BOSTON SPORTS HIT A LOW POINT

It was just a few months ago when Boston was on top of the sports world. The Sox were champions, the Pats were unbeatable, and BC was in contention to win several championships in several sports.

Since then, BC choked three times, the Sox are a mediocre team with NO pitching whatsoever, and the Celtics are down 2-1 and will have to play Indy without Twan tonight.

Let's deal with the Sox first. They get shut down by Chan Ho Park. Wakefield got lit up by Texas' offense too but at least he was able to pitch more than 6 innings. The Red Sox had 3 hits. 3 hits!

The Man of the Game is Chan Ho Park who went 7 innings allowing 3 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and striking out 7.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Wakefield: 0.4 - 6.2 IP, 5 ER
Nixon: 0.2 - 0 for 3, 2 LOB
Mueller: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, 2 LOB
Vazquez: 0.1 - 2 K, LOB
Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, LOB

The Celtics are in alot of trouble. They need to win one of the two upcoming games in Indiana in order to force the series back to Boston. They have to do this without Walker in tonight's game.

SOX GET HANDED SUSPENSIONS
Francona got 3 games because he...um...well I don't know why. Arroyo got a 6 game suspension for protecting his hitter who got his head thrown at. Nixon got 2 games for "aggressive action." Ortiz got fined for being upset that he got thrown at.

How come Sheffield gets no punishment for agressive action against a fan yet Nixon gets suspended for agressive action against a player?

The suspension of Arroyo hurts the most. He's been our best pitcher and he will pretty much be missing a start.

PRAYERS FOR RAIN ANSWERED

Remember pitching? And by pitching I mean Pedro.

Clement with another shitty start. Foulke with another shitty releif appearance. I've tried to tone down my foul language on the blog but this loss deserves profanity.

The Red Sox only dependable pitchers right now are Wake and Arroyo. Theo needs to do alot of work if he wants this team to make the playoffs and then win some games in the playoffs. This staff was just thrown together. It is reminiscent of the staffs in the late 1990s. Saberhagen, Avery, Mark Portugal, Pat Rapp, Brian Rose, Ramon Martinez, Rolando Arrojo, Jeff Fassero, Pete Schourek, Tomo Ohka, Frank Castillo, Nomo, Cone, John Burkett, and Casey Fossum. Guys like this are now inhabiting the rotation once again. The Red Sox have never won a World Series without a rotation that was good. From 1903 to 2005.

The Man of the Game is obviously Miguel Tejada who is, in my opinion, the best shortstop in all of baseball right now. He went 4 for 6 with 2 R and 2 RBI. He had a double and a homer.

The Bitch-Goat will be divided thusly:
Clement: 0.6 - 4.2 IP, 7 ER
Foulke: 0.4 - IP, 4 ER

NEW LINKS:
TalkSox.com
A site to post opinions and discuss the Red Sox

InsideTheParks.com
A site devoted to ballparks and stadiums

Call of the Green Monster
Satirical stories about the Boston Red Sox

MORE NEWS IS BAD NEWS
Schilling is out for at least 2 weeks with an injured ankle. Wells is out. Miller is out for a while still. The Red Sox are going to be starting Jeremi Gonzalez from AAA Pawtucket soon to fill the void in the rotation. Hey, at least we replaced that injury prone Pedro Martinez with some healthy horses.

BEANBALL WAR OF WORDS
Boston Dirt Dogs article
Schilling is not going to keep his mouth shut and I'm glad. Fuck Pinella and the scum he manages. Fuck that moron Kruk. Fuck that moron Magrane.

MISCELLANEOUS STUFF
The sign in this picture makes me give O's fans alot more respect.

A-Rod vs. V-Tek article. pretty funny

How many days until Pats camp starts up again?

CELTICS AND SOX DISSAPOINT

I am sick and tired of hearing about Reggie Miller. The guy is a three point shooter who hits the floor whenever a slight breeze hits him. He should go into the Hall of Fame as an Indiana Diver, not a Pacer. He has never won anything in his career and although he has made a big shot here and there, he hasn't won like Bird or Jordan or Shaq or Kobe. All of a sudden, though, he has a reputation for being a clutch player. HE MADE ONE FIELD GOAL IN THE 4TH QUARTER!

The Celtics dropped the ball on this one. They could have gone into Indy with a 2-0 lead and a team with little confidence to play. Instead, Indy has essentially shortened the series to 5 games with them having home court advantage. I'm pretty worried because the Celtics just weren't that good away from Boston this season.

The Red Sox didn't do much better down the street at Fenway. David Wells went back to sucking and shockingly he got injured. The offense never did much to win the game after the early innings which is becoming a frightening trend as of late.

