Close, but no cigar

I'm hoping that the historical rivalry will jump-start the Red Sox for the game against the Yankees tomorrow, because they sure as hell had a flat battery today against the Devil Rays. Back-to-back homers from Lowell and Wily Mo in the ninth made it interesting, but not interesting enough, and the Sox finished up on the wrong end of a 5-4 scoreline.

Yankees tomorrow, and the great "should we boo Damon or should we cheer him?" debate. I really don't care what we do - boo, cheer, roll out the red carpet, light fireworks, bring in champagne and naked cheerleaders, whatever - as long as we win the ballgame.

About bloody time!

This was much, much better.

It's not just the result, but the way in which it was achieved, with the Red Sox coming back three times against the Devil Rays to take the game. After the results of the last few days, I hadn't intended to watch the game, but I nodded off in my armchair late last night, and when I woke up it was 2:30am and I figured "What the hell? Let's watch the game" When I clicked on MLB.TV and saw that not only were the Sox down 4-0 but also that I was going to have to sit through the Devil Rays FSN feed, I almost got up and went to bed, but by that time I was wide awake, so I thought I might as well stick it out.

It turns out that I wasn't the only one who decided to stick it out. The Sox seemed to suddenly remember that the Devil Rays are a team they ought to be kicking the crap out of on a regular basis. Manny opened up the 6th with a home run which finally put the Sox on the board, and suddenly they started putting some runs together: double-walk-single-single-double and the game was tied.

Tampa Bay took the lead back twice, but couldn't hold on, thanks to some persistence and patience from the Sox in the ninth. I've recently been reading Mike Schmidt's Clearing The Bases, and one of the interesting things I've found with the book has been his ability to pinpoint one specific game, or even one at-bat, which changed the course of his career. In the same vein, I would venture to suggest that last night's game turned on one single pitch - a 2-1 pitch from Tyler Walker to Trot Nixon in the top of the 9th, with the bases loaded and one out (a strikeout of Manny, after a classic pitcher/hitter duel). The pitch looked good - if it missed, it couldn't have been by more than 1/8 of an inch, but after two consecuive walks and a bunch of pitches outside the strike zone, there was no way home plate umpire Mike Winters was going to call it a strike. So instead of the count being 2-2, Walker was in a 3-1 hole, and he then proceeded to walk home the tying run, at which point it all started to fall apart for the Devil Rays. Single-sac fly-single, and the Sox had a three-run lead and, as it turned out, the win.

So the bats - not the big ones, but the medium-sized, just-get-the-job-done ones - came through, but that would have been in vain had it not been some for some great pitching from Foulke and Papelbon. Foulke gave up a run - but it was on a double that perfectly split Manny and Wily Mo (I'd like to say that one of them could have got to the ball, but I've watched the replay and the jury is still out) and two sac flies - but looked pretty good over two innings. He threw 19 of his 26 pitches for strikes and kept the Red Sox in the game, and then Papelbon came in and did his thing - 14 pitches, 10 strikes, 3 Ks, his tenth save of the season and the ballgame.

A couple of thoughts on the game:

• Youks: if you started the season feeling you had something to prove, I think you've proved it. Since stepping into the leadoff spot after Coco's injury you're 20-for-62, with 1 HR, 5 doubles, 9 RBIs and 11 walks. Yooooouuuuuuuuuk!
• Manny: terrible baserunning in the seventh, but I'm feeling good about the win, so I'm going to let it slide this time. In your defense, it was a ball that could have a) gone foul, b) gone out or c) been caught, but in the end it hit the wall and got away from the right fielder. Had you been running out of the box instead of hesitating / admiring your shot, you would have had an inside-the-park home run, with about 2 1/2 minutes to spare at home plate, but instead you ended up at third. Trot Nixon got you off the hook with a sac fly which scored the run, but be warned - we're watching closely...
• Papelbon: R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Lots of it. I don't know what Curt has been saying to you, but please feel free to continue like this.
  

Perspective

I was desperately trying to find a positive spin on last night's game, and finally found it over at Witch City Sox Girl:

Do any of you get the feeling that there's some little kid Cleveland fan in the hospital and this game is for him?

Priceless.

Meltdown and countdown

I love to see players having a career night - 4-for-5, two home runs (including a grand slam), 8 RBIs - just not against the Red Sox.

