Halos Heaven took sour grapes to a whole new level:

Umpires Hand Red Sox Victory

Any fan that can cheer that game is a chump.

On the bright side, the Red Sox are really not that good when you consider they had to have crooked umpiring allow two strikeouts to not happen, had to call a Boston runner safe at 2B on a dropped transfer and overall handed the game to the Red Sox who were almost incapable of accepting the gift game from the Angels, who left 28 runners on base.

How lucky AND cruddy must the Red Sox be that they have to claw their way into a dramatic 9th inning victory in a game where the opposition left 28 runners on base?

Terrible might be a better word, but the umps fixed this one on behalf of the MLB ratings crown and the Red Sox got the wink and the nod late.

Such anger with the added bonus of conspiratory undertones!

Angel closer Brian Fuentes, he of the 4.41 ERA, also had his tin foil hat firmly in place:

“It seems like some times, especially here and some other places, some guys are timid to make a call. It just seems like that’s the way it is. At Fenway. You hear it time and time again from other guys. The same thing happens when they come through. It’s something you have to live with. It’s either human mistake, or they’re scared. It’s one of the two… To have it taken away is discouraging.”

So according to Brian Fuentes two botched double plays had nothing to do with the Angels’ loss. That he walked Ortiz, or gave up a hit to Drew, or gave up a hit to Lowrie* (who had not hit in… forever), or gave up a hit to Gonzalez, didn’t cost the Angels’ the game. It was only the blown call**.

* Lowrie’s shot down the 3rd base line should have ended the game. Only Figgins fantastic dive to slow the ball down kept the Angels in the game. So Fuentes has Figgins to thank for allowing his implosion to be ignored in favor of blaming the entire game on one call.

** The pitch was borderline, but I agree, probably a strike. In the umpires defense Fuentes was all over the plate and constantly high with his pitches. The controversial call, a fastball down at the knees, was a complete aberration from his previous pitches. It’s easy to see where this could lead the umpire to believing the low fastball was lower than it actually was.

Losing without class is nothing new for this Angels team, though at least Tori Hunter refused to wallow in self pity:

“What happened at the end of the game, that call, we lost the game long ago. We made too many mistakes.”

Look, if the Red Sox had been on the other side of the score, I’d be complaining too, But I’d also blame Varitek for the passed ball that allowed the Angels to score 4 runs, and I’d blame Ramirez for completely losing it after Varitek’s passed ball.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing for a blog, or you’re an incompetent closer, blaming an entire game, especially a mistake riddled one, on one call makes you look like an idiot. Pointing to one play as the reason you lost the game is delusional. Fuentes adding that the umpire would have to “live with it (the call)” is especially comical.

For anyone that missed it, and for Fuentes, here’s what happened last night:

The Red Sox sent a 38 year old pitcher to the mound who until a month ago was throwing batting practice to his kids, fielded a lineup without two of their best hitters and injured closer, and were down a run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

And won…

…with the final three batters consisting of their shortstop of the future (who can barely swing without breaking his wrist), back-up shortstop (who had no chance of getting a hit and could hardly stand), and shortstop of the past (who is now their current shortstop), while the shortstop that began the season as the starter went 1-4 for the St. Louis Cardinals.

God I love baseball.

Update: You stay classy Angels.

Nick Green’s two-out throw in the ninth inning could have been the third out to force overtime. Instead, the ball squirted out of the shortstop’s right hand and sailed over the head of first baseman Jeff Bailey. The batter, Ronny Cedeno, wound up at second base.

Note to John Hickey: I’m not sure what it takes to get a job writing for MLB.com but calling extra innings overtime should be a clue that you might be in the wrong line of work.

From the Lohud Yankees Blog during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays:

The Bleacher Creatures are chanting “Boston sucks.” That makes sense. The Yankees are 0-5 against Boston and playing Tampa Bay.

Now bury that item of superiority along with the 1918 chants.

Smartest Fans?

