Sporting Word, at davedonofrio.com

This 'pen ain't mightier

Dave — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 07:58:00 GMT

Admittedly, it was the team’s two best relievers who surrendered the runs that first forced the extra frame, then ultimately lost the game in that 10th inning. And there’s no doubt that Terry Francona will – and darn well should – continue to trustfully put the ball in the hands of both Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon with the game on the line.

But, still, it’s hard for a Red Sox fan not to come away from Wednesday’s 3-1 loss at least a little bit concerned about the depth of the Boston bullpen.

Once again, the back end will be fine – but it says something about the rest of the relief corps that Bard was asked to pitch at least a full inning for the third time in three games, and that Papelbon was pressed into coming back for the 10th after navigating cleanly through the ninth. Particularly with Hideki Okajima unavailable after being so worn down he walked home the winning run on Tuesday, the rest of the ‘pen left Francona with no place else to reliably turn. And thrust Theo Epstein’s first in-season priority into focus after just three games.

Consider what the manager will be working with until his GM delivers some reinforcement, or his relievers prove they’re trustworthy:

He’s got Ramon Ramirez, who has completed just five of his last 35 appearances without allowing a baserunner, and was hit hard in Sunday’s opener.

He’s got Manny Delcarmen, who is missing the miles per hour that take his fastball from a swing-and-a-drive to swing-and-miss, and may need to rebuild his delivery (or visit the disabled list) in order to find them.

And he’s got the (Not-so-Great) Scotts, Schoeneweis and Atchison, each of whom was on the bubble with the likes of Alan Embree and Joe Nelson just barely a week ago, and yet both were twice called upon in big spots against the Yankees. That’s hardly a cast that inspires confidence in a pressure-packed predicament.

Combined with Okajima, Bard and Papelbon – who’ve been pinned with both the team’s losses to this point – the relief staff has so far posted a 4.38 ERA and an ugly 1.54 WHIP. Those numbers need to get better, or else the Red Sox perceived advantage in starting pitching may not be quite the difference maker they are hoping for. Granted, not every team is going to work counts the way the Yankees did, or wear down Boston’s three best starters to the point they’re done before the seventh inning, and thus it can’t be considered a blueprint for beating the Sox.

But unless the Sox stabilize their own foundation with some help for the middle innings, they could be at serious risk of seeing their own plans go awry.

THE OBSERVATORY

It was hard not to like what you saw from John Lackey, who yielded just three hits and a couple of walks over six terrific innings. The Yankees drove him from the game after six innings by fouling off as many balls as they put in play – 16 apiece – but a scoreless appearance should be all the evidence we need to know that the big righty will be just fine in the American League East.
Oh, and after his heater ran in on Derek Jeter, Lackey should have no trouble endearing himself to his teammates, either.
Adrian Beltre put his range on full display while fielding an Alex Rodriguez grounder in the ninth. Moving to his left, he reached a bouncer that Marco Scutaro would’ve been able to get in front of had Beltre not been there. Never saw a replay that showed where he started, but in the ninth inning of a tied game, the guess here is that he was hugging the line so as not to allow a double. Regardless of where he was at the crack, though, it was still a pretty special play.
Jason Varitek makes the play Victor Martinez didn’t, catching a throw from J.D. Drew and putting the tag on Jorge Posada.
One little nitpicky thing on Bard: So far he’s thrown 48 pitches and generated only one swing and miss.
Between 2002-07, Chan Ho Park went 33-34 with a 5.63 ERA. He was never better than average, with an OPS-plus of 81 over that span, and, although he has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts over the last two years, the Yankees are in trouble if they’re routinely relying on him for three innings.
I still believe his Tuesday miscue was nothing more than an aberration – but if Scutaro keeps on consistently bouncing his throws over to first base, will we be forced to consider the possibility of another Sox shortstop suddenly impaired by a mental block.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

According to the magical folks at www.baseball-reference.com – and I do mean magical – Curtis Granderson now has 104 career homers. Wednesday night’s was the 52nd that led off an inning.

THREE STARS

No. 3 – David Ortiz
Maybe that RBI single will absolve him of the insecurity that sparked Tuesday’s tirade.
No. 2 – Kevin Youkilis
Reached base twice in four trips, and also saved his infielders with a couple of nice scoops.
No. 1 – John Lackey
As good a debut as could’ve been expected, given the opponent.

(Season standings: Youkilis 5; Martinez 3; Lackey 3; Ellsbury 2; Pedroia 2; Beltre 1; Schoeneweis 1; Ortiz 1.)

(Not) so good! (Not) so good!

Dave — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 06:33:00 GMT

After Sunday night’s season opener, Marco Scutaro said that even when coming to Fenway Park as a visitor he found it kind of cool when a crowd of almost 40,000 would join up in unison, get on their feet, and gleefully sing “Sweet Caroline.”

Funny, because he probably wouldn’t have found it nearly so amusing to hear what the Faithful were saying in the middle of the eighth inning last night.

With the song queued up just a few moments earlier, Scutaro had a chance to let the fans begin their sing-along with a big ol’ deep breath – but instead the brand new shortstop got his first glimpse of Boston when the good times don’t seem so good. With runners on first and second and two outs in a tie game, Scutaro bounced his throw to first after scooping Derek Jeter’s ground ball, and so the inning continued thanks to his error. Nick Johnson earned a bases-loaded walk from Hideki Okajima as the next batter, and with that the Sox fell behind by a run. They never recovered, either, getting shut down by Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera to close out a 6-4 loss.

