John Lackey: Finally Earned His First Paycheck

Truth be told, I don't care that Lackey lost the no-hitter yesterday. Sure, maybe that makes me petty but I don't care. I didn't want Lackey and I haven't enjoyed watching him this season. Am I happy when he does well? Absolutely. But it's for the sake of the team, not for him. If he had gotten the no-no, I wouldn't have been angry, but... yeah. I'll just say I appreciate that old friend Josh Bard is the one who broke up the no-no. I didn't approve of the way our front office continuously brought him back and got rid of him. It was small revenge, sure, but he deserved it.

However, if we had lost this game, I would have been angry. I would have been very angry. Not that I stayed up for it. I actually had every intention of staying up for the game, but there was a pitching change in the 8th, and I thought I could just rest my eyes until they came back from commercials, and then I woke up when my alarm clock went off this morning. I couldn't have stayed up until 2 AM even if I wanted to, though.

Manny Delcarmen confuses me. What happened? On June 1st, he was sporting a 1.73 ERA and looking like the best thing to happen to the bullpen since pirate music (slight exaggeration, of course). He was our most reliable arm all through May, and most of June. Then what? He got hurt? Is that really it? Not for nothing, but he was on the disabled list and made rehab starts to take care of his forearm strain or whatever the problem was. June 3rd, the ERA started climbing. Two runs that night on two HR's to Oakland, and one run on June 6th brought it up to 2.67. After that, he enjoyed 5 1/3 IP over 6 appearances of scoreless baseball. Then in his next three appearances, he just completely and utterly fell apart, allowing nine runs on nine hits and two walks in one inning over three appearances. Two of those appearances (June 24 @ Colorado, and June 30th vs Tampa), he failed to record a single out, and then he was DL'ed. His first two outings back, he was great, allowing no hits and no runs in 2 1/3rd innings. Last night? Back to falling apart. 4 Runs on 2 hits in no innings. What's the problem? I don't know enough about pitching mechanics to know if he's doing something differently. When he's good, he's really good, but when he's bad, he is the destroyer of games. How do you pitch 1 1/3rd innings of perfect baseball one night and come back two days later looking like Eric Gagne? It doesn't make sense!

I won't even discuss Papelbon. My patience for him has slowly been getting shorter and shorter since 2008. Someone who bitches about money as much as he does needs to be able to back up his demands in performance. I also don't need to comment about our run prevention defense, considering the run preventors are mostly on the DL.

Wait. I will comment. Our defense is utter bullshit at times. To pick on Beltre for no reason, 15 errors? Seriously, my idea to call him Belteria a few months ago shouldn't have been this accurate. This was the improved defense we were supposed to get? REALLY? You honestly think Mike Lowell would have had 15 errors? The answer is no. Bill Hall has 8 errors. Eight. I know he's a backup, but eight? Marco Scutaro has TWELVE! Our run prevention infield has nore errors than I care to count. They're sloppy. It makes me angry. They're all lucky that they won last night, because that game certainly wasn't won on talent.

The last thing I can say is... it's nice to see them pull victory from the cold hands of ugly defeat. I just wish they wouldn't pull defeat from the warm, loving hands of victory so often. And good job, Patterson. You are the winner of the night.

On a side note, I did not realize that Nava had been optioned back to Pawtucket until I read an article about Mike Lowell helping the PawSox win their game last night. This means two things that I approve of: Mikey is getting close to rejoining the Sox (though I don't dare to speculate for how long), and that Wolverine is back in action. I've missed both of these individuals.

You know what else is going to happen tonight that will also win my approval? The return of Josh Beckett. I will try not to place too many high expectations on Joshua, since he's been crap all year and hasn't won a game since April 10th. But I am happy he's coming back. I've missed him, is all.

And I will stay up for the entire game.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Daniel Nava: Making Me Sit In The Rain

I love Fenway. I'll sit in that park through many bad conditions, especially if we're winning. On Saturday, under a constant drizzle-to-light-rain, I sat in row 47 of the bleachers. I was two rows in front of the Dunkin' Dugout, and I'll tell ya, those aren't bad seats. Sure, you're far from the field, but there are no obstructed views, and the fans out in the bleachers are usually the most passionate fans of them all. We were suprised, my friend and I, when Dice-K was not on the mound. We couldn't figure out why Atchinson was starting. I'll admit, I was worried. But he did a fine job, considering that it was the first start of his career and he only had about 5 minutes of warning before he had to go face the Phillies. Two runs in three innings is good enough for a reliever in my book.

