singapore sox fan: the red sox from half the world away

Sox 6, Twins 2: Sideshow Manny

By now, how much more does anyone want to read about Manny wanting out? The sad thing is that the snide remarks of some of the press reports sort of justifies the request. Oh well, that's the weird relationship of the Boston media and its superstars... they hated Ted Williams too...

As for the game itself - it really did feel like a sideshow to the spectacle of trade deadline rumours. But Wells has been in some sort of groove.

Dick Pole would be proud

No Sox games today, but I noted that Aaron Small got the win for the Yankees in his 2nd start this season.

Maybe I'm just a puerile 12-year-old at heart, but Small Wang, Brown Johnson is either the rotation or a porno version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Now if only the Yankees would acquire R.A. Dickey.

Look homeward angel, and melt with ruth

In discussing the day Trot got injured, Chad Finn makes a good point about trying to read 'turning points' into the season:

Many words were spent in recent days regarding the one-year anniversary of one of the supposed turning points of last season - the Nomar Garciaparra trade, after which the Sox went 42-18 and . . . hell, you have the DVD. You know the rest. But it's scarcely mentioned that the Sox struggled mightily in the immediate aftermath of the deal, losing six of eight games, and only started their championship run when Orlando Cabrera settled in and had all his handshakes memorized. Turning points? Sometimes there is something to them. Oftentimes, though, they are only as good as the next day's starting pitcher (Link)

There are always games in a season that feel like turning points - and then there are true turning points that are only clear in retrospect. This up-and-down season thus far has shown some glimmer of such points, but I'm not calling anything till the whole season's over and we can look back, hopefully in wonder.

Jeter needs to run a little faster

Funny quote from Torii Hunter on throwing out Derek Jeter at the plate in the third inning after Gary Sheffield's single:

"He hit the ball so hard I had plenty of time to make the throw," Hunter said. "When he hits a ball, Jeter needs to run a little faster." (Link)

Translated: "Sheffield, you hit well. Jeter, you're dogging it." Okay, maybe that's not what he meant, but heck, I like the implications...

Sox vs Rays - Series Roundup

Schilling inserted himself left, right, and centre in this series, with one loss in extra innings, one win in extra innings, and a semi-rocky save. It's funny that after today's 4-1 game the Sox's 3 winningest pitchers are now Cy Young, Roger Clemens, and Tim Wakefield. I love Wakefield, but it's a rare list that puts his name together with two of the best pitchers ever.

Speaking of unlikely, Alex Cora with a homer? Doug Mirabelli with a steal?

Back to back extra innings games after having played none the whole season. The long no extra-innings thing was a good thing I guess - the rate this team's injuries were going, wasn't sure the team could sustain it. Of course, the lack of extra innings could also be because Embree and Foulke showed a disturbing tendency to crap out and give up so many runs the Sox couldn't come back.

I saw the Carl Crawford line drive that hit Matt Clement. It was scary. Somehow in those games the end result really doesn't matter - I'm just glad one of the stalwarts of the rotation is okay.

Rain Delay

My apologies for not updating this blog... over the weekend, I was preoccupied with lots of things, including attending the Saturday wedding of Davin, a fellow alumnus and a true Sox fan. First words when I greeted him at the wedding: "did they win today?". To which I had to, sadly, report the 8-4 loss to Garland where Wakefield suddenly lost it all in one inning. But I suppose at least he didn't miss anything.

At the same wedding dinner I mentioned this blog to someone at my table, and he went "are you the Singaporean sox blogger?". Nice to know people are reading. Ah, the Red Sox, they're a worldwide obsession.

Good Sox 4, Bad Sox 6: Contreras to Popular Belief

Ugh, a Sox loss and a Yankee win. Got to be one of the best games Jose Contreras ever pitched against the Sox - I did love to see him get beat up by the Sox when he was a Yankee.

100 degrees out there in the field. They always say it's not the heat, it's the humidity. (A question on one of my favourite topics, regional dialects of English: do you say "humidity" with an "h" sound or a "y" sound at the beginning?) But I always associate the mental image of Chicago and heat with that horrific 1995 heat wave where about 739 people died...

Randomly: every season there are always bizarre injuries - Clint Barmes and his bag o' meat, and then Jermaine Dye had to sit out this series because of a spider bite.