After his glovework had been lauded all winter, and people had compared his defense to the popular Alex Gonzalez, Scutaro betrayed that billing by playing the goat in just the second game of what could be a three-year contract, and costing his club a winnable game against their archrival. Given the hypersensitivity of Red Sox fans when it comes to everything Yankee-related, and the fact that everything gets blown way out of proportion this early in the marathon, Scutaro – along with mothers whose kids aren’t yet old enough to see R-rated movies – is probably fortunate he didn’t hear what the paying customers were muttering from their seats.

It likely involved a few references to his mother, and probably prompted people to rhetorically wonder what all the fuss was about the pitching and defense that seemed to permeate every piece of pre-season speculation.

But let’s not give up on this guy quite so quickly.

Let’s not embarrass ourselves by burying this guy so soon, or continuing to kick away at the dirt walls as he tries to climb out of the hole he’s dug for himself early in his life among The Nation. Instead, let’s take a step back, relax, and apply some rationality to the situation. That’s not easy this early in the season, but let’s allow the numbers to light the way toward sanity.

While playing for Toronto last season, Scutaro committed just 10 errors in 621 chances. Among those opportunities he had 421 assists – and made only three errant throws. That was fewer than any other full-time shortstop in the AL last season, and means that he averages a bad toss every 140 tries.

That means the next one is due sometime in June or July, and that’s certainly a rate Sox fans can live with comfortably. Hopefully any future occurrences don’t come in the late stages of a tie game, with the greatest reliever in baseball history waiting to be summoned – but even if it does, the guess here is that Scutaro will have done enough in the meanwhile to win our trust in his glove.

By the time spring becomes the summer, I believe we’ll all come along.

THE OBSERVATORY

All things considered, you’d have to call it an encouraging inning for Manny Delcarmen. He wasn’t all that effective last season when things started to get away from him, and so, after Nick Swisher led off the sixth with a double, it was reasonable to think things could go downhill in a hurry – but Delcarmen retired the next three in a row, and kept the Sox in a tie game. He even cranked his fastball up to 94 in getting Derek Jeter on a groundout that ended the inning; that’s not where it needs to be, but it’s closer than spring training suggested.
Daniel Bard is clearly going to be a huge part of the Sox bullpen. But it’d be nice to see him throw strikes with more consistency. In two appearances he’s put just 16 of 33 over the plate, and sooner or later that’ll catch up with him.
As they kicked it to the studio for the post-game show, the Sox broadcasters lamented that “Okajima struggled” and that cost the club. I’d disagree. The lefty wasn’t great, but after allowing the leadoff double to Posada I thought he was good enough to get through the frame unscathed. He made a sequence of terrific offerings to win an 11-pitch battle with Nick Swisher, then allowed a broken-bat flair that fell just out of Scutaro’s reach for a single. After that he got Curtis Granderson on a flyout, and should’ve got Captain Jetes on a groundout. By the time he faced Nick Johnson he was approaching a pitch count he reached just once last season. He was simply out of gas.
Anybody else think Scott Atchison was a curious choice to replace Okajima in the eighth? At that point the bases were loaded, it was still just a one-run deficit, and Mark Teixeira was coming up with a chance to rip the game wide open. Oh, and Teixeira is 0-for-7 against Papelbon in his career. Is Papelbon going to be limited to exclusively the ninth-inning save situations this season?
Jorge Posada would make a hell of a DH. And, with the way he’s defended so far, he may well be one by the end of this season.
The case could be made that CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are all among the top 20-25 starters in baseball, and some would argue Sabathia and Lester belong in an even more selective category. Yet over 20 innings pitched this season, that quartet has combined to surrender 26 hits and 17 earned runs. Clearly the AL East – especially factoring in formidable lineups in Tampa and Baltimore – is not a friendly place for even elite pitchers.
It’s easy to say from here, because the ramifications in terms of clubhouse chemistry are not my concern … but I would have pinch-hit Mike Lowell for David Ortiz in the eighth.

TOP THAT
The top five Yankees you don't want to see coming to the plate in a big spot right now:
    5. Nick Swisher
    4. Derek Jeter
    3. Jorge Posada
    2. Robinson Cano
    1. Alex Rodriguez

STAT OF THE NIGHT
Boston’s 4-8 hitters went 3-for-18 with seven strikeouts and nine men left on base.

THREE STARS
No. 3 – Adrian Beltre
Two hits and a stolen base add to the belief that by midseason he’ll be the most popular position player among Boston’s newbies.
No. 2 – Jacoby Ellsbury
We’ll be watching that runs scored column all year with Ellsbury – and last night he had two hits, then scored on both of them.
No. 1 – Victor Martinez
Interesting that a day after Beckett signs, the Sox’ next free-agent priority rips a homer and a double. Sign him up.

(Season standings: Martinez 3; Youkilis 3; Ellsbury 2; Pedroia 2; Beltre 1; Schoeneweis 1.)

Baseball's back ... and so's the blog

Dave — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:23:00 GMT

While he still wore the “C” on his uniform, he wasn’t wearing the bags of ice on his knees, his shoulders, his thighs like he has after most every game of the last decade. Instead, Jason Varitek simply returned to his locker after showering, and peacefully put on his clothes. The packs of reporters that would’ve usually come to ask him about the excitement of opening day, or quizzed him about Josh Beckett’s wayward curveball, instead went elsewhere for their answers.

It was a postgame scene encapsulating what had been crystallized on the Fenway lawn in the hours prior, and building long before that. Varitek is still the captain of the Red Sox. David Ortiz, Tim Wakefield and Mike Lowell (at least for now) still have stalls in the clubhouse.

But this team belongs to Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis.

In a way, it’s an obvious point. In 2007, that pair claimed two of the top three spots in AL MVP balloting. Last year both were all-stars. For that entire span, they’ve comprised the heart of the Boston batting order. And neither will ever be accused of going about their business quietly come game time.

