Empyreal Environs

Game 159: September 29, 2005
Blue Jays (78-81), 4
Red Sox (93-66), 5
H: Jason Frasor (15)
BS: Vinnie Chulk (1)
L: Miguel Batista (5-8)
W: John Papelbon (3-1)
1 game behind in the division
Tied for the wild card
1 game winning streak

This team just won’t just leave me alone. I thought it got the hint when I wouldn’t return its calls and blocked it from my IM buddy list, but like a bee insistent for nectar it just keeps buzzing around for more. Despite not wanting to get stung, I let the Red Sox continue hovering in the contours of my consciousness. The daily drone of their furtive clubhouse whispers, engrossing on-field escapades, and provocative press conferences is inseparable from the hubbub of summer. Will that clamor continue deep into the fall?

When a bee stings to protect her hive, she dies in the process, leaving a delicate trail of her innards attached to the stinger embedded in the flesh of her enemy. The Boston Red Sox left it out on the field tonight, to continue the tortured metaphor as they have tortured us this season. They have led us into contention and delivered us from evil. For theirs was the comeback, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

The first Red Sox run came in the 3rd after Tony Graffanino reached on a double. He was moved over by Johnny Damon’s single and plated by Edgar Renteria’s ground out to shortstop.

Boston continued to look feeble on offense until the 6th inning. David Ortiz led off with a what was scored an infield hit. With the shift on, Russ Adams crossed up coverage with Aaron Hill, allowing Ortiz to get to first base. Manny Ramirez took over by powering a circuit clout into the visitor’s bullpen to bring Boston within one run.

In the 8th inning, Ortiz took the plate with the score 4-3. Chulk threw 2 balls in a row to the relentless designated hitter. The question was not if Ortiz would be the hero of the game yet again, but how. How about a round-tripper into the Monster in the 8th? And then single grounded up the middle into left center with Damon on second and Renteria on first with 1 out for the game-winning run? Why didn’t Ortiz hit a four-bagger there, you might ask. With the count full against erratic Blue Jays closer Batista, Ortiz showed that he was a hitter and not just a slugger, opting for a solid base hit for the victory.

I’ll always remember October 27th; that’s like July 4th for Red Sox Nation. But I’ll put up a flag of the Dominican Republic November 18th of this year to celebrate the birthday of our Founding Papi, David Americo Ortiz.

30 September 2005 ∙ 8:48 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 3

Game 158: September 28, 2005
Blue Jays (78-80), 7
Red Sox (92-66), 2
W: Ted Lilly (10-11)
L: Bronson Arroyo (14-10)
1 game behind in the division
Tied for the wild card
2 game losing streak

Red Sox lost, Yankees won. The only way Boston could have helped Lilly more is if they helped ice his shoulder after the game.

Who’s this Manny Delcarmen kid that made an appearance in last night’s game? Hardly ever see him. And we probably won’t have the chance anyway since the Red Sox picked up Mike Stanton today for right-handed pitchers Yader Peralta and Rhys Taylor. Why did we trade these prospects? Don’t the Red Sox want a bullpen full of weird names like the Kansas City Royals?

Why even have young pitchers in the bullpen? Terry Francona would much rather exhume Cy Young than pitch his rookies. I’m sure that’s the front office’s next move. Red Sox representatives are being sent to Peoli Cemetary as I type this.

29 September 2005 ∙ 3:38 PM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 1

Game 157: September 27, 2005
Blue Jays (77-80), 7
Red Sox (92-65), 5
W: Jason Frasor (3-5)
H: Justin Speier (11)
H: Scott Schoeneweis (21)
S: Miguel Batista (31)
L: Chad Bradford (2-1)
Tied for the lead in the division
Tied for the wild card
1 game losing streak

The 3rd inning could have been more productive than it ultimately was. Tony Graffanino began the action with a well-placed singled that floated over the head of the alienesque Gustavo Chacin and bounded up the middle. Graffanino progressed to third base on Johnny Damon’s ground ball double that knocked around the left field corner. Both runners scored when the suddenly scorching Edgar Renteria launched a fly ball double that caught the top of the Monster. The heavy lumber-bearing part of the lineup went strangely silent: both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez had singles this inning. These turned out to be their only hits of the evening and the Red Sox exited the inning with only a 3-run lead.

Gregg Zaun continued to be his infuriating self with a 2-run homer in the 4th and his extra “g.” (That extra “g” riles me.) It was a cheap jack just past Pesky Pole and it was the only home run Curt Schilling allowed in this game. Since he left the game in the 7th with the score tied, he wasn’t part of the decision. His 10 hit, 5 earned run, 1 walk, and 8 strikeout line seems to be an indication that he is not quite playoff-ready.

The Red Sox batters continued to show their competence at the plate. Bill Mueller led off with an infield single in the bottom of the 4th inning. Trot Nixon followed up with a liner to Frank Catalanotto, who lost sight of the ball in the lights. I’ve so rarely seen such a thing from Catalanotto; it was oddly refreshing to see him nonplussed on a play. With runners on second and third and 1 out, Damon lined a single to the beset Catalanotto to drive in Mueller. Renteria did likewise, going to the opposite field to plate Nixon.

In the top of the 7th, Schilling faced the same situation that Jonathan Papelbon did in the day game: Blue Jays at first and third with 1 out with Vernon Wells at the plate. In his case, however, Wells lined an RBI single up the middle to tie the game. It would be hilarious if Papelbon went up to Schilling and said something like, “Hey, here’s what I did in that situation.” Mike Myers was sent in to face Corey Koskie and promptly walked him.

I thought Second-Guess Sally wouldn’t make such a quick reappearance. But lo and behold, here she is again to question Terry Francona’s bullpen tactics. For seemingly sentimental reasons Schilling came into the 7th inning to face the top of the Torontonian lineup. One would think that the field manager would have pulled his inconsistent starter when 9-hole hitter Aaron Hill managed to single. But no. It would be a real confidence booster if Schilling were left in to face Catalanotto and Wells, especially since their OBP is .526 and .444 against the veteran righty, respectively.

Chad Bradford escaped by a stitch of a baseball seam when he was left in to close out the 7th inning against lefty Eric Hinske and was brought out to start the 8th inning as well. Francona must think that Bradford had suddenly acquired the wherewithal to be a full-fledged middle reliever overnight. Who else but the heir presumptive to the title of “Red Sox killer” Zaun to walk to lead off the inning?

Also, Francona has a very different understanding of the term “tight spots,” because he seems to think that runners at second and third with 1 out in a tie game is not a precarious situation. The stage was set for Craig Hansen’s Fenway Park debut in the 8th inning, and what could be a circumstance of greater tautness? Only if the bases were juiced with no out, I suppose. “Calm down, rookie, and get yourself out of this one,” Francona seemed to be saying to Hansen. One wonders about his methodology for teaching his children how to swim; I doubt it involves waterwings. Russ Adams only saw two pitches before he was able to loft a sacrifice fly to right field to score Zaun and grant Toronto the lead. Hansen settled down to induce Koskie to fly out to center but only after loading the bases by allowing a single to Catalanotto and walking Wells.

The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the 9th. Shea Hillenbrand walked on four Chad Harville pitches after having struck out seven times in the course of play yesterday. We’re all familiar with Hillenbrand, who has 26 bases on balls this season, so we are all well aware of how incredible this occurrence is. A wall ball double by Hinske placed Hillenbrand at third, enabling Hill’s sacrifice fly to right to widen the lead to 2 runs.

