Tough One to Take

Posted by Mike Giardi September 10, 2008 at 8:33 am

I assume you’re like me; you hate being kicked when you’re down. Last night, that was quite a beating. Sox up 4-3, riding the emotional wave of Jason Bay’s big bop, and with “The Closer” coming onto the field. It was O-V-A, over, and someone once said, and the Sox were back in first-place, back where they belong.

Then Dan Johnson, who’s really a 4-A player, takes Jonathan Papelbon deep and gone to rightfield?!? Wait, let me adjust my television set. There’s gotta be something wrong with the flat screen. Nope. Ballgame tied at 4. Okay, no biggie. Pap will get out of the rest of the inning unscathed, and then the Sox will walkoff with a win. Oh yeah, except for the fact that Mister Reliable proved to be anything but last night, giving a one-out double to Fernando Perez then another two-bagger to the next hitter, All-Star Dioner Navarro. Rays up 5-4, and that’s how it would end, although not before a little more drama; Jacoby Ellsbury pinch-running for Mark Kotsay, stealing second then taking third on Navarro’s bad throw. But with two outs, and a chance to force extra frames, the red-hot Covelli Crisp flied to right and the Sox had lost their shot at first-place and given the Rays some new life, back atop the Division by 1.5 games.

A back-breaker? Nah, not even close with over three weeks left in the season. But I’m quite convinced  that had the Sox won last night, they wouldn’t have relinquished that A.L. East lead. Call it momentum, or better yet, call it what it is: they are better than the Rays. Instead, Tampa’s finally won a game at Fenway this season, and who knows what that does for their confidence going forward. Yes, it was a lost opportunity for Boston, but there be other chances , including three in the Sunshine state later this week.

Bay Goes Boom

Posted by Mike Giardi September 9, 2008 at 10:28 pm

Okay, it wasn’t quite Carlton Fisk in the ‘75 Series, or even J.D. Drew going granny on us in the A.L.C.S., but the new guy, Jason Bay, continues to open eyes with how easily he’s transitioned into Boston and into a force in that lineup. His one-on, two-out home run tonight puts the Sox up 4-3 in the 8th. If they can hang on, they’re back in first place for the first time in a mighty long time (did I offend the grammar police with that sentence?).

Bay’s driven in 35 with the Sox, scored 30 and launched seven bombs. Yes, Manny’s numbers are better in L.A., but based on how badly he was tanking it here at various points this season, there’s no doubt in my mind the Sox would not be in the position. They are all but assured of a postseason spot as the Wild Card, and now perhaps as the A.L. East winner. Jason Bay has a lot to do with that. I repeat, a lot.

There’s a Bay playing ball in Olympics

Posted by Mark Newman August 7, 2008 at 10:00 am Her name is Lauren Bay Regula, pitcher for Canada's women's softball team and sister of new Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay. While Jennie Finch of the U.S. team has been commanding most of the pre-Games attention over softball, it's probably a good idea to get to know this left-hander.

Tippett praises former teammates

Posted by Reiss' Pieces August 1, 2008 at 5:28 pm

CANTON, Ohio – Andre Tippett just spoke with members of the press here at the McKinley Grand Hotel, and he was asked – now that he’s in town – what it means to share this moment with his past teammates, specifically those on non-Super Bowl caliber teams.

“I was real fortunate to play with some really, really good football players," he responded. "I don’t think we had the success, continuously, that we thought we would have. I don’t think that after going to Super Bowl XX, any of us envisioned not being able to get back again. We thought we would have a few more years competing at that level.

“But, as all my classmates will attest to, we don’t get here unless we have great people that are around us, great teammates. I had some great teammates over the years, specifically some of the linebackers that I’ve played with. I played with some great guys in Steve Nelson and Don Blackmon. Without Don Blackmon, I really wouldn’t be here today because he was as good as some of the greatest linebackers to play the game.

“We had some great defenses for about a six-year period. As I go in, and people celebrate me, you celebrate those guys that were there [with me].”

