We just live in it.

With permission from Hideki Okajima, of course.

Great series.

Now, please let the Boss fire Torre and hire Donnie Baseball instead.

Of course he doesn’t deserve it. But I want the standings to continue looking like this.

4/30/2007 11:46:14 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

4/27/2007 9:20:07 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [9] |  

Bad game last night. Really, really bad.

But that’s how it works. No pitch + no hit + no field = no win.

But there are still things to smile about.

Enjoy this while it lasts.

 

Because it won’t for long.

4/25/2007 11:00:22 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Tough loss. Even through the TV, you could feel the energy waning. As is their wont, the bats let Wakefield down. (Credit where credit’s due to that other Japanese guy.) And Timlin didn’t help things, even if he did, like, save his own life.

But, somehow, it was all easier to stomach after this past weekend.

That doesn’t mean I don’t wanna win tonight.

Hopefully Crazy Julian can hold his own against Doc Halladay again. Stranger things have happened.

And speaking of JT, please talk amongst yourselves: is Daisuke amused, bemused, or annoyed by his new buddy?

In other news, I don’t think I could like Hideki Okajima more right now.

A Sox executive said this weekend that another club had offered Okajima more money; Okajima confirmed that last night but said through interpreter Sachi Sekiguchi that it wasn't an issue.

"The Red Sox were the first team to offer me a contract," Okajima said. "I always pictured myself in Boston. No matter what someone else offered, I was going to pitch in Boston."

Awesome. Glad to have you, Shadow Warrior.

RIP, David Halberstam
He will be missed. I haven’t read his Bill Belichick bio, nor, I’m embarrassed to admit, do I own his account of the 1949 pennant race, which I’ve heard could only be better if the Red Sox had won.

But, The Teammates, his smallish, intimate portrait of the lifelong close friendship between Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky is a must-read for any Red Sox fan, especially as great men like these enter their twilight.

4/24/2007 12:11:01 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

I’ve been thinking all morning about how to do this past weekend justice, and I’ve decided I can’t. So here goes.

Best non-postseason three-game stretch in recent memory? I’m gonna say yes.

Just...wow. This is why baseball is the greatest game ever invented. We scored seven runs each game. Yet each game was different, each game amazing in its own way, each one of those special specimens that send fans spilling into the street, silly grins plastered across their faces, frantically texting their friends:

OKAJEEMER!

PAPELBON = NAILS

HOLY SHIT!

UN. REAL.

First, of all there was the weather. Spring, finally, has arrived. And it puts people in a very good mood. Winning is gravy.

I was at the park both Friday night and Saturday afternoon, and both games were about as electric as I’d ever seen the place.

Well, not at first. Things were pretty glum in the bleachers after A-Rod’s deposited that second long ball into the bullpen Friday. But then, quite all of a sudden, things changed.

As he always seems to do, Torre brought in Myers to face Ortiz.

And, as he always seems to do, Ortiz doubled off Myers to deep center.

Manny walked. Mike Lowell singled Papi home.

Enter Sandman.

Varitek scored Manny with a single.

Coco tripled, scoring Tek and Lowell.

Then, just like he had the day before, Cora blooped and Crisp blazed.

Boston 7, New York 6.

Who nails down the game? Why, Hideki Okajima of course. The Shadow Warrior. Darkman.

A ground out. A walk. A line-out. A strikeout.

Cue the Standells.

Saturday was resplendent. PERFECT baseball weather.

Josh Beckett was far from perfect, but that didn’t matter in the end. When you have a man like David Ortiz on your team (2 for 5 with a homer and four RBI) you can afford to give up five runs in six-and-two-thirds innings.

And when you have a closer who shoots fire out of his eyes, that lead will usually stand.

Then there was Dice-K. Not bad. Not great. But not bad. At least now he knows what to expect.

These are the @#$%& Yankees, after all. And they can rake. (Even though he swears he didn’t mean to plunk A-Rod and Jeter, I’m gonna keep telling myself that he did.)

The good news? So can we.

Manny. Kapow!

JD. Boom!

Lowell. Eee-Yow!

Tek. Crushed!

Wily Mo, alas, could not make it five. When he got back to the dugout after striking out, Lowell informed the New York Post, "We told him he sucks."

An even better quote, from Dice-K: “As I was watching them in the bench, especially when the third, and then fourth home run happened, I had a hard time keeping my cool.”

What a show.

So there you go. Another homer in the seventh from Mikey Lowell, who does not suck. Some fancy glovework from Dustin Pedroia. Another Papelbon save.

Another win.