Last night's loss means that the Sox, after a promising start, have now lost the last two series, and now the top four teams in the AL East are separated by a mere 1 1/2 games. It would be good if the losing streak were turned around tonight against the Devil Rays, because I don't need to remind you who's in town on Monday and Tuesday.

There is obviously a personal sub-text to all of this - I would very much like the Red Sox to be on a roll when I see them next week. Despite having had the tickets in my possession for four months, I have only really thought about the trip in abstract terms. Having been burned before on planned trips to baseball games, I've been trying so far to balance a growing excitement with a rational "Don't smile until you're actually sat inside Fenwway Park" attitude, but with the trip a mere five days away, that is getting harder and harder to do. I'm now at the point where I'm starting to look at concrete details: how I get from the airport to the hotel; how best to get from the hotel to Fenway; what kind of weather I can expect (could be better, unfortunately) and who's pitching.

I've spent a long time just hoping that this trip would finally come together - I first saw the Red Sox on TV in 1986 - so I figure I'm going to be a fairly easy audience. Some occasional showers? I can live with that - I spent the first 18 years of my life in the north of England. A possible rotation of Clement-DiNardo-Schilling-Wakefield? Sounds pretty good (I was hoping for Beckett, but after last night's game, not so much). However, there is one area in which I'm prepared to be a bit more demanding: if I'm going to fly 4,000 miles and cross six time-zones to the Sox play, I think it is only fair that the Sox put some wins on the board for me. I can't go all Steinbrenner on them and demand a win in every game I'm going to see, but I would like to use this forum to share a thought or two with the Sox. I'm not so worried about Friday and Saturday, because Kevin Millar will back at Fenway to liven up the proceedings, but please note: ineptitude in the games on Wednesday and Thursday against the Toronto Blow Jobs will not, repeat NOT, be tolerated.

You have been warned.

Job blown

After a week away from baseball - which, to be honest, felt more like a month this early in the season - I was hoping for a sparkling return. Instead, what I got was this.

Consequently, until further notice, the Blue Jays will be known on this blog as the Toronto Blow Jobs, since every time the Sox play them, we suck.

To be fair, the loss wasn't that much of a surprise, with Lenny DiNardo going up against Roy Hallyday, but there's a difference between expecting the result and having to live with the reality of a blowout. The only consolation comes from it counting for only one game in the loss column - today we get to go back out there and hopefully show that yesterday's game was but a minor bump in the road. Josh Towers and his 9.24 ERA would be a good place to start a nice little winning streak.

Gone Country

I'm leaving the big city behind for a week in search of some much-needed downtime:
Please feel free to talk amongst yourselves whilst I'm gone.

For those of you who might be worried, I've decided to appoint Mr Schilling as Guardian of the Red Sox for the coming week.

Curt, over to you...

Photo of the day

(AP)

"Josh - I think we need to explain our policy on grand slams to young Matthew..."

Letter to the Commissioner

Dear Mr Selig,

Given the unqualified success of so many of your innovations in the game of baseball over the past decade (interleague play, the World Baseball Classic), I'd like to suggest one that I'm sure will be a surefire hit not only in New England but all across Red Sox Nation.

The proposal I have in mind is that the Boston Red Sox begin each of their games in the third inning. You have made it your business over the years to try to speed up games, and this would be a perfect way to achieve that aim. Since it would mean the Red Sox only playing seven innings, it would also limit the playing time of Julian Tavarez, thus reducing potential disciplinary problems as well.

Many thanks for your time and consideration.
Yours sincerely,
A fan of the game.

P.S. That Ted Lilly guy who pitches for Toronto looks real shifty to me - I'm pretty sure he's hiding something out there on the mound when he throws that curveball of his. I think you should suspend him for the rest of the season, pending an inquiry into his strange behaviour. If you think that's too harsh, then I'm willing to accept a suspension for games against Boston only.

Always look on the bright side

I have nothing to say about David Wells' batting practice outing last night, except that 1) it wasn't exactly a huge surprise - there are precedents - and 2) he made Terry Francona's "WTF???" reaction to Wells' stated desire to be the #2 starter on the Red Sox staff look spot-on.