Meanwhile, the Yankees played the longest 9-inning game this season at 4 hours, 16 minutes in their 17-9 loss to the Orioles. One consolation is that the New York City club had to plow through eight pitchers in their rout. The Indians were also upset by the Devil Rays, 5-4. Ground was neither lost nor gained, but this is well-worn terrain they’ve seen before. Do they have the reserve of strength to pass through this territory again? Do we?

28 September 2005 ∙ 9:27 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 2

Game 156: September 27, 2005
Blue Jays (76-80), 1
Red Sox (92-64), 3
L: Dave Bush (5-11)
W: Tim Wakefield (2-3)
H: Jonathan Papelbon (4)
S: Mike Timlin (12)
Tied for the lead in the division
Tied for the wild card
4 game winning streak

He who scores first laughs last. The Red Sox put up 2 runs in the 1st inning and it would be all that the needed. Johnny Damon led off with a single to pulled softly into right field and Edgar Renteria doubled off the wall to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. David Ortiz, saving some of his lumber for tonight’s game, grounded to second to drive in Damon. Also opting to go low-key, Manny Ramirez lined to center for an RBI single.

Toronto’s only run came in the 5th inning as the result of Red Sox miscues. Ramirez misplayed Frank Menechino’s fly ball off the wall, his 7th error of the season converted a single into a man in scoring position with no outs. Menechino, who is not the most annoying “Frank” on the Blue Jays but is vying for the title, tagged up on shortstop Aaron Hill’s sacrifice fly to right field and promptly scored on a passed ball with Gabe Gross at the plate.

But Wakefield was undaunted. This was the man, you will remember, who pitched 3 scoreless innings against the Yankees despite 3 passed balls on October 18, 2004. This 5th inning run was a minor vexation and the knuckleballer finished with a line of 3 hits, 1 unearned run, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts in his 7 innings of work.

The 6th inning was double, double, then toil and trouble for Toronto. Renteria turned in a double-bagger and in turn was doubled in by Ortiz for Boston’s third and final run of the game.

It was enough. Terry Francona started warming Papelbon in a timely manner when Wakefield showed signs of strain in the 7th. The inning was extended by Renteria’s 30th error of the season. Resolute as always, Wakefield closed out the 7th with Gross’s pop fly foul caught in John Olerud’s enduring glove.

Papelbon made his 15th major league appearance in the 8th. The rookie reliever worked himself into a critical situation with runners on first and third and 1 out and Vernon Wells at the plate. He got Toronto’s leading hitter to pop fly into foul territory but neglected to cover home plate with a runner on third, which could have been a costly oversight. Papelbon redeemed himself by striking out Shea Hillenbrand for the final out, which isn’t as easy as it seems at face.

Timlin further acclimated himself to the closing role, allowing only 1 hit to the pinch hitting Corey Koskie. It’s about time, too, with only six games remaining.

27 September 2005 ∙ 5:55 PM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink

Going into the day-night doubleheader, here is how the AL stands:

Today they play for all the marbles. The Yankees play the lusterless Orioles who have already flown south for the winter, so it’s up to the Red Sox to send the Blue Jays migrating, too.

27 September 2005 ∙ 10:53 AM ∙ Around Baseball ∙ Permalink

Game 155: September 25, 2005
Red Sox (91-64), 9
Orioles (70-85), 3
W: David Wells (14-7)
L: John Maine (2-3)
Tied for the lead in the division
0.5 game behind in the wild card
3 game winning streak

Nearly everything about this game was encouraging except for the fact that the Yankees next face the Orioles. It seems extremely unlikely that Baltimore will put up any more fight when the New York City club comes calling at Camden Yards this evening.

From out of their bag of tricks the Red Sox pulled their patented two-out magic. In the 1st innning, after Maine struck out Johnny Damon and had Edgar Renteria ground out, the Orioles starter seemed to be on his way out of the inning. David Ortiz was treated gingerly and walked on 5 pitches. Then Manny Ramirez hit his 40th home run of the season and the 431st of his career to tie him Baltimore icon Cal Ripken, Jr. As usual, his timing was impeccable.

The rest of the 1st was an offensive frenzy since the Orioles seemed preoccupied with their offseason golf schedule. Miguel Tejada was particularly lackluster. John Olerud’s liner flashed by him into the left field even though it looked like a playable ball. Trot Nixon scored and Jason Varitek caught the opposing shortstop tarrying and was well on his to home before Tejada realized what yet another run would score. Tejada belatedly threw to home and Olerud reached second base on the throw. Bill Mueller, who ended up going 3 for 4, drove in his first baseman for the 5th and final run of the inning.

With the early lead, Wells would hopefully wear out the corners as he usually did. Home plate umpire Jerry Crawford was uncooperative and Wells had to position his pitches so they would have more of the plate than he is accustomed to. This reduction in zone likely caused the back-to-back round-trippers Wells yielded to Melvin Mora and Tejada in the 1st inning. It seemed that Wells would have another short outing, but the lefty persevered to go 6.2 innings with 6 hits, 3 earned runs, no walks, and 3 strikeouts. He may have stayed in longer had he not reaggravated his knee in the 7th inning. The gadfly Eric Byrnes called time but went unnoticed by Crawford. By the time Crawford noticed Byrnes’s request Wells was in his wind-up and the lefty had to stop in mid-stride. Wells was gone shortly thereafter.

We also continue to wait for Ramirez’s 21st grand slam; he’s had several chances this season to add to his extravagant jackpot total. In the 4th inning the left fielder had another chance to inch closer to Lou Gehrig’s 23 career grand slam total but ended up flying out to center field.

As the team returns home for the stretch run, several positive trends manifest themselves: Trot Nixon’s bat seems to have awoken from its slumber, as did his fellow outfielders’. Ramirez’s timing couldn’t be better as Ortiz is in the midst of a mild dryspell which might be exacerbated as the team faces a gauntlet of left-handed Jays pitchers. The infield’s offense is also showing signs of life, particularly Renteria and Mueller. The Red Sox are poised to prove the adage that birds of a feather do indeed flock together as they try to send both avian teams south for the winter.

26 September 2005 ∙ 6:32 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink

Week 2: September 18, 2005
Patriots (1-1), 17
Panthers (1-1), 27

To be honest, I haven’t been paying attention to football closely. For the reason why, please see the current AL East standings.

That said, I hate not finishing what I started, so here’s a quick and dirty analysis of the Patriots’ second game of the season. It will be interesting to see if the metrics I singled out in the first game, a Patriots victory, hold true for their loss.

I decided to gauge halftime adjustments by noting the difference in between yards allowed and gained between the first and second halves of games. Patriots gained 171 yards in the first half and 85 in the second. Carolina’s split was 180/99. Last week, New England’s defense halved the Raiders’ production by half, much as the Panthers did to the Patriots. Advantage: Carolina.

As for turnover ratio, the Panthers came out on top. Tom Brady was intercepted by Will Witherspoon in the 2nd quarter, leading to a field goal. Mike Rucker sacked Brady in the 3rd quarter and forced the quarterback to fumble at the New England 27-yard line. Carolina would score a touchdown in the opening minutes of the 4th quarter as a result. The Patriots capitalized on a Mike Vrabel interception of Jake Delhomme for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter.

Both teams were efficient in the red zone, converting all of their respective opportunities. The Patriots were 1 for 1 while the Panthers went 3 for 3. Advantage: Carolina.

New England was unusually beset by penalties this game. They were assessed 86 yards on 12 infractions while the Panthers played cleaner with merely 6 penalities for 45 yards.

