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.

60 wins

I was invited to the Jason Varitek putt-putt event that took place Thursday night and sat in a spot where I had the perfect view of John Lackey interacting with the fans most of the evening.  He was really great.  Smiling, mini-golfing, taking pictures with everyone – especially the kids there – he looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself and the contrast to how he looks when he’s pitching was stark.  Upon witnessing this, I remarked “I really like John Lackey when he isn’t on the baseball field”.

Now that isn’t to say that I don’t like John Lackey.  I’ve made it clear here that I supported the team getting Lackey and I have given him a lot of leeway on the blog.  I made a conscious decision to stop writing about him because his pitching was finally getting to the point where, although I refused to be overly critical of him, I had a difficult time defending him as well.  And then, as soon as I shut up about him, he starts settling in and getting the team some W’s.

Honestly, who among us thought that, even with the Mariners’ losing streak, a John Lackey/Felix Hernandez bill would end with Lackey getting the win and Hernandez being hung with the loss?  Not a one of us, I would suspect.  It’s really enjoyable to watch a game with John Lackey pitching where the lead-off man steals second, third and then scores and Lackey and the Red Sox still win.  Well done, Mr. Lackey.

Although, I didn’t get to watch the game in its entirety, instead I followed it on the phone and then watched NESN’s 2-hour replay at midnight. The way this Red Sox team has been performing, I’m getting greedy for postseason play this year.  I’ll be much happier when July 31st passes and I can stop wading through all the trade talks and get back to just enjoying baseball for baseball.

Weekend High

I was trying not to be greedy. I wasn’t really even considering a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles when I wrote that I’d like the Red Sox to go into the All Star break in first place.  I won’t lie, though, sweeping the Orioles in four after the Kevin Gregg show the other night, feels pretty damn sweet.

I received many “that will only bring this team closer together and now they’ll beat you” messages after the basebrawl.  Last night most of the messages were of the “all your team is on steroids” variety.  Interesting reading anyway.

John Lackey stepped up big and while I had high hopes for Kyle Weiland, his ejection yesterday possibly helped the Red Sox.  Hitting Vlad Guererro didn’t seem intentional to anyone but Orioles fans and the home plate umpire, but since the teams had been warned Kyle got the heave-ho, paving the way for Alfredo Aceves to come in and pitch three hitless/scoreless innings.  (Serious question:  Where would this team be without Aceves?  If they still gave away the 10th player award, as of right now he’d be the guy I gave it to.)  After Weiland giving up eight hits in four innings, the Red Sox bullpen (Aceves, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon) combined for five innings, no hits, one walk and seven strike outs.  As bad as the Orioles have been playing, I really looked at the second two of the four games as being their good chances to get wins…and I’m very happy at how wrong I was.

I only have two things to say about Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit. I’m always one who says if I caught a ball that was someone’s first home run or some kind of milestone, I’d most likely give it back without expecting anything. But when that player is Derek Jeter and it is something as big as his 3000th hit, I would expect a whole lot more than the Yankees shelled out to the guy who caught the home run ball. While people are lauding the guy for being unselfish (and, initially I was too), I can’t put out of my mind that Jeter will make millions off of this accomplishment and all this guy really got were tickets for half a season of baseball. Blows my mind.

The other thing is, if I never hear Michael Kay’s voice again, it’ll be too soon. An hour or so after the home run, this is what he had to say: “He needed two hits to get to 3000, he wears number 2, he’s only the second player to get 3000 hits in MLB history and when he hit that home run the clock struck two. (Long pause) I’ll wait for your goosebumps to go down.” Hitting your 3000th hit is very cool. Hitting it for a home run is freaking amazing. Phrasing what you did, Mr. Kay, did NOT bring on goosebumps, just a shrug and a “You can try to make something out of anything these days” attitude from me.  (Which isn’t a commentary on the achievement.  Sure what Jeter accomplished is impressive.  But Michael Kay’s trying to piece together the meaning of “2” really was ridiculous and not goosebump-inducing at all.)

But back to the Orioles for a moment.  After the series was over, Buck Showalter continued his pissing and moaning about the Red Sox and their payroll (Kevin Gregg got the memo about this as well when mentioning payroll in his post game comments) and it gave us a Jason Varitek uncharacteristically humorous quote:

“We have some youth, too. So people can literally kiss my rear end.”

It’s a visual I could live without, but it made me laugh out loud.

Red Sox don’t play until Friday but we get the Big Papi show at the Home Run Derby tonight and by way of players backing out, getting injured or being ineligible to play (sorry Felix Hernandez), we’re sending six guys to the All Star Game (even though Lester won’t be playing).  If you need your Red Sox fix before Friday, you still have these next two days.

Wait…what?

Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com and used with permission.

Seattle Mariner Felix Hernandez almost threw a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers last night.

With one out in the sixth inning, Julio Borbon attempted to bunt his way on, but Hernandez fielded the ball and threw the runner out at first.

“He should know he shouldn’t do that, not in a no-hitter,” Hernandez said. “That shows disrespect.”

What timing.  Yesterday I wrote about actual cheating and how it’s not only allowed but encouraged by some in MLB, and today I get to write about something that ISN’T cheating but bothers many of those in baseball.

As I wrote yesterday, I get that the job of the batter is to get on base any way he can.  Why I don’t get, in this case, is the idea that a batter, playing for the team that is currently losing/being no-hit, should have “respect” for what is going on and NOT try to get a hit.

Were I on the opposing team, the team getting no-hit, I’d be singing “You have a no-hitter going!” from the dugout.  (Not cheating but, admittedly, showing poor sportsmanship, I admit.)

How in the world can you consider TRYING TO GET A HIT being disrespectful?