Speaking of Tito, The Joy of Sox points us in the direction of yet another gem (registration required) from the Book of Francona, this time on Julian Tavarez' return from suspension:

"It hasn't cost us, but if you go a long time a pitcher short, it's going to get in the way," Francona said.

Tavares can fill a number of roles in the pen.

"He's a nice bridge at times," Francona said. "He can get righties out. . . . He brings a lot of positives." The manager added, "If we can just keep him from slugging guys . . ."

He just keeps getting better.

Recipe for success

So Manny went 0-for-4, Loretta and Gonzalez went a combined 0-for-8, we gifted the Blue Jays two home runs on Wily Mo Pena's failed grab at the wall and we still won the game. How is that possible?

Well here's the recipe: take one backup center fielder (2 RBIs and a stolen base), one you-don't-get-Beckett-unless-you-take-this-guy-off-our-hands third baseman (4-for-4, including 3 doubles - "Mike, meet the Green Monster; Green Monster, meet Mike") and one let's-give-him-a-shot first baseman (2-for-4 and a fine basket catch) and mix 'em all together. Add in a gutsy, intense starter, a solid bullpen and a couple of crucial double plays from the aforementioned Loretta-Gonzalez combo and bake for 2 3/4 hours. When done, add a David Ortiz Thank-you-Boston-I-love-you home run cherry on the top, and you have yourself a perfect Opening Day team win.

The more I see this team play, the more I like it. We heard all the offseason worries about the team's chemistry, and although I'm not privy to all that goes on in the clubhouse, it seems to me that they are gelling nicely where it counts: on the field. We all know what Manny, Schilling, Big Papi, Varitek & co. can contribute, but to be able to count on the other players on the roster is huge. It is comforting to be able to see the shortstop field a difficult ground ball or a pitcher run in from the bullpen in the 8th inning without having that sinking "Oh shit - here we go again" feeling in your stomach. I hope that we can still be feeling this good come September.

Me and my big mouth

Two of the bright stars of the stellar Red Sox defense I mentioned earlier today - Mark Loretta and Alex Gonzalez - have each made an error in this afternoon's game, and we're not even out of the second inning.

If you need to talk to me, I'll be over there in the corner, with my mouth firmly shut.

The Late Show

It didn't finish until 3:30am CET, but I managed to hang in there all the same, and I'm glad I did.

I have to say that I like this whole Schilling-Timlin-Papelbon thing. A true quality start (3 hits, 1 earned run) followed by a pair of relievers who slam the door shut. I know that Papelbon is not slated to be the Red Sox' full-time closer, but if things were to work out that way, I would be delighted. At some point there will obviously be situations where he is going to struggle, games he is not going to save, but right now he steps onto the mound oozing the confdence of talented youth, before proceeding to blow his 96mph fastabll and his wicked splitter by opposing hitters.

Above and beyond the win itself (which is not to be underestimated - every win we put in our pocket now is one less game to win under pressure in August and September) yesterday's game left me with a good feeling that I just couldn't pin down until I read the MLB.com recap, which pointed out that this was the kind of win the Red Sox just did not have last season. In games where they scored three runs or less, the Sox were 3-22 last year - this year, they are 2-0 over the first five games.

The sample size is small, but that doesn't stop us from pointing out that the old adage about the value of pitching and defense is indeed true. You can score as many runs as you want, but you need to be able to stop the other guys from scoring, and the Red Sox are doing that when it counts. The defense has not only been good in statistical terms (1 error over the first five games) but has also excelled on those plays that don't show up in the box-score. Coco's catch against Texas, J.T. Snow's diving grab against Baltimore, Manny's fine running catch last night - none of them will show up in the statistics, and none of them would have gone as an error had they not been made, but they were all crucial defensive plays that stopped the ball from rolling around in the outfield and opposing baserunners from crossing home plate.

Whatever happens tonight, the Red Sox are assured of taking the series, which is a pretty good way of ensuring you have a damn good season. Take every series, and you will win 100+ games over the course of a season, and I'll take that any day of the week.

Southern Comfort

I didn't see the game last night, but it sounds like the sort of game I enjoy - good solid pitching from our Texas / Louisiana staff, and one key hit to win the game.

