Ode to a Rivalry

The time has come
It’s here again
It just seems like
It never ends

Red Sox-Yanks
Yankees-Sox
Both sides have had
Their share of knocks

This rivalry
Is so intense
Most times it won’t
Make any sense

We don’t like them
They hate us back
Sentiment
It does not lack

Babe Ruth, B. Dent
2004
It’s history
Is full of lore

2005
It’s on again
Both teams have holes
But both can win

The Boston Team
Is full of pluck
And everyone knows
The Yankees... have the biggest payroll in baseball

It's On!

Here we go again. It all comes down to 3 games at Fenway. I guess the new schedule makers this year really knew what they were doing. FOX and ESPN must be loving this. Hell, I’m loving it too, it couldn’t be any better.

This is about what I was hoping for going into that 7 game stretch against the Orioles and Blue Jays. We went into that stretch trailing the Yankees by 1 game and we came out of it the same way. I knew we had 7 tough games to play and I was hoping that however many we lost between the 2 teams, they Yankees would lose the same. That’s what happened and here we are.

Normally we have a huge advantage playing at Fenway, but with Red Sox/Yankees that advantage isn’t quite as big. First of all, there are always a lot of Yankees fans at these games, usually enough to make a difference. Secondly, it’s the Yankees, they’re not intimidated by anything, and they’ll be up for these games just as much as we are.

We need to sweep this team to win the AL East title outright, not going to be easy. Or we can win 2 of 3 to force a 1 game playoff in the Bronx, not something we really want to do. We can definitely go into the Bronx and win with everything on the line, we proved it last year, but we really don’t want to be playing baseball and using up pitchers on Monday if we can avoid it.

The Wild Card is still not likely. We’re tied with the Indians, but they play 3 against the White Sox, who clinched yesterday and are not going to waste any pitching trying to win any of these games; which means the Indians have a big advantage.

But even if the Indians lose, we still have to win, and if we win, we win the AL East.

This series is going to come down to pitching, as it always does, both starting and the bullpen. We both have bullpen problems, but Rivera gives them the edge. Starting pitching is a toss up.

Tonight it’s Wang against Wells, that sounds kind of funny to me, actually, it's just the Wang that's funny. Anyway, we’ve faced him once at the end of May and got to him for 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. We always have trouble against pitchers we haven’t seen much of, and he pitched pretty well in his last 2 starts against the Jays and O’s.

This is the game we signed Wells for. As I’ve said a hundred times, he has a history of coming up big in games like this. The problem is, he’s also battling a bad knee, which forced him out of his last start early.

Tomorrow it’s Johnson against Wakefield in a rematch of the September 11, 1-0 showdown won by Johnson. Wakefield has been our best pitcher this year, and our ace this month, and he’s been great against the Yankees in his career. Those guys do not like to face him. He’s also pitching on 3 days rest, and has a 5.13 ERA when he does that.

Meanwhile, Johnson is still not the old Johnson and has been continually inconsistent. He’s pitched well his last couple of starts but that was after coming off a start against the O’s where he got ejected in the second for arguing balls and strikes after giving up a 3 run bomb to Vernon Wells in the first. At Fenway this year we’ve scored 9 runs off of him on 13 hits and 5 walks in 13 1/3 innings.

Sunday, it’s Mussina against Schilling. Moose is battling a sore elbow and coming off one of his worst starts of the year. Schilling is battling himself and still trying to find some of that magic he had last year. It’s not too late for it to happen.

With all of the problems this team has, I still have faith in them. All of the players are still capable of going out and getting the job done. We need our starters to give us some innings to keep this bullpen fresh so that when we do need them they can come out and get it done. We need the defense to make all the plays because we can’t afford to make any of these pitchers throw extra pitches, and we really can’t afford to give this team extra outs. We need this offense to get back to their old hitting ways. It would be great if they could jump out early and take some pressure off the pitching.

All of these things can be done, although they could be done by either team. We just have to hope that our guys want it a little more than their guys do.

It’s also most likely that the MVP will be decided over this weekend. Right now I would say Papi may have the advantage because of his late inning numbers and almost half of his homeruns have either tied the score or given the Sox the lead. But with all eyes on Fenway this weekend, both of their performances will go a long way in the final decision, as well as the outcome of the series. If they’re performances are close, the team that wins it could be the determining factor.

No matter what happens this weekend, it’s going to be pretty exciting, even if you’re not a Sox or Yankee fan, hell even if you’re not a baseball fan.

Let’s go out and get it done.

GO SOX!!!!

Bad Timing

Mother Nature has cruelly thrown a wrench into our playoff plans. Double-headers are never good, but right now the timing could not have been any worse. This has a negative impact in so many different ways.

First, is the starting pitching, both starters are affected by this, but the results could be good or bad. It affects Schilling in 2 ways. First of all, he’s now pitching on an extra day of rest. Sometimes extra rest can affect a pitcher negatively because they end up being too strong and overthrow the ball, although in Schillings case the extra day could help him because of his situation. Secondly, we always want our starters to go deep into a game, but this double-header combined with the bullpen situation (which I’ll discuss next), practically forces him to go deep into today’s game, although again, the extra day of rest could help him out there as well.