After 1,999 meetings, this is still the best rivalry is sports.

This is baseball. As good as it gets. And Bob Ryan — who I love — could not be more wrong.

Let's do it again next weekend.

4/23/2007 1:35:08 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

4/18/2007 2:53:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

You've no doubt heard of Charity Wines/Longball Vineyards' new vintages, Manny Being Merlot, Schilling Schardonnay and Tim Wakefield’s CaberKnuckle.

Well, here are some more suggestions. My favorites: "Wily Moët Pena," "Matsusake," and "Dustin Madeira."

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

4/18/2007 2:26:15 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Too early in the season to be losing sleep over games?

Too late. I tossed and turned into the wee hours last night, replaying that fourth inning over and over in my mind.

Wells’s slow-rolling single. That walk to Frank Thomas. Overbay’s shoulda-been-DP single, just millimeters under Lugo's glove. Another walk to Hill, then another one to Zaun, scoring the go-ahead run. Dice-K has just five BBs this season, and three of them came last night.

Ugh. And for the rest of the game he was so @#$%& good! Ten strikeouts. Again. The last guy to K 10 each in two of his first three starts since Valenzuela back in ’81. He was mixing pitches and making guys look foolish. (But where's that changeup? And should we be worried about the stretch?)

Matsuzaka and Okajima — who at this point seems constitutionally incapable of walking anyone — combined to strike out 13 Blue Jays. Joel Pineiro pitched a perfect eighth. We outhit them 7-3. (Coco went 2-4 with a double, bumping that average up to a robust .150, and Wily Mo answered my wishes in a BIG way.)

Yet in the end we went down to a pitcher who looks like the unmasked Darth Vader.

You know the old saw: You’ll win 60, you’ll lose 60, it’s the other 42 that are up for grabs.

In my very humble opinion, last night’s game was grabbed by the wrong team.

(Perhaps the Blue Jays were driven to such an overpowering three-hit victory thanks to those 42,000 vociferous fans, most of whom were there thanks to some stupid “Toonie Tuesday” promo. That’s two bucks — Canadian — to sit the nosebleed seats and chant “Red Sox Suck.” Where were these passionate diehards in ’04 and ’05? For some reason, this team and their fans annoy more more than anyone else but You Know Who.)

Anyway, what’s done is done. Now we’ve squandered the second good outing from one of our marquee pitchers. Tonight we have Wakefield — who, while comfortable pitching in domes, and possessor of the lowest ERA on the team, is never fail-safe — and Tavarez going against these guys. Last night was a game we should’ve won. Tonight and tomorrow are games we have to.

This is a very important stretch. (“Most crucial of the season” is pushing it.) But the next two games against the Jays, those three this weekend against the MFY at Fenway, and then two more against Toronto at home, come at a very opportune time.

Here we can put a bit distance between ourselves and our two closest rivals that might come in handy later in the season after we enter our patented June-July doldrums and the Pinstripes, as always, come charging back. Troy Glaus and BJ Ryan are out of commission. So are three fifths of the Yankees’ starting rotation. Now is the time to step on their necks.

4/18/2007 12:11:47 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [38] |  

This happens almost every year. I may well be jinxing a season that could end up as bad or even worse than the tragic 2006 campaign. This is a ball club that’s infamous for starting strong, raising your hopes all summer long, then punching you in the gut when it matters most. There are 151 games left to play. It could all go south tomorrow.

But I’ll say it anyway. I’m starting to really like this team.

Let’s just go down the lineup for yesterday’s game, shall we? (Thankfully, Coco did not play; I have not lost faith, but the less said about him right now, the better.)

Julio Lugo. Um, like, wow. That lead-off double to get things started yesterday was sweet enough. (He leads the team in hits, BTW.) But those three Web Gem-worthy plays? Wow. Just...wow. Maybe he’ll stick around for a while.

Kevin Youkilis. The beard has got to go. But he’s shown nothing so far to suggest he won’t have a great season. OPB (.386) and SLG (.421) are about where they should be. And at the bag, he’s a pickin’ machine.

David Ortiz. He hit his fourth home run yesterday, his second of the weekend. He has more than the rest of the team combined. And he’s hitting them to deeeeepest center. Could he crack 60?

Manny Ramirez. He’s only hitting .200, but he’s in the team’s top five for RBIs, and he just got profiled in the New Yorker — “reading material,” sez Edes, “that is as likely to be seen inside a baseball clubhouse as Crochet! Magazine.” Actually, I have it on good authority that Manny is a subscriber dating back to Robert Gottlieb years, and that he regularly enters the cartoon caption contest using a variety of pseudonyms. (Actually, that’s not true at all.)

