Bye Bye Coco

The Red Sox have finally traded centerfielder Coco Crisp. They shipped him of to Kansas City (poor Coco) for reliever Ramon Ramirez.

At first I was a bit disappointed, because I thought, "Who the hell is Ramon Ramirez." But after look him up at Baseball-Reference, I saw that he is a quality middle reliever / set-up guy. This definately addresses on of the needs the Sox have in the bullpen. Additionally, this will allow Terry Francona the flexibility of having Justin Masterson go back into the rotation.

For Coco, it now gives him the chance to start everyday in center field. It also hands the Red Sox center field job to Jacoby Ellsbury, and will hopefully allow him to relax a bit knowing he doesn't have a player of Crisp's caliber waiting in the wings for failure.

Crisp was a good player for the Red Sox, and I enjoyed watching him roam center field. In 2007, I definetly think he was robbed of a gold glove award. Injuires played a factor in some of Crisp's medicore offensive output during some of his time here, but I hope he does well in Kansas City (poor Coco.)

No, I'm not going to complain about Jacoby Ellsbury not winning the RoY. Congrats to Evan Longoria and Geovany Soto for winning the AL and NL RoY, respectively (I’ve always wanted to write that.)

However, I have uncovered a discrepancy in the NL RoY Voting (and I’m not talking about Soto not winning unanimously, although he should have). What I am talking about is that there was a mysterious “extra” vote cast.

The following is the voting results taking from the MLB.com article posted here.

If you calculate all the votes from these results, you'll find that there were 97 votes tabulated here. Was this voting done somewhere in Florida? The voting is done by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Two writers from each city cast a vote for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

So for the 14 AL teams, there would be 2 writers from each city placing 3 votes or (14x2x3) which would get you 84 total votes. In the NL, since there are 16 teams, it would go (16x2x3) for 96 total votes. If you count all the votes from the results above, you get (GASP!) 97 votes. Additionally, 3 voters voted for an ineligible candidate! I demand an investigation.

Not only has voter fraud been seen in the political arena, but it has seeped into our National Pastime.

Oh the Travesty!

Panic in the Manager's Office?

Tonight's line-up is out, and Terry Francona has made a couple of changes. Let's take a look at it:

1) JD Drew - RF
2) Pedroia - 2B
3) Ortiz - DH
4) Youkilis - 3B
5) Bay - LF
6) Kotsay - 1B
7) Crisp - CF
8) Cash - C
9) Lowrie - SS

Drew has replaced Ellsbury at the top of the order, while Crisp has replaced Ellsbury in CF. Ellsbury has been struggling, as he was 0 for his last 20 ABs dating back to Game 3 of the ALDS when he doubled in the 5th inning. Obviously, some sort of change was needed, but I wouldn't call this Panic. It looks like I like to ask questions in my titles and answer no to them. Haha.

Anyway, Drew batted lead-off 8 times early in the season. He batted .172 (5-29) from the lead-off hole. However, he did walk an impressive 10 times, for a respecatble OBP of .385.

We knew that Varitek would be sitting today, as Kevin Cash is Tim Wakefiled's personal catcher. However, we shouldn't expect anything from his bat.

Finally, the Sox will be calling in a Dirt Dog from season's past as the Red Sox Insider is reporting in his blog that Trot Nixon, THE DIRT DOG, will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch tonight. WELCOME BACK TROT.




Go Sox!

Time to Panic?

It’s been a busy week, both for me and for baseball. Sorry for the absence of posts, however, I was helping the little woman prepare the house for a party in celebration of our daughter’s 1st Birthday / Baptism which took place on Sunday. The event was a success, while the Patriots game later that night was not a success.

Anyway, a lot has happened. The Phillies are on the verge of returning to the World Series for the first time since 1993 (oh Mitch Williams, your redemption may come) after taking a 3 – 1 series lead over the Dodgers. Game 3 of the series provide a weak attempt at recreating the Red Sox – Rays brawl from this summer. It was another humorous square dancing event, rather than a fight.

