Posts Tagged ‘Josh Beckett’

Good luck in Colorado, Little Manny! Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com and used with permission.

It is sometimes difficult to find something to write each day.  Today was especially difficult as last night’s game wasn’t one we want to relive yet I didn’t want to leave a blank space where something should be written.

I was pleased to find this in the comments today (from “Sharpie”):

Balty’s starter pitched his ass off & Josh was just as good & lasted longer

As anyone who visits this blog regularly knows, I’m all about finding silver linings and trying to accentuate the positive and it tickled me that someone beat me to the punch (and instead of my inspiring you, you inspired me).

I just can’t give up on this team.  No matter how hard is sometimes is to watch, no matter how many comments or emails I get from people who want to rub salt in the wound they assume is there, no matter how bad the chances become that the Sox play deep into October, I can’t give up on them – and I won’t.

I’m a little surprised at the number of fans who have admitted that they’ve moved on to football.  I’m surprised that members of a fan base supposedly so dedicated can just give up that easily.  From 2000 through 2009, the Red Sox have been in the playoffs six times.  They’ve finished second in the division eight times, finished third once and finished first once.  How many fan bases have been this fortunate?  How many fans know that their team will most likely be in the playoffs and if not in them damn near close to getting in them every year?

Out of the last ten opportunities, the Red Sox have missed the playoffs four times.  In those six playoff appearances, two were ended in game 7 of the ALCS and two ended with World Series championships.  We’ve been quite fortunate.  There’s a great chance this season will mark five out of eleven – does that make this team any less your team?  Do you like baseball less because your team isn’t good?  No one makes you become a fan.  Either you like baseball or you don’t.  I don’t get the mindset of “I support the team unless they aren’t going to the playoffs”.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying everyone should have rose-colored glasses on and be absolutely positive the Sox can still make it to the playoffs.  I’m just baffled by the number of people complaining about how the Red Sox are done and saying that now it’s time to focus on football (or whatever you activity of choice is once baseball season is over).

I’m still watching.  I’m still hoping for good baseball and crossing my fingers that meaningful baseball will get played at Fenway come late September.  Even if the baseball is “meaningless”, I’m still watching.

Before the season began, when it was announced that the final series at Fenway would be against the Yankees, Kelly O’Connor bought tickets for the last game and emailed me saying I was going with her because if the game was meaningful (and turned out good) we’d want to be there and if the game turned out to be the last game played at Fenway in 2010 we had to be there.

Right now, even though I know the possibility of that game being excruciatingly painful is tremendous, I can’t wait to be there.  Sometimes it’s worth the rough times to show the team that, good or bad, you’re there to support them.  They give us a lot of  joy over the season and it seems to me when they’re at their worst (or just having a rough go of it) it’s our job as fans to give a little back.

Photo taken by me as Gabe was gracious enough to pose

Running late this morning so a longer post will come later but wanted to get this out there:  Today is NOT Gabe Kapler’s 35th birthday yet we will celebrate anyway with a live chat tonight during the Red Sox/Orioles game that starts at 7:05.

Beckett needs the mojo, folks, so join us won’t you?

Just stuff:

*  First things first:  Definitely will be a live chat tonight!  (Well “definitely” resting on Mother Nature’s shoulders.  If there is a game, there’s definitely a live chat!)  Josh Beckett is pitching against old friend David Pauley.  Beckett needs the mojo,  so join us at 7pm, won’t you?

*  I can’t write any more about Johnny Damon.  I just can’t.  I can’t.

*  As I wrote in the comments section of yesterday’s post:  NESN gets kudos for showing us the National Anthem being sung, first pitch being thrown and the kids saying “Play Ball”.  They get the raspberry for subjecting us to Ernie Boch Jr and his female football team.  While I get that I’m being myopic by writing yesterday that NESN should just cover baseball and hockey, do they have to thrust the other sports on us WHILE THE DAMN GAME IS BEING PLAYED?  And if they do, can they give us Kevin Garnett or  David Krejci?  Ernie Boch, Jr and his five minute long commercial during the game was unnecessary and annoying.

Yankees lost last night.  Sox are 5.5 games back.  It might be gray and rainy out but things look pretty bright right now.

The putting up or shutting up time has come, Josh. Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.

Don’t you hate blown saves?  I hate them myself.

But, honestly, look at Papelbon’s numbers.  As someone said to me last night, “Red Sox fans seem  mad that he’s not Mariano Rivera while overlooking the fact that NO ONE else is Rivera and their closer is pretty damn good”.

Given, so far, 35 save opportunities, Papelbon has 29 saves under his belt this season.  Not one of Paps’ six blown saves was fun to watch but they also don’t indicate that the man can’t do his job.  Daniel Bard has had seven opportunities to get a save yet only has three saves.  Small sample size, sure, but he hasn’t been “lights out” (using the definition of the people ready to hang Papelbon) either yet folks are ready to crown him tomorrow’s closer today.  The fact is, more often than not, when Papelbon takes the mound the game is in the bag for the Red Sox.  Sure it would have been great for the Sox to have swept the Jays, but winning the series still keeps them in the hunt.  (Before I forget, special thanks to Jere who pointed out to me, for the second time in the comments section, that the teams not MLB decide what time the games will be played.  I, apparently, have a blind spot in my brain for remembering!!)

