Uglier than the number of pitches (100!) Josh Beckett needed to get through 3 and 2/3 innings.

Uglier than having a crude caricature named Chief Wahoo for a mascot.

Uglier than Travis Hafner’s nickname.

Uglier than the idea of Alex Cora pitching.

"Can I what?"

Uglier than the sadistic way Doug Maeintkayfhywsxz treated The Ball.

Uglier than Delmon Young’s lack of plate discipline.

And now we get to go to one of the ugliest stadiums in baseball.

 

And this guy will be there. (And he's got a book deal!)

Have a great weekend.

4/28/2006 11:42:46 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

Hey, watch this!

4/27/2006 2:56:06 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

SCENE: Interior, Jacobs Field visitor clubhouse. Sullen and shower-wet, in a room that’s silent as a tomb, 25 men dress slowly.

TIM WAKEFIELD tosses his glove into a duffel bag and clears his throat.

Hey guys? Guys? Lissen up. I just wanna say something. I’m a nice guy. You know that. Hell, I’m the nicest guy on the team now that Billy’s gone. That’s part of the reason they gave me that never-ending contract. And you don’t get nominated six times for a Roberto Clemente Award for being a jackass. But even nice guys get pissed off every once in a while. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pissed off right now. I just gotta say it. WILL YOU ASSHOLES PLEASE SCORE ME SOME FUCKING GODDAMN RUNS?! I mean, really! What’s a guy gotta do to get a win around here? My ERA is 3.90. If you don’t count that clusterfuck in Texas, it’s 2.20. I gave up five hits last night. My record is one-and-fucking-four. One and four! Yeah, fine, I shouldn’t have tried to sneak a fastball past Peralta in the first. My freaking bad. But did you happen to notice the way Bard was handling the knuckler? And we are the Boston fucking Red Sox! We should be able to come back from a three-run deficit! Hell, in ‘03 and ‘04 we used to do it all the time! Maybe not until the eighth or ninth inning, but we would still win! These days, I feel like I’m back in the National League. Well we’re NOT in the National League! If we were, my ERA would be as good as Bronson’s is right now. And don’t blame this all on Bard. I’ve already had my “talk” with him. He’s only responsible for two of those runs. Never mind the fact that he got one of the whopping five hits you guys found it within yourselves to cobble together tonight. This is on all of you. I’ve pitched five times so far this season. In that time, you’ve scored a whopping 10 runs. Ten! In the last three games, you’ve scored two. And left 23 guys on base! Seriously, what do they pay you for? They pay me to pitch, so they must be paying you to hit, right? So WHY DON’T YOU HIT? We already know that on nights I start we’re losing Tek’s bat. And Coco’s out, so we never know what sort of sucking black hole we’re gonna get to replace him. Mohr? Harris? I'm looking at you, dudes. Wily, you did OK last night. BUT WILY MO PENA CAN’T CARRY THIS TEAM! And when I go against a lefty, this lineup is even suckier. Trot. Buddy. They’re paying you seven and a half million dollars this year. And you still can’t hit lefties. C’mon. Think you might try to take just little extra BP? Maybe ask Ortiz how he’s doing it? I mean, it was really super nice of you to come on in the ninth with no guys on and hit that double. But it really didn’t help much in the grand scheme of things, did it? Ferfucksake guys! Please! I’m begging you! For the love of God! Score runs! PLEASE! When there’s a guy on second base? I don’t even care how he gets there! A walk and a steal? Fine. A hit batsman and a passed ball? Whatever. But when there’s a teammate or yours standing on that bag, KNOCK HIM IN. It’s not that hard! Hell, I’m a pitcher and my career batting average is better than what Harris is hitting. Hey guys: We’re playing the MFYs next week. Remember them? I want to beat them! How 'bout some help? Hell, I’ll even get the ball back for whoever hits the go-ahead RBI and inscribe it with my cool-ass calligraphy to commemorate the occasion. Sound good? OK. That’s all I got. Who's up for beers?

4/27/2006 1:00:25 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Curt Schilling logged onto the SoSH game thread last night, not long after showering up:

Got some laughs reading through here, kinda knew what was gonna be in here before reading the thread. Instead of rebutting here I am sure the topic will come up tomorrow on EEI and I'll answer there I think.

