The Detroit Tigers lost this afternoon. They got blown away by the Cleveland Indians, the third time in as many days that happened. As a result, they’re officially cooked in the playoff races. Hope you like game meat, there’s plenty of tiger to go around.
Oh Jim Leyland. We can’t figure out whether to send you a Thank You card or forward the Fuck You sentiment we had going right before the All-Star break.
A week ago, that would have been a sorrowful sentiment. The Tigers were clearly the Yankees’ main competition for the Wild Card. In fact, they still are, it’s just that the Wild Card race is now officially all but over.
Or is it.
As the Red Sox continue to plummet down the standings - in case you missed it, with the win this afternoon the Tribe pulled within a game of the best record in the AL - the Yankees keep getting closer and closer. In fact, now they’re 2 1/2 away. Not that you needed to be reminded of that.
The Detroit collapse shores up any concern that Boston could miss the playoffs. After all, it does still hold the best record in the bigs. But that doesn’t help keep the Yankees out of the playoffs.
And isn’t that the biggest litmus test in just how much, and how quickly, things have changed for the Sox? Two weeks ago Boston fans were focused on hoping the Mariners or Tigers would put together a run to keep New York out of the postseason altogether. Now, with Boston completely preoccupied with the surging Yanks, the question becomes one of confidence: Is it better to feel a sense of security that at least the Sox will be in the playoffs in some capacity? Or was it better to hold on to hope that the Yankees might be booted altogether?
If you’re picking door No. 1, you’re probably an average Red Sox fan, at least subconsciously doomed to the perpetual fear that the Evil Empire always has one last charge in it. If you’re picking door No. 2, you might want to go join the army. I hear they can use constant optimists like yourself.
Either way, it’s becoming fairly clear that Boston will be back in the chase for the first time in two years. Now Sox fans just need to decide whether to send Jim Leyland a card of thanks or sympathy.
So we’ll be brief. To be honest, we tried to kick our ass into blogging something last night, but we were too distracted by the latest Terry Francona act of incredible flexibility, stabbing himself in the back with his dinner fork, this time by leaving Eric Gagne in after his control took a late flight back to the states from Toronto.
Hey Tito, wouldn’t this one be easier to slide into your upper scapula?
Seriously, does anyone have any idea how the hell this is happening? And is there any way we can just move past this whole painful collapse thing if all Red Sox fans agree to take five giant punches to the gut at exactly the same time around the world? I’d sign on for that right now without a second thought. We really would.
Tonight the Sox get another shot at redemption … again. And again it falls on the young arm of Clay Buchholz, who’ll be starting for the first time since his no-hitter against the Orioles. In fact, the last time he pitched it was also against the Orioles, and he didn’t give up any runs then, either. Toronto may be a slightly different scene, but the stakes and pressure will be even higher, if anything.
Amazingly, the sight of a rookie on the mound is actually comforting. Buchholz has been one of the few players who looks like he’s thrived in pressure spots in the second half of the season. There have been flashes of clutch Big Papi moments and others when he looks flamed out. Dustin Pedroia has generally looked terrific, Mike Lowell has been outstanding and Jacoby Ellsbury, last night’s game-ending strikeout aside, still looks like the guy you want up with the game on the line. That, of course, doesn’t say much about Monsieur J.D. Drew.
On the mound, Josh Beckett continue to be “the man”, but outside of him, the rotation suddenly looks like a Palestinian mine field. Shockingly, Jon Lester has been the next most consistent option the past two weeks, and despite his earlier struggles of late, Daisuke Matsuzaka’s last outing against the Yankees leaves plenty of optimism about his postseason chances. It was a huge game and he pitched terrificly. It’s not his fault he got stuck with a loss.
Ummmm, anyone think we can get Kason back? We’ll take him.
That, of course, leads us to the bullpen, which is too brutal to even talk about right now. We can’t bring ourselves to do it. So we won’t.
Instead, we’ll get back to looking for that extended BBQ fork. We may not be as flexible as Tito, but it’s hard not to get into the self-mutilating action right about now.
Three out of four in Baltimore isn’t bad, right? I mean, when you go on the road, anytime you take three out of four is good, right?
Another strong Josh Beckett start was among the positives the Sox could take away from Maryland.
