Huh.

I never thought I'd say this but I'm kind of disappointed in the Yankees this season.

I still detest Yankee fans and wish nothing but bad things for the team. I take great pleasure in their failure. The New York media and fans eating their own fills me with joy. I hope that they fall to the Blue Jays over the weekend and are in fourth place on Monday.

But this loss? It felt more like a loss to Kansas City-shouldn't have happened but not at all something to be concerned about or upset over. I don't care that they lost a game to the Yankees. It's very weird.

My, What a Big Swing You Have.

The better to hit a grand slam against the New York Yankees in the Bronx with.

I Will Acknowledge Mark Kotsay.

The Front Office is against me. First, they took away my Manny (I'm currently in the vindictive stage of our break up.) Now, they're taking playing time away from my Coco. But I will welcome the new guy. Erm, welcome new guy!

I do like centerfielders. And I do like centerfielders who do Spiderman impersonations. One of my favorite pictures from the post-season last year was Coco, hair freed from the confining braids, peering over the centerfield fence in Denver. And Mark Kotsay is probably a fine fellow. But. The man is already planning on not playing in October: "It'll be a fun experience for the next 30 days, that's for sure." Umm, honeybun? Thirty days will take you until September 26-the start of the Yankee series.

I suppose it signals the return of Jacoco. Jacoby gets the righty starters, Coco gets the lefties. When the Bay-by (too corny?) arrives in September, Coco will undoubtedly get some starting time. (I don't even know where Bay's wife is-Canada? Pittsburgh? Probably not Boston.) Sucks for Coco, though.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Yankee Stadium!

Since it seems less and less likely that the much maligned "Dougie and 'Tek Show" (you know that Dougie would demand and receive top billing) will ever come to fruition, I've reharnessed my creative energies to create "The 'Tek 'n' Eck Show." Which, if I do say so myself, is a very good title.

In the show, the two men bond over their mutual hatred of Yankee Stadium. They then proceed to get involved in a whole series of sitcom-y situations. In a classic take on "The Odd Couple" premise, their main shtick is that Eck flies off the handle at the slightest provocation-causing great amusement for the audience-and Varitek has to come in to calm him down and clean up the mess. In return, Eckersley teaches 'Tek to live life outside of baseball (obviously, filming would have to wait until after Varitek retires.) Eckersley would be effusive and bright; Varitek would nervously mumble his lines. And in the end we would all learn something about life, or friendship, or some such. It's comedy gold. And I'm sure Tom Warner is already all over it.

And Away We Go.

And we turn to the immortal work of Meatloaf to serenade them the hell out of Canada. Forgive the Meatloaf-iness of the whole thing.

Nuts.

The news is not good for JD.

He's got a herniated disc. When a disc herniates, the nucleus pulposus in the center of the intervertabral disc squishes out through the anulus fibrosus. From there it can irritate the nearby nerves causing pain, weakness, and loss of motion.

The typical treatment for a herniated disc is to not do anything. For most patients, the disc will heal itself within a month. Pain pills and back strengthening exercises are all that's typically needed. In more extreme cases surgery is necessary. In the surgery they either take out the disc or bits of it. It wouldn't be the ideal solution for someone who needs to keep their back flexible.

Illustration from the Mayo Clinic.

Happy Birthday Carl!

Today Carl Yastrzemski turns sixty-nine years old. Spending your birthday in the hospital sucks but that's where most of spent our very first birthday. Have a happy birthday and here's hoping for many more.

Good to the Last Drop.

VAs are notorious for not being the most comfortable of places. Lacking in funding, not being adequately staffed, being in various states of disrepair, and just being hospitals are some of the problems they suffer from. In an effort to brighten and enliven a dismal environment, several members of the Red Sox showed up at the VA in Brockton last Saturday.

Terry Francona, Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin, Jonathan Papelbon, Julio Lugo, Justin Masterson, Jeff Bailey, and Mike Lowell made the trek out of town to say hello and throw pitches (the article says pitchers but I don't think they were tossing Wake, Paps, and Masterson around) to the wheelchair softball team.

The Boys of the Pacific Northwest.

(or the story of Red Sox rookies whose names start with the letter J--except for Justin Masterson who doesn't count)

1. Jed Lowrie has done such a fabulous job filling in for Julio Lugo--another J--that people are taking notice.

2. Jacoby the thief. Jacoby Ellsbury steals bases in much the same way that he steals hearts-often and, seemingly, without effort. The first bit of Ellsbury-ana comes to us from the Projo. The second piece comes from The Register-Guard of Eugene, OR.