But only now are we able to say with some measure of certainty that the team’s two biggest stars on the field are also steering the ship off of it. Varitek is no longer a stalwart behind the plate. Lowell and Ortiz do not produce at the level that lent clout and credibility to their unifying personalities. Wakefield pitches once every five games, and even that role could be reduced within the month.

So as part of a transformational offseason that included trending toward pitching and defense, and replacing a third of the regular lineup, the Sox also initiated a serious shift in the team’s on-field leadership – and if Opening Night is any indication, Pedroia and Youkilis are going to thrive in that capacity.

Together the tandem combined for five of the Sox’ six biggest hits in a 9-7 win over the Yankees, combining to go 5-for-8 with five runs scored and five more driven in on the night, including two doubles and a triple for Youkilis, and three RBI after the seventh inning for Pedroia.

Afterward each said a key to his success was the ability to stay calm amid the hype of a season-opener against a hated rival, which isn’t really the first-instinct of guys as intense as those two, but is absolutely the approach a leader has to take – and indicates they are aware of the responsibilities before them.

They won’t always be easy to uphold, and that’s why they’re in a position that’s pretty rare across baseball. Usually players who were significant contributors and leaders on championship teams are either phased out or have moved on to other organizations by this point in their careers, and because teams are typically rebuilt as opposed to reloaded, leaders and personalities tend to be shaped from ground zero.

But -- even with Varitek, Lowell, Ortiz and Wakefield all still around – Pedroia and Youkilis seem to have seized the reins and helped Manager Terry Francona seamlessly lead the organization into another era. General Manager Theo Epstein deserves a ton of credit, too, considering both players were homegrown by the organization, and both have been locked up with long term contracts. That stability gives their words, and their examples, even more weight inside a transitioning clubhouse that’s a lot different than it was a year ago.

A year ago, Mike Lowell wouldn’t have quietly pulled a polo shirt over his head while reporters huddled around another third baseman. David Ortiz wouldn’t have grabbed a laptop from his locker and left without talking to anybody. Jason Varitek wouldn’t have been able to leave until he’d peeled off the plastic wrap holding his ice bags.

But a year later – and for years to come – it looks as if the Red Sox clubhouse is operating under new management.

THE OBSERVATORY

Particular about the way he wants his locker set up, Pedroia went to Fenway park early on Sunday, got everything situated to his liking, then went back home again. His manager was there just as early. But, even before noon, he was in for the day. "Tito was in full uni, benching 5s,” said the second baseman, referring to the size of Francona’s weights. “He was ready to go at 10:30 in the morning.''
In stark contrast to the way Nomar Garciaparra might’ve handled the same situation, Jacoby Ellsbury returned to his locker after the game and found a couple reporters staked in front of it. They were among the pack speaking with Adrian Beltre, and certainly would’ve been standing on the wrong side of the since-removed red line that Garciaparra requested to keep the media away. So, as Ellsbury approached, they started to move out of his way. “No, no. You’re fine, guys,” said the Sox left fielder, not indicating even the slightest annoyance as he simply maneuvered around the scribes, retrieved his things, and moved along.
Mike Cameron spent more than a half hour answering questions after the game, standing there – without having yet showered – as wave after wave of reporters came and went. He sounded like a guy very excited to be a member of the Red Sox, and to play in this market. He looked like a guy who’d spent the last four years in Milwaukee and San Diego, and had forgotten what it was like to play where people care.
Well, I can cross one thing off the lifetime to-do list. Per a post-game exchange with Joe Morgan, it’s time to draw a line through Gripe Over The Length of Red Sox-Yankees Games With A Baseball Hall of Famer While Standing, Unzipped, At A Urinal.
Joba Chamberlain looked visibly disgusted with the delay in Sunday's game that was prompted by Neil Diamond's live rendition of "Sweet Caroline," tossing his warm-up pitches as soon as the break began, and then being forced to stand behind the rubber as TV cutaway for commercials. In the subsequent inning he got the first man, but then allowed a single, walk, flyout and single to the next four hitters. In all he needed 33 pitches to get through 1.1 innings, which is indicative of the poor efficiency that sent him to the bullpen to begin with -- but may also show why he could find trouble in late-game pressure situations, too. Since he was so bothered by the bugs during that playoff game in Cleveland we've had cause to question his mental toughness -- and if he's so fragile that he gets frustrated and loses focus because of a two-minute delay for some brutal singing, how effective is he going to be when it really counts?
Tough to say anything slips under the radar in New York, but I think people around here are underrating the Yankees’ acquisition of Curtis Granderson. Look at how far he hit that ball on Sunday night (estimated at 455 feet, according to ESPN), and tell me he isn’t going to yank 35 balls over the right-field wall at Williamsport … er, Yankee Stadium … this season.
Detest him, despise him and denigrate him all you want. But if you ever have the opportunity to watch Alex Rodriguez go through batting practice, take it. Before they were booing him later on Sunday night, there were plenty of folks ooh-ing and aah-ing at the shots he was sending to the early evening orbit.
After his BP session, Rodriguez walked past a group of fans assembled near the entrance to the dugout. So did Derek Jeter. And Robinson Cano. And Nick Swisher. The only one who stopped on his way into the clubhouse? Mark Teixeira.
The worst part about the Yanks signing Chan Ho Park is that baseball lost one of the greatest – and possibly fullest – beards ever worn by Asian man.

STAT OF THE NIGHT
Sox see 170 pitches in 39 plate appearances
That’s an average of 4.4 per trip, and helps explain why the Sox were able to tire Sabathia by the sixth, then force the Yankees so deep into their bullpen. Along the same lines, Victor Martinez may have gone 1-for-5, but don’t discount the 30 pitches he saw as a factor in Youkilis’s gigantic night.