Normally that’s the case. And to a large extent it’s the case here, too. But with the fiery implosion of Daisuke Matsuzaka Saturday night, taking three out of four in Baltisnore, losing a half game on the lead over the surging Yanks in the process, almost felt like slipping slowly under while treading water.
And anytime you’re holding steady in the best circumstances, falling under in the worst, that’s not a good thing.
Nonetheless, there was plenty of good that came out of the Baltimore bake job. So let’s look at the positives:
1) Josh Beckett had a second-straight start back on the straight and narrow. After a solid outing marred mostly by a single bad pitch, Beckett cruised in Baltimore, getting his 18th win in the process. Not a bad bounce back season, eh?
2) The Jacoby Ellsbury experiment continued to thrive, with the outfielder coming through with a handful of terrific plays in the field, launching a passel of hits and seemingly taking a firm hold of the lead-off spot in the process. Obviously that last claim is apt to be revised depending on Terry Francona’s mental stability and the sensitivity of other Red Sox - because we all know Tito’s big on holding players’ hands - but Ellsbury has been nothing short of a revelation in his first week.
3) Clay Buchholz in relief? Looks like a good fit. We know that he can’t start because of the preseason prescribed 155-inning limit on his pitching work. But if Buchholz can be effective in two and three inning spurts, that’s another weapon in the bullpen, which with the sudden moderate ineffectiveness of Hideki Okajima and the extended injury of Eric Gagne, is a big help.
It wasn’t a no-hitter, but Buchholz’s three innings of relief on Thursday were still dazzling.
4) Big Papi finally looks like Big Papi. He was crushing balls all over Camden Yards, which was a reassuring sight, particularly with the absence of Manny Ramirez. The Sox need the power, and that takes a huge burden off of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, who are finally hitting simultaneously, which makes the lineup turn over a lot better, to say the least.
And now, of course, the Sox get Tampa Bay, which should be patsy No. 2 on the radar. But outside of Tim Wakefield, whose success against the Rays is more than legendary, no other games should be a lock. Carlos Pena is hitting like a machine, the young Tampa pitching staff is finally starting to click a bit, and there’s plenty of reason for the Florida flounders to be optimisitc; they’ve won five of their last six series, after all.
Does that mean that Tampa will hold off the Sox tonight? Hardly. But it does add intrigue to a matchup that’s lacked it for quite some time, doesn’t it?
We certainly think so. And that gives us more than enough reason to tune in.
It seems safe to say that Daisuke Matsuzaka’s year has undergone a drastic shift in direction.
Dice-K has struggled the last couple of weeks, and there’s plenty of speculation that his season may be out of sorts.
A month and a half ago, Dice-K was being called a first-year phenom. After an occasionally rocky start, the Japanese ace was hitting his stride, and starting to show flashes of living up to the immense promise that greeted his arrival stateside.
Now, after three straight dismal performances - subpar isn’t strong enough - Matsuzaka finds himself soul searching and looking for a way to overcome the oncoming fatigue that begins to set in at a time when his Japanese season was traditionally just ramping up.
After last night’s stellar performance by Cancer Boy himself - and Jon Lester finally did show signs of being the impressive and occasionally dominant starter he was last year - it’s not a stretch to say that Dice-K has been the least impressive Red Sox starter of the past two weeks. Sure, Tim Wakefield had a rough outing Thursday, but he was coming off a back injury and hadn’t been scored upon in more than 19 innings before that. In other words, he had a nice get-out-of-jail free card to use.
At this point, the Dice-Man does not.
Here’s what it seems to come down to: Dice-K has all the pitches (perhaps too many, for that matter). He has the make-up to be a huge big game pitcher. Everyone’s seen it, and they expect to see it again. He has had incredibly one-sided outings as recently as last month.
Now, as he finds himself tiring down the stretch, falling back into monstrously long innings and high pitch counts, he needs to find a groove. He needs to find a way to get outs more consistently. He needs to find a way to mow batters down with more consistency. He needs to hit cruise control.
He needs to be the Dice-K the Sox saw at the World Baseball Classic last spring, and the Dice-K who dominated Japanese hitters for the Seibu Lions as recently as last year. He needs to do it for himself, to regain the strut and saunter that he arrived in Boston with.
It might seem like sacrilege because of their combined wins, but Dice-K and Wake have been the worst Sox starters of the group over the past week.