The guffaws, presumably, came from posts like these:

Schilling up to 372 pitches

Jesus Christ Tito, he's had enough!

Ah... its April 25th -- why not stretch out the old warhorse instead of giving Delcarmen a rare chance to pitch?

I thought Don Zimmer retired?

CG ... 153 pitches coming up ....

Is that including the 20 throws over to first base this inning?

It was strange that Francona picked last night to allow Curt throw most pitches he’s ever thrown in a Red Sox uniform (133). It was cold. It’s April. As Eck reminded us after the game, it’s at moments like those that pitchers get hurt. But Schilling is his own man. And he may be bullheaded, but he ain’t dumb.

''I know people are going to bash the guy in the manager's office for leaving me out there, but I felt great," he told Edes.

Thank god he got that otherworldly 1-3 double-play in the seventh (after giving up a double and an RBI single to start the inning) before handing the ball to Foulkie, who got “Pronk” to strike out swinging to end the inning. His no-decision still allows him to try for a 5-0 April on Sunday.

And thank god Manny broke that 5-5 tie in the eighth after Youkilis stole a base (!) and they IBB’d Ortiz. Haven’t you learned, Cleveland? Didn’t you know this when he played for you? Manny is a man of pride. Don’t disrespect him. It makes him mad.

"One run on the board, two runs on the board, threeeeeeee runs on the board!!!"

And praise heavens that the bullpen pulled its weight. Even though Foulke gave up two hits and a run, and even though Timlin looked verrrrry shaky, Papelbon is still perfect. My God, this kid is good.

Complaints? A few. Mark Loretta’s two-run single in the second notwithstanding, our problems with RISP continued last night. Nine men left on base in all. Unacceptable.

The bottom part of our order is just not getting it done. Alex Gonzalez gets a pass. We got him for his leather, not his lumber, and he does get a meaningful hit every now and then. But if Willie Harris wants to stay on this team, he’d better learn how to lay down a bunt. (And, for that matter, how to field his position.) What does he do that Adam Stern can’t again? Please come back, Coco. We miss you.

And the base-running could've been better. Gotta remember how many outs there are, Manny.

But Lowell (3-4) looked great again last night, and has pushed his average above .300. Props.

And we’ve got Ortiz hammering first-pitch home runs like it’s nothing at all. Off lefties. And walking. Three times. No one can get him out. He’s unstoppable. And on pace to hit 73 this season. Just sayin’.

Just an anecdotal observation, though: I’ve noticed him leading off innings an awful lot lately. I don’t know how many of his homers have been solo shots, but it would be nice if he could come up to the plate with guys on base more often.

Big Papi will be all by his lonesome (well, if you don’t count the Sausage Guy and the NESN camera crew) when he comes to your house to play wiffle ball after you bid mucho dinero at the Good Sports “Legend of the Ball” auction on May 4 at the Roxy.

Since I don’t have the cash to afford an afternoon like that, I’ll be happy with the smaller things in life. Like a Rocket reentry, maybe. ''I think we have a chance," Nipper said. ''We have a chance.”

“So you’re saying there’s a chance...”

4/26/2006 11:31:28 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Some quick thoughts on a busy, rainy off-day that finds me updating much later than I’d planned to...

The less said about Friday night the better. I take Beckett at his word that he didn’t throw at Aaron Hill on purpose. But I have to confess I wasn’t feeling so magnanimous as Russ Adams’s two-run homer went on the boards. No indeed.

I’ve had a gnawing fear that Beckett’s fiery, sometimes foolhardy competitive nature could get us in trouble some day. If that HBP was intentional, and Hill represented one run without which we would have won, then it already has.

One thing's for sure: Beckett, unwittingly or not, stirred a quiet Toronto offense to wakefulness. But it’s not his fault we lost. Tito should have put Papelbon in for a five-out save. It would have saved us from a 12 inning game, thus lessening the strain on Tek’s “tender buttocks," and Papelbon would have only had to pitch an inning and two thirds instead of two innings and a third later on.

                                                                                                   (Boston Dirt Dogs)

Consequently, it would have been another day or two before he pitched those 10 scoreless innings and he lost ... er, "won" ... that bet. And maybe that would’ve been enough time for him to reconsider that awful haircut.