There were a lot of Phillies fans in my section, and for the most part, they were pretty cool. There were a handful that got very drunk and obnoxious, but I'm sure there were just as many drunk, obnoxious Sox fans. The one thing we all agreed on was the fact that the Yankees suck. A Yankee fan in attendance with an apparently good sense of humor decided to stand up and show off his 27 rings shirt, earning him the boos of everyone around him. We were all having a good time until one guy had to take it too far. He walked over to the Yankee fan and smacked his hat off his head, earning him a quick ejection from the park and the boos of the rest of us. I hate it when there's one person that takes it too far. For the record, the jerk WAS a Phillies fan. Please, if you're going to come into another team's park, at least don't be an ass.

So, Sox were down by a run when Daniel Nava stepped to the plate. A few people around us hadn't heard of him, but I had read before the game that he was called up (and I was excited, because I knew his back story, and I love when guys like him get a shot at the majors). We didn't even get a chance to debate the merits of him getting a call-up when he smacked Joe Blanton's first pitch into the bullpen (caught by Manny Delcarmen!) for a grand slam. Fenway was crazed. I love it when that old park gets that level of energy, especially in the rain. We were buzzing again when he came up for his next at-bat with the bases loaded and nobody out AGAIN! What are the odds of that? I know that four people have hit grand slams in their first major league at-bat, and only Kevin Kouzmanoff has hit it on the first pitch, but how many batters have had bases loaded with no one out for their first two major league at bats?

Also, I find in incredibly interesting that Wolverine was one of the other two players to have hit a grand slam in his first at bat, and the reason that Nava got the opportunity to HAVE that at-bat was because Wolverine was on the DL. I don't know, maybe that's not amusing to anyone else, but I think it's a fantastic coincidence. Overall, Nava ended up with two hits (GS and 2B) and four RBI. That's a debut you can be proud of. Welcome to Fenway, Daniel! Also, very cool that his parents JUST made it to the game and recorded the whole thing for him.

Our bullpen did a great job of banding together on a night when we suddenly found ourselves without a starter. As mentioned, Atchinson only gave up the 2 runs, but because he only pitched three innings, he wasn't eligible for the win. Delcarmen came in after Atch, pitched two scoreless innings and got the win. Oki pitched 1 1/3, and Rambo collected 1 2/3rds. Paps, coming back from bereavement leave, pitched the ninth just to get some work. After all, we had an 8-run lead at that point. Great job all around by our pitching.

In other parts of the lineup, Drew had a very nice night with three hits. Six out of nine guys had 2 or more hits. Tek, Youk, and Scutaro had one hit a piece. I mean, what can I really say about this game that hasn't been said already? Great night, and a great way for Nava to introduce himself to the Fenway Faithful, even if it was raining.

Wolverine: Saving Our Butts Again

Oh, what would the X-Men do without Wolverine? Or should I call them the Sox-Men? I don't know. I'm trying to be cute here and it's not working. Admittedly, I passed out at around 10:30. I tried to stay up! I really did! I only got to see Josh get beat up (again) by the stupid Yankees. They're also whiney. Apparently, Joe Girardi decided that his team had a better chance of winning if Beckett stayed on the mound, so he's pissed that Beckett was pulled with two outs in the fourth. Yes, I am aware that they filed this complaint immediately after he was pulled (with the score 5-0 Yanks in the 5th), but come on. Beckett was injured, and the injury actually WAS more severe than a bruised ego, though I don't want to comment on him much more severe.

Again, Beckett sucked. I don't care if it was his spasm-y back or his inability to beat the Yankees that held him back, but dude has just not been good this year. I don't think it'll be like this for the remainder of his contract, but something's got to give with him. He has to figure out what he's doing wrong and fix it. We can't wait around forever for him. At this rate, we're actually getting better innings out of Wakefield than Beckett, and that tells you pretty much all you need to know.

Also on my shit list for the day... Scugo. I know the field was wet. I know playing conditions weren't optimal, but two fielding errors in one game is not acceptable. I feel pretty confident about the fact that Beckett would have gotten out of the 2nd inning with no runs allowed had Scugo not botched that ball that would have absolutely been a DP. Not cool. He damn well better dazzle me tonight if the game is actually played.

