Bye Bye Buchholz

Posted by Mike Giardi Yesterday at 11:26 pm

Clay Buchholz never had a chance. The Red Sox’s rookie righthander has been demoted after another shaky start this evening in Baltimore. But the Sox’s brass isn’t dropping Buchholz to Triple-A. No, he’s so messed up, they’re sending him back to Portland and Double-A.

Skipper Terry Francona telling the media, “I talked to Buck and we feel we need to give him a renewed start.”

Buchholz sounding more like he needs a vacation.

“I put too much pressure on myself. When I put one guy on base, it feels like the bases are loaded. Instead of gritting my teeth and saying, ‘Let’s get these guys out’ I’m thinking ‘Now what’s going to happen.’ I don’t have a very high confidence level and something has to change.”

Heck, forget about Maine. Send Buchholz to Fort Myers and tell him you’ll see him again in February. No knock on the kid, who I still truly believe can be an ace, but he’s going through something right now that’s he’s never experienced in pro ball.

Let’s hope Buchholz can regain the feel on his fastball, get comfortable with that new arm slot and regain the confidence that makes him the Sox’s top pitching prospect ’cause this has been tough to watch.

Lowrie Lovefest

Posted by Mike Giardi Yesterday at 7:14 pm

In light of a possible setback in Julio Lugo’s return from that quad injury, I decided to go on my “Save The Shortstop” drive. Unfortunately for Lugo, I’m not referring to him. I’m talking about Jed Lowrie, who established himself as a legitimate Giardi binky candidate last year when I spoke to him in Portland (no, I was not stalking…), and has hammered home his credentials with a strong Major League debut in 2008.

Do you realize no shortstop has more RBI since the All-Star break than Lowrie? That he has more ribbies than the aforementioned gimpy 36-million dollar man in 36 less games (30 RBI to 22)? Did you also realize that Lowrie has yet to make an error in 136 total chances? Yes, I understand the former Stanford star doesn’t actually have Ozzie Smith’s range (true confessions, I once said Jed had the range of a legless spider at short), but he’s settled down a position that has been in flux since April 6, when Lugo committed three miscues (16 total this season).

But you know what’s the tipping point for me? What’s sold me on Lowrie? That he has the same unshakeable confidence that I saw in Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis. They never considered failing an option. Lowrie strikes me exactly the same way. Okay, maybe not quite as cocky as Dusty - who is? - but you get the point. You need to have that attitude to be successful in the bigs. Lowrie has it, and the Sox are reaping the rewards.

Beckett Banged Up

Posted by Mike Giardi August 19, 2008 (2 days ago) at 6:30 pm

You want to know why Terry Francona sometimes looks pale, almost gray? It’s days like these my friends. Ace Josh Beckett has been pushed back from his next scheduled start from Saturday to Tuesday in Yankee Stadium, and even that’s tentative.

“It’s still seven days away, so we’ll see,” Beckett said from Baltimore.

Apparently, Beckett’s been dealing with numbness in his right ring finger and pinky on and off for the entire season.

“I have some numbness in fingers I’m not used to having,” he said. “It’s just that we’ve got to figure out what the hell it was … It’s something we’ve dealt with but I’ve never had to deal with it on that level.”

Beckett’s last outing was an epic disaster. He didn’t escape of the third inning, getting tagged for 8 hits and 8 runs. It was his worst start since 2006, when he got bombed in the Bronx. This has been very uneven campaign for Beckett, who has flirted with the form he flashed a season ago, but has not consistently delivered on that excellence. Perhaps now we know why.

The Sox have survived injuries to Daisuke, Mike Lowell (twice), Ortiz and Julio Lugo, but I find it hard to believe they could handle any prolonged absence from Beckett. That starting rotation has been stretched thin, and there don’t appear to be any options available that could make people forget baseball’s only 20-game winner from 2007.

 

Yaz Hospitalized

Posted by Morry Levine August 19, 2008 (2 days ago) at 1:30 pm

Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski has been hospitalized in Boston for what his spokesman called something “serious.”  The spokesman, Dick Gordon, would not give any details or say when Yaz had been admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital.  When asked if it was serious, Gordon said: “Any time you are in the hospital, it’s got to be pretty serious.”  The 68-year-old Yastrzemski was baseball’s last player to winthe Triple Crown in 1967 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1989.

 

When 23rd Place is Worthy of Gold

Posted by Mike Giardi August 18, 2008 (3 days ago) at 10:32 am

I have never quite understood why athletes would put the one body they have through a marathon. That’s not some 5-mile jaunt. We’re talking about 26.2 miles. I don’t care what kind of shape you’re in, feet and ankles and knees and quads and hips just aren’t built to tolerate such abuses. Truthfully, it is why I’ve always toyed with the idea of training for one, just to sadistically document the pain my aging body would be in on a daily basis. I remember a colleague of mine ran Boston a few years back. He lost all his toenails and had to miss two straight days of work because of just how miserable he felt. And that guy was in shape!