The bullpen situation also affects Wakefield the same way by forcing him to go deep into a game, although that hasn’t been a problem for him lately. The second way he is affected, is by being forced to pitch on only 3 days rest in his next start. One of them has to do it and Wakefield is the obvious, and really only, choice.

Next is the bullpen. We’re already short on guys out there that can be depended on to come in and get the job done. Now, if we don’t get long performances by either, or worse both, of the starters, we may have to ask one or more of these guys to pitch twice in one day. This not only affects the pen for today, but it could have an affect for the rest of the week. Of course, the Blue Jays will be in the same situation, but I’m more concerned with how we're affected over the weekend against the Yankees.

Gabe Kapler and Kevin Youkilis have never been more sorely missed on this team than they are right now. Both guys would be playing at least 1 of the 2 games today, Kapler in place of Damon, and Youkilis to spell Mueller. Instead, we’re left with few options and none of them are good.

The first option is both guys play both games. This is not a great option for either player, Damon is too banged up, and although Mueller has been healthy, he does have knee issues and playing fatigued in the second game increases the risk of injury too much in my opinion. This means that Hydzu will probably play one of the games in centerfield and Cora may end up being in both games. There’s no way Graffanino plays 2 games with the groin problem, so Cora will play second for one game, and possibly 3rd for one game. It’s either that or Mueller plays both games.

Then there’s the matter of Manny. It’s almost a given that he’s not going to play left field for 2 games, which means he DH’s one game, Millar goes to left, and Ortiz plays first. There’s also a chance we may see Hanley Ramirez get his first ML start to spell Renteria in one of the games. Or maybe he’ll even play second to allow Cora to play third to spell both Graffanino and Mueller.

No matter how you slice it, we will not have the regular lineup for 2 games, and Francona needs to mix and match to keep as many regulars as he can in both games to give us the best chance to win both.

Even if it all works out for us, we win both games, the starters go deep, the bullpen and the starters suffer no adverse affects and we go into the weekend in great shape against the Yankees, there’s still one thing that’s changed, cannot be fixed, and really stinks. Schilling’s next start is pushed back to Sunday. It was originally scheduled for Saturday against Randy Johnson in a game that could quite possibly have decided the pennant. How great would that have been?

Countdown Still On

I have to admit, the weekend went better than I had hoped. Not because I didn’t think we could sweep the Orioles while we were at home (oh wait, that wasn’t Fenway, but if you were only listening to the games you would never know that), but because I honestly didn’t expect the Yankees to lose a game to the Blue Jays at The Stadium and actually send us into the week tied for first.

It was nice to see some good pitching, both starters and relievers, great defense, and the offense coming around, but I think we really have one man to thank for his contributions to the sweep this weekend, Miguel Tejada. This guy looked like he was done with the season and couldn’t wait for it to end. I get the feeling that he is really regretting leaving the A’s to take that big contract in Baltimore. I’m sure Palmiero’s ridiculous accusations were not helping either. Hopefully he can find a way to get himself back into the game for the final week (or at least for the next 4 games) so he can help his team give the Yankees a run for their money.

Although it was a big weekend, which worked out better than expected, these next 4 days are even bigger. Here’s the good and the bad as I see it.

The Bad

The Orioles seem to have given up on the season. At this point, the Yankees could probably send their Columbus team down there and have them take 3 out of 4. I’d like to think that the Orioles could somehow find a way to steel one here, but I think that that’s the most we can hope for. We have to play very tough in order to keep that tie with the Yankees, and there’s a good chance we could still find ourselves behind one game at the end of it.

We’re only 5-9 against the Blue Jays this year. The only right-hander we face is David Bush in tonight’s game. After that it’s the rookie Gustavo Chacin, who has pitched us tough, noted Sox killer Ted Lilly, who continues to baffle this offense, and journeyman Scott Downs.

Big Papi has gone into a bit of a slump (1 hit in his last 4 games) and Damon is still having a tough go of it with the shoulder.

Our pitching has had a tough time with this Blue Jays offense, including blowing some late leads against them. Right now, the bullpen is just a big question mark. Although we had some good showings over the weekend, we still really have no idea what we’re going to get from anyone who goes out there.

The Good

We’re home. There is no team in baseball this year (or in the last few years) that thrives at home the way this team does. It doesn’t matter what else is going on, when we get home, it all goes out the window.

There are a lot of reasons for it, but one of the biggest is the fans. The Sox players thrive on it, and opposing players have admitted that they have a tough time playing here because of it.

When Fenway is a rockin’, that offense is a knockin’.

Speaking of that offense, it is really starting to break out at the right time. Manny, obviously is back, and Nixon, Mueller, and Varitek have been on fire for the last week. Graffanino’s back in the lineup and Renteria has been hitting better as of late, including that big hit on Saturday. Papi loves to hit at Fenway, so that slump should be a distant memory by the end of this.

And they don’t have much in the way of pitching to stop us. Yes, I noted that 3 out of their 4 starters are being lefties is a bad thing, and it very well could be, but for the most part, we should still have the advantage.