JD "Glassman" Drew is hurt. I'm not going to harp on him too much because he's been doing well. Doesn't take away from the fact that he's made of glass. It's not an insult, it's the truth. Hopefully the hamstring injury isn't going to linger because really, we need bats. Lots and lots of bats!

Anyway, on to the offense! There was literally nothing to get excited about from the Sox offense for the first five innings. Finally... FINALLY!... in the 6th, Youk took advatage of a bad Sabathia pitch and put it over the wall in left. Sabathia was hittable all night. His location wasn't on. He was all over the place, but our guys just couldn't take advantage. Maybe they were really deceptive pitches. Whatever it was, Youk's HR finally got us on the board after what was probably about 80 or 90 pitches. Luckily, the boys saved all the fun for Flyswatter and Mariano, scoring six times in two innings off of this particular combination of relievers. I don't care how bad we looked up until this point in the season, scoring runs against Mariano shows me that things are closer to getting back on track, and I am cool with that. In the eighth, we saw this sequence: error, single, double, single, ground out, single (Ortiz out at second), ground out. When it was all said and done, 4 runs got tacked on to Joba. Then in the 9th, heroics. Ronald singled, Scugo reached on an error (how appropriate), Munchkin grounded out, but then Wolverine came up against Mo and smacked a 2-run double to left over Randy Winn's head. Ugly wins are still wins, and I'll take them however they come.

Paps closed the 9th, but not before giving back a run and giving everyone a heart attack. Seriously, can we all stop considering Pap a top-tier closer now? He hasn't been this year, and he really wasn't stellar last year. Maybe I'm just being as bitchy and whiney as Joe Girardi, but Paps doesn't mean instant win to me any more, but he still acts like he's the best thing to happen to the bullpen since Keith Foulke. Him closing out the 9th of yesterday's game does not make up for the shit he put us through on Monday's game. Not even close.

Slightly off-topic... it really really pains me to read about how unhappy Mike Lowell is. I think he has every right to be unhappy. The Sox front office has gone seemingly out of their way to let him know that he's not wanted. From being forced to take him as a throw-in to the Beckett deal to trying endlessly to get rid of him.... I just don't know what Theo has against Mike. Sure, he doesn't have the offensive numbers of Beltre right now, but I don't like Beltre! Mikey is frustrated, and it makes me sad...

"I think sometimes you feel like the team might be better off if you're not on it," Lowell said. "I just eat up a roster spot. I really do. I don't know. If anything, it's a good feeling that I've had so many teammates come up to me and they say they sympathize with my situation. I think I've truly agonized over it. But it's not good or bad, it's just reality. ... I don't know what else to do."

Maybe he stays with us and gets a role on this team... more likely, he moves on. Whatever is going to happen needs to happen quick, because Mike's sadness is my sadness, and I don't want either of us to be sad. Mike doesn't deserve this treatment. He's done nothing but contribute to this team, and now we're treating him like an albatross instead of a contributing baseball player. Sad.

Fun fact: Me and Theo Epstein had something in common for one moment in time. We were both at the Pearl Jam concert on Monday, getting Sox updates on our cell phones. And for people who think that Theo (as much as I dislike him) doesn't deserve to take a night off.... seriously, shut the hell up. Theo may not be my favorite GM, but he's not the worst, and who doesn't enjoy Pearl Jam? Though, I still don't like him, and I think he should stop trying to hurt Mikey's ego. But what do I know?

Dahmer against Baker tonight at a very soggy Fenway.... if they can get the game in. We'll see.

Remy: "I've Had Enough of This Game"

Because Don and Jerry cannot focus in a game where nothing is going on, we get the brilliant line above from Rem Dawg. He had just been laughing for maybe about three hours over the size of Don's hairbrush. Once you get to that point, baseball just isn't going to bring you back. Luckily for us, the Sox were ahead, and all was well in the land of Fenway.

Seriously. All was well. Daisuke-san bounced back from his absolutely atrocious first inning. That was a bad inning. But he made up for it, and went four and one third more, giving up only one more run. Sure, MDC gave up the home run that brought Dice's inherited runner home and couldn't find the plate to save his life in the 7th, but it's ok because Oki got out of it for him with a very clean and wonderful 2/3rds. Rambo came in for two innings and mostly shut the Angels down, though he did give up two hits and a walk. All in all, the pitching was better than I expected from us. It's nice to not have to use your entire bullpen in a game where we needed someone warming up in the first. And not for nothing, but Rambo has been pitching very well lately. Props to the bullpen for doing a great job!