Papelbon - who looked great on Monday night - got the ball to close out his first career save, and a tip of the cap should go to Keith Foulke, who said exactly what we wanted to hear about Tito's decision:

"The team comes first. You have to do what’s important for the team, not for yourself."
[...]
"(Francona)’s the manager of the Boston Red Sox, he’s not Keith Foulke’s dad. (Papelbon’s) been throwing the ball great."

So, 2 out of 3 in Texas - a pretty good start to the season. The Sox now head north to face those pesky birds we couldn't deal with last season, the Orioles and the Blue Jays. Despite the small sample size, those two series might well give us a good indication how the rest of the season is going to look.

Secret weapon

OK, now I understand why Cincinnati traded for Bronson Arroyo - not for his pitching, but for his legendary bat. In two plate appearances against the Cubs today, Arroyo - a .087 career hitter - had a walk and a hit. And not just any old hit - a home run, on an 0-2 pitch in the bottom of the 3rd inning.

If the Red Sox need an extra bat come the All Star break, then they know where to go looking...

Update: The link to Bronson's home run is here. I love how Bronson looks like he knows it's gone the moment he connects - he just puts his head down as he leaves the box and goes into his best David Ortiz home run trot.

Whetting our appetite

As Emma quite rightly pointed out yesterday, today is the day

we come back down to Earth, worry about wins and losses and ERAs and AVGs and statistics,

but yesterday was a day for getting re-acquainted with the game of baseball. And as Opening Days go, it was a pretty good one. Schilling looked like the Schilling of old - 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts - and had it not been for a couple of innings of 20+ pitches, he probably would have pitched a complete game. He had great velocity and good location (thankfully, given the Gary Darling's movable strike zone) and looked dominating. Papelbon also looked right at home out there, throwing 10 of 13 pitches for strikes in a 1-2-3 8th inning.

The one slight cloud inside all of this silver lining was Foulke, who looked decidely shaky on the mound. I'm not going to read any more into that Opening Day shakiness than I am into Schilling's dominance - it's a long season and yesterday's outing represents about 1% of the innings Foulke hopes to throw between now and the end of September - but I will say that the 9th inning was the only time in the whole game that I felt distinctly uneasy. It could be that I'm just projecting my unease onto Foulke, but he just didn't look right out there. He came in with a five-run lead, but it felt like a lot less. I desperately want Foulke to bounce back, but I don't know the Sox can help build up confidence in that kind of situation. It's potentially asking for trouble, but maybe he really needs to get back in at the deep end, in a tight, one-run game, in order to prove - à laSchilling - that he is capable of handling the situation. Time will tell - for now, I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that he can pull it together.

A couple of other random reflections from yesterday's game:

• NESN's HD broadcast: I've spent months being envious of people who have access to this, but the benefits of HD are visible even on MLB.com - the image is much sharper, and watching it in full-screen mode on the PC no longer requires you to squint at the screen to bring it all into clearer focus. It isn't quite what people are seeing on their TVs all across New England, but for somebody staring at a 12" laptop screen in the suburbs of Paris, it's a pretty good compromise.
• Coco: I liked him before he ever even put on a Red Sox uniform, but the more I see him, the easeier it is to forget that other guy we used to have in center field (what was his name again?). Coco didn't have an easy day at the plate, but he more than made up for it elsewhere, with a great catch in center and some good baserunning. Damon was no slouch on the basepaths, but Coco's speed going from first to home on a hit to the outfield made Damon look like Doug Mirabelli. For my own personal pleasure, I would like to suggest to the Red Sox that with Coco on first they do not hit home runs this season, favouring instead a steady diet of singles and doubles so that we can watch Coco do his thing.
  

The season is barely under way, but one thing is certain - I'm going to enjoy watching this team play baseball over the next six months.

Fields Of Dreams

After months of waiting, it's here - Opening Day, the most promising day on the baseball calendar. The mere act of logging on to MLB.com this morning to see "Opening Day" writ large on the homepage was enough to bring a broad smile to my face.

A baseball season has many great moments, but none is as universally welcomed and appreciated as Opening Day. Everybody starts the day 0-0 (well, almost everybody) and anything can happen. Day games abound, and fans all over the world will be sat in front of their TVs and PCs, ready to write the story of the 2006 season on the clean slate in front of them.

There are many wise things that could be said today, but Red says it best:

It's opening day, folks. Stay home. Watch baseball.