Empyreal Environs

Game 79: June 30, 2007
Rangers	5	W: Ron Mahay (1-0) H: Joaquin Benoit (9) H: Akinori Otsuka (10) S: Eric Gagne (9)	33-47, 1 game winning streak 9-15-2 series record
Red Sox	4	L: Josh Beckett (11-2)	49-30, 1 game losing streak 18-7-2 series record
Highlights: Pawtucket center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury took the spot of Joel Piñeiro on the 25-man roster after the latter was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Unlike Scott Proctor, Piñeiro did not start a bonfire with his equipment. Ellsbury legged out an infield single in the third, surprising Michael Young with his acceleration.

The Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday has wreaked havoc on barbecue schedules. The friends with whom I spend the holiday with decided to have their annual get-together yesterday. They are not baseball fans but rather pinball and video game fanatics and just installed a huge projection screen in their arcade room. As tempted as I was to ask them to use the Wii to navigate over to SoSH for the latest happenings, I thought it might be unseemly to do so.

Despite the terrific food, gorgeous weather, and good company (for the most part; I had to excuse myself from a discussion about immigration), when seven o’clock tolled my baseball withdrawal symptoms were inescapable. I had already managed to mention the Red Sox to a guy that is a racing enthusiast. Bidding farewell to the gang I hopped into the car for the 60-mile drive back home.

Existing in a baseball vacuum for most of the day (save for a few innings playing Wii Sports Baseball), imagine my surprise as I tuned in to WRKO to hear that Jacoby Ellsbury was playing in the game. He donned number 46, most recently worn by Devern Hansack.

His first at bat was disappointing; he nubbed the ball just in front of home plate without it touching him so it was fair. There was more and greater disgruntlement to come.

For despite the home nine building a lead of four runs in the first two innings, the game would be lost.

A grass-searing RBI single off the bat of David Ortiz in the first. A sacrifice fly to the left field wall by Mike Lowell with the bases loaded. A Monster seat shot following up an Alex Cora triple by Kevin Youkilis in the second.

It was paltry offensive production against the lowly Ranger pitching crew. They are second-to-last in the entire league for ERA (5.29) and walks allowed (325).

Josh Beckett looked as if he played for Texas rather than just being born there. In the fourth a cavalcade of singles capped by a Brad Wilkerson double notched three runs for the visitors. Kenny Lofton singled to plate Wilkerson to tie the game.

Sammy Sosa homered in the next inning to win the game, as the Boston bats fell silent for the next five innings.

Julio Lugo junked the chance to tie the game in the eighth by running into the final out at third base with Youkilis at the dish ahead in the count, 2-1.

There’s another 23-year old whose first name begins with “J” that the Red Sox could consider promoting to replace Lugo.

1 July 2007 ∙ 10:05 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Ellsbury ∙ Lowrie (Jed) ∙ Rangers

Game 78: June 29, 2007
Rangers	1	L: Jamey Wright (1-2)	32-47, 2 game losing streak 9-15-2 series record
Red Sox	2	W: Tim Wakefield (8-8) H: Manny Delcarmen (3) H: Hideki Okajima (13) S: Jonathan Papelbon (19)	49-29, 1 game winning streak 18-7-2 series record
Highlights: Doug Mirabelli (I keep typing “Dough” instead of “Doug” for some reason) is a non-entity at the plate but threw a seed to first base to nail Sammy Sosa for the first out of the sixth. Sosa had swung for the third strike but the ball evaded the backstop’s mitt.

Jonathan Papelbon was angry in the ninth inning. Not George Brett pine tar incident level rage, but close.

He had just secured two outs: the closer struck out Adam Melhuse on three vicious pitches and then cajoled Ramon Vazquez to propel a loud out to J.D. Drew.

Papelbon got ahead of Kenny Lofton 0-2 but the lanky veteran outfielder worked the count full, battling for nine pitches. On that ninth pitch Lofton punched weakly to Kevin Youkilis, who gloved and relayed to Papelbon.

The relief ace thought he beat Lofton to the sack and got into it with first base umpire Mike Reilly. Fortunately Dustin Pedroia was there to diffuse the situation and Papelbon wasn’t ejected.

Lofton swiped another bag in the ninth, granting him a 4-for-4 line with matching stolen bases for each single. That left first base open for Jerry Hairston, Jr., who acquired it painfully with mid-90s cheese deflecting off his arm.

With the tying run on the basepaths Papelbon and Michael Young faced off in an epic struggle. Young fouled off pitch after pitch. A fragment of concern wedged in my mind delved a bit deeper: Was Papelbon gassed from his five-out appearance Wednesday combined with tonight’s work? Did the incident at first knock him out of focus?

My worries evaporated when home plate umpire Andy Fletcher called Young out to end the game and the three-game losing skid.

Hideki Okajima contributed a medley of outs in the eighth: ground out to short by Victor Diaz, punch out looking by Marlon Byrd, and fly out to left by Brad Wilkerson. The set-up man’s outs are as varied as his repertoire.

Manny Delcarmen reversed his downward trend in the seventh in a pivotal spot. He inherited two baserunners with two out from Tim Wakefield and walked Young to jam the bases. Mike Lowell trotted over to give the reliever some encouragement; whatever was said worked. Unfazed while facing a 600-homer slugger, Delcarmen struck out Sammy Sosa swinging.

The relief pitching heroics and Wakefield’s ninth quality start would have gone to waste had Manny Ramirez not been hit by Jamey Wright in the fourth. Unlike the pitch Hairston took, Ramirez was the mole to Wright’s listless mole-whacking mallet. Ramirez advanced on J.D. Drew’s ground-rule double and scored on Wily Mo Peña’s single deep in the hole.

Ramirez’s hustle down the first was a deciding factor in the fifth. Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz advanced to third and second respectively on a wild pitch to the Red Sox left fielder. With his sharp tapper ricocheting off Wright to the third baseman, Ramirez was out of the box quickly. He was fast enough that Vazquez went for the tag of Ortiz rather than the throw across the diamond. A hair before the tag Youkilis touched home for the go-ahead run.

The Red Sox are now 14-8 in one-run games, 17-11 in series openers, and 23-12 at home. Welcome home.

30 June 2007 ∙ 6:32 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Papelbon (Jonathan) ∙ Rangers ∙ Wakefield

Game 77: June 27, 2007 ∙ 11 innings
Red Sox	1	L: Joel Piñeiro (1-1)	48-29, 3 game losing streak 18-7-2 series record
Mariners	2	BS: Sean Green (2) W: Jason Davis (2-0)	42-33, 5 game winning streak 16-10-2 series record
Highlights: Kuroboshi translates literally to black mark. As I mentioned when describing its antonym, shiroboshi, the words come from sumo where winners and losers are denoted by white or black dots respectively. A disappointing loss to cap off the first three-game series sweep against the Red Sox this season. Boston is 1-3 in extra innings games this season.

It’s been a while since I’ve been this tense watching a game.

Already an avowed nail-biter, the contest rendered my fingernails to a state no manicurist could restore.

Watching Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch I had to wonder if someone translated Paul White’s column from USA Today for him. Expectations for him were stratospheric in Japan, where names like Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez were bandied about. That he isn’t leading the league in strikeouts also seems to be a mark against him; his precursor Hideo Nomo led his league whiffs and went on to be NL Rookie of the Year.