Those White Sox broadcasters

Watching this disaster of a ballgame (thus far - you would've thought facing a righty would be good for the Sox), I've been contemplating the truly awful White Sox broadcasters. I'll ignore that silly "He gone" strikeout call - I understand people sometimes feel they have to have a gimmick phrase - but if this is what Chicagoland gets to watch, I'm beginning to see why the White Sox have always been the poorer sister in terms of Chicagoland support.

It's one thing for announcers to support the home team and have some bias. But I've never seen a broadcast done to this extreme: for one, the "we" term to refer to the team is kind of annoying ("We don't have to score a lot of runs because of our pitching"), and then there's the need to keep saying the equivalent of "WOO!!! WE'RE THE BEST!!!" ("If we're going to compare our team this year to what the Twins have been doing, our team has been the best overall", "we're the best at not beating ourselves"). And the capper for me is how they refer to every White Sox player by their first names - it's especially strange to hear Aaron Rowand referred to as "Aaron". I keep looking in the stands to see if Hank's watching.

That's too bad, because I like the White Sox.

Good Sox 6, Bad Sox 5: Manny Being Manny

Manny goes solo

When was the last time the two Sox teams met and both were in first place? Well, this was probably one of the best games of the season. Curt Schilling gave up the tying run, but Manny got a second chance from Crede's dropped ball and punished the White Sox. And then Curt's splitter was back on form in the 9th for the vultured win.

Other stunning moment - Trot Nixon getting 2 hits off lefty Mark Buehrle.

Schilling needs a better song to come out to though. I like the idea of using the Beastie Boys' "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun", off that classic album, the Beavis and Butthead soundtrack.

Happy trails, Alan Embree

Chad Finn had a picture of this old baseball card of Alan Embree on his blog:

From the looks of it, Embree grew up in the 50s, and probably enjoyed many malts at the soda fountain and cut a rug at the hop.

But seriously, Alan Embree may have been terrible this season, but he was one of "the 25" and will always be, appearing in 11 of the 14 postseason games in 2004 and giving up only 10 hits and 2 ER in 7 1/3 innings. Best bullpen in baseball at the point in time, and looking back how magical it was to have a trio in Embree-Timlin-Foulke that could shut the door.

That postseason was magic, but it exacted a price: Schilling and Foulke may never be the same, and Embree lost something on the fastball. But what memories, and for that, Alan Embree, I thank you.

In Clement weather

It's a good thing Clement wasn't named to the Supreme Court, it's his turn in the rotation.

Okay, so Edith and Matt are two very different people, but one thing her name popping up did lead to was a random Slate Explainer column on how to pronounce her last name, which reminded me of how after the Sox signed Clement I couldn't remember for a while whether he was a CLE-ment or a Cle-MENT.

Sox 9, Rays 4: All Over From the Get-Go

The Sox mauled Mark Hendrickson so badly in the first inning - 5 ER and not a single out recorded - that I actually felt bad for the tall guy. Then the camera panned to Sweet Lou Piniella, and I didn't feel so bad about the Sox dismantling the Rays.

David Wells, as always, pitched methodically and solidly. And Chad Bradford actually looks like a decent part of the rotation. I just hope Manny's okay.

Damon's 29-game hitting streak

Tim Kurkjian writes about how Johnny Damon's recently-ended 29-game hitting streak is perhaps not getting the respect it deserves:

To appreciate 29 in a row, understand that Lou Gehrig never hit safely in 20 straight games, Ted Williams' longest streak was 23 and Babe Ruth's ended at 26. The longest streaks of two of the best hitters of the last 50 years, Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs, were 25 and 28 games, respectively.

You kind of understand (as Kurkjian points out later in the article) why power hitters such as Williams and Ruth don't get on long streaks - they tend to walk a lot and also to bat 3rd and 4th, thus giving them less at-bats. But to have a better streak than Boggs or Gwynn - that's impressive. Of, Luis Castillo had a 30+ game streak back in 2002, and no one's saying he's a great hitter, but still, kudos is due to Damon.

Sox 5, Rays 2: Back on track

Alex Cora flashes the leather

So - really nice play by Alex Cora with the diving stop on what looked like a base hit, and then the throw to John Olderdude (one of my favourite new nicknames) to get the out. Still, my memory of Cora is that he's always looked lost at the plate, which I suppose is why Tony Graffanino is on his way to town. The funny part of reading the news of all the trades after the game was realising I hadn't even blinked about Adam Hyzdu being in the game - totally consider Hyzdu part of the Sox organisation, even if he was with the San Diego 'farm team'. It's interesting how Theo loves to trade with the Padres, all that institutional history and connections from his stint there I presume.

