37 Feet Up » Red Sox Obsessed

What the Ramirez suspension means to the legacy of ‘04 and ‘07

Posted by jayman | May 7, 2009 – 11:34 am

This morning Manny Ramirez was suspended 50 games for violating the MLB drug prevention policies after testing positive for banned substance.

The banned substance is reportedly a fertility drug of all things. Seriously, if it wasn’t Manny in this story, I wouldn’t believe. But with Manny… a fertility drug makes sense. The man is from another planet. I am completely convinced of this.

The question for Red Sox fans is what this means to the legacy of of the championship years of 2004 and 2007.

First, Manny says it was an accident based on a decision to have a health condition treated by his doctor and he claims he was not taking anything to enhance performance.

Second, Manny says he’s been tested 15 times over the last 5 years and all results have returned claim.

As a Red Sox fan you must first ask if you believe him or not. Which is pretty difficult, because 4 out of 5 players on the steroid issue turn out to be liars. And then there’s the fact that Manny has no idea what he’s saying or doing in the first place.

But there’s something that’s important to not lose sight of. At some point, we, the Red Sox fan base, were going to come face to face with the fact that someone on one of those teams was a user. Steroids and other performance enhancing drugs were (and perhaps still are) too much a underlying little fabric of the game and the culture surrounding it for it to never become a single degree of separation from ‘04 and ‘07. Anyone thinking something like this would never happen and that we wouldn’t be forced to ask ourselves some serious questions is naive.

Every team in this era will encounter these questions eventually. The Red Sox are not alone in wondering what into their championship years.

Posted by jayman | Categories: General Thoughts, Playoffs | Tagged 2004, 2007, ramirez, world series | Comments (0)

The Yankees are a mess

Posted by jayman | May 6, 2009 – 9:13 pm

As much as I hate to dedicate an entire blog post to picking on the Red Sox archenemy, I’m going to because The Yankees are not just a team that is in some disarray, but they’re an organization that appears to be totally screwed up from top to bottom.

On the field

Their catcher just went on the DL. He’s in his late 30s so who knows who long it will take him to recover from a bad hamstring.

They have a starting pitcher that just can’t resist throwing at Sox hitters.

Their bullpen, other than Mariano Rivera, is a disaster and mostly composed of guys who should still be Triple A. Get to the Yankees pen while the game is close and you have a good chance to win the game.

Mark Teixeira, their prize offseason free agent position player signing, is barely batting .200. When you sign a contract that pays you over $20 million a year, you should do a little more than that.

Chien Ming Wang, their best pitcher from last year has an era of 34.50 and is currently hidden on the disabled list.

Off the field

Their 3rd baseman, arguably the best player in baseball – some guy referred to as A-Rod – is up to his neck in scandals. Not just of the steroid variety, but also being accused of tipping pitchers to the opposition in the past. And major league baseball is investigating all this. Yet another distraction.

They tell fans that a game against the Red Sox has been postponed due to rain, tell them go home, then decide to play the game and not let those same people back into the stadium to watch.

They spent a ton of money on a new stadium only to find out that it might be an east coast version of Coors Field

They’re charging so much for tickets that the best seats in the house remain very empty for some games. And they appear to be adjusting prices as they go along

Posted by jayman | Categories: The Rivalry | Tagged yankees | Comments (0)

Sox 20 Game Review – first edition

Posted by jayman | April 29, 2009 – 10:55 am

Note: This is the first in year long series of posts on the 2009 Red Sox season. I’ll be taking a look at the team’s progress in 20 game increments throughout the year.

After 20 games:

13 wins
7 losses
1 game out of first

After a 2-6 start out of the gate, the Sox went on an 11 game winning streak that included an impressive sweep of the Yankees at Fenway. Early on, we could be concerned that the Sox aren’t going to be able to hit good pitching this year. But the 3 Yankees series where the Sox beat up on A.J. Burnett and Andy Petitte should make us feel better about that. What we should be worried about right now is if the Sox are a team that can only be dominant at home.