J.D. Drew. He’s hittin’ good. Real good. With a .342 batting average he’s ninth and the AL, and he had what could’ve been a ten-game hitting streak ended on Saturday thanks only to Terry Francona’s heedlessness.

Mike Lowell. He seems to get the big hits at the right times. He’ll seldom kill a rally. He loves that left field corner. Drove in three runs the other night. Six doubles and counting.

Jason Varitek. He’s got to start hitting. Got to. (Hey, he did, uh, draw a walk yesterday!) But — and I know you’ve heard this before — he’s handles this pitching staff like a master. And that’s important. And it’s a lot harder that you might think.

Wily Mo Pena. Can’t hit curves. Can’t hit off-speed stuff. But, boy, can he mash those fastballs. At least he could last year. He needs more playing time. I wanna see that crabwalk ‘round the horn again. Soon.

Alex Cora. Smartest player in the majors? Future manager? Perhaps. But that’s for another day. Yesterday, he had sweet two-out RBI in that huge first, and a nice little heads up play in the sixth. Supersub!

Josh Beckett. 3-0 so far. 1.50 ERA. .83 WHIP. He will win 22 games. He will win the Cy Young. He will hit 15 more batters. He will make this face 47 more times:

All that and a slice of pie.

Best quote from the major media (kudos to Tomase for some fine shoe-leather reporting):

“They had been giving us (expletive) about it,” Madore said. “Next thing I know, there’s a fly ball to left field and it goes foul and my buddy says, ‘You want some pizza now?’ And he hits him right in the face. Hey, the guy wasn’t paying attention. When you’re in the stands you’ve got to be ready for anything - a foul ball, a flying slice of pizza, everything.”

Best quote from SoSH (courtesy of Smackdown924):

Oh my god.... I didn't think so when I first saw it, but now that I look again.... watch the rotation of the pizza as it leaves his hand. The Patriot's guy seems to pronate his wrist as his arm comes forward, imparting a bullet-like spin on the pie. The guy with the Sox had never had a chance.

Luckily he threw a pizza and not a gyro, that could have gotten messy. Imagine a gyro with gyro spin..... that could be the ultimate pitch.... or lunch.

Something tells me fans in the Rogers Center would never do that. A) They’re Canadian, and Canadians are really nice. B) Up until recently, that place is quiet as a library, even when the team is winning.

We’ll see how it goes tonight. The Blue Jays have been winning just as much as we have. But we're in first place and they are not. Our first AL East opponent of the year will be a tough one. They always are. Luckily, our guy is used to playing in domes. Let’s just hope he gets used to the balls we use in the Western Hemisphere.

4/17/2007 12:59:07 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

4/13/2007 6:21:38 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

The less said about Friday and Saturday the better.

But last night?

Yes.

Yes.

And YES.

All that stuff I was saying about Papelbon moving to the pen? Never mind.

“Incredible.”

Well said.

And welcome home, boys. See you tomorrow.

4/9/2007 12:10:18 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

4/6/2007 2:24:25 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [18] |  

Watched the first five innings at Game On!

(That exclamation point is part of the name. I was excited, but not that excited!!!!!)

The place wasn’t nearly as crowded as I’d figured it would be. In fact, a goodly number of the people there were Japanese reporters and cameramen interviewing bartenders and beaming images of people sneaking out for a couple pops on their lunch break 7000 miles across the globe, back to Japan, where it was 3 a.m. (Here’s how you get there, by the way.)

Can they spare any more reporters? There were reportedly 135 of them in Kansas City.

Anyway, the guy next to me was from Hokkaido, and his name was Hide (pronounced Hee-day). I think that might be a diminutive of Hideki, which would be fitting since his team back in Japan is the Yomiyuri Giants, former home to Hideki Okajima and Hideki Matsui. In fact, the latter is a favorite of Hide — and that, plus the fact that he lives in New York, means that he’s a Yankees fan.

(He’s not wild about Okajima, incidentally, because “he’s not that good.”)

But today, said Hide, he was a Red Sox fan. For one day only. Because today was a special day. Today, Daisuke Matsuzaka stood on a mound, bathed in the chilly April breeze, and made his major league debut.

It was a little Dicey at first (ha! ha!) what with that single and that walk. But then that double play settled him down right quick. And thhe next four innings were pretty clean. It was cold, but he was just cool. Before you knew it, he was just mowing guys down. Mixing it up, changing speeds, keeping ahead of 'em, keeping 'em guessing.