Much of Matsuzaka’s shortcomings aren’t based on actual production but rather comparisons to the unrealistic hype that accompanied his blockbuster signing.

Last year’s AL Rookie of the Year, Justin Verlander, ended with a record of 17-9, started 30 games total, pitched 186 innings, compiled a 3.63 ERA, and totaled 124 strikeouts. In 16 games, Matsuzaka has a record of 9-5, has notched 110 strikeouts (placing him third in the league), and has pitched 106 and two-thirds innings with a 3.8 ERA in a hitter’s park. Through June 2007 Fenway’s park factor is 1.335 runs while Comerica Park in 2006 was .980.

Matsuzaka carried a perfect game into the third inning. Mariners backstop Jamie Burke lined a double into center. Coco Crisp tried mightily to make make one of his signature snatches but it was not to be. A bloop single by Ichiro Suzuki over the heads of the infielders plated Burke for the only run allowed by the Red Sox rookie the entire afternoon.

The young starter pitched as if he were on a mission to prove he was worth every penny invested in his posting fee and multi-year contract. He struck out eight Mariners and only walked a single batter. The free pass he gave up to Jose Vidro in the bottom of the seventh seemed to be the result of having to spectate during the seventh inning offensive rally by his team.

J.D. Drew led off the top of the seventh with a liner to right and advanced all the way to third. Sean Green’s threw clumsily to first when fielding Julio Lugo’s bunt leading to runners at the corners with no one out. The reinvigorated Crisp lofted the ball deep enough to center so that even Suzuki’s lethal arm could not stop Drew from scoring the tying run.

That would be the only run in the visitor’s favor. Ryan Feierabend baffled Red Sox batters in the top halves of five innings and George Sherrill, Brandon Morrow, J.J. Putz, and Jason Davis combined to shut out Boston for three and two-thirds innings. Putz nullified David Ortiz in the ninth by striking the designated hitter out with 97 MPH heat.

The only bullpen pitchers proven safe and effective with minor side effects, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, combined to close down the Mariners offense. The southpaw did allow Suzuki to get within 90 feet of the tying run but Papelbon took over.

The relief ace looked dominant as ever. Richie Sexson popped out in foul territory on the first pitch of the at bat and Ben Broussard wafted the ball to infield for the final out of regulation play. Papelbon then struck out two of three batters in the tenth.

What’s a close loss without a web gem by the matchless Jose Lopez? Mike Lowell looked to have a surefire single with two out in the tenth but for Lopez’s range and coordination.

Terry Francona went with the hobbled Joel Piñeiro over the other bullpen options. Of course the others had all recently worked, but the move showed exactly how thin Red Sox relief pitching is after the Dynamic Duo.

Piñeiro tantalized by inducing a ground out from Burke but then walked Suzuki. Again Lopez proved pivotal to the game; his fly ball double evaded Manny Ramirez’s glove to score the series-clinching run.

Francona will be outguessed because of his choice to allow Lugo to bat with the bases loaded and three out in the eighth. It should be noted that Alex Cora, who would have likely batted in that spot, ground into a double play to end the 11th. Insert witticism regarding hindsight and optometry.

28 June 2007 ∙ 1:59 PM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Japanese language ∙ Mariners ∙ Matsuzaka

Game 76: June 26, 2007
Red Sox	7	L: Javier Lopez (1-1)	48-28, 2 game losing streak 18-7-2 series record
Mariners	8	BS, W: Eric O’Flaherty (1, 5-0) H: Brandon Morrow (10) H: George Sherrill (11) S: J.J. Putz (22)	41-33, 4 game winning streak 16-10-2 series record
Highlights: Kevin Youkilis now holds the franchise record for errorless games with 120 consecutive games without an error at first base. He surpassed John “Stuffy” McInnis’s mark set in 1921. McInnis record was set in the days when a player had to play nine innings or more in a game for it to contribute to a streak. The Red Sox offense was productive: Mike Lowell tripled in the fifth to tie the game (the Mariners scored two more in the bottom of the inning) and bench player Eric Hinske launched a homer in the sixth to bring his team within a run (only to have Seattle increase the lead again).

One of my favorite rides as a kid was the seesaw, but this wasn’t always the case.

The first time I rode a teetertotter I was about four years old. I was visiting my older cousin Leroy on Oahu, something I often did during hanabata summers. Leroy was my childhood idol because he got to live on the cool island, which had an actual city, comic book stores, and Hakubundo, a Japanese sundries shop where I could get Ultraman and Kikaida toys and books.

You had less traffic, cleaner beaches, and fewer people on Maui, but that sort of thing didn’t interest a otaku tomboy in training.

I learned from one of the best geeks in my cousin Leroy. When he would come to Maui he’d comment on how behind the times we were. We went to see Star Wars and he would nudge me when he knew an exciting part was coming. Of course he had already seen it weeks before on Oahu.

My aunt was of the “kids should play outside” mindset. Forced away from the Atari to “give it rest,” Leroy and I trekked off to a nearby park.

There was a slide, of course, the surface of which was heated like a cookie tin, so we avoided that. We decided that even though Leroy was a little bigger than me we could ride the seesaw together. I clambered on to my end thinking that this was going to be the best thing ever! as my cousin endorsed it.

Then I rocketed into the air, legs dangling, no ground to support me. I looked across the metal plank and Leroy was making his “scary but exciting” expression while whooping.

Upon my first descent I was so thankful to feel the earth even through my rubber slippers. Contact with the blessed ground was too brief. Conflicting thoughts welled in me as reached the apex of the ride and lowered again. I wanted to impress Leroy, but the ride was overwhelming me.

Right at the bottom of my journey I muttered, “I’m scared! I’m getting off!”

Leroy didn’t quite hear me but when he saw me hop off the seesaw his face turned a mask of panic. “No, no, no! Don’t!”

Too late. He plummeted to the ground too quickly to brace himself from the thudding impact of the plank.

Is four too young to learn about the difference between girls and boys in such a way?

Last night’s game was like that ill-fated dandle board incident. (That’s not the word I use for the ride, but I wanted to use Narragansett Bay parlance.) Red Sox fans thought, just like my cousin Leroy thought, the team was getting into a good rhythm with each offensive comeback. But then the pitching would hand the lead back with a resounding clunk.

Kason Gabbard had the shortest outing of any Red Sox starter this season. He was so appalling Jeff Weaver was taking notes on how to have a truly calamitous outing. It started off promisingly enough with Ichiro Suzuki waving ungainly at a curve. But then Gabbard walked Jose Lopez, allowed a single by Jose Vidro, and walked Richie Sexson to load the bases.

After hitting Kenji Johjima to force the first run in, two more runs came on consecutive bases on balls to Jose Guillen and Adrian Beltre.

Gabbard is no longer permitted to face lineups with three or more Joses. Jose Melendez has yet to comment on why his name is to the young lefty is like kryptonite to Superman, but his explanation will surely involve how substituting “k” in a “j” name has angered the Gods of Those Who Have Names That Begin With the Letter “J” (Even if That Letter is Not Necessarily Pronounced With the Typical J Sound [dʒ].

