Results tagged ‘ Daisuke Matsuzaka ’
Yard Sale at Fenway
No, I am not even talking about the Mike Lowell deal (which is not official, yet).
Yesterday, when I got home from work around 3pm, this email was sitting in my inbox:
Everyone,
I
know this is extremely late notice but the Red Sox have just invited all ARAMARK
employees to come on down to the yard sale today. You can enter through Gate
E. They are selling a number of different things ranging from $10-$700+.
Please forward this along to your distribution lists if
possible.Thanks,
This, of course, was the first I ever heard of it. What notice! This would have been awesome to go to. However, apparently, the Red Sox weren’t too keen on promoting this event. I did a google search for “Yard Sale at Fenway Park” and didn’t really see much pertaining to 2009 except for this, a post Fenway neighborhood blog:
1:22 PM
Posted by
Stephen BrophyDear Fenway Neighbors,
Please join us for a
great opportunity to finish up (or begin!) your holiday shopping at the
Great Fenway Park Yard Sale today at Fenway Park until 5pm!Items for sale include unique Red Sox memorabilia and one-of-a-kind items from Fenway Park.
Please enter through Gate E and let them know you’re a Fenway neighbor.
Hope to see you there!!!
Happy shopping!!
Beth Krudys
Interesting to find out how many people knew about this and how many people were there. However, apparently it was quite successful because today the Red Sox have agreed to a 5 year contract with form Los Angeles of Anaheim Angel John Lackey and have made an offer of $15.5 million to Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman and are close to a deal with perennial Gold Glove outfielder Mike Cameron.
While Lackey is a quality starting pitcher who has won quite a few big games in his career, I cannot say that I am truly enamored with this signing. This does make a strong rotation for 2010 with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buccholz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and now Lackey. However, with this contract being reported as a 5 yr / $85 million contract, you have to wonder how this signing is going to affect the Josh Beckett negotiations. Beckett will become a free agent at the end of 2010. Beckett will command a contract AT LEAST the length and size of Lackey’s deal. With the Red Sox’ history of re-signing their own free agents (case in point Jason Bay right now; hence the news of an impending deal with Cameron), this has got to put up some red flags that this is Beckett’s last season in Fenway. Besides Varitek a few years ago, I can’t really remember a premier player that the Red Sox re-signed once the player filed for free agency. I hope this will not be the case, as Beckett still has quite a few years of top of the rotation pitching left in his career. Time will tell.
This has not only been a busy Monday for the Red Sox, but a busy Monday baseball wide. The big news of the day is the big Roy Halladay / Cliff Lee trade that is on the verge of being finalized. This is a 3 team trade in which Halladay goes to Philadelphia (pending a contract extension being signed), Cliff Lee heads off to Seattle, and a bunch of prospects will go to Toronto. This will be exciting to hear about the finalized deal.
A lot of times, the MLB “Hot Stove” season is a bit over-hyped and over-rated, but today has been an exciting day. It has made me tune back into the MLB Network today after their rude programming where they replayed the Bucky “Bleeping” Dent game. Gahhhhhhhh!
Go Sox!!!!
Against the Ropes
On a side note, there was a nice piece in today’s USA Today about some legendary play-by-play guys. Vin Scully and Harry Kalas are broadcasting legends. I can remember NBC Saturday Baseball games manned by Scully and Joe Garagiola, not too mention the many World Series games he’s called. I was more familiar with Harry Kalas as the narrator for a lot of the NFL Films productions, with his unique voice. While dating my wife, and the many times I drove to her place, for some reason the local Boston AM station wouldn’t come in (mind boggling), but somehow I could pick up 1210 AM out of Phillie, and hear Kalas call the Phillies games for part of the ride. To me, these are the voice of baseball, along with Mel Allen who I knew mostly from This Week in Baseball. How about that? Anyway, a nice piece to take a look at.Time to Panic? I think not!
It’s been a busy week, both for me and for baseball. Sorry for the absence of posts, however, I was helping the little woman prepare the house for a party in celebration of our daughter’s 1st Birthday / Baptism which took place on Sunday. The event was a success, while the Patriots game later that night was not a success.
