SOX SQUEEZE OUT A 4-3 WIN

The Red Sox can clinch the Wild Card Saturday thanks to a 4-3 win over Toronto and an 11-1 loss by Minnesota. Paul Byrd had a Paul Byrd kind of evening, 6 innings, 3 earned runs. And get this, the bullpen pitched three SCORELESS innings. That's how you win 1 run ballgames.

Paul Byrd solidified his case to be the #4 pitcher in the Sox playoff rotation. He's gone 5+ innings in all 7 of his starts with Boston, and gone 6+ innings 6 times. That kind of consistent inning eating is what you want out of a #4 starter.

The Red Sox probably should have scored more than 4 runs. They had 9 hits and 5 walks to work with, but rarely came up with the big hit, or a few smaller hits in a row. 10 men left on base, 5 left in scoring position.

If the Twins lose Saturday, the Yankees lose, and the Red Sox win, at the very least the Red Sox will be the Wild Card winners.

But winning might be a tall task. A good pitcher's duel is on the slate for Saturday afternoon, as 15-5 Jon Lester faces 18-11 Roy Halladay.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, J.P. Moczulski

RED SOX SUSPEND COLON

Bartolo Colon's wild ride with the Red Sox has come to an end, it seems. After multiple comeback attempts, always ending with injuries (shocking considering how healthy he is), Colon has been suspended by the Red Sox. He went down to the Dominican a few days ago, and has decided to stay there.

There had been a slim (weird using that word here) possibility of Colon being used out of the bullpen in the playoffs as a long reliever. And in an emergency, he may have started a game. But I don't think he liked the prospects of working with the possibility of no results. I mean, why work when you can stay at home, eat Doritos, and order pants from a special catalog?



So he's suspended without pay for the rest of the year.

The year-long Colon saga was fun, because it drew out the uber-optimists in Red Sox Nation. These guys/gals have been fans for 5 years, when everything's been hunky dory. They don't remember the days of bad luck, injuries, neverending rehabs, and Darren Lewis. These people not only thought Colon would stay healthy, but that he'd be healthy enough to win 15 games for the Sox!!! HA!

Colon's Red Sox career:

7 starts, 39 innings pitched, 4 wins, 2 losses, 3.92 ERA, 27 strikeouts, 10 walks.

Sources:
ESPN.com
MLB.com

YANKEE FAILURES: EPISODE 3 - KEVIN BROWN

Overpaid, overrated, and mediocre. Is there any better representative of the 21st century Yankees than Kevin Brown?

The Bombers traded for Brown after the 2003 season. Desperate for pitching, the Yanks were more than willing to pick up the $31.4 million owed Brown for two more seasons of work. Hell, they even threw in some cash to sweeten the deal for the Dodgers.

New York got 14 wins and 13 losses out of Brown, to go with a 4.95 ERA, a 1.43 WHIP, and only 205.1 innings. That wouldn't be a bad SINGLE season, for a #4 pitcher making $2 to $4 million. But not two seasons for a guy making $15.7M a year.

Brown's biggest disappointment was in the 2004 ALCS. He was one of the biggest contributors to the Red Sox miracle comeback. In Game 3, he allowed 4 runs in 2 innings, but was saved by the Yankees' 19 run offensive onslaught. He wasn't so fortunate in Game 7...

For it was Kevin Brown that allowed 5 runs to start Game 7. It was Kevin Brown who gave up a 2 run David Ortiz bomb in the 1st. It was Kevin Brown, who loaded the bases for Johnny Damon's 2nd inning Grand Slam.



Red Sox fans owe a debt of gratitude to Kevin Brown, for being such a big part of recent Yankee failure. Brown was 14-9 in 2003, with a 2.39 ERA. But when he came to New York, he became a failure.

Thanks, Kevin. We couldn't have done it without you.

BIG SURPRISE... JOEY PORTER CAUGHT WITH FOOT IN MOUTH

Maybe he's just one of the biggest trash talkers in the NFL. Or maybe it's because he's 1-6 against the Patriots. Whatever the motivation, Joey Porter has all but publicly predicted a Dolphins victory on Sunday.

"I just know he’s not Tom Brady."

"You treat him like you treat a backup. How do you prepare for a backup? He don’t get that many snaps, right? So you throw the kitchen sink at him. that’s what we’re going to do."

"It’ll be good to go out there and get our first victory."

It's one thing to be confident. It's another thing to be cocky. And it's a whole other thing to be cocky on an 0-2 team. A team that was 1-15 last season.

Hopefully this year, Porter will play the role of Anthony Smith. Those at that game last season will remember the chants of "Guarantee" as Smith's mug was flashed on the jumbotron.

Source:
Boston Herald

ARE THE SOX WORRIED THEY'VE OVERWORKED PAPELBON?

September 16th, a 1-1 game between two teams tied for first in the AL East. Bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, 1 out. Yet the visiting team didn't have their best reliever on the mound? Why? Why was Jonathan Papelbon milling around the bullpen and not on the mound.

With the bases loaded and 1 out, you want a strikeout pitcher out there. Papelbon is the most prolific K-man on the team, striking out 10.13 batters every 9 innings, or 1.13 every inning. Masterson, on the other hand, has struck out 6.91 batters every 9 innings.

I don't have to deploy an armada of statistics to prove to you that Papelbon is more likely than Masterson to get out of that jam. So why wasn't he used?

They must think he's tired. He's given up 6 runs in his last 3 outings, and only struck out 1 in that stretch. He's relying more and more on his fastball. He's not throwing his slider for strikes. He's falling behind in counts, or struggling to stay ahead in them.

We've seen something like this before back in 2006. Papelbon was overworked, and broke down in September. This season, thanks to the lacklusterness of Okajima, Delcarmen, and the rest of the pen; Papelbon has been used too often.