At the very least, Manny stirred his own quiet offense to wakefulness. Let’s hope he can keep it up in his old stomping grounds.

Hindsight is 20-20, of course. But when a team is winning a ballgame 6-2 in the eighth, that team should win that game.

Conversely, when a team is losing a game 8-1 in the fourth, as we were on Saturday, it’s generally a safe bet that that team will lose.

I don’t blame Lenny DiNardo. In fact, I readily admit that I’m pulling for the guy. He got beat up in that game, but it’s to be expected for a borderline fifth starter going up against Roy Halladay, a lefty facing a team that feasts on lefties (hell, righties too, for that matter ... and, well, Red Sox). Not to mention that he's a groundball pitcher throwing in a park with an artificial surface. Why Tito picked that day to rest both Alex Gonzalez and Mike Lowell is beyond me. J.T. Snow can get his at-bats some other time. Unless we replace him with Hee-Sop Choi first. Which we should.

Anyway, Sunday we got off the schneid, finally. And Matt Clement got the W, even if it wasn’t exactly pretty.

As someone said on Sons of Sam Horn shortly after Vernon Wells reached on Lowell's throwing error and Lyle Overbay walked, but before Greg Zaun's towering three-run homer:

[Schilling] and Beckett must just not understand Clement...how can someone with that much movement on his pitches and filthy stuff when on be so soft?

As another on put it, immediately after Greg Zaun's towering three-run homer:

Fucking Clement. Handle adversity, would you please? Is the Matt Clement Sulk the successor to the Derek Lowe Face?

No matter, it was happy ending. Papelbon was unscored upon again, even if his one inning wasn't the prettiest either. And Big Papi got it done with the long ball and with the bunt, the latter just the second of his entire career. Shift that, Jays.

More good news. Foulke is back. Please don't let that sentence be a jinx.

...to angel?

And welcome back Manny Delcarmen. Keep pitching like you've been pitching in Pawtucket. If I never see Rudy Seanez in a Red Sox uniform again, it will be too soon.

(Same goes for Greg Zaun and Frank Catalanotto in Blue Jays uniforms. If they wanna put on Red Sox uniforms, that's just fine.)

Funnily enough, Roger Clemens has worn the uniforms of both teams. And citizens of both cities have muttered similar sentiments about him in the past, including this writer.

But I’m big enough to say I’ve changed my mind. We need to get him back here. It makes so much sense. Schilling, Beckett and Papelbon idolize him. And he's not just friends with Nip and Wake, he's friends with Joe Perry! Make this happen.

Still, as the Sox and Yanks gear up for the mother of all bidding wars, who woulda thunk the dark horse candidate would be not the Houston Astros, but the Brockton Rox?

4/24/2006 5:10:11 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

Don't look now, but our arms down on the farm are pitching with Schilling- and Beckett-esque kickassitude in Pawtucket and Portland. From today's Red Sox Minor League Report:
 


RHP Cla Meredith has not allowed a run in 9.1 innings over 5 appearances…the 22-year-old has worked 2.0 innings or more in 3 of his 5 outings, including a season-high 2.1 innings twice…selected in the 6th round of the 2004 draft, Meredith has 10 strikeouts in 9.1 innings, and is holding opposing batters to a .188 (6-for-32) average.

Manny Delcarmen has pitched scoreless ball through his first 5 outings (10.0 IP)…the Boston native has 10 strikeouts and only 3 walks in 10.0 innings, while posting a .152 (5-for-33) opponents batting average.

Double-A Portland Sea Dogs

RHP Chris Smith boasts a 0.98 ERA (2 ER/18.1 IP) after 3 starts, posting a 1-1 record…the 25-year-old has allowed just 6 hits and 2 walks in 18.1 innings (6-for-60, .100 opponents batting average)…Smith was selected by the Red Sox in the 4th round of the 2002 draft.

RHP David Pauley has gone 1-1 with a 1.65 ERA (3 ER/16.0 IP) in his first 3 starts…the 22-year-old has allowed just one run in his last 2 starts combined, good for a 0.69 ERA (1 ER/13.0 IP)…acquired from the Padres in December of 2004, Pauley is holding lefties to a .209 (9-for-43) batting average.