THREE STARS
No. 3 – Scott Schoeneweis
Took over for Beckett with two on and the team trailing 5-1, then whiffed Granderson to get out of the jam. Also did his job against the bottom of the order in the sixth to keep the bases clear when the boppers came around again.

No. 2 – Dustin Pedroia
He loves the spotlight, so it only makes sense that his was the biggest hit of a primetime, nationally televised opener.

No. 1 – Kevin Youkilis
He looked so locked in, the guess here is that he’s baseball’s best player over the first month.

A sudden end

Dave — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:01:00 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Before yesterday's wild-card playoff game, the New England Patriots urged their fans to get seated at Gillette Stadium by 10 minutes before kickoff.

They didn't say why, or share details; they just said something big was going to happen early in the afternoon.

Little did they realize that surprise would come courtesy of the Baltimore Ravens.

Ray Rice shocked the 68,756 people in the seats by going 83 yards on the first snap from scrimmage, Le'Ron McClain joined him in the end zone less than four minutes later, and the Ravens piled on 24 points in the stunning first quarter of a 33-14 win that simultaneously eliminated the Patriots from the NFL postseason and smacked any semblance of mystique clear off New England's collective face.

"It's very disappointing because we played this game like it wasn't a playoff game. It just felt like we was out there just to be out there," said Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork. "We talked all week about how we needed to step our game up - and we didn't. We didn't, and it showed."

See more at ConcordMonitor.com

The replacement

Dave — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:57:00 GMT

With an act of brazen insubordination, followed by a show of intense solidarity, football season came to an end for California's Woodside High School.

It wasn't supposed to end. Not for another few weeks. But after the team's fifth straight loss, Head Coach Packy Moss reportedly returned to the dressing room and heard his players pounding on their lockers in rhythm with the chant, "(Bleep) Packy." When none of them would give her the names of those leading the mutiny, the school's principal canceled the rest of the 2003 campaign.

Moss resigned before 2004, leaving Woodside with some motivated athletes in his wake. They wanted to prove they were better, both as players and as people, than the perception of them after three straight losing seasons and the ugly chanting incident - so they used it as fuel. They focused on their job. They fought for their reputation. And they followed the lead of their quarterback.

His name was Julian Edelman.

"He was a leader," said Steve Nicolopulos, who took over for Moss as Woodside's coach. "He was one of the main characters. Kids looked up to him; he set the tone by example.

"He knew how to take care of business - and he took care of business."

A year after its season was truncated by turmoil, Edelman's three-touchdown title game helped Woodside cap a 13-0 season with a state sectional championship. And more than five years later, Nicolopulos is confident the New England Patriots can count on his former player to take care of business again.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com

Middle of the pack

Dave — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Maybe he got caught up in the moment, or overcome by the atmosphere created by a Superdome crowd drunk on delirium (among other things). But while sending his viewers to a commercial break with only 5:26 left in his broadcast of Monday Night Football, and the Saints in command of the 38-17 lead that ultimately stood as the game’s final margin, ESPN’s Mike Tirico couldn’t get over what he’d just witnessed.

“This score,” he told us, “is shocking.”

Really, though, it shouldn’t have been.

Not in the least.

After all, results like the one-sided slaughter rendered that night in New Orleans are rather commonplace when a member of the NFL’s elite meets an opponent from the league’s middle-class – and that was exactly the sort of matchup that played out Monday for Tirico’s primetime television audience.

Forget the week’s worth of hype. Forget the expectations of an instant classic. Forget the idea of a showdown. By the time Drew Brees had used the second quarter to become the first quarterback ever to throw three touchdowns in the same period against a Bill Belichick-coached team, it was clear his balanced, explosive and super-athletic Saints were every bit the title contender their 11-0 record would suggest.

And just as clear that the Patriots were on a different level altogether.

See more at Concord Monitor.com.

Headed for trouble

Dave — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:26:00 GMT

We saw the look so often, some of us in New England might’ve thought they started using it as Peyton Manning’s headshot. Cheeks scrunched. Mouth agape. Hands on the helmet. And befuddlement all over the face.

It didn’t matter if it was a midseason game at home in his dome, or a midwinter game on the frigid field in Foxborough. Marked by that quizzical look, and the mediocrity that matched it, every time the Colts’ quarterback went up against the Patriots in the early part of this decade he appeared a different guy than the one who’d routinely carve the rest of the league – and so many reached the same conclusion: Bill Belichick must’ve been in Manning’s head.

Sunday night, however, we learned that those roles have been reversed.

At the end of a decade during which each has established himself as a no-doubt hall of famer, it’s become Belichick whose judgment is clouded by the presence of the other. Who cowers fearfully at the brilliance of his foe. And who lets that lack of mental clarity cripple his decision making at the most critical moments.

That was a fact proven painfully on Sunday, when Belichick made an inexplicable – and inexcusable – choice in trying to convert a fourth down from his own 28 with a six-point lead and two minutes left, and it cost New England a key conference game, 35-34, in Indianapolis. Forfeiting 40 yards of field position, it was reckless. It was foolhardy.

But it wasn’t the first evidence to suggest Manning has made his way into Belichick’s head.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com

Start spreading the views

Dave — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:29:00 GMT

Tying the bow on baseball season with a World Series observation for every game it took for the Yanks to give the Phillies the downtime necessary to discover the lotta, lotta culture their city has to offer ...