Out with the boy, in with an adult

Posted by Ted McEnroe August 1, 2008 at 5:02 pm

The jury may be out on just how lopsided the Manny Ramirez for Jason Bay deal was from a pure talent standpoint (Mike Giardi and I can differ on that - we’ll miss Moss a little, Hansen not much at all in my opinion), but there’s no denying the sense of relief inside the Red Sox clubhouse.

Terry Francona looked positively giddy compared to the Tito we have seen in recent weeks - as he tried to defend a player his team had lost respect for.

And as for Bay - love the guy. First two words to the media? “Fire away.” And it turns out Bay has quietly been a member of the Red Sox Nation of the Allegheny (if there is such an organization). Back home in British Columbia growing up, his dad put him in a Red Sox onesie, and he hung posters of Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice in his bedroom growing up. He says he loved the atmosphere at Fenway when he was visiting as a Pirate, and praised Red Sox Nation up and down.

In short, he did more to build a relationship with the community in 9 minutes and 15 seconds than Manny Ramirez had done in the last three years.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not really a Manny-basher. He was and is a big kid out there. Sometimes, you couldn’t help but be charmed by his antics and his genuine love for the game. Other times, though, he was a spoiled child, who needed a timeout or to be grounded — not an option when you’re the $20 million man in a playoff race.

This much is for certain - stats aside, the Red Sox sent a child off to Hollywood yesterday.

They got back a man.

Here’s the man meeting the media:

Bay: new to Fenway, but not to Red Sox Nation

Posted by NECN - Sports August 1, 2008 at 4:36 pm

(NECN) - Jason Bay may be new to the Boston Red Sox, but he's no stranger to the Sox fan base. He grew up in it.

"I had a Red Sox onesie when I was growing up," the Britich Columbia native told reporters, noting that his father was a diehard Sox fan.

In his bedroom as a kid? Posters of Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski.

And Bay remembers his only trip to Fenway as a member of the Red Sox, for the atmosphere - and the rendition of 'Sweet Caroline'. He noted the atmosphere between Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, where the Pirates visited on the trip, was totally different.

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Theo, Tito say Bay is a great fit

Posted by NECN - Sports August 1, 2008 at 4:22 pm

(NECN) - Red Sox Manager Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein held a press conference to discuss the recent block buster trade that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It also sent Sox outfielder Brandon Moss and pitcher Craig Hansen to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In the three team-deal, the Red Sox acquired outfielder Jason Bay from the Pirates. Bay will be introduced Friday night against the Oakland A's. Bay will be hitting in the number 5 spot, behind Mike Lowell.

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Bay: ‘I’m not going to be Manny’

Posted by NECN - Sports August 1, 2008 at 4:12 pm

(NECN: Boston, Mass.) - "Fire away."

With those two words, Jason Bay met the Boston media for the first time in a Fenway Park news conference as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Bay says he arrived in Boston after a "sleepless" night, finding out only after the trade deadline passed at 4 p.m. that he had actually been shipped to Boston.

"I didn't know anything more than what everyone was writing," Bay told reporters about how he followed a day that had him reportedly shipped to Tampa at mid-afternoon, before the Boston trade was finalized.

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Francona: Team already looking ahead after trade

Posted by NECN - Sports August 1, 2008 at 4:09 pm

(NECN: Boston, Mass.) - Prior to introducing jason bay as the newest member of the Boston Red Sox, Theo Epstein and Terry Francona met the media, and for the first time, Frnacona acknowledged that his team had lost its focus before the trade of Manny Ramirez. But he said the team was already looking ahead in a Friday afternoon team meeting.

"We discussed how we're going to go forward," Francona said of the meeting. "I thought it was an exciting time to stand in fromt of your players and feel like that."

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Epstein: Now we feel like a team

Posted by NECN - Sports August 1, 2008 at 4:07 pm

(NECN) - Red Sox Manager Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein held a press conference to discuss the recent block buster trade that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It also sent Sox outfielder Brandon Moss and pitcher Craig Hansen to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In the three team-deal, the Red Sox acquired outfielder Jason Bay from the Pirates. Bay will be introduced Friday night against the Oakland A's. Bay will be hitting in the number 5 spot, behind Mike Lowell.

read more

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