Empyreal Environs

Game 78: July 1, 2009 ∙ 11 innings
Red Sox	6	W: Ramon Ramirez (5-2) S: Jonathan Papelbon (20)	48-30, 1 game winning streak
Orioles	5	BS: George Sherrill (3) L: Danys Baez (4-2)	35-43, 1 game losing streak
Highlights: Joe Castiglione summed it up best: snoozer early, grinder late. Josh Beckett gave up runs in four of the seven innings he pitched, including a pair of leadoff homers in the second and fourth innings. Beckett was outpitched by greenhorn Brad Bergesen; the right-handed starter gave up only one run over eight innings of work and struck out six.

How hard is it to not yell when at work listening to the outcome of the rubber game? I found out this past Wednesday. I thought I had to go to a couple of meetings that afternoon, but after lunch Outlook cancellation notices came quick and fast. Coincidence?

The ninth inning comeback started with Dustin Pedroia’s five-pitch base on balls proffered by Jim Johnson. Since being dropped down to the two-hole the second baseman has returned to All-Star form, hopefully in time for voters to send him to the Midsummer Classic for the second year in a row.

By the numbers, Ian Kinsler and Aaron Hill are more deserving, but who will talk smack to senior circuit opposition if those milquetoasts go to St. Louis instead of Pedroia? Pedroia is so good he got credited for a tag of Felix Pie even though the ball was in his bare hand. Is that what they mean by slick fielding?

Kevin Youkilis homered after Pedroia’s free pass to cut his team’s deficit to two runs. Youkilis was in a back-and-forth battle with Mark Teixeira to make the All-Star team’s roster, but let the record show that Youkilis has produced irrespective of his spot in the lineup while Teixeira needed Alex Rodriguez’s protection to jump start his season.

In relief of Johnson, George Sherrill mowed down Jason Bay (who garnered a platinum sombrero but was perhaps distracted by studying for his citizenship exam) and David Ortiz with laughable ease. If two of Boston’s best sluggers were sent to the dugout on just four pitches a piece, what chance did lower half of the lineup have?

A pretty good one, it turned out. Jacoby Ellsbury looped a single into center field and Jeff Bailey (recalled in the wake of Mike Lowell’s trip to the disabled list) and Jason Varitek both worked walks to load the bases. Varitek may have swung at ball four, but first plate umpire Mike Winters ruled the move a check swing.

Terry Francona swapped out Nick Green for Rocco Baldelli and had Julio Lugo pinch run for Varitek. Both moves led to the Red Sox come-from-behind extra innings win.

I think that Baldelli’s and Lugo’s bench player status helped then in key game situations. Without a large number of at bats, opponents don’t have the data to optimize their defensive alignments or plan their pitching strategy. Baldelli snuck a single by the glove of Robert Andino for two runs to tie the game in the ninth. Lugo drove in Ellsbury in the eleventh with a grounder through the hole for what would be the winning run.

The bullpen absolved itself of its abominable performance in the middle game of the series with four innings of perfection. Jonathan Papelbon notched his 133rd career save and established a new club record. The pitcher who may eventually supplant him, Daniel Bard, had the defining outing of his career thus far: with the score knotted at 5-5 the fireballer kept the Orioles off the bases for two innings.

3 July 2009 ∙ 3:18 PM ∙ July 2009 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bard (Daniel) ∙ history ∙ Lugo (Julio) ∙ Orioles ∙ Papelbon ∙ Pedroia

Game 77: June 30, 2009
Red Sox	10	L: Takashi Saito (2-1) BS: Jonathan Papelbon (2)	47-30, 1 game losing streak
Orioles	11	W: Mark Hendrickson (3-4) S: George Sherrill (17)	35-42, 1 game winning streak
Highlights: John Smoltz started the game but did not factor into the decision because a 1 hour, 11-minute rain delay forced him to leave after just four innings. Smoltz was much sharper in his second start compared to his debut: 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts.

The score was 9-1 going into the rain delay and many of the Boston commentators bemoaned the fact that John Smoltz wasn’t going to get credited for his first win as a member of the Red Sox. A Red Sox win was fait accompli to everyone but the Orioles.

With just two out in the sixth Justin Masterson jogged back to his dugout and all the defenders followed him. It was this absentmindedness bordering on smugness that waylaid the visiting team from the task at hand. Echoes of this complacency played out at home plate in the top half of the eighth. George Kottaras limply slid into the dish, neither trying to knock the ball out of his counterpart’s mitt nor striving to position his body or hands away from the tag.

These Red Sox plays stood in stark contrast to Adam Jones sacrificing his body on the center field wall in a desperate attempt to rob Kevin Youkilis of another home run. Although Jones failed and the Red Sox bolted to a 2-0 lead, the local nine rebounded in the seventh and eighth innings.

Oddly enough, most of the remaining fans who witnessed the Orioles’ biggest comeback in franchise history were there for the visiting team. Baltimore overcame a nine-run deficit, one run more than their previous record that came against none other than the Red Sox. The game was played on September 2, 1956 in Fenway and the final score was also 11-10.

The Orioles starting right fielder 53 years ago? Tito Francona. He went 0-for-6 but reached on an error and scored a run.

Add another entry in the Ecktionary: “tired cheese” is a synonym for salad. Example: “Rich Hill had nothing but tired cheese, enabling Jacoby Ellsbury to hit a David Ortiz-like baboomba to lead off the fourth.”

1 July 2009 ∙ 10:27 PM ∙ June 2009 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Eckism ∙ Francona (Tito) ∙ history ∙ Orioles ∙ Smoltz

Game 76: June 29, 2009
Red Sox	4	W: Jon Lester (7-6) S: Jonathan Papelbon (19)	47-29, 1 game winning streak
Orioles	0	L: Jason Berken (1-5)	34-42, 2 game losing streak
Highlights: Ramon Ramirez started off the bottom of the ninth sharply with two quick outs but then surrendered a single and a walk. Terry Francona had the foresight to have Papelbon ready at a moment’s notice, a shrewd tactic given Ramirez’s recent shakiness. The Red Sox closer tied Bob Stanley’s franchise record of 132 saves and owes Jason Bay a beer.

Jason Bay chased down Matt Wieters’s slicing fly ball to left, legs akimbo as he barrel-rolled across the turf. He had to run shallow enough so that Kevin Youkilis and Nick Green had a close-up view of the snowcone snare. I hope Bay feeds the ball to his dog.

In a recent interview Jonathan Papelbon stated that pitching in pinstripes was a possibility. Understandably Papelbon’s comments got some fans up in arms. There is a sliding scale of things people are permitted to place unquestioned faith in without ridicule:

• Age 4: Santa Claus
• Age 55: Sports Heroes
• No limit: God

Dennis Eckersley demonstrated that his Eckisms might be other people’s isms. He co-opted Dave Trembley’s “finger in the socket” trope and tried it out so much that I felt like actually doing it myself. The Hall of Famer is a Beatles fan; wonder if he’s looking forward to Beatles Rock Band as much as I am.

Wieters, the Orioles’ superstar in the making, chased down Mark Kotsay’s pop foul to the rail of the Red Sox dugout in the second inning. The catcher had the ball in his mitt but dropped it as he tipped over the railing; Brad Mills and Jason Varitek saved him from a fall. A tip to the new kid: don’t emulate someone like Doug Mirabelli now that you are in the bigs. Holding onto your mask while you fail to make a stretch catch isn’t All-Star caliber technique. Kotsay singled through the hole on the very next pitch.

Adam Jones, another up and comer, emphatically demonstrated how to use the glove near the wall in the fourth. The center fielder tracked a fly ball all the way to wall, flawlessly timed his leap, and suddenly Youkilis’s one way trip to Souvenir City was diverted.

J.D. Drew fell a double short of the cycle. Drew’s excitement level is inversely proportional to Papelbon’s. The right fielder talked about the game as if he were talking about an oil change.

Jon Lester awkwardly swung at... oh right, we’re finished with designated hitter-less baseball. Lester stymied the Orioles for seven innings, striking out eight and walking none. The local nine were only able to hit singles against all of the Red Sox pitchers.

I seem to say this about every team, but the Orioles have the makings of a contender. Luke Scott, Nick Markakis, Nolan Reimold, and Jones form a promising outfield, Wieters is the youthful infield anchor, and Brian Roberts provides the veteran leadership. The Orioles, like the Red Sox, have a number of arms ready to crack the rotation: Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, and Jake Arrieta.

The American League East will be an interesting place for the next few years.

30 June 2009 ∙ 7:17 PM ∙ June 2009 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Drew (J.D.) ∙ Lester (Jon) ∙ Orioles ∙ Papelbon ∙ Wieters (Matt)

Game 75: June 28, 2009
Red Sox	1	L: Brad Penny (6-3)	46-29, 1 game losing streak
Braves	2	W: Tommy Hanson (4-0) H: Eric O’Flaherty (7) H: Peter Moylan (11) H: Rafael Soriano (6) S: Mike Gonzalez (9)	35-40, 1 game winning streak
Highlights: Mmmbop, ba duba dop. Please tell me this is Hanson’s mound music. He was 10 when the song hit number one. The Little Leaguers that took over the NESN studio wouldn’t remember this tune. Tom Caron asked a couple of the tykes who their favorite players were. Not surprisingly, one stripling named Dustin Pedroia. Because of the second baseman’s spunk, his glove, his bat, his accolades? Nope. Because Dustin rhymes with Justin, his own name.