RHP Craig Hansen (4 appearances, 8.0 IP) and RHP Edgar Martinez (6 appearances, 7.2 IP) have yet to allow an earned run in 2006…the 22-year-old Hansen tossed 2.0 hitless innings yesterday vs. New Britain, and has 8 strikeouts in 8.0 innings this season…Martinez has collected a save in both of his last 2 outings, and has pitched hitless ball his last 3 times out (3.2 IP)…he has not allowed a walk this season.

Very nice. It's early yet, of course. But you've gotta  like what we're seeing so far. And the best is yet to come.

(But can't the PawSox do something about those lame-o team photos?)

4/20/2006 4:44:16 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

The other day, after we’d squeaked out yet another one-run win, Mike Timlin told NESN that he was still waiting for our “laser show” to start. He knew it would, of course. It was just a matter of time. Well that didn’t take long.

As the Devil Rays got sloppy in the bottom of the third, we went to town last night. After Alex Gonzalez struck out looking to start the inning, we spent the next half hour batting around to put seven runs up on the board.

K. Youkilis singled to center

M. Loretta singled to center, K. Youkilis to third

(K. Youkilis scored, M. Loretta to third on center fielder J. Gathright's throwing error)

D. Ortiz intentionally walked

M. Ramirez walked, D. Ortiz to second

T. Nixon singled to right, M. Loretta scored, D. Ortiz to third, M. Ramirez to second

J. Varitek hit sacrifice fly to center, D. Ortiz scored, M. Ramirez to third

M. Lowell doubled to deep center, M. Ramirez and T. Nixon scored

J. Childers relieved D. Waechter

A. Stern safe at first on pitcher J. Childers' fielding error, M. Lowell scored

A. Stern to second on wild pitch

A. Gonzalez walked

K. Youkilis singled to shallow left, A. Stern scored, A. Gonzalez to third

M. Loretta flied out to left center

Tack on Youk’s lead-off homer in the first, and another run in the fifth. Not a bad night at all.

No surprise that Timlin can so easily predict these things. After all, he’s “been around a long time.” (Let’s hope he can make it through one more year without father time catching up to him — and that he can keep those inherited runners from making it home.)

So, of course, has Curt Schilling. But last night he did something he’d never done before: winning his fourth consecutive game to go 4-0 for the first time in his career. He had to work at it, and he only lasted six (God, are we getting spoiled), but don’t doubt him. 40 is the new 30.

Adam Stern got a stern warning yesterday about Tuesday night’s odds-defying, game-ending catch. (“Francona reminded Stern that when asked to play deep to prevent a potential bases-clearing double, it should go without saying that no defensive gambles should be taken.”) Theo joked pre-game that, had he missed the thing, he would have been the first Rule V player ever released from a team despite being within hours of meeting his eligibility requirements.

But he made another astounding snag last night, slamming face first into the FW Webb sign for another Web Gem-worthy grab. The kid's got glove. Still, as predicted, he’s heading south so he can get some bat too. Don’t worry. We’ll be seeing him again.

(By all accounts, his roster spot will be taken by Willie Harris. David Laurila's insightful interview with him is here. Read all about what loudmouth jerk Ozzie Guillen is! Of course, if you read the Ozzie's Playboy Q&A, you knew that already.)

There’s much to be happy about right now. At this precise moment in time, we are the best team in baseball. And all that without Coco and, for all intents and purposes, Manny.

But who needs a speedy leadoff man and the best right-handed hitter in baseball when we got Kevin Youkilis playing out of his gourd (3 for 4 with two RBIs — can someone remind me again why he had just 79 for us last season?) and Mike Lowell leading the league in doubles, and Trot Nixon with five hits in his last two games?

Manny will find his stroke. And if we can keep pitching like this when we get our full lineup back we’re gonna be one frightening team. That’s a big if, sure, but it’s something to look forward to.

Stay healthy. Keep plugging away. Beat Kazmir tonight.

"You wanna know how to do it? If he throws at you, you throw at them. If he throws 91, you throw 97. If he puts one of your guys out of the game, you put one of his on the 60-day DL."

Kidding. Everyone knows Wake could never throw 97.

Just play ball.