The good stuff

Kevin Youklis is absolutely The Man in the Sox lineup. Not only is he the Sox MVP so far, he might be the MVP of the entire league. He’s filling up the box score every night.

Jason Bay has us forgetting about Manny Ramirez. We’re also beginning to find out that he’s clutch.

Mike Lowell is looking like the old Mike Lowell. He seems to be improving with every game.

The bullpen is definitely the strength of the team. Everyone is contributing and pitching well. Even guys named Hunter Jones.

Justin Masterson may pitch so well as a starter that the sox will have to leave him in there.

Rocco Baldelli actually looks like a good pickup. When given a chance, he’s contributing. His current DL stint seems more precautionary than anything else.

George Kottras can handle Wakefield.

And speaking of Wakefield, who actually thought he would be the Sox most effective starter at this point.

Nick Green continues to make Lugo expendable.

Varitek’s average isn’t so great, but he is hitting for power and has a respectable OBP. At least he’s not the guaranteed strikeout he was last year.

The bad stuff

Despite the bullpen being lights out, Papelbon is not looking so dominant. He may have to make some big adjustments because he’s not getting the fastball by anyone. It would not surprise me to see him do a DL stint that lasted for a month.

Brad Penny isn’t exactly working out. He’s definitely keeping a spot warm for John Smoltz right now.

Dice-K – will we get anything from him this year? It’s entirely possible that the answer is no. Meaning Masterson will stay in the rotation.

Ortiz – no home runs yet. Yikes.

Javier Lopez’s roster spot is hanging on by a thread. He just can’t seem to throw enough strikes.

The front of the rotation (Beckett, Lester) shows glimpses of greatness but consistency isn’t quite there.

Julio Lugo is back. Even after one game, he looks scared that the ball is going to find him in the field.

What we still don’t know about

What will we get out of David Ortiz this year?

Ellsbury is showing signs of being an impact player, though his on base percentage has a ways to go be what is desired for lead off hitter. Though he’s trending upward, thoughts of tinkering with the top of the lineup have to be going through Francona’s head.

If Masterson is a starter, what does that do the bullpen? Is Daniel Bard’s debut not too far off?

Does Clay Bucholz have a role this year?

Most important moment of the first 20 games

Wake’s near no hitter in Oakland. Saved the bullpen and set the stage for an 11 game win streak.

Best moment of the first 20 games

There’s a lot of contenders, but it has to be Ellsbury’s steal of home.

Most interesting moment of the first 20 games

It was after Ellsbury stole home. JD Drew was batting and barely even acknowledged the steal that just happened. No high-five. No celebratory fist pump. I doubt he even made eye contact with Ellsbury. Totally forgivable since he then got back in the batter’s box and hit a 2 run double.

Posted by jayman | Categories: 20 game review, General Thoughts | Comments (2)

That. Was. Awesome!!!!

Posted by jayman | April 28, 2009 – 2:43 pm

I thought of a lot of titles for this post. In the end “That was awesome!” was the best way to describe the 3 game spanking the Red Sox put on the Yankees this past weekend. Simply put, it was the best set of Sox-Yankees’ games (from a Sox fan perspective) since the comeback in the 2004 ALCS.

So many great moments that I’m sure I’ll forget something.

Friday’s 5-4 11 inning win

Bay’s 2 out, bottom of the ninth, game tying 2 run homer off Marina RIviera

Youk’s 11th inning shot way over the Monster

Saturday’s come from behind slugfest

The Sox rallying from a 6 run deficit on a day when Beckett was not so good.

Varitek’s grand slam

Lowell’s 3 run shot and bases clearing triple

Sunday’s 4-1 full organization win

The fact that the combination of Justin Masterson, Hunter Jones, and Micheel Bowden shut the Yankees down. Hunter Jones?!?!? Had you heard of Hunter Jones before Sunday night? Probably not, but now he’s in position to make Javier Lopez completely expendable.

And of course, the steal of home by Jacoby Ellsbury. I’d embed a YouTube video of it but MLB Advanced Media has pretty much decided that the time to watch that on YouTube is over. I’ve been watching baseball a long time and I had only seen steals of home in highlight shows. Never as I was actually watching a game live.

