Red Sox happenings

Congrats to Jacoby on his first Gold Glove (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor and used with permission)

We have Gold Gloves!

Jacoby Ellsbury won his first, Dustin Pedroia his second and Adrian Gonzalez his third.  Let us rejoice in meaningless awards (with all due respect to our three winners who genuinely did good enough glove work to win the award…the fact that Derek Jeter has five of them including, inexplicably, last year will always make me think very little of the award generally).

On Monday the Red Sox spent roughly nine hours interviewing Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin for the manager’s position.  Yesterday John Lackey underwent Tommy John Surgery and today Milwaukee Brewers batting coach (and former Red Sox third base coach) Dale Sveum will go through the interview process for Terry Francona’s job.

Lackey’s surgery, reportedly, went well. The surgery means he’ll miss the entire 2012 season and possibly some of 2013. There are still three years and $46 million left on his contract.  I’ve been supportive of Lackey and I’ve been hard on Lackey…and all I can say about this is I hope it freaking works and he comes back in 2013 the pitcher I thought he would be when he signed on with the Red Sox.  I choose to be hopeful instead of negative.  Eventually something has to go right with this guy, yes?

Ben Cherington has promised that there will be possibly four or five more candidates to interview…unlike many, I’m not entirely against the idea of Dale Sveum, I have to admit.  I like the idea of someone who is already familiar with the organization coming on and I’m okay without the team getting a big name manager.  Of course, with Tony LaRussa announcing his retirement there has been a lot of fan speculation that he could come to Boston.  I’ve already stated if that ever happens I might have to become an Orioles fan.  (I should also state that I don’t believe for a minute that it would happen.)

I leave you with some Adrian Gonzalez quotes because, thanks to Peter Abraham, he took a lot of grief for his comments about it being God’s plan after the season ended and I think many folks have it in their heads that he doesn’t care about winning or losing which is, to be blunt, horse pucky:

“The only thoughts right now is trying to do next year what St. Louis did this year, and try to win a World Series. That’s the only goal,” Gonzalez said. “We’re talking about the Gold Glove, and personal accomplishments are great, but the only thing that really matters to us is winning a World Series and getting to the playoffs first and foremost, which we weren’t able to do this year.

The only thing on my mind right now is what I can do to help the team. Hopefully, everybody else on the team is doing the same thing, and next year we can come in hungrier than we were this year so we can actually get it done.”

The awards, however meaningless these awards have become, are well deserved by our fellas and I congratulate them all.  I’m looking forward to the resolution of the manager situation so I can properly start looking forward to Truck Day!

The Long Goodbye

For the love of all that is good in the world could we just get some closure in the Theo Epstein saga?

I’m begging here.

I didn’t think anything would be worse than the “They’re close to a deal….they aren’t close to a deal” stories coming out every ten minutes…but now we have the “They’re close to announcing the deal…they aren’t anywhere near announcing the deal” and I just sit here and shake my head.  Do it, don’t do it…at this point I couldn’t care less I just want the Red Sox to be able to move on. With or without Theo, at this point it makes no nevermind to me.  Just freaking do it.

Although I will say this, the one aspect of this that I’m enjoying is how, seemingly, the Red Sox aren’t rolling over for the Cubs.  Theo is the one who is breaking his contract, the Cubs are the team getting one of the best General Managers in baseball, so the Red Sox absolutely deserve something more than a little cash or a few throwaway players.  There is a part of me, though, that will just be happy for it to be all over, regardless of what the Red Sox get for Theo.  (But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’d consider it well worth it all if somehow John Lackey is pitching somewhere that isn’t Fenway Park.)

Sit down, Jon

I spent most of today offline, working on a family project that will take up a lot of time and bring me much joy.  I need the distraction from the world of baseball right now.  So when I finally jumped back online this evening I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Jon Lester had spoken at length about the accusations coming off of Yawkey Way right now.

That was before I actually read what he said.