4/20/2006 12:25:29 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

After getting home from the game last night, I did what I often do: went straight to the Sons of Sam Horn game thread and read the whole thing. I had to see if the fans at home responded to The Catch as ecstatically as the Fenway crowd did.

Wrote poster AnkleStigmata:

“Between Youk’s hit and Stern’s catch ... well, how do I put this ... I want to convert to Judaism.”

Yup. Pretty much.

It was yet another tight game last night, one with a lot of back-and-forth and ups-and-downs. But when it mattered most, those  two guys stepped up and saved the game, one with a bat and one with a glove.

Papelbon looked human for the first time this season. Yeah, he came in and blew Joey Gathright away on three mid/high 90s pitches. But then Carl Crawford singled. Jorge Cantu struck out, but then Travis Lee took fouled off about five dozen ball before finally drawing a walk. Then Johnny Gomes did the same. Pap’s command was off, he seemed to be over throwing. He’d racked up nearly 30 pitches. Bases loaded. Fenway was quiet as a church.

Then Damon Hollins launched a little dying quail to shallow center. Adam Stern ran toward the thing full bore, launching himself forward and snagging it in a snow cone in the very millisecond before it hit the ground.

There was a collective intake of breath. Then rapturous cheers. The 0.00 ERA remained unsullied.

Later, another SoSHer, having had time to reflect, did the math.

That was a great catch, but a very poor percentage play. Here's a slightly oversimplified analysis, but it is not off by much.

If he plays it safe and catches that ball for a single, there are likely men on first and second since Gomes is slow. According to the trusty table in the back of the 2006 Maple Street Annual, the home team loses in that situation (up by one run with runners on first and second, two out in the ninth) 12.9% of the time.

If that ball gets past him, it is likely at least a bases-clearing triple. In that scenario (tied in top of 9th, 2 out, man on third), the home team loses 47.2% of the time. (If it had been an inside-the-park grand slam, the home team loss likelihood would increase to 80.3%).

So he need to make that play at least (47.2/(47.2 + 12.9))%, or 78.5%, of the time for it to be wise to attempt that catch. There is no way he makes that difficult of a catch that frequently.

As someone who’s fascinated by the idea of statistical analysis like this, but who’s been pretty much terrified of numbers ever since getting a C- in 7th grade math, I can’t vouch for his accuracy. But what’s important is that he didn’t miss it. He made it. And we won. Again.

As of tonight, having fulfilled his Rule V requirements, Stern is ours to do with what we see fit. With Dustan Mohr more than capable of spelling Coco until his (hopefully soon) return, expect to see Stern boarding the Lou Merloni express before long. He’s gotta get those regular at-bats. But don’t be surprised to see him back up here soon.

One guy who’s not going anywhere is Kevin Youkilis. The dude’s been doing his job ina big way lately, tied for second on the team with eight RBI, tied for second with 14 hits, third in doubles (five), third in OPB (.426), and fourth in batting average (.318).

Last night he made up for letting Tomas Perez’s RBI double by him in the seventh by whacking a two-out double off the wall in the eighth to drive in Trot Nixon and Stern and break the tie. Easy as pie. He was so proud of himself, he went over to Olan Mills after the game and had his portrait taken.

Big Papi hit a couple doubles of his own last night, this despite the truly bizarre shift Joe Maddon tried for his first two at-bats. Five outfielders, four of them shaded right, with the left side of the infield a desolate ghost town.

From my seat in the bleachers, I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing it. Yup. There was Ty Wiggington jogging backward to shallow left. There was Crawford crab-stepping to left-center. There were Cantu, Gathright, and Russell Branyan, all in various spots in right field, a gaggle of Devil Rays, standing around in the vast grass like they were waiting to see Haley’s Comet go flying past.

Ortiz grounded out in that inning, but he doubled to center in the third and again to left in the seventh. They can try any off-the-wall experiments they want. He’s still gonna hit it off the wall.

And so, it finally seems, is Manny. He went 2 for 4 with three ribbies last night, recording his very first extra base hit of the season, a double off the top of the Monster in the third to drive in Big Papi.

Why Maddon will conceive of such a wacky outfield alignments to deal with Ortiz, yet still will pitch to Manny in the bottom of the seventh with two guys in scoring position — a decision that was rewarded with a ringing two-run single to give the good guys a 4-2 lead — confuses the mind.

