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In the bottom of the eighth Bobby Valentine summoned Craig Breslow to face Robinson Cano with one out and Nick Swisher leering at first base. Ryan Lavarnway, a Yale graduate like Breslow, was behind home throwing down signs for the southpaw, making them the first Bulldog battery since 1883. On September 15, 1883, Jack Jones pitched to Al Hubbard for the Philadelphia Athletics. Cano grounded into a 3-6-3 double play to end the inning. For a while it seemed that long since Jon Lester tallied a win as he was without a victory in July. But August has been kind to Lester: his two starts thus far have been quality starts and wins. Perhaps he took inspiration from Pedro Ciriaco, who seems made to play against the Yankees. The infielder went 4-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base, not to mention the part he played in the double play that erased Swisher and Cano. Not only was this an unusual game in that the Red Sox beat the Yankees but I found myself agreeing with Tim McCarver twice. He stated that he thought Stephen Strasburg shouldn’t be shut down and that Melky Cabrera shouldn’t be eligible for the...
I guess Norman Chad, Lon McEachern, and Ali Nejad wrapped up all the plumb poker commentator jobs so Fox audiences were stuck with Matt Vasgersian and Tim McCarver for this game. Vasgersian is the most generic sport commentator on the planet. When broadcast companies want to start manufacturing play by play announcers like they do Japanese pop singers they can use Vasgersian as a template. Good-looking but not devastatingly so, a mid-range voice neither too dull nor too excitable, and pedestrian, predictable ways of describing the game. Vasgersian is Wonder white bread to Vin Scully’s baguette. McCarver was his usual befuddled self. He must wait for fly ball plays to right field so he can bring up Lou Piniella’s play in right field on October 2, 1978. Any home run that soars towards the left field wall makes McCarver shiver in anticipation so that he can invoke the name of Bucky Dent. With 2004 and 2007 under their belts the Red Sox and their fans are not so easily frightened by tales of failures past. McCarver summoning memories of the Boston Massacre to dishearten Boston fans is like parents trying to scare their tweener-age kids monsters under the bed. Little...
Game 135: September 5, 2009 Red Sox1L: Tim Wakefield (11-4)78-57, 2 game losing streak White Sox5W: Gavin Floyd (11-9)68-69, 4 game winning streak Highlights: Apparently in the White Sox clubhouse if you pitch eight or more innings you get shaving cream pie shoved in your face. If the same happened on the Red Sox Josh Beckett would have five, Jon Lester and Wakefield three a piece, and Brad Penny and Clay Buchholz one each. Oh wait, Penny’s came when he got demoted to the National League. Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Smoltz have been lucky to reach eight innings over two starts. The given name Gavin is derived from Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew and one of the knights of the Round Table. One aspect of Gawain’s character is that he is strongest during the day but as night approaches his power wanes. Floyd’s day-night splits show that the same is true for him, but in general pitchers have better statistics in the day (National League and American League data here; on the older side but still interesting).Tim Wakefield made his first start since August 26. His first inning was Paul Byrd-like but he finished with five solid innings of shutout baseball.To...
Game 10: April 14, 2007 Angels 0 L: Hector Carrasco (0-1) 6-6, 3 game losing streak1-1-1 series record Red Sox 8 W: Curt Schilling (2-1) 6-4, 2 game winning streak1-1-0 series record Highlights: Schilling baffled the Angels offense for eight solid innings with a line of 4 hits, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. Carrasco made his first start for the Angels; Carrasco’s first career start was with the Red Sox on October 1, 2000. Both third baseman made tremendous plays: Mike Lowell in the third on Jose Molina’s screamer and Maicer Izturis in the fifth robbed Jason Varitek of extra bases. Fox, Fox, all the same McCarver do some other game If you don’t, we’ll still smileBemused by your lack of guile I logged on to MLB.TV to relive the wonder that is Tim McCarver only to discover that the archived online highlights of the game have someone else doing the voice over. I’m certain that humanity will be eliminated by an intelligent species residing elsewhere in the universe because a broadcast by McCarver will have made its way to their corner of creation and they simply could not allow such inanity to exist. The old coot just can’t...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.