It's less than 24 hours away! The 2011 Red Sox season, which couldn't come fast enough on December 8, when The Nation learned that in addition to Adrian Gonzalez, the Sox landed Carl Crawford, starts at 4:05 pm tomorrow. Yes, on April Fool's Day. There will be no time for fooling for the Red Sox, unless you're talking about Jon Lester fooling Rangers batters.
The Opening Day lineup is as I had expected, with JD Drew sitting in favor of Mike Cameron against the tough lefty CJ Wilson:
Jacoby Ellsbury
Dustin Pedroia
Carl Crawford
Kevin Youkilis
Adrian Gonzalez
David Ortiz
Mike Cameron
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Marco Scutaro
While some may quibble with Papi in the lineup against Wilson, I agree with Tito's deference to the veterans on Opening Day. Now if this were any other game, I would much rather see Darnell McDonald or Jed Lowrie DH-ing against a tough lefty (anything to get those lefty-killing bats in the lineup). I like seeing Cameron over Drew. Both are veterans and Tito does want to get at least ONE of those lefty-killers in there.
While the Red Sox face off against Wilson, the Rangers have a tough lefty of their own to contend with in Jon Lester. Lester is the right choice for Opening Day starter this year. He has been the Red Sox' most consistent starting pitcher over the past three years and he deserves the nod.
Lots of Red Sox and baseball blogs are trotting out their predictions for the season and most of them have the Red Sox winning the division. If they can stay healthy and perform to their level of talent, they have an excellent chance of doing so, even in a division as unforgiving as the AL East. A healthy offense will generate buckets of runs and a healthy defense should keep a good many opposing runs from scoring.
The pitching is, perhaps the most vulnerable spot for the Red Sox this year. Lester, Lackey, and Buchholz should be fine, with Lackey improving considerably on his 2010 performance. Beckett and Dice-K are the wild cards. Dice looked sharp in his last three Spring Training starts after new pitching coach Curt Young changed up his between-starts throwing routine and Beckett helped the Red Sox clown the Astros last night with 5 shutout innings. While the Astros lineup is not the Rangers, the Yankees, the Twins, etc, it was a confidence-building outing for him. Whether Dice-K's success in the latter part of Spring Training will carry over to the regular season remains to be seen, but there is reason to hope that Young's approach to the enigma that is Daisuke Matsuzaka may yield more consistent
results.
The bullpen looks to be considerably improved over last year, but all eyes will be on Papelbon and whether he can continue in the closer role, especially with the likes of Daniel Bard and Bobby Jenks waiting in the wings. Bullpen reinforcements biding their time in Pawtucket include Scott Atchison, Alfredo Aceves, and Hideki Okajima, among others.
If all goes reasonably well and the Great Injury Plague of 2010 doesn't strike again, a win total in the high 90s and/or a division title is well within reach. There's a lot of pressure on this year's team to not only make the playoffs, but to win the World Series. Can they win it all this year? Sure. Will they? I would like to think so, but baseball is an unpredictable game. Who predicted last year that the Giants would win it all? Sometimes it's a matter of what team gets hot at the right time. Other times, it's a matter of the clear superiority of one team over another.
Tomorrow afternoon. 4:05 pm EDT Ranger Stadium in Arlington Texas. Play Ball!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Bitter Grapefruit
I know, 'it's only spring training' but the highly anticipated 2011 Red Sox must think it's the bizarro version of the regular season and that they need to lose as many games as possible. Right now the streak stands at 9. Before certain members of the Red Sox farm system, or a group of Fort Myers pizza deliverymen (sorry, I couldn't tell by their defense which group they were. I'm leaning toward the pizza guys) clowned up the top of the ninth and made Bobby Jenks look like a befuddled ringmaster in a circus gone awry, the Sox had a healthy 5-run lead. The lead had even been more robust, at 7 runs, before Dan Wheeler started the game down that slippery slope in the 8th with 3 doubles (one of which might have been an out had Carl Crawford still been in the game).
Daisuke Matsuzaka's third straight solid start and a good showing by the Sox offense, including Adrian Gonzalez's first dinger in a Sox uniform had the Sox looking like they might stop the deep slide they've been on since...well, it's been so long I can't remember when they last WON a game. But it wasn't to be.