3. Jeff Bailey is just happy to help.

4. This post was originally titled "The Boys of Oregon" but that had to be scrapped once it was discovered that Kelso, Washington was, in fact, not in Oregon and, therefore, Jeff Bailey wasn't Oregonian. With the title change it seemed only fair to find something about Jon Lester. This was the best I could come up with. Who would have thought that Jon Lester's musical tastes were about as exciting as Jon Lester himself?

Bang-A-Rang!

It was certainly a good night for Red Sox players called Jason. Jason Bay and Jason Varitek both hit solo home runs in the second inning. Jason Bay also hit a two-run home run in the eighth.

So woot for a win (especially after the head-scratchingly bad performance yesterday)! My admiration for Jon Lester (which tends to fade between his starts) is back at full strength. And kudos to David Ortiz for knocking in Pedroia with a double and then using his stealth speed to score on a fielder's choice.

Happy Birthday Dustin!

I'd like to wish a happy twenty-fifth to Dustin Pedroia. May he continue to have a great year (where would this team be without him?) and may he continue to have a great time doing it. He's been known to rub some people the wrong way but I hope he never changes.

There's No Place Like Home.

In Schill's latest blog entry he tells us: "I miss some things I didn't think I would, and don't miss many things I expected too." The major league clubhouse being Schilling's de facto home for the past thirteen years, a little homesickness would be natural. But Curt isn't the only one suffering from homesickness and missing unexpected things.

Jason Bay is happy to be in Boston but is missing the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Bay's younger sister, Lauren, is a pitcher for the Canadian Olympic Softball team but NBC hasn't been covering the team and, as a result, his ability to follow the goings on has been spotty. Says Bay:

"I don't get any coverage down here," Bay said in the Boston clubhouse yesterday afternoon. "If it was on CBC or something, I'd love to [watch], but we don't. There's nothing we can do to watch it. It kind of drives me nuts."

Awww. What a good older brother.

Kelt to the Twins.

Yay for the hair! Bobby Kielty has signed a minor-league deal with the Twins. Hopefully, this time around works out for him. Unless, of course, the Sox win the division and the Twins take the wild card-then all bets are off.

Hep Kitten.

I saw him the other day-watched him run backward. But after clearing some space on the camera by dumping scads of pictures onto the computer, I left the camera at home. So the standard first picture off Google will have to do.

The Front Office talks about hiring not only quality baseball players but quality people to fill their roster. And while one interview isn't enough to establish his good-person credentials, Lars Anderson seems like a fascinating person and could very well be a keeper. Or it might just be a standard twenty-year old male view of the world and I just don't know any of them anymore.

He's a thinker. He can be articulate. He's a reader. He's less self-absorbed than some. I suspect he's a bit of a dreamer. And he seems really grounded.

But this:

"I just like reading, man. It's totally a good way to stay centered."

made me laugh out loud.

Alright Daddy-o. Slide me some skin.

Mea Culpa.

Please don't blame Timlin or even Lester for the Rangers hitting those home runs last night. It was my fault. Going into the eighth inning I began to think Lester might be able to throw another complete game shutout. Then I began to wonder if they'd been shut out this season (they have by the Twins on July 18, the Yankees on August 7, and the Orioles on August 9.) As soon as pulled up their game log, Kinsler got his home run. Forgive me.

Happy Birthday Clay!

Today is Clay Buchholz's twenty-fourth birthday. Because of the way he showed up last season, it's easy to forget how very young he is. But no doubt about it, the boy is a veritable baby.

Some birthday wishes for Clay: A new necklace to add to his collection. Some cocky bastard lessons from Pedroia to get over his confidence issues. A big meal to put some meat on his bones. And the opportunity to pitch in Texas in September to appease his father (who was disappointed that Clay didn't pitch in Houston.)

Many happy, healthy, and productive returns of the day.

Tonight's Game Was Brought to You by the Letter: W.

Woot! Weird. Wild. Whew! But most importantly: Win!

Who You Gonna Call?

Charlie Zink hasn't thrown a pitch in the majors yet. It might go terribly wrong. He might make a complete ass of himself. But since they dropped Craig Breslow, he's been my boy in the minors. The under dog. The one to root for. The one to project upon.

Today, my adoration for Zink grew a little more. The major he was enrolled in at Savannah College of Art and Design? Historic Preservation. From the little bit of poking around I did, it seems that he spent his time learning to fix up old paintings. Like Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters-although, I wouldn't wish for him to have a child that a ghost wishes to possess.

Next Up: the Texas Rangers.