1) Overcome by the inevitable talk of cash flow and competitive inequity, something rather significant has so far been ignored in discussions of New York's postseason dominance. It took its first hit in 2001, and the hits got harder each year thereafter, but this fall marked the return of the Yankees as an intimidating presence.

The proof is in the path to title No. 27. The Yankees went 11-4 in the playoffs, and in each series left themselves three opportunities to close things out. Never did they need more than two – though it's not as if they enjoyed a cakewalk every night. Of the 15 games, the Yankees actually trailed in 11 of them. Six were tied in the seventh inning or later. And eight of New York's 11 wins were decided by the three runs or less.

But the Yankees wound up on the right side of those results because all three of their opponents played scared in the pivotal moments. As a team New York hit just .225 against Minnesota, .279 against Los Angeles, and .247 against Philly, but all three of those clubs seemed to feel a pressure that they needed to make every play perfectly in order to compete with the high-and-mighty Yankees, and they wound up looking tight, and stiff, and trying way to hard because of it.

The Twins and Angels -- the AL's first- and fourth-ranked defensive clubs during the regular season – uncharacteristically combined to make 10 errors in the nine games they played against New York, some of which were as silly as dropped throws to first base, or tosses sailed to Brooklyn. And while the Phillies were a bit better -- with only two official miscues -- they were hardly mistake-free. Just look at gold-glover Shane Victorino allowing Derek Jeter's routine fly to fall in front of him to start the series-winning rally in Game 6.

Based on last year, and their performance earlier in this postseason, we wouldn't have expected such failure from the Phillies. But this Yankee team – this never-ending onslaught of superstars and swagger – had a way of owning the moment while making others feel inferior. And that's where the game's biggest payroll might've paid off the most.

2) We in Boston should never gripe about the Yankees' ability to outspend the competition, given our perennial status among baseball's biggest spenders. But the argument seems particularly out of place this year, given what New York's title signifies in a broader perspective.

People say the disparity between those with and those without continues to widen, but if the end-game for every organization is winning a championship, then that's simply not true. By winning the Series, the Yankees (as would have the Phillies) ensured that there would be eight franchises who won world titles in this decade.

That's the second-most diversity in the history of the World Series. The only period with more was the 1980s, when the Dodgers were the only two-time champion, and only two others (1920s and 1960s) had as many as seven.

As a point of comparison, in seasons that finished between 2000-09, the NFL has had seven teams win titles; the NHL had seven (in nine seasons); and the NBA had six.

Sounds like baseball's got some parity, to me.

3) Alex Rodriguez reminded us how hard it is to really like him in the aftermath of Game 6, when even after winning his first World Series he somehow managed to come off as a phony. But this year he also reminded us how great a player he really is.

Flash back to February. It's just been revealed that A-Rod took steroids. His career is at a crossroads. His personal life is in turmoil. There's a behind-the-scenes book coming out about him. Oh, and he'll soon need hip surgery that's being riskily modified so he must only miss the opening month. It looked like Rodriguez's days as dominant player might be done.

Then he proved all that wrong. Statistically he had a stellar season, managing 30 homers and 100 RBI despite playing just 124 games, as well as an adjusted OPS of 143 that ranked fourth in the American League. What was even more remarkable, though, was that -- for as much credit as Mark Teixeira, and Derek Jeter, and CC Sabathia, and Mariano Rivera all received for maybe being the MVP of the Yankees -- A-Rod is really just as worthy as any of them.

When he came back on May 8, New York owned a record of 13-15, and was 5.5 games back of Toronto in the Eastern division. Only four AL clubs had worse records, and Teixeira was hitting .198. From that point forward, though, the Yankees went 101-48, soared over every team in their way, and Teixeira hit .310 with 34 homers and 107 RBI with A-Rod protecting him the rest of the way.

Add in an excellent postseason -- he had a 1.308 OPS -- and suddenly a contract running through 2017 doesn't seem as ridiculous as it might've nine months ago.

4) Speaking of reconciled images ... can anyone begin to understand what it must've been like to be Roger Clemens on Wednesday night? Picture him sitting at home in Kady, with Mindy McCready's latest melodies lingering in the background, while Debbie is rubbing the hottest possible liniments on – well, let's not picture THAT part – and watching the postgame show with some of the biggest imaginable regrets.

Not only was A-Rod on stage in all his glory less than a year after being linked to performance enhancers -- but so, too, was Andy Pettitte. The same Andy Pettitte who was tied to drugs along with Clemens, but chose to treat those accusations very differently. And who is today being paraded as a champion, not a cheater.

The Rocket couldn't help but think that if he had done what Pettitte did, and merely came clean immediately, his life would be entirely different than it is today. He, too, would be being celebrated -- instead of being ostracized in embarrassment. Let his be a lesson to all.

5) Red Sox fans who saw the Series and would suddenly be willing to take whichever free agent the Yankees don't retain -- either Hideki Matsui or Johnny Damon -- let that six-game set also remind us why that would be a bad idea unless it's at a bargain-basement price.

As I was discussing with a friend about five seconds before he launched his two-run homer off Pedro Martinez, Matsui is still a guy the enemy never wants to see at the plate in a big spot. And Damon is a ballplayer's ballplayer who battles pitchers and makes the plays that help his team win.

But both are old. And subject to breakdowns. Damon had to be lifted from Game 6 after scoring (without a throw) from second base, having tweaked his leg. And Matsui's mobility was such an issue that he had to sit when the series moved to Philadelphia. It'd be crazy to think either is worth signing here as the Sox' replacement for Jason Bay.

6) It's time for the annual mea culpa, when I look back at my predictions at the start of the year ... and we all laugh at how stupid I am. Here goes nothin':

AL EAST
Prediction: Red Sox, Yankees*, Rays, Blue Jays, Orioles
Actual: Yankees, Red Sox*, Rays, Blue Jays, Orioles
Analysis: Not too bad, actually. Forgive me the hometown bias.