Simply put, Jacoby Ellsbury owned that game. It wasnt’ just his steal of home. If we keep seeing more of that Ellsbury, the Sox are in good shape the rest of the way.

Posted by jayman | Categories: Game Recaps, The Rivalry | Tagged bowden, Ellsbury, lowell, masterson, Varitek, youk | Comments (0)

Yet another classic in The Rivalry

Posted by jayman | April 25, 2009 – 6:34 am

Four hours, 21 minutes. Eleven innings. Just another typical battle between the Red Sox and Yankees. There’s 17 more of these to go this year? To be honest, it will be hard for another 2009 game between these teams to be better than last night’s game. In fact, we’re only at game 16, but there may not be a better Sox game all year.

For a good portion of last night’s game…it was a frustrating thing to watch as a Sox fan. Between the time that Ellsbury scored from second on a wild pitch in the first inning to Bay’s dramatic shot off Rivera in the 9th, the Sox were not playing their ‘A’ game.

- Jon Lester was good, but not great. He deserves kudos for keeping his team in the game and pitching thru 6. He was always working with men on base and had some bad luck (broken bat singles, infield choppers turning into singles).

- The sox offense was terrible. They had leadoff runners on many times, but did not get productive outs and hit into a ton of double plays. The big hit was ellusive. And to be honest, there was little reason to believe that Bay would come up with one in the bottom of the ninth.

- Papi did little more than stike out.

This morning. there will be much to read about the dramatic moments of Bay and Youklis. Probably a little bit about Papi’s struggles, too. What last night meant to me was a turning of the page in The Rivalry. There is a new generation of players taking center stage in the Sox Yankees feud. The old guard – like Papi – are becoming bit players.

There was the starting pitching matchup of Jon Lester and Joba Chamberlain. A matchup we could be seeing often for the next 5 years.

And the signature moments of last night’s game came from Ellsbury (scoring from 2nd on a 1st inning wild pitch), Bay (2 run game tying shot off Mariano Rivera with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth that barely cleared the monster), and Kevin Youklis (epic over the wall, walk off HR in the 11th). All 3 of these guys are ready to be the headliners of the rivalry for years to come.

Posted by jayman | Categories: The Rivalry | Tagged bay, Ellsbury, lester, papi, yankees, youklis | Comments (0)

One last look at the ‘08-‘09 offseason

Posted by jayman | April 24, 2009 – 9:11 am

With the Yankees and Red Sox facing off for the first time this evening, now seems like a good time to reflect to put a nail in the coffin of any discussion regarding the winter hot stove season.

Why now? Because this will be the first time the Sox play the Yankees with Mark Teixeira wearing the New York pinstripes. And while we can debate whether his initial appearance at Fenway while being part of The Rivalry is worth of crazy A-Rod esque booing or not, there is one thing that should not be forgotten.

Mark Teixeira never wanted to play for the Boston Red Sox.

And his wife never wanted to live any place other than New York.

First, he wanted to play for the highest bidder. Second, he wanted to play for the Yankees. It just so happens that those two goals were in easy alignment. The Yankees were more than happy to sign Teixeira for the highest price and I’m sure at some point in the offseason process the Yankees got word to Scott Boras – “Let us know what your highest offer is at the 11th hour and we will add around 10% to that and get this done.”

In retrospect, it’s pretty clear that John Henry saw the tea leaves on this and got out before being a patsy in the Boras game plan. Kudos to him on that. Teixeira claiming that Henry’s public proclamations turned him off on the Red Sox? Totally bullshit.

The Sox Plan B was actually pretty good.

No doubt Teixera would have been the perfect addition to the Sox roster. But that roster needs to be filled with guys who want to be here. Paying someone $200 million who would rather be somewhere else regardless of how well he can rake makes zero baseball sense. (See: Ramirez, Manny)

So in the end the Sox went out and added low risk, high return players. John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Baldelli, and Saito. All signed to one year deals at a cost below what Teixeira will make this year. Four players instead of one. Perhaps this should have been Plan A all along?

