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Monday, May 24, 2004

BREAKING NEWS, PEDROPHILE ACTUALLY UPDATES BLOG
Sorry for the lack of new posts but with unpacking from school, hanging out with friends I haven't seen much of recently, battling some of the most annoying computer problems ever, trying to get to a Sox game and figuring out if I'm going to LA for a movie internship, I haven't had much free time. Plus it is difficult to post night after night: "another depressing loss."

SOX DROP FINAL GAME IN TORONTO
A split in Toronto is unacceptable. Not enough to jump off the Tobin Bridge but cause for concern nonetheless.

Boston Red Sox 1
Toronto Blue Jays 3
W: Roy Halladay (4-4)
L: Pedro Martinez (4-3)
S: Terry Adams (2)
H: Jason Frasor (2)


Pedro pitched well but got outpitched by Halladay. The offense was, of course, terrible.

Halladay is the Man of the Game. He pitched 7 allowing only 1 ER off 6 hits, 2 walks and he struck out 6.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Ortiz: 0.1 - 1 for 4, 4 LOB, K
Bellhorn: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 LOB, 2 K
Daubach: 0.1 - 1 for 4, 2 K, 3 LOB
Crespo: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 1 LOB
Varitek: 0.3 - 0 for 4, 2 K, 3 LOB
Martinez: 0.3 - 3 ER

NEW FATHER GETS WIN
Boston RS 7
TB Devil Rays 3
W: Tim Wakefield (3-2)
L: Mark Hendrickson (2-4)


A huge 7th inning capped by Bellhorn's homerun essentially clinched a needed win.

The Man of the Game is Wakefield. He threw 7 innings and allowed only 3 hits and 2 walks. He allowed only 1 ER and struck out 2.

DEFINITION OF A GOOD WIN
Boston RS 4
TB Devil Rays 1
W: Kurt Schilling (5-3)
L: Rob Bell (0-1)
S: Keith Foulke (8)
H: Lefty Embree (6)


Even though only 4 Sox got hits, they got big ones and the 4 runs were more than enough for Schilling and the pen.

The Man of the Game is Schilling. He went 7 allowing only 1 ER off 5 hits and a walk. He also struck out 5.

SOX END ROAD TRIP ON LOWE NOTE
Ugh

Boston RS 6
TB Devil Rays 9
W: Jorge Sosa (1-0)
L: Derek "Head Case" Lowe (3-4)
S: Danys Beaz (6)


So Zambrano goes out and walks everyone and even though the Sox are down 1-0, Lowe's pitching well and you figure we're gonna win. Then Lowe collapses and we're down 7-0. Then Zambrano collapses and even though we don't score as much as we could and perhaps should have, we're down 7-6 and our pen is better than theirs so you figure we're gonna win. So what happens? We lose. Some interesting facts from the game:

*Tampa's bullpen went 4.1 IP, allowing 2 hits, a walk, and striking out 7.
*The bottom of the 3rd and the top of the 4th were each 26 minutes long
*Zambrano threw 112 pitches through 4 innings.
*Lowe retired 7 straight then gave up 7 straight hits

The Sox should have won this game and swept this series. Normally taking 2 of 3 from Tampa isn't cause for concern but it is when you come off 2-2 split with Toronto, a series loss to Cleveland at home, a 2-1 series win against KC at home, a 2-2 split against Cleveland, and a 3 game sweep in Arlington. Zambrano had 8 walks and the D-Rays had 11 in total. Still, we left runners on base early and didn't get any runners later on.

The Man of the Game is Carl Crawford. This guy is the definition of a leadoff hitter. He gets on, he moves into scoring position via his speed and scores runs. He went 3 for 4 with a walk. He scored twice. He also had a double and a league leading 20th stolen base.