27 June 2007 ∙ 2:31 PM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Gabbard ∙ hanabata days ∙ Mariners

Game 75: June 25, 2007
Red Sox	4	L: Julian Tavarez (5-5)	48-27, 1 game losing streak 18-6-2 series record
Mariners	9	W: Jeff Weaver (2-6) H: Eric O’Flaherty (2)	40-33, 3 game winning streak 15-10-2 series record
Highlights: All of Boston’s runs came from the right side of the defensive alignment; J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis had two RBIs apiece.

In my consciousness, the game was a pitcher’s duel with a smattering of sloppy defense on the Mariners’ side. As I drifted off to sleep in the fourth inning with the score 2-1 in favor of the visitors, I felt victory was assured. After all, the beginning of Jeff Weaver’s 2007 season was listed as one of the historically-awful starting pitching performances by Jay Jaffe in Baseball Prospectus’s Unfiltered blog just last month because of his six consecutive disaster starts.

What is a disaster start? According to Jim Baker of Baseball Prospectus it is when a pitcher allows as many or more runs as innings pitched.

By that definition, Kyle Snyder and Mike Timlin were the Masters of Disaster and Julian Tavarez was their Gatekeeper.

Tavarez served up a leadoff double off the bottom of the center field wall to Adrian Beltre in the fifth. Tavarez’s throw to first on Yuniesky Betancourt’s sacrifice bunt showed why he rolls the ball; the relay went askew and the Mariners short stop stood safe at first.

Three runs for the local nine later, Snyder took the hill to stem the onslaught. He walked two runs in to secure his helm as a captain of calamity.

Snyder’s descendency was subtle compared to Timlin’s meltdown in the seventh. Texas Toast relinquished back-to-back jacks off the bats of Kenji Johjima (with Jason Ellison on) and Beltre.

Even with the minuscule screen size, watching the “highlights” on my iPod were just as distressing. There were flashes of amusement, especially when Richie Sexson, gangling as a giraffe, trundled into the keystone sack for a double in the second inning with Dustin Pedroia covering the station. I thought I was watching a special on the making of the Fellowship of the Ring trilogy.

The Red Sox will attempt to equalize the series against the resurgent Felix Hernandez this evening. The young virtuoso hasn’t returned to his no-hitter form that Boston saw in the opening series, but in his last outing he lasted eight innings and struck out nine. Bear in mind that this was against the piteous Pirates.

Opposing Hernandez is the unexpectedly effective lefty Kason Gabbard. Gabbard is 1-0 in major league starts this season and sports a 7-2 record with a 3.24 ERA for Pawtucket.

26 June 2007 ∙ 10:45 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Mariners ∙ Tavarez ∙ Weaver (Jeff)

Game 74: June 24, 2007
Red Sox	4	W: Josh Beckett (11-1) S: Jonathan Papelbon (18)	48-26, 1 game winning streak 18-6-2 series record
Padres	2	L: Jake Peavy (9-2)	42-32, 1 game losing streak 16-7-2 series record
Highlights: In the eighth Jason Varitek slammed his eighth jack of the season off Scott Linebrink into the beach at Petco Park. Russell Branyan’s Bonoesque sunglasses didn’t help him at the plate (1-4) nor on the field (where he clashed against a teammate to convert an out into a triple for Varitek).

Welcome, Jake Peavy, to a modest simulacrum of the American League. Although I don’t often see you pitch, what I saw unfold yesterday afternoon against the brilliant blue San Diegan sky was a familiar scene: a National League pitcher getting a strong dose of what it could be like to pitch on the junior circuit.

Ask opposing pitcher Josh Beckett what it is like to adapt to the power-hitting lineups of the AL East. He struggled mightily in 2006; without the pitcher in the nine-hole and the immensity of a pitcher-friendly field behind him, he was but a shadow of himself at first.

Just as Peavy was a shade off yesterday, and he didn’t even have to face a designated hitter. Sluggish defensive play had the starter bolting hither and yon to cover bases. Adrian Gonzalez lackadaisically rounded a grounder off J.D. Drew’s bat and nonchalantly flipped it to his pitcher. Peavy had to make dash for first to beat Drew to the bag, ending up sliding headfirst to get the out.

After striking out Mike Lowell, Peavy found himself at the opposite corner fending off a baserunner. Jason Varitek blooped the ball to the no man’s land along the third base line just far enough so that both the left fielder and shortstop could make a play on the ball if they ran.

Russell Branyan and Khalil Greene did run -- into each other. While the pair was hugger-mugger in foul territory, rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff had also made a half-hearted attempt to field the ball and didn’t think to return to third to cover his position. He stared befuddled at the scene before him but avoided getting into the trajectory of Branyan’s relay to third.

Peavy and second baseman Geoff Blum both tried to converge at the hot corner to nail Varitek. Both came up empty and Peavy got the worse part of the pileup against a catcher and the infield dirt.

Despite the gift triple the Red Sox didn’t score until the next inning. The fielding bedlam took a toll on the Padres ace; in the third he allowed six singles. The sequence included impressive at bats from Coco Crisp, who worked him for 10 pitches, and Alex Cora, who extracted seven throws. David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Mike Lowell enjoyed rib-eyes at the hurler’s expense.

Ortiz’s run in particular was a thing of beauty and wonder. He chugged from second to home on Lowell’s soft and shallow liner, evading the tag as he slid to the outside of the plate and swept his left hand across home, much like one of his handshakes.

Despite the rough outing, Peavy’s peripherals show that he could be an ace in the junior circuit, just as Beckett transformed himself.

Beckett cruised until the fifth. Kouzmanoff redeemed himself with a leadoff walk and Blum followed up with a rope to center. Pinch hitter Termel Sledge drove both infielders in with a ringing double to the left-center gap. Power threat Gonzalez as neutralized; he grounded out meekly to second in his first at bat and struck out in his three other plate appearances.

The two runs weren’t enough to overcome Beckett, however, who looked like his National League self with a line of eight innings, six hits, two earned runs, one base on balls, and eight strikeouts. He even carved a single in the fourth inning (which was more than the massively slumping Julio Lugo summoned in his last seven games).

Hideki Okajima got the day off as Beckett covered his shift in the penultimate inning. Jonathan Papelbon polished off the lower part of the order in 14 pitches for a spot of exertion. It’s good to get in a light workout against teams like the Padres before returning to the grind of the American League. Just ask the Yankees, who had the pushover Giants for a series by the bay.

Oh, San Diego are in contention for the NL West and is considered a force in the senior circuit? And the Yankees lost the series to the cellar-dwelling San Francisco club? I really should do better research. I do know that the Yankees are now in third place in the AL East, 11.5 games behind your division-leading Boston Red Sox, a phrase that is music to one’s ears.

25 June 2007 ∙ 12:24 PM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 2
Tags: Beckett ∙ interleague ∙ Padres ∙ Peavy ∙ Varitek

Game 73: June 23, 2007
Red Sox	1	L: Tim Wakefield (7-8)	47-26, 1 game losing streak 17-6-2 series record
Padres	6	W: Chris Young (7-3)	42-31, 1 game winning streak 16-6-2 series record
Highlights: Dustin Pedroia had his first steal of his major league career in the first inning. Terry Francona was ejected in the bottom of the sixth after the second umpires’ conference of the evening. Francona has far to go to tie Bobby Cox’s mark of 131 tossings, a record the Braves manager now shares with John McGraw.