Finally, Carolina barely edged the Patriots in converting third downs: 5 for 14 or 36% compared to New England’s 29% (4 for 14).

So, the Panthers were 5 for 5 in the key statistics I’ve been tracking. The Patriots look to redeem themselves today against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are looking for revenge against the team that knocked them out of playoff contention last year.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled baseball season coverage.

Game Leaders
Passing
Tom Brady: 23/44, 270 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Jake Delhomme: 11/26, 154 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Rushing
Corey Dillon: 14 carries, 36 yards, 0 TD, 14 yard longest gain
Stephen Davis: 25 carries, 77 yards, 3 TD, 11 yard longest gain
Receiving
Troy Brown: 3 receptions, 87 yards, 0 TD, 71 yard longest gain
Ricky Proehl: 3 receptions, 63 yards, 0 TD, 41 yard longest gain
Defense
Rodney Harrison: 7 tackles, 1 assist
Mike Vrabel: 3 tackles, 1 INT
Ken Lucas: 10 tackles
Chris Gamble: 6 tackles, 1 forced fumble
Will Witherspoon: 4 tackles, 1 INT
Mike Rucker: 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble

25 September 2005 ∙ 12:06 PM ∙ New England Patriots ∙ Permalink

Longtime visitors know that each time you refresh, you get a new quote in the upper left corner. I’ve recently added more memorable quotations about baseball, and some of them are from people you wouldn’t necessarily equate with the game. I’m always on the hunt for more memorable phrases, so if you think of any I may have missed, please do e-mail me.

New quotes, folks. Now with 50% more absorbancy and fewer calories per serving compared to leading national brands.

25 September 2005 ∙ 10:35 AM ∙ Meta ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 2

Game 154: September 24, 2005
Red Sox (90-64), 4
Orioles (70-84), 3
BS: Craig Hansen (1)
W: Jonathan Papelbon (2-1)
S: Mike Timlin (11)
L: B.J. Ryan (1-4)
Tied for the lead in the division
1.5 games behind in the wild card
2 game winning streak

I once overcame the debilitating habit of nailbiting. It is now back with a vengence.

Looking through the medicine cabinet to see if I had some sort of nail biting deterrent compound to stop my gnawing, I noted that the house isn’t well equipped with the supplies that every Red Sox fan needs during this time of year. Automatic electronic defibrillator, Tums, rosary, Nexium, serenity beads, Xanax, voodoo dolls. You know, the usual. I’ll need to be stocking up for the next eight games of the regular season.

The pitching staff had a particularly bizarre game. Matt Clement had a no-hitter up until he saw Melvin Mora up the third time through the lineup in the 5th inning, when the third baseman weaved a single through the infield. You might wonder how in the world did Clement have a no-hitter going if he saw Mora so many times so quickly. Things like that happen when you walk 6 batters. Over the course of 6 innings, Clement also struck out 4, allowed 4 hits, and gave up no earned or unearned runs. This is one of the stranger lines you’ll see.

Hansen had his baptism by fire in the 7th inning. After striking out Luis Matos with ridiculous ease (3 straight strikes), Bernie Castro hit an infield single to third. Melvin Mora displayed patience, forcing Hansen to throw strikes with the rookie’s vaunted though hittable fastball. The third baseman’s patience, as it so often does, paid off with a 2-run homer pithily deposited shallow into the left field stands. That’s how a major league hitter uses a pitcher’s power against him.

How Hansen responded to this would be key. Former MVP Miguel Tejada was up next, and Terry Francona stayed with his prospect. Hansen induced a ground out from the aggressive shortstop, but gave up a single and double to the fourth and fifth hitters, respectively. Encouringly, Hansen continued to go after subsequent hitters, throwing strikes and not shying from contact. Francona kept him in long enough to show that he hadn’t lost faith in the fledgling but short enough so that the game did not get out of hand. With the score tied, Mike Myers came into get the final out of the 7th with runners on second and third and the Orioles’ potential rally lay unhatched.

The Red Sox played defense as a playoff team should and had fortune smile on them for one game. In the 4th inning, Clement had walked two batters to begin the inning. Kevin Millar displayed his jumping prowess by diverting B.J. Surhoff’s liner in mid-trajectory. The first baseman did not catch the ball, but the ricochet ended up close enough to Tony Graffanino for him to field it and force out Jay Gibbons at third base, where Bill Mueller had shifted in time to complete the 3-4-5 fielder’s choice.

The Boston infield also turned three key doubleplays. Tejada, swinging at the first pitch as usual, shot a ball right up the middle to rebound off Clement to Graffanino, who relayed briskly to Edgar Renteria then Millar for an inning-ending twin killing. The 6th inning saw a garden variety 6-4-3 double play grounded into by Javy Lopez, who might still be smarting from Greg Maddux’s rejection of him. Lopez was also the victim of stellar outfield defensive play in the 7th when Ramirez cut off his line drive before it reached the wall, holding Gibbons to third and aborting another Baltimore scoring opportunity.

Perhaps best of all was in the 8th inning. After Chris Gomez had reached first on a single up the middle, David Newhan’s pop-up bunt ended in Mueller’s glove for the first out. With Matos at the plate, Jonathan Papelbon seemingly had pinch runner Ed Rogers picked off, showing that the rookie has a fairly good pickoff move in the works. Papelbon and Jason Varitek combined for a strike ’em out, throw ’em out to end the inning with Matos hacking futilely and Rogers hung out to dry on the basepaths on a failed hit and run.

It’s one of the few games this season where you could say the defense won the game.

The Red Sox offense was not prolific but generated runs when necessary. Manny Ramirez had a chance to hit his 21st career grand slam in the 1st inning but hit a sacrifice fly for Boston’s first run. Edgar Renteria tagged from second base, putting him into position to cross home when Erik Bedard pitched wildly to Varitek. They would be shut out until the 9th, when Graffanino went to the opposite field with Trot Nixon on first, enabling Nixon to get to third. Francona replaced Graffanino with Adam Stern and Johnn Damon walked to load the bases. With ducks on the pond, Renteria blooped a single over Tejada, a hit positioned so perfectly it scored 2 runs and gave the Red Sox the lead and an insurance run.

An insurance run that proved necessary with Timlin as closer. On 5 pitches Timlin walked Castro to begin the inning. The Baltimore second baseman would score on a Gibbons double. Two-out magic failed for the Orioles as Lopez flied out to end the game. As erratic as Timlin can be, he is still the preferred option over Keith Foulke, who, depending on with whom you speak, is shelved for the season after a dismal year, both professionally and personally.

Stern will be flying to California for surgery on his right labrum shortly and played his final game of the season. Who will be the speedy pinch runner in his stead? I vote Alejandro Machado.

The Red Sox are now 26-15 in one-run games and go into the final game against the Orioles in a dead heat with the Yankees. It’s as if the season is beginning all over again with the AL East contenders starting from zero.

Where’s that antacid?

25 September 2005 ∙ 10:20 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink

Game 153: September 23, 2005
Red Sox (89-64), 6
Orioles (70-83), 3
W: Bronson Arroyo (14-9)
H: Mike Myers (8)
H: Jonathan Papelbon (3)
S: Mike Timlin (10)
L: Daniel Cabrera (10-12)
1 game behind in the division
1.5 games behind in the wild card
1 game winning streak

Daniel my brother you throw faster than me
Do you still feel the pain of an arm that won’t deal
Your control has died but you K more than I
Daniel you’re a star in the face of the sky

I do song parodies on two occasions: when I’m irrepressibly giddy or horribly discontent. Happily, it’s the former today. I awoke at 4 AM because I was excited about last night’s win.