Indeed, it was a very strange evening at the Fens all around. Which, I suppose, is not all that surprising. As Nick Cafardo puts it: “There's only one conclusion you can draw: The Red Sox and Devil Rays are incapable of playing a normal baseball game.”

Meanwhile, Papelbon’s entrance music experiment continues.

Last night he picked the Ultimate Warrior theme. I think we have a winner.

  

4/19/2006 12:36:19 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

It looks like we traded one stud who hits bombs for another one.

And here I was just hoping he could get on base so Papi could make his fourth home run bid of the day.

I love this game.

On one the best days of the year, the home team toughed out the best game of the season so far. We never held a lead until we had two outs in the bottom ninth. And that, of course, is the only time it matters. It was a war of attrition, a tit-for-tat all the way to the end.

They got one in the first on a double, a ground out, and a sac fly. We got one back in the first on a ho-hum Ortiz homer.

They got one in the second on a walk and a double. We got one back in the second on Trot’s single, a ground out, and Alex “Smartest Player in Baseball” Cora’s double.

They got two in the sixth on a single and Jurassic Carl’s homer off Pesky’s pole. We got two back in the sixth on Youkilis’s single and Ortiz’s second homer of the day.

They got one in the seventh on an error, a sacrifice, a steal and a ground out. We got one back in the eight on a ringing Trot Nixon double and a seeing-eye single from Tek.

They got one in the ninth on a couple singles and a ground-out. We got one back in the ninth on a legged-out single and a blast over the wall.

Dirty Water played. The crowd went apeshit. And Mark Loretta’s dad was happy.

As awesome as Loretta’s walk-off was — and the guy won’t have to buy a beer in this town for at least two or three days — let’s not forget Youk, who must have downed a can of spinach before that at-bat, sprinting down that first base line as fast as those stubby legs would carry him, his face contorted in cartoonish concentration.

Separated at birth?

What’s more, Remy says he’s been playing Gold Glove-caliber first base, and I’m inclined to agree, yesterday’s playable pop-up notwithstanding. He's a good ball player, that Youkilis. (And Red says he’s sorry.)

And let’s give props to DiNardo, who did more than alright — certainly better than Boomer would’ve done. Keep that ball down and keep getting those ground outs, dude. I wouldn’t mind keeping the guy around for a while. Not least because Seanez and Tavarez give me agita when they're not making me punch my television. (I also wouldn’t mind seeing what Jermaine Van Buren can do.)

In other news...

* Tek’s got a pain in the ass, but Trot’s feelin’ fine. Let’s hope the former improves and the latter holds steady. Yesterday was an object lesson as to why we need Nixon’s big bat in the lineup.

(Incidentally, I made this discovery this weekend while paging through Jim Prime's Red Sox Essential: We all know Otis Nixon. And many even remember Willard Nixon. But don't forget Russ! (Who's still in the game.) Yes indeed, the Boston Red Sox have had no fewer than FOUR Nixons on its roster over its long history. And there was another Nixon (Al) on the old Boston Braves. In fact, every Nixon, except Donell, who's ever played in the majors has spent at least a season in Boston. How's that for useless information? Eat your heart out, Jayson Stark.)

* Papelbon wants a new entrance song. Good. Because Drowning Pool sucks. (Maybe he can ask Lenny for some advice.)

* Manny’s gonna win a gold glove this year. You heard it here first. And the slump is over too.

Tonight, the blood feud resumes.

Boy, do I miss Blaine "The Enforcer" Neal.

In what inning will the first punch be thrown? I say the third.

4/18/2006 12:18:12 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

David Ortiz is awesome against the Blue Jays. He “homered in all three games vs. Toronto, [and] now has 22 homers and 74 RBI vs. the Blue Jays, which are his most vs. any opponent.”

Too bad we can’t get the geniuses across the river at MIT to clone him eight times. Then we could have a whole lineup of Big Papis.

Because Matt Clement is awful against the Blue Jays. “Clement, in 27 starts for the Sox vs. United States-based teams: 14-4, 4.11 ERA. Clement, in five starts vs. Toronto: 0-3, 9.45 ERA (28 runs on 36 hits in 26 2/3 innings).”