Chris Young carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. J.D. Drew, No-Hit Spoiler Extraordinaire, poked a seeing-eye single between first and second. After Mike Lowell reached on a fielding error by greenhorn Kevin Kouzmanoff, Young took matters onto his own arm. He plowed through the bottom third of the order, Doug Mirabelli, Julio Lugo, and Tim Wakefield, with a mere 11 pitches.

Mirabelli’s career, of course, is inextricably entwined with that of Josh Bard. In the panic trade in May of 2006, Mirabelli was traded from San Diego back to Boston for Bard, Cla Meredith, and cash. Kevin Towers was glad to be rid of Mirabelli as the catcher constantly bombarded him with requests to be moved.

In 2007, Bard is maintaining .263 BA, .340 OBP, and .377 slugging percentage over 175 at bats. Mirabelli has had 66 at bats with .182 BA, .239 OBP, and .288 slugging.

Bard couldn’t catch the butterfly ball but he could hit. It must have been terribly satisfying for Bard to launch a two-run home run in the sixth against the pitcher who indirectly led to his jettison from the Red Sox. Bard may have divulged his hints to Khalil Greene, as the Padres shortstop tallied two circuit clouts off the knuckler.

Aside from the visiting team the other person having a rough night of it was Brian Knight. In the fifth he called a Kevin Kouzmanoff liner trapped by Manny Ramirez an out, but the ruling was reversed after a meeting. In the next inning he called Bard’s fly ball to left foul while replays showed it was fair. Bard, showing he learned from his previous brouhaha at PNC Park, waited patiently for the call to be hashed out amongst the officials.

Terry Francona finally lost his patience over the officials’ volte-face. He probably also was trying to fire up his team by getting tossed after the second reversed call, but no dog and pony show could derail the Padres young starter. He collected 11 strikeouts over seven innings while walking only two.

Call-up David Murphy scored the only run of the evening for Boston. He laced a perfectly placed line drive to the right-center gap for a triple and plated on Mike Lowell’s near-homer to center. The rookie broke the goose egg, but Mirabelli couldn’t find a way to extend the game.

Tonight’s rubber game is the marquee match-up of Josh Beckett and Jake Peavy, the jewel of a series that already featured a star-studded slate of starters. This will be the second time these pitchers have gone head-to-head; in that contest on August 18, 2005, Beckett prevailed.

24 June 2007 ∙ 12:23 PM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bard (Josh) ∙ interleague ∙ Padres

Game 72: June 22, 2007
Red Sox	2	W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-5) H: Javier Lopez (8) H: Manny Delcarmen (2) H: Hideki Okajima (12) S: Jonathan Papelbon (17)	47-25, 3 game winning streak 17-6-2 series record
Padres	1	L: Greg Maddux (6-4)	41-31, 3 game losing streak 16-6-2 series record
Highlights: The Red Sox tallied their first win against Maddux; they are now 5-1 against him. Despite the loss, both starters were cool customers; Matsuzaka won by overcoming his early wildness and playing with an offense that strung together a few timely hits. Grammar pundits may deride the overuse of the word “cool” in English, but in four letters it has captured the gamut of what is stylish and acceptable in youth culture for decades. The Japanese equivalent is kakkoii; kakko means appearance or manner and ii means good. It’s a concept that covers everything from awesome to stylish to having that ineffable aesthetic in attitude and demeanor that sets you apart from the rest. It’s the essence of Daisuke.

The Padres, despite their fashion sense, is a spiffy National League team. The San Diego starting rotation ranks among the best in both leagues and the NL West divisional race, featuring divergent front and field management styles of the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Rockies, should prove to be one of the more exciting this season. Demonstrating the pitching prowess of the Padres:

• They lead the majors in team ERA with 3.04. The Red Sox are no slouches themselves, ranking third with 3.69.
• Opposing teams have plucked the fruit of the hen 11 times. Boston and Oakland are tied for second with seven shutouts.
• Of course the vastness of Petco Park has much to do with this, but Padres pitchers have given up only 37 home runs. Fourteen of those homers came at Petco in 35 games and 23 away over the course of 36 games.

Just as the color of the names on the back of the Padres jerseys of the 80s don’t match the number, San Diego’s hitting doesn’t meet the standards of excellence set by its hurlers. Again, Petco’s park factors depresses its home offense, but consider that the Detroit lineup the similarly spacious Comerica Park is second in triples with 23 while the Padres are in the middle of the majors with 12. Other indicators of the Padres’ average offense:

• With just .317 they are 26th in OBP.
• Their .393 slugging matches the Cardinals and the Twins, the former being a disappointing team and the latter another pitching-heavy club.
• Overly aggressive plate approach lands them second in the majors in strikeouts with 568.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, garbed in the sedate road uniforms of 20 years ago, was out of sorts in the first inning. He walked Marcus Giles, Jose Cruz, and Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases, throwing six strikes out of 18 pitches. Mike Cameron popped out in foul territory for a slight reprieve, but the newly acquired Michael Barrett laced an RBI single to left for the early lead. Matsuzaka collected himself to strike out Khalil Greene and induce a fly out from Russell Branyan.

In the remainder of his five innings on the hill the Padres sprinkled five hits and bases on balls here and there, but only Greene in the sixth made it to within 90 feet of the tying run. When there were runs threatening, Matsuzaka would notch timely strikeouts, like his whiff of Giles to end the sixth. Boston pitchers compiled 13 strikeouts: nine for Matsuzaka and two each for Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon.

Greg Maddux’s poor inning was, ironically enough, the fourth. A quartet of hitters, Dustin Pedroia, Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Varitek, scattered the hits for the only two runs of the game. The brace of scores was enough in a pitcher’s duel.

If an umpire other than Brian Knight didn’t man home plate this game could have gone into extra innings. Knight called the 0-2 pitch to Youkilis that skirted the outside corner a ball. It glanced on the spot where Maddux stakes his Hall of Fame career on. Knowing he just missed striking out, Youkilis jumped on the next pitch to plate the tying run.

It was game-hardened Maddux that let the pressure get to him, not Matsuzaka. He fell behind Varitek on his pitch, forcing him to throw one over with too much of the plate. Varitek lined the offering past the leather of the multiple Gold Glove winning pitcher for the go-ahead run.

Coco Crisp continued to show signs of his reinvigoration at the dish, going 3-for-4 and extending his hit streak to a season-high eight games. Meanwhile Julio Lugo plumbed new depths of futility; he slipped below the Mendoza line and his hitless in his last five games.

David Murphy, recalled to the major league club take Curt Schilling’s spot, replaced Wily Mo Peña in the sixth. He struck out in his only at bat, which came against Royce Ring. Kason Gabbard or possibly Jon Lester will be summoned to make a start when Schilling’s place in the rotation comes up.

Like most places where Boston visits, Red Sox fans commandeered the stadium. Petco, despite its beauty, is not the place to find steadfast home team fans. Hence the theme night gimmickry that entailed displaying David Ortiz decked out like Mr. T and Ramirez coiffed like a hair band guitarist on the scoreboard.