During this epic Grapefruit League nosedive, the Sox have seen Buchholz get annihilated to the tune of 11 runs, Beckett serve up 7, Andrew Miller punch his ticket to the minors, and Dan Johnson continuing to take the Sox' lunch money. Lester has looked vulnerable in this stretch, as has Lackey. Papelbon has been looking looking more and more like his days as a dominant closer are in the past. The only silver lining in this FAILstorm is Dice-K finding his bearings and stringing together three solid (2 runs or less) starts in a row.
How much stock can be put in a team's Spring Training record? One can argue that how a team looks in the last week or so of Spring Training, when their starters are staying in games longer, both the pitchers and the position players, is an indicator of how they will look once the season starts. On the flip side, the major league bullpen candidates are still seeing mostly minor-league hitters and having minor-league defenders playing behind them. Case in point, Jenks being railroaded by his defense in tonight's 6-run 9th inning. It's awfully hard to pitch to contact when you can't trust the guys behind you to make the plays. Still, it would be nice to go into Friday afternoon without being on a 13-game losing streak, you know? Just like winning begets more winning, losing begets more losing. So, Red Sox, get off the schneid before opening day, okay?
Daisuke Matsuzaka's third straight solid start and a good showing by the Sox offense, including Adrian Gonzalez's first dinger in a Sox uniform had the Sox looking like they might stop the deep slide they've been on since...well, it's been so long I can't remember when they last WON a game. But it wasn't to be.
During this epic Grapefruit League nosedive, the Sox have seen Buchholz get annihilated to the tune of 11 runs, Beckett serve up 7, Andrew Miller punch his ticket to the minors, and Dan Johnson continuing to take the Sox' lunch money. Lester has looked vulnerable in this stretch, as has Lackey. Papelbon has been looking looking more and more like his days as a dominant closer are in the past. The only silver lining in this FAILstorm is Dice-K finding his bearings and stringing together three solid (2 runs or less) starts in a row.
How much stock can be put in a team's Spring Training record? One can argue that how a team looks in the last week or so of Spring Training, when their starters are staying in games longer, both the pitchers and the position players, is an indicator of how they will look once the season starts. On the flip side, the major league bullpen candidates are still seeing mostly minor-league hitters and having minor-league defenders playing behind them. Case in point, Jenks being railroaded by his defense in tonight's 6-run 9th inning. It's awfully hard to pitch to contact when you can't trust the guys behind you to make the plays. Still, it would be nice to go into Friday afternoon without being on a 13-game losing streak, you know? Just like winning begets more winning, losing begets more losing. So, Red Sox, get off the schneid before opening day, okay?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Daisuke Matsuzaka: The Dr. Jekyll Version
We'd seen far too much of the Mr. Hyde side of Dice-K this spring, so it was refreshing to see the good Dr. Jekyll on the mound today against the Tigers. He threw 5 scoreless frames, surrendering just 2 hits and a walk. Perhaps Curt Young is onto something with changing his routine so he doesn't throw long toss and bullpen sessions on the same day. Throwing that many pitches in one day has to have fatigued his arm to the point that it costs him velocity in games. If Dice continues to follow this new routine and puts together a string of solid starts in a row, that would go a long way toward making this rotation stronger. Consistency is the key for Matsuzaka. We know he's capable of being a very good pitcher. Now we'd just like to see that very good pitcher more often.
How about that slugger known as Jacoby? He yanked another one out of the park today and he, along with Mike Cameron, have dazzled this spring. For two outfielders who spent the bulk of the season on the DL, or in Cameron's case, playing through excruciating pain, it's very encouraging to see them have the kind of spring they're having. Speaking of Cameron, I really hope the Sox keep him around this season. Being a righty, he'll get plenty of playing time off the bench, especially against lefties. His clubhouse presence is another reason to hold onto him. He's a good-natured veteran and those kind of guys are nice to have around over the course of the long season.
Two more weeks left of Spring Training before the real deal gets underway on April 1. Opening Day is so close I can taste it!
How about that slugger known as Jacoby? He yanked another one out of the park today and he, along with Mike Cameron, have dazzled this spring. For two outfielders who spent the bulk of the season on the DL, or in Cameron's case, playing through excruciating pain, it's very encouraging to see them have the kind of spring they're having. Speaking of Cameron, I really hope the Sox keep him around this season. Being a righty, he'll get plenty of playing time off the bench, especially against lefties. His clubhouse presence is another reason to hold onto him. He's a good-natured veteran and those kind of guys are nice to have around over the course of the long season.
Two more weeks left of Spring Training before the real deal gets underway on April 1. Opening Day is so close I can taste it!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
One Day at a Time...