And Curt Schilling gets his first save since 1992. Right now, the Sox need a solid bullpen - their starters thus far aren't overwhelming, but they've kept the team in games. (Heck, even Wakefield managed to get a CG in the loss to the Yankees.) Whereas relievers have crapped the bed - Alan Embree just got designated for assignment. So long, Embree, and thanks for all the fish. And welcome to the jungle, Curt - we got fun and games.

Sox 1, Rays 3: Pipped For First

Scott Kazmir always seems to dominate the Sox. Totally wild, but that slider of his seems to fool a lot of the Sox lineup. Bleah. And Damon lost his hitting streak, more's the pity.

So now, a slight step back. Time to claw back to the top.

Summer softball

Somehow, the idea of the Gawker folks playing softball against the Onion crew is amusing to me. Perhaps because I would like to see the Onion actually report on the game.

Sox 3, Yankees 5: Leiter? I hardly even know her!

Yes, I watched supposedly washed-up Al Leiter methodically plow through the Sox lineup, while the ESPN announcers gushed over his "revitalisation". No, I didn't really feel like writing about it. Hey, it's just one game. But one ugly game to watch.

And for the Bellhorn "oh, he Ks too much" haters - he's done gone and jammed his thumb, and I'm crossing my fingers that that doesn't mean we'll see more of Alex Cora, hitter... that reminds me, I was amused when my Maxim fantasy baseball preview (I bought it for the articles. Really! It's the only one I saw that had the White Sox and the Padres leading their respective divisions...) featured Jerry O'Connell picking Alex Cora as his 2nd player in a fantasy draft. Double plays are real rally killers. Way more than strikeouts.

Sox 4, Yankees 7: Sink and Sveum

The Sox had him. Clawing back so they were only down 6-4, they had Randy Johnson on the ropes. And a nice hit comes in, and everyone was clearly running on Bernie Williams' noodle arm, and then... Sveum puts on the stop sign? Ridiculous.

Clement lost his command, but Jeremi Gonzalez did a decent job in relief.

Incidentally, I watched a lot of Zito's near no-hitter yesterday. Almost made me late for the Singapore bloggercon that I was helping to organise, but what a game.

Sox 17, Yankees 1: How to Trot 360 Feet

Okay, hands up if you ever thought you'd see a Trot Nixon inside-the-park home run. A stand up one, at that.

Liar.

What a game. The Sox never let the hands off the throat, just kept pounding Redding and May, the detritus of the NL West, as well as the bullpen. The Yankees have zero rotation now with Brown, Pavano, Wang, and Wright on the DL, so if the bullpen can be pulverised, their climb-back to 2.5 games back can be halted. Nice job by Wells staying in so long.

By the way, if Johnny Damon acting like an ass is what it takes for him to hit like he's been hitting, I'm taking it. And Ortiz, of course, continued his assault on pitchers. Also, the flipside of Bellhorn's seeming expressionless demeanour when he Ks is that he turns the double play with that same coolness, even when someone's running or sliding into him.

A solid quote

I'm a bit of a grammar geek, as those of you who also visit my personal blog can probably tell, so Morgan Ensberg has just catapulted into my list of favourite non-Sox players with this comment:

“This team is playing solid - I mean solidly. I should use the adverb.”
- Ensberg on KVUE, Austin, Texas, July 11 (Link)

Ensberg I think is one of the only ones of my favourite non-Sox players that I don't have on any of my fantasy baseball teams...

Sox 6, Yankees 8: Welcome to the Jungle

Curt Schilling, not the greatest closer. Was that really the best time to use Curt? Although one game does not a summer make - as someone on SoSH pointed out, Smoltz was rocked hard when he made the transition to closer (and just as hard when he transitioned back). Everybody hurts, some time...

And how long before Tito realises that Embree doesn't let inherited runners score, but is shite at the start of an inning, while Mike Timlin seems to prefer to clear the bases of everyone he's inherited, but is great against "his" hitters?

Chad Bradford

Am excited about Chad Bradford coming in, particularly as he's been great against righties so far in his MLB career. Good return for Payton, I thought. I love unusual pitches, and Bradford's down-low sidearmer is a perfect example of that. As I've said before, one thing that struck me about the 2004 Sox pitching is that there were a lot of signature pitches, ones which were perhaps the best in the game, at least when they were on - Pedro's change, Wakefield's knuckler, Lowe's sinker, Schilling's splitter, and Foulke's circle change. So I'm hoping we'll see Bradford do his thing.