AL CENTRAL
Prediction: Indians, Twins, Tigers, White Sox, Royals
Actual: Twins, Tigers, White Sox, Indians, Royals
Analysis: I picked the team that used to have both guys who started Game 1 of the World Series. Too bad the leftovers really sucked.

AL WEST
Prediction: A's, Angels, Rangers, Mariners
Actual: Angels, Rangers, Mariners, A's
Analysis: I fell for it, Michael Lewis. To quote myself, circa March, "I love what Billy Beane did this offseason."

AL PLAYOFFS
Prediction: Red Sox over A's, 3-1; Indians over Yankees, 3-2; Red Sox over Indians, 4-2.
Analysis: Not. Even. Close.

NL EAST
Prediction: Mets, Phillies*, Marlins, Braves, Nationals
Actual: Phillies, Marlins, Braves, Mets, Nationals
Analysis: I'm never picking the Mets to win anything, ever again. Ever.

NL CENTRAL
Prediction: Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Brewers, Astros, Pirates
Actual: Cardinals, Cubs, Brewers, Reds, Astros, Pirates
Analysis: I think I'll pick the Pirates to finish last next year, too. Living on the edge.

NL WEST
Prediction: Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Padres, Rockies
Actual: Dodgers, Rockies*, Giants, Padres, Diamondbacks
Analysis: I should stay up later watching games; for both western divisions, the team I picked to finish first finished last. Yikes.

NL PLAYOFFS
Prediction: Cubs over Phillies, 3-2; Diamondbacks over Mets, 3-2; Cubs over Diamondbacks, 4-2.
Analysis: We're worse off as baseball fans for not having seen that D'Backs-Mets NLDS. Would've been a doozy, I tell ya.

WORLD SERIES
Prediction: Red Sox over Cubs, 4-3.
Analysis: Maybe next year.

Clarifying for the critics

Dave — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:06:00 GMT

Shame on me for not articulating this more clearly in the original column yesterday, but I wanted to quickly clarify a couple things -- particularly for anybody who may have been redirected here by the hilarious folks at Barstool Sports. I do not mean to suggest, nor do I believe, that the Red Sox are so vastly inferior to the Yankees that the gap between the teams is hopelessly insurmountable. And I do not mean to suggest, nor do I believe, that Josh Beckett is anything but an excellent major league pitcher. (If I didn't, I wouldn't think he'd be so valuable in trade.)

But I don't think it's debatable that the Red Sox have some work to do in order to catch up to the Yankees -- or that the Sox should try to close that gap as quickly as possible. And that's where Beckett comes in. He's got one year left on his contract, so he could be gone after next year anyway, and at 29 he's probably the Sox player other teams would most covet other than Jon Lester and maybe Dustin Pedroia. In other words, I think Theo could potentially turn his No. 2 starter (sorry, the 14th best ERA in the 14-team AL does not automatically make you an ace) into a solution at shortstop, at clean-up hitter, at the back of the rotation -- or maybe all three at once.

Ideally, I'd like them to keep Beckett and address those concerns by spending in free agency. But the fact of the matter is that the Sox don't do very well when simply opening up the wallet. Look at the 2009 roster: Their best players were brought in by trade (Martinez, Bay, Lowell, Beckett) or developed internally (Youkilis, Pedroia, Lester, Ellsbury, Papelbon). JD Drew had a good year, but he's the exception to the rule of free agency failure that has seen them -- in this past season alone -- write empty checks for guys like Lugo, Smoltz and Penny.

In the next 13 months the Sox could potentially lose Bay, Beckett, Martinez and Lowell; and a year after that Papelbon and Drew could be gone, too. That's a lot of talent to replace, particularly for a team that is already chasing the rival that just beat it by 8 games in the division race. If I had faith the Sox could simply use that freed money to fill those holes, and do it effectively, I'd be all for Beckett staying -- but I don't. They don't identify free-agent targets very well. And the Yankees won't let their archenemy outspend them for the elite commodities (see: Teixeira, Mark). That's why I think it's time to cash in on Beckett's reputation, get heaps of talent in return, and kickstart the rebuilding of a club that's going to look quite a bit different in a couple years.

By the way, let me know if you'd like to borrow any slightly used tin foil. I've been saving up.

Trumping the ace

Dave — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:15:00 GMT

As the Yankees close in on their 27th title, it’s become clear they are the best team in baseball. They have a genuine ace at the head of an effective starting staff, a sturdy bullpen anchored by an untouchable closer, and a relentless lineup that never leaves them hopeless.

Along the course to their rival's 3-2 World Series lead it’s also become clear that the Red Sox have some work to do in order to narrow the gap between themselves and New York’s gold standard. They must add a slugger to the middle of the order. They must add reliability to a rotation that this September counted on Paul Byrd in a pennant race. They must add to a relief corps that became unsteady as summer turned to fall.

And they can make all those additions with one simple – if foundation-shaking – subtraction.

By trading Josh Beckett.

It isn’t something the Sox need to do. In fact, it isn’t something they should do if not presented with the proper, hole-plugging package. But in baseball’s realm of player evaluation there are perceptions, and there are realities – and Boston could be in position to capitalize on the fact that when it comes to Beckett those tend to be two different things.

The perception of Beckett is that he’s a bona fide ace. A guy who has earned a mention among the game’s elite, and is in the midst of his prime. A guy who grabs the ball and gets it done, whether it takes guts or guile or his own good stuff. A guy who delivers every five days through the summer, then can single-handedly wins playoff series in the fall. And, at times, he has been all that.