Scott Feldman has tonight's game for the Rangers. He's primarily a sinker ball pitcher who mixes in a curve ball, a cutter, and very occassionally a change up. He has trouble throwing strikes and, consequently, is liberal with the walks. He doesn't have big strike out numbers (his season high is five in six and one-third of an inning.) Lefties and righties hit him pretty evenly. His problem has been inconsistency. He's done well against the tough offense offered by the White Sox but lasted only three innings (giving up eight runs) to the Angels. He's kept the Yankees in check (I know that the Yankee offense has had trouble scoring runs this season but you would think that they could do something against this guy) but struggled against the Mariners. So who knows what you'll end up getting. Last season they saw him once (in relief), he went two and two-thirds of an inning, gave up no hits, walked only one, and struck out two.

Luis Mendoza has the start on Wednesday. On April 18, Mendoza made a start against Boston. He lasted only three innings. He gave up seven runs on five hits. He has a decent sinking fastball, a cutter, a slider, a change up, and a curve ball. He doesn't walk too many batters but he does get hit pretty hard.

The last pitcher of the series is Vicente Padilla. Padilla throws a fastball, a cutter, and a change up. He throws strikes and gets a lot of called strikes. He does give up a good number of hits, though. Righties have a difficult time against him.

If the Rangers can't beat you with their pitching (it would seem like they couldn't), then their plan must be to out-slug you-which is something they could do. They have big bats in Milton Bradley and Josh Hamilton. They have slightly smaller (but still really good) bats in Ian Kinsler and Chris Davis. Ian Kinsler is the most likely player to steal a base. As a team, they are somewhat error prone. Both David Murphy and Hank Blalock are on the DL (Blalock could be looking to come back quite soon.)

Who Would Want to Live in a World Without Zink?

Jimmy: Hey, what gives?

Jimmy's Dad: You said you wanted to live in a world without zinc Jimmy. Well now your car has no battery.

Jimmy: But I promised Betty I'd pick her up by 6:00. I better give her a call.

Jimmy's Dad: Sorry Jimmy. Without zinc for the rotary mechanism, there are no telephones.

Jimmy: Dear God! What have I done?

(Jimmy pulls out a gun. Points it at his head and fires.)

Jimmy's Dad: Think again Jimmy. You see the firing pin in your gun was made out of...yep...zinc.

Jimmy: Come back, zinc! Come back.

(From: The Simpsons-Bart the Lover)

Oh yeah, and not the Red Sox don't want to either.

Road Trip.

While Lowell and Pawtucket were playing at Fenway on minor league Saturday, Portland was taking a road trip down to Norwich, CT to play the CT Defenders. Cheap tickets to Fenway to watch super excited kids play ball seemed like the obvious choice of weekend activity. But then, it was brought to my attention that CT was giving away Mike Lowell bobbleheads. Obviously, this piece of information necessitated a jaunt down I-395.

Although CT is a Giants affiliate, it isn't as random or as exploitative as it might seem. Back in the day, when CT was Norwich, the club was the AA affiliate of the Yankees. Mikey Lowell played there in 1997.

Plastic, nodding Mike Lowell was apparently a big draw. While there were some fans of the home team, the vast majority of the folks there had donned Red Sox apparel for the game. It sort of reminded me of the game I went to in Tampa- a thousand Red Sox fans for every Rays fan (I did see two Rays caps while I was there-although it may have the same hat twice. I was so shocked when I saw it the first time that I didn't note the face beneath it.) What was fun was that the Red Sox fans were cheering for the home team as much as they were cheering for Portland.

And even though Zach Daeges attempted to kill me with a foul ball (Seriously: I have never been that close to a foul ball in my life. Generally, I'm already cowering in fear if one comes within a thirty-foot radius of where I'm sitting-so you can imagine my abject terror when this one landed in the first of four empty seats directly to my right. --It's a good thing I didn't leave Mikey up there.--What's more, I was so shocked that I didn't even get the ball. I just sort of watched it roll of the seat and on to the floor. The guy on the other side of the empty seats ended up grabbing it.), it was a good time. Bob Stanley was there (he's the Defenders pitching coach) so that was neat. I had hoped that Bard might get into the game but it was kind of a blow out so that didn't happen and Argenis Diaz didn't play (I had picked a seat on the first base side so I could get a good look at the kid) so that was kind of a bummer. But it was a fun time all around. And I got home in time to see Daisuke finish off the sixth inning of the White Sox game.

So here he is: Mike Lowell in purple pinstripes. It's probably a good thing that you can't really see them-the uniform is hideous.

Mystery Solved.

So, curious about Manny's new found speed? Desperate to find out the reason his balky knees suddenly went un-balky? Turns out, the answer-the way to fix Manny Ramirez-was under our noses the entire time. Navajo magic.