It is the organization that spawned Theo Epstein and employs the much-lauded Kevin Towers as general manager. With the talent infusing the front office and the rotation, combined with its spectacular location, the team should have a rabid cadre of supporters. I suppose between personal training, therapy, and cosmetic reconstruction sessions San Diegans don’t have much time for baseball.

23 June 2007 ∙ 10:20 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 2
Tags: interleague ∙ Japanese language ∙ Maddux ∙ Matsuzaka ∙ Padres

Game 71: June 20, 2007
Red Sox	11	W: Julian Tavarez (5-4)	46-25, 2 game winning streak 17-6-2 series record
Braves	0	L: Buddy Carlyle (1-2)	38-35, 2 game losing streak 13-7-4 series record
Highlights: With Curt Schilling close to being placed on the 15-day disabled list, yet another Red Sox rotation member stepped it up to score another win. Oddly enough, I called Tavarez’s line to a friend before the game. He had just dropped Yoyo and I said he’d probably have a seven-inning three-hitter. Now if I could just win the lifetime season tickets from the Massachusetts State Lottery.

In honor of the number of runs scored in this game, which happens to be Bill Mueller’s number with the Red Sox as well as my favorite number, here’s last night’s game by the numbers.

One: Walks allowed by Julian Tavarez. Kelly Johnson received the free pass in the seventh.

Two: Intentional walks by Earl “Buddy” Carlyle; Jason Varitek in the first and David Ortiz in the fourth.

Three: Hits mustered by the home team. Willie Harris broke up a string of ten Braves in a row dismissed by Tavarez in the fourth. None were for extra bases.

Four: Homers produced by Coco Crisp so far this year. Three came in this series.

Five: The number of pitchers Bobby Cox burned in the blowout. Also the number of circuit clouts authored by the Red Sox; J.D. Drew, Crisp, Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Eric Hinske made the rounds.

Six: Minutes for Ramirez and Alex Cora to complete their elaborate pre-game handshake routine.

Seven: Games in a row in which Crisp has a hit. Innings by Tavarez, by reputation Boston’s least skilled starter but by recent results a solid option.

Eight: Red Sox runners left on base.

Nine: Hits relinquished by Carlyle in three and two-thirds innings of work.

Ten: Doubles by Drew this season; his tenth came in the second.

Eleven: Four-baggers by Ramirez in 2007; the eleventh disembarked in the seventh.

Atlanta is the class of the National League and yet Boston blanked them back-to-back to nail down the series win on the road as well as the season series triumph against their natural rivals.

When Josh Beckett had to mend the Red Sox didn’t miss a beat on their march to divisional dominance. Curt Schilling’s ineffectual outings are not the result of structural damage, but the aging hurler needs time off to relieve shoulder pain. In his absence, the team’s mettle is tested again and fans may have a sneak preview of Futures at Fenway with a call-up from Pawtucket.

The long-awaited return of Jon Lester could be in the offing, but fellow lefty Kason Gabbard is also a possibility according to Jeff Horrigan of the Boston Herald. The countdown to this pivotal decision begins.

21 June 2007 ∙ 6:23 PM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Braves ∙ interleague ∙ Lester ∙ Schilling ∙ Tavarez

Game 70: June 19, 2007
Red Sox	4	W: Josh Beckett (10-1)	45-25, 1 game winning streak 16-6-2 series record
Braves	0	L: Tim Hudson (6-5)	38-34, 1 game losing streak 13-6-4 series record
Highlights: The Red Sox improved their record to 6-4 in shutout games. Curt Schilling left the team to get an MRI back in Boston (results were thankfully negative), but Beckett proved that his shoulders could carry the team until Schilling returns or Jon Lester is recalled. Dustin Pedroia went vertical to nab Scott Thorman’s extra base bid in the second. Coco Crisp out-highlighted center field counterpart Andruw Jones with an airborne snatch of Hudson’s liner in the fifth.

Where are these doppelgängers of former Red Sox players produced? Is there a lab someplace where the Edgar Renterias of the world get baseball aptitude rejuvenation shots? Perhaps it happens in those places replete with clean rooms where dirty deeds play out. Behind the doors in those pristine halls the splicing of genes of aardvarks into artichokes to make for protein-rich vegetables that also devours deleterious insects happens just the down the corridor from where the conversion of Willie Harris from bench fodder to a serviceable major leaguer also occurs. It’s a gallimaufry of horrors, those laboratories of unnatural mutation.

The Braves turned Harris from .156 batting average, .250 OBP, and .200 slugging in 45 at bats to .385, .446, and .513 in 117 ABs and Renteria from .293, .361, and .436 in 623 ABs to .333, .395, and .521 in 267 ABs. The force of change that Leo Mazzone used to bring to the pitching staff before he left the Braves has now been supplanted by the Midas touch of Atlanta hitting coach Terry Pendleton.

But Pendleton’s magic didn’t help his hitters overcome the onslaught of Josh Beckett. He didn’t tally a tremendous number of strikeouts (just three) in his rain-curtailed six innings of work, but he walked only two and allowed a mere four hits. The only extra base hit the entire Red Sox pitching staff relinquished last night was a first inning double off the wall by none other than Harris.

The Red Sox batters must have read up on literary theory before authoring this game. The first three innings comprised the rising action, the last three falling action, and the middle provided the climax, perfectly placed in the middle of the game.

David Ortiz homered for the 12th time in 2007 in the fourth inning, whetting the appetite for the next inning.

Alex Cora led off by tripling past a diving Andruw Jones and Beckett doubled to the left-center gap to plate Cora. Showing some baserunning acumen, Beckett tagged up on J.D. Drew’s fly out to center and traversed home on Dustin Pedroia’s gutshot single.

Beckett must have shared his tips with Jason Varitek in the dugout when their paths crossed. The catcher made a heads-up baserunning play with one out in the sixth. He saw that Scott Thorman was unable to corral his grounder and that Kelly Johnson didn’t back up the play. Coco Crisp singled to match his season-high hitting streak and advance Varitek to third.

Bobby Cox retrieved Tim Hudson from the mound but the switch did not stop Cora from lofting the ball deep enough into right field to allow the Red Sox backstop from tagging up.

Terry Francona seemed to be reading too many of Joe Torre’s tomes with his reliance on Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon for the final innings. But unlike the Yankees skipper, Francona realized that holding the lead in this game meant that they would not be swept by the Braves and used his assets accordingly. When Torre calls on his bullpen it’s like an addict reaching for his crack pipe; when Francona does so it’s putting a bandage over a vaccination site.

20 June 2007 ∙ 2:08 PM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Beckett ∙ Braves ∙ interleague

Game 69: June 18, 2007
Red Sox	4	L: Curt Schilling (6-4)	44-25, 1 game losing streak 16-6-2 series record
Braves	9	W: Chuck James (6-6)	38-33, 1 game winning streak 13-6-4 series record
Highlights: Coco Crisp seemed to reap the benefit of his recent change in stance. Crisp went 4-for-4 and propelled two home runs, one in the second and another in the sixth. Historically Crisp has had more power from the right side, but the tinkering has helped him on both sides of the plate. The center fielder has hits in his last five games, just one shy of his season-high hitting streak.

