For the first time in a while, Sox Blog is feeling optimistic -- cautiously so -- about this team of ours.
We got it done again
last night. And we did it with old dudes! As the
Globe's Chris Snow points out, our New York nemeses are "making near-daily concessions to age and expectation." Meanwhile, the Red Sox, no spring chickens, keep plugging away, staying put in second place even as we're missing two of our biggest -- in both senses of the word -- starting pitchers, and even as some of our loudest bats have gone eerily quiet. (Manny Ramirez was hitless again last night, and so was David Ortiz, who seems unnerved by the shift everyone's suddenly subjecting him to.)
Still, we've won four out our last five, and we're making do, more or less, with what we've got at the moment. 38-year-old Tim Wakefield looked good yet again, scattering 10 hits over seven innings for just three earned runs. His knuckler seems to be doing the trick, and his 2.97 ERA is still good for the top ten in the American League. 39-year-old Mike Timlin continued to channel his '03 post-season by pitching a hitless eighth, dropping his ERA to a tidy 1.23. And Keith Foulke looks to be getting his act together, too; last night he only gave up a single (to flu-stricken pinch-hitter Dmitri Young) instead of a homer. When you're trying to save a one run game, that's rather important.
Meanwhile, the worries earlier this season about the deleterious effects all those extracurricular activities might have on Johnny Damon's swing keep receding in the rear view. The man is
en fuego, batting a robust .371 (.481 (25 for 52) with 10 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, a home run, and 13 RBIs over his latest 11-game hitting streak). Even Renteria is building up his batting average, slowly, and while he's made some ugly errors in recent evenings, last night he nailed a couple defensive plays with force, precision and balletic grace. And be it known that
Kevin Youkilis isn't planning on going back to Rhode Island. He further cemented his place on the big club, going 2 for 3 last night, and driving in the winning run in the eighth. He's 6 for 13 with five walks since being called up the second time. I like ya kid, ya got spunk.
And, while it's incredibly foolish to be counting on him as any sort of savior, it's certainly not
bad news that
Wade Miller, at last, will be pitching at Fenway against the Mariners on Sunday. He's looked good down in Pawtucket, even though he's had to change his delivery somewhat since his shoulder injury last season. Judging from the handful of clips I've seen of him pitching this spring, I agree with Kevin Paul DuPont, who said on NESN last night that something about his mechanics looks off, awkward somehow. Still, if he can make it work, that's good for us.
In other news, Chris House and Matthew Donovan, the fans who went mano a mano with Gary Sheffield in the right field stands a few weeks back,
won't be charged with anything. Good. Even though House is a certifiable moron for attempting to interfere with a ball in play, and deserves to have his season's tickets revoked, I'm still of the mind, after watching the replay ad nauseum, that there was no malicious intent in his arm motion. (If there was, he'd be looking at Sheffield, not toward the infield.) Neither he nor Donovan -- who allegedly tossed a beer at the right fielder -- deserved to face any criminal charges.
And the
Herald has a heartbreaking story about the tragedy that continues to befall
Carl Yastrzemski. The death of his son Michael at age 44 from complications during surgery hit Yaz hard. Now he's being hounded by creditors and collections agents as he deals with the realization that Michael left behind thousands of dollars in bad debt -- often applying for credit cards by impersonating his father. "There was an IRS lien for $46,000 in unpaid taxes and thousands in credit card charges," the story reports. "Last March, a judge ordered Yaz to pay MBNA $28,380 -- a debt he contends his son ran up without his knowledge." God help him.
On a lighter note: George Steinbrenner's thoroughbred, Bellamy Road, is a
5-2 favorite for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday. At least that gives Big Boss Man
something to smile about. But wait till the race is run, and the turtlenecked one has no more diversions -- and all the time in the world to think about
this and
this and
this and
this.
Sparks will fly and heads will roll! You'll laugh and you'll cry (with laughter). Get your front row seat now. The Bombers have dropped 13 of their last 20 games, and tonight they play the terrible Tampa Bay Devil Rays for
last place in the American League East.
You crazy Pinstripers ... don't ever change.