There are plenty of places to read the quotes by Lester.  I suppose I should say “good for him” for speaking out but I’m just not feeling it.  Sure he came out and said the reason they lost had nothing to do with ownership, Theo Epstein or Terry Francona and placed the blame all on the team but he also blew off the talk of the pitchers not being on the bench and instead being in the clubhouse drinking and said that as much as he was fond of Tito it was probably time for him to go.

Let me get this part out first because I keep reading people making jokes about anyone getting up in arms over a few baseball players having beers on days they aren’t playing and I feel like it’s getting overlooked or, really, just ignored for the sake of keeping up the narrative.

I don’t think there is anyone who begrudges anyone else a beer.  And I’m sure that having drinks in the clubhouse after the game is common but there is no scenario I can imagine where it’s appropriate for a clique of pitchers to leave the dugout  during a game and have beers instead of acting like part of the team.  Having written that, it seems to me that the bigger issue isn’t specifically that they were drinking beer but that in doing whatever they were doing in that clubhouse (which, even by Lester’s account, was drinking beer) was disrespecting not only their teammates but their manager. I really don’t care how you defend the beer drinking, being a group of entitled asses segregating yourself from the rest of your team and ignoring your manager is unacceptable.

Here’s what Lester said about Terry Francona:

But there comes a time when your authority is no longer there. You kind of run your course. People knew how Tito was and we pushed the envelope with it. We never had rules, we never had that iron-fist mentality. If you screwed up, he called you on it. That was how it worked.

“I never saw guys purposely breaking rules or doing the wrong thing in front of him and rubbing it in his face. But this particular team probably needed more structure. Tito was the perfect guy for this team for a long time but I think he got burnt out.”

Let me break down his tripe:

*  But there comes a time when your authority is no longer there ~ The only way I will grant Lester this is if the clubhouse was full of new players who hadn’t played under Tito before.  It makes no sense that Tito’s authority would suddenly be gone with players who have worked for him previous to 2010.  Now, I don’t find Tito blameless in all of this. If the stories are true it’s very possible he let his private life get in the way of his doing his job properly.  But this is a two-way street and players, ADULTS, who have worked for him before should have the maturity to treat him with the respect he deserves.

* People knew how Tito was and we pushed the envelope with it ~ You don’t push the envelope when you’re in your late twenties and early thirties.  You are grown, professional men and you’re admitting you acted like teenagers taking advantage of your single mom working nights.

* This particular team probably needed more structure ~ This quote makes me want to kick Lester repeatedly. How many men on that team are over the age of 25?  How many are married men with children?  Again, we’re talking about adults who should not be whining that they need “more structure”.

* I think he got burnt out ~ No, Jon, you burned him out.  And all your talk of what “good guys” you all are is falling on deaf ears over here.  Good guys don’t act like idiots.  Good guys don’t force their manager, one of the best at his job and the most successful ever on your team, to quit the job they love.  Good guys don’t blame the media for a witch hunt when the things they are reporting are accurate.

Plenty of people are writing or talking tonight about how great it is that Lester came clean and took the blame for what went on. I’d love to feel that way and was hoping that was the case.  But his words about Tito really come across harsh here.  Tito treated this guy like a son and his way of repaying all of that is to disrespect him and chalk it up to Tito being burned out.  I’m disgusted.  I mean, I was already disgusted but this media blitz, which I’m sure he was hoping would make everyone remember that he’s Jon Lester and everyone gives him a long rope, only enhanced my disgust.  I’d love this all to go away but it seems obvious now that we’re going to have to deal with more of these interviews from more players before we get finished with this garbage.

Not Dead Yet

Have to get this off  my chest: I want to go back and delete every entry or tweet that I’ve written defending John Lackey in any way.  I won’t get into why (you can Google it and find out for yourself) because I hate feeding into the gossip mongers, but if the story is true in my mind there is NO defense for him and, really, I couldn’t care less what happens to him from here on out.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

But about that game…(not that first one which we will not speak of but that second one)

Holy cow.