“Okay, Curt. Breathe deeply with me. Concentrate on just the feeling of the air filling your lungs.” Coco sat peacefully on a yoga mat with legs crossed. His eyes were closed and his face relaxed. Across from him lurched Curt Schilling, legs ungainly attempting to align themselves in the criss-crossed manner Coco so easily assumed.

“Can’t. Get my. Legs like that,” he grunted.

“Focus on your breathing,” the outfielder urged again, opening one eye to observe the awkward angles Curt’s body. “Time. Matters not. The past. Matters not. Live in the present.”

At last the pitcher’s bulk formed in to something vaguely conducive to a meditative state. “Hey! I got it! Look!”

Crisp’s eyes remained shut. “Shhh.... Close your eyes and breathe.”

“Okay, sorry.” It was Schilling’s turn to peek. He lifted his eyelids a crack to ensure he was correctly seated.

“Eyes. Shut.” Barely able to conceal his shocked expression at being caught, Curt abruptly snapped his eyes shut as directed.

Moments passed. Curt was on the verge of slumber, his deeper suspirations indicated to Crisp he had better introduce the next phase of the process before his initiate fell completely asleep. “Curt,” Crisp intoned.

Schilling started at the sound and tried to recollect himself into the correct position. Sopor got the better of him, however.

“Curt, now we will visualize your ultimate goal. For example, I envision myself arcing home runs into the stands.”

“Home runs... into the stands,” echoed Curt blearily.

“Soaring high and deep. Majestic. Deep breaths. ”

“High and deep.”

“Curt, I will count backwards from three. When you hear me say “one,” you will emerge from your meditative state. Three. Two. One.”

Schilling remained still, shoulders hunched.

Coco frowned. “Curt, did you fall asleep?” he asked sharply.

Curt’s head bobbed up and his eyes whipped open. “No, no. I was there, man. Completely meditating.” He tried to win over his mentor with a zestful grin.

The center fielder looked skeptical but was eventually convinced by Curt’s smile. “So, what did you visualize?”

“Oh, man, all sorts of things. Flying over purple mountain majesties. Real heady stuff.”

Looking pleased with his pupil’s progress, Coco reached over and clapped his charge on the shoulder. “Excellent, Curt. We’ll do this again next week?”

“Sure thing, Coco.” His words of agreement were not congruent with the grimaced etched on his face as he tried to uncoil his legs.

“Cool. Good luck on your start tonight.” Crisp leaped from the mat to his legs in a blink.

“Thanks, and good luck with that new stance thing.”

19 June 2007 ∙ 9:45 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Braves ∙ Crisp ∙ interleague

Game 68: June 17, 2007
Giants	5	L: Matt Morris (7-4)	30-38, 4 game losing streak 7-12-4 series record
Red Sox	9	W: Tim Wakefield (7-7) H: Manny Delcarmen (1) H: Joel Piñeiro (1)	44-24, 3 game winning streak 16-6-2 series record
Highlights: The Red Sox are 6-1 in series sweeps and have only lost two games when playing on Sunday. The win tipped Boston into a .500 record in June. Brendan Donnelly was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strain to his right forearm muscle and Delcarmen was recalled from the Pawtucket Red Sox to take Donnelly’s place on the roster. I strain my own arm just watching Donnelly’s savage delivery.

Boston swept the Giants out of town yesterday with a convincing 9-5 trouncing. But the Red Sox sweep, unlike the Yankees domination of the Pirates, garnered few national media accolades.

The expectation is that teams like the Red Sox and Yankees will clobber the cellar dwellers of the senior circuit. When the Yankees do so, it is an outstanding feat of revitalization and supremacy. When Boston mirrors the exploit, it is brushed aside as an afterthought.

Just after the completion of the U.S. Open I called my dad, Maui resident and ESPN addict, to wish him a happy Father’s Day. The first thing he mentioned was the failure against the Rockies, not the team’s most recent triumph. Five time zones away folks like him get ESPN’s message loud and clear: only the happenings in the Bronx Zoo are of any note.

We laughed about David Ortiz’s commercial for SportsCenter where he does his pre-game ritual of spitting and clapping before shaking the hands of a family touring the complex. I told him about how Ortiz’s son D’Angelo mimics his dad.

I wish I could have taken him to Fenway yesterday, and not just for my own selfish wish to play catch on the field. My dad would stand respectfully during the extended rendition of “God Bless America” but would have been to first to comment about its length. “I ain’t never heard all those words before,” he’d drawl. “He took so long my beer got warm.”

My dad moved from Oklahoma to Hawai‘i when he was 25 years old. He met my mom when she was trying to piece her life back together after divorcing my father, who had all but abandoned us before I was a year old.

There’s something to be said about a man who would love a child as if she were his own flesh, implicitly and unconditionally. He adopted me after my parents got married. It wasn’t demanded or even requested by my mom. When my dad and mom had a daughter when I was almost 10 years old, I was never treated any differently from her.

This reaches embarrassing extremes these days. My sister is struggling to make ends meet with her first job out of college, and my dad insisted on sending birthday checks of the same amount.

If me and my dad were at Fenway yesterday, I’d be the one paying.

He’d be the first to comment on Manny Ramirez’s hustle to beat out the twin killing in the first. “He really tore ass there.”

Tim Wakefield’s brisk pace would be appreciated. “I like this knuckleball guy. He just gets to work, no lollygagging around.”

I’m not a complete Barry Bonds apologist, but Dad would see and say things simply. “Look at his head, Joanna. That’s not anything natural, I can tell you that.” He wouldn’t applaud the slugger’s sixth-inning round-tripper despite being a wide-eyed tourist, but he wouldn’t boo either.

“That little guy can’t be very much bigger than you,” he’d say about Dustin Pedroia. I’m barely five feet tall.

As Ramirez’s seventh-inning homer carried through the summer air he’d exclaim, “That thing got small fast!”

Happy Father’s Day, Dad.

18 June 2007 ∙ 11:00 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Giants ∙ interleague ∙ Wakefield

Game 67: June 16, 2007
Giants	0	L: Matt Cain (2-7)	30-37, 3 game losing streak 7-12-4 series record
Red Sox	1	W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-5) H: Hideki Okajima (11) S: Jonathan Papelbon (16)	43-24, 2 game winning streak 16-6-2 series record
Highlights: Kaibutsu means monster, and is, of course, Matsuzaka’s nickname in Japan. The first kanji means suspicious, mystery, or apparition and the second signifies thing, object, or manner. One pronunciation for the second symbol, mono, turns the idea in front of it into a tangible category of items. For example, in the word for food, tabemono [食べ物], the first two characters form the root for the concept of eating. Matsuzaka had the Giants’ lineup for a mid-afternoon snack.

The only thing that marred this classic pitching duel was that Fox televised it. At one point generic play-by-play guy called Kevin Youkilis by Mike Lowell’s name. Lowell must surely resent the physical comparison, as his goatee is tidy and Youkilis’s is verging on becoming the facial hair equivalent of Manny Ramirez’s dreadlocks.

Matt Cain remains a tough luck twirler for a hapless San Francisco offense. Ten of his 14 starts have been quality starts and yet he has only two wins to his credit. Of the 25 National League pitchers with ERAs below three, only he and Doug Davis of the Diamondbacks have less than five wins, and Davis has twice as many victories as Cain does.

Cain’s margin of error was as narrow as Fenway’s legroom. His hanging slider to Manny Ramirez in the fourth was the difference between losing in regulation and defeat in extra innings. That is how woebegone the Giants batters were.

It would be a shame if Brian Sabean allowed the scintillating pitching trio of Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Noah Lowry to toil in futility. They can look to the top of their rotation, Barry Zito, to see the outcome of promise unfulfilled. How odd that two teams of such divergent organizational philosophies, the Athletics and the Giants, would find themselves in similar situations albeit at different points in time.

Dave Roberts. (Pause for ovation.) Roberts recited the Giants lineup and because he is who he is no Red Sox fan minded that he pimped his teammates while doing so. Jim Rice was tapped for task for the Red Sox and he proved infinitely less annoying than Reggie Jackson when he acted as if he were still a part of the Yankees clubhouse. (Adjusts homer hearing aid.)

For the first time in 2007 Daisuke Matsuzaka didn’t allow a run to score; he lasted seven innings, allowed three hits and three bases on balls, but whiffed eight. He came close to losing the game in the top of the fifth, allowing a leadoff walk to Randy Winn and a seeing-eye single to Ray Durham. Pitching to Barry Bonds with two on and no out usually proves perilous, but Matsuzaka induced a weak tapper to Alex Cora.

Bengie Molina’s atom ball to Cora nearly erased Winn from third, but an out, any out, was essential. Matsuzaka tried to come in on call-up Nate Schierholtz but plunked him to jam the bases. Rich Aurilia, who had struck out in his previous two appearances, was a mere spectator on the pitch that ended the inning.

Aurilia took issue with home plate umpire Charlie Reliford’s call, but how can you argue with a guy that gives away authentic baseballs? In the seventh he gifted a ball to a kid in the first row of the box seats. The child’s eyes were agog as Reliford handed it over while saying “We make it dirty on purpose. Play with it, don’t save it.”

Fortunately that’s not the motto of the Red Sox bullpen aces Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon.

Winn and Durham repeated their fifth inning performance with a walk and single combination in the eighth.  Durham was caught by the camera gazing at the figure on the hill with amazement, as if he had never seen anyone with that delivery and repertoire, but he recovered to line a base hit.

With the game in the balance John Farrell sauntered out for a visit with the rookie southpaw. Whatever words were exchanged worked: Bonds struck out without taking a hack, Molina flied out shallowly to right, and pinch hitter Kevin Frandsen poked into a force out to short.

Coco Crisp and J.D. Drew of late have weathered the scorn of fans over their unmet potential. Yet is was this twosome who granted a glimmer of hope for insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. In the day-to-day reversals only witnessed in baseball, Dustin Pedroia grounded into an inning-killing double play less than 24 hours after his best performance of his career so far.

Papelbon manhandled the three hitters he faced with little ado. Only Framingham-born Mark Sweeney saw more than four pitches, but he rolled out second to seal the series for his favorite team. Despite the loss, Sweeney probably enjoys his role as bench player more than Crowd Control Supervisor at Fenway.

17 June 2007 ∙ 10:40 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Giants ∙ Japanese language ∙ Matsuzaka ∙ Sweeney (Mark)

Game 66: June 15, 2007
Giants	2	L: Barry Zito (6-5)	30-36, 2 game losing streak 7-11-4 series record
Red Sox	10	W: Julian Tavarez (4-4)	42-24, 1 game winning streak 15-6-2 series record
Highlights: Alive! It’s alive! The Red Sox offense notched six runs against old friend Zito. Tavarez went seven for the second time this season with a line of two earned runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. Hideki Okajima and Joel Piñeiro got some low-leverage work in the eighth and ninth; each allowed one hit and walked and struck out none. Manny Ramirez legged out of a double play in the bottom of the third, dreadlocks jouncing in tandem with his rapid strides.

Dustin Pedroia was unstoppable with the bat last night, going 5-for-5 with five RBIs. He fell a triple short of the cycle; if he had Kevin Youkilis’s wheels he may have been able to stretch his eight-inning double to the left-center gap into a triple.

Another second baseman proved pivotal in the last series the Giants played at Fenway. It happened to be the eighth and deciding game of the 1912 World Series. The series stood tied 3-3, as Game 2 was a tie that was called on account of darkness. (I like that this weekend’s games are being played in the afternoon, probably because of network contracts and travel obligations more than anything, but it lends a throwback feel to the series.)

Contemporary written accounts of Game 8 are riveting, as this article by John Foster in Spaulding’s Official Base Ball Guide - 1913, demonstrates, but the series finale at Fenway was sparsely attended because there were rumors that the fix was on. Foster did not allude to this possible malfeasance, attributing the smaller crowd to fans’ displeasure over seating.

Giants ace Christy Mathewson started against Hugh Bedient, who had not won any of his series starts. The game was scoreless until the seventh when Jake Stahl popped a single to center and was driven in by Olaf Henriksen, who batted in place of Bedient.

Smoky Joe Wood and Mathewson matched goose eggs until the 10th. The Giants took the lead with Red Murray’s one-out double and Fred Merkle’s RBI single. Wood got the final two outs of the frame but not without being injured by Chief Meyers’s comebacker.

Clyde Engle batted for Wood, and it was his fly to deep center that Fred Snodgrass would bungle. With Engle on second, Snodgrass would make an outstanding catch of Harry Hooper’s shot to center.

Yerkes, representing the series-winning run, finagled a free pass from the great Mathewson.

Mathewson bent every energy to strike out Yerkes, but the batter would not go after the wide curves which were being served to him by the New York pitcher and finally was given a base on balls.

The Giants could have ended the series but for Merkle, Meyers, and Mathewson failing to come up with Tris Speaker’s foul pop. Speaker plated Engle on a single to right which also advanced Yerkes to third. Yerkes scored on Larry Gardner’s sacrifice fly.

Yet so keen had been the struggle, so great the excitement, so wonderful the rally of the New York club after having once given the series away, that it was the opinion generally that the defeated were as great in defeat as the victors were great in victory.

Yerkes proved the difference between a $4,024.68 payday compared to $2,566.47. Yerkes jumped to the Federal League in 1914 to earn $6,500, which was $3,000 more than his Red Sox salary.

There was never a golden age of the game except in our own grandiose imaginations. Greed, hubris, vanity, and all the rest of the seven sins are the mainstays of this sport. Any player who says he plays for the love of the game is lying. If that were really the case, he would be on a dirt field in the Dominican, a side street in Kyoto, a field in Missouri, reveling in the ebb and flow of the sport without spectators; in short, anywhere but a perfectly manicured major league playing surface.

Controversy and great baseball are ever entwined. Is this classic series from 1912 any less because of unproven allegations that the series was fixed?

I am not a fan of Barry Bonds. But would he have done those things he is alleged to have done had fans like us conjured glamor in the longball? An infatuation aided and abetted by the commissioner’s office, who turned a blind eye to wrongdoings because money overflowed the league’s coffers.