Meanwhile, our beloved Red Sox started out great, shutting out the Rays in Game 1 behind a great pitching performance by Dice-K. Red Sox fans had visions of a 3 game to zero lead in their head with Beckett and Lester to follow, but the Rays bats through in a monkey wrench. Tampa’s offense came alive with back-to-back games of 9 runs, bashing 7 HRs in the processes, reducing Beckett and Lester to the likes of John Wasdin and Matt Young (minus the walks).

Meanwhile (I feel like the narrator from the old Batman TV series with all of these meanwhiles), the Red Sox lumber have seem to take an extended slumber. Aside from Pedroia (.545), Youkilis (.429), and Bay (.455) not another batter is batting above .250. Ellsbury, Ortiz, and Varitek are all hitless in the series.

Should we be worrying? History says no. We all remember 2004, down 3 games to zero to the Yankees, don’t we? How about 2007 where we were down 3 games to 1 to the Indians and had to face their 2 best pitchers in games 6 and 7? So, being down 2 games to 1 while troublesome, is not worrisome on the whole.

Tonight, we have Tim Wakefield slated to start against Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4. In 3 starts this season versus TB, Wakefield is 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA. The Red Sox have lost all 3 of those games. Sonnanstine, in 2 starts, is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has given up only 7 hits, 2 walks and 2 Unearned runs in 13 innings while Tampa has won both of those games. So, looking at those numbers, it doesn’t look good for tonight.

However, so far in these 3 games, nothing has really gone as anticipated. I mean, how many people predicted that Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz would combine for zero hits and 1 RBI in the 3 games? Would you be surprised if Wakefield went 8 innings of 3 hit baseball? Well, maybe! There is still lots of baseball to be played, and lots of thing could be happen. That one thing that would truly be surprising, though, is if Ortiz finishes the series still without a hit.

Go Sox!

Young Guns

It is amazing the young talent we are seeing in this post-season. Evan Longoria hits home runs in his first 2 at-bats while going 3-3. Cole Hamels pitching 8 shut-out innings. Ellsbury doing it all in the field, at the plate, and on the base paths, just like last October. Lester going 7 strong innings. Ryan Braun putting the Brewers on his back to claim the Wild Card. Dustin Pedroia doing what he's been doing. These 6 guys are all 25 or under.

Then you have Alexi Ramirez, Prince Fielder, James Shields and more I am not thinking of. There just seem like a bunch of young players who are not only on the verge of being the games next superstars, but who are basking in the spotlight of October baseball.

It should make for a great October, no matter if you have a team in it or not.

Sweet & Sour

Sundays are great days to be a sports fan in New England. You get a dose of the Sox and the Patriots. Last Sunday was great, because you had the Sox at 1:35, and when they finished around 4:00pm it was almost time for kick-off between the Pats and Jets. You can't beat a doubleheader like that, especially when it's a sweep. We all know the difficulty of sweeping a twin bill.

This weekend, though, didn't go quite as planned. While the Sox help up their end of the bargian, and clinched a tie for the wild-card in the process, that Pats fell flat on their face.

Nobody, except for Chad Pennington's mother (seems we've been hearing a lot from QB's mothers lately, Hi Mrs. Young, Hi Mrs. Jackson), could have expected this. Luckily, I did not really get a chance to full watch this game, as I was preparing for my son's 4th birthday party. I got to take a detour and avoid seeing the wreckage. All I can really say is that this is going to be a long two weeks for the Patriots.

Last night was the final game at Yankee Stadium. As a baseball fan, I MUST visit the Stadium before they tear it down this winter. Unfortunately, I will never get to see a baseball game from a seat inside the stadium. However, with the history that has taken place there, I am going to do my best to take a tour of it. I'm actually glad the Yankees were able to win their final game, but how strange is it that Johnny Damon almost went down as the last player to hit a home run in the "House That Ruth Built"?

The last week is shaping up to be a fun one for MLB. With the Rays, Angels, and Red Sox all lined up for the playoffs, we get to watch the Twins-White Sox battle for the Central division starting Tuesday. Meanwhile, we have the Phillies-Mets battling in the East; the Dodgers-Diamondbacks battling in the West; and the Mets-Brewers-Astros fighting for the Wild Card. This is why I love baseball.