Incidentally, against lineups which use lefty-righty-lefty or similar alternating matchups, it would be cool to see both Mike Myers and Bradford on the field - let both of them learn to play the corner outfield, and then switch them around... so for example Myers gets the lefty out, moves to right field as Bradford gets the righty out, then comes come back to get the other lefty as a "proper" outfielder plays in right as a defensive substitution.

Where you going with the mask I found?

Bronson Arroyo releases his debut album, Covering the Bases, a collection of 90s cover tunes. Arroyo's clearly from a generation that hit adolescence in the early 90s - songs like "Plush" were among the first tunes I learnt to play on the guitar, myself. (That chord progression is awesome.) I thought this part of the interview was funny:

AP: Do you get requests?
Arroyo: Most of the time from Kevin Millar. He thinks I'm like his personal jukebox. ... "Play me this by Creed, play me Smashing Pumpkins." (Link)

Man. I hate Creed. Even Jesus hates Creed, as that T-shirt used to say.

The All-Star Game: the American League wins it again

(Oops, didn't realise I never hit "publish" on this post, which means it's probably a day late and a dollar short... kind of like Manny not getting to the media conference, which I'm sure he was glad to pay $5000 to avoid. Anyway...)

Junior circuit represent! As usual, the AL helped the Sox secure home field advantage for the World Series (fingers crossed). Eight AL win in a row, by my count, excluding the infamous tie. I don't think it means anything, really, in terms of overall AL superiority, although the AL is 6-3 in World Series in that same period. Still, for 2005, I'd say the weakest all-stars were on the NL side - David Eckstein and Luis Castillo come to mind.

Right now, I think the AL is stacked with power at the traditional defensive positions such as catcher, shortstop, second base - take Jason Varitek, Miguel Tejada, and Brian Roberts/Alfonso Soriana for example - in a way the NL isn't. Whereas the NL really has a lot of the good first basemen (Derrek Lee and Albert Pujols are quite a step above Teixeira).

As for the game itself - that Tejada homer in the second inning was monstrous. And Rivera always gets the save. One thing about the All-Star game, there's a lot of playing out of position - the outfielders vote means corner outfielders such as Ichiro and Scott Podsednik end up playing centre (though of course, both have the speed to play CF), while this game saw Morgan Ensberg, 3B, play first base and Shea Hillenbrand, 1B, return to that old 3B slot that he occupied in Boston. And listening to Mark Buehrle speak after his 2 innings, he sounded a lot like Boomhauer, Hank's mumbling friend on "King of the Hill".

Fay Vincent and Olympic Baseball

Fay Vincent talks about the loss of the Olympics in baseball, hinting darkly at conspiracies:

I wonder whether we can get beyond the stated reasons for the eliminations. The antidoping issue looks like a smoke screen, given baseball's recent progress in dealing with the steroid plague. We will be told there is limited worldwide interest in the two sports, but how can a serious argument be made that baseball and softball are not as popular as sports with deep Olympic roots like rifle shooting, archery, sculling and Greco-Roman wrestling, whatever that is.

I suspect the worst here and am not confident anything can be done. (Link)

"I suspect the worst"? I think all that happened was baseball got screwed with a bad rep, but then I'm a Snopes-worshippin' skeptic. And I gotta say, given that baseball was only introduced in 1992, I'm not very beholden to the idea that the sport has to be in the Olympics. I like the idea of the sport being so big that its international contest - the upcoming World Classic or whatever they've decided to call it - isbigger than the Olympics, in the same way as the World Cup is the most important tournament for football/soccer, rugby, and cricket.

In any case, it was funny to see Fay Vincent call on convicted felon George Steinbrenner to help his cause, given that Vincent was the one who made Steinbrenner resign as owner of the Yankees:

I also think our national Olympic committee, whose membership has recently included George Steinbrenner and Donald Fehr, the head of the baseball players union, might resolve the problem by offering to send our best players, the professionals from Major League Baseball, to reignite interest in Olympic baseball, as was done in basketball.

The Home Run Derby goes international

I'm a big supporter of the idea of a Baseball World Cup, and so the idea of holding the Home Run Derby as an international event was awesome to me - it turned what was basically a BP exhibition into a proper contest. I guess I've seen how much players care about international matches in football/soccer, and it's just fun to see that same passion translated today into baseball - the Latin Americans, especially, seemed really into it. The Dominican crew was clearly were rooting for Ortiz, and Bobby Abreu was all, "I'm so proud for my country... I'm so happy to win this trophy for my country". Genuine excitement rather than platitudes - such great fun. Even some of the commentators seemed to have become converts to the format - the fact is, as long as it matters to the players, that makes them put on a great contest. Jason Bay must be mortified.