Perhaps even more importantly, he needs to do it for the Sox to have a shot at the Series. Like it or not, more of Boston’s success than any other team’s relies on it’s starting pitching. Dice-K is - at worst - the No. 3 pitcher in that rotation, so he’ll need a lot of innings, wins and dominance for the Red Sox to repeat 2004.
Tonight in Baltimore would be a good time for him to start.
Josh has come up big most of the year, but his performance down the stretch may win or lose him the Cy Young.
With the Yankees embroiled in a sudden minor downslide, 2 straight losses, one of which came in a crucial game against fellow AL Wild Card contender Seattle, the Red Sox have yet another chance to run away. The finish the Toronto series tomorrow night, then have a trio of games at Baltimore - a team they just took two of three from, you may remember - to pad their divisional advantage. With less than 25 games remaining in the season, pushing what is now a 7 game lead out toward double-digits would seem to be a crushing blow.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that this particular Sox team has botched these “step on the throat” moments throughout this season.
Look no farther than last week. With a desperate Yankees club on the ropes a full eight games back, the Sox dropped three straight in the Bronx. With their best three pitchers on the mound. Ouch.
There was a similar reaction to Boston dropping the third and decisive game against New York on a Sunday night in June. The Sox had the lead in that one as late as the eighth inning, before set-up man Hideki Okajima and closer Jonathan Papelbon watched their work implode for one of the duo’s few mulligans of the season. Naturally, it wasn’t the best time to call one in.
Do the Sox have a significant advantage in the division? Absolutely. Do they have the chance to run away with the chase over the next week? Undoubtably. Have stirring performances from rookies Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury jarred the team back to impressive wins twice in recent days? Sure.
But does that mean that Boston will clean up the mess they’ve caused themselves by not closing the door when they needed to in the past? Not necessarily. And let’s be honest. At this point in the schedule, the very existence of an AL East race at this point of the season can’t sit well with Boston fans.
Paps had one slip up against the Yanks, another would hurt considerably more.
In fact, let’s just call it what it is: the Red Sox may be on the verge of putting away a collective sense of pathos the size of New York itself with a strong week. Or they can feed into all the problems that have plagued an entire region for decades.
Here’s hoping they choose wisely and play accordingly.
Well, even Wakefield can’t get a decision every time, right? Maybe Clay Buchholz can.
Tonight the Sox had better hope he can, or else the losers of four straight will become losers of five straight. Rosters couldn’t expand fast enough, and now that they have the young phenom will get his second start of the season.
Clay Buchholz got a win in his first start, and another tonight would go a long way toward cementing his legacy with Sox fans.
Last time out Buchholz was dominant when he could locate his pitches. If he can find the corners of the plate today, he may return to more of the form that made him the minor league’s most strikeout efficient pitcher this year.
The Orioles found a way to rock Mike Timlin last night, all after Wake had struggled with control. All that really means is that Timlin will be out of action tonight, a concern since his worst outings this year have come after he’s been out of action for extended periods of time.
Combined with the lack of use of the team’s prime relievers in the Bronx, it’s fair to assume that tonight the Sox will have all bullpen hands on deck, or all Pirates of the Caribbean pitching in, as the case may be. Naturally, that includes Julian Tavarez, who has been terrific in long relief and spot starts since losing his slot in the rotation.
Boston caught a break last night with the implosion of Phil Hughes. Who knows if they can catch another one tonight, with Tampa Bay anything but a reliable thorn in the Yankees’ side.
Hear that Clay? How ’bout a nice 9K day. The Sox’ll take that one, that’s for sure.
There are absolutely no acceptable excuses for sub-par Red Sox stories at this time of year. Think about the tumultuous week just past in Red Sox Nation. There was the ebb and flow of a lead over the Yankees. There was the re-emerging story of Tim Wakefield, suddenly a 15-game winner at 42. There was the injury to Doug Mirabelli and the seamless ascension of AAA stalwart - and sub-.200 hitter - Kevin Cash.
David Ortiz has plenty to smile about, including the pending eBay sale of his Mercedes coupe.
And luckily for all of we who were reading, there was plenty of good writing.
BOSTON GLOBE
New pitch, same story for Papelbon - Nick Cafardo tracks down Jonathan Papelbon in Tampa, getting to the bottom of his success at the back end of the bullpen, complete with a new pitch called - and we’re not making this up - a “slutter”.