Next Up: the Chicago White Sox.

Mark Buehrle is a finesse pitcher who throws a low-nineties fastball and an occasional cut fastball. His best pitches are his curve ball, really good change up, and his sliders (he has two.) He's got a good pick off move and he's hard to run on. He works quickly and throws strikes. He also, generally, logs a lot of innings for the White Sox. He can be very good but if he's having a bad day, all bets are off. The problem isn't getting hits (as a strike thrower, he's bound to give up some) but stringing together a series of them. And while he doesn't give many free passes, he will give up home runs.

Jose Contreras is scheduled to pitch the second game of the series on Saturday. At the moment, he hasn't been activated from the disabled list where he landed with an elbow problem. He throws a lively fastball and a wicked splitter. The problem for Contreras has been that sometimes the pitches move too much. He doesn't have the greatest poise on the mound when things are going poorly and, in the effort to throw strikes to get an out, ends up getting hit hard. In his AAA start, he gave up three runs in the first inning but then threw four shut-out innings. He didn't reach his pitch count of seventy-five through five innings.

Gavin Floyd has the game on Sunday. Floyd is a pretty solid pitcher with three solid pitches. He throws a mid-nineties fastball, an excellent change up, and a pretty good curve ball. And while he does occasionally struggle with his command, he doesn't give up many runs or too many hits. He is easier to run on, though. He struggles against lefties.

John Danks takes the ball in the last game of the series. Danks throws a low-nineties fast ball, an excellent change up, and a pretty good curve ball. Danks is good. He's done a good job of aiming for the strike zone this season and while in the past he had issues with leaving the ball up in the strike zones (leading to home runs), he seems to have figured out how to keep the ball down.

The White Sox have a potent offense. Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye, and Jim Thome are their best hitters. Joe Crede is on the disabled list with a bad back but could possibly make it back for the series (his replacement Josh Fields has struggled, so they've been playing Juan Uribe at third.) Orlando Cabrera has a team leading eighteen steals and he's also the hardest to strike out. Jim Thome has the most strike outs and the most walks (tied with Nick Swisher at sixty-seven.) They do make a considerable number of errors-though even with Crede out, the number hasn't really gone down.

Cuteness Overload.

Much to my mother's chargrin, I'm not really one to coo over babies. In all honesty, I think infants look a lot like potatoes. Cute little kids are a different story, though. They're more interesting, they've got personality, and they're less root vegetable-esque. In the August issue of Boston Magazine, they have a photo spread of some of the kids of Sox players (current, former, and coach) modeling very expensive clothing.

Just a couple of things occurred to me:

1. Alex Cora has some good-looking kids. His wife must be absolutely breathtaking. If his step-son isn't breaking hearts at his high school, then I don't know what's wrong with those girls.

2. Wake's son is a doll. Mike Timlin's kids are spitting images of him. David's daughter is going to be a stunner.

3. Clearly, they've all been around baseball their entire lives. Youk's fiance's son is the only one who looks like he doesn't know what he's doing.

4. But none of them can hold a candle to possibly the cutest peanut to ever exist on the face of the earth: D'Angelo Ortiz. The kid just oozes cute. For no good reason, I've already ascribed his father's personality to him which makes him even more adorable.

Next Up: the Kansas City Royals.

Normally, a road trip to Kansas City isn't cause for concern. Normally, it's "Goin' to Kansas City. Kansas City, here I come." But the weather is supposed to be downright Floridian out there for the next couple of days. The Royals just split a series with the White Sox and are in a feisty mood (Olivo was hit by a pitch during today's game and picked a fight about it.) And the last time they played Boston it didn't go very well for them: Lester no-hit them in the first game of the series, Colon and Masterson both beat them, and in the final game of the series, the Royals pitching staff gave up two grand slams. It's not the perfect recipe for success for a team with the road-woes that the Sox have had.

Throwing tomorrow is Gil Meche (and Clay has his work cut out for him.) Meche throws a nice low-nineties sinker that gets a lot of ground ball outs. He also comes back with a decent fastball to get a lot of strike outs. Command has been an issue in the past but the walks are down this season. He pitched well against the Sox on May 20. In seven innings, he gave up only two runs on five hits. He walked only two but struck out eight. Interestingly, his most recent outing (against Oakland) had the exact same pitching line. Lefties and righties hit him about evenly but he walks more righties. He seems to start out strong but then start to become fatigued deeper into the game.