We’ve handled Bush twice already this year. Although Chacin has pitched us tough, we’ve now seen him twice and showed some signs of breaking through against him the last time in July, plus Seattle hammered him in his last start, and he may be wearing down after a long season. We got to Lilly for 3 runs on 5 hits in 5-2/3 innings on September 12th, and he only lasted 1 inning against the Yankees in his last start. Downs is just an average pitcher with an ERA of about 5 this month, who we’ve also already seen twice this year including September 13th when we managed 3 runs on 6 hits in 5-1/3 against him.

Meanwhile, our starters are pitching well and we’re getting at least 6 from them. The bullpen, for the most part, has also been good lately, including a nice outing by Bradford yesterday and a nice rebound by Papelbon in 2 appearances over the weekend.

And probably most important of all, this team seems to handle this type of pressure well. When they’re backs are to the wall, they somehow find a way to get it done.

So here we go, back at Fenway, backs against the wall, and no way to back into it. If we want it, we have to earn it, but it IS there for the taking, so let’s go out and get it.

It’s Not Over ‘Til…

…well, you know the rest of that saying. Will someone please find the fat lady, tie her up and gag her, and stick her in their closet for the next 10 days, please?

As is always the case with this team, I never give up on them as long as there are still meaningful games to be played. But the next 10 days are sure not lined up in our favor.

The good news is we have the Yankees at Fenway for the last 3 games of the season and since we are only one game back, we still have control of our own destiny. The bad news is, in order to maintain control of that destiny we have to keep winning up to that point. It’s only 7 games, but it’s not going to be an easy 7 games.

We start in Camden Yards tonight, a place where we have had our share of problems in the last couple of years (3-3 this year), against a team that has given us all kinds of problems the last couple of years (7-8 this year).

From there we get to come back home, but we then have to play 4 games against the Blue Jays. We’re only 5-9 against them this year and they just always seem to play us tough.

Here’s what we have going for us. First, the entire team had a much need full day of rest.

The Orioles are absolutely terrible right now. They’re 3-7 in their last 10 and are currently on a 5 game losing streak (although the last 4 were against the red hot Yankees). We don’t have to face Sox killer Rodrigo Lopez, their leadoff hitter Brian Roberts is out for the rest of the season after suffering a serious, and very unfortunate, arm injury in the Yankee series, and they’re also missing Palmiero and Sosa (who wasn’t helping much anyway). This leaves them with Tejada, Mora (both of whom are not playing well lately), and a combination of a couple of average regulars, a couple of reserves, and a couple of rookies. With the exception of Ryan, they’re bullpen is not very good, and two of their three starters are rookies who have been inconsistent and who we have seen before and managed to work over pretty good, making them throw a lot of pitches, walk a lot of batters, and getting them out of the game by six. And finally, thanks to Mr. Palmiero’s newest boneheaded statement, they may find themselves dealing with a clubhouse controversy this weekend.

The Blue Jays have been an inconsistent team all year and are still playing .500 baseball, just like they have all year. Their ace is gone for the season, their closer has been having his share of problems lately, and their starters have been inconsistent. We’ve got them at Fenway, where hopefully our offense will get going again.

Here’s what’s going against us.

Despite the problems both of these teams are having, they’ve played us tough all year, and that will probably continue to be the case. We have our own pitching problems.

Clement has been bad lately, Wells is hurt, Schilling is still a question mark. The bullpen is in complete shambles, Francona is going to be forced to rely on an overworked veteran, a bunch of average arms, and a couple of rookies with great potential but are untested. The offense is in a funk, a couple of regulars are banged up, and our shortstop is just completely out of it right now.

Every game we play from here on out is pretty much a crapshoot at this point. We could very easily win or lose any of them, it all depends on what we get that night, and there’s really no way of knowing what that will be.

Meanwhile, the Yankees play the same 2 teams in the exact opposite situation and are the hottest team in the league at the moment, even hotter than the Indians.

Somehow we have to find a way to stay within striking distance and then beat them in the 3 game showdown at Fenway next weekend.

Winning the AL East is just about our only option to make the playoffs at this point. The Indians are almost as hot as the Yankees, and they play their next 6 games against the Royals and Devil Rays. It’s not likely that we’ll be able to make up the ground on them for the Wild Card, even if we do keep winning.

One interesting development could happen though. It seems the White Sox have just fallen apart. Their lead over the Indians in the Central is now down to 1-½ games. They have 7 tough games coming up against the Twins and Tigers (only made tougher by the way they are playing right now), followed by a 3 game final set against the Indians at Cleveland. If things keep going like they are for them, it’s quite possible that we could find ourselves in a battle for the Wild Card with them. Of course, in order for that to happen, WE need to keep winning, and if that happens, we could just as well win the East.

Despite all of the issues, we are still quite capable of pulling it off. A lot of things have to go right, and there are quite a few question marks labeling those things, but team seems to thrive in this type of atmosphere and they’ve certainly come back from worse.

I don’t know what’s going to happen over the next 10 days, but I do know that it will be very interesting to say the least. All we can do now is sit back (or more likely at the edge of the seat) and watch, offer up a couple of prayers, and keep that fat lady gagged and bound, and out of sight.

GO SOX!!!!

Smashing Good Time

You knew it was only a matter of time before this offense came back, and that that time would come soon. All it really needed was a dose of Devil Rays pitching to get it to explode back on track.