The Man of the Game is Johnny Damon who did his job going 3 for 3 and walking twice. Unfortunately, the Red Sox were only able to knock him in once.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
David Wells: 0.9 - 3.2 IP, 6 ER
Manny Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 5, 4 LOB

SOX FINALLY SHOW UP AND BEAT TAMPA

Good to see offense and pitching show up and beat Tampa. I was forced to listen to the D-Rays announcers while driving back to school on XM Radio and they were laughably homerish. "For world champions, these Red Sox are acting like a bunch of bush leaguers." This coming from announcers for the Tampa Bay Double As. The situation would have ended if Carter had not thrown near Ortiz after throwing behind Manny. I thought Arroyo was foolish for continuing it knowing that he would get ejected and knowing that he was only 85 pitches deep and had at least another inning in him.

The Man of the Game is Johnny Damon who jump started alot of offense going 4 for 5 with a double, a walk, 2 runs, and 2 RBI.

The Sox go back home to Fenway for three games and then fly down to Dallas to play the Rangers. Why the schedule makers decided to do this, I have no idea.

MORE PATRIOTS DRAFT
Round 3, Pick 100
G/T Nick Kaczur, Toldeo
Like Mankins, this guy can play two offensive line positions and will be a candidate to take Andruzzi's spot.

Round 4, Pick 133
S James Saunders, Fresno State
Big surprise, the Pats draft a player who can "cover and hit." He's said to be a really smart player. Should fit in nicely

Round 5, Pick 170
OLB Ryan Claridge, Nevada-Las Vegas
Looking for LB help obviously with Phifer gone, Bruschi an unkown and Johnson another year older.

Round 7, Pick 230
QB Matt Cassell, Southern California
You got me on this one. We're good at QB and this guy was a backup in college. Granted, he backed up the Heisman winner. Still, weird.

Round 7, Pick 255, Mr. Irrelevant
TE Andy Stokes, William Penn
Who cares?

INDY CAN'T KEEP PACE WITH CELTICS

The Celtics began the game slowly going 1 for their first 11 shots from the field. In the 1nd quarter though, the 2nd line came out very strong. The Celtics went on a 21-3 run that pretty much gave them a game unless they allowed themselves to lose, which they didn't. They take a 1-0 lead in the series but won't play again until Thursday so the fact that Pierce and Walker got alot of rest will be pretty much irrelevant. 1 win down, 15 more to go.

SCHTRUGGLING

The Boston Red Sox have had an Ace pitcher since the 1998 season. At the moment, they have no Ace. I'm not saying Schilling will never be the same, but right now, he is definately not the Ace he was last year. More on that later.

Schilling couldn't hang on to the lead and the Sox couldn't amass a big inning or add to their lead. Like the tortoise and the hare, the Red Sox ran out to a nice early lead but then allowed the tortoise to catch up and eventually win the race.

The Man of the Game is David Ortiz who busted out of a slump with two bombs. Unfortunately, nobody was on base for either of them.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Schilling: 0.8 - 7 IP, 6 ER
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 4, K, LOB
Bellhorn: 0.1 - 1 for 3, big K with 2 outs and 2 on in the 8th

The problem for Schilling seems to be endurance. As he gets deeper into the game, he seems to be losing his stuff. In his first three starts, opponents batting average has improved in each inning. Here are the numbers:

1st: .100
2nd: .250
3rd: .333
4th: .429
5th: .500
6th: .545

That is a consistent increase in the opponents ability to hit him as he gets deeper into the pitch count and into the game. Furthermore, opponents improve after each AB. Most of the damage done in Schilling's appearances has been in the 3rd at-bat of the opponents. In their first AB, opponents are 7/26 which is a .269 batting average. They're slugging .308. In the 2nd at-bat, opponents are 9/26 with a .346 average and a .692 slugging percentage. In the 3rd at-bat, opponents are 11/23 with a .478 average and a slugging percentage of .826. That is ridiculous.

The bright side seems to be that the problem may resolve istelf as Schilling continues to pitch. I found it weird how he only had to start in one rehab game and was never really treated with the care that Pedro was given when he was rehabbing injuries. I know Curt's wasn't an arm injury, but it affects his ability to pitch just as much as an arm injury. Hopefully by mid-May we'll have an Ace again because in '97, we finished 4th.

POORLY STRUCTURED BENCH
The Red Sox bench lacks something which it had last year, I think. It lacks versatility.

Mirabelli is the bench's best hitter but he cannot be used as a pinch hitter many times because of the fear that Tek might get hurt and no-one would be left to catch. He can only play catcher and he is the slowest player on the team.

Vazquez can play all infield positions, but he cannot hit. He isn't that fast.

McCarty can play 1st and the outfield, but he isn't much of a hitter or a runner.