That is how Ryan Westmoreland is taking his recovery from brain surgery and his return to professional baseball. A few days shy of a year ago, Westmoreland had a very risky operation to remove a cavernous malformation in his brain, a congenital anomaly that became symptomatic only last spring, as he was getting ready to follow up on a promising 2009 season. During 2010 Spring Training, Westmoreland felt fatigue, numbness, and he eventually went blind and lost his hearing in one ear. An MRI showed the malformation, a clump of abnormal blood vessels that were bleeding into his brain and and needed to be removed. The surgery carried serious risks--the most ominous being dying on the operating table. Westmoreland survived the surgery and began the arduous road to recovery, having to relearn walking, speech, balance, and even how to tie his shoe.
A year later, he is taking live batting practice, even though one side of his body is not quite in sync with the other. He doesn't know yet how far he will be able to come back--at what level, if any, he will be able to play pro ball. That doesn't faze him, though; he knows how far he's come since waking up from surgery last March in Arizona. He knows that, although his progress has astounded his doctors, recovery is a slow process and there are no guarantees. At only 20 years of age, Ryan Westmoreland's health crisis brought him maturity beyond his years. His story is inspiring no matter which team you root for, but if you happen to be a Red Sox fan, it's all the more heartwarming. If the day comes that he makes his Fenway debut for the Red Sox, it will be one of the most amazing stories in sports history.
In other Sox news, Adrian Gonzalez made his spring debut yesterday with a single and a sac fly. He's scheduled to play tomorrow night against the Yankees. Clay Buchholz, who is next up in the rotation, will be held out of tomorrow night's game, probably to avoid the Yanks getting too much exposure to him before the season begins, and ex-Yankee Alfredo Aceves will start in his place.
A year later, he is taking live batting practice, even though one side of his body is not quite in sync with the other. He doesn't know yet how far he will be able to come back--at what level, if any, he will be able to play pro ball. That doesn't faze him, though; he knows how far he's come since waking up from surgery last March in Arizona. He knows that, although his progress has astounded his doctors, recovery is a slow process and there are no guarantees. At only 20 years of age, Ryan Westmoreland's health crisis brought him maturity beyond his years. His story is inspiring no matter which team you root for, but if you happen to be a Red Sox fan, it's all the more heartwarming. If the day comes that he makes his Fenway debut for the Red Sox, it will be one of the most amazing stories in sports history.
In other Sox news, Adrian Gonzalez made his spring debut yesterday with a single and a sac fly. He's scheduled to play tomorrow night against the Yankees. Clay Buchholz, who is next up in the rotation, will be held out of tomorrow night's game, probably to avoid the Yanks getting too much exposure to him before the season begins, and ex-Yankee Alfredo Aceves will start in his place.
Friday, March 4, 2011
The Kids are Alright
It was a case of "our B team beat your A team" tonight when the Red Sox took a squad laden with prospects and bench players to Tampa to face a nearly full-strength Yankees team and came away with a 5-3 victory. It wasn't the major leaguers (Lowrie, Tek, and D-Mac) who did the bulk of the damage, though Lowrie did provide a nice double and he scored in the form of pinch-runner Oscar Tejeda. PawSox-bound Nava singled that first run home. The rest of the runs came from the bats of guys like Juan Carlos Linares, and Tejeda. Jose Iglesias was a thrill to watch in the field and he didn't do so badly at the plate either, going 2 for 3 and scoring a run. His Cuban countryman Linares was 2 for 2, having replaced Ryan Kalish in center. Oscar Tejeda (NOT Tejada) tripled, singled, and knocked in 3 runs. Infielder Drew Sutton was 2 for 3. Yamaico Navarro was quiet at the plate, but his arm at third sure came in handy. Josh Reddick robbed Cano of an extra-base hit in the 2nd.
From the mound, Buchholz threw three scoreless innings. He showed signs of fatigue in the 3rd, walking 2, but he got out of a jam when Martin lined Buch's first offering to right. He was followed by Randy Williams, who also tossed a scoreless frame despite a leadoff double by A-Rod. Brandon Duckworth pitched the 5th and 6th, allowing what was at the time the tying run on a Cano double that drove in Teixeira, who doubled before him. Matt Albers kept the Yankees at bay for 2 innings while the Sox added 4 more runs. Tony Pena, Jr, whose dad is, ironically, the Yanks' bench coach, struggled and had to be pulled with two outs in the 9th. Eammon Portice replaced him and induced a Ramiro Pena groundout that was generously scored in the Sox' favor by 1B ump Marty Foster.