During the Red Sox 7-3 victory over the Yankees the YES Network asked their viewers to choose the ‘player of the game’. They chose Joba Chamberlain after giving up 4 runs over 5.2 innings and taking the loss.

Remember that the next time you see a ‘smartest fans in the league’ article*.

* I don’t expect Yankee fans to choose a Red Sock, but Damon, having hit a 3 run homer to give New York their only runs, would have been the brain dead choice.

Hello, My Name is Hyperbole

From the WasWatching comment section:

At this point, a 75 win disaster of a season wouldn’t even upset me. It’s absolutely impossible to win games when nearly your entire 25-man roster is going on the DL.*

* Please tell me this is a kid, please tell me this is a kid…

Or on crack…

The Weight of a Professional Blogger

Peter Abraham recently critiqued “The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez” by Selena Robert:

…a good editor would have kicked the manuscript back and told her to come back when she had more.

I haven’t read the book, and probably won’t, but I don’t think someone with Robert’s credentials is going to worry about Peter Abraham’s opinion. Abraham judging journalistic integrity is like Tommy Lee giving child care advice.

Nick Swisher Is Kind of Dumb

Swisher was also dismissive of Roberts’ book, which provides details of Rodriguez’s steroid use, alleged pitch-tipping in Texas and numerous other transgressions. He apparently hasn’t noticed that it was 194th on the Amazon list entering the weekend.

“Ain’t nobody gonna read that book,” he said. “Write that down.”

Would have been even better with a “nuff ced!”.

Yes, it was an April series, but games in April count the same as they do in August. And while Yankee fans seem to be hanging their hats on A-Rod and Wang being MIA they seem to ignore that the Red Sox are currently playing with a struggling Beckett, a completely lost at the plate Ortiz, and a third string shortstop.

Reading reactions from around the internet I was struck by 2 recurring themes:

1. Red Sox fans now expect success and good luck against the Yankees. When the Sox are down, Boston fans stay positive. When ahead, Boston fans don’t fear a collapse.

2. Yankee fans now expect failure and bad luck against the Red Sox. The line “Why always against this team” is very common on Yankee websites.

Of course, that’s a large generalization, but the mood among fans has definitely shifted. We’re now going on half a decade of the Red Sox not only being competitive with the Yankees, but in many ways being the superior organization. Legions of new Yankee and Red Sox fans will only be aware of the ‘curse’ through reading history books and stories that begin with “I remember when…”.

Please Oh Please Oh Please

I’ve thought Mariano Rivera was slipping before, so I’m not saying he’s starting to show cracks, but the man can’t go on forever, so just maybe…

Rivera’s given up leads against the Red Sox before, but we’re usually talking a bloop hit here, a grounder through the hole there. Bay taking Rivera out of the yard to the deepest part of the ballpark is something completely different.

As Rivera said after the game, it was one bad pitch. But a mistake thrown at 90 is easier to hit than one at 94.

I want to believe.

Chicks Did Guys that Steal Home

After Ellsbury’s thrilling steal of home he came out for a curtain call. Listening to WFAN after the game a older woman* caller was disgusted and said the next time the two teams met Ellsbury deserved a to be hit with a pitch in retaliation.

After watching Yankees hitters come out to tip their caps after meaningless home runs more times than I can remember (and complained about) I have to believe the woman was either senile or Andy Pettitte’s mom.

*Older, a smoker, or both. Pick one.

*If you ever wondered why the comment section of Lohud is devoid of anything resembling intelligent conversation look no further than the Abraham himself.

**And we wonder why newspapers are dropping like flies.

Later in the thread a comment called out Abraham for the remark:

Ironic, Pete, don’t you think? That someone with your body (i.e., bloated, lumpy, corpulent and, generally speaking, disgusting) feels entitled to mock someone else’s strikes me as ridiculous.

Shortly later the comment vanished.

Add hypocrite to that list of words.

Featuring Joe Buck as Dumb

While discussing Johnny Damon Joe Buck claimed that while he looked to be declining when he left Boston for New York his statistics over his 4 years with the Yankees were equal to or even better than his 4 years with the Red Sox. Which is true.