And, alas, Ted Lilly is awesome against the Red Sox.

He's a rather average major league pitcher -- he climbed to .500 (45-45) last night -- but against the Sox he is transcendent. Last night he fanned 10 and walked none in seven innings, allowing a lone run (David Ortiz's RBI single that provided an ephemeral 1-0 lead).

Lilly, lifetime, has piled up 10 Ks in a game only six times but four have come against the Sox.

And so, for that matter, is Frank Catalanotto, “who ran up a 1.022 OPS against the Sox last year (16 hits, 10 extra-base hits, 12 RBIs).”

And Vernon Wells? He’s no slouch, neither.

Ouch.

Hate to tell you, but we’ve gotta play them again next week.

4/14/2006 10:28:08 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

In case the movie Game 6 didn't dredge up enough long-suppressed heart-rending trauma, try this treatment of those epochal at-bats in the bottom of the 10th. Here, Schiraldi and Carter and Stanley and Mookie and Buckner are recast using the blocky characters of Nintendo's RBI Baseball. I think the ending is still the same, but Vin Scully's play by play is just too painful for me to relive all the way through. (Click on the image to play.)

(EDIT: Here's how he did it.)

And speaking of New York, my colleague Mark Jurkowitz has a remarkable item in his Media Log today about the New York Times's coverage of the Red Sox. He wonders whether that 17 percent ownership stake in the team might be at work in the paper's sports pages, citing a January New York magazine article that quantified team coverage over the '05-'06 offseason and found that the Times "actually devoted more stories to the Sox than it did to either the hometown Yanks or Mets."

And yesterday, Jurkowitz took a gander at the NYT's coverage of the Yankees' home opener.

"Guess what led the sports section? A big story about new Boston pitcher Josh Beckett featuring a huge photo of the pumped-and-jacked Sox hurler. Closer to home, Derek Jeter's 8th inning homer that led the Yanks to a dramatic come from behind win over Kansas City was relegated to the bottom of the page in a Harvey Araton piece that treated the exciting win like a Pyrrhic victory -- at best."

No complaints from this corner, certainly. But Mark (a Yankees fan) does have a point when he writes: "Just imagine if yesterday's Globe sports section had led with a big feature on 'Captain Clutch' Derek Jeter, had complained that the Sox 5-3 win over Toronto exposed weaknesses that could doom the team's post-season prospects, and finished up with a Shaughnessy column mocking John Henry as an uncommunicative weirdo."

4/13/2006 3:40:23 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

David Wells can kiss my ass. Really. After all the pissing and moaning he did about having to miss a single turn after so magnanimously withdrawing his trade request, he went out and got shelled by AAA kids last week, and then he went out last night and, surprise surprise, got shelled again.

Why was he back on the mound so soon? Because he makes extra money for every start after the 10th, so to miss a game is bad for business. For him. It’s just that simple. Why the team allowed him to come back when he so clearly was not ready is another story entirely. But the exact same thing happened last year, so perhaps we should be asking who’s calling the shots around here.

As fun as I’m sure he is to go out and tie one on with, Boomer seems to have no concern whatsoever for the good of the team. He'd rather get further down to road toward those $200,000 and $300,000 bonuses by pitching four innings of 10 hit, seven run (three homer) ball. What a way to take the wind out of our sails.

Those boos he heard were well deserved, and he damn well knows it. Good thing we kept DiNardo around, eh?

Oh well. Losses happen. Bright spots? There were a few.

* Wily Mo Peña saw ball, hit ball. Far. Trot’s gonna be out for four or six days — which, given his history, could mean four or six weeks — so we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of his brute strength. The good news is he seems already to be getting more discipline at the plate. He had a nice piece of hitting in the second, simply putting bat on ball to flick one to the opposite field for a single, and (gasp!) he even drew a walk. “I don't do that much,” he said.

Indeed. Wrote one SoSHer: “Wily Mo walked. Find and hug your childern, the universe as we know it may [soon] cease to exist.”

* Dustan doesn’t wanna go back to Lil’ Rhody.

* And our infield is freaking awesome so far, and is a ton of fun to watch. Good infields make for good pitchers, so let’s keep it going. It’s almost enough to justify a guy hitting .148/.207/.185 in the nine hole.