Payton can play the outfield but he is a poor hitter against right-handed pitching and despite his speed, is a poor baserunner.

So there is one player who can catch, one who can play the tough infield spots, and two who can play the outfield. There really isn't any great pinch hitting threat and there is no good pinch runner. I think Theo needs to seriously look at this bench and try to get guys with pop and speed and defensive versatility for the playoffs. We all know how great the bench contributed in the playoffs last season.

PATRIOTS DRAFTING
Round 1, Pick 32
G/T Logan Mankins, Fresno State

The Pats lost Joe Andruzzi and this guy appears to be his replacement. Then again, you never know with this coaching staff. He may end up replacing Ty Law. That was sarcasm, BTW. The word on Mankins is that he is storng physically and technically and that he is a hardcore player who gives it his all. The Pats have had success with their offensive line draft picks (Koppen, 2003; Light, 2001) so this pick looks to be a good one. Belichick may also know something few others do because Fresno's head coach was a member of Bill's staff at Cleveland.

Round 3, Pick 84
CB Ellis Hobbs III, Iowa State


"YANKEES SUCK" SHIRTS NOW TRUE
The Yankees are currently sucking. They're 7-11 in the bottom of the division. They lost Jaret Wright to injury for an unkown amount of time, mid-releiver Tanyon Sturtze is on the DL, Kevin Brown sucks, Johnson is getting hit consistently, and Mussina continues to be mediocre. Plus, they've made so many deadline deals with their top prospects that they don't have a whole lot of arms down in Columbus to come up and help them out.

They probably won't stay where they are in the standings, but its kind of funny to watch them struggle. Kind of like laughing at Bill Gates for bein fined by the government even though everyone knows he'll be fine.

JUST ONE OF THOSE DRAYS

Bad baseball overshadowing good baseball. Never any excuse to lose to Tampa Bay. Untimely errors and an inability by Wakefield to pitch around those errors. I still thought we were going to win though. The big double play turned by Vazquez, Bellhorn and Millar with the bases loaded in the 8th and then the way the Red Sox built on each other's efforts to score their 3rd and 4th runs of the game made me think that we had the game. All we had to do was have a scoreless ninth and then Manny, DO and Millar would be up in the 10th. It was not to be though as Allan Embree threw one pitch that was rapidly sent into the left field stands to end the game.

The Man of the Game is Scott Kazmir who went 7 innings holding the Red Sox to one run off 4 hits and 3 walks. He was able to work out of some jams and give his team a great chance to win the game. Even though Julio Lugo's offense was a big reason for Tampa's win, without Kazmir's pitching, it may have been irrelevant.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Alan Embree: 0.6 - IP, H, R, ER, 0 BB, 0 K, HR
Tim Wakefield: 0.3 - 6 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, didn't pitch around errors too well
Jay Payton: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 4 LOB

It was nice to see Bellhorn batting before a hitter like Ramon Vazquez but I think it would have been better if Bellhorn was batting ahead of Payton as well. Once again, I think it may have been a mistake to drop Youkilis down to AAA just to save Blaine Neal.

The Sox bullpen has been unreliable thus far. Hopefully the pitchers are just waiting to get into mid-season form. I don't feel safe with any of them coming into a game though. I think this potential bullpen problem is due to the way the Sox pen has been assembled. Career releivers surrounded by burned out starters and 30 year old minor leaguers. Truly amazing bullpens, like the one Anaheim had a few years ago, are bolstered by YOUNG minor leaguers with strong arms. We don't have anyone like that.

RENTERIA VS. CABRERA
You may have noticed the Renteria vs. Cabrera portion of the blog on the right sidebar thingy. It has been there since Spring Training. Renteria has struggled at the plate. He's batting .203, with an OBP of .225. He is slugging a mere .362. His OPS is an unimpressive .588. Cabrera hasn't been tearing the cover off the ball but he is putting up decent numbers. He's also hit a pair of game winning homeruns.

Now, I don't think Cabrera is better. I think Renteria is a slightly better defensive player but offensively, I think they are a wash. Cabrera fit into the Sox lineup perfectly when he came here and once we picked him up, we went on a tear. I just don't see why the Sox management decided to drop Cabrera and pickup Renteria. Why risk making a major change to the lineup and clubhouse chemistry when the only reward is maybe a few more plays made at SS?