The trade of Coco Crisp for Ramon Ramirez? I predict that will be a winner. Ramirez will be the 7th/8th inning guy we always wanted Manny Delcarmen (or Craig Hansen) to be. The guy who can come in before Papelbon and blow the ball by hitters.

Varitek? Had to resign him. Just had to. He’s the captain after all.

Posted by jayman | Categories: Hot Stove | Tagged teixeira | Comments (0)

The 2009 Red Sox

Posted by jayman | March 28, 2009 – 10:28 am

OK, here we go. Opening day is imminent. The 25 man roster is set. So what should we be expecting? What should we be hoping. Here are some thoughts on every player.

Starting Pitchers

Josh Beckett

Man, this guy has a lot to prove. He’s a competitor. Probably a stubborn one, too. At this point in his career, he want to be seen as the guy who can deliver front line pitching and 15-20 wines every single year. Like Maddux or Smoltz or Schilling. Honestly, I’m expecting a Cy Young caliber season fro him.

Jon Lester

He was great in 2008. Comparisons to Andy Pettitte seem appropriate. But can we expect him to duplicate what he did last year. 16-6 with a 3.51 ERA. Yeah, I think so. I’m not buying the whole “he pitched too many innings last year so expect a drop off” argument

Daisuke Matsuzaka

Now this guy. I don’t expect as many wins. He had the ugliest 18 win season I’ve ever seen. He’ll probably pitch close to 180 innings and hopefully he’ll cut down on the walks. But around 12-14 wins is what I would expect from him. What we really need from Daisuke is a classic postseason performance. Two years and two postseasons in and we still have yet to see that from him.

Wild card in this whole thing? His participation in the World Baseball Classic.

Tim Wakefield

Timmy is a warrior. One that maxes out around 60 mph, but a warrior. I’m glad he’s on our team, but he’s really a regular season inning eater now. A won loss record around 10-10 is what I predict. But his success should be measured in innings pitched this year. If it’s around 200, then he has contributed. That number may be impacted by the surplus of starters the Sox have. There may be some bullpen time for him if everyone (especially Penny and Smoltz) stay healthy and productive.

But here’s the other thing. His days of starting postseason games are over.

Brad Penny

He’ll be starting out as the 5th starter, but he’s in the role previously filled by Wade Miller and Bartolo Colon. If we get 10 starts out of him, then his signing will be a success. If 7 of those are quality starts, even better.

I will say this. The opportunity for him is incredible. If he can pitch all year and have an impact of around 12-15 wins, he’ll be cashing in a ton next year for someone. And with a big raise. If that’s not worth working for, I don’t know what is.

John Smoltz

I can’t wait to see this guy on the mound at Fenway. What a perfect signing by Theo. The guy loves to talk pitching and will be the perfect role model for guys like Masterson and Bucholz. It’s like having Schilling around but without the bag of hot air that comes with it. What he provide the Sox this year will not be measurable. The talk has him being on track for June. But I hope it’s late June. I want to see him pitching in September and October. 15 starts. That what I would hope for. With 4 of those starts coming in October.

Relief Pitchers

Jonathan Papelbon

Just another year of 35 saves for him. I do worry about his approach to hitters. A little less 1st pitch fastballs (hitters will sit on it). And he seems to have a difficult time closing guys out when he’s got two strikes on them. Paps – it’s OK to waste one in the dirt when you’ve got the guy 0-2. I was worried about him being fatigued last September, but when October came he was lights out again. Still, it seems like his first half workload should be watched closely and hopefully the addition of guys like Saito will limit the need for back to back days.

I don’t expect the sox to be blowing guys out with 8 run outbursts on a regular basis. I expect more tight one run ballgames like 3-2 and 5-4. That meant the temptation to use Papelbon more to close out games will be tempting. Francona will need to trust people like Saito and Okajima to close things out at least once a week.

Hideki Okajima

More 7th inning appearances for him. There’s a lot of depth in the bullpen and he’s not exactly a make them miss kind of guy. He’ll be used all over the place.

