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| You should never argue with a crazy mind | 07.29.09 at 3:29 pm ET |
As of today (Wednesday, July 29th) you’ll be able to find “Toeing the Rubber” at it’s old www.toeingtherubber.com. There will no longer be any updates to the blog at the toeingtherubber.weei.com address.
No hard feelings, I just felt that moving on was the right move to make. The first new entry at Toeing the Rubber will be tonight when we live blog. I hope folks join me.
Thanks, everyone, for all the support.
| Somehow happiness will find you | 07.29.09 at 8:26 am ET |
 JD Drew and Brian Roberts somehow find a way to smile! Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission. |
One of the people I follow on Twitter wrote last night that if your team gives up 21 hits then you shouldn’t expect them to win. You could say that about the team that gave up 14 hits as well. Too bad it wasn’t possible for both teams to get the loss.
Last night was ugly and it’s too bad because it had the potential to give the Sox a game up, give Clay Buchholz a win and honor Jim Rice on his big day. None of this happened and we had to wait until past 11:30pm to get the news.
I know there were errors involved. Defensive indifference also came back to bite Papelbon and the Sox in the butt. Still, I’d much prefer that the next time Jonathan Papelbon talks about wanting to get paid like Mariano Rivera someone show him this game. It seems he can’t get his focus against “lesser” teams or when the pressure isn’t on. I tire of wondering what he’s going to do every time he takes the mound. There’s no argument about his talent but, to my mind, closers are supposed to be “lights out” and while his stats show that he’s been pretty damn good he certainly isn’t guaranteed to being that consistently lights out pitcher a closer should be. Less drama and more focus, Paps. Thanks.
Brad Penny tonight in another game where we look to him to get the bad taste of another game out of our mouths. My plan is to live blog it but circumstances might force me to change plans. As of right now (8:15am on Wednesday), the live blog is on….I’ll update the blog if things change. (Also, the next two Wednesdays will find me in Pawtucket so there won’t be Wednesday live blogs. I’ll figure it out as they come along – but I’ll most likely just choose another day in the week to live blog a game.)
The ceremony for Jim Rice was exactly as it should have been – very well done. Both of Jim Ed’s speeches (at Fenway and at Cooperstown) were entertaining and pleasant and, relatively, short. Jim seems to be so genuinely happy about his induction to the Hall of Fame as well as the retiring of his number. No “It’s about time” coming from him, just genuine gratitude and appreciation. I’m very proud that the Red Sox are so selective with the retirement process and I’m equally proud that Jim Ed finally got his props.
Shake off last night, folks. New day, new game, and a win on the horizon.
| And someday soon I’ll be just one more memory | 07.28.09 at 10:56 am ET |
Red Sox – The Beatles – A Day In The Life
On July 23, 2004, the Red Sox were 9.5 games behind the Yankees. On July 28, 2004, four days after the “fight” game, the Sox were 8 games behind the Yankees in the AL East. A month after that, the Sox were 5.5 games behind the Yankees in the standings.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Now I don’t pretend for a moment that this team is the 2004 team. There was a magic that team had that no other team (not even the 2007 team) can replicate. But even without “magic” (see 2007) the Red Sox are capable of pulling together, winning games and achieving the ultimate prize. This isn’t my father’s Red Sox team. A 2.5 game deficit shouldn’t be scaring anyone. It certainly isn’t scaring me.
And I offer up the video as the reason why I don’t “worry” about this team. I don’t consider it living in the past. I don’t pretend that no other team has won a World Series since 2004. But what they did in 2004 was so remarkable, so unbelievable, that the euphoria I felt then comes back every time I’m reminded of it. So the team can struggle and I can go along with my life and enjoy watching baseball (even if I do get frustrated with the likes of John Smoltz).
Being a Red Sox fan really doesn’t suck.
As an aside, there was a rumor going around for about a half an hour yesterday that a Reds/Yanks trade for Bronson Arroyo was “absolutely” getting done. I don’t mind telling you that my stomach was in knots until the rumor was debunked. How the hell do I deal with my favorite player being on the Yankees? Especially if it’s via trade (so I can’t even “blame” him)?