Brian Bannister takes the ball in the second game of the series. He throws a low nineties fastball, a really good high eighties cutter, and a big, swooping curve ball. Command and, consequently, walks have been a problem for him. If his command isn't spot on, he becomes hittable. He threw against the Sox on May 22. He gave up seven runs on twelve hits (including a grand slam to JD Drew-Lowell also hit a grand slam in the game off Gobble.) Lefties have hit him at a .300 clip and righties have gotten to him for an average of .274.

Luke Hochevar took the loss in Lester's no-hitter. He pitches on Wednesday. He's a big righty rookie who throws a mid-nineties four seam fastball and a low-nineties sinker. He is also in possession of a low-eighties change up, a curve ball, and a slider. His curve ball is his best breaking pitch and he uses the slider as his out-pitch. At the start of the season he was walking a lot of guys, giving up quite a few hits, but also getting a lot of strike outs. Lately, it seems that the walks and strike outs are down but he's still getting hit. Against Boston, on May 19, he went six innings and gave up seven runs on five hits (including a two-run home run to Jason Varitek.) In that outing he walked six and struck out two. From what we saw of him he seems to be pretty easy to run on-Pedroia stole second and Ellsbury later stole second and third in the same Pedie at bat. Lefties have a grand old time against him but he's not too shabby for righties to hit either.

Starting short stop Tony Pena, while a pretty good pitcher, is having a dismal season at the plate. But they still seem to be running him out there despite the fact that their backup short stop, Mike Aviles, is possibly their best hitter (for what it's worth, he's not so hot defensively.) David Dejesus also swings a nice bat for them. Mark Grudzielanek, gold-glove-winner and maker-of-few-errors at second base, and Joey Gathright, stealer-of-bases and outfield-assisting-centerfielder, are on the disabled list. Jose Guillen leads the team with fifteen home runs and Alex Gordon is behind him with twelve. Alex Gordon has a team-leading nine errors at third base.

Pedie being Pedie.

Oh, Dustin of my heart. How I adore thee. With Manny gone, you've been catapulted into the role of number one dink (which I mean with great affection) and, thereby, my new favorite player. He's a guy who manages to piss off Yankee fans by doing no more than existing and doesn't cease to bring a smile to my face.

ESPN the Magazine had a write-up of The Mouth (as I shall henceforth refer to him) in their latest issue. The whole thing is good for a giggle but my favorite part:

Over in the Red Sox dugout, Pedroia is in Youkilis' face: "Dude, when I was in high school, I was really good-looking." Youkilis cracks up. "No," Pedroia says, standing up. "I'm telling you." Clearly, these are fighting words.

Bwah! Love him.

Happy Birthday Wake!

Today is the forty-second August 2nd that Tim Wakefield has been in the world. Wake is a trooper. An un-sung hero, if you like. He goes out there every fifth day, throws his funky little pitch, usually does his job pretty well, and often to no avail. But you won't hear Wake complain.

He's a good pitcher and, more importantly, a good man. He sponsors the school for disabled kids in Florida. He hangs out at Dana Farber. He's humble, good-natured and solemn. There doesn't seem to be much of anything to dislike about Tim Wakefield.

He's hung around for fourteen seasons (since he was twenty-eight years old.) He's accumulated one hundred and sixty wins during his tenure in Boston. He's third on the list of most winning-est pitcher in Red Sox history behind Cy Young and Clemens (both with 192). His goal is two hundred wins or, at the very least, 193. If only the offense would plate some runs for him, he might be a lot closer to that goal.

But, happy birthday Wake! I'm sorry they couldn't get you another win last night. I hope that you continue to do your thing and achieve your goal--because you far out-class Roger. Many happy and healthy returns to you!

I'm Okay.

Finally, I'm okay. Yesterday was not so good. Intellectually, I knew that it was time to let Manny Ramirez go. I spent all day trying to come to terms with the inevitable. I wrote a little tribute to him to help with the grief. I braced myself as well as I could. Then the news came down and it still managed to be a sickening blow.

Today, mostly, didn't go well either. The mere thought of Manny not being in left field made me teary-eyed. I read The Dugout at work this morning and was pretty close to sobbing. When I got home from work, Michael was playing some baseball video game and when the Manny character came up to bat? Waterworks.

I was pretty reluctant to watch his presser this evening. But I did it and it made things better. Happy Manny is back and I love Happy Manny. Manny is alright, so I can be alright. Regardless of how Lou Merloni thinks I should feel, I loved Manny. I spent so much time defending, protecting, and trying my damnedest to encourage him through the television screen, that he was like my baby. If Manny's good, then I can deal with it. Then I saw the photo. And somehow, the idea of Manny in high-socks made being better/able-to-deal morph into actually being okay.