Cabrera had a rocky game last night. I’m not looking forward to facing this kid 4 or 5 times a season in the future, however, especially if he learns to harness his power. As he is, though, he could not quell the fire of the world champions. Cabrera went 5.1 innings with 6 hits, 4 runs (only 1 earned), 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. The young righty was a victim of Miguel Tejada’s error in the 5th inning. With 2 out, the Orioles would have had Manny Ramirez out at first to end the inning. Instead, Tejada slung the ball over Chris Gomez’s head, allowing the inning to continue, Alex Cora to score, and Edgar Renteria to reach third base. Perhaps Tejada had Rafael Palmeiro’s betrayal on his mind. Trot Nixon doubled on a liner to the right field gap to score Renteria and Ramirez.

Ramirez returned to form in the 7th inning with a sublime 2-run home run. Renteria, who himself had an outstanding evening going 2 for 4 with 1 walk and 3 runs, was on base with a single to center field.

Arroyo worked through his early difficulties to last 7 innings with a strangely symmetrical line of 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. He showed his mettle in the 1st inning in particular. Two runs had already scored when he walked Javy Lopez to load the bases with 1 out. Bill Mueller then made an exceptional play on B.J. Surhoff’s short grounder and came home with the ball to stop another run from scoring and get the second out. The third out of the rough inning came with a trivial pop fly by Gomez. The only other run came in the 3rd: Arroyo gave up consecutive doubles to Tejada and Jay Gibbons, but got the next three batters out without a hiccup. In fact, he did not allow a runner on base from the third out of the 4th inning until the 8th inning, sitting 10 Orioles in a row.

Terry Francona judiciously used the short hook when Arroyo walked Tejada to lead off the 8th, pulling the starter in favor of Myers, Papelbon, and Timlin. This trio combined for near-perfect 2 innings with Timlin giving up the only hit.

Winning the first game of a series has not been a forte of this team; this win brings their series opening game record to 24-27. We might be seeing the return of the Ortiz/Ramirez tag team again, where if one fails, the other comes through.

As I post this, the Yankees are trailing the Blue Jays 7-3 in the 6th. Jaret Wright didn’t last 2 innings, and although Aaron Small is pitching well, the New York offense is currently ineffectual. I hope to again be using blue font in the game header shortly.

24 September 2005 ∙ 3:03 PM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink

A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture of the entire planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said, “Wish you were here.”
Stephen Wright

People have goals, some mundane, some grandiose: learning a new language, running a 10-minute mile, climbing all the highest mountains on seven continents, making a soufflé, or acquiring the skill to play a sitar. Geeks, who are people, too, also have similar aspirations, esoteric though they may be. We may delight in discovering a new species, being named a MacArthur fellow, getting a job with NESN as a baseball analyst, and identifying a new planet.

This last ambition may become more difficult to accomplish thanks to the killjoys at the International Astronomical Union (IAU). A special working group of the IAU was convened to specify what constitutes a planet in the Solar System. Their work was accelerated because of the controversy over several recently discovered objects that the IAU is questioning as proper planets.

At the far reaches of our Solar System is the Kuiper belt, which is a ring of asteroids or Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) that orbit the Sun. Most TNOs are ice with some some organic compounds, which is the basic composition of comets. In fact, the distinction between “asteroid” and “comet” is another long-cherished astronomical certainty that has been called into question (and I am positive a working group of the IAU is being conjured as I write this to settle the issue). It turns out that there is at least one TNO that is larger than Pluto.

Pluto’s planethood has also been called into question. In fact, many astronomers claim that had Pluto been discovered today, the paperwork to definitively call it a planet would not have been notarized by the proper authorities of the IAU in the timeframe of an orbit of the Sun by the ninth planet, which is 248 years. It might be possible for said paperwork to processed in time for Pluto to become the eighth planet from the sun, which it will be in 222 years since its path takes it within the domain of Neptune’s ambit.

Just ask Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, Chad Trujillo of Gemini Observatory in Mount Kilauea, and David Rabinowitz of Yale University, hopeful discoverers of what could be defined as the tenth planet. The trio identified 2003 UB313 on January 5, 2005 from images captured on October 21, 2003. From the available data, it seems that the object is at least one and a half times larger than Pluto. It orbits the sun every 560 years at an odd 45-degree angle to the ecliptic. It is further sub-classified as a scattered disc object (SBO), a TNO whose bizarre orbital path is attributed to interactions with Neptune at the dawn of the Solar System. Not surprisingly, the discovering team wanted to dispense with the alphabet soup used to describe the object and petitioned the IAU to officially label UB313 as a planet.

The IAU has this sparse announcement on their website regarding TNO UB313:

We repeat below an earlier announcement of an IAU Working Group for establishing a definition of a planet. The discovery of 2003 UB313 has precipitated the need for such a definition in order to decide whether 2003 UB313 is to be classified as a planet or not. Until then the object will not be given an official name by the IAU.

Definition of a Planet

The IAU notes the very rapid pace of discovery of bodies within the Solar System over the last decade, and so our understanding of the Trans-Neptunian Region is therefore still evolving very rapidly. This is in serious contrast to the situation when Pluto was discovered. As a consequence, the IAU has established a Working Group: “Definition of a Planete” [sic] under Division III, to consider the definition of a minimum size for a Planet. Until the report of this Working Group is received, all objects discovered at a distance greater than 40 AU will continue to be regarded as part of the Trans-Neptunian population.

What be you, UB313?

Every Friday, Dave McCarty will join us to discuss a topic of interest to him and probably no one else but the author of this site and other seekers of the .

23 September 2005 ∙ 12:59 AM ∙ Dave’s Diegeses ∙ Permalink

This past Sunday, September 18th I had the pleasure of interviewing Red Sox prospect Chris Jones. He played with the Lowell Spinners this past season, and his team just missed the wild card. The interview was just posted here on the Royal Rooters message board, so do drop in if you would like to see a glimpse of the team’s future. Not as though Terry Francona would actually send them to the mound if these young pitchers were on the team, but that’s another post.

22 September 2005 ∙ 11:36 AM ∙ Meta ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 3

Game 152: September 21, 2005
Red Sox (88-64), 4
Devil Rays (64-89), 7
BS, L: Mike Timlin (7, 7-3)
W: Trever Miller (2-2)
S: Danys Baez (39)
0.5 game behind in the division
1 game behind in the wild card
1 game losing streak

I tend not to blame the manager for losses. In fact, I have only trotted out Second-Guess Sally once this season. Because it’s not Terry Francona that swings the bat. He doesn’t boot grounders, throw askew, get picked off second base, or let line drives whistle by him in the field. Neither does he hang curveballs, hit batsmen, give up bases on balls, or hurl wild pitches.

His sole purpose is to place players on the field who will be most likely put his team in the position to win. To do this, one hopes he considers many factors, such as:

• Time of the year. It’s September and the team leads the division by only a half a game.
• Men on base. Timlin has allowed 18 of 32 inherited runners to score.
• Bullpen usage. This would be the 76th time Timlin would enter a game. He has pitched now pitched 75.2 innings. A comparable reliever is Tom Gordon with 74 appearances with 76.1 innings pitched. Remember how he worked out so well for Joe Torre last postseason when Gordon had a 8.10 ERA against the Red Sox.
• Pitching staff characteristics. Wakefield has been nails, but when things to south for him, they do so quickly.
• Proper timing. Given Wakefield’s tendencies, Francona could have someone warming in the 8th after the knuckleballer gave up a lead off single, a wild pitch, hit a batter, and had his bacon saved by a double play.
• Pitching match-ups. The splits show that Timlin facing Travis Lee was a better match-up than Mike Myers, so I’ll give Francona that.
• Empirical evidence. But after seeing Timlin getting lit up by line drive after line drive, the field manager failed to react.

Francona put his team in a position where he would be lambasted for either bringing in rookie pitchers in pressure situations or continuing with an overworked veteran. He managed himself out of options. He was lackadaisical when he should have been decisive. He was timid when he could have been bold.

Wakefield’s 7.2 inning, 7 hit, 4 earned run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, and 1 home run outing was wasted. Alex Cora, Bill Mueller, and Edgar Renteria’s 2nd inning RBIs were squandered. Manny Ramirez’s 5th inning homer was for naught.

There’s a saying known the world over: we never know the worth of water till the well has run dry. All season long Francona has drawn on Timlin. Will the reliever have anything in reserve when, or if, Boston makes the playoffs? Has the supply of good will Francona accumulated from the championship evaporated? It’s up to Francona to get water flowing again. Even if, or rather, especially if it’s dirty water.

22 September 2005 ∙ 6:54 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 5

Game 151: September 20, 2005
Red Sox (88-63), 15
Devil Rays (63-89), 2
W: Curt Schilling (7-8)
L: Seth McClung (11-6)
0.5 game ahead in the division
1 game winning streak

The absolute brutality with which the Red Sox went after Tampa Bay’s pitchers was matched by Raymond’s abuse of Wally. If you don’t have NESN, you may have missed how Raymond mocked and battered Wally prior to the game. Raymond commandeered a remote control monster truck, put a beanie replica of himself in the driver’s seat, and commenced running over Wally repeatedly. To add to the deplorable display, Raymond then pretended to give emergency care to our green hero. Jerry Remy said he wouldn’t be surprised if Raymond not only got suspended but indicted as well because of the extent of the violence. Bob Watson had better come down as hard on Raymond as he did Bronson Arroyo.

However, I would like to point out, lest it get lost in the offensive bombardment, that Manny Delcarmen stood up for one of his teammates last night by drilling Nick Green. He saw what that ruffian Raymond did to Wally and retaliated. It’s clever of the rookie to select someone whose surname is “Green,” wouldn’t you say? This is oldtime baseball; Lou Piniella would understand. You go after my mascot, I go after your backup second baseman -- that’s how the game was played in the days of flannel uniforms and sleeper cars.

Last night was a good, old-fashioned whipping behind the shed of the Devil Rays; full repayment for the plunkings the niggling Piniella ordered last series. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez started it off early with their first back-to-back home run combination of the season. That brought back sweet memories. Last season they had tied the major league record of 6 back-to-back home runs held by Hank Greenberg and Rudy York of the 1938 Detroit Tigers and Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordóñez of the 2000 Chicago White Sox. The best part was that The Heckler, whose Red Sox target this year is Ortiz, hardly had any words erupt from his maw before Ortiz hit a bomb on the first pitch he saw from McClung. Ortiz went 4 for 5 with 2 round-trippers. The outfielder Ramirez had a 4 for 4 evening with 2 homers.

The distinction between Ramirezes must be drawn for Hanley Ramirez made his major league debut. There was a chance that Hanley would bat with the bases loaded had fellow call-up Alejandro Machado got on base in the 7th. Instead, Machado grounded out to second and Hanley led off the 8th. Hanley was called out on a swinging strike which wasn’t after 8 pitches, but Bruce Froemming wasn’t impressed by Hanley’s plate discipline.

The only mar on the otherwise celebratory proceedings was Boston allowing Carl Crawford to score in the 3rd inning. After singling to get on base, Crawford tagged up on Jorge Cantu’s fly ball to deep center because of the leisurely manner Johnny Damon had returning the ball into the infield.

Each series is necessary and the rubber game will be played tonight. With Tim Wakefield and Scott Kazmir squaring off, the series finale comes down to a battle of the aces.

21 September 2005 ∙ 7:07 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 3

Game 150: September 19, 2005
Red Sox (87-63), 7
Devil Rays (63-88), 8
L: Chad Harville (0-3)
W: Mark Hendrickson (10-7)
H: Jesus Colome (2)
H: Joe Borowski (20)
S: Danys Baez (38)
0.5 games ahead in the division
2 game losing streak

Here’s where you have to present some hypothetical situations to yourself to feel better. If you had told me that the Red Sox would be leading the AL East by a half of a game with 12 games left despite Curt Schilling making around 10 starts with a 6.20 ERA, Keith Foulke having a 5.91 ERA, and the pitching staff having a team ERA of 4.77 for fourth highest in the league, I would take it. Adding to the mix the precipitous decline of Kevin Millar at first base (comparing his 2004 to 2005 statistics you get .383 to .355 OBP and .474 to .404 slugging) and a slew of ill-timed injuries made me realize that although Boston isn’t in the ideal position for postseason contention, at least my team is contending. Heck, it’s leading the division. That’s something I need to remember as I peruse Red Sox fan message boards spewing negativity.

But my optimism about the team does not mean I can’t parse out blame for last night’s loss. To begin at the beginning, Wells couldn’t have selected a worse time to have a subpar outing. Following Clement’s atrocious performance, Wells lasted only 2.2 innings and surrendered 10 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout. In a pivotal 3rd inning situation with Aubrey Huff batting, Wells did not cover first base after Millar had made a fairly good play on the Devil Ray right fielder’s grounder. Jonny Gomes scored on the play and Wells was left with 1 out and runners on first and second. Terry Francona gave the lefty a surprising amount of leeway as Wells stayed in to allow 3 more runs to score and was only pulled when he walked Carl Crawford on 4 pitches to load the bases with 2 out. The bullpen had to be tapped for the second night in a row, but there was another arm to rely on with Craig Hansen being called up this afternoon.

Tony Graffanino was pulled in the 4th inning in favor of Alex Cora because of a strained left groin. The summoning of Hanley Ramirez yesterday now seems strangely prescient.

The Red Sox have come from behind 43 times this season to win. Cora reminded us of this with his fly ball triple to center field to tie the game in the top of the 4th. Chad Harville gave up a leadoff double to Gomes, who would eventually be driven in by a Huff ground out to return the lead back to the Devil Rays.

Hansen made his major league debut in the 5th inning. His first pitch was a 96 MPH strike to Toby Hall, who struck out whiffing on Hansen’s 5th pitch. The righty then induced a pop out to Edgar Renteria from Damon Hollins, but not after 9-hole hitter fouled off 3 pitches in a row. Finally, Hansen struck out Julio Lugo to end his perfect inning. He didn’t face the meat of the lineup, but comported himself well given that he came into a game with a one-run margin.

Johnny Damon did not come through for rookie pitcher Jonathan Papelbon in the 6th. The center fielder was in position to make a catch on Carl Crawford’s fly ball for the inning’s first out, but Damon did not make the play and the official scorer actually credited Crawford with a double. The miscue proved costly when Jorge Cantu hit a 2-run round-tripper on the first pitch he saw from Papelbon. Remarkably, Papelbon weathered the shoddy defense to sit down the next three batters in a row, striking out two of them.

A glimmer of life manifested itself in the 7th inning, and who else but David Ortiz would provide the hope for a comeback. Adam Hyzdu reached base on a single to leadoff the inning but was erased on a force out. Damon and Edgar Renteria were on base to score on the fly ball that Ortiz drove into the gap in right field. Ortiz’s 2-run double cut the lead to 1 run.

