Q&A with Amalie Benjamin
Posted by Extra Bases July 16, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The Globe's Amalie Benjamin checked in on her way back from New York earlier today to discuss the Red Sox at the break.
Amalie Benjamin: Hello everyone. Hope you all got at least a bit of sleep after last night's epic All-Star game. I got back to the hotel around 3 a.m. myself, and I'm traveling back to Boston at the moment (hard to drive and type at the same time...), but I'll do my best to answer your questions. Thanks all, and welcome to the chat.
theyear22: Should baseball allow a re-entry rule in the All Star game if it goes into extra innings? I don't think a pitcher, like Brandon Webb, should have to pitch when he just threw over 100 pitches two days before. A playoff caliber team could lose one of their best players from something like this and ruin their chances later on.
Amalie Benjamin: That's an interesting question, which is certainly going to get some debate, given what went on last night. I know it was difficult for Francona to put Kazmir in the game, especially with the Rays asking him specifically not to do so. Since Bud Selig was adamant that the game would have been played to its completion, there probably needs to be something done in case the game were to have gone a couple more. I would hate to have been Bud, had that been the case.
GoCaptainVaritek: Hi Amalie,,,how classy were those Yankee fans booing their own team last night? Poor Jonathan Papelbon.
Amalie Benjamin: I was not at all surprised that the Sox players and coaches got boos last night. And I'm not so sure that the same thing (with the Yankees) wouldn't have happened, had the game been played at Fenway this season. But I also didn't exactly think the Daily News headline [Papel-bum] was fair, since they acknowledged in the story that Papelbon had changed his tune, telling our own Gordon Edes that Mariano Rivera should pitch the ninth.
LSCII: How valid is the Youk and Hansen for Texiera rumors? Why would anyone in the front office trade a guy that is tied up for short dough for a Boras player looking for a huge payday?
Amalie Benjamin: They are valid in that the Braves did ask for those players in a deal for Teixeira. But I think that reports of that deal might have been a bit exaggerated. There were certainly talks, though nothing close at this point. I don't think the Sox were overly interested in that deal. (But along with Teixeira, even if he would be a rent-a-player, comes the promise of draft picks if he's not signed.)
Nuggetpalooza
Posted by Rob Bradford June 26, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Headed for the airport en route to Houston, but wanted to give you some time to digest another round of Nuggetpalooza from Gary from Chapel Hill …
Stats are through Wednesday. Thanks to Baseball-Reference!
* - Jon Lester has now allowed 4 ER or fewer in 22 consecutive starts dating back to last season, the longest active streak in the majors. Jake Westbrook (18) has the second longest active streak. The longest streak (since ‘56) by a Red Sox pitcher is 32 starts by Pedro (’99 through ‘00) and Clemens (’90-’91). It’s interesting that in all 32 starts in Clemens’ streak, Roger allowed THREE earned runs or fewer. Lester has quite a ways to go to catch the longest streak ever recorded: 106 straight starts by Greg Maddux from 1991 through 1994.
* - Jonathan Papelbon’s K% with the bases empty: 38.6% this year versus 39.0% last year.
* - Jonathan Papelbon’s K% with runners on: 25.5% this year versus 34.9% last year.
* - Teams have only stolen 5+ bases in a game 8 times all season and the Red Sox claim 3 of them. No other team has done it more than once. Before this season, the Red Sox had only stolen 5+ bases in a game six times in the last 50 years (none since 2002).
* - The Red Sox have thrown 6 shutouts in 33 interleague games since the beginning of 2007. That’s the most in the majors (Detroit, 4) during that time.
* - On Wednesday, the Red Sox allowed just 4 total bases to the Diamondbacks. They have now won 24 straight interleague games in which they’ve allowed 8 or fewer total bases (dating back to 2002).
* - Last Sunday, the Cardinals’ Aaron Miles had 5 hits, but didn’t score or drive in a run. It was just the 18th time in at least the last 52 years that it has happened in the major leagues. It was the 2nd time that it was a Red Sox opponent. 13 of the 18 such occurrences have been by a visiting player.
* - Also on Sunday, Kevin Youkilis became the 45th player to have 3 or more multiple HR games in his Red Sox career. Jim Rice had 35 such games, while David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez have 29 and 28, respectively.
* - JD Drew is going to have to rally late to set the June slugging percentage mark. He is currently at .885, while the top two are Mark McGwire (.915 in ‘96) and Norm Cash (.901 in ‘61). He still has a great shot at the Red Sox’ June record of .784 (Jackie Jensen, ‘58).
* - Since the beginning of 2007, the Red Sox have put up a major league best .859 OPS in the 8th inning when tied or trailing by three runs or less. Their 5 for 7 performance (with a double) in Tuesday’s rousing comeback is included. The Rockies (.828) are second and the Yankees (.790) are third.
* - Happy 26th anniversary to Mrs. Gary from Chapel Hill! Maybe we’ll go to a ballgame to celebrate!
Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Bats silent at Fenway
Posted by Projo SoxBlog June 24, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Click the play button below to hear Sean's comments, recorded this morning. The topics: whether the Red Sox are missing David Ortiz more now than a week ago, the odd situation at first base last night, and the prospects of a trade for a second starting pitcher.
Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments:
On missing Ortiz: "I think it is starting to catch up to them. They seemed to be OK for the first couple of weeks. They were certainly riding J.D. Drew for the first couple of weeks of June, as he slid into that number-three spot and for a while at least there was no dropoff. But I suppose that it's inevitable that if you take a run producer of that magnitude out of the lineup for this long, it starts showing some effects, and I think we've seen it in the last week."
On the market for starting pitching: "Last year and the year before there was virtually no quality starting pitching available [at the trade deadline]. This year it looks like there's going to be a number of guys, including a number of left-handed guys, who are usually at even more of a premium. There will be some opportunities if the Red Sox want to upgrade. It will not be cheap of course. ... There will be plenty of teams looking -- the Yankees, Philadelphia, a number of teams are going to be in the market for starting pitching, and the Red Sox have to, like every other team, weigh the cost."
Sox-Yankees matinee on Fourth of July
Posted by Extra Bases June 24, 2008 at 1:00 pm
The Red Sox today announced time changes for the following games:
Friday, July 4 at New York: Game time is 1:05 p.m. ET (original schedule listed at 4:05 p.m.)
Sunday, July 6 at New York: Game time is 8:09 p.m. ET for ESPN national telecast (original schedule listed as TBA)
Sunday, July 27 vs. New York at Boston: Game time is 8:09 p.m. ET for ESPN national telecast (original schedule listed at 1:35 p.m.)
Personality Plus, Volume 2
Posted by Mike Giardi May 21, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Time for a new edition of Personality Plus. Today’s subject, Chad Finn. If you haven’t bookmarked Chad’s “Touching All Bases” blog, you are missing some quality observations and some quality writing. The link can be found on Boston.com (http://www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases/). Do check it out. In the meantime, here’s Chad response to some hard-hitting questions from yours truly.
1) Do you agree with Bob Ryan? Is Paul Pierce the greatest scorer in Celtics history? I’m not sure he’s the GREATEST scorer in a literal sense - his single-season high is 26.8 ppg, set in ‘05-’06, and some guy named Larry topped that three times in his career - but understand where Bob is coming from. Pierce probably has more different ways of scoring than any Celtic I’ve seen in my 30 years as a fan. When he’s on, he can knock down the 3, slash as well as anyone not named Kobe or LeBron, has that step-back 18-footer than he terrorized the Cavs with in Game 7, and as Bob said, he’s the best fast-break finisher they’ve ever had. It’s all the more impressive when you realize he’s not particularly quick and really doesn’t jump all that well anymore. So I’d say he’s the most complete scorer in Celts’ history, but I’ll still take Bird when I absolutely need two points.
2) Do the C’s try to move Ray Allen at season’s end? I tend to think not right now - heck, it would be tough to move him if only because his contract doesn’t expire until 2010 - but if his shooting slump from the Cavs series carries over to the Eastern finals, all bets are off on Danny Ainge at least putting feelers out. It’s hard to tell if Allen has really slowed down because everything always looks effortless with him even when he’s at his best, but he is 32, and shooting guards not named Reggie Miller or Michael Jordan tend to lose it rapidly. I do tend to give him the benefit of the doubt because of the Big 3 (or whatever we’re supposed to call this version), he sacrificed his game the most this season; remember this, is a guy who averaged over 26 ppg last season and is used to having the ball in his hands on virtually every possession. He comes to Boston and is relegated basically to playing the role of a rich man’s Steve Kerr, and his coach never really found a way to integrate him into the offense to the greatest of his capabilities. I have a lot of respect for him, even if it hasn’t been much fun to watch him lately.
3) Who would take right now: LeBron, Kobe or Chris Paul? LeBron, without a second thought. Kobe is the most complete player in league right now, and he’s got a killer instinct that you can’t teach, to the point that it sometimes makes him a bad teammate. And Paul is the second coming of Isiah Thomas, though it was somewhat alarming that he shriveled down the stretch in Game 7 against the Spurs. But LeBron has a chance to be the greatest player of all time, and anyone who watched the Celts-Cavs series knows that’s not hyperbole. He’s 6-8, passes like Magic, slashes at will like a young MJ, is built like Antonio Gates, plays the game correctly and completely unselfishly despite sub-mediocre teammates . . . and did I mention he’s 23? If he ever adds a consistent midrange game - and if Danny Ferry ever finds him a legitimate Robin to his Batman - he could average a triple-double for a season. The next five years are going to be something.