Also, we have Dustin Pedroia looking up at Joe Mauer in the race for the batting crown. Ever since appears on WEEI's The Big Show, Pedroia has been in such a slump. He must have chowed down some of the free food that is always in the studio, thus slowing down his swing. I think Big O was trying to morph Pedroia into the same shape of himself, as Big O was a bit jealous of Pedroia being taller than him. Anyway, Pedroia is at .324 while Mauer has taken over the lead with a .330 average. Pedrioa has also seen Ichiro catch him for league lead in hits, both have 204 coming into the final week.

Congrats to Jonathan Papelbon for becoming the 5th Red Sox closer to reach 40 saves in a season. He joined Jeff Reardon, Ugueth Urbina, Tom Gordon, and Derek Lowe. Quite an accomplishment.

Finally, I've noticed that Red Sox seem to have a unique starting OF now and again. I am not sure there has been another one like it, and not even sure how to research it. However, when the Sox acquired Mark Kotsay before the end of August, they were able to put out a starting OF where all 3 OFers last name end in the letter Y. Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Kotsay. I wonder if there has been anything similar with rarely used letters. I bet maybe it has been done with U. Oh well, just a random thought.

Final week of the season. GO SOX!

Papi, Ellsbury, and more

Well, it’s the day we’ve been waiting for. Big Papi is BACK! After 54 days and 45 games, in which the Red Sox were 26-19, Big Papi is BACK! Tonight, David Ortiz will step back on the field and take his first cracks in almost 2 months, against the hated rival, New York Yankees.

When Papi went out injured in that May 31st game against the Orioles, the Red Sox trailed the first place Rays by 1 game. Today, they are tied for first with them, just percentage points behind.

The Sox did a great job of really not suffering a dramatic slump with Ortiz out. J.D. Drew did an incredible job of filling in Ortiz’s hole in the line-up. However, now with Ortiz back, how is this going to affect the line-up. Here is what my line-up would be tonight:

Pedroia, 2b
Drew, rf
Ortiz, dh
Ramirez, lf
Lowell, 3b
Youkilis, 1b
Varitek, c
Lowrie, ss
Ellsbury, cf

Now, we know it is unusual to have 2 lefties in a row in a line-up these days. Also, Drew is not a prototypical #2 hitter. However, the Yanks do not have a left-hander in the bullpen. Ellsbury’s production has really dropped, and it seems like this would be the right down to drop him in the order and take some pressure of him, especially with how hot Pedroia has been. By hitting Ellsbury 9th, as the rest of the game goes, you end up keeping the Ellsbury, Pedroia, Drew three-some which may help alleviate the change.

I doubt we will see a line-up like that, and will more likely see the same line-up as usual except with Ortiz back at #3, and J.D. Drew probably back at #5 or #6 and everybody else bumped back down a slot.

I am not sure what the problem Ellsbury is going through. The 1st 2 months, he hit .282 and .281 with a combined 27 walks. The last 2 months, he has hit .245 and .232 with a combined 5 walks. I don’t know what to really attribute that to, but you can see that it has been affecting his confidence, and he is not swinging at good pitches. I love Ellsbury, and believe he can work his way out of this. The first step would be dropping him down, and see if that can get him going.

Finally, WEEI was reporting yesterday the Sox were in “serious” negotiations with the White Sox for Juan Uribe. I am not sure why, as I think Lowrie is more than capable to fill in for Lugo, and hopefully, possibly, take over full-time for Lugo. I don’t even think Uribe is an upgrade over Cora, so I didn’t see where the interest is from the Sox stand point.

It should be a great series this weekend, with some nice pitching match-ups. Tonight’s match-up for Joba vs Beckett could be a good duel. Joba is emerging into the perfect Yankee to hate for us Red Sox fans, which is great for the rivalry. Then we have Wakefield and Pettitte. Both are coming of some quality starts. The final game will see Lester and Ponson. I think the Sox will take 2 out of 3, as it will be tough to get to both Joba and Pettite.

Go Sox!