What Buck didn’t mention is that Damon was signed by New York as a center fielder. However, do to age and declining defensive skills* only in is first year did Damon regularly play center field for the Yankees. That’s an important fact that Buck either ignored or was too ignorant to understand its importance.

* Which includes, shockingly, his arm. Damon had a terrible arm in Boston, but I have no doubt it’s now worse. Damon doesn’t so much thrown the ball as shot puts into the general infield area, something I never tire of watching.

The same offensive statistics that would make Damon a plus center fielder make him an average left fielder at best. And since Damon couldn’t play center field any longer, he had no place in Boston. Manny Ramirez, and now Jason Bay, would have kept Damon on the bench.

While it can be debated, I’m willing to bet that if Yankees GM Brian Cashman had known Damon had only a year left in center field he wouldn’t have pursued him as a free agent, and Damon would have returned to the Red Sox and likely become a problem; a huge personality with nowhere to play.

And Tim McCarver as Dumber

After the Red Sox scored 5 in the 4th inning to bring them within a run of the Yankees McCarver claimed (as he often does) that Francona was “rewarding” Becket with a chance for the win (getting through 5 innings with the lead).

By itself this is a moronic comment. Francona doesn’t send Beckett back out in the 5th unless he thinks Beckett can do the job, and dipping into the bullpen in the 5th was something Francona would want to avoid at all costs. Even worse, McCarver’s comment came after Francona claimed in a dugout interview that Beckett had good stuff, but that he came out a little too strong.

Beckett got through the 5th easily, and came out to pitch the top of the 6th now holding a 2 run lead. McCarver couldn’t grasp why Beckett was still pitching when he had his 5 innings complete; when he already had his reward.

The answer? There was no reward! That Beckett came out for the 6th shows that the “reward” theory only existed in McCarvers mind. Francona had allowed Beckett to pitch the 5th because he thought he would pitch well, and he was right. Because of that, it became a no-brainer to bring him out for the 6th.

But Beckett couldn’t get through the 6th, and when Francona brought in a reliever McCarver, still unable to grasp basic logic, too dumb to realize his initial opinion was complete rubbish, moaned:

So much for the reward…

So much for my sanity.

Lester has turned into a horse. I’ve always had confidence in his talent and saw no reason he couldn’t be a number 2 or 3 on Boston’s pitching staff, but he’s looking more and more like a number 1. Hitting 95 in the 7th… impressive.

The grand slam exploded like a gunshot Wednesday night, tearing out the guts of even the most naïve believers in the 2008 Yankees.

The eighth-inning bullet by Dustin Pedroia was like the opening scene of a documentary, many years from now, capturing the thud of finality to something once so special. The question for the Yankees is what starts next: a glorious renaissance or a painful fall from grace?

In the owner’s box, Hank Steinbrenner was making his first appearance at Yankee Stadium since opening day. The team was healthy then, the young starters seemed ready, and there were few doubts that Yankee Stadium would see one more postseason, the 14th in a row for the franchise.

But as Pedroia rounded the bases, Steinbrenner hung his head. By the bottom of the inning, he was gone from his seat. There was no need to witness the final details of the Yankees’ 11-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, the one that probably doomed their postseason chances.

More from Dan Graziano

But what makes this even worse is watching the Red Sox, and realizing how much better they are right now.

At everything.

The Red Sox took the AL East away from the Yankees last year. Right now, they’re leading a wild-card race in which the Yankees are drowning. But it’s not just in wins and losses where they outclass the Yankees these days.

Currently, the Red Sox appear better at:

Scoring runs.

Making deals at the trade deadline.

Pitching.

Making deals after the trade deadline.

Defense.

Developing young players and building the farm system.

To find something at which the Yankees are currently better, you have to move pretty far down the list, to items like “realizing their stadium needs to be replaced” and “growing reasonable-looking facial hair.” In terms of the baseball stuff, these two teams are no longer close.