And if you don't know Bobby Abreu by now, you will never never know him. 41 homers in one day. I suppose he moves off the all-underrated team now.

Johnny Damon Worldwide

The estimable Bob Hohler wrote me a nice e-mail a few days back asking about Damon's popularity over in these here parts. I guess this quote in the article "Johnny Damon, Superstar" must've been what sparked the question:

''Puma has been pushing me big overseas," Damon said. ''I think 90 percent of America knows who I am and probably 75 percent of the world knows me. It's pretty much a global thing." (Link)

Um, sadly for Damon, I think not enough people follow baseball in the world to make it even close to 25 per cent recognition. As I wrote back:

You know, I wish Damon were more popular, given that he's one of the only baseball players I know with Southeast Asian blood in him (along with Danny Graves), but the sad fact is that baseball isn't popular enough in this part of the world for Damon to make that much of an impact. (They do show the Wednesday and Sunday games on ESPN Asia, but only "live" i.e. around 8am in the morning.) Even in Bangkok and Thailand I can't say I ever saw many mentions of baseball in the papers, so I'm afraid unless the "Baseball World Classic" opens some eyes to the world of baseball, Damon can probably walk the streets of Singapore and Southeast Asia unmolested.

To further the point, I pass by sneaker stores regularly here in Singapore, and I can't say I've ever seen Damon's mug - or any baseball player's face - advertising shoes here. Or anywhere else in Southeast Asia. Or in the UK. Or in Australia. Oh well, it's not like Damon's penchant for putting his mug out there isn't well known. As long as he's hitting at the rate he is, he can be a superstar for all I care...

Sox 1, Orioles 4: Bird brained

Yeah, I hate the Orioles. Losing a 4-game series is shite. And Rafael Palmeiro has to be the most nondescript player to have 3000 hits.

But oh well, entering the All-Star Break 2 games up in the AL East makes me happy. Catch you on the flip side.

All-Time Worst List

David Schoenfield compiled an all-time worst players lineup - the Sox are represented by Todd Benzinger (and Darren Lewis on the bench). Tony Womack just escapes being on that list thanks to the crappiness of Hal Lanier.

Sox 1, Orioles 9: Sigh

John Halama sent in to pitch in the 7th? That's basically saying, look, we give up, it's a scorched earth policy, do as you please, just spare the women and children.

Matt Clement, All-Star

Clement's gonna be an All-Star:

Just six days ago, Red Sox manager Terry Francona was "crushed" and Boston right-hander Matt Clement was "disappointed" because the latter fell short in his bid to make his first All-Star team. As it turns out, the story has a happy ending.
Clement will indeed join American League All-Star manager Francona, and teammates Johnny Damon, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek, for the All-Star festivities in Detroit.

While Clement said he looks up to the way Roy Halladay approaches the game, the Toronto ace's left leg fracture (suffered Friday night) is what led to Clement's All-Star spot. Because Clement had the most votes on the Players Ballot of any pitcher not selected, he was the first choice to fill the void left by Halladay. (MLB.com)

Wow, apparently Tito really has no control over All-Star roster spots. Timlin's gonna get screwed.

Payton put in place; Ramon Nomarred

As for the flurry of activity: I'm intrigued by the suggestion that much as Jay Payton's whining was annoying to hear about, it got him kicked off the team, which was what he wanted - so maybe being an annoyance was really the only way to get Theo to get rid of one of the better fourth outfielders in the league. Payton for Chad Bradford would be a good trade.

I like having Alex Cora on the team. At least he's a utility infielder who can play defense.

Sox 1, Orioles 3: Nixon, Nixoff

I understand calling games because of rain if it's a blowout, but it's kind of galling to be down 2 runs in the 7th, well within shouting distance, and have the game called.

Meanwhile, apparently Nixon was in China. Or at least somewhere else mentally, rather than being on 2nd base. Bases loaded and picked off? Ouch. See, I think Nixon is a great hitter as long as he's facing a righty, but I can't stand that cult about Trot being a gritty, "gamer" type of player that leads to him being idolised for playing with "intensity". If Manny made a boo-boo like that he would be absolutely crucified for it, but somehow Trot tossing the ball into the stands with less than 2 outs and him getting picked off just wash along.