But, by and large, the reality has been something else altogether.

He was downright brilliant a couple years back, and Duck Boats rolled through Boston’s crowded streets because of it. He posted a 3.27 earned run average. He ranked second in the American League’s Cy Young voting. He won 20 games during the regular season. Then he won four more – while allowing only four runs over 30 innings – in the playoffs.

In reality, however, Beckett’s 2007 stands as the exception among his seasons since 2003. And essentially among his career on the whole.

Most probably don’t think it’s possible for a pitcher of his repute, but that season remains the only time in his eight big-league seasons that Beckett has finished among his league’s top 10 in terms of ERA. It’s also the only season in which he’s received even a single vote for the Cy (or the Most Valuable Player award, for that matter). And it’s the only year he’s won more than 17 games.

His total of 20 victories that year was tops in the AL, making it the only time Beckett has ever led the league in any remotely conventional pitching category -- a classification that doesn’t simply cover wins, ERA, strikeouts and innings, but also includes WHIP, adjusted ERA, whiff-to-walk ratio and pretty much anything else conceivable -- and that helps explain why he's only twice even been an All-Star.

With a 4.05 ERA as an American Leaguer, and 3.79 overall, he’s certainly had a decent career. But there’s a reason that, according to the comparison tool at baseball-reference.com, Beckett’s most comparable pitcher at age 27 and 28 was the remarkably mediocre Kevin Millwood. The year before that it was Ben McDonald.

By now we thought those names would be more like Roger Clemens. John Smoltz. Roy Halladay. Maybe even Curt Schilling or Kevin Brown. But because he’s been just merely good far more often than he’s been truly great, Beckett instead finds himself grouped with a troupe of middle-of-the-road types – and appropriately so.

He’s never struck out 200 in a season, he’s only once made it through a year without missing a start, and recently he’s even begun to relinquish his reputation as the best big-game pitcher of his generation. In his last four playoff starts the Sox have exactly one win, thanks to their starter’s 7.71 ERA and the opponents’ 1.014 on-base plus slugging average in 21 innings against him.

Clearly Boston's brass has lost some faith in him, evidenced by their choice of Jon Lester to open this year’s Division Series against the Angels; and the guess here is that you, too, as a Red Sox fan, have lost some faith in Beckett as well.

But there are plenty of people across baseball who haven’t yet. They see a 29-year-old who'll be a free agent next winter and perceive a pitcher in his prime. They see a sturdily built 6-foot, 4-inch right-hander and perceive a workhorse. They see the clutch performances of 2003, and 2007, and perceive him to be an automatic in the postseason. They see Josh Beckett and perceive him to be an ace worth paying a hefty price to acquire.

The reality, however, is something different. Cliff Lee is an ace. CC Sabathia is an ace. Beckett is not an ace.

But by boldly preying on perception, the Sox can this winter use the trade market to turn him into something even better: The trump card that helps them close the gap on those damn Yankees.

No chinks in his armor

Dave — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:53:00 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – For much of this decade, most people in these parts believed Tom Brady was untouchable. He was so good, so often, he seemed superhuman compared with most quarterbacks. While they wore pads and jerseys, he appeared to be clad in a metal suit of armor.

Last night we learned, however, even that armor is prone to rust.

But once that’s knocked off, the man underneath – along with his magic – remains the same.

Trailing by 11 with barely five minutes left in New England’s season opener, Brady sandwiched two scoring drives between Buffalo’s fumbled kickoff and the Patriots somehow pulled out a 25-24 win that left the stunned Bills as losers of 12 straight against their division rivals.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com

Full tilt, full-time dad

Dave — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:54:00 GMT

In his 35 years as an NFL Coach, Bill Belichick has had a hand in winning five Super Bowl championships. He's been to the big game seven times in total, while contributing to 13 division titles. And through all that team success he's guided his individual charges to 117 Pro Bowl selections.

He is unmatched in terms of both tenure and trophies in today's game, so when he speaks of a player in the scope of history his words are weighty. And, when doing so yesterday, so was his heart.

"How do I feel about Tedy Bruschi?" Belichick said with emotion that was as audible as it was uncharacteristic. "He's a perfect player."

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.

Junichi-wa

Dave — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:14:00 GMT

BOSTON - Junichi Tazawa was an all-but-forgotten man on that evening in Manchester, seated between his interpreter and just a single reporter while the rest of the press corps huddled outside the dugout at Merchantsauto.com Stadium, eagerly anticipating the emergence of John Smoltz.

Smoltz, after all, was the hall of famer who was supposed to be the Red Sox's secret weapon for the second half. Officially he was on a rehab assignment, and technically he was something of a reclamation project, but many considered him more of an ace-in-waiting than either of those things. They expected he'd be a big part of Boston's pennant push and playoff run.

Last night, for example, was supposed to be one of those big starts Smoltz was brought here for. It was his turn in the rotation, and the team had lost six of seven. It was facing the Central Division leader. It began

the day up a half game in the wild card race.

But instead it was the afterthought who stood at center stage.

And who seized the spotlight rather nicely.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.

Not time to panic quite yet

Dave — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:26:17 GMT

Before going any further with this column, let's first take a field trip. To the porch. The parking lot. The window. Anywhere the outdoors are in sight. Then look up.

See. The sky isn't falling.

Chicken Little might have been screaming all weekend, and Sunday night it certainly felt as if the world's ceiling had, in fact, crashed on top of a crushed Red Sox Nation.

Yet it's still there this morning, even two days after Boston's baseball fans were forced to stomach their team being swept in four straight by the rival Yankees, and likely watching any aspirations of winning the American League East get brushed away with each game.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.