Games like these make me wish that there were more than the 1.0 B-G point to divide. Unfortunately I'm a stickler to my own rules. Here is how the Bitch-Goat shall be divided:
Ramirez: 0.3 - 0 for 5, 4 Ks, 6 LOB
Lowe: 0.7 - 2.1 IP, 8 H, 7 ER

More on Lowe later.

SOX SWEEP JAYS
Toronto BJs 9
Boston RS 23
W: MikeTimlin (3-1), Anastacio Martinez (1-0), Tim Wakefield (4-2)
L: Michael Nakamura (0-3), Kerry Ligtenberg (1-2), Miguel Batista (2-4)
S: Keith Foulke (9)
H: Lefty Embree (7)


Good series from pretty much every standpoint. I was up in New Hampshire the other day buying tax free cigarettes and they were selling shirts that said "Yankee Hater" on them and had a symbol similar to the Yankees N crossed with a Y but this was an H crossed with a Y.

Here are the Men of the Games from the series:
Timlin: 2 perfect innings of relief, allowed the Sox to come back and win
Ramirez: 2 for 4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR
Wakefield: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, BB, 4 K

DAMON REMARKS
After a depressing loss to Toronto, Damon attributed the Sox lackluster performances to the difficulty of their schedule. This series of remarks pissed me off to no end. The Sox schedule has been relatively easy with the exception of one or two flight problems. Yes, they have had some double headers, but for each double header they had an extra day off. They've played teams that aren't exactly the cream of the crop. Meanwhile, the Yankees, who played games in Japan, have been doing well against the likes of Oakland, Seattle, and Anaheim. Tampa Bay recently had a two series home stand for the first time all season! Damon needs to look his scraggly self in the mirror and blame the man in front of him for any miscues and idiotic errors.

NOMAR HURT MORE THAN WE THOUGHT?
Recently, a post (not a report) on Boston Dirt Dogssuggested that the Red Sox are covering up Nomar's true medical condition. They suggest that Nomar has actually torn the sheath around the Achilles tendon not just bruised it. This would mean that he would be out for considerably longer and would probably be less effective when he returned. The Dirt Dogs claim to have a source close to Nomar that sees and/or speaks to him nearly every day. They then backed up their theory with the fact that the Red Sox have not released any sort of recovery time table. Here's what I think. Us bloggers are not reporters. We are not media. I can (and have) made up things, lied, and failed to check facts on many occasions. The reason I can do this is because this is a personal web site and has NO accountability to anyone. It is basically an SNL skit version of real media. We've all seen SNL's version of "Hard Ball." It isn't really media (even though some people may perceive it as such) because there is no accountability. The people portrayed on SNL skits are not real and say things that the real people did not and/or will not say. If the Dirt Dogs (who have a wicked nice site by the way) have this source and are reporting this news, more power to them. I have reservations though. Even if they have this information, reporting it is seemingly useless because the mainstream media will not take it seriously nor will the general public. Therefore there is no point in reporting it.

I also have doubts about this story. If a person close to Nomar were willing to divulge information on the superstar to someone, why would he choose a blogger? Why not a reporter? And if the source thought that the information would be kept private, why would the Dirt Dogs compromise their relationship with this valuable source (especially with contract negotiations imminent) by defying his wishes? The Dirt Dogs are good about reporting Sox news before it breaks (they claim to be batting in the .700s in this regard) and that's great, but if The Boston Globe or CNN were right 7/10 times, they wouldn't be very reputable. Only the NY Times can get away with an average that low.

BELTRAN TO SOX
There's alot of rumors going around about Carlos Beltran, the premier hitter on the trading block. The rumors with the Sox are Beltran for Damon and a prospect or two or three. The Sox would love to dump Damon's salary for Beltran's bat but is it worth it? Here are their projected numbers for the season:

Player - Avg - OBP - Slug - OPS - HR - RBI - R - TB - SB - BB - K
Beltran - .265 - .354 - .556 - 0.910 - 44 - 124 - 124 - 360 - 40 - 92 - 112
Damon - .286 - .379 - .411 - 0.790 - 12 - 108 - 104 - 276 - 20 - 100 - 60

The only thing Damon has a major advantage in is his lack of strikeouts. He hits more often than Beltran but Beltran's hits are better, his are multi-base hits. The fact that Beltran is a 40/40 guy along with range as good as Damon's and a better arm means he is a better player. The big questions are this:

1. What prospects would Beltran cost us?
2. How much of Damon's salary would we have to pay for the next two years in his contract?
3. Would we resign Beltran?