The attached picture is of Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, who dreamed of Olympic golf in Beijing. She harbored those same thoughts in 2004, but was forced to drop out in Athens. Then, bad luck struck again. Radcliffe was diagnosed with a stress fracture of her femur in May. No way could she properly complete her training for Saturday’s Olympic final. No way could she think about winning, let alone finishing. But Radcliffe proved will is stronger than pain, and she labored through some of the most painful steps any athletes has ever taken in completing the long journey. 23rd place doesn’t earn you any medals or endorsements. It does, however, earn Radcliffe a place in my Olympic memory banks. That was as courageous a performance I’ve ever witnessed, any sport, any time. I’m sure that’s of little consequence to her, but I’ll be thinking about her when I’m laboring through my late morning run. How can I stop when she wouldn’t?

Gold for New England rowers

Posted by Ted McEnroe August 17, 2008 (4 days ago) at 11:25 am

Some of the best-known New England athletes fell short in their quests for gold, (Alicia Sacramone finished fourth in the women’s vault), but New England rowers Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine) and Eleanor Logan (Boothbay, Maine) are wearing the gold, after the U.S. women’s eight emerged victorious in rowing.

New England men will come home with hardware as well - Daniel Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.) and Wyatt Allen (Portland, Maine) were part of the men’s eight, which took bronze today.

Not a rock-sold day for New Englanders on the track today, though. Massachusetts-born Deena Kastor could not finish the women’s marathon (a foot injury forced her out at mile three), and Anna Willard (Greenwood, Maine and Brown Univ.) ended up tenth in the women’s 3000 meter steeplechase, three seconds behind Jennifer Barringer, who set a new American record in ninth.

Silver for Guerette; Crocker, Beisel just miss

Posted by Ted McEnroe August 16, 2008 (5 days ago) at 9:40 am

Connecticut has picked up another medal in these Olympic games. Rower Michelle Guerette will come home with a silver in the women’s single sculls, just missing gold with a final charge in the final 1000 meters of her event.

Guerette was in fifth place at the halfway point of the event, 4.5 seconds off the lead, before picking up her pace. She cut the gap in half and moved into third by 1500 meters, then charged home with the fastest time in the 500, falling just short in her effort to catch Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria.

Meanwhile at the Cube, a primetime U.S. audience saw Ian Crocker fall .01 short of the medal stand in the 100 meter butterfly, and Elizabeth Beisel (Saunderstown, RI) finish a solid fifth in her first Olympic final in the 200 meter backstroke. Beisel, at 15, is just getting her career started. But for Crocker, it is likely the end (except for the prelims in the medley relay) of his Olympic career.

Lynch Deal Official

Posted by Morry Levine August 15, 2008 (6 days ago) at 11:40 am

The New England Patriots today signed veteran safety John Lynch.  Lynch has played 15 NFL seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1993-2003) and the Denver Broncos (2004-07). He’s a nine-time pro bowler.

His career totals include 1,277 tackles (789 solo), 13 sacks, 26 interceptions, 100 passes defensed, 16 forced fumbles, eight fumble recoveries and 24 special teams tackles. He has also started 12 career playoff games and was a member of Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl XXXVII title.

Big night (morning) ahead for Crocker, Beisel

Posted by Ted McEnroe August 15, 2008 (6 days ago) at 10:12 am

Well, if New Englanders are going to get any medals in swimming, they’ll get them tonight, right at the beginning of the evening (well, Saturday morning in Beijing) session at the Cube. 15-year-old Elizabeth Beisel of Saunderstown, R.I. will try to continue her meteoric rise with a medal-worthy performance in the 200 backstroke, and five minutes later, Ian Crocker of Portland, Maine will try to derail the Michael Phelps Express in the men’s 100 butterfly.

How do they stack up? Beisel swam the second-fastest time in the semifinals, trailing only Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry (who won the semifinal that Beisel was not in). That said, Coventry has put together an amazing Olympics so far - and will be tough to beat. Beisel could make the medal stand, and will be in the hunt. But Coventry might be too much for her to have a real shot at gold. But Beisel is 15 - and has a bright future ahead.

As for Crocker, he’s at the other end of his illustrious career, but he faces the same kind of challenge, with a guy by the name of Michael Phelps swimming near him. Crocker looked better in his semifinal than he did in his preliminary (where he placed 13th and nearly missed the semis entirely), but he hasn’t looked like the Ian Crocker of 2004. If his slower times are because he’s been shaking off the rust, he could contend, but to win, he’ll have to break his own world record - and he may not be able to do that.

You have to like Phelps to pick up win number seven. And if Crocker wins, expect him to return Phelps’ Athens favor and give him a spot in the 4×100 medley relay.

Elsewhere: Revenge of Bruno?

Brown University gets some chances for its athletes to bounce back this weekend. In addition to gymnast Alicia Sacramone’s chance for an individual gold in the vault (to erase her bad memories from the team competition), runner Anna Willard has qualified for the final in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Willard graduated from Brown in 2006.

Reports: Lynch Signs with Pats

Posted by Morry Levine August 14, 2008 (1 weeks ago) at 6:09 pm

 

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