When Mark Teixeira doubled in two runs and then scored on a bad throw in the first inning I yelled, out loud for the baseball gods to hear me, “I’m done!  I’m SO done with this!” and stormed out of the room with the television.  I paced around until the next inning began and then sat myself down in front of the television and kept watching until the very end.  Apparently I wasn’t “done” but I needed to finally let the frustration out.

And I’m glad I didn’t give up because the way the game was won, while more than a bit painful at times, was beautiful.  (Beautiful as in “That baby is butt ugly but his mother thinks he’s beautiful”, beautiful.)

Is this fun?

I’m all over the place this morning.

First off, I just have to say that while I get it’s easier to edit a game that began at 1pm than it is to edit a game that began at 7:10pm and went on for almost four hours, I still found it ridiculous that NESN chose the game that the Red Sox lost yesterday to re-air last night.  Plenty of us are crazy enough to stay up to watch (or re-watch) a win…when you have the choice, why show the loss?  Luckily, I actually did get to see the second game yesterday and not the first so it all worked out well for me.

Tim wins for everyone

One day we’re watching the Red Sox finish the weekend with a five-game losing streak, the next we’re watching them pound the Toronto Blue Jays (the team that began the Red Sox losing streak by winning a series in Toronto) with 18 hits and 18 runs and helping Tim Wakefield gain his 200th career win.  Which is exactly why we continue to watch.

Well, except for me.  Last night I had other obligations and didn’t get home until the 8th inning.  The score was 11-5 by that time and it was smooth sailing.  I checked the score while I was out and every time I did it seemed the score was flipping back and forth.  When it was 6-5 in the sixth inning and I saw that Tim Wakefield was still in there I stopped checking the score (sorry, Wake, but I did).  I was enjoying myself and almost convinced if I kept checking my mood would change.  Yeah, it still sometimes gets to me.

Reading on Twitter that the fans were chanting for Wake when the game ended didn’t surprise me.  We love him.  The media knows it and it seems he does too.  It was fantastic that we could enjoy a night like last night before the end of the season.  Put me in the perfect frame of mind for the rest of this month.

I wax more poetic on Wake when the season is over but for now I’ll just bask in the knowledge that he isn’t chasing 200 any more and the Sox gained some ground last night in the playoff race.

Don’t forget that this Blue Jays series is only two games and today’s game is a 1:35pm event with John Lackey on the mound.  Once again, I have a prior commitment that will keep me from watching the majority of the game.  Hopefully this works as well today as it did yesterday.

So we look to Josh Beckett…

Whenever the complaints about Fenway Park or Red Sox fans start coming at me from Yankees fans I remember that I took this photo in the new Yankee Stadium. (And that there was a "Make Some Noise" sign as well.)

There’s this:

“I was definitely not trying to hit him,” he [Lackey] said. “I was trying to knock him down for sure. You can see where he stands in the box. You’ve got to knock him off the plate a little. I threw a 3-1 pitch that he hit out. I was definitely not trying to hit him, but I was trying to move him back. You definitely don’t want to put a base-runner on in a two-run ballgame.”

and there’s this:

“I’ve been fined twice for hitting guys this year, and I’ve paid them because they were right,” he [Lackey] said. “But this one, I’m not afraid to tell you if I’m trying to hit somebody. I would’ve told him to his face.”

I totally buy it. While I get that Lackey has a history of letting his emotions come out at inappropriate times on the field and that it must have been frustrating to give up a bomb to the likes of Francisco Cervelli and then watch him celebrate at home plate as if he was Aaron Boone, the game was still close when Cervelli got hit and with the way things were going I have a difficult time believing Lackey purposely put a guy on base just because the guy was a jackass who hit a home run off of  him.  I’ll say this, though, I won’t be sad if before the series is over we have multiple photos of Jarrod Saltalamacchia holding Cervelli in a headlock.

Here they come again

I would like to see happy John Lackey tonight, thank you. (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor and used with permission.)

