A BRONX FAIL

It was such a pristine and magical moment. Victor Martinez ending the Sox' scoreless streak with a 2 run bomb that gave his new team a 2-1 lead with only 6 outs to record. Even though the trip as a whole could be written off as a failure, it would have ended with some brightness.

But Daniel Bard can't stop giving up homeruns in 1 run games. And to all those overly optimistic Sox fans out there who've only watched this team since 2003, and who are already projecting Bard as Papelbon's replacement, the kid has to come through in a close game for such a theory to be even remotely believable. And to the even more extreme fuckos out there who called into WEEI and didn't want to trade Bard straight-up for Roy Halladay, get a shotgun, learn how to pull the trigger with your toe, and put us all out of your misery.

Then there's Jason Varitek. The one good thing about Varitek is that when he comes to the plate with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, it's a good time to go to the bathroom, or maybe take a trip to the kitchen and fix yourself a sandwich.

Why is Jason Varitek in the lineup more than once or twice a week? That batting average of his has regressed to his norm, a poultry .221. He made that one good play in front of home plate, but it's easy to have the energy to make those plays when you never run the bases, and get to sit on the dugout after striking out so often.

Here's another thing that annoys me about Varitek. He's an easy out, in terms of a pitch count. It took Pettitte and the Yanks 18 pitches to retire him 4 times. That's 4.5 pitches per at-bat.

Fun fact, Mariano Rivera has converted 101 of his last 105 save opportunities.

The future doesn't look much brighter. Although the Sox come home, they face the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers. Edwin Jackson, with his 8-5 record and 2.62 ERA face against Brad Penny.

The Sox are tied with the Rangers for the Wild Card lead. The Sox go down to Arlington next weekend.

Oh yeah, Teixeira, put your fucking bat down. He should get beaned for carrying his Louisville Slugger around the basepath with him. He and A-Rod both had purple lips. What's up with that?



Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Kathy Willens

HOW HAPPY MUST DERRICK BURGESS BE RIGHT NOW?

You go from the Black Hole of Oakland to the sunshine of Foxborough. The Pats won 11 games last year. The Raiders have won 11 games in the last 3 years.

The Patriots traded a 3rd round pick in the 2010 draft, as well as a 5th rounder in the 2011 draft, for 2 time Pro Bowler Derrick Burgess. Burgess played at defensive end for the Raiders, but the Pats will most definitely use him as an OLB (he only weighs 260 lbs).

He won't start, but he can provide a nice pass rush off the edge on certain downs. He'll relieve Pierre Woods, with Adalius on the opposite side. I'm not a big Pierre Woods fan, so I love this deal. The less time Woods has on the field to mishandle potential fumbles, the better.

With an inexperienced secondary, the Pats needed more of a pass rushing threat, and Burgess is it. He only had 3.5 sacks in 10 games last year, but from '05 to '07 he amassed 35 sacks.

In more good news, Brady practiced without a knee brace on Thursday.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE

I don't gamble, at least not on sports. But Wednesday night, I seriously contemplated emptying my bank account, finding a bookie, and betting everything on the Yankees to win. John Smoltz vs. Joba Chamberlain. A struggling and injured Sox team against a soaring and healthy Yankees squad. I would've cleaned up.

It's a good thing the Red Sox acquired Paul Byrd, because John Smoltz' tenure as a starter looks to be nearing an end. He can still be an asset in the bullpen (the Sox could use some help out there, as well). He's failed at one of the fundamental things ALL starting pitchers must do: retire batters more than once.

And remember when people thought the Sox had enough pitching for a 6 man rotation?

And all the amateur sports psychologists who are attributing the last two losses to that 13 inning debacle Tuesday night, get a clue. The Sox put Brad Penny, then John Smoltz on the mound against good lineups and they were lit up. End of story.

The good news is that Josh Beckett pitches Friday night, against AJ Burnett.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

THREE FIVES AND TWO ACES

It's a pretty damn good poker hand. It's not so good for a pitching rotation. Brad Penny went 6 innings, allowed 5 runs, and that was enough of a hole to bury the once again struggling Red Sox offense. He's made 21 starts for the Sox, and has yet to go 7 innings.

But what's the alternative to Penny? John Smoltz, who gives the team 4 good innings and 2 wretched innings? Clay Buchholz, who suffers from the same symptoms as Smoltz?

The good news is that Jason Bay hit a homerun in his return. The bad news is that he reaggravated his hamstring, and will miss at least the beginning of the Yankee series. It was nice seeing you for a bit, J-Bay.

And Victor Martinez homered, but with nobody on base, just like Bay's solo shot. The Sox hit homers with nobody on, and did nothing when they had baserunners. 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

And if you want some more bad news, John Smoltz is on the mound Thursday night against 7-2 Joba Chamberlain.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

PEOPLE ARE HUMAN

David Ortiz had 58 career homeruns before coming to the Red Sox. 58 HRs in 1,693 plate appearances, or a homer every 29.1 times he came to the plate. Since his arrival in Boston, he's hit 246 for the Sox, in 4,140 plate appearances. That's once every 16.8 times he came to the plate. For the Twins, he slugged .461. For the Sox, he's slugged .581.

So it wasn't too shocking to hear he tested positive in 2003... for something. We still don't know yet, and allegedly, neither does he.

