Trot Nixon: He Brings The Win

Just like a complete and total fangirl, during the Nomar celebration (why are we honoring him again? I mean, didn't we already do a bunch for him? I digress...) when they announced Trot Nixon, I literally squealed with joy. Complete and total joy. Little Tek, whether or not he actually looks like Tek at the moment, is just... I just love him. Completely. His last game at Fenway is recorded and saved on my DVR. When I'm putting together my yearly calendar, Little Tek still gets his own page. I still celebrate his birthday (not that that's hard, it's the same day as Tek's! Do we understand the nickname now? He's two years younger!) I squealed, I shook my hands excitedly while pointing to the TV, and I smiled endlessly while he was in my line of vision. I wondered out loud if we could just keep him and put him in right field. We don't have to tell anyone it's not JD Drew. Trot could be our little secret.

Honestly, no offense intended to JD who has been outperforming my expectations in the last couple of weeks. I just miss Trot. Yesterday reinforced how much I miss him, but it was just fantastic to see the dirt dog's smiling face. The ceremony was nice though. All I kept thinking was 'what is Nomar going to do with those two old, rickety chairs?' It was a nice gesture, though. Nomar seemed genuinely touched.

Lackey took my advice and learned something from Jon Lester. That was a damn good performance, and you won't hear me complaining. Seven innings, one run, and only 2 hits. He joins Jon on the 'under 4.00 ERA club'... they're both staring at you, Beckett. Time to pull your shit together, too. Really, this is how our pitching staff SHOULD be pitching, so it's great to see them starting to live up to their potential. You'll get zero complaints out of me! Also... Bard? Nasty. Loved it! He was consistently getting that fastball up to 99 mph and locating well. What's not to like about that? Paps? Not as nasty, but awesome anyway. In the two innings that B-P worked, they totaled zero hits, 2 strikeouts, and no walks. Beautiful way to end the game.

Munchkin has another awesome defensive play last night. This doesn't surprise me, but I am happy about it anyway. We came thisclose to hitting into a triple play. Some would argue that Wolverine DID hit into a triple play, but the play was too close to be sure one way or the other. I'm glad that it wasn't called a TP; that would have hurt. A little bit of luck went into that. I thank Little Tek.

And a huge, ENORMOUS amount of happiness came from Papi last night. What was Dustin Pedroia saying about a laser show? Has it started already? I was just happy to see Papi do well. He needed that, that's for sure. Apparently, Papi was the only one who got the memo that Joel Piniero is NOT A GOOD PITCHER! Goodness, how come every time he comes back to Fenway, we treat him like he's the second coming of Cy Young? This frustrates me to no end. But it doesn't matter. We pulled out a W. It was a good night.

Off topic, slightly... Milton Bradley has finally reached out for help for his emotional issues. I'm not going to crack any jokes or make fun of him, because he needs the help. I'm glad he's finally ready to get it. I wish him well. Maybe he'll actually be able to turn himself around a little. He's got the talent to be a star, but his anger has always held him down. Good luck, Milton!

Further off topic... I still love Tuukka Rask. It's a made up name! It has to be! But Tuukka and the Bruins managed to pull ahead of the Flyers 3-0 yesterday. Good job by the B's. I think the C's are playing tonight, so maybe they can go ahead and win? That would be nice. While we're waiting to see what the Celtics do, Daisuke will be taking the mound against Scott Kazmir. I'll be watching with my hand over my eyes. Not to say I have no faith in Dice-K... but I sort of don't. Here's hoping that he proves me wrong.

Kevin Millar: Semi-Retired

Well, looks like the cowboy caught on with another team. That was fast, and quite unexpected, considering his new job at MLBN.

Kevin Millar has signed with the St. Paul Saints, according to a press release from the team. Millar began his career with the Saints in '93 before the Marlins purchased his contract. He'll presumably still work for the MLB Network as an analyst this year.

Ah, my Ducky! I wish him nothing but the best, no matter what he ends up doing. But, man, do I miss seeing that goofy smiling face in the lineup.

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.

Dave Roberts: Deserves All The Best Wishes In The World

I know I'm a little late on the breaking news here, but Dave Roberts has been diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. Dave Roberts did so much for the city of Boston with his one steal... The Steal... that he's something of a local hero. I feel a little bit horrible pairing his well-wishes with a description of one tiny event in his life, but it truly, honestly meant the world to us. Sox fans more than likely would not have seen that 2004 championship without that one moment, so we cherish Dave around here.