4) Better take: Red Sox at Fenway or Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field? Let’s put it this way: I took my daughter to her first Fenway game during the Devil Rays series a few weeks back. Because she’s only 4 and we were the typical paranoid parents about bringing her into the big city, we parked as close to Fenway as possible, which meant sucking it up for $35. That’s more than it cost to take her to her first Sea Dogs game last year, including tickets, parking, ice cream helmet, and everything else. And she really didn’t know the difference, other than that Wally was at one field while the Slugger the Sea Dog lives at the other. So if you have young kids, the minor league deal is definitely the better take, and Portland is a fantastic little city. But if the goal is to see baseball played at its highest level, or to see Papi or Manny in person, there’s still no place better than Fenway. Provided you have an endless supply of cash.
5) Worst Coach or Manager in Boston sports history? Probably one of the racists and drunks who worked for Tom Yawkey in his early days as owner. But among those I’ve seen, the worst was Joe Kerrigan, a back-stabbing, condescending weasel who was the perfect manager for the most reprehensible Sox team of my lifetime. His two worst transgressions: having the gall to suggest Manny alter his hitting approach - think about the ridiculousness of that for a moment - and sending Pedro to the mound in a meaningless late season game when his shoulder was so sore that he was practically throwing sidearm.
6) More likely to revert to form: the surprising Devil Rays or the scuffling Yankees? Neither. Tampa won’t make the playoffs this season, but you don’t need to be Gammons to recognize that this is going to be a very good team for a long time. I think they’re going to wind up taking second place in the AL East, then become a legit contender next year. It’s easy to be impressed with the core bats - Longoria, Upton, and Crawford, who seems like he’s been around forever but is still only 26. And they’ve finally got some pitchers on the way - a lot of them, actually - and the days of Tanyon Sturtze and Ryan Rupe finally will seem like a long time ago. As for the Yankees, I write them off every year when they start horribly, and they’ve had an uncanny knack for coming back from the seemingly dead. But this year is different. Too many old players, not enough pitching, the tense Girardi instead of the calming Torre, and the reckless blather of Hank the Tank. They’re done, and the resulting mess is going to be fun to watch.
7) Last good movie Al Pacino made? You know how on baseballreference.com they show a player’s annual salary on his individual page? They should do something like that on IMDB.com, telling us how much loot an actor got for each movie. The point, obviously, is that Pacino has been doing it solely for a paycheck for, oh, about a decade now. The last good movie he was in? Well, I enjoyed Any Given Sunday, but it wouldn’t call it good, and he was horribly miscast as a Parcells-type. And he’s had some real stinkers: 88 Minutes, Two For the Money, and Gigli, which almost ended Ben Affleck’s career. So I’ve got to go with The Insider, which came out in ‘99. He’s probably paid for a couple of yachts with the money he’s made from all the lousy movies since then.
Most embarrasing song on your IPod? There are so many. I wish I could be a music snob, but the sad truth is that I tend to listen to stuff that reminds me of certain times and moments in my life, and for the most part that is the stuff I was hearing on the radio at that particular time. Like, say, “Oh What A Night” by Frankie Valli reminds of a bar I spent three nights a week at in college. “Off The Wall” by Michael Jackson reminds me of when I was in fifth grade… and I was just starting to get into music. And “Dancing Queen” by Abba reminds me of . . . well, it reminds me of nothing, but it’s on there, and my daughter loves dancing to it. And I like it. So there. I already regret admitting all of this.
What If A-Rod Was A Sox?
Posted by Mike Giardi April 16, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I know Alex Rodriguez can be disingenuous. I know he hasn’t exactly shined in the postseason. I know that he’s not the most popular player in the league. And finally, I know that there are remain some rumblings about possible steroid use (thanks to Jose Canseco). But barring a big injury - the man will be worth many of the millions that the Yanks will pay him. I mean, he looks every bit like the hitter he was in his 20’s now in his early 30’s. Heck, maybe even better.
You wonder then - if A-Rod was legitimately going to walk away from the Bronx last offseason - just how much interest the Sox would have had. Oh sure, I know what the Sox said at the time, but are you telling me they wouldn’t have thought long and hard about putting together a big, fat offer for him? Considering the dearth of middle of the lineup boppers, and that Manny’s deal is set to expire, I still think they would have been prominently involved.
That’s not to say it would have been the right thing to do. If A-Rod can’t keep a low profile in the Big Apple, what would have happened to him here in the smallest big city in the country? For starters, he would have been driven crazy by the Sox fan base. Ask any one of those players on the roster now just how much breathing room they get when they go out. Answer: zero. This place can be suffocating. Its part of the appeal about working here, from my perspective. Everybody’s got an opinion. I mean, everybody. I think my Mom just ripped me for something I said on the air last weekend. I can’t say that I didn’t deserve it. But for a player like A-Rod, who has the reputation of having “rabbit ears,” I think that would be a move that eventually the Sox would have regretted. Now that’s something for the Yankee organization to ponder, but with their deep pockets, it would have been just another drop in their 1.3 billion dollar bucket.
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