Big Papi’s car is a big eBay hit - Andrew Ryan gets on the front end of the spin cycle about Big Papi’s eBay car sale, as strange a story as you’ll see this side of Manny Ramirez selling a grill on - you guessed it - eBay.
Fenway faithful - The Globe’s Bryan Marquand writes about the burgeoning legions of Red Sox fans all across the country.
Right doesn’t make might - Gordon Edes leads a Sox Notebook with the struggles of right fielder J.D. Drew, but may be outdone by the picture of a makeshift sign for centerfielder Coco Crisp.
Debut had the trimmings - Globe summer intern Daniel Malloy nails a piece about new Sox call-up Bobby Kielty, leading with his erstwhile out of control hair.
BOSTON HERALD
Dice cleans up on No. 4 - The Herald’s Rob Bradford weighs in on yet another mystery surrounding Daisuke Matsuzaka: How he dominates great hitters on every team.
Schilling ponders free agent future - Bradford writes about the radio address of Curt Schilling, who was feeling out interest in Tampa, among other places.
It’s just not fair. Jon Lester gets to roll out five innings in which he racks up 100+ pitches and gives up five runs, and he gets a win. Meanwhile, Daisuke Matsuzaka throws a two-run, two-hit gem through seven innings, and he gets the cold shoulder and another loss.
The Dice Man was on last night, but he still got tagged with another loss.
Somehow, while Manny Ramirez was off in Mannyland (where were the dugout cameras last night? How do we know he wasn’t petting another teammate’s head?) and David Ortiz was forgetting that he wasn’t in his car that’s being sold on eBay, Dice-K was tossing another terrific game. And, as has been the case since the All-Star break, he wasn’t getting any support. None. You’d think the Rangers could have spared a few of the 30 they dropped on Baltimore last night, wouldn’t you?
So now he’s the third-winningest pitcher on the staff, even though recent performances might indicate that he’s been the best. It’s just not fair.
Manny had plenty of time to be Manny yesteerday, but Dice-K could have used his bat.
Then again, maybe it’s just Tampa Bay. Against all odds, the Devil Rays have confounded Kaibutsu worse than any other team he’s faced. They pushed across six runs against him at Fenway Park, stunning considering the fact that he’s never allowed more than five against any other team. They’ve beaten him twice at Tropicana Field with horrible pitchers - Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson anyone? - even though those games have been vintage Dice-K performances; lots of pitches, lots of strikeouts and nearly no runs allowed.
So why does he keep getting stuck with losses? We can’t figure it out. But we do know one thing: The Sox offense better get in gear for his starts by the time the playoffs come around. Boston’s planning on seeing a lot of The Monster on the mound come October.
Curt Schilling was out of the spotlight. His team was finding a way to win for two straight days, pushing across enough runs against the woeful Tampa Bay Devil Rays to cruise after surviving a four-game series against the AL West leading Los Angeles Angels. Of course, Schilling was part of that earlier survival, winning his start while teammate and prospective Cy Young candidate Josh Beckett lost his.
Curt Schilling was doing a good job of staying in the background … then someone asked him a question again. Does anyone have some duct tape to shut the guy up?
In short, there was no need to bring attention to himself. But like he has so many times, Schilling couldn’t help himself.
Instead, here’s what Schilling said on his weekly radio appearance on WEEI, via the Globe’s Gordon Edes:
“They asked me about it,” Schilling said of his appearance on WEEI. “It’s not a big deal.
“It’s one of those situations you’d certainly have to look at. Knowing that I’m probably going to spend one more year playing, if circumstances happen and things happen and they made some moves that were positive, I’d love nothing more than to finish my career working on a pitching staff where I know that there are young guys that are going to be positively impacted by me being around [after] I was gone. I enjoy that. I love working and talking and being around young pitchers.”
Schilling also mentioned that he used to have a home in the area and would welcome a return.
“I love Tampa, I love the area, I love everything about it,” he said. “I loved living down there.”
How’s that for a wild turn of events? Schilling is willing to go pitch for Tampa, a place which clearly could use him? When can Tampa not use an ace starter, right? The answer to that question, of course, is never.
But there’s a bigger question here: why did Schilling have to say anything at all. He didn’t, and the only reason he did was in the interest of selfish campaigning for a future job, likely all to give himself more leverage in negotiations with the Sox. Just think about what Schill was really saying in that quote: 1) I’m willing to go play for a team that’s not a contender, so forget about the nonsense that I won’t jump for a rich payday on a losing team, 2) I’m willing to go pitch for another team in the division, 3) I’m not at all wedded to the idea of staying with the Sox at any lowball cost.