I hate this time of year…I can’t wait until the trade deadline has passed. I know trades still get made after the 31st but at least we aren’t bombarded with all of the rumors that come out during the month of July.
Jim Rice night at Fenway tonight. Number 14 gets put up between numbers 9 and 27. It’s a proud moment and I’m thrilled we’ll get to witness it. I won’t be at the park tonight but I’ll be watching along with everyone else.
Congratulations, Jim on another well-deserved honor.
(Oh and if Clay Buchholz could get Jim a win tonight – yeah, that would be good too!)
| Feeling all of forty-five going on fifteen | 07.27.09 at 10:09 am ET |
 I want “happy” Smoltz to translate into “good” Smoltz. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission. |
Because I spent most of the weekend doing other things and not totally focused on the Sox, I had it in my head that they had an off-day today. I’m grateful they don’t – I want them to get back to winning and now that I can settle down and watch an entire game, I wanted there to actually be one.
John Smoltz and the Sox couldn’t come through and bring Jim Rice a win on Sunday but the Sox got the series win and just because Smoltz is starting to give me fits every time he takes the mound doesn’t mean I should obsess on that and lose sight of the larger goals of the team, right?
Regardless of the terrible road trip and the loss yesterday, I’m not eager for Theo to make some blockbuster trade this week. I don’t see making a panic move just because the team has been slumping. Having written that, I’ll be in Baltimore this weekend for all three games against the Orioles and wouldn’t be devastated if when I got there Mr. Smoltz was not pitching Friday night (as he is currently scheduled to do). Along with that, though, I’d like to call out all the idiots at Fenway yesterday who booed a future Hall of Famer because he had the audacity to not pitch well. Congratulations for being idiots, folks.
I don’t know what I think the solution is with Smoltz but I don’t believe that it is keeping him in the rotation. I guess on Friday we’ll be stuck because Tim Wakefield isn’t available to come off the dl until Sunday – but it makes me sad that I consider every Smoltz start and automatic loss. I know Tito has faith in him coming around and I, usually, have faith in the way Tito gets things done…but, for me, that’s wearing thin with Smoltz.
Joshua Patrick gets back up on the mound tonight against Trevor Cahill and the Oakland A’s. Another winning streak begins today!
| My feelings can’t describe it | 07.26.09 at 8:59 am ET |
Photo by Mike Groll/Associated Press
Congratulations, Jim Ed (hell and Rickey too!)…long overdue!
| I hope she looks like you | 07.25.09 at 2:29 am ET |
 Bronson with Tim Wakefield in Cincinnati last year. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission. |
I link to it on the sidebar but I should mention it more in the blog. “It” is Dan Hoard’s blog “Heard it from Hoard“. Dan is one of the PawSox radio broadcasters and he blogs on a solidly regular basis. If you’re looking for information on the newest members of the PawSox or if you’re just looking for random bits of baseball trivia, Dan’s blog is the place to go.
The reason I bring it up now is because I was told via email that Jonathan Van Every has decided to part ways with the Red Sox but I couldn’t find any news of this anywhere…until I went to Dan’s blog:
Van Every’s season ended in mid-June due to knee surgery. Boston took him off of the 40-man roster on July 8th to make room for Jed Lowrie, and released Jonathan 10 days later when the waiver period ran out.
The Red Sox wanted to bring him back next season, but we’re hearing that Van Every has agreed to a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
I can’t blame Van Every for wanting to take a sure thing rather than hold out and wait to see what the Sox would do next year – but I’ll miss him being with the team. He was a lot of fun to watch in Pawtucket and seemed to really make the best of his time while he was in Boston. I wish him a lot of luck and I hope he’s healthy next season.
In non-MiLB news, word is that the Reds have Bronson Arroyo on the trading block. I don’t think for a minute that the Sox would be interested nor that the Sox need a Bronson Arroyo but I’ll totally admit to a bit of a charge at the idea.
Dan also mentions that Saturday night is Jon Lester bobblehead night. Fitting since he’ll be pitching in Boston. If you can make your way down there I highly suggest trying to get in a game at McCoy at some point this year. Given the expected crowds, though, Jon Lester bobblehead night might not be the best night to try that!
| We always wished for fame | 07.24.09 at 10:51 pm ET |
Paps didn’t make it easy for us but they still won. I’ll take the win.