Baseball, softball no longer in Olympics

Sadly, my country was the site of baseball's removal from the Olympics:

SINGAPORE -- Baseball and softball were tossed out of the Olympic program for the 2012 London Games -- the first sports cut from the Summer Games in 69 years. The International Olympic Committee then rejected the five sports wanting to get in.

I understand cutting sports for other sports. I wrote last month that baseball was likely to fall out in favour of rugby, and indeed, as far as world popularity is concerned, rugby might even be a better choice. But to cut a sport just for cutting's sake is ridiculous, particularly as all the would-be host countries can well afford to host the facilities.

Apparently the absence of MLB players and the lack of a strict drug testing programme didn't help. Oh well. More incentive for the Baseball World Cup to take shape.

On softball, there was an interesting comment from Don Porter, the president of the international softball federation:

[Porter] said his sport's ties to baseball created problems.
"We tried to keep our distance," he said. "But I think there's still too many people think we're part of baseball. We're absolutely not. We're a separate sport."

Clearly baseball won't suffer that much from not being at the Olympics, but softball might.

Bastards

This is the part of the day where I come home, fire up MLB.tv, and take in the day's game and write with unadulterated joy about Clement's near-CG, Embree's save (!), and Scott Podsednik's utter humiliation of Derek Jeter in the 30th Man Vote.

Except I love London, and I'm in no mood for joy.

Schilling to the bullpen?

Really? An intriguing idea, indeed.

Sox 7, Rangers 4: Welcome back, Mike Timlin, Closer

Timlin closed out the game today. Which is just as well: closers (usually) don't inherit runners, which was Timlin's main weakness as a reliever anyway. And I always figured someone would make a bid for Timlin as a closer, given that he's definitely done the job well before, albeit back in the 90s. I just didn't figure it would be the Sox.

And Manuel Aristides Ramirez: just awesome. Just an awesome hitter. 20 grand slams in his career. His bat meets the ball, and the ball achieves its destiny.

2012 - London wins it

Woo! Big London fan myself. If I can be there in 7 years, that'll be awesome to see.

As for the IOC celebrations, things have been crazy around here. Basically traffic's in town was a mess for a while. Hillary Clinton was apparently a great schmoozer, but the word on the street was that it would be Moscow to go first, followed by New York, followed by Madrid, and then it was a tossup with Paris initially ahead but London gaining ground. Guess the street got it right.

Did the Parisians think of putting up free postcards everywhere telling me how many bars there are in Paris, the way London did? Noooo.....

As for the other numerous celebs and luminaries in town - Bloomberg and Nadia Comeneci and the rest of the NY delegation spent the Fourth of July at the American ambassador's house. Raul and the rest of the Madrid team ate in Via Mar, a crappy Spanish restaurant that managed to fly in chefs for the occasion. Everyone was trying to see David Beckham. The rumour was that Muhammad Ali was eating in the branch of Morton's here, but I'm not dropping that kind of money on steak without a guaranteed sighting.

30th Man Vote Updates: Podsednik for President

Well, given that it's last place on the All-Star team, it's more like Podsednik for Undersecretary of State or something (and yes, I know, that's an appointed position not an elected one), but anyway:

After one day of balloting, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter leads the American League voting by a hair over Chicago White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik.

The AL's other nominees, in order of current position in the voting, are Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui and outfielder Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (MLB.com)

Funny, I voted for Podsednik 20 times, but I still wouldn't have thought he would be that close in the running for the votes. Maybe part of that's a reflection of how fantasy baseball affects your perception of players? Podsednik has speed but no power, but in fantasy baseball terms he's a god.

Matsui's in fourth place, which I guess allows me to continue being dubious about the "Japan votes for Matsui" factor. For one, the Japanese vote for Ichiro because he's an institution, I'm not entirely certain they just vote for any Japanese player. That would be So Taguchi of them. If I recall right, even without votes from Japan Ichiro would've been a starting All-Star anyway in his first year here.

Thoughts on management strategy for Tito

Instead of using up Tek for the majority of the game and killing his knees, how about seeing if Mike Sweeney has his old catching mitt? Or, for that matter, Shea "third-string catcher behind Tek and Hatteberg" Hillenbrand?

Sox 5, Rangers 6: Texas held 'em

Thoughts on Foulke blowing yet another save? As they say in comic strips: ampersand, pound sign, at sign, dollar sign, exclamation point.

Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day to all my American visitors! Time to bring out the BBQs, sling on those "Kiss the Cook" aprons, and throw some burgers on the grill. Or whatever your family custom is.