Here's a chart comparing the wear and tear on Papelbon in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Ext Out = Extended Outings (Appearances of 1.1 innings or more). All stats are totals at the end of August:

Year:	Games:	Innings:	Ext Out:
2006	58	68	18
2007	47	47.1	4
2008	56	58	11

The Sox haven't abused Papelbon like they did in 2006, but they haven't been as conservative with him as they were in 2007. Now I think they're worried that he'll be ineffective in October, like he was ineffective in September of '06.

You can't blame Francona for the overuse of Papelbon in 2008. What choice did he have? Okajima took a lot of the slack in 2007, but he's been mediocre at best in '08. Delcarmen hasn't stepped up, and neither have any of the other relievers. The starters are also having difficulty going deep into games.

So in the 11 remaining regular season games, don't expect to see much Papelbon. He'll be used in 3 out save situations, but shouldn't be brought in to get 4 outs. I also wouldn't be surprised if they avoid pitching him on back-to-back days.

Without Papelbon, the Red Sox have little chance to do damage in the playoffs. He gave the Sox 10.2 scoreless innings in the 2007 postseason, including 4.1 innings and 3 saves in the World Series. And the bullpen is even thinner in '08, so we need him healthy and strong.



Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Winslow Townson

APPARENTLY THE YANKEES HATE NEW YORKERS JUST AS MUCH AS WE DO

It was shoved down our throats at the All-Star Game, and it will be shoved down our throats this weekend. The Yankees are moving across the street to a new Yankee Stadium.

Their new ballpark will be bigger (albeit with slightly fewer seats), with luxury boxes and all the modern amenities of a new stadium. And unlike the original Yankee Stadium, it will be owned by the team, not the City of New York.

But the city and state are still footing the bill for it, at least most of the $1.3 billion price tag. An estimated $550 to $850 million in subsidies from the financially strapped city and state governments of New York will go to help build the new Yankee Stadium. And since the Yankees own the new ballpark, that money is as good as gone.

According to the Westchester Democrat, the Yankees quietly threatened to leave New York in order to secure this massive chunk of public financing.

The Yankees raked in $327 million in revenues last year. That number could nearly double once the new Stadium and its luxury boxes open in 2009. With this kind of present and future cashflow, the Yankees could have easily financed their new ballpark on their own, with the help of a few business loans which would be quickly paid off.

But why pay for something when you can squeeze the city and state in order to get it for free?

I'm all for governments supporting their sports teams. Philadelphia built new facilities for the Eagles just a few years ago. But the city owns that stadium. Massachusetts improved infrastructure around the new Gillette Stadium. But the cost of that paled in comparison to the price Bob Kraft paid to build the actual stadium with his own money.

The state of New York will have an estimated $6.4 billion budget deficit next year. But the Yankees don't care. They have a new Yankee Stadium, financed to a large extent by the taxpayers of New York, and the team will pocket ALL the revenues it generates.

Sources:
Associated Press via Yahoo! Sports
Crain's New York Business.com
Gotham Gazette

SOX HOMER THEIR WAY INTO FIRST PLACE

The Sox hadn't won a game in Tropicana Field in nearly a year (September 22nd, 2007). But Scott Kazmir had absolutely nothing last night. The Sox hit 6 homeruns, 4 of them off Kazmir in his 3 innings. The Rays, for their part, hit 3 homers of their own.

Every Sox starter got a hit, except Lowrie, who walked 3 times. Jason Bay hit his 30th RBI of the season. Matsuzaka had a typical Dice-K start, throwing 101 pitches through 5 innings and getting win #17.

Weird stat: 4 of Akinori Iwamura's 6 homeruns this season have come off Red Sox pitching.

The Twins lost, so the Red Sox also have a 7 game cushion in the Wild Card.

Josh Beckett (12-9, 4.10 ERA) faces Andy Sonnanstine (13-7, 4.47). Beckett's allowed 1 earned run in his last two starts. Sonnanstine held the Sox to an unearned run in his last start, a 7 inning Tampa Bay victory (he got a no decision).

A win tonight, and the Red Sox would have sole possession of first place for the first time since June 28th.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Mike Carlson

DEAR DIARY... IT'S ME, PEYTON

Sunday was scary. We nearly lost... again. That would have made me sad. I got so nervous that I'd cry if we lost, that I started to cry. Usually when I cry, Jeff Saturday consoles me, but I couldn't find him. Nor could I find Dallas, who usually lets me play with his sock puppets when I'm upset.



We won though, and Coach Tony took us all out for pizza (YAY!). Adam got the last slice, which made me sad. Tony said "You threw two interceptions and Adam won us the game, sorry little buddy." I didn't cry, but I locked myself in the Chuck E Cheese bathroom for 3 hours, pouting.

But ESPN cheered me up this morning. They reminded everyone that I didn't get to play in the preseason because of an owie. And they focused on how I brought the Colts back from 15 whole points down, even though it was my fault we were down by 15.

I was happy we played in Minnesota. They have a dome too! I don't like playing sports in the outside, especially in chilly places like Minnesota and Indiana. Brrrrrrrrr! Football was meant to be played away from bad weather with sunshine and short sleeves and rainbows!



Looking at that picture reminds me to ask Bill Polian to rename the Colts. We should be the Indianapolis Unicorns. Colts are mean. Unicorns are magical!

Well, I have to go, it's Monday which means the team is watching film. Last week it was The Muppets Take Manhattan. This week I hope it's Toy Story 2. I love Buzz Lightyear! I've dressed up as Buzz the last 6 Halloweens.



After that I have 15 commercials to film. But you know my normal Monday routine.

Goodbye, diary! I'll miss you!

To infinity, and beyond!

Love,
Peyton