 ERA, 37 K/12 BB, 19 G, 28 1/3 IP) and he looked all right against the Yankees in his one ML appearance this year - a scoreless 1-2-3 inning. The next two weeks will give us a chance to see if Manny can be a contributor this season.
- Some fun with names in the draft - the Nationals drafter the pitcher with the best pitcher name - Josh Smoker ("And Smoker smokes another one!"). The Sox picked 4 guys named Scott in the 6th round and beyond. Did they not know the last name of the guy they wanted? ("With the 1099th pick, the Red Sox will take... Scott," "You mean Scott Lyons?" "Uh, yeah, sure.") In the 43rd round the took lefty high school pitcher Scott Cure ("Matsui, the Yankees' big lefty, is coming to the plate - and Francona is going to the bullpen - he's got just the 'Cure' for Godzilla!")
- I'm going to see the Charleston Riverdogs later his afternoon - the Yankees of the future, up close and personal!
RE: All-Stars, Writin' Red Sox, Flaws
Phew--I was starting to worry Doug was internetless or computerless or some combination of the two. It seems our overall posts this week was kinda lower than average, but now we're catching up. Still I wonder if anyone's gotten around to reading this (the latest excuse I hear from friends is they have no time. My recommendation: make this your homepage)...
After just reading Doug's two excellent posts, I felt the need to justify some things I wrote about.
After just reading Doug's two excellent posts, I felt the need to justify some things I wrote about.
- I definetely agree with Doug's assessment of my All-Stars OF picks in both the AL and NL not being one RF, CF, and LF. Actually, I sometimes forget off the top of my head where in the OF some of these guys play (in fact some of them move ie: Ichiro who I keep thinking is in RF still but is actually in CF). But it is a good point because I would rather vote for the starting LF, RF, and CF and since MLB is too lazy to list it on the ballot, I'm too lazy to look it up to cast my vote.
- I realized a few weeks ago that I only wrote about the Yankees on here and I decided recently that I'd start watching (other than watching the Yankees) and paying more attention to the Red Sox. But there are a few reasons for not doing it:
- One is the resident expert on the Red Sox who writes on here knows more than I do about their history and current news. Honestly, I read his stuff and that's how I catch up. But I'm going to try to change that.
- Starting this blog in early May after the Yankees had a mediocre April and then were horrible in May focused more of my attention on their situation. Plus the Red Sox were so good (and still are) and my main duty on here is to give the critical Yankee view on my team. There hasn't been much to be critical of for the Red Sox and again, Doug does a better job than I on that.
- Do I not care about the Red Sox? If I said yes to that, why are we doing this blog? I think the common Yankee fan pays attention to the standings in respect to how the Yankees and Red Sox are doing, but focus more on our team and that's it. But when the Red Sox start losing against teams other than us, most Yankee fans get giddy and are happy they are losing--and that's it. I want to look more into what the Sox are doing this year from the Yankee perspective, whatever that means (it won't mean being a typical ignorant Yankee fan and being beligerant).
So expect more of something written about the Sox from my Yankee view, I'll suprise Doug and Red Sox Nation when I do (as I did yesterday).
- Yankees/Red Sox flaws. I haven't read the SI article, but I don't think there's a superpower team this year--not the Red Sox. In the AL Cleveland and the Angels have been just as good and will probably win their divisions. Remember when we wrote about Milwaukee last month? It was a hot start. The NL West is very close and the Mets are showing their flaws this month. The Yankees and Red Sox flaws have been well documented here--and that includes off-field stuff too. So whoever wrote the SI article either has lower expectations of what a superpower is or hasn't been watching the Red Sox as closely as Doug.
I'll be back for Hindsight and Foresight tomorrow!
Synchronicity
I must have started my last post before Teddy started his, but he must have finished first.
He certainly upended my whole Teddy-doesn't-write-about-the-Red-Sox thesis statement, but to clarify, that was meant as an observation, not a criticism.
I had known in a non-sabermetric sort of way how much better the Yankees were doing than the Red Sox this month, but kudos to Teddy for documenting things in detail.
In light of his remarks, I won't dismiss the move of Drew to the leadoff spot as a desperation move, and stand by what I wrote earlier. Youk, Mikey, and Tek have all had better-than-expected seasons and belong in the 5-6-7 spots, but they haven't shown much this month, so I won't argue that, either.
I think the wisest thing I can say right now is that both teams are flawed - the Red Sox did a better job of hiding that at the beginning of the season, and now they've been exposed. The Yankees' have flipped the script on that this month.
I read a piece in "Sports Illustrated" today which called the Red Sox the only bona fide superpower in baseball right now, which made me squirm.
Now, I'll listen to national writers call the Patriots a superpower anytime, anyplace (and leave the local writers to nitpick at perceived deficiencies) but I'm uncomfortable with a national writer annointing the Red Sox thus.
I haven't looked at the Red Sox once this year and seen a bona fide superpower - I've seen a wildly inconsistent offense, a pitching staff that's asked to do too much, and some gaping, cavernous holes in the bullpen.
The Yankees have a lot of the same problems - which makes those 8.5 games less of a margin than a lot of people think it is.
He certainly upended my whole Teddy-doesn't-write-about-the-Red-Sox thesis statement, but to clarify, that was meant as an observation, not a criticism.
I had known in a non-sabermetric sort of way how much better the Yankees were doing than the Red Sox this month, but kudos to Teddy for documenting things in detail.
In light of his remarks, I won't dismiss the move of Drew to the leadoff spot as a desperation move, and stand by what I wrote earlier. Youk, Mikey, and Tek have all had better-than-expected seasons and belong in the 5-6-7 spots, but they haven't shown much this month, so I won't argue that, either.
I think the wisest thing I can say right now is that both teams are flawed - the Red Sox did a better job of hiding that at the beginning of the season, and now they've been exposed. The Yankees' have flipped the script on that this month.
I read a piece in "Sports Illustrated" today which called the Red Sox the only bona fide superpower in baseball right now, which made me squirm.
Now, I'll listen to national writers call the Patriots a superpower anytime, anyplace (and leave the local writers to nitpick at perceived deficiencies) but I'm uncomfortable with a national writer annointing the Red Sox thus.
I haven't looked at the Red Sox once this year and seen a bona fide superpower - I've seen a wildly inconsistent offense, a pitching staff that's asked to do too much, and some gaping, cavernous holes in the bullpen.
The Yankees have a lot of the same problems - which makes those 8.5 games less of a margin than a lot of people think it is.
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