“Watching them, you see it,” Johnny Damon said. “No one’s over there trying to be the man. They know how important it is to get on base, extend the inning, and when they do that they’re getting big hits. They’ve got some talented players over there — guys who not only have good batting averages but have been able to drive in runs, score runs, drive an opposing pitching staff crazy … there’s no easy spot in that lineup.”

If Damon sounds jealous, it’s probably because he is. He should be. And so should everybody connected with the Yankees.

I forgot to mention in my previous post how much I enjoyed seeing Jack Nicholson in the Bronx wearing his Yankee cap. I’m guessing, like Hank, he left early.

I was wrong.

I would have been okay with taking 1 game, thrilled with 2. So I’m pretty excited with Lester on the mound (hopefully rebounding from his last outing) and a chance to sweep the series Thursday afternoon; all but burying the Yankees for 2008. No, I’m not counting the bombers out, but there’s certainly blood in the water.

Random Thoughts

• From the ESPN write-up:
  

  In a game they needed badly, the injury-depleted Yankees gave the ball to Sidney Ponson.

  The injury-depleted Yankees? Are you kidding me? Did they see Lowell, Drew, or Casey on the field tonight? Ironically Hank recently complained that the media had ignored Yankee injuries. Yet the only team’s injuries I hear about are the Yankees. Unbelievable.

• Byrd has now won 2 games as a Red Sock. Those are 2 wins that would have been almost certain losses with Clay Buchholz on the hill. Great move by Theo.
• Manny Delcarmen rebounded tonight nicely. Dreadful one day, brilliant the next. So frustrating.
• Jason Bay has 6 RBI in the first 2 games of the series. Remember when people pointed out that Manny and Bay had similar numbers? But Bay doesn’t scare teams like Manny does they would say. Looks like being scary is over-rated.
• My love for Dustin Pedroia grows daily. That he gets under the skin of Yankee fans is icing on the cake.
]]> http://teamryan.com/gary/2008/08/28/pedroia-power/feed/ 0 http://teamryan.com/gary/2008/08/27/red-sox-get-kotsay/ http://teamryan.com/gary/2008/08/27/red-sox-get-kotsay/#comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:00:37 +0000 Gary http://teamryan.com/?p=216 The Red Sox signed Mark Kotsay today as insurance if J.D. Drew’s back continues to act up. A Kotsay moment:

My family went to a Red Sox, A’s game in 2006 at Fenway. It was unbelievably hot and the ushers were passing out free sunscreen. We were sitting in the center field bleachers. There was no escape from the sun except for brief moments we’d duck into the concession area.

Kyle Snyder started the game for the Red Sox, and being Kyle Snyder, we would go on to lose. Kotsay was playing center field for the A’s and, this being Fenway, we were close enough to hear him sneeze.

Right before the start of the game a very tan, very skinny 20 something guy and a chubbier friend sat in the front row. The skinny guy took off his shirt and immediately started yelling at Kotsay (the chubby friend rarely spoke). Every few minutes:

Kotsay, you suck!

Every inning:

Kotsay, you suck!

It never stopped. It never changed. He never got dirtier, he never sounded particularly angry. He simply hated Kotsay and wanted him to know how much he sucked. Only one time did he yell anything different at Kotsay.

Kotsay, how was the all-star game?

*5 seconds of silence*

Yeah, that’s what I thought!

With the heat zapping the energy of the fans and the game not going Boston’s way there’s no doubt Kotsay heard that he “sucked” the entire game. For most of the game, that’s all anyone could hear. He never acknowledged the taunts, however, except once. Sometime late in the game, perhaps the 8th inning, he slowly turned around to face us and gave us a slow, deliberate, thumbs up sign.

No bird, thumbs up.

I became a Kotsay fan at that moment. It’s not that I’ve followed his career, but his name brings a smile to my face. Two years later and if I tell my mother that Kotsay hit a home run to win a game she’ll say:

Kotsay, you suck!

After the game the skinny guy put his shirt back on and quietly left; mission accomplished.

FYI, Kotsay apparently has a very attactive wife. She even has her own page on the Sons of Sam Horn wiki.

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