Anyway, a lot has happened. The Phillies are on the verge of returning to the World Series for the first time since 1993 (oh Mitch Williams, your redemption may come) after taking a 3 – 1 series lead over the Dodgers. Game 3 of the series provide a weak attempt at recreating the Red Sox – Rays brawl from this summer. It was another humorous square dancing event, rather than a fight.
Meanwhile, our beloved Red Sox started out great, shutting out the Rays in Game 1 behind a great pitching performance by Dice-K. Red Sox fans had visions of a 3 game to zero lead in their head with Beckett and Lester to follow, but the Rays bats through in a monkey wrench. Tampa’s offense came alive with back-to-back games of 9 runs, bashing 7 HRs in the processes, reducing Beckett and Lester to the likes of John Wasdin and Matt Young (minus the walks).
Meanwhile (I feel like the narrator from the old Batman TV series with all of these meanwhiles), the Red Sox lumber have seem to take an extended slumber. Aside from Pedroia (.545), Youkilis (.429), and Bay (.455) not another batter is batting above .250. Ellsbury, Ortiz, and Varitek are all hitless in the series.
Should we be worrying? History says no. We all remember 2004, down 3 games to zero to the Yankees, don’t we? How about 2007 where we were down 3 games to 1 to the Indians and had to face their 2 best pitchers in games 6 and 7? So, being down 2 games to 1 while troublesome, is not worrisome on the whole.
Tonight, we have Tim Wakefield slated to start against Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4. In 3 starts this season versus TB, Wakefield is 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA. The Red Sox have lost all 3 of those games. Sonnanstine, in 2 starts, is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has given up only 7 hits, 2 walks and 2 Unearned runs in 13 innings while Tampa has won both of those games. So, looking at those numbers, it doesn’t look good for tonight.
However, so far in these 3 games, nothing has really gone as anticipated. I mean, how many people predicted that Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz would combine for zero hits and 1 RBI in the 3 games? Would you be surprised if Wakefield went 8 innings of 3 hit baseball? Well, maybe! There is still lots of baseball to be played, and lots of thing could be happen. That one thing that would truly be surprising, though, is if Ortiz finishes the series still without a hit.
Go Sox!
Manny Who?
Jason Bay’s 2-run homer in the 6th propelled the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory in Game 1 of the ALDS versus the Angels. The blast also had me saying “Manny Who?”, as it sailed over the wall in left field. Chip Carey must have heard me, as he repeated the question on the TBS broadcast, but I’m sure it was sentiment echoed throughout Red Sox nation. Bay also doubled in the 8th to go 2-4 in his first post season game. I don’t know how much pressure Bay really felt coming into this game, but while he is not Manny Ramirez, he is a more than suitable replacement for him. However, Bay was not the only hero on the night.
With is defense, at the plate, and on the base paths, Jacoby Ellsbury picked up 
where he left off last post-season. Ellsbury was 3-5 with a double, an rbi, a run scored, and 2 stolen bases. He lifted his average in the post-season from .360 to .400. However, the play of the night may have been his spectacular catch on Mark Teixeira’s 8th inning blooper. That prevented the lead-off man from reaching, which proved especially important when Vladimir Guerrerro and Torri Hunter followed with singles. More on that later, though.
This could almost be a hockey blog, because the 3rd star of the night for the Sox was undoubtedly Jon Lester. He continued his ascension to becoming a #1 Ace with his performance tonight. 7 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run are the numbers for him. More importantly was the poise with which he performed. Unshakeable, he over came the rare Jed Lowrie error that extended the Angels 3rd, allowing Hunter to knock in the games first run. I thought (if you call yelling at the TV thinking) that Bay could have dove to catch Hunter’s single, as it practically dropped at his feet, but I guess it was smart to be cautious. After that 3rd inning, Lester allowed just 3 singles over the last 4 innings. He retired the last 7 batters in a row he faced, striking out 4 of them. If Lester is going to continue to pitch like this during the post season, Boston is going to be a happy town.