The bottom of the 7th inning required defensive heroics. With 1 on second base and 1 out, Cora hustled to stop Travis Lee’s grounder from getting into the outfield. The second baseman saved a run and kept double play in order with his efforts. I’ve never seen a second baseman like him; Cora makes plays, but doesn’t necessarily do it elegantly. He’s no Roberto Alomar with his awkward pursuits of grounders, but Cora nonetheless completes the play. Cora was the pivot man in Julio Lugo double play induced by Chad Bradford to end the inning.

For me, the 8th and 9th innings summarized everything that is encouraging though frustrating about this team. On the hit and run, the usually consistent and reliable John Olerud failed to make contact and the end result was a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play to end the inning.

Renteria committed his 29th error of the season, the highest error total of his career, in the bottom of the 8th. His blunder of Gomes’s grounder allowed Crawford to score to pad the Tampa Bay lead to 2 runs. Manny Ramirez had his 16th outfield assist when he threw Gomes out at the plate thanks to Varitek blocking home.

Of course Ortiz came through by launching a home run in the 9th high into the right field seats. But it was full of sound and fury, signifying nothing since there was no one on base. The Red Sox one-run game record is now 25-15.

20 September 2005 ∙ 7:25 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink

Game 149: September 18, 2005
Athletics (82-67), 12
Red Sox (87-62), 3
W: Kirk Saarloos (10-7)
L: Matt Clement (13-6)
1.5 games ahead in the division
1 game losing streak

Given that the middle games of this series were one-run squeakers that the Red Sox could have easily lost, I’ve gotten over my disappointment about this blowout game and am somewhat content that this series is shelved as a split. The season series closes in Boston’s favor, 6-4.

But who took Matt Clement’s arm and replaced it with Kevin Brown’s? Clement only lasted 1.1 innings, and that was 1.1 innings too long. He was touched for 8 hits, 7 earned runs, 1 walk, and 1 home run.

Jeremi Gonzalez into the game in the 2nd inning and was forced to go much longer than he usually pitches. In his 3.2 innings of work he gave up 5 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, and 2 round-trippers. Apparently the A’s took offense to my assessment of their offense as anemic and atrophied.

NESN has a great new video technology called X-mo that it has been showing off these past few games. Some of the footage is truly remarkable: the vibration of a bat as it absorbs the force of a Clement fastball or the torque of Gonzalez’s arm as he delivers his pitch to the plate. What we do not need, however, are multiple X-mo replays of Kevin Youkilis’s de-fingernailing. Youkilis came into the game in the 7th inning only to be mauled by Marco Scutaro’s sharp grounder in the first at bat of the inning. The third baseman managed to throw the ball to get Scutaro out at first but had to withstand agony to do so.

This prompted the following quirky defensive formation:

• Adam Hyzdu switched from left to center
• Roberto Petagine replaced Hyzdu in left
• Alejadro Machado moved from center to shortstop
• Alex Cora shifted from shortstop to third base

The game was illuminated by only a few flashes of Boston offensive brilliance. Bill Mueller hit his 9th four-bagger in the 6th inning on a 2-0 pitch in to the first few rows of seats in the right field boxes. In the 7th Machado had his first major league hit with a leadoff double that missed being a homer in the right field seats by just a few feet. The versatile call-up would go on to score after being moved over to third via John Olerud’s ground out and driven in by Tony Graffanino’s double to left field.

As I write this, there are rumors on Red Sox message boards that Craig Hansen and Hanley Ramirez will be called up to the majors shortly. Time to get a post ready in the “Player Transactions” category. Speaking of, I had ignored Hyzdu’s addition to the 40-man roster on September 15th. The move was precipitated by Gabe Kapler’s injury, which came too late to allow him to be placed on the 60-day disabled list and therefore required the unconditional release of Matt Perisho.

18 September 2005 ∙ 10:20 PM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 2

Game 148: September 17, 2005
Athletics (81-67), 1
Red Sox (87-61), 2
L: Danny Haren (13-11)
W: Bronson Arroyo (13-9)
H: Jonathan Papelbon (2)
S: Mike Timlin (9)
1.5 games ahead in the division
2 game winning streak

Since the Red Sox won the World Series, my “Things I Want to See Live at a Baseball Game Before I Die” list has become completely optional. If I were to want more icing on my cake I would like to see:

1. Perfect game
2. No-hitter
3. Unassisted triple play (This has only happened 12 times in major league history. Most recently for the Red Sox John Valentin did this against the Mariners on July 8, 1994. George Burns also had a triple play on September 14, 1923; sadly there is no box score available for this game. Burns was one of two first baseman to accomplish this feat.)
4. 9 pitches, 9 strikes, side retired (This has only happened 39 times for 36 pitchers. Pedro Martinez did it against the Mariners on May 18, 2002. This is made even more astounding because Ichiro Suzuki went down in three pitches!)
5. Batter hitting for the natural cycle
6. Triple play
7. Batter hitting for the cycle
8. Hidden ball trick

I mention this because Arroyo flirted with a perfect game through 4 innings. He began the 5th by walking former Red Sox players Scott Hatteberg and Jay Payton, who were erased by a double play. A no-hitter was a remote possibility, but Arroyo lost a bit of his control this inning. Immediately following the double play he walked Nick Swisher. Fortunately, the fashionably slim righty didn’t give up any more bases on balls for the rest of the outing, going 7 innings with 3 hits, 1 earned run, and 2 strikeouts.

Haren was similarly effective with his 7 inning, 6 hit, 2 earned run, 1 walk, and 8 strikeout line, but his team’s anemic offense was unable to get on base for him. “A” is not for “Athletics” as we thought, but for “atrophied.”

In the 6th inning, a car going eastbound on the Mass Pike violently veered to avoid a hurtling object. “What the hell was that!” yelled the swerving driver.

“I do believe that is a first pitch, go-ahead home run off the bat of Manny Ramirez,” replied the passenger.

“Oh,” said the driver. “You think we can turn around and pick it up?”

“Nah, those guys in the other lane caught it on the fly.”

Alex Cora’s defensive play in the 7th to put out Dan Johnson was incredible. From our perspective in the bleachers right behind the visitor’s bullpen, we could see the ball heading through the gap towards us. We figured Trot Nixon would have to run up to field a ground ball single. Incredibly, the Red Sox second baseman ranged to his left while running into shallow right field to intercept the ball. Cora saw it was about to get by him but made a desperate but successful last second surge to nab it.

One of the team’s stated objectives in Spring Training was to improve on last season’s 16-18 record in one-run games. The Red Sox believed this could be accomplished by reducing the number of opponents’ steals. This is not a huge concern when playing against the A’s and Arroyo pitching, but the Red Sox have improved from 123 for the entire 2004 season compared to 81 steals this season so far. This year Boston’s record in one-run games is now 25-14. One of my offseason projects looks like it will be analyzing the difference between these past two seasons’ one-run games characteristics.

Besides the win, this game was made more enjoyable since it was the second Royal Rooters outing of the season. It’s fun to hang out with people that all speak the Red Sox dialect. No interpreters are required. The first one back in June was also a win against a California team. We are now 2-0. Beat that, Remy cult adherents and SoSHers. (Actually, I don’t know what the other groups’ records are. But did they win games when it mattered?) The creative forces behind 12eight, Reb Sox, Miles from Fenway, NU50 (home of mojo), and The Mind of BlackJack were also at the game. I had to stifle a Stewart O’Nan comment when I first laid eyes upon Andrew because he brought a glove to the game. A glove. Given the seats he had, however, it was a good call. (Yes, that was said in a nasally, cigarette-tinged Jerry Remy tone of voice.)