Players' choice

Dave — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:15:00 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - To really understand what Bill Belichick has accomplished during his tenure with the New England Patriots, we must first remember the state of the franchise before he arrived.

And not just the fact the franchise needed four head coaches to get through the 1990s. Or that it won just 68 of the 160 games it played during that decade. Or that it was regularly an afterthought in its own division, never mind the league at large.

Instead, remember that before Belichick came to town in 2000, Foxborough was a place about as welcoming as old Schaefer Stadium itself. It was football's equivalent of frozen metal bleachers, a place so dreadfully uninviting and unappealing that New England was hardly ever a viable option for the top-flight talent in free agency. Remember, it was a place future Hall of Famers like Bill Parcells and Curtis Martin couldn't wait to escape.

But when Belichick opened his 10th training camp as the Pats head coach last week, he did so in an entirely different place than he did his first. And not only because practice was held behind the state-of-the-art Gillette Stadium.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.

Time to break out

Dave — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:12:00 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - It's been three full seasons since Laurence Maroney arrived in New England to be the dash alongside Corey Dillon's smash, and to eventually carry the mail in the Patriots backfield. Yet, as he opened his fourth pro training camp last week, the 24-year-old runner still remained mostly enigmatic.

Is he the guy who has sporadically fit the bill of a first-round draft pick, and whose flashes of brilliance have included a five-game stretch near the end of 2007 in which he racked up 550 yards on the ground? Or is he the guy who has been largely unreliable, missing 18 games due to injury in his first three seasons, and averaging less than 56 yards per tilt in those he's been able to play?

Hardly anybody seems to know what to make of him, or his future.

Except for Fred Taylor.

"He reminds me," Taylor said, "of myself when I was younger."

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.

Perfect fit

Dave — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:10:00 GMT

Let's be clear. Although his middle name might be Jesus, and although most pundits will tell you he might have been the best offensive player moved prior to baseball's non-waiver trade deadline yesterday, Victor Martinez is not a perfect player.

He hit just .175 in July, and since June 18 - when he was batting a robust .345 for the season - he's gone just 18-for-119 (.151). Last year he had surgery on both his elbow and his knee, with those injuries keeping him homerless until Sept. 2. And he hardly qualifies as the long-term solution at catcher, given that he'll be 31 before next season, has since 2002 squatted for nearly 5,800 big-league innings, and has thrown out only seven of 46 base stealers this season.

But he might well be the perfect player for this team, at this time.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com

Different sort of gameplan

Dave — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:07:00 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - It was halfway through the first day of training camp, so a smile was naturally more available than it might be, say, at the midpoint of the season with a divisional rival awaiting on Sunday. But, still, it was hard to miss the sinister satisfaction in Bill Belichick's smirk as he came to the end of an answer about putting his players through six straight days of double sessions to start the preseason.

"We've gone through different schedules," he said, a grin growing bigger as he finished his sentence, "but there's not much light at the end of the tunnel for right now."

That's the way a football-first guy like Belichick probably likes it; summer vacation's over, and it's time for his players to get back to school. Time to hit the books, and hit each other, once again.

But that's not quite the way it's worked throughout his tenure as head coach of the New England Patriots, a stay that started its 10th year yesterday with a rain-shortened session on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. Last year, for instance, the Pats didn't hold their 13th practice of the season until the ninth day of camp.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.

Getting better with age

Dave — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:04:00 GMT

Never having seen grass so green, or a wall so tall, my first steps into Fenway Park were taken on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon. It was May of 1987, and it was Wakefield Little League Day, so from my seat in the bleachers I didn't much care that the Red Sox got routed by the California Angels.

I didn't much care about their left fielder, either. Batting cleanup, he went 0-for-4 that day without hitting the ball out of the infield, and saw his average slide to .205 on the still-young season.

He hardly looked like a slugger to me, or to any of the T-ballers assembled beyond the bullpens. We knew - and came to know through the formative years as baseball fans - a slugger to be someone like Mark McGwire or Jose Canseco, the Bash Brothers from Oakland.

Like Cecil Fielder, the Detroit heavyweight. Like Ken Griffey Jr., who blasted 56 bombs in back-to-back seasons. Like Juan Gonzalez, like Albert Belle, like Alex Rodriguez, and even like Sammy Sosa, whose head-to-head, homer-for-homer battle with McGwire reached its crescendo in the first month of our senior year.

We heard about Jim Rice, of course. But by the time we actually saw Jim Rice, he didn't seem all that special. We were a generation who grew to love baseball in an age when the numbers were as unnaturally buff as the players themselves, and when Rice's average season - .298, with 30 homers and 113 RBI - was sadly made to look almost routine.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.

The winds begin to blow

Dave — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:13:00 GMT

As the trade winds have begun to bluster over recent weeks, it's been the same name blowing to all corners of the baseball continent, with most rumors swirling around Roy Halladay - the righty who for some is a pipedream, for others is a necessity and for everybody ranks among the premier pitchers in the game.

Red Sox fans, however, weren't quite so interested. At least not those citizens of the Nation who reside here

in central New Hampshire. Recognizing the needs of their team, rather than its wants, the response to a poll of the Monitor's online readers suggested this week that the Sox top priority before the July 31 trade deadline shouldn't be trading for Halladay - but, instead, acquiring a power hitter.

And yesterday Theo Epstein obliged that constituency.

Shipping a pair of mid-level prospects to Pittsburgh in exchange for first baseman Adam LaRoche, Boston's general manager effectively plugged that hole and a couple of others in a single deal, delivering depth, power and protection to a lineup that has lately looked beleaguered, and in need of an insurance policy at the corner infield positions.

See more at ConcordMonitor.com.