nt play of the night for the Red Sox may have been what happened right after that catch. Guerrero followed the catch with a line-drive single through the left side of the infield against Justin Masterson. On a 1-1 count to Torri Hunter, Masterson got him to pop-up. However, the ball just carried over the outstretched arm of Sox 1b Kevin Youkilis, dropping for a single. Guerrerro, without picking up the stop sign of 3rd base coach Dino Ebel, rounded second and headed for third base. Youkilis was quickly up with the ball and gunned down Guerrero at 3rd base by about 20 feet. Instead of having the Red Sox in a jam with runners on 1st and 2nd and one out, the Angels had a runner at 1st with 2 outs. Howie Kendrick followed with a ground (that may have been a double play ball if Guerrerro didn’t get thrown out, but who knows) out to Lowrie at short, and the Sox had 3 outs left to get, which Jonathan Paplebon did by striking out the side in the 9th.
In their returns to the line-up, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew each went 0-4 with a strike out. A couple of Lowell’s at bats were not typical Lowell at bats. So we’ll see how both of these guys come back after Thursday’s off-day when Daisuke Matsuzaka is scheduled to pitch against Ervin Santana in what should be another pitchers duel. Only a 9:30pm start to that one, so hopefully I won’t be up as late as last night. But it was worth it.
Dreams Drowned Out. Can’t we flood the domes?
Well, the Sox’ dream of winning the AL East were drowned out last
night, literally, as the Yanks spanked a plethora of pitcher in route
to a 19-8 victory. Hey, that score rings a bell to me. Oh, yeah…I
remember:
We all remember what happened after that game…
Anyway,
congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays on officially winning the AL East
last night. What an amazing season they’ve had, indeed. It is actually
refreshing to see a team other than the Yankees or Red Sox winning the
AL East. I probably wouldn’t be saying that if the Red Sox didn’t
clinch the wild card, but they did finish third in 2005. The Rays are
actually a team I could root for, except for the 2 things:
1) They play in the AL East.
2) They play in a Dome.
I
hate domes. For baseball or football, it doesn’t matter, it is just
strange to watch a game in those venues. Basketball is an indoor sport.
Not baseball. Not football. Not too mention, the game should be played
on REAL grass, definitely not turf. It is one of the reasons I am
hoping the White Sox win the Central instead of the Twins. The
Metrodome is one of the ugliest looking places I’ve seen. Thank
goodness Minnesota is getting a new stadium in 2010.
This
playoff race is getting great. Twins still lead the White Sox by a 1/2
game after each team lost last night. The Twins have 2 to play while
the White Sox may have 3 to play. The Mets lost while both the Phillies
and Brewers won, seriously crippling the Mets playoff chances. Phillies
need 1 win in the final 2 to lock up the East, or just need the Mets to
lose again which is the more likely scenario. The Brewers took a 1 game
lead in the Wild Card with 2 games to play. Any Brewers win and Mets
loss clinches the post season for Milwaukee.
I wish I had the MLB Ticket today, 4 must watch games, plus Yankees – Red Sox. I will definately refreshing ESPN MLB Scoreboard quite a bit today.
Anyway,
the Sox will send Beckett out today and Matsuzaka to the hill on Sunday
as it appears they will be setting their post season rotation as: 1)
Beckett, 2) Matsuzaka, 3) Lester, and 4) Depends on if Angels pick
“Series A” or “Series B”. There had been a lot of debate on the
airwaves about whether Lester or Matsuzaka should be the #2 pitcher in
the post season. Most of the arugments stemmed from Matsuzaka’s
performance on the road this season and Lester performance at Fenway
while others argued that your 2nd best pitcher should start #2 no
matter the circumstances.
The biggest news, though, is the
status of Mike Lowell. He left last night’s game after he appeared to
be in a lot of pain. So, his status for the post season remains in
doubt. It will be a big blow if he is not on the roster.
It’s
not raining right now, so hopefully they’ll be able to get in today’s
game and hopefully we can finish the regular season on a good note.
Go Sox!
GremEQ
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