A shout-out to the Root crew: BlackJack, SoxFaninNYC, mish1231, Dewy4PrezII, DeweyRice, Tessie, OuttaThePahk, Mike LansWho, Seabass, MargoAdamsLoveChild, AnalogKid, Sox Sweep Again, NJSoxFan, gerky, beatlesfab4fan, The Ghost of Ned Martin, Timlinin8th (need to change your name), NU five oh... hope I didn’t miss anyone.

18 September 2005 ∙ 10:20 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 14

Game 147: September 16, 2005
Athletics (81-66), 2
Red Sox (86-61), 3
L: Juan Cruz (0-3)
W: Mike Timlin (7-2)
10 innings
1.5 games ahead in the division
1 game winning streak

September baseball can be tedious. Managers execute the same tiresome tactics: the endless substitutions of hitters, runners, and defensive players, not to mention the 6 or 7 pitchers both teams trot out for the theoretically optimal match-ups. But last night was different.

The 10th inning of last night’s game was epic. Timlin came in to relieve Tim Wakefield, who had pitched yet another complete game without a win. The knuckleballer’s line was 7 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts, supporting the case to name him team ace.

Timlin got the first two batters he faced out easily enough, but when facing the 9-hole hitter Marco Scutaro the right-handed reliever yielded a double to right field. There was a remote chance of Trot Nixon throwing out the swift shortstop, but the right fielder’s throw, though accurate, was tardy. With the count full to Mark Ellis, Timlin threw a pitch galley-west allowing the go-ahead run to third base. Ellis futilely grounded out to Edgar Renteria to kill Oakland’s chances. Because if things went badly for the A’s in the bottom of the 1oth, you-know-who was going to be at the plate.

Tony Graffanino played Cruz like his favorite playlist on his iPod. With a 2-2 count, the second baseman lined to the opposite field. Alejandro Machado pinch ran for him, and his speed enabled Boston to get the tying run to third when Johnny Damon grounded out.

Ken Macha began tinkering and September micromanaging was made manifest. He replaced left fielder Jay Payton with Keith Ginter to have five infielders with Renteria at the plate. Cruz lost control of his 3-1 pitch to hit the Red Sox shortstop and the home team sat pretty with runners at the corners, 1 out, and David Ortiz batting. You will recall that Ortiz hit a game-tying home run in the 6th inning.

The memo to major league managers finally made the rounds it seems, the one that reads Don’t pitch to David Americo Ortiz with the game on the line. Or with RISP. There is such a thing as clutch hitting. Whenever possible, just don’t. Ortiz was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Manny Ramirez has had many opportunities to get closer to Lou Gehrig’s record 23 grand slams lately. But Keiichi Yabu didn’t give the left fielder the chance; on his 1-1 pitch Yabu plunked Ramirez to move over the runners. Machado has now scored 2 runs and has had 2 major league at bats, but neither run was the result of him getting on base via the hit.

The Red Sox are 24-14 in one-run games, 2-0 in extra inning games at home, 6-2 in all extra inning games, 11-6 when tied after 8 innings, and 19-13 in games decided at the last at bat. The Blue Jays played the Yankees last night and after falling behind early actually got within one run of New York to pique our interest. But Toronto flew the coop and lost 11-10.

17 September 2005 ∙ 9:54 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 2

For nothing can seem foul to those that win.
Henry IV, Part I
William Shakespeare

Imagine someone traipsing through history and leaving an indelible and intriguing legacy that was ultimately fradulent.

Even as a child Richard Meinertzhagen had an abiding love for nature, especially birds. When Richard was a child, Charles Darwin would visit the Meinertzhagens. Darwin was a friend of the family through the philosopher Herbert Spencer. It was Spencer, not Darwin, that devised the phrase “survival of the fittest.” Richard was cheeky enough to sit in Darwin’s lap and pull on his beard.

Had he his druthers, Richard would have probably chosen to become a vagabond naturalist like Darwin or Alfred Russel Wallace. But Richard came from a banking family of some means, and in Victorian England, that meant you did not stain the family honor with such pursuits of frivolity. to free himself somewhat of the yoke of expectation and to satisfy some of his wanderlust, he joined the British military at the age of 24.

Meinertzhagen was a ruthless lief-tenant in the Royal Fusiliers, ordering butchery in the land that would be named Kenya but was then known as British East Africa. While there he did as colonialist British men were wont to do in strange climes: chronicled and shot at wildlife. He gained enough knowledge to compile two books: Birds of Egypt and Birds of Arabia.

Age seemed to mellow him temporarily until in 1910 at the age of 32 he found himself in Odessa dining with the British Consul. Their meal was interrupted by a pogrom. Witnessing the destruction and murder of Jewish people prompted him to became a fervent and lifelong Zionist.

This ardor inspired him to seek out Adolph Hitler in July of 1939. In January of that year the German chancellor made public threats against the Jewish people in his speech to the Reichstag.

Meinertzhagen had a loaded pistol with him on that visit. The conversation was translated by Hitler’s foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. But Meinertzhagen obviously did not assassinate the pair. In his memoirs, Meinertzhagen wrote, “I am seriously troubled about it. If this war breaks out, as I feel sure it will, then I shall feel very much to blame for not killing these two.”

Long after World War II, in 1954, Meinertzhagen donated approximately 20,000 bird samples to the British Natural History Museum in Tring. This huge donation was spurred by a peculiar interest of his with regard to ornithology: chewing lice.

Very recently, however, it was discovered that the Meinertzhagen collection is actually comprised of specimens stolen from other institutions and catalogued with details contrived by their supposed benefactor. He had said he gathered these speciments when in the Middle East and Asian subcontinent, where he had supposedly hobnobbed with T.E. Lawrence. Even that acquaintance has been called into question, along with his dubious ornithological contribution to history. Meinertzhagen went so far as to claim that he found the last of a species of forest owlet. Not only had the bird been previously unveiled to Western people in the 1880s, but it is still extant.

Strange that Meinertzhagen became the thing that he enjoyed to study, a louse. He was a parasitic creature that needed to attach himself to beings greater than him to attain the stature that he would not otherwise have. It is one thing to aspire to be great and quite another to delude yourself and deceive others in hopes of being perceived as great.

Every Friday, Dave McCarty will join us to discuss a topic of interest to him and probably no one else but the author of this site and other lone birdwatching geeks trying to find a nesting place. For more on Meinertzhagen, read his biography by Peter H. Capstick. This book used Meinertzhagen’s diaries as the primary source, however, so caveat emptor.

16 September 2005 ∙ 3:30 PM ∙ Dave’s Diegeses ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 1

Game 146: September 15, 2005
Athletics (81-65), 6
Red Sox (85-61), 2
W: Joe Blanton (10-11)
H: Ricardo Rincon (16)
H: Justin Duchscherer (10)
L: Curt Schilling (6-8)
1.5 games ahead in the division
1 game losing streak


nce upon a time there was a little boy named Joseph whose fondest wish was to grow up to be a major league pitcher.

“If only one day I could pitch against an imposing lineup with a .356 team OBP, .453 slugging, and 823 runs and get a win after pitching 6.1 innings to allow only 2 earned runs with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts,” he said one day while walking through an enchanted forest.

Hearing this ardent plea, a wizened old hag emerged from the shadows of the trees. “Oh ho ho, so you’d like to be a big-time hurler, eh? Think you’re too big and important to be a regular old joe here in Tennessee, do you?”