SMALL MARKET VS. BIG MARKET PART II
Every time a fan of a big market team and a fan of a small market team enter into an intelligent conversation, it seems to devolve into the small market fan whining and moaning about not having enough money to "buy the World Series." Up in Toronto, some moronic Blue Jays fan sitting in front of me who celebrated his team's early April victory to the point of near heart attack, remarked to me in the 7th inning that teams like the Red Sox and Yankees were ruining baseball with their seemingly wreckless spending. However, I think that teams like Boston, New York, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta stimulate much of the baseball economy. A perfect example of this was the scene at Tropicana Field last night. 30,530 fans went to the game. That's about 4,000 more people than Tampa's Opening Day. That's more than twice as many fans as any other day besides Opening Day. On Thursday, the Rangers drew a mere 8,799. Small market teams make tons of money off big market teams when they come to town. They also get 10% of the gate when they go to Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park. The fact of the matter is, teams like Tampa Bay and Toronto and Kansas City make alot of money off the big market teams they often lament.

THINGS I DON'T GET

Here's a thought about the Sheffield thing that I read about at a blog called The GYS Network. How come the fan who may or may not have struck Gary Sheffield got season tickets revoked, yet the fan who actually altered the course of a very famous game a few years ago was rewarded with season tickets?

What House did at Fenway was wrong and he should have been ejected from the game and possibly had his season ticket holder status put on probation, but this kid should never have gotten rewarded for blatantly breaking the rules. Had it been an Orioles fan at Camden Yards, the call would have been fan interferance and the kid would have gotten alot more criticism and much less praise.

Here's another thing I don't get. How come among Red Sox fans, there seems to be a backlash towards Pedro Martinez yet there is little backlash against Nomar Garciaparra? Nomar was a solid player for us but he missed more time than Pedro, failed in the clutch in September and October of 2003, and when we traded him, we suddenly began to win and won the World Series!

BTW, Pedro had another quality start going 7 innings and allowing only 1 ER in a Mets win. He struck out 8.

One more thing that completely baffles me. How come the Yankees are willing to build a new ballpark and we aren't? The Red Sox have won 5 World Series since moving to Fenway. The Yankees have won 25 World Series since they moved into Yankee Stadium. There's obviously more history in the Bronx than in the Fens. The Yankees already have a big stadium capacity wise. They have sufficient infrastructure and a decent location with plenty of parking. They seem to have everything Fenway doesn't yet Steinbrenner still wants to pay almost $1 billion for a new ballpark. Why? Cuz he's a smart businessman. He knows the profit potential of a new Yankee Stadium with a few thousand more seats and a few dozen luxury boxes. That's why the Yankees are the Yankees. They're greedy. They always want to improve themselves. Especially with the luxury tax, the cost of baseball is going up for them and they are going to put themselves in a position to maintain their spending. Meanwhile, the Red Sox are more concerned with nostalgia and "history" than actualy running a baseball team as a business. Why the hell do they care if people will miss Fenway? People will still go to the games and spend money on the team!!! That's all that matters!!! If anyone thinks people go to Fenway for the ballpark, they obviously weren't a fan back in 1997 say and went to April games to see some crappy team in crappy weather. NO-ONE WAS THERE!!! People don't go to Fenway to see the Green Monster or sit in uncomfortable seats, they go to Fenway to watch a great baseball team play a great game. The Red Sox are the attraction, Fenway is just a venue. The Red Sox have the potential to make alot of money and subsequently spend alot of money on this team and they are refusing to do it. Adding 100 $250 seats doesn't do much. It's $2 million at the end of the year which in the grand scheme of things represents a small amount of money. It increases the Red Sox revenues by about one percent. Then you have to figure in construction costs and crap like that. If the Sox built a new ballpark, they could sell about 17,000 more tickets a game at about an average cost of $25. That's $34.4 million a season right there. THAT is a significant increase in revenue. Not to mention the luxury box sales and additional ad space the team could sell.

It is ironic that the Red Sox are going to hold onto Fenway because of nostalgia. They didn't listen to nostalgia when they traded Nomar. They listened to their minds, not their hearts. And it worked out, BIG TIME.

000 000 000 000 000 000

That's what David Wells, Blaine Neal, Matt Clement and Keith Foulke combined to do to one of the fiercest looking lineups in baseball the past two days. 1-0 games are always refreshing compared to the 7-5 slugfests seen on a nightly basis.

The Man of the Game is undoubtedly Matt Clement. 8 innings pitched, 0 ER, 8 hits scattered, 1 walk and 7 Ks. He worked out of some jams and considering that he had to face the likes of Brian Roberts, Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora a few times only makes his outing more impressive.

The Sox fly down to Fenway Park South a.k.a. Tropicana Field to play the D-Rays.

The Celtics will be playing the Indiana Pacers in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs. They play game 1 in Boston Saturday night. Hopefully, I'll be there.

I just finished a 9 page term paper on why New York surpassed Boston as a city. I felt somewhat dirty doing it but in the opening paragraph I snuck in:

"About the only things Boston has better than New York are colleges and sports teams."