But I'm not going to vilify him for cheating. That's been done. But where his humanity becomes apparent isn't in his rule-breaking, it's in his attempted deceptions. And ultimately, isn't deception why we were so enraged over PEDs in the first place? Didn't we all feel deceived by Barry Bonds' 73 homerun season, or Sammy Sosa's 609 total, or Roger Clemens' inhuman ability to pitch so well into his 40's? These feats weren't real, they were the products of chemicals and artificial hormones.

David Ortiz made things worse for himself, and continues to do so. In February, he went on a rant, offering the opinion that players caught for PEDs should serve a suspension time of 1 year, at least. He's now eating those words.

Then there's the malarkey about not knowing what he tested positive for. He should've learned from Barry Bonds that this type of evasive strategy DOES NOT WORK. It makes you a cheat AND a liar in the public's eye.

Ortiz could have learned from Manny Ramirez and Andy Pettitte. Both caught redhanded, both admitted to it (while also omitting the entire truth, or in Manny's case, lying), and both players' transgressions have been shuffled to the proverbial back burner.

Hell, Pettitte and Ramirez were even PRAISED by some for "owning up to the truth." Even though both of their confessions were actually LIES.

Remember the story about George Washington and the cherry tree? He's a kid, chops down a tree, then when caught, he owns up to it. I remember as a kid hearing how noble this story demonstrated him to be, and being confused. I asked my teacher "So he did something wrong, was caught, and told the truth. So he was rewarded for that?"

Her response "Yes, because he was so honest."

"So if I go home, break a window, then tell my mother 'I did it' then I should become President too?"

"Don't be smart." A typical teacher's response in a Catholic school. But my story's point is that Americans LOVE people who screw up and then admit to it.



What we don't love are people who can't even come clean when they've been caught redhanded. Roger Clemens' "misremembered" hogwash. Barry Bonds never admitting anything. Mark McGwire's unwillingness to talk about the past. And so on. David Ortiz is leaning ever more in the direction of these guys.

And it is a bit funny how little Manny Ramirez has been scrutinized the past few days. Even though he claimed his positive test for female fertility drugs was due to an unaware physician's prescription. So what was the positive test in 2003 for? Is anyone even asking that question? Ramirez partially owned up to his guilt, and served a lengthy suspension. We already KNOW he cheated, so finding out a bit more isn't as crushing as the first revelation was (even though we now know he lied and was a multiple offender).



If Ortiz wants these monkeys off his back, he'll just admit to something. If he never injected anything, he should just say so. The public is far more lenient to illegal pills and creams as opposed to illegal shots. There's something more unnatural about syringes. And if he did take an injection, he should pull a Pettitte, say he did it once or twice, then stopped after a few times.

Remember, Bill Clinton was mocked for his "did not inhale" explanation. But had he denied smoking marijuana completely, he would have been vilified as a liar.

This whole PED thing shows us two things:

1) We humans have strange values. We're fine with rule-breaking so long as nobody lies once caught

2) Athletes are human beings. Just because they can throw a ball 100 MPH, or hit it 500 feet doesn't mean they aren't weak in some ways. It doesn't mean they won't lie even when the truth is obvious

LONG AND PAINFUL

That's what she said...



In yet another battle of attrition, the Rays came out on top. Their bullpen lasted longer, their hitters got the big knock. The Sox are 2-12 in Tampa Bay their last 14 games down there.

This was a freak game that could have gone either way. Both Jon Lester and Matt Garza were terrific. Garza only made two mistakes, which were launched out of the park by Youkilis and Pedroia. Lester handed a 2-1 lead to the bullpen, which Bard surrendered. After that, both teams squandered opportunities, but you knew by the 13th that Tampa Bay had the advantage.

It's a shame, because this is a game that could spark the Rays on a run and get them back into the divisional race. And it could've been a game that snuffed out their season.

The struggling Brad Penny faces the struggling David Price Wednesday night, so don't expect another pitcher's duel.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

A BIT TOO CRAZY

You never like to give up 10 runs and 15 hits. But scoring 18 runs off 23 hits sort of makes up for it... sort of.

The Jason Varitek ballwashers out there will point out that this was Buchholz's worst outing in '09, and it was also Victor Martinez who was calling the pitches. But let's not forget how awful Buchholz could be in '08. He'd frequently mow down opponents, and have one or two bad innings. And also, when was the last time Varitek had 4 RBI in one game?

But Buchholz is a potential worry. As lights out as he can be in AAA, he's yet to demonstrate he has what it takes to be a Major League starter. Plus with two guys "competing" for the #5 spot (Penny and Smoltz), the Sox might find their rotation to be quite bottom heavy down the stretch run.

Beating up on Baltimore is nice, and a necessary step to win the AL East, but the Sox need to be on their A-Game for the rest of August. The Sox face .500+ opponents in their next 23 straight games. 7 of those games are against the Yankees.

But before New York, it's Tampa Bay. The Sox have a short 2 game series down there. Jon Lester faces Matt Garza Tuesday night.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Nick Wass

THANK YOU BALTIMORE

The Sox are 8-2 against Baltimore. Considering the division has teams like the Yankees and Rays, and even a tough Toronto side, the O's are like a vacation. You know how college teams like Oklahoma and USC schedule cupcakes like Northern Colorado in the middle of the season? That's what the AL East has in the Orioles.

John Smoltz continues to look poor. 6 innings, 5 earned runs, and if it weren't for a 2 run Youkilis HR in the 7th, he wouldv'e had his 5th loss of the season.

Josh Beckett faces 24 year old David Hernandez Saturday night, and we all know how the Sox tend to do against younger pitchers.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Nick Wass