The Papelbon hate, in my mind, is misguided and reactionary.  It saddens me when members of the Nation start acting like entitled Yankees fans.

More frustrating than the Sox loss, to me, is this tweet from Jared Carrabis, Red Sox Nation Governor of Massachusetts:

The Red Sox are in third place in the AL East and have more wins than any other first place team in the AL.

All the people whining that this team “isn’t good enough” can stick a sock in it.  I know the competition is among the Sox, Yanks and Rays and they have to be better than the Yanks and Rays (or at least much better than just one of them) to get into the playoffs, but the superiority of the American League East, while fun to brag about, hamstrings teams IN the AL East every year. (This is why I’m such a fan of the Wild Card but would prefer a system where the four, six or eight best teams (have to stretch it out so MLB makes their money, I know) went into the playoffs.  In what world does it make sense that the best teams don’t get to compete for a championship?  Sure it would mean that, most years, the Yankees were in the mix, but the Yankees are a separate issue all their own.  (And don’t get me started on the creation of the MLB schedule.  Sox get the Rangers this weekend while the Yanks play the Royals and the Rays play the Orioles.  The computer, she is a Red Sox hater, plain and simple!)

You’ll all have to excuse me today if I’m not ready to tar and feather Papelbon and if I don’t lament my team not being “better”.  I’m enjoying the heck out of this season.  Sometimes it’s more fun to wonder what’s coming next than to know every move.

At least they didn't rub his head

I wouldn’t say that I dislike the Indians but I’ll say this:  After the bush move of bringing Josh Beckett’s ex-girlfriend in to sing during the ALCS, I would imagine Beckett doesn’t think much of them.  So while the logical part of my brain says Beckett wouldn’t be so stupid as to hit Shelley Duncan and Shin-Soo Choo on purpose because the team has been struggling and putting men on base is pretty damn stupid, I can imagine a scenario where every so often Beckett would feel like he could get a little personal justice with no one being the wise – and maybe the Indians felt like they finally got wise.

Or did they?  Duncan got hit in the first inning with a man on and two outs.  While I suppose you could stretch it and say Beckett was mad because he struck out the first two batters he faced and then Choo got a hit before Duncan GOT hit, I think that’s a bit of a stretch.  Then in the third, Lou Marson hits a first pitch home run and then in five pitches Beckett gets the first two outs of the inning.  Was Beckett mad about the homer and taking it out on Choo three batters later just because he has good numbers against Beckett?  Again, this all seems like a bit of a stretch.  The Mason homer made the score 2-1 Red Sox but the Sox still had the lead and Beckett still had two outs.  Makes no sense to me.

Of course, regardless of intent I get that some teams feel like two of your guys getting hit in a game is cause for some kind of retaliation.  I don’t agree, because how many games have we all watched when something like that happens and it’s obvious there was no reason behind it and the game just goes on?  In any event, hit your guy and get it over with.  David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre both came up to bat in the bottom of the third inning.  Then they came up again in the fifth.    Ortiz appeared in the bottom of the 7th, and they threw behind him.  It was so obvious it was ridiculous.  It reminded me of when the Mets finally got their chance and threw at Roger Clemens.  In the bottom of the 8th, the Indians made a pitching change and decided to sacrifice Jensen Lewis to the Baseball Gods by having him throw behind Adrian Beltre .  It’s worth noting that neither Ortiz nor Beltre were ever actually hit by a pitch.  Throwing behind one guy sends a message.  Throwing behind two shows the world that you just didn’t do it right the first (nor the second) time.  Ortiz got it by the feet but Mr. Lewis was stupid enough to throw his pitch behind Beltre’s head.  Beltre did this great staring thing at Lewis as he approached the mound and then as people were pushing him away.  Lewis probably had nightmares last night that involved Adrian Beltre and his psycho eyes.  Here’s a tip, Indians:  If you’re throwing at someone, hit them and be done with it.  (Or throw behind one guy and be done with it.)  You didn’t look “tough” last night, you looked inept.   On the other hand, I should be thanking Manny Acta because his making his pitchers throw at our guys caused one of the more exciting, non-baseball moments at Fenway this season.  Beckett lost his mind on Shelley Duncan and  for a moment I really believe Terry Francona was going to take on the entire Indians team all by himself.

If the non-fight provided the excitement for the night, Mike Lowell provided the pure happiness.  NESN decided to let us hear Fenway Park public address announcer Carl Beane announce Mike Lowell’s first at-bat in the second inning.  We barely had enough time to process the enormous ovation the fans were giving him before he knocked the first pitch he saw into the Monster Seats.  (If you watch the video, you can actually hear Jerry Remy laughing while Orsillo is calling it…even the RemDawg got giddy!)

I have no idea what the rest of this season will bring and what we’ll all be doing in October…but if you’re a baseball fan and can’t appreciate the absolute beauty of Mike Lowell’s first at-bat last night, then you have no heart.  Remy later called it the “nicest” moment of the season and while it’s a bit of an understatement, I totally agree.  This team might be beaten and battered but don’t tell me they don’t have any heart and don’t tell me they aren’t fun to watch or worth rooting for.