Kazmir actually lasted one fewer inning than Dice. No, I'm not joking! He was wild. His pitches were all over the place. I mean, he walked five guys so that's a pretty strong indicator that his location was way off. I don't mind. I went into the game expecting a loss, and I got a win from our boys, so I'm happy. I'm glad Kazmir couldn't get out of the fifth inning. I'm glad the Angels bullpen is horrible. I'm glad that in this series, the Sox have gotten at least 11 hits every night. I don't feel bad for the Angels. They're only four games out of first, and we're like, eight*, so having our offense and pitching click on a week where we face the Yankees and Angels isn't a bad thing.

*Disclaimer: I have no idea how many games behind Tampa we are. I don't want to know either. Until we start pulling up closer to them, I'm not going to worry about it.

Youk got hit with a pitch. Again. So no, it's not just our imaginations. He really does lead the team in HBP's. VMart lead the way with RBI's, racking up four on the night. That includes his 2-run home run in the bottom of the third. That home run was his second of the year, and first since April 6th. That's right. In the time Victor managed to hit two home runs, Varitek has hit five. I'm making no comments on this situation. All you need to know is that I love Tek. Wolverine pitched in big last night again also, with three RBI's coming on a single and an Angels' fielding error. Hey, we'll take runs any way we can get them. We were 4 for 16 with RISP, which isn't great, but it's not horrible either. This team has really pulled themselves together in the last few days. Lets hope they can keep this up, because winning is fun, and sweeping teams is way more enjoyable than being swept.

Beckett on the mound tonight against Phil Hughes. Hughes has got good numbers on the season, but I didn't look deep into them so I don't know how he's pitched. All I know is that Beckett can beat them if he wants to. Also at 7 on the ice, Bruins go for the sweep of the Flyers in game 4 of the semi-finals. They'll have to do this without Davie Krejci and Marco Sturm, whose names I had to look up because I don't follow hockey. Celtics are, I believe tied 1-1 in their series with Cleveland. Tonight they're home at the Garden looking to get an edge in the series. I have no thoughts about these games, I'm just stating facts.

PS - ONE GAME OVER .500!

Wolverine: Winner!

Jeremy Hermida probably saved the life of David Ortiz. After Papi's final at-bat of the night, which saw him strand a cumulative seven baserunners and ground into two double plays, most Sox fans were undoubtedly as on-edge as I was. It's a hard thing to accept when your love doesn't accomplish anything. No matter how much love all of us have poured into Papi this year, he's not getting results, and you can see all over the big guy's face just how much the lack of results bothers him. Some people claim steroids. He suddenly can't hit for power any more, so he must just be off the juice! Right?! Unless steroids give people abilities that I haven't heard about, I'm pretty sure his lack of steroids doesn't account for the horrible, HORRIBLE pitches he's been swinging at. It's not that he isn't driving the ball, it's that he's swinging at really bad pitches and getting on top of a lot of good pitches. Something's not right with Papi still, but it's sure not related to steroids. I'm sure of it. More likely, it's a confidence thing. Papi doesn't believe in himself, and no matter how much we believe in him, he won't turn it around until HE thinks that he can.

But Papi is now batting a heartbreaking .149. His partner in misery, JD Drew, has managed to get his batting average up over a hundred points in the last week or so, finishing up yesterday's game at .258. With the bases loaded and nobody out in the 8th inning of an incredibly well-pitched game by Jon Lester, Papi stepped to the plate. This at-bat terrified me. Papi hadn't put a good swing on the ball all night, and now here he was in a situation he used to excel in. It broke my heart that he was the last person I wanted to see up there, and of course, my fear was justified. On three pitches, a 2-0 count that he shouldn't even have been swinging at with Jepsen's inability to find the strike zone, Ortiz grounded into a double play. The Angels got the out at home and then still had time to turn and fire to first, retiring a very sad-faced Papi. Three years ago, David would have gotten that ball up in the air. Now, he just hit over it and put us in a horrible position. The worst of all for me was that this was the at-bat when I finally realized that no amount of support was going to make Papi better. He shouldn't be batting that high up in the order. It nearly killed us last night... but I am NOT giving up on Ortiz. I'll never give up on Ortiz. He needs us now the way we've needed him so many times. Bump him down in the order a little bit, but he needs to be in there to work his way out of this!