It’s only one game, but maybe it’s the start of something. That something that I was expecting to start the night before against Mark Hendrickson and then continue last night against Seth McClung, instead started last night with McClung.

With one exception it looks like everyone is heading in the right direction. Big Papi’s been heading there all season and is showing no signs of letting up. In fact, he seems to actually be getting better and I really don’t see how he could possibly not win the MVP now. Manny is getting locked back in. Tek and Nixon, two guys who were slumping badly, busted out last night. Mueller, who was also slumping, pitched in with 2 hits. This is what we needed, now we need it to continue.

Another thing we needed was for Schilling to pitch a good game, and that happened as well. He obviously wasn’t great, but pitched well and went deep, really only making the one mistake to Cantu.

I don’t know what’s going on with Edgar Renteria (the one exception I mentioned above), but I’m tired of defending him. He may be playing tired, hurt, or something, but whatever it is, he’s just not good right now, at the plate or in the field. It’s really time to get him out of there because he’s going to cost us a game that we can’t afford to lose.

Assuming Graffanino’s injury isn’t serious and he’s back by the weekend, I think we can bat him in the 2-hole and put Cora at shortstop batting ninth, at least against right-handers. Who knows if Francona will do it, but he should consider it.

As requested by Chris, my opinion on how the rookies will help. I’m only going to discuss the next 11 games, I don’t want to get into the playoffs right now for obvious reasons.

There are really only 2 that will have any impact on this team right now.

Hanley Ramirez is a big time prospect with a bright future. The question is, what team and what position is his future with? This guy has never played a single game at Triple A and that’s probably where he’ll spend all of next year. As for right now, he’s up to watch and learn and will only see any playing time in a blowout such as last night.

Kelly Shoppach is also a prospect who has lost some of his stock in the last couple of years, but still projects to be a good ML catcher. We obviously don’t have room for him here so it’s most likely he’ll be used as a trading chip at some point. As for this year, he’s in the same situation as Hanley, except I don’t see him getting any AB’s at all. If we’re going to rest Varitek then those AB’s should really go to Mirabelli to help keep him sharp.

Alejandro Machado is a middle infield prospect who is projected to be a utility player in the "bigs". He does have some speed and is capable of playing the outfield as he’s already shown, so he could be useful over the next 2 weeks as a late inning pinch runner.

Manny Delcarmen is one of many prized pitching prospects in the system. He’s still young, still learning, and coming off of Tommy John surgery in May of 2003. I think he is projected to be a very good ML bullpen pitcher in time, but that time is not now. I’m sure he’ll be used occasionally, such as last night’s blowout, but I don’t think he’s ready to come into any tough situations for this team right now.

That leaves Eric Hansen and Jonathan Papelbon. Are far as I’m concerned both of these guys factor into whether or not we make the playoffs. The bullpen is in tough shape right now. The only pitcher that Francona can trust right now is Mike Timlin. Even Myers is not a guarantee to get lefties out.

Both of these guys are lacking in ML experience and in Hansen’s case, he’s only got a few innings of pro experience. But what they lack in experience, they MAY be able to make up for in stuff. They both have great stuff,

Eventually Papelbon will be a top of the rotation starter (probably next season) with his low to mid 90’s fastball, a good slider, changeup, and a recently added splitter learned from Schilling earlier this year. He’s showed great poise on the mound and has proven that he can help this team in the bullpen right now.

As for Hansen, this guy was just drafted this summer. But he was also named closest to the majors in the 2005 draft. Well, this is about as close as you can get. He’s got a mid to high 90’s fastball and a very good slider. He’s got a closers make up, which is what he did in college, and is probably going to be the closer of the future. We certainly saw what he’s capable of a couple of nights ago, and we’re going to need to see more of that right now. It may not be fair to put him into this position but we don’t have much of a choice.

We are going to need both of these guys to come up big for us right now if we expect to have any chance of getting into the playoffs. They both certainly have what it takes to help get us there, the only question is whether or not we may be asking too much of them too soon and how will they handle it?

They both have the added advantage of not having been seen much by our upcoming opponents. In Hansen’s case not at all, and with Papelbon, the Yankees have only seen him for one inning and the Blue Jays for three. A lot of times, something like this is a huge advantage for the pitcher, especially when they have a guy like Varitek behind the plate to help guide them through the at-bats.

So Much for that Idea

Okay, I admit it, I’m one of those idiots who, back in June, boldly predicted that the Sox would win the AL East pretty handily and the race would be over by mid-September. I can’t deny it; it’s in print right here:

http://bostonnine.blogspot.com/2005/06/bold-predictions.html

As it turns out a lot of things that I suggested at the beginning of the season about the Yankees pitching staff not living up to it’s expectations ended up being true. After seeing all of this happen, I figured that there was no way any team could make up for that kind of damage to their staff. But this is not ANY team; this is the New York Yankees.

What the hell was I thinking? I should know better than that. I’ve seen it happen too many times before.

Now here we are with 12 games left to the season. Aren’t we supposed to be about 7 games up right now? I can take some comfort in knowing that there are quite a few writers out there who actually get paid to write this stuff, and they were just as fooled by it as I was. Of course, that doesn’t help keep me from squirming in my seat during every pitch and jumping up to my computer between every inning to check the scores of the other AL games.