The most important question is our willingness to resign Beltran. With 40/40 ability and the Y*nkees in need of a center fielder, he will cost a pretty penny. Are we willing to spend money on him. If we do, it is likely we will not spend money on high priced guys like Nomar and Pedro. His offense will make up for Nomar's absence, in my opinion. Our lineup this year with Beltran and everyone healthy looks like this:

1. CF Beltran S
2. SS Garciaparra R
3. DH Ortiz L
4. LF Ramirez R
5. RF Nixon L
6. 1B Millar R
7. C Varitek S
8. 3B Mueller S
9. 2B Reese R

Not a bad lineup at all. However, if we don't intend to resign Beltran at the end of the year, any deal will be highly questionable. If we resign Beltran and Varitek and let Nomar go and Youkilis comes along, here's what the lineup might look like:

1. CF Beltran
2. RF Nixon
3. LF Ramirez
4. DH Ortiz
5. 1B Millar
6. C Varitek
7. 3B Youkilis
8. 2B Mueller
9. SS Reese

Not bad.

BH KIM UPDATE
He looks thrilled
Here are his numbers from his two starts since being sent down:
Start 1: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, K, HR
Start 2: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

His next 2 inning start will be very important to see if he is making any progress. I think this team could use Kim especially with Williamson on the DL. I'm sick of seeing Lenny Dinardo in tight spots and the fact that Anastacio Martinez was pitching in a tied game tells alot about the way our bullpen has been worn down particularly by one Derek Lowe.

HOCKEY WORLD CUP
Second to the Olympics, the World Cup of Hockey is the biggest international competition in hockey. Eight countries play for the World Cup. The USA won the last WCOH in 1996. Canada won gold in the 2002 Olympics. The Czech Republic won gold in the 98 Olympics. Finland won bronze in the 98 Olympics. Germany tied for 5th in the 02 Olympics. Russia won bronze in 02 and silver in 98. Sweden won gold in the 94 Olympics. Slovakia hasn't really done much of anything. The competition begins August 30 in Finland. The united states schedule looks like this:

Aug 31 vs. Canada in Montreal, QU
Sep 2 vs. Russia in St Paul, MN
Sep 3 vs. Slovakia in St. Paul, MN

These three games determine seeding and where quarterfinal games will be. The finals will be between the champion of the North American division (Canada, USA, Russia, Slovakia) and the European division (Germany, Finland, Sweden, Czech) in Toronto.

Team USA roster

The Bruins are represented so far by Brian Rolston (USA), Joe Thornton (CAN), and PJ Axelsson (SWE). Russia has yet to announce their roster and Samsonov has a good shot at making it as does Gonchar.

RANDOM NOTES
The Red Sox and AA Portland have extended their affiliation 4 more years.

My Arsenal FC boys won the English League going undefeated in the league for the first time in English soccer history.

Charlie Weiss wants more money and he won't get it.

Xaverian is #2 in Massachusetts for baseball. Also, the track and field team won Catholic Conference as did the tennis team. The lacrosse team could've made the tournament but they suck (I kid cuz I love). Xaverian and BC alumnus Derrick Knight was signed by the Carolina Panthers. Xaverian now has four alumni in the NFL (Matt Hasselbeck, Tim Hasselbeck, and Greg Comella are the others).

With the off day tonight, I'm gonna post a quarterly report for the Sox and some interesting comparisons between certain players.

Post #180
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