Of course Mike Lowell is deserving of the at-bats, but... I don't know. There's no easy solution to this. I want them both to play. Wait... I have a solution! Get rid of Beltre, then we can all be happy again!

Luckily, after a walk (?!) to Beltre, Wolverine stepped up and made everything ok again, hitting a three-run double to the warning track in left that Rivera botched pretty well. Jon Lester, sitting in the dugout next to his mentor and twin, jumped up and could clearly be seen shouting "F@#$ yeah!"... guess he had to channel Dustin Pedroia for a moment there. It was a wonderful moment... the moment we realized that Jon's 8-inning, 1-run effort was going to result in a win.

Let's go back to Dustin for a minute, shall we? That double play to end the top of the eighth was just about brilliant because it worked. That was a very heads-up play by Munchkin, and it not only spared Jon Lester the added ER, but it got him out of the jam, and ended the inning, and I would say it sort of hyped everyone up. It was the type of play that you don't see often, but when you see it, it's fantastic. All the variables lined up just right. As Munchkin fell to the ground and flung the ball, admit it... you held your breath. When Youk gloved it at first, there was nothing but happiness. Definitely the defensive play of the game. Nothing else even comes close.

While I was a little pissed off that with all the pitches Santana threw early in the game, we couldn't get to him or knock him out early, I couldn't have asked for much more from Jon last night. Five strikeouts to counter his two walks, eight innings and five hits. Can we keep this Jon Lester? I really like this one!

Anyway. Lackey against his former team tonight. Let's see if John can, you know, follow Jon's example.

Mr. Awesome: Offense-Based Hero

Make no mistake, the real hero of the night was Dahmer. Eight innings and one ER. I can safely and confidently say that he provided the best starting pitching performance of the season thus far from the Sox rotation. And believe me, that's not something I readily admit to. While one performance does not an ace make, perhaps I'm ready to give the kid a little bit of credit. We needed that, and he was fantastic. Absolutely no complaints from a pitching standpoint in this game. Even Rambo had a nice, clean, drama-free inning to close it out. He stepped up. Sure, it was only one inning, but we didn't have any other arms available. He knew it was going to him, and he delivered. We can't overlook stuff like that, you know. There will be days when we need a good performance, and he won't deliver, and we'll be angry with him... so keep stuff like this in mind. In a one run game when no one else was available, he sealed up the win. Fantastic work, Dahmer and Rambo. Talk about an unlikely duo to be thanking on a baseball blog...

I know a majority of the game was tied, but I honestly felt like we were going to win this one. Our pitching was just too sharp. I didn't know who it would be, exactly, playing the role of the hero, but I knew it would be us. The second inning was incredibly amusing to me. I think Papi was 3-1, and Marcum had only thrown 26 pitches in the game. My logic dictates that if our pitchers are throwing less than 15 pitches per inning, that's fine. If the opposing pitcher is throwing less than 15 pitches per inning, that is not fine. I very nicely asked Papi to take at least five more pitches. Well, he took exactly five more pitches and added the extra bonus of getting on base. So, I tried again with Beltre. I asked for just a little tiny base hit. He obliged. I figured I would try again with Wolverine. Before I could figure out what I wanted from him, he was 0-2. I asked for four more pitches and a base hit. That's what I got (and I have witnesses proving that I actually did ask for these things). Sure enough, Papi came 'round to score and the game was tied. Sometimes, a 'please' takes you a long way. Most times it doesn't, but I'm glad it worked in the second inning of last night's game.

Let's see. Who else did a good job? Oh! Forgot to mention about Mikey's heroics. Let me start by saying the fact that Tito felt the need to pull Papi from the game made me sad, but ultimately I believe it was the right decision. Bases loaded, 2 outs in the eighth, Toronto brings in their closer. Maybe I missed a pitch, but I'm pretty sure he walked Mr. Awesome on four straight balls, bringing the winning run home. Isn't this the second game we've won with a bases-loaded walk? There had to have been another one. As usual, I don't care how it gets done, I'm just glad it got done.

This win brings us back up to .500 for the first time in seemingly forever. That's a good thing! It also provided us with a quick, relatively painless win that didn't embarrass and abuse our entire pitching staff. Two pitchers, only 128 pitches. Sure, Dahmer allowed 7 hits, but it's ok because he didn't panic about that. His lack of panic was more reassuring that anything. Gives me a little hope.