I have to give the Yankees some props (yes, you read that right) for what they did for Sox 1B coach Ron Johnson, whose daughter, Bridget, lost her leg in a horseback-riding accident last summer. Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long once played for Johnson as a minor-leaguer and took up a collection for Johnson and his family after the accident. Many Yankees, including Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada wrote generous checks to the Johnsons to help cover Bridget's medical expenses. The Sox and the Yankees may be fierce rivals on the field, but off the field, they are compassionate human beings, reaching out to a family who is going through a tremendous ordeal. On the Red Sox side, Kevin Youkilis bought Bridget, whose horse died in the accident, another horse, which she named Youkie. Stories like this transcend the sport and its rivalries and remind us of the compassion and generosity that bring people together.
From the mound, Buchholz threw three scoreless innings. He showed signs of fatigue in the 3rd, walking 2, but he got out of a jam when Martin lined Buch's first offering to right. He was followed by Randy Williams, who also tossed a scoreless frame despite a leadoff double by A-Rod. Brandon Duckworth pitched the 5th and 6th, allowing what was at the time the tying run on a Cano double that drove in Teixeira, who doubled before him. Matt Albers kept the Yankees at bay for 2 innings while the Sox added 4 more runs. Tony Pena, Jr, whose dad is, ironically, the Yanks' bench coach, struggled and had to be pulled with two outs in the 9th. Eammon Portice replaced him and induced a Ramiro Pena groundout that was generously scored in the Sox' favor by 1B ump Marty Foster.
I have to give the Yankees some props (yes, you read that right) for what they did for Sox 1B coach Ron Johnson, whose daughter, Bridget, lost her leg in a horseback-riding accident last summer. Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long once played for Johnson as a minor-leaguer and took up a collection for Johnson and his family after the accident. Many Yankees, including Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada wrote generous checks to the Johnsons to help cover Bridget's medical expenses. The Sox and the Yankees may be fierce rivals on the field, but off the field, they are compassionate human beings, reaching out to a family who is going through a tremendous ordeal. On the Red Sox side, Kevin Youkilis bought Bridget, whose horse died in the accident, another horse, which she named Youkie. Stories like this transcend the sport and its rivalries and remind us of the compassion and generosity that bring people together.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Play (Grapefruit League) Ball!
The 2011 Spring Training Grapefruit League is underway and the Sox have won more games than they've lost. That is, they've won 2 and lost 1, all against their Mayor's Cup rivals the Minnesota Twins. Today's 5-0 win featured strong performances from Lester, Papelbon and new acquisition Alfredo Aceves, as well as Mike Cameron (2 for 3) and Juan Carlos Linares (2 for 2, 1 RBI). The other 4 runs were driven in by Jed Lowrie, Josh Reddick (he of the .750 average in 3 games), Paul Hoover, and Nate Spears. Yesterday, the Sox trailed for most of the game and played some sloppy defense, but came back to win, thanks to Mr .750's game-winning dinger. Sunday night, things didn't go the Sox' way and they fell to the Twins 8-4.
Two players in particular have taken their lumps in the early days of Grapefruit League play: Josh Beckett and non-roster invitee Brent Dlugach. Beckett got beaned by batting practice instructor Ino Guererro while shagging balls hit off a fungo bat yesterday and suffered a mild concussion. Dlugach had a comically bad game yesterday, making 2 errors and grounding into 2 double plays and today, while redeeming himself with a diving catch, he dislocated his shoulder.
The prognosis for Beckett looks good. He's very lucky the injury wasn't more serious. I'm not sure yet how long Dlugach will be sidelined, but it's hard to make the team if you can't play.
Tomorrow, it's Lackey's turn to make his 2011 debut as the Sox play the Atlanta Braves at City of Palms Park.
Two players in particular have taken their lumps in the early days of Grapefruit League play: Josh Beckett and non-roster invitee Brent Dlugach. Beckett got beaned by batting practice instructor Ino Guererro while shagging balls hit off a fungo bat yesterday and suffered a mild concussion. Dlugach had a comically bad game yesterday, making 2 errors and grounding into 2 double plays and today, while redeeming himself with a diving catch, he dislocated his shoulder.
The prognosis for Beckett looks good. He's very lucky the injury wasn't more serious. I'm not sure yet how long Dlugach will be sidelined, but it's hard to make the team if you can't play.
Tomorrow, it's Lackey's turn to make his 2011 debut as the Sox play the Atlanta Braves at City of Palms Park.
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