Bonds is a perfect confluence of personality and circumstance to produce a scapegoat for Bud Selig’s blatant neglect to clean up his league.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

Dennis Eckersley was in fine fettle. When asked what would he do if faced Bonds in an at bat that would be the record-breaking homer, Eckersley sportingly said he’d take his chances given the slugger’s age. He said, paraphrasing from memory, “I’m not shy. I’ll throw my 89-MPH heater up there. So what if it’s history? Everywhere I go it’s Gibson, Gibson, Gibson.”

In the background, the man on stilts swerved through the crowd donning a 1908 uniform. The 1912 uniform isn’t very much different from today’s save for the lack of red piping around the placket and collar.

Dave Roberts received a thunderous ovation from the Fenway audience. Everything that could be said about him and Game 4 has been said and much better than I ever could. Bob Ryan’s column is a shining example of what The Steal meant and continues to mean.

David Ortiz acted the part of Julian Tavarez in the first, throwing a tantrum after striking out looking. The designated hitter was ejected when, after getting in home plate umpire’s face to argue balls and strikes, he hurled his helmet and bat down near at the top of the steps of the dugout. Terry Francona defended Ortiz’s actions to no avail.

Interestingly, Randazzo was part of a physical confrontation with Clint Hurdle in 2006, which was documented by Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Ray King, who complained about the strike zone, was ejected along with Hurdle.

“This guy, Tony Randazzo behind the plate today, was totally out of line,” King said. “This guy was walking right up the line, getting in your face and hoping to agitate. The guy behind the plate today, from pitch one, I thought missed a lot of calls.”

Such an erratic strike zone suits an unconventional pitcher like Tavarez. Yet again Tavarez bowled a batted ball to this first baseman, this time in the fifth with Randy Winn attempting to extend the inning. Tavarez’s momentum took him towards foul territory. He looked as if he couldn’t keep his balance and since he had touched the ball without seeing if it would dribble foul anyway, the roll seemed justifiable. Winn was in the correct path to first, so even if a relay to first hit Winn he would probably be allowed to remain on first.

Momentum, they say, only goes as far as the next day’s starting pitchers. If anyone can derail Boston’s rediscovered offense it would be ace apparent Matt Cain. He opposes another emergent star, Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Images of baseball card courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Lot 13163-30, no. 117.

16 June 2007 ∙ 9:45 AM ∙ History & June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Giants ∙ interleague ∙ Tavarez

Game 65: June 14, 2007
Rockies	7	W: Jeff Francis (6-5)	33-33, 2 game winning streak 7-11-4 series record
Red Sox	1	L: Josh Beckett (9-1)	41-24, 2 game losing streak 15-6-2 series record
Highlights: Manny Ramirez’s Cutoff in the Outfield (patent pending) attempt in the third. Ramirez’s attempt at high socks were not about tailoring to the correct length below the knee like everyone else but rather gathering up the excess material and rubber banding it above the shin for a bishop sleeve affect. C’est très sportif! On a close call at home in the seventh, Ramirez represented the only Boston run of the evening.

How sad is it that all of the Red Sox’s offensive production fits in the highlight box?

Jeff Francis played on Red Sox fans’ paranoia over unfamiliar lefties. “Our team can’t hit against them! We look like a bunch of A-ballers against pitchers we don’t know!” goes the refrain.

But yet again the oft-repeated adage played itself out to the tune of a five-inning, six-strikeout showing by the junior twirler.

I still don’t get why Rockies field manager Clint Hurdle didn’t even bother to let Chris Iannetta have one at bat while his team was at Fenway. I hope Iannetta carries resentment over Hurdle’s lack of consideration, blossoms into the catcher he was projected to be, and replaces Jason Varitek when the veteran’s contract expires and he becomes Boston’s manager.

All that is hopefully in the future. The present is somewhat worrisome, but unlike Yankee fans we no longer dwell in the past. “Nineteen seventy-eight!” doesn’t roll trippingly off the tongue, does it?

I understand that much has been made to celebrate the 1967 Impossible Dream team this year. It’s partially Red Sox marketing-driven nostalgia but mostly a genuine recapturing of that season that brought the town so close to rapture.

The lineup last night featured J.D. Drew leading off. Given his OBP, this is a statistically sound decision, especially in light of the desperate pair that Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo make. Drew could have easily been the hero of the game rather than the goat if his line shot in the second wasn’t gloved by rookie Troy Tulowitzki. It was an especially memorable out because the bases were loaded with a single out and the futility twins Crisp and Lugo had reached on a base on balls and error respectively. To squander that rare occurrence as Drew and Dustin Pedroia did with his swinging strikeout set the tone for the evening.

Faced with the same circumstance in the top of the third slumping Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins lofted Josh Beckett’s offering into the first row of the Monster seats. Home plate umpire James Hoye gave an assist to Atkins by calling what was clearly a curveball strike authored by Beckett as a ball.

The Red Sox look to turn their homestand around against the Giants. The franchise hasn’t visited Fenway since 1912, the year the park opened and the season when Boston celebrated its second world championship against the New York Giants. The team is currently last in its division but does feature the inimitable Dave Roberts on its roster.

Welcome back to where everybody knows your game.

15 June 2007 ∙ 10:46 AM ∙ June 2007 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0

Game 64: June 13, 2007
Rockies	12	W: Josh Fogg (2-5)	33-33, 1 game winning streak 6-11-4 series record
Red Sox	2	L: Curt Schilling (6-3)	41-23, 1 game losing streak 15-5-2 series record
Highlights: Mike Lowell atoned for his run-scoring error in the second (his 12th of the season) with his 12th homer of the season in the bottom of the same inning. The only other Red Sox run came with three consecutive singles by Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez in the third.

Well, that was a brief stint for Dustin Pedroia leading off. Using his numbers against Josh Fogg (5-11 with two home runs), Terry Francona started Alex Cora at second instead of the rookie and had the utility man batting eighth. Julio Lugo remained in the nine-hole but Coco Crisp led off, meaning the lineup’s poorest producers were back-to-back.

Fogg was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on December 13, 1976. When I went to Tuesday’s game I noticed he and Chris Iannetta, who was born in Providence, were soaking in Fenway’s atmosphere. For Fogg it seemed that playing in his birth state inspired him to transcend his 1-5 record and 5.06 ERA. By the time Fogg left the hill in the fifth the Red Sox had helped him reduce his ERA to 4.95.

The Red Sox pitchers, both starter and key relievers, did not come through in high leverage situations. Curt Schilling relinquished a three-run bomb by Brad Hawpe into Thome territory in the fifth.

In the sixth Todd Helton took the box with two out and ducks on the pond. Francona called on Javier Lopez, who can usually be relied upon for a weak tap to the infield for final outs. Instead Helton lined to a region of left field where Manny Ramirez’s usually effective tactic of playing shallow foiled the outfielder. The shot cleared the bases.

Joel Piñeiro tried to disembark from the J.C. Romero Cruise he’s currently enjoying and made a seventh-inning statement by hurling a perfect turn of relief with two strikeouts thrown in for good measure. But in the eighth he regressed to his mean and allowed yet another trio of runs, one of which plated on an errant pitch.

Iannetta hasn’t yet had an at bat at Fenway. Hopefully Clint Hurdle will let the rookie start in the final game of the series, not just so he can play in the park that he grew up loving but also because Yorvit Torrealba (or Torreabla, as Jerry Remy called him) has been particularly bothersome to Boston pitchers.