Yesterday, the Red Sox brought up Fabio Castro as a bullpen backup plan. All of our arms were tired. BOP was unavailable to pitch, and Atchinson had pitched quite a bit in the past few days, so they swapped Atchinson for Castro. And for a brief moment in time, Dustin Pedroia was not the shortest man on the team! They interviewed Scutaro in the pre-game, and he discussed being the judge of the contest with a laugh. The joy for Munchkin was short-lived, however, as after the game the Sox optioned Castro back to Pawtucket to make room for Alan Embree. Alan wanted to back in the big leagues by Friday, and the Sox obviously wanted to keep him. He seemed to be doing pretty good in Pawtucket, so hopefully his minor-league success will translate to being able to help out this taxed bullpen. Either way, welcome back to the big leagues, Alan.

And in my last bit o'info for the day... congratulations to the Celtics in advancing to the second round of the playoffs. I think they're on schedule to face the Cavs in the next round. If they do, that should be an interesting series. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

Captain Tek: The Reason We Won

It was the awesome power of the Tek thighs that really powered that win last night. I love that man.... so very much. I don't know why people are surprised about Jason's two home runs right out of the gate. Now, if he's having two homerun games in September, then you can color me surprised. For now, I'm thrilled but not all that surprised.

He usually plays pretty well on his birthday. But since he isn't playing on his birthday, he had to settle for the night before. So happy birthday, Jason. You did us all proud, so you deserve a nice, relaxing birthday on the bench. There's a reason you're still the Captain.

While we're at it, happy birthday to Little Tek. I hope where ever he is right now, he's getting to play some baseball (or, you know, doing whatever he wants to do). I love April 11th. The birthday of two of my favorite players? It may as well be a national holiday.

As for the Commander.... solid performance. Yeah, I was absolutely furious in the 7th inning because he couldn't get that last goddamned out, but I was able to keep myself from swearing too loudly when I remembered that he DID get hit in the back of the head with a screaming liner. He may very well have been a little dizzy... perhaps dazed. Before he got hit in he head, I was convinced that he could go all nine. Well, after thirty pitches in the 7th, that wasn't likely. Luckily, Oki and Rambo were on their A-game and they were able to close it out for us.

I have to say... I am absolutely fed up with Rick Ankiel. Can none of our pitchers get this guy out? My God. Annoying.

Also, just so I don't forget... whoever is playing third base, be it Lowell or Beltre needs to beware. I'm just saying. Youk's been HBP by the Yankees, Munchkin and Scutaro were HBP against the Royals... in order. It's going around the infield. Whoever plays third needs to watch out, lest they become the next victim of a stray fastball. Seriously, four games and we've already had three of our players hit by pitches? No one else finds this concerning? I do!

But, onto my main point. Mike Lowell. So so good to see Mike be able to contribute to the team. He had a solid hit, (to my recollection) pretty solid at bats, and definitely the defensive play of the game. Mike Lowell can contribute. Mikey deserves to have a starting job. Hearing that he's thinking about retirement breaks my heart. I didn't think I'd ever say this because I am selfish and I want to keep Mikey for my own personal joy, but maybe I can stand to see him traded to another team so long as he gets to start on that team. Mike right now is in my top five favorite Red Sox players. Actually, he may be top 3. Everyone knows Tek is my favorite. No one will ever beat Tek as my favorite, and Beckett and Lester are my favorite pitchers... but I think Mike might actually hold my number two favorite player over the two of them, and man, that's saying a lot. I hate thinking that Mike's unhappy. I hate thinking that he might want to hang 'em up because he's frustrated. Mikey's never been anything but a professional, and he doesn't deserve this. For what it's worth, I'm sure he knows he has the fans behind him. If only the fan support could get him a starting job. I don't want to wish injury on Adrian Beltre so Mikey can have a job, but... I sort of find myself wishing exactly that. I don't have anything against Beltre, but I love Mike. His sadness hurts me.

Sigh. Anyway, to change topics... Jeremy Hermida absolutely needs a nickname. I like him, but I'm just not feeling a good name for him. Hopefully, he does something quirky and memorable so I can stop calling him Hermida.

Dahmer on the mound today, in just about an hour and a half. Let's see what the kid is going to bring to the table.