Man, I miss the Fourth of July festivities and fireworks displays. I remember walking with my friends along Memorial Drive down by the banks of the River Charles (as the Standells would say), trying desperately to find a good spot to watch the fireworks from. In the end our view was blocked, but the sight was still something worth seeing... no one does excessive spectacles like Americans!

Proust can keep his madeleines; this is what the smell of a burger on the barbecue brings back to me. Now here's to a perfect day against Texas...

2005 All-Star Rosters: American League

So the All-Star rosters are out, and there's really no way anyone can quibble with the AL starting lineup: Tek, Teixeira, Roberts, A-Rod, Tejada, Manny, Damon, Vlad, Ortiz. Which is pretty much what I filled in, save a chronic aversion to voting for A-Rod.

As for the reserves, the egregious omission to me is Travis Hafner (14 HR, .303/.410/.547), who should be at 1B in place of Shea Hillenbrand. But then, what could Tito do? Shea was voted in by the players. Looking at the breakdown, Tito chose: Danys Baez, Bartolo Colon, Justin Duscherer, Bob Wickman, and Ichiro. Of the 4 pitchers and 1 position player he could pick, he had to take 1 player from Tampa, Oakland, Seattle, and Cleveland. Baez and Dusch were pretty much set as their team reps - I suppose he could've taken Carl Crawford, but that would've meant choosing pitchers from both Cleveland and Seattle.

So it looks like it was between taking a pitcher from Cleveland and a hitter from Seattle, or vice versa, or two pitchers from Cleveland and Seattle. Unfortunately, Seattle has a crap roster in general. So really it was down to Wickman or Cliff Lee (9-3, 3.68 ERA) along with Ichiro, or Guardado (1-1, 20 saves, 1.55 ERA) and Hafner. Or, I suppose, Lee and Guardado, and someone to plug in the gap, which would've been Ichiro or Hafner either way (or Hunter, perhaps). And given the team needed more outfielders and already had 4 (!) 1Bs, I guess Wickman-Ichiro was an okay choice. Leaving Hafner off the 30th man ballot, though, was egregious.

Anyway, I want Tito to use Mariano Rivera in long relief. As in, 8 2/3 innings of long relief. That'll be good for all concerned.

Sox 2, Jays 5: I hate the Halladay season

Roy Halladay, Gregg Zaun, Renteria

Did the Sox really have to run into Roy Halladay on his way to yet another Cy? What the hell, I feel like firing up MVP Baseball and replaying this game into a win. Bronson Arroyo pitched decently (8 IP, 3 ER), but Halladay's in some sort of zone.

That 5th inning was particulary frustrating: men on 1st and 2nd, no one out, and each player then decides to make an out his favourite way: Mueller with the flyout, Bellhorn with the K, Damon with the groundout. If they had grouded out, flied out, and then K'd the Sox might have gotten one run. But then, proving that things don't work out that way in real life - came a 6th inning where the bases were loaded with no outs and a Nixon sac fly turned into a sort-of double play.

Meanwhile, Ramon Vazquez has left the building.

One day after recalling Abe Alvarez from Triple-A Pawtucket, the Red Sox sent the pitcher back down, along with infielder Ramon Vazquez.

Left-hander Lenny DiNardo and right-hander Jeremi Gonzalez will be recalled from Pawtucket on Monday.

Poor Abe. Brought in from Rhode Island just to see the sights of Boston. I suppose the game was considered too close to risk on a (semi-)rookie lefty, on the grounds that a bad outing could ruin his confidence (see Meredith, Cla), but any signs over the past few days that Alan Embree is any good seems to have been only so much fool's gold. Good to see Lenny D back. But I would like to see some shoring up of the bullpen. Shingo Takatsu?

Sox 6, Jays 4: Don't Leave Me This Way

That ejection of Wells was *cough* bullshit *cough*. Oh well, at least it didn't cost the Sox the win. Chris Guccione really looked like he was out for glory. If the home plate ump didn't call it, why should the second base ump? Mike Timlin got the one-out win, and Alan Embree has actually not given up a run in 2 outings. Okay, Foulke had to bail him out with men on 2nd and 3rd, but still, you gotta be thankful for what you got.

Meanwhile, Johnny Damon keeps on keeping on. 18 games with a hit.

And yes, I'm in a soul music mood...