I haven’t had time to “prepare” for this series and I thought because of that I wouldn’t be as charged up when I finally sat down to focus on it.  So here I am reading about the pitching match-ups and suddenly I’m looking at the clock waiting for tonight’s game to begin.

Helping along my renewed excitement was an email I received from a Yankees fan pal basically saying that the pitching match-ups have him convinced that the Red Sox are going to take two out of three of these games.  I enjoy it when Yankees fans get humbled.

Which doesn’t mean I’m buying into the “The Red Sox have this in the bag” sentiment either.  If I’ve learned nothing as a Red Sox fan, I’ve learned that what you think will happen almost never does.   I’m not convinced that John Lackey doesn’t have a chance of beating CC Sabathia tonight.  And I’m not convinced that Jon Lester will automatically beat AJ Burnett in the last game of the series.  But I’m lying if I don’t say that I’m not worried about the way the Red Sox will play this week.

Right now the Sox are sitting a game and a half up in first place.  Even if the Yankees (perish the thought) sweep this series, it won’t do too much damage.  I don’t want any part of a Yankees sweep (and if the Red Sox sweep you might see me dancing in the streets) but it’s nice to be in a position where the Red Sox are poised to do more damage than the Yankees.  I like where we’re sitting right now.

Briefly…

Seeing a triple play in person is on many the baseball fan’s bucket list…and it’s still on mine.  Not only didn’t I see it in person, but I didn’t see it live on NESN either.  That’s okay. I’ve seen the replay a hundred times and it’s still great.  Would have been nice if they could have gotten the “w” as well so we could see this game repeated on NESN for years to come but at his point I suppose that is picking nits.

Thanks to that loss and a Yankees win last night the Red Sox are a half a game out of first place and the Yankees currently have a game in hand.  It’s August 17th.  There is a lot more baseball to be played and, as it stands, if the playoffs started today the Red Sox are 9 games up in the Wild Card race.  The only team in MLB to have more wins than the Red Sox right now is the Philadelphia Phillies. The team is good.  The team is playing well and, for the majority of their games, the team is winning.  Still, last night, people were booing Carl Crawford.  Those people can go stick their heads in a pile of manure.

But there is no time to dwell on the negative.  Sox split the double header, which is good enough for me.  Now today, at 1:35pm, I’d like to see them win the series with John Lackey on the mound against David Price.  What? It could happen!

John Lackey gets another win

11 wins, 6 wins, 9 wins...go figure. (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor and used with permission)

My personal triumph last night was staying up to watch the entire game.  I was probably all hepped up from watching CC Sabathia give up five home runs to the Tampa Bay Rays and my adrenaline kept me going through the Red Sox game.

Admittedly, at one point around the seventh inning or so, I started to fall asleep and heard a very loud “Lets’ go Red Sox!” chant coming from the television.  For a moment, I honestly thought I was dreaming.  I shook myself awake and realized it was very, very real.  Red Sox fans representing LOUDLY at Safeco.  Well done, folks, well done.

Sorry to see Justin Smoak take a Jarrod Saltalamacchia bad hop to the face.  Salty looked shaken up and watching Smoak bleeding on his way to the dugout was worrisome.  Word is a broken nose and a CT scan today to make sure they aren’t missing anything.  No way to watch a player leave the field.  Hopefully he’s all right.

John Lackey is now tied with Jon Lester for most wins on the team (11)…and has more wins than Josh Beckett (9) and Felix Hernandez (10).  Yet the folks who vote for the Cy Young winner still use wins as a way to determine the best pitcher.  Insert facepalm here.

In spite of their being not the best stat to judge a pitcher, wins are fun.  Wins that assist in giving the team an entire game in the standings are even more fun.  Wins that come when the starting pitcher isn’t exactly sharp?  Tremendously fun.  Now tonight we wait until 10 ET to watch Felix Hernandez pitch against Josh Beckett.  A match made in prime time heaven, starting well after your average ballgame.  Given the lack of coverage it will be getting in real time, we’ll probably be getting a pitching match for the ages.