Boredom Sets In

Well, since the Sox beat the Angels last night in an incredibly exciting game (I guess if you aren't an Angels fan) and the Rays beat the pale hose that leaves me bored. Tonight could have been game 5 of either the Cubs-Dodgers series or Brewers-Phillies series, but know luck there. Thus, I am left without any baseball to watch not only tonight, but tomorrow.

"Wouldn't that leave you with the opportunity to watch history in the making, Greg?", you ask. Well, there is only one thing that I hate more than politics...

Holy '70's leisure suits, Batman. Somebody not only needs to help Craig Sager (you didn't think I was going to talk about Kevin Youkilis, did ya?) with his wardrobe, but please somebody help him with sideline reporting. He is probably the worst aspect of the TBS coverage. Just think, we'll probably get 7 more games of him and TBS as they cover the ALCS, but we will get a break from TBS with the NLCS on Fox.

Anyway, I do, actually, like how TBS was able to get James Woods to do some color commentary during the post season. He must be happy to get work after having his series, Shark, canceled by CBS. Seriously, though, am I the only one who thinks Ron Darling's voice is a dead ringer for James Wood's voice?

Enough about TBS. Seriously, I am bored and a presidential debate is not the cure for boredom in my book. Not only that, but because of this debate, there is no Fringe, no Mentalist, no Without a Trace (Tuesday seems to be a busy night TV wise), only NCIS that isn't getting pre-empted. I guess, I'll just watch a few back-to-back-to-back Law and Order's on TNT (jeez, I can't seem to get away from these Turner channels) and then hit the sack or something and dream about baseball...which will be back on Thursday and then Friday.

Go Sox!

Grades Are In

It's that time of year again. The final grades are in. The Red Sox beat writer from the Boston Herald, Michael Silverman, has published his 2008 Red Sox regular season Report Card. Who went to the Head of the Class? Who flunked out?

Not surprisingly, Silverman gave the top grade of A to: Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, John Lester, Terry Francona, and Theo Epstein. All 3 of those players had career years this season, and Pedroia and Youkilis are the top canditates for not just team MVP, but AL MVP. Lester has emerged as a potential ace, nicely picking up the slack from Josh Beckett's performance that was muddied due to injuries. Francona may be the best manager in Red Sox history. He's lead the Red Sox to the play-offs in 4 of his 5 seasons in Boston, winning it all in 2004 and 2007. I think his grade here stems from the Manny circus he had to manage through and around and how he was able to keep the team focused in the aftermath of that mess. Theo's grade seems to stem from the results from the Manny trade, along with the key additions of Paul Byrd and Mark Kotsay down the stretch. Let's take a look at the rest of the grades:

A- Grade
Jason Bay
Javier Lopez
Justin Masterson
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Jonathan Papelbon

B+ Grade
Sean Casey
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jed Lowrie
Manny Delcarmen
Hideki Okajima

B Grade
Coco Crisp
Mark Kotsay
Tim Wakefield

B- Grade
Kevin Cash
Mike Lowell
Josh Beckett
Paul Byrd

C+ Grade
Alex Cora
J.D. Drew
David Ortiz

C- Grade
Jason Varitek
David Aardsma

D+ Grade
Mike Timlin

D Grade
Julio Lugo

D- Grade
Clay Buchholz

F Grade
Bartolo Colon

For the most part, I think these are right on. Varitek's grade appears to be a bit high. He was terrible at the plate. However, most of his grade stems from his handling of pitchers. That is a thing that really can't be quantified and too me is a bit overrated. Varitek gets a lot of the credit with Lester's success and catching 4 no-hitters over his career, but when Buchholz didn't perform this season falls more on Buchholz than Varitek. I'm not saying Varitek takes any credit, just talking about how the sportwriters/"experts" give credit.

Finally, Silverman did take a cheap shot by putting Colon in here with an F-grade. Which he admits in his blurb:

"It's a good thing Colon appeared in the second half, even it was only for one start, since it gives us an excuse to rip his makeup. Any player who decides he is too big - we will pass on the obvious rip opportunity - to accept a different role (Colon was asked to pitch out of the bullpen) is a small-minded prima donna."

I don't really remember too much said about this at the time. In fact, I don't even remember reading or hearing about the team asking Colon to move to the bullpen and him declining. But, it wasn't a big deal at the time, and quite frankly I think, based on his performance, that it wouldn't have worked out with bringing him out of the bullpen.

I can't wait for Wednesday night. What a long too days with out any Red Sox baseball. Although, back-to-back win to move on baseball games is fun.

Go Sox!