Sure, he wasn't super fantastic as a commentator, but not everyone is cut out for that line of work. By all accounts, Dave Roberts is a great guy, and it makes me sad that cancer strikes good people. Just another reason to donate to the Jimmy Fund when the time comes around.

I was trying to put together a play on words, saying something like he can steal a clean bill of health the way he stole second, but I think I'll just quote Tito on this instead...

"I expect Dave can probably outrun anything," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said before Monday night's game against the Los Angeles Angels. "I know we've got a lot of people pulling for him here. He probably knows that - everywhere he's been."

Prayers and all the positive energy in the world to Dave Roberts right now. Let's hope he recovers from this quickly and can get back to normal. We're all cheering for you, Dave.

Angels: Welcome To Fenway

First of all, I will admit right up front that I did not see the first five innings of the game. I was out having fun and getting score updates on my cell phone. The last update I got via cell phone (and mind you, I don't have none of them fancy interwebs on the cell... this was all text message updates), told me the score was 7-4 Sox heading into the fifth. I imagined that Dahmer was working relatively effectively. I couldn't get a pitch count, or a walk total, but I was at least happy enough with the results. I thought 'hey, this would be a nice little win if we can hang in there,' and I shut my phone and got in my car to turn on the radio.

The fifth was quiet. The radio guys didn't give me much information pertaining to what had already happened. I knew I was going to look it up anyway. Well, I missed an Asshat homer, Bill Hall's first home run as a member of the Sox, and a Mikey Doubles two- RBI special. In the third, the league's favorite target got hit by a pitch. What's that give Youk this year in HBP's? After the magic of internet research, I can see he's been hit 3 times on the year, but I'm not sure if baseball-reference.com has updated itself yet this morning, so it may be four. Back to the scoring... In the 4th, JD hits a bases-loaded single to score Scutaro and VMart. There you have it, 7-4. What a game, right?

Well, sort of. They exploded in the 6th for 7 runs. I know, I can't believe it either. The team who couldn't score three little runs against the last place O's unloaded on the Angels. The ones from Anaheim. Or Los Angeles. Or Orange County. Listen, I don't need to know where they're from. THEY don't even know where they're from. Just to give a quick breakdown... ground out, double, single, double, home run, line-out, walk, single, home run, single, ground out. Seven runs. Home runs for Beltre (holy hell, he can do that?!) and Munchkin. Early night for the relief pitcher, Palmer. Six runs were charged to him. But don't feel too bad, we saved four ER for Stokes, adding three more runs in the 7th inning. Three consecutive doubles and a single all before the first out in the 7th. Man... wow. That's all I can say.

Overall, our offense finished with an intentional walk, a hit-by-pitch, seven doubles, four home runs, twenty hits over all, and six walks. The offensive onslaught did absolute wonders for a lot of individual stats. Hell, JD and Mikey both had four hits on the night. You know they were feeling good. And this game was exactly what a lot of people needed, including the team. Everyone felt like garbage after this weekend. Fans just needed to know there was some fight in this team. We finally caught a glimpse of it. It makes believing in them that much easier.

As for our pitching, decent work from Dahmer. Three walks and four hits in 5.2 innings gives him the win. Would have liked to see him work a little deeper into the game, but he was over a hundred pitches (and pitchers are babied, of course), and he had a three run lead, the best decision was probably to avoid letting him blow it. Delcarmen finished the inning and pitched a clean 7th, which is just awesome. I don't know what he's changed, but he's been reliable and I appreciate that, especially since I rip on him often. Rambo, getting himself back on track also, pitched a perfect 8th. Schoe was a little frustrating. I'm still not sure that the double wasn't a foul ball, but it really doesn't matter. He's kind of a mop-up guy. I want to see better from him, but in the 9th inning of a game we're winning by 13 runs, I sort of don't care if we give four away. We still win by a large margin.

Good all around last night. A much-needed, pile-on type win by the Sox, a beating of the Cavs by the Celtics, and another exciting Bruins win over the Flyers. Boston sports fans can feel really good about the way our teams played last night. Now we just need to keep it up!

Jason Varitek: The Bright Spot That Keeps Me Coming Back

Sure enough, less than 24 hours later, and I'm completely going back on my last post. I knew I would. I like to react angrily when we are the worst team in baseball. What? We're not? Yeah, like I believe that. I've watched them play. It's ugly.