In the fourth, Esteban German is called out on strikes. Bam. Mark Teahen Ks swinging. Bam. Emil Brown goes down swings. Bam bam bam.

A homer in the sixth, but then two more strikeouts in the seventh. Call it a day.

Romero and Papelbon nailed it down in the eighth and ninth. And that was all she wrote.

As the sun rises in the land of the rising sun, millions upon millions of Japanese hit the sack at four in the morning with smiles on their faces.

I think we got ourselves a nice starting pitcher.

4/5/2007 5:47:27 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Hey, good game last night!

Beckett? Got the job done, even if he didn’t always, as Joe Jackson is wont to say, look sharp

Lowell? He’s never made three errors in a game before. Something tells me he’ll never do it again. He will, however, hit several more doubles. Just a hunch.

The bullpen looked great.

Manny and Tek got their first hits, Youks got his first homer, and JD Drew continues to amaze and astound.

Well, he doesn’t astound me. I expected him to be this good. Let’s just hope he stays healthy and makes all the Dirt Dogs, Glob bloggers, and ‘EEIdiots in this town eat crow.

(And, jeez, he’d better be healthy, what with the cosmonaut-tested healing device, hyperbaric oxygen chamber, infrared sauna, and the chips implanted in his cell phones and computers to limit radiation damage. And that’s not even counting the Makers Diet and the Living Fuel. Yum!)

Now, of course, comes the big event. One hour and counting. I’ll be taking a late lunch to catch the first few innings and will report back later this afternoon.

No pressure kid.

4/5/2007 1:00:01 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

4/5/2007 1:34:16 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

* Manny strikes out looking.

* Wily Mo (pinch-hitting for JD) strikes out. Four straight Ks for the other Joel.

* Mike Lowell scorches one down the third base line. The man loves his doubles.

* Varitek flies to deep right.

Guess who won’t be winning 162 games this year?

And guess who’s got 48 hours to think about it?

4/2/2007 7:06:45 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Joel Pineiro in.

Gload beats out on an infield single.

Buck flies out to shortstop.

Pena triples to deep left center. Again.

Dejesus grounds out to first.

Grudzielanek flies out to center.

4/2/2007 6:59:52 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Crisp grounds out to first.

* Pedroia singles to center…just barely.

* Meche out to loud applause. They like their new ace!

* Lugo lines one up the middle for his first Red Sox hit.

* Youk gets it to a full count, then strikes out. Way to let the worst bullpen in baseball off the hook.

Gobble and Riske. Warming up. Two great bullpen names.

* Ortiz steps in agains Joel Peralta. Puts up a good fight, but Ks swinging with two on.

4/2/2007 6:40:27 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Teahen strikes out swinging.

* Sweeney singles to left.

* Gordon grounded out to first, Sweeney to second.

Tito pats Okajima on the butt. Donnelly in.

* Shealy strikes out.

4/2/2007 6:22:32 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

4/2/2007 6:12:33 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [14] |  

* Drew grounds to first. Meche is killing us. And making it look easy.

* Lowell flies to right.

* Tek grounds weakly to short.

4/2/2007 6:12:09 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Okajima sacks up admirably and strikes out Pena on a high fastball.

* Dejesus skies one to the warning track in center. Coco shags it.

* Remy complaining about the Japanese boxed lunches the media were served today. Orsillo notes that Remy “killed two of them” anyway.

* Grudzielanek grounds to third.

4/2/2007 6:07:44 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Okajima in. First pitch launched over centerfield wall. 6-1.

Welcome to the Major Leagues, shadow warrior. And this isn’t even the AL East.

4/2/2007 6:01:34 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Youkils reaches first on an errant throw (strangely, it’s scored as a hit). Gets cocky. Out at second by A LOT. In@#$%excusable.

* Ortiz hit by pitch. Takes his base. Miraculously, he does not try to steal second.

* Moot point. Manny grounds into a DP.

This game displeases me.

4/2/2007 5:59:21 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Lugo and Pedroia turn their first double play of the season.

* Gload chops one to first.

Seven pitches and out for Javier Lopez.

4/2/2007 5:50:55 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Coco strikes out looking on what he thought was ball four

* This is just not our day. Pedroia out at first on a jaw-dropping defensive play courtesy of our old catcher’s offspring.

* Julio Lugo with the strikeout hat trick. Is it time to start missing Gonzalez yet?

This game is only half over. Is that good news or bad news?

4/2/2007 5:45:44 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Gload grounds to second.

* Buck doubles to left.

* Son of Pena walks on five pitches. (Surprisingly, only Schilling’s second BB.)