Unfortunately it’s not just the Yankees we have to worry about. After last nights defeat of the White Sox, the Indians have taken a one game lead over us, which doesn’t matter today, but if we go ahead and blow the division lead we don’t even win the Wild Card at this rate. And that’s assuming the Indians don’t take over the Central and force us into a Wild Card battle with the White Sox.

At one time, I was worrying about catching the White Sox for best record in the AL, thus clinching home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Now I just want to make sure we make the playoffs.

I thought last night would be the start of something big for us. We’ve got David Wells going, who’s been pretty solid for us lately, has a reputation of coming up big in crucial games, and absolutely owns the D-Rays in his career with a 13-1 record. On the other side is a pitcher that we have absolutely crushed in his career against us, including 2 starts this year in which he only lasted a total of 3 innings and gave up 11 runs, including the first game this year when he never recorded an out. Just what we need to get the offense going again and get this team on a winning roll, right? Not quite.

Although that’s one way to look at, there’s also another way. It’s one of those situations where the odds so heavily favor one side that there’s no way that side is going to win. I think in Vegas they call it something like a “reverse lock”.

Anyway, we did get 6 runs off of him, although the offense really didn’t get going the way I hoped it would, and even worse, Wells was not good (hopefully it was the sore knee causing the problems and it will get resolved with the cortisone shot).

So much for Francona’s idea of not throwing the rookie into the fire for his first big league appearance. Craig Hansen was very impressive in his major league debut. I’m not sure how much this guy can help down the stretch and into the playoffs, but if he keeps pitching like that he can help a lot. Two strikeouts and a broken bat pop up, 13 of 19 pitches for strikes (we haven’t seen enough of that lately) and that live fastball with late movement in the mid to upper 90’s. He certainly can’t do any worse than a couple of the other pitchers in the pen whose place he could take on the playoff roster, and he has the advantage of not having been seen yet by any of these hitters. That is, assuming we make the playoffs.

It doesn’t help losing yet another key player to injury last night. Hopefully, Graffanino’s groin injury is not serious and he comes back shortly. Cora is capable of filling in for him, but by having to play him like that it weakens an already severely depleted bench that has lost both Kapler and now Youkilis for the season.

The injuries are going to be as big of a problem as the bullpen for us. Damon is still banged up and with Kapler out he’s going to have to play everyday. Although he had a good game at the plate last night, he dropped a ball that cost us a run. I suspect that had more to do with the problems he has in domes though, more than a result of his injuries.

Mueller has been hitting better of late, but now he’s another guy who is going to be forced to play everyday with the injury to Youkilis. The Captain is still not hitting (although he did walk twice last night) and although I agree with Francona that he’s more important to this team as a catcher, we could still really use his bat.

Hopefully we can take advantage of the favorable pitching match-up tonight, find a way to get by Kazmir on Wednesday, and then the much needed day off on Thursday will give all of these guys enough of a chance to rest, recoup, regroup, and get something going from there.

As for me, I’ll be agonizing through every game while watching the computer scoreboard. But that’s okay, because like I said in my last post, this is exciting stuff and I like it this way, don’t I?

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Every game played from this point on, is the most important game of the season. I’m not just talking about Red Sox games either, I’m also talking about every game played by the Yankees, Indians, A’s, Angels, and even the White Sox.

Okay, our lead in the East has shrunk to a measly 1 ½ games over the Yankees in the last week, and to make matters worse, we’re only one game ahead of the Indians, so if we blow this lead on the Yankees, we could very easily find ourselves out of the playoffs altogether.

It’s a time to be concerned, it’s a time to be nervous, it’s a time to be frustrated, and it’s a time to be losing a little bit of sleep every night. But as a baseball fan, it’s also a time to be excited. I don’t see how anyone can call themself a baseball fan if they do not get excited about the possibilities that could unfold in the next couple of weeks. And it’s even that much more exciting because as Sox fans, we have a stake in it.

The A’s and Angels are a game apart in their battle for the AL West title with the loser fighting it out for the Wild Card. The Sox and Yankees are in the same position in the East, with 1 ½ games separating them. The Indians have a half game lead over the Yankees for the Wild Card lead, but have picked up a lot of ground on the suddenly struggling White Sox in the Central, and are now only 4 1/2 games behind them with 6 to play against them, including the last 3 games of the season.

The A’s and Angels still have 4 games left against each other, and of course the Sox and Yankees end the season with a 3 game showdown at Fenway.

That’s 6 teams fighting it out for 4 spots, and there’s a good possibility that none of it will be decided until the last weekend, and possibly the last day. How much more exciting could it possibly get?

And that’s just the AL. Although the division races in the NL are pretty much wrapped up, there’s a good 4-team battle going on for the Wild Card spot.

In my 30 years of watching baseball, I don’t ever recall a season in which this much was in doubt, this late in the season, with this many possibilities, including the possibility that all, or most of it, could be decided on the last out. There’s even the possibility of all kinds of additional games needing to be played to decide some of it.

So, as a Red Sox fan, yes I am frustrated, nervous, and concerned that my team is fighting for it’s playoff life with a real possibility of not making it in at all, but as a baseball fan, I am just as excited about watching and waiting to see how it’s all going to shake out.