I’m going to give a shout-out to my readers tonight . Just want to say thank you for all the support but if you’re going elsewhere to talk trash on my behalf, please don’t. It’s not fair to the blogger and it isn’t worth getting into it with the same 3 people who also seem to troll over here. I appreciate the support but I’d prefer you give it to me here than get into flame wars elsewhere.
Things are going to change and they’ll be changing soon. I made a decision and I’m sticking with it but that’s something we can deal with as it happens.
Brad Penny = stopper tonight. Who would have thought? Lester at 7:10pm on Saturday. Let’s start a two-game winning streak!
| Knock me down, its all in vain | 07.24.09 at 6:08 pm ET |
 Barry Chin’s (boston.com) version of one of my favorite photos. |
I’m not big on remembering dates so it took checking out Curt Schilling’s blog today to be reminded that today is a special anniversary in Red Sox Nation. Five years ago today was “The Fight” game. Curt’s recollection of the actual fight is amusing:
That was the minute we realized Sturtze was a 6-foot-8 inch puss. The sucker BS and all that, no place for it. We were all wishing some how, some way, Trot would have had a cleaner, clearer shot. That would have been worthy of some sort of cage fighting highlight. We also went nuts when we saw Jonesy (first-base coach Lynn Jones, who tried to pull David Ortiz out of the scrum with Sturtze) grabbing our players. You never grab your own guys in a brawl.
We all wanted Trot to knock out Sturtze too, Curt.
I was supposed to go to Pawtucket with friends that Saturday and backed out at the last minute. Between the weather and my annual summer cold I was determined to stay home and curl up with the Sox/Yanks game. The misery from the previous game was still strong. As fans we really wanted this Saturday game and the weather had us worried it wasn’t happening. Reportedly, the Yankees were dressed and heading for the buses when the word came down that the game was on. Bronson Arroyo v Tanyon Sturtze wasn’t exactly a marquee matchup but we were certainly excited at the prospect of the game just getting started.
Many folks point to the game as the turning point of the season, forgetting that the month of July was pretty meh for the Sox and culminated in trading Nomar. The fight (and ensuing win of that game and following it up on Sunday with a series win) didn’t trigger a winning streak nor a surge in the standings. but it reminded fans that the Yankees were beatable. The horror of game 7 in the 2003 ALCS wasn’t totally erased but the weekend of July 24th in 2004 certainly took the sting away if only for a while.
By October of 2004 when the Red Sox were behind in the ALCS 0-3 they knew they could come back because they weren’t ‘afraid’ of the Yankees (nor, and probably most importantly, were they afraid of Mariano Rivera). It was tough for the fans to watch but July 24th had set up history to be made and it was.
I have two photos in my cubical at work. One is of the ring ceremony in 2005. A panoramic view of Fenway showing all the Red Sox players lined up (with all the Yankees players standing at the top of the stairs of the dugout). The other is the iconic photo of Jason Varitek shoving his glove into Alex Rodriguez’ face. Even if tangentially I connected the two incidents – and I’m not the only one, obviously.
So maybe the ghosts of 2004 will bring us some good fortune tonight? The team needs a kick in the pants and if the only way to get it is spiritually, why not?
In more roster-move news, the Sox have placed Mark Kotsay on waivers today. The way this works is if no team claims Kotsay within 48 hours the Sox either outright release him or send him to Pawtucket. I’m not as pleased as some of you expect I’d be. I never like seeing a player released so that aspect of it is a bit of a bummer. But I will admit that I won’t miss his presence on the team and am looking to see if Adam LaRoche keeps up his second half success now that he’s here.
Brad Penny has suddenly become the stopper. Tonight should be interesting.
| The search for perfection is a funny thing | 07.24.09 at 9:55 am ET |
 MLB.com graphic. |
Can’t call my blog “Toeing the Rubber” and not write about a pitcher throwing a perfect game, right?