At first Joseph was wary. His parents told him never to speak with strangers, and this harridan was particularly alarming with her rotted teeth, foul breath, and matted ash-grey hair. While shooing away a moth that fled from the depths of the hag’s travel-worn black cloak, he decided to humor the woman.

“Why, yes, ma’am. I especially want to beat those teams in the American League East with their bloated payrolls and massive media presence.”

Suddenly a gust of unnaturally strong wind blasted Joseph. It was so powerful it nearly knocked over the boy, which was no mean feat. Joseph was no stranger to bacon for breakfast everyday. His mother saw to it that her boy got all the victuals needed to properly fill out into a strapping young man. Along with the wind came a low, thunderous roar and a swirl of prismatic brilliance. In place of the bent-over shrew was now a man with a warm smile and twinkling eyes.

“Hi, I’m Billy Beane. Sign here.”

Taken aback by the sudden transformation and the man’s lack of explanation, Joseph’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why should I trust you? What will this do for me?”

Beane was not used to going unrecognized. “Hello? Have you never heard of Billy Beane? Genius GM? The Big Three? Bringing the A’s to victory on a team made up of spit and sealing wax? Look, Joe, I see something in you. I’m trying to put together the next Big Three.” He leaned in toward Joseph conspiratorially, “And with you in the mix, it looks like it will be an Even Bigger Three.”

Joseph’s eyes gleamed gleefully. “Will I get to shut down lineups like the world champion Red Sox?”

Beane chortled. “Heck, yeah! They never hit rookies.”

Joseph signed and they lived happily ever after. At least until the young pitcher realized he would receive hardly any run support.

16 September 2005 ∙ 6:54 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 1

Game 145: September 14, 2005
Red Sox (85-60), 5
Blue Jays (72-73), 3
W: David Wells (13-7)
H: Chad Bradford (7)
S: Mike Timlin (8)
L: Josh Towers (11-11)
2.5 games ahead in the division
1 game winning streak

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray to Theo: Ortiz to keep.
And if we lose before I wake
I pray Millar a pitch to take.
Amen.

In the 1st inning Tony Graffanino demonstrated his outstanding baserunning. He tore out of the batter’s box after grounding a hit to center field to leg out a double, setting himself up to score on two productive outs by Bill Mueller and Ortiz.

The Red Sox were vicitimized by a questionable call in the 2nd inning. Lance Barksdale called Shea Hillenbrand safe at second base despite Graffanino tagging the Jays first baseman. Barksdale, like Chris Guccione, is an umpire call-up from the Pacific Coast League. The botched ruling allowed Hillenbrand to stay on base and eventually score the second and final run of the inning with a Frank Menechino double to left field.

Jerry Remy noted that Toronto puts a strange shift on Ortiz. Instead of simply moving second baseman Menechino and shortstop Aaron Hill over towards first base, Hill plugged the gap between first and second because he has a stronger arm than the second baseman. When Ortiz grounded into a double play to end the 3rd inning, it was 4-5-3. John Gibbons can shuffle the infield all he wants, but he can’t have them camp out in the stands when the league’s premiere designated hitter hits a four-bagger. Which is exactly what Ortiz did in the 8th with Mueller on base to give his team the lead.

The game was not without its moment of poignancy. In the 5th inning, Gabe Kapler fell down while rounding second base on Graffanino’s home run. Since it was a line drive shot, Kapler couldn’t tell that the ball was out of the park and was therefore running at full speed. The slow motion replays showed the difference in footing between the field turf and the basepath may have led to Kapler’s downfall. Alejandro Machado was brought in to complete Kapler’s run, which is possible under the provisions of Rule 7.01. The diagnosis on Kapler is a ruptured left Achilles tendon, an injury that typically takes a year of recovery. We may have seen the last of Kapler in the major leagues. Fittingly, he went down fighting: he reached first base by running hard and taking advantage of Corey Koskie’s offline throw to Hillenbrand.

With a makeshift lineup that did not include the recovering Johnny Damon nor the fatigued Edgar Renteria, the Red Sox pulled out a pivotal road series win against the exasperating Jays and move on to another crucial series at home. As a former Red Sox player has said, how can you take Oakland seriously? They wear white shoes.

15 September 2005 ∙ 7:14 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink

Game 144: September 13, 2005
Red Sox (84-60), 3
Blue Jays (72-72), 9
L: Matt Clement (13-5)
W: Scott Downs (3-3)
H: Justin Speier (7)
2.5 games ahead in the division
1 game losing streak

That was a bad game.

When your opponents’ 9-hole hitter gets a key home run in the 2nd inning against the pitcher that has been the team ace in function if not in name, you know things won’t be going your way. It was as if Gabe Gross took out all his childhood trauma caused by his surname on the 0-1 pitch Clement laid out for the right fielder. Grody, dude. Gag me with a runcible spoon.

Let’s not talk about it too much, okay? All right, great. Moving on.

Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy tried to be more entertaining than usual since the game was not. Remy talked about how players don’t want their individual records broken. He said that those ceremonies public relations departments create when someone’s record is about to be broken aren’t appreciated by the record holder, calling them “a bunch of baloney.” The player whose record is being broken usually fake smiles throughout the pomp and circumstance, he claimed. This led to discussion of Remy’s 4 steals in a game Red Sox franchise record.

Orsillo: You still have great speed today.
Remy: Getting out of the ballpark.

Looking up Remy’s record, I found these other notable records held by Red Sox players:

• Most hits in succession: Mike Higgins, 12 in four games in 1938
• Most 2-base hits, career: Tris Speaker, 792 from 1907 to 1915
• Most 2-base hits, season: Earl Webb, 67 in 1931
• Most 2-base hits, season by a rookie: Fred Lynn, 47 in 1975
• Most bases on balls, game: Jimmie Foxx, 6 in 1938

The Red Sox aren’t getting what they paid for from Edgar Renteria. Interesting to note that Derek Jeter and Renteria together make just a few million more than the rest of the list of shortstops below combined. Although his errors are galling, I would prefer to have Renteria’s production in the lineup, even in light of his cohorts’ higher fielding percentages and range factors. We all know what a dubious statistic range factor is, however.

Jeter’s range factor has been improving since 2004. In 2003 it was a career-low 3.75 and the next year it rocketed to 4.46. It’s a huge benefit to have the best shortstop in the American League playing to your right, it seems. Eckstein’s range factor was 3.83 last year with Anaheim; he definitely seems to have benefited by having perennial All-Star Scott Rolen next to him for part of the season. Perhaps part of Renteria’s problem is adjusting to his new infielders?

14 September 2005 ∙ 7:35 AM ∙ September 2005 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 4

Game 143: September 12, 2005
Red Sox (84-59), 6
Blue Jays (71-72), 5
H: Keith Foulke (1)
BS: Mike Timlin (6)
W: Jonathan Papelbon (1-1)
L: Pete Walker (6-5)
11 innings
3.5 games ahead in the division
1 game winning streak

At some point, one realizes there are no more superlatives to adequately express the wonder occurring before her. You need a new language, an entire grammar, and a gargantuan lexicon to express all that David Ortiz means. In Papilachian, there is no word for “futile,” no word for “choke,” and definitely no word for “lose.”

Ortiz’s homer in the 4th inning was last seen orbiting Jupiter. Inhabitants of the Jovian moons are inured to seeing round-trippers from the Red Sox designated hitter in their neck of the woods, even though they have neither necks nor woods as such.“Oh, grapinusm slamma rongalia,” they say, which translates loosely to “Oh, it’s Ortiz hail again.”