This is fun, this is what sports are all about, and it really doesn’t get any better.

Tough Loss

Losing Gabe Kapler is a tough blow. I think it hurts more than the casual observer realizes. Sure he’s only been back for about 2 months, and he doesn’t put up great numbers at the plate, but he’s worth more than that to this team.

He has spent a lot more time in the lineup than your average 4th outfielder. He filled in a lot in right for Nixon when he was hurt in July/August and with Damon being as banged up as he is, he’s spent quite a few games filling in at center.

Even with Nixon back and Damon coming back soon (hopefully tonight), it would still be good to have him around to give Damon a rest down the stretch, even if it’s to come in late during a blow out, and he was still going to platoon against lefties with Nixon.

When he’s playing right field, you lose nothing as far as defense goes, and because of his strong arm, it might even be a slight upgrade. In center, he may not be able to cover the ground Damon does, but he covers a lot of it, and again his strong arm makes up for the short amount of ground he may lose to Johnny.

At the plate, he may not be a great hitter, but he’s always been capable. I’ve never had a feeling of dread when Kapler was coming up in a key situation. Yes, he gets pinch hit for a lot late in the game, but if he’s in there, he still has a chance to get something done.

Now he’s gone, and we really don’t have anyone to replace him. Adam Stern is certainly capable of playing both outfield positions, but he’s got a bum shoulder as well, and even when he’s ready, he has very little big league hitting experience at this point in his career and is a liability with the bat. It sounds like they’re going to bring up Adam Hyzdu, but he’s just a journeyman minor leaguer whose big league experience consists of a career BA of .230 in about 195 games.

All we can really do is hope that Damon is back soon and will be capable of playing well while battling through and won’t need much time off, and that playing Millar in right against lefties doesn’t hurt us much on defense.

As for Gabe, something like this couldn’t have happened to a better guy and teammate. The prognosis for a ruptured Achilles tendon is a recovery time of 12-18 months. Let’s hope he’s a quick healer and is able to come back sooner and continue to be the gamer that he’s always been.

Our captain is wearing down a little bit in September and it’s been showing at the plate. One of the great things about this team is that we have the best backup catcher in the game, who is actually more than just a backup. Doug Mirabelli is perfectly capable of filling in for ‘Tek and is not only serviceable with the bat, but as we’ve seen many times before, he has the ability to affect the outcome of a game. I would really like to see him in there a couple of extra times during the last 17 games to give ‘Tek a little extra rest so he can be fresh for the playoffs.

Tonight may be the biggest game of the season to this point in my opinion. This game is going to be the best barometer as to where Curt Schilling is. It seems as though he made some tremendous strides in his last outing in the Bronx, but tonight’s game will tell us if that’s true. I think it is, and I think he is going to continue to get even better over his next 4 starts and be right where we need him to be for the playoffs; which is not quite the Schilling of last year, but not that far off either.

There are still obvious questions about our bullpen and that may be the main factor in how far this team can go, but I’ve seen some very encouraging signs lately. I’m not sure if Foulke is ever going to be a factor this season, but Jonathan Papelbon’s performance on Monday night was as good a 3 innings as I’ve seen from a pitcher.

This guy has as much confidence as any veteran; he’s putting that mid 90’s fastball right where he wants it, is able to start the splitter in the zone getting hitters to swing at it, where it drops out enough to get the swing and miss, and we haven’t even really seen his curveball yet, which is supposed to a pretty good one.

Bradford and Timlin both looked good last night. I realize that the hitting wasn’t the best, but it’s still good to see them do what they did. With the way the starters have been going lately, and with Papelbon giving us a shot in the arm and instilling the confidence in Francona to use him, we should be able to use these guys where we need them (including Myers) and they should be able to be effective in doing so.

I have to end with one more note about Big Papi. After doing it yet again last night, there should no longer be any doubt in anyone’s mind that he should be considered for the MVP despite the fact that he doesn’t play defense. Of course, he will still need to continue doing it for the rest of this season, much like Vladdy did last year, but there’s no reason to believe that he won’t. By the way, Vladdy did not win it last year because of his defense in right field. He had a .973 fielding percentage which was 10 points below the league average for right fielders of .983.

At this point, it should be, debate over, just like when Papi comes to the plate in the late innings, it’s game over.

Most Valuable Papi

There are too many writers out there who think that a DH is not worthy of MVP consideration. According to these people, the DH does not play the field; therefore they only contribute to half of the game and are not worthy of the award.

It’s time to take that stigma, smash it to the ground, and vanquish it from the game forever. That’s what David Ortiz has done with it, and now the baseball writers need to follow suit.

Part of the problem here is how the award is defined. If it were an award to commemorate the best player in the game, then Big Papi shouldn’t be considered, because clearly he is not. But that is not what this award is about. It is about the Most Valuable Player, the player who has contributed the most to the success of his team.

Arguments can be made for quite a few players out there this year. Miguel Tejada is having yet another MVP like season, but unfortunately for him, he is no longer with the A’s, and his Orioles are not even close to being in the hunt. Mark Teixeira is putting up almost identical numbers as Papi, and he plays a very good defensive first base, but he plays for a mediocre team in Texas that is no longer in it.