Of course, item No. 3 could be a total smokescreen, and it’s entirely possible that Schilling staged this whole farce thinking that Theo Epstein will blush and then be more likely to sit down with him sooner rather than later. Everyone knows Schilling would love nothing more than to end in a Red Sox uniform. To go out a winner on a winning team. To pad his stats in Boston to make a Cooperstown case and then put on a hat with a B at induction ceremonies.
But look at the situation from Epstein’s perspective. Why would he need an aging Schilling again next year? Just check out the prospective starting rotation without him next spring: Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz. That quintet would be largely dependent on Wakefield not retiring, but it seems like the guy is going to pitch until he’s damn well 50 years old, so we’re not betting on him taking a leave of absence.
It’s likely that nest season’s Red Sox rotation will belong more to young hurlers like Jon Lester than it will an aging Schilling.
Instead of paying a whopping $12-14 mill for another year of Schilling, Epstein - ever the shrewd financial negotiator - could re-ink a swing man like Julian Tavarez that could start of work out of the pen, keeping a man ready to move into a starting roll at the first sign of injury. Kyle Snyder might work even better. Then there’s the additional pitching prospects quickly working their way through the ranks. Rookie Nick Hagadone looks sensational in A and could be ready for a Buchholz type appearance by the end of next season. And that’s not mentioning players like Justin Masterson, perhaps the quickest rising arm in the Sox system, or Daniel Bard, the former North Carolina star who may finally be getting himself on track.
So Epstein and the Sox don’t really need Schilling. Would he be a nice luxury? Absolutely. Is he a necessity? Not at all.
That just serves to make Schilling’s comments Tuesday, well, all the more self-serving. It’s frustrating to watch a guy who would be a team’s playoff ace, on a team that is all but certainly headed for October, campaign for a future job somewhere else. It has to be hard for his teammates to watch.
Then again, they’re more than used to this crap by now. Senator Schilling has spoken, and in doing so, he may have moved closer to switching party allegiance.
Does anyone else feel comfortable with Tim Wakefield pitching a must win game? Didn’t think so?
Wake tosses tonight. If he wins, it’ll be nine in a row in the Trop. That’s something to talk about, no?
Now consider the fact that Wakefield isn’t even pitching to his usual trusty target, Doug Mirabelli. Instead he gets longtime minor league target Kevin Cash. That’s right, a knuckleball pitcher tossing to a backstop who has a grand total of zero games receiving him.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Cash isn’t a complete stranger to knuckleball pitchers. He’s been catching AAA knuckleballer Charlie Zink, not to mention two starts of fellow minor league knuckler Josh Barnes, becoming accustomed to catching flutterballs and becoming a reliable backstop. But no matter how you dice it, Cash is a minor league catcher - he’s no higher than third among the team’s catching prospects, at best - and is in the bigs at the moment just because he’s slightly more comfortable with knuckleballs, and ergo Wakefield.
That’s why the strange duo - a young catcher and pitcher who’s older than the hills - will combine to try to shut down the Devil Rays tonight (here’s the preview from Baseball-Reference). If they can pull it off, they’ll maintain one of the more unique streaks in sports.
How else can you describe Wakefield’s current streak in Tampa Bay. He’s never lost under the dome at Tropicana Field - he’s 8-0 with a 2.33 ERA lifetime - and is a combined 18-2 overall against the ever-woeful Devil Rays.
No Big Papi? No worries. ManRam will still hit against Tampa Bay tonight.
And while it’s never great to go up against budding ace Scott Kazmir, if you’re heading in to the Bay you might as well go carrying a big stick. Strangely, that stick for the Sox is new reserve outfielder Bobby Kielty. The corner man who’ll be batting third in the lineup tonight for David Ortiz (Manny Ramirez will bat in his conventional clean up spot and DH) is a whopping 7-for-13 with two homers and four RBIs against Kazmir in his career. Boston went out and got him because he could hit lefthanded pitching, and if he hits Kazmir tonight, he’ll truly prove he can hit anyone.
The Sox had better hope he can. Otherwise that precarious four-game lead will be three, and three’s more than company when it comes to a divisional lead.