Justin Masterson

By the end of the year, I expect Masterson to be used mostly in the 8th inning. But what he should really be used for is to come in and get ground balls for a key double play. Needs to work on pitching to lefties. Also expect a spot start or two early in the year.

Takeshi Saito

I’d like to say he’ll give us 8 saves this year. Closing the door once a week to give Papelbon more rest. But honestly, I have no idea what to expect. Of all the low risk signing made by Theo in the offseaon, this is the one that I think will continue to be injury prone in 2009. Hope to be wrong.

Ramon Ramirez

Will be sharing the 8th inning duties with Masterson by the end of the year. While Masterson will be the guy brought in to get a double play, Ramirez will be the guy brought in to strike someone out when there’s a runner on third with less than 2 outs. Totally thrilled by this acquisition.

Javier Lopez

Somehow, he’s put together solid numbers over the past couple of years. Yet, he never seems to be the lefty specialist the Sox want him to be. It seems that whenever he is brought into face a lefty, he fears the stike zone and walks a guy. I think bad luck catches up to him and he gets released by the all star break. Sorry. Would love to be wrong about him.

Manny Delcarmen

Another guy on thin ice, in my opinon. Done waiting for him to evolve into a solid setup guy. And quite honestly, he truly seems to excel pitching around the 6th or 7th inning. Seems to be lacking the confidence for the 8th. Unfortunately, modern baseball means that the bullpen is asked to pitch the 6th inning more and more these days. Delcarmen seems to be carving out his niche there. He’s also possible trade bait around the deadline, depending on how Tazwa and Daniel Bard progress in the early minors this year.

Starting Position Players

Jason Varitek

Don’t expect a huge offensive performance increase from last year. He’s slated to catch all the non-Wakefield starts. But I think by the end of the year, he’ll be catching 60% of the games instead of 80%. What I really hope that he cuts down on the strikeouts and is able to move runners along, have productive outs, etc. Very happy he is back with the Sox and his contribution is not measured in batting statistics. But the transition to a new full time catcher needs to start this year and be completed by the end of 2010.

Kevin Youklis

He will be the Sox MVP candidate this year. I’m expecting a HUGE year. The power continues to come. He’ll be in the AL top 10 of all the triple crown categories. Combined with gold glove defense.

Dustin Pedroia

Probably can’t duplicate what he did in 2008. But that’s more of testament to how good he was last year. He’s the future Red Sox captain. Will be among the lead leaders in doubles and runs scored.

Jed Lowrie

I think he’ll perform well enough to keep the starting SS job once Lugo returns. Expecting a solid .270 type of season with lots of doubles. Like Varitek, needs to cut down on the stikeouts.

Mike Lowell

Really, I just hope we get 140 games out of him. No idea what to expect. Looks like he’s being dropped in the lineup and will have excellent baserunners in Drew and Bay ahead of him. This will give him plenty of RBI chances. If he can stay healthy (and that’s a big if) he could easily get 100 RBI’s

JD Drew

I think JD Drew gets a bad rap. He has difficulty staying on the field, but when he’s on it…he’s good. No one runs the bases better than him and no one has a better eye than him. Really wish he could bat leadoff for the Sox. That’s one of the biggest reasons I wanted the Sox to sign Teixera. But since that didn’t happen, Drew needs to be in the middle of the lineup. If we can get 130 starts from Drew, it will be a success. Think he’ll pass Papi as the Sox hitter that comes through in the clutch most often. Expect him to bat around .290 or so with a killer on base percentage.

Jacoby Ellsbury

With Crisp gone, CF is completely his. Would really love to see him own the lead off spot, too. But I’m not sure that’s going to happen. It’s definitely the key to the sox offense. 60 or 70 steals isn’t out of the question for him, as long as he can draw some walks. If he has to be dropped in the order this year, the Sox will be fighting for the playoffs (or have to make a big trade at the deadline). If he can get on with regularity, the Sox will win the division.

Jason Bay

Will lead the Sox in homeruns. Around 35-40 of them. He’s going to have a big year and the Sox will have to pay big to keep him. His right handed bat will flourish at Fenway.

David Ortiz

The Sox really need him to hit around 40 home runs, but I don’t see the same power of years past being there. That doesn’t mean he can’t hit and be productive. I just think he needs to be trying to pull the ball less. If he’s comfortable hitting to all fields, 120 RBI’s will be easy for him. And if Ellsbury becomes an on base machine, that RBI total will be 135. Less homers, however. I expect the final number to be around 25. And it has nothing to do with Manny not being behind him. It has to do with Ortiz getting older.

The Bench

George Kottaras

Will be given every opportunity to show that he has a future role in the Sox catching solution and I think he’ll hit well enough to take some playing time from Varitek. Handling Wake’s knuckler? It won’t be a problem. He seems like the kind of guy that recognizes the opportunity in Boson and will work hard to take advantage of it.

Rocco Baldelli

I was against this signing. And I want to be wrong about him not being able to play back to back games with regularity. I’m OK with his signing now that Kotsay is also back (providing another outfiled option in case Drew gets hurt). As for what to expect – solid performance as the 4th outfielder. Will make all the right baseball plays and when he starts, we won’t be saying stuff like “Uh-oh, they gave Bay the day off.” Could be challenging Ellsbury for everyday time come September. What we should hope for most with Rocco is that his health actually allows that.

Mark Kotsay

The perfect bench player for the Red Sox. Was totally impressed with his play at 1B last year.

Julio Lugo

A wasted roster spot quite honestly. Has some serious athletic ability. It just doesn’t seem to translate into baseball ability. If Ellsbury falters, he may get a chance to play everyday SS and lead off. Perhaps the best case scenario is that situation happens, he does well enough to attract some interest, and then the Sox can package him with someone like Bowden for a future piece of the puzzle.

But what if he CAN produce? Sox would have the perfect roster with Lugo as the everyday (productive) SS and Lowrie as the utility guy.

Other names we’ll be hearing from this year

Lars Anderson

Expect only a cameo experience from him in the bigs this year. It is best if he can spend most of the year in Pawtucket, being prepared to be a major contributor next season.

Daniel Bard

I predict he’ll be part of the roster by July. Around the time the sox dump Lopez. I also think he’s our closer of the future

Clay Bucholz

Who knows. In a best case scenario, he spends the entire year making starts in Pawtucket. But we know how the season goes and how the sox like to give their starters a couple weeks on the DL in the mid season by being overly cautious with a small injury – all designed to give arms a rest. Given all that, he’ll probably end up making a handful of starts and I think he’ll be solid. Maybe he’s not a future ace. But if he’s a future #3 starter, that will be great.

Michael Bowden

I think he’s trade bait. In the Sox surplus of arms, his delivery makes him the guy I would most want Theo to use in acquiring a catcher of the future or a thumper for the middle of the lineup.

Posted by jayman | Categories: 25 Man Roster | Comments (0)

Pedroia: MVP

Posted by jayman | November 18, 2008 – 1:08 pm

On May 5, 2007, I sent an email to Crundy. The entire contents of which were as follows

I think Dustin is finished. Cora is playing too good to sit on bench

At the time, Dustin Pedroia was hitting something like .210. This followed up a late 2006 callup performance where he showed …well, not too much actually.

But in a classic case of “This shows I don’t know shit about baseball and I should never manage”, Dustin Pedroia proceeded to go on a tear for the rest of 2007. In the championship run of 07 it seemed like he was always on base.

This year, it seemed like he never missed a ball in the strike zone. Not since the early years of Nomar, have I seen a guy who hit pretty much everything square on the barrel of the bat.

He led the league in doubles and runs.

Tied for the lead in hits.

Stole 20 bases. Was caught once.

Even batted cleanup for a few games and no one could get him out.

And so today, he was named AL MVP. Less than 2 seasons after having folks like me make ill-informed, moronic statements that he should be benched in favor of playing Alex Cora on a daily basis.

Posted by jayman | Categories: General Thoughts | Tagged mvp, Pedoria | Comments (0)

Offseason 2008: The Varitek Situation

Posted by jayman | October 27, 2008 – 12:39 pm

That photo never gets old, does it?

Let me get right to the point on this.

The Red Sox should resign Jason Varitek. For two years. For whatever dollars he wants for those two years (within reason).

Forget all the stuff about how he’s he can’t hit like he used to (he can’t) and how he strikes out in key situations (he does). What Varitek contributes to the Boston Red Sox is not completely measured with how he fills out the box score.

He is, after all, the captain. The guy who sets the tone of professionalism in the Red Sox dugout. He is also, in my opining, the associate pitching coach for the Sox. There no better catcher in major league baseball at handling pitchers than Jason Varitek. He may not drive in a hundred runs a year, but how many runs does he keep off the scoreboard because he knows how to call a game and handle the staff? I’d bet it’s more than 100.

OK, let’s say that you’re one of those folks that thinks Tek should go. Who do the Sox put in at catcher? Kevin Cash? Are you sure thats an improvement? Get a catcher in a trade or sign a free agent, you say. OK. If the sox end with Bengie Molina, I don’t want to hear your crying about how someone with a cane can run the bases faster than Bengie.

Now, there’s no doubt that resigning Varitek still has issues. The simple fact is the Sox need to be resigning Varitek for a couple years in order to properly prepare for the day he isn’t there at all. The catcher of the future does need to be brought in, whether that is Kevin Cash or someone not on the Sox roster (I’m all for any of those 4 catchers Texas has). Tek is not a guy who should be catching 80% of the sox games. That number needs to be closer to 50%. He’s not everyday player anymore. But he’s still an everyday leader.

Posted by jayman | Categories: 25 Man Roster, Hot Stove | Tagged Varitek | Comments (0)

ALCS Game 7: End of the line for this year

Posted by jayman | October 22, 2008 – 11:13 am

It’s a bummer that the World Series is starting tonight and our beloved Red Sox won’t be participating in it. I remember the last time the Sox came oh-so-close to the World Series. That was in 2003. In that game 7 vs. the Yankees, Grady Little had a panic attack and ultimately, Aaron Boone hit a pitch off Tim Wakefield that ended in the left field stands of Yankee Stadium and stuck a dagger right into my guy.

I remember telling my girlfriend (who is now my wife) that I need to go for a walk. So we went for a walk around the piers of downtown San Francisco…around PacBell park. And sat on a park bench with head in hands and thinking that it could be decades before the Sox get this close to the promised land ever again.

But since that night, so much has happened. As fans and devotees to our time, we’ve been given more than we could ever ask for. Not one, but two world series championships. Coming back from a 3-0 hole against are archenemies in the 2004 ALCS. Dave Robert’s steal. JD Drew’s grand slam last year vs. Cleveland. Lester’s no hitter.

And even in this year’s playoffs, there was game 5. The sox were ready to roll over and die. They were getting crushed by Tampa Bay. But then they showed some fight. That’s what will be remembered from this year’s playoffs.

The truth of the matter is, that by playoff time, the Rays were the better team. They’re younger, faster, and stronger . The Sox were totally beat up. If I told you that Ortiz’ wrist would be damaged, Beckett would be hurt enough to not throw a 95 mph fastball, and Mike Lowell wouldn’t even be on the postseason roster, would you think the Sox would even make it to ALCS game 7?

Don’t even start with the whole “if you had Manny…” argument. If Manny is on this team, the Sox don’t even make it to the playoffs.

Without question, losing game 7 was a disappointment.

But it’s not the end. It certainly does not feel anything like the “Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty” in 2001. Read Buster Olney’s book on that. The Yankees were about to be dismantled and dive into years of grasping at past glory. They’re still doing it.

Nope, the Sox are prepared to compete for years to come. The simple fact that they were in a game 7 given the list of of walking wounded documented above is a testament to how far this organization has come. Despite all the injuries, the Sox had a team that could compete at the highest level. In the end, the Rays just executed a little bit better. Sure there are some changes to be made to the Sox. There always are. But the feeling of “we won’t get this close again for years” isn’t there. In fact, we’ll be there next year.

Posted by jayman | Categories: Game Recaps, General Thoughts, Playoffs | Tagged game 7 | Comments (0)