Tommy Hanson took a page out of Brad Penny’s book and pitched impressively despite flu-like symptoms. If Hanson maintains this pace he could be named the Rookie of the Year. That Boston lost to an outstanding first-year player and not just AAAA cannon fodder removes some of the sting of this loss. He may have been sick, but so was his stuff.

Clay Buchholz’s voodoo doll seemed to work at first. Brad Penny clutched his wrist after a pitch, prompting Paul Lessard and Terry Francona to rush to his side. But Buchholz’s hopes were dashed as Penny once again showed unexpected toughness to last six innings and pitch well enough to win.

Unlike pure American League pitchers, the stout starter knew his way around the batter’s box enough to make contact. He hit the ball on the screws right at Chipper Jones in the third and in the fifth reached on Jones’s error.

Jones had already made his mark on the game in the first inning with a two-out solo shot. Garrett Anderson led off the fourth with a four-bagger that proved the difference in the game.

I’m being a homer, but I wouldn’t pick either home run as the play of the game. Instead, Penny’s put out of Kelly Johnson in the fifth makes my highlight reel. He stood still and let Johnson’s ground ball ricochet off his foot, and then he caught the self-created carom and threw to first for the first out of the inning.

The last game of interleague means not having to watch David Ortiz stumble around batted balls. The ersatz first baseman reached Gregor Blanco’s third-inning bunt attempt well enough but dropped the ball when he tried to swipe tag the runner. In the fourth, Ortiz couldn’t pick Nick Green’s relay in the dirt and at first the shortstop was given an error. The official scorer eventually converted the error into a hit for Jeff Francoeur, perhaps to make him feel better after getting nailed in the helmet by Penny in the second.

Lessard not only fixes players’ ills but equipment, too. He tinkered with Ortiz’s glove, which was about as effective as Dave Magadan helping pitchers with their swings. Farewell to National League shenanigans, at least until the Midsummer and Fall Classics.

29 June 2009 ∙ 5:36 PM ∙ June 2009 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Braves ∙ Hanson (Tommy) ∙ interleague ∙ Ortiz ∙ Penny (Brad)

Game 74: June 27, 2009
Red Sox	1	W: Tim Wakefield (10-3)	46-28, 2 game winning streak
Braves	0	L: Javier Vazquez (5-7)	34-40, 4 game losing streak
Highlights: In the aftermath of the 2004 ALCS, the Yankees sought to prune away those players who failed them so miserably. Amongst the casualties was Vazquez, who has pitched 200 or more innings in every seasons since 2004 and has accumulated over 200 strikeouts in his past two seasons.

To top it off, the Yankees traded Javier Vazquez to Arizona for Randy Johnson and then flipped Johnson back to the Diamondbacks in 2007 for Steven Jackson, Alberto Gonzalez, Ross Ohlendorf, and Luis Vizcaino. Last year Jackson and Ohlendorf were packaged for the Xavier Nady deadline deal, which was a coup for the club at the time. A few days later the Red Sox would end up with the best Pirates outfielder (apologies to the followers of Nate McLouth who worship at his shrine).

Neither Jason Bay or McLouth were in the lineup yesterday. Bay was given the day off while McLouth is day-to-day with a hamstring strain. It’s late June and Terry Francona is already planning for the postseason by resting key players here and there.

Mark Kotsay played in left in place of Bay and was the key offensive contributer for the visitors. With two out Vazquez relinquished two walks to Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz. Ortiz’s base on balls was particularly deflating as Vazquez was ahead 0-2 in the count.

Vazquez worked Kotsay with pitches away until the count was 1-2 and then tried to get the outfielder to bite on a slider a shade too far inside. With the count even Vazquez resorted to the outer edge again. Kotsay anticipated this and carved an RBI line drive single to left for the only run of the game.

How fortunate are the Red Sox to have a player of Kotsay’s caliber on the bench? His at bat was the stamp on Tim Wakefield’s invitation to this year’s All-Star Game.

Yesterday also saw Wakefield tie Roger Clemens’s franchise record of 382 starts. The knuckleballer has won 174 games for the Red Sox and is 18 games away from Clemens’s and Cy Young’s shared record of 192 wins for the Boston AL club. I’d like to think that Wakefield will have the chance to match or surpass that achievement, but with Clay Buchholz champing at the bit and Michael Bowden on the cusp of contributing at the major league level, the 2010 Red Sox rotation might not even include Wakefield.

If that ever happens, it will be a sad day, not just for the Red Sox but for baseball. The game’s addiction to bigger, faster, stronger led to the Steroid Era. Perhaps the sport has emerged from this shameful period, but perhaps too late for those of Wakefield’s ilk. His pitch seems doomed to decline to the status of quaint antiquity.

28 June 2009 ∙ 12:46 PM ∙ June 2009 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Braves ∙ interleague ∙ Kotsay ∙ Vazquez (Javier) ∙ Wakefield (Tim)