Vladdy is putting up MVP type numbers again, although not quite as good as last year, or as good as some of these other players, but he has the advantage of playing for a contender and being one of the best right fielders in the game. He won it last year by putting the Angels on his shoulders in September and almost single-handedly dragging them to the playoffs.

The Yankees are still in it despite all of the pitching problems, and A-Rod is having a typical MVP-like A-Rod season, both on offense and defense. As long as that’s the case, he’ll always get votes, as he should.

All four of the above mentioned players are very good if not great defensive players who will either win, or be in the running for gold gloves at their positions. They’re all having great offensive seasons, with Teixeira and A-Rod practically matching Papi in offensive output. Vladdy and A-Rod are playing for playoff contenders and are both big reasons why their teams are in contention.

I’m sure all of these players have made great plays in the field to save their team a run, and possibly a loss. I’m sure they’ve all had their share of big hits to either put their team ahead, or get them back into a game.

But I also feel that if you ask any big league manager, coach, scout, or player (except for maybe the ones involved with the other players teams) who they want at the plate late in the game with the outcome on the line, Big Papi would get more votes than the other 4 combined. I think most of the writers who will be voting for the MVP would vote for him in that situation also.

The reason for this, obviously, is because of the recent history he has in those types of situations. He’s come through so often that we’ve come to expect it. He’s done it so often that I’ve lost track of how many times he’s done it. He’s done it so often that he has gained the reputation of being the greatest clutch hitter in the game right now. He’s done it so often that without him hitting on this team, we would not be in first place in the East, and might not even be in the hunt.

And as I’ve mentioned before, he’s done it against anyone and everyone, lefties, righties, good pitchers, great pitchers, starters, closers, specialists, it doesn’t matter. No team has been able to find the answer. All they can do is put in their pitcher and hope for the best. Or, as has been done many times this year, avoid pitching to him altogether.

I think that that performance absolutely has to be considered when the MVP vote goes in. These writers should be making their vote by asking themselves one question. What player has contributed the most to the success of his team? Whatever player they come up with for that answer should be the player they vote for MVP.

If they truly believe that A-Rod’s all-around play has contributed the most to the Yankees success, or Vladdy’s to the Angels, then I will accept that. But I think they at least have to consider that what Big Papi has contributed to the success of his team with his bat alone, is at the very least, just as valuable to the Sox as what the other players have contributed to their teams.

Good Enough

Everyone else is saying it, and I’ll say it here as well. We did what we needed to do this weekend. Taking 2 out of 3 would have been great, a sweep would have been awesome, but all we really needed to do was make sure we got one and not get swept ourselves.

A 3 game lead with 20 games left to play is certainly not a lock, but when you look at what these 2 teams have been doing lately, and what they have coming up, it seems like a lot of ground for the Yankees to make up.

Even though we only managed to take one this weekend, I still liked what I saw. Wells wasn’t great, but he was good enough to win and got victimized by some terrible defense on Friday night, but despite that, we were still in the game and made it interesting right until the last out.

Everything about Saturday’s game was encouraging. The win, the way Schilling pitched, Papelbon in the ninth, the defense, and the hitting.

Yesterday we played a flawless game in the field and got one of the best pitching performances that I can ever recall by Wakefield in a Sox uniform. He actually out-pitched Johnson, going 8, striking out 12, and only giving up 3 hits and 1 walk. Unfortunately one of those hits was a fly ball by Giambi that just made it into the right field stands in the first inning.

Unfortunately for us, although Johnson was out-pitched, he was still right on his game and looked like the Johnson of old, the one that we haven’t seen very much of since he changed into pinstripes. But we still made it interesting against Gordon and Rivera, with a little luck, Damon’s line drive in the 8th lands a couple of inches to the left, Renteria’s liner in the ninth is a little higher, a little harder, or a little more to either side, we pull that game out.

That’s okay, I’ll take what we got and be happy with it. We blew them out once and hung in there with them twice in their ballpark. The pressure’s on them, they really can’t even worry about the East right now as they’re still 1 ½ behind the Indians in the Wild Card race. And the Indians are looking like a very good team who has put it all together at the right time. Of their remaining 19 games, 7 are against the Royals, 3 against the D-Rays, and although they still have 6 against the White Sox, the final 3 are the last 3 of the season when the Sox will have the Central wrapped up and will be looking to rest their regulars and set up their playoff rotation.

Meanwhile the Yankees have all AL East opponents remaining on their schedule. They have losing records against the O’s and D-Rays who have played them tough all year, and although they’re 8-4 against the Jays, they’re still a tough team, plus 3 more against us at Fenway. There’s a very good chance that the Yankees don’t even make the playoffs this year.

Of course, we can’t worry about that since we also have some tough games coming up against the O’s (3) and Jays (7), both of whom we’ve had our troubles against, 7-8 and 3-8 respectively. Fortunately we’ve got our pitching really coming together at the right time for us and that should make a sizeable difference. If we can keep getting that kind of pitching we should be able to hold off the Yankees and come away with the AL East.

Big Papi

What I’m about to say, I do not believe is open for debate. David Ortiz is the greatest clutch hitter playing the game right now. Now, it’s certainly debatable about whether he’s the greatest clutch hitter of all time, but I’m willing to throw his name in there for that too. And there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he is the greatest clutch hitter that I’VE ever seen play.

There is no other hitter I can think of at the moment that I would rather have up at the plate with the game on the line. I don’t care if he’s facing Scott Shields, Mariano Rivera, Bob Gibson, or Cy Young. Right-hander or left-hander, doesn’t matter. Big Papi is the man.

Last night was a big win for us. It might have been the biggest win of the year to date. We’re going against a team that we may meet again in the playoffs and they have something to prove to us. Instead, we send a message to them, don’t come into our house and expect to win, because it’s not going to happen. You couldn’t do it last year, and you’re not going to do it this year either. Now we just have to keep on delivering that message.

Tim Wakefield came up big again for us, as he has so many times in the past. I think when his career finally ends, if it ever does, number 49 goes up in right field. Yep, he means that much to this team both on and off the field.

The pitching seems to be coming around. We’ve received great performances in 3 of the last 4 games with Clement, Wells, and Wakefield pitching 26 of the 27 innings. And although Schilling labored a little in his start, he definitely showed signs of improvement and looks like he’s continually making progress. The bullpen is well rested and Foulke has looked good in his 2 appearances so far.

There were some very good defensive plays last night as well. Hopefully this is a sign that it’s all coming together and we will begin playing our best baseball at the most important time of the year.

Justice is Served

The MLB administrative office thought that they were dispensing out justice last week when they decided to uphold David Wells 6 game suspension. Well yesterday, justice came right back around as Wells went out and spun that masterpiece against the O’s after receiving the extra 2 days of rest.

What Wells did yesterday (pitching a complete game) and Clement did the day before (going 8) against a good offense is absolutely huge for this baseball team. We have a very tough week coming up, beginning today with the makeup against the White Sox, then 3 against the Angels, and down to New York for three. We need that bullpen to be well rested going into this, and now they are.

The time off that Wells received earlier in the year because of the ankle injury could be a blessing in disguise for us. It could mean that he’s well rested for the stretch run and the playoffs.

It looks like a guy who was signed to a heavily incentive laden contract, which seemed almost like an afterthought at the time, is going to be a key factor in how far we go this season. He has a history of coming up big when it’s most needed and he’s showing that he’s still capable of it. Hopefully it continues well into October, or should I say, Wells into October.

Another great move, also seeming like an afterthought at the time, was the signing of John Olerud. He was signed to a minor league contract with the hopes that he might be able to rehab, and then rebound and help this team out at some point. That point couldn’t have come at a more critical time.

A lot of people seem to believe that one of the big turning points in the ALCS last year was when Olerud fouled that ball off of his foot and was lost to the Yankees for the rest of the season. At the time he was one of their best hitters. I’m not completely convinced that he would have made that much of a difference, but he was certainly a factor for them, just as he is for us right now.

So, we’ll take their Wells and Olerud, and they can have our Embree and Bellhorn.

We have a second chance today. I cannot remember the exact details, and since it was washed out there are no official stats to look at, but we were almost certain to lose this game when it was originally being played on August 14th as Clement was getting smacked around and our offense couldn’t get anything going. The rain came in the 4th inning and wiped it off the books, so now we have a chance to get it back.

Take That...

…you Kevin Millar detractors. Yes I know this guy hasn’t been hitting, and with the way this pitching has been going lately we really can’t afford to keep putting a guy in the lineup that isn’t hitting, but how is booing him helping this team? It’s not, and it needs to stop. I’ve said it many times before and I’m going to say it again. It’s completely asinine to boo a guy who’s going out there everyday and trying his hardest.

It was nice to see him jack a couple last night, especially the second one that put us ahead for good. Hopefully he’s got something figured out and this will be the start of a hot streak for him.

One of the most impressive things I saw last night was that RBI groundout by Alex Cora. That pitch was low and away, yet he still managed to pull it to second base driving in Mueller from third and moving Kapler over to third where he then scored on Damon’s sac fly. That’s great baseball right there. I should also mention the deke he (along with Renteria) put on Carl Crawford Monday night when Cantu flied out to right and they had Crawford believing it was a ground ball to short enabling them to double him off at first. This guy was a key pickup for us to come off the bench and get the job done when we need him to.

Speaking of Renteria, it looks like the guy we paid all of that money for is finally here. He was one of the hottest hitters in the month of August batting .345 with a .390 OBP, 21 runs, 20 RBI, and 12 doubles. It seemed like every time he was at the plate he made something happen. He did make a couple of errors, but he’s looking much more comfortable out there now.

We can’t keep winning games having to come back from deficits like we’ve had to do the last couple of games, even with the offense we have, and even playing most of our remaining games at Fenway. We need better pitching.

It was great to see Wakefield suddenly regain that feel last night and end up going 8 innings while shutting them down for the last five. It was also a good sign to see Schilling figure it out the night before and shut them down for the last four while going six. Hopefully this will be the start of something good for him as well.

Now all we need is to get some stability in the bullpen, maybe that starts tonight with Foulke coming back.

After splitting a double header with the Rangers on Tuesday, the White Sox got smacked by them last night and we were able to pick up a game and half on them, and are now only 3 games back for best record in the AL. It would be nice, and is very possible, to overtake them, therefore gaining home field advantage throughout the playoffs.