The worst part of it all is that people are depending on the return of Mike Cameron or Jacoby Ellsbury to bring the season back to good. If they're our best hopes, then we're pretty SOL, aren't we? I'm not insinuating that getting them back isn't going to help. Our outfield defense will improve tremendously. I don't know if people have noticed but Ronald McDonald and Bill Hall? Not really good fielders. With Ronald, I don't know if it's just nerves, but a lot seems to get past him, and when he tries to pick up the ball, he fumbles. Wolverine wasn't so bad, but he's on the walking wounded list. And of course, I don't care what people say about Vantastic... I think he's excellent. If I'm being completely honest, I don't think any of these six men are a good, feasible solution to our outfield issues. It's scary when I think Drew is actually our best fielder out there, because it's a widely-known fact that I don't like him much. I like him better than I have in the past, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm trying. I really am.

The best part, though? Jason Varitek. Without a doubt, seeing him with a bat in his hands is a welcome sight. It used to be the sort of thing that made me cringe and obsessively repeat 'I'll still love you no matter what' while covering one eye as to protect myself from the horror of Jason swinging at the damn high fastballs. Now... this season... I've seen him get base hits on the high fastballs. Whatever he changed, whatever he's doing differently, I approve. Maybe it is just the extra time off, or a mental break from knowing that he's the only one who knows the pitching staff. Maybe he's adjusted to his family issues, and maybe the high socks used to cut off circulation to his feet, making him uncomfortable and causing him to swing at everything. I don't know. I don't know what's different, exactly, (except for the lack of high socks, which I sort of lament), but I do know that I trust the Captain at bat with the bases loaded now. Not just that false, I-want-to-believe-in-you trust. No, the actual, I-know-you-can-do-it sort of trust. Does that mean I want Tek as our starting catcher right now? No. I think the extra rest is a big reason for the improvement. Sadly, doesn't mean I want VMart as our starting catcher either. But since there are currently no other options, I'll just have to keep hoping that Victor decides that double plays aren't cool after all.

Varitek is what's going to keep me watching. And Papi. He's shown slow signs of snapping out of this funk. I'll still be cheering him whether he comes out of it completely or goes right back into it. Papi has brought us good things. I won't turn on him, and kudos to all the other fans who refuse to turn on him.

I do think Theo's 'run prevention' plan was bullshit from the start. In theory, it was a good idea. But he seemed to forget that we're in the AL East. That means we're facing some of the best hitters in baseball frequently. No matter how good your defense is (and ours has NOT been good at all), the best hitters are still going to hit and drive in runs. Run prevention is all well and good, but you have to have a run procurement plan in action simultaneously otherwise you get results much like we've been getting. Losing many one-run games.

The bullpen is tired. The hitters are struggling because they're all trying too hard with each at-bat. The fielding is downright atrocious. Adrian Beltre is on our team. We've got a lot working against us right now. And yes, Beltre is my new Lugo... maybe he's more like the new Renteria. He can't field (and I will not believe you if you say he can. I've seen him!), but he can hit. Belteria? Hmmm.... we'll see if I can work with that.

This is going to sound weird, but... I sort of feel good about today. I'd like to think we hit rock bottom yesterday, so that means we'll start the climb back up. I obviously don't know if that's really going to happen, or if we're actually at rock bottom. All I know is I feel good about Dahmer on the mound tonight. He's going to bring good things, and we're going to get timely hitting and awesome defense. The climb back up starts tonight. You've got to believe it. Believing is all we can do right now.

This Team: Disgusting

Listen, I love the Sox just as much as anyone else, but I'm going to be 100% honest when I say that I am too drained to watch them suck like this, so until further notice, I'm not watching.

I'll be following, of course. I'll be tracking them during game time using GameDay or something, but I absolutely cannot watch them suck any more. I can't. If they don't want to try, I don't want to watch them. They don't deserve the support. I don't deserve to have to see them get swept by the Orioles. I actually feel like they slapped me across the face this weekend.

And with the C's and B's in the playoffs right now, I have two other teams that could easily win my attention. Baseball will always be my first love, but as I said before... they're not good enough to win and they're not bad enough to be amusing. I've got my last few months of grad school looming ahead of me and I can do without getting pissed off at this ridiculous baseball team.

Beckett was good today. We should have finished this game with a happy note, being able to say 'hey, look! Josh turned it around in time for May.' But instead, it's all about really f'ing poorly timed double plays and the lack of any semblance of hitting. Again. As usual. My eyes burn, and I just don't want to see it any more.

Maybe I'm just being reactionary today. Maybe I'll feel a little less pissed off tomorrow. I doubt it, but who knows? By tomorrow, I might really need my baseball fix again, so it's entirely reasonable to think that this entire post is going to mean nothing in 24 hrs. And actually... no, I don't even wish them well. It wouldn't make a difference any way. Ugh.