(Speaking of which, don’t look now, but our cleanup hitter isn’t doing too much better (.214/.371/.214). Time to panic? No. The same thing happened last season, and he came around in a big way. Manny will be Manny.)

Coco may be a no-go for the foreseeable future, but he just signed a hefty three-year, $15.5 million contract and got a bagel named after him. No wonder he loves this town already. Guess that home opener made quite the impression — wait until he plays a game here. He’s gonna need a diaper.

Change happens. It’s a good thing. (As long as he keeps hitting when he returns like he did in the first week on the job ... and maybe learns to slide feet first.)

With two high-profile extensions inked already this week, the front office looks intent on locking up talent for the long term. There’s an interesting discussion on multi-year contracts brewing here.

Old nemesis Ted Lilly goes against Matt Clement tonight. (You can hear it on WEEI ... for now.)

Teddy was tough on us last season (3-0 with a 2.40 ERA in five starts) but he had a rough outing in his debut, and we’re a different team now. Unroll that masking tape.

4/13/2006 1:04:33 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [2] |  

Photos by Melissa Ostrow

4/12/2006 10:01:02 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

I think I may be sensing a trend.

Last Wednesday night, Josh Beckett struggled mightily in the first inning against the Rangers, giving up a double, advancing the runner on a wild pitch, giving up an RBI single, getting a couple shaky outs, then another single before finally escaping the inning.

Today, wearing the gleaming whites of home, under a bright but pale sky, in a verdant refurbished ballpark where, true to Updike’s words, “everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg,” he again had problems in the early going.

A walk, a single, another walk, a run-scoring walk, a total of 35 pitches, barely half of them for strikes.

But just like he did a week ago, he settled down, sacked up, and went the distance (more or less) lasting seven strong innings without giving up another run.

The two extra runs in the 5-3 final score came thanks to Wily Mo Pena, who entered the game after Trot Nixon was pulled with a groin tweak. (The injury-prone birthday boy will be out up to a week.)

To steal a clichéd phrase, Trot woulda had it. Instead, Wily Mo let Frank Catalannoying’s homer into the bullpen rather than catch it in his glove.

A shame, because Keith Foulke didn't look too bad, otherwise.

We’ll also let it slide that the big basher for whom we traded Bronson Arroyo now has precisely TWO LESS HOMERS than Bronson himself. (Arroyo never hit more than two home runs in a high school season, but he smacked his second major league tater of '06 today.)

No matter. After escaping the inning, Jonathan Papelbon entered in the ninth and – as is the case with good closers – the feeling came over the restive crowd that the game had already been decided. Verily, Paps blew Lyle Overbay away on three quick pitches, Shea Hillenbrand flew out to center, and Benji Molina flew to right where – joy of joys! – Wily Mo Pena let the ball fall from his glove.

Five games in a row. How sweet it is.

Along the way, David Ortiz celebrated yesterday’s payday as many assumed he would, walloping his second homer of the season. May there be many, many more.

Kevin Youkilis (2 for 4 with an RBI) proved he’s a fine lead-off hitter when he’s called upon to be. (Adam Stern, with a double and a run scored, wants in on picking up Coco’s slack, too.)

Loretta and Gonzalez looked acrobatic in the infield.

And Mike Lowell, who many were fearing might be cooked, went a whopping 4 for 4, with three doubles and a single.

Wow. Who said Fenway would be good for him?

"Any time you're in a new situation, a new team, I think it's only natural" to want to make a good impression, he told the AP.

The AP asked him if he thought he did.

"I hope so," he said. "If I need to go more than 4-for-4, I'm in trouble."

No. We’ll be quite happy with 4 for 4 every night.

Welcome to Fenway, new dudes. We told you you’d like it.

4/11/2006 9:26:50 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Quick hits on opening day...

* Lineups here.

* Pitch well, Josh. Those Blue Jays are hitting well. Be better than their Josh. Shouldn't be a problem.

* Heal quick, Coco.

* Welcome (back) to the show, Dustan.

* Happy birthday, Trot and Tek.

* As part of the opening ceremonies, six members of the 1946 American League Champions, including Bobby Doerr, Charlie Wagner, Eddie Pellagrini,