I keep watching the highlights from the game and the thing that strikes me is how different yesterday could have gone for Mark Buehrle if not for DeWayne Wise (who had JUST come into the game in the ninth!) . Instead of a perfect game he would have probably ended up with a one-hit game and a 5-1 score. In discussing the game with friends, I asked if a no-hitter coupled with a separate perfect game automatically gets Buehrle into the Hall of Fame someday. Most seemed to agree that between the “inherent flukiness” of no-hitters/perfect games and the fact that most of them relied on someone else making some kind of amazing play to preserve said no-hitter/perfect game that it wasn’t the slam-dunk I thought it might be.
Which got me to wondering how many perfect games were saved by an amazing play like Wise’s. Let’s just cover the last four prior to Buehrle’s:
On May 18, 2004, Randy Johnson threw his second no-hitter and his first perfect game at the age of 40. According to ESPN:
…the closest thing to a hit was a slow roller by Johnson’s Atlanta counterpart, Mike Hampton, in the sixth. Alex Cintron scooped up the ball and threw out Hampton by a half-step.
Johnson lingered near the third-base line, giving Cintron a pat with the glove as he ran off the field.
Even grumpy old men have to acknowledge a good play now and then.
On July 18, 1999, David Cone was cruising through his perfect game which included a 33-minute rain delay in the third inning. In the ninth, Rickey Ledee had trouble with a shallow fly ball. He didn’t see it until seconds before he made the basket catch for the second out.
When Cone recorded the last out — Cabrera hit a foul pop to third baseman Scott Brosius, prompting Cone to put his hands to his head in disbelief and fall to his knees — Girardi rushed the mound and enveloped him with a bear hug.
“Completely unrehearsed,” Cone said of the display. “It’s not something you think about doing. I just remember collapsing from exhaustion.”
Only David Cone would worry that people would think dropping to the ground after throwing a perfect game was rehearsed.
On May 17, 1998, David Wells got to throw his own perfect game. Making a play much like he did in Cone’s perfect game, Chuck Knoblauch stole a hit away in the 8th on a hard hit ball to throw out potential base runner Ron Coomer. Of course, the most memorable part of Boomer’s perfect game was his own description of it:
[I was] half-drunk, with bloodshot eyes, monster breath and a raging, skull-rattling hangover.
Man’s a poet, isn’t he?
On July 28, 1994, Rusty Greer made a diving catch (complete with sliding on his face through centerfield) to preserve the perfect game being pitched by Kenny Rogers. Prior to yesterday, it was generally considered to be the best saving catch ever in a perfect game. DeWayne Wise has taken over that spot today.
So congratulations to Mark Buehrle. He did an amazing thing. There are now only 18 pitchers in Major League baseball history to have thrown a perfect game (someday we’ll get Harvey Haddix’ name added to that list)…that’s an achievement to be proud of. But let’s remember that behind every amazing pitching display there are usually some pretty amazing defensive plays as well.
| Blow your mind but not completely | 07.23.09 at 12:26 am ET |
 If we want the celebrations (witness Justin Masterson and Mike Timlin with some Bud Light) we have to take some disappointments too. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission. |
Now is the time for all of us to walk the walk. Everyone loves their team when they’re in first place or even just winning. But now we’re being tested. A five-game losing streak? This isn’t our team is it? How does this work? What are we supposed to do?
We’re supposed to support the damn team, that’s what.
Sure these games are painful. Hell, 6 stolen bases in one game? Two double steals two nights in a row? That’s downright embarrassing. But this is the same team we’ve been supporting all along. Not too long ago they were in first place and Red Sox Nation was the land of sunshine and roses. What’s it say about us if we start wigging out just because the team is going through an ugly losing streak?
Theo is already making moves to help the team. On Friday, Adam LaRoche will be in Boston and Julio Lugo won’t. Goodness knows Lugo wasn’t all what ails the team and LaRoche won’t be its savior but the new blood will be an energizing force into the clubhouse and maybe the team needs a little of that right now.
So, yeah, the losing is lousy. And painful. And just a drag to witness. But it’s real and it’s here. If we’re going to support this team when they’re coasting then we sure as hell should be supporting them when they’re struggling.
We all get a day off on Thursday and then Friday the team is back home. We can all use the day to step back, breathe and look forward to the next series.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to or just followed the live blog. In spite of the outcome of the game it was a lot of fun! (And today’s picture reminds me to wish good luck to Mike Timlin who is trying out for a spot on the Colorado Rockies this week!)
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