Quantrill goes, plus an all-former-Sox-relievers bullpen

Since the big trade news was that Paul Quantrill was traded by the Yankees to the Padres, here's an all-former-Sox bullpen:

RHP Chris Hammond, Padres, 5-0, 1.60, 0.86, .181
RHP Rudy Seanez, Padres, 4-1, 2.65, 1.04, .216
RHP Bob Howry, Indians, 5-2, 3.44, 1.06, .228
LHP Scott Sauerbeck, Indians, 0-0, 3.04, 1.27, .253

Sure beats the idea of Matt Mantei, Alan Embree, and John Halama... Of course it's selective nit-picking - I'm not going to put Quantrill on that list, and all of them pitched pretty badly for the Sox. But it would be nice to have their performance now.

Chris Hammond, incidentally, is one of those players for whom pitching coach extraordinaire Leo Mazzone worked his magic in Atlanta, turning him from a 62 ERA+ to a 434 ERA+ player. I'm not fully sure that's the biggest jump in ERA+ in between seasons, but it's got to be at least up there. What's interesting about Hammond is even after leaving Atlanta he stayed a good pitcher, unlike, say, Jaret Wright.

Back to the trade - I'm not sure I get why the Padres feel they need to upgrade an already awesome bullpen, what with Chris Hammond and Rudy Seanez both on form and the Scott Linebrink-Akinori Otsuka-Trevor Hoffman three-headed monster. Right now the quality of their pen is such that I could see them doing a no-hitter by committee on the line of that Houston one against New York some time back.

Pedro's memories of the Sox

A recent Boston Herald article was about Pedro having fond memories of the Sox:

"I have room in my heart for the good things that happened. I appreciate so much being a Boston Red Sox for seven years. I established, I think, a small legacy when I was there. You know, there's more good than bad. There's nothing I can say - you know how I look at all this that happened this winter? Business. I'm mature enough to understand that that was business, regardless of what happened or how I was treated, it was just business.''

...

"No regrets, none at all,'' Martinez said. "I miss my (Red Sox) teammates - a whole bunch of crazy dudes, the 'Idiots' that I had behind me. I miss the fans, I miss the atmosphere and not really that much (else), because New York really takes you when it comes to being in an atmosphere."

...

Two baseball cards - one a World Series MVP card of Manny Ramirez, the other an ALCS MVP card of David Ortiz - sit atop Martinez' locker in Shea Stadium.

That's sweet... It was interesting to me that Pedro still talks to Varitek, at least judging by that article. I guess they're two of the finest baseball minds around, so why not keep talking? It's not like Mike Piazza, for all his hitting ability, is a fine defensive catcher.

But I guess both sides are okay now... Pedro has clearly brought some sort of excitement to Shea. You can even hear it in the Mets broadcasters' voices, and I gotta admit it's kind of bizarro-nostalgic to see the K-crew replicating itself in Shea, with Mets colours on the K signs. The New York Times notes the Pedro phenomenon:

No matter how many home runs Cliff Floyd hits this season, or how long it takes Carlos Beltran to get accustomed to New York, or how quickly Jose Reyes and David Wright become franchise cornerstones, this Mets season will be remembered mainly for the baseball renaissance that Martinez has brought to Flushing. (Link)

One final quote from the Herald article:

"And I thank God, in the worst year I had in Boston, I ended up winning a championship, thanks to the help of a lot of grinders I had behind me."

Actually, looking at their bellies, I thought it was Schilling who ate all the grinders. :)

Sox 2, Jays 15: Bullpen woes

I turned it off after Mike Myers gave up the grand slam to leave the Sox down 9-1; looks like I merely spared myself further pain. The moment Reed "better than Randy or Russ" Johnson came on as a pinch-hitter I had a sick feeling: Myers against righties is not reassuring at all. And then Mantei seems to have lost all form. What does it say that the best reliever today was Alan Embree, doing mop-up duties?

This was definitely one of Clement's worst games in a Sox uniform, up there with his St Louis and Baltimore games - that command that he's been showing most of the season was just not there, and that slider had no bite to it. Fortunately, everyone else in the AL East (besides the Jays, obviously) lost, so the standings remain untouched.

Handbags at Ten Paces

Meanwhile, I feel like my recent trip to Germany has heightened my awareness for schadenfreude, so, here's Radar magazine claiming A-Rod and Jeter had a tiff:

“I was doing an interview in the locker room and saw them go at it,” says the source. “A-Rod walked past Jeter’s locker and mumbled something about his throw, then Jeter told him to go fuck himself and all hell broke loose. Their teammates were pulling them away from each other.”

And fare thee well, Stanton and Quantrill.

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