* Dejesus flies to left. Javier Lopez starts warming up in the pen.

* Crudzielanek lofts a double to deep right over Drew’s head. Buck and Pena both score. 4-1 bad guys.

* Teahen scorches one to center. Grud scores. 5-1. I have to say, I was not expecting the game to play out like this.

* Sweeney, mercifully, strikes out.

4/2/2007 5:36:35 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Manny grounds to third.

* JD singles to right. Congrats on the first Sox hit. On-board percentage!

* Lowell reaches on fielders choice. JD out at second. Bah!

* Tek strikes out looking. This is fun.

4/2/2007 5:26:23 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Sweeney flies out to center.

* Schilling strikes out Alex Gordon again. His fourth of the game.

* Shealy grounds to third.

Finally, a nice, quick (15 pitch) 1-2-3 inning for the ace of the staff.

4/2/2007 5:16:08 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Lugo strikes out (again) on an inside fastball.

* Youk flies out to right. Not liking this team’s patience so far.

* Ortiz out on a slow dribbler up the first base line.

Ugh. This is Gil Meche, guys.  At least make him work for it.

4/2/2007 5:08:11 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Buck works a full count, but grounds to short.

* Tony Pena, Jr. triples to center (almost a HR) as Coco stumbles all over himself trying to pick it up and get it back in. Curt's changeup is not  really working for him.

* Dejesus Ks looking on a nasty outside fastball. Second strikeout of the game for Schill. He needed that.

* But throws his 50^th pitch of the game for a ball to Grudzielanek…who singles on another bad changeup past Youkilis. Pena scores. 2-1 KCR.

* Teahen strikes out swinging.

4/2/2007 5:01:03 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Well, that was quick.

* Tek pops out to shallow right.

* Coco grounds to second…something I have the feeling he’ll be doing a lot of this season.

* Pedroia hits one down the third base line…but ill-advisedly tries to stretch it into a double. Out by a mile. Or at least 10 feet.

Again: WTF?

Same old, same old.

4/2/2007 4:50:57 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Dejesus flies out to right. JD snags it easy with plenty of room.

* Grudzielanek singles to left.

* Teahan singles to center. Uh-oh.

* Sweeney lines a base hit into left. WTF?

* Uber prospect Alex Gordon, a lifelong Royals fan, in his first Major League at-bat, finds the bases loaded. Strikes out on a splitter.

* Shealy walks. Grudzielanek scores. Tie game.

* Gload flies out to center. Thank the maker.

Schill looking very mortal so far…already thrown about 35 pitches.

4/2/2007 4:44:02 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* Lugo strikes out swinging after working a full count.

* Youkilis continues that hot spring…singles to right.

* Ortiz lines an authoritative double to left center. Youk scores. 1-0 Sox!

* Manny flies out to center on a hard-hit ball.

* JD Drew bumps up that OBP to 1.0 with a walk.

* Mike Lowell skies one back and toward the stands…would have been an easy out, but a fan interferes…strikes out swinging with two men on. D’oh!

4/2/2007 4:27:05 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

looks FANTASTIC.

4/2/2007 4:01:44 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

By all rights, we should win today. And Wednesday, and Thursday. (Thanks, by the way, to whoever decided to schedule Matsuzaka's start, one of the most anticipated Major League debuts in baseball history, at 2 p.m. on a weekday. I'm hoping, at least, that that's partly for the benefit of his fans back home, many time zones away.)

Anyway. Today. Everything is set in place.

Schilling feels good, and has added to his repertoire.

Big Papi is ready to "Kill the ball!" (And so is Manny ... enjoy it.)

Coco and JD have a lot to prove, but could very well do just that.

Papelbon is back where he belongs.

Matsuzaka seems to know what he's in for next Wednesday, but still, really, has no idea.

The bloggers — Hart and Red & Denton and Chad and Seth and Curt and the hundreds more like them — have itchy fingers. (Curt will just have to wait a bit while he tends to his day job, but don't be surprised to see a new post at 9:17 p.m. breaking down every pitch he throws this afternoon.)

The SoSH game thread is locked and loaded.

I'll be blogging every inning starting around 3:30 this afternoon; check back later today.

In the mean time... last week, I buckled up for Ravi Jain's most excellent video blog, DriveTime, to talk about Matsuzaka Mania and the upcoming season. My fellow guest was Momo Shinzawa, who translated for our Japanese viewers, and instructed the Fenway Faithful on how to tell Dice-K how great he is. Stay tuned to the end of this talk show on wheels for a special guest — from the trunk!

(More on DriveTime here.)

4/2/2007 11:58:27 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |