Results tagged ‘ White Sox ’

Byrd is the Wyrd

…or “word” for those that don’t get. Yeah, so it’s my own take on rhyming and writing.

It was
actually ironic that in his first start of the 2009 season, Paul Byrd
was facing the Toronto Blue Jays. In a span of three consecutive starts
(1 with Cleveland, 2 with Boston after we was traded in a waiver wire
deal) in August of 2008 he faced those Blue Jays. 5 of his last 10
starts of 2008 were against the Blue Jays as well. He was 2-2 with 1
no-decision in those 5 starts. So what were the expectations today? 5
innings? 3 runs? Keep the game close against Blue Jay ace Roy Halliday?
I think all of those would have been more than what the Red Sox would
have like to get out of Byrd. What did they get?

How about 6
shutout innings. 3 hits allowed to go along with 3 walks. I don’t even
think a performance like that entered anyone’s mind, not even Byrd’s.
What a follow up to Clay Buchholz’s splendid start the night before.  It was a great lift for the Red Sox tattered starting rotation, and
hopefully this is something Byrd can build off for the rest of the
season.

However, Byrd was not the only who made a big impression in their 2009 Red Sox debut. This guy was outstanding as well:

Newly
(well, it was almost a week ago now) acquired reliever Billy Wagner
final appeared in his first game as a Red Sox. He showed how nasty of
lefty he can be. He struck out the side, around a double in while
pitching the 8th inning. 11 of his 16 pitches were for strikes. Not
more you could have expected from him either. He will be a great weapon
to have in that bullpen down the stretch and during the playoffs (being
optimistic the Sox will end up winning the wild card) as well.

It
was a great way to end the homestand with a sweep of the flailing
Toronto Blue Jays. The Sox now head on a 7 game road trip to their
house of horrors in Tampa Bay and then the Windy City. This will be an
opportunity to knock the Rays right out of the wild card race, as well
as put the final nail in the White Sox playoff coffin that the Yankees
started closing up this weekend.

Go Sox!

And the winner is….

This next week or so is one of my favorite times of the baseball off-season. Although there is no red carpet like at the Oscars or the Emmys, to me the MLB Award season is a lot more fun. Over the course of the next 9 days we will find out the winners of: AL & NL Rookie of the Year, NL Cy Young, AL & NL Manager of the Year, AL Cy Young, NL MVP, and AL MVP.

For the most part, however, this award season is probably a little too predictable. There is a clear cut choice in 6 of the 8 categories, with only the NL Manager and AL MVP still unclear. Here is how I think it is going to go in other categories:

AL Rookie: Evan Longoria
NL Rookie: Geovany Soto
NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum
AL Manager: Joe Maddon
AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee
NL MVP: Albert Puljos
 
The only one of the above that may not be a sure thing to win is Puljos, since the new fad in MVP voting is your team needs to make the post season. I will stand my ground there, but it will be interesting to see how many votes C.C. Sabathia and Manny Ramirez get in this category.
 
However, up for grabs are the NL Manager and AL MVP.
Now, let’s take a look at the nominees for NL Manager of the Year:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia Phillies
Led the Phillies to their 2nd consecutive NL East title. (Won the World Series, but that result has no bearing on the voters since ballots are due by the end of the regular season.)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fredi Gonzalez, Florida Marlins
Took a young team with the lowest payroll in baseball and had them in the NL East / Wildcard mix for most of the summer. The team finished with a respectable 84-77 record, which would have forced at least a tie if they played in the NL West.

 
Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers
Led the Dodgers back to the post-season, pulling the team (along with the acquisitions of Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez) through a rough stretch to overtake the Diamondbacks and pull away in the NL West.

 
Lou Pinella, Chicago Cubs
Led the Cubs to the best record in the NL and 2nd consecutive NL Central title.

My Choice: Lou Pinella

Now, here are the nominees for the AL MVP award:

 
Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
302-35-103 OPS: .965. Stellar number once again, but with the Yankees out of the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons, he is not in the talk for this award. Additionally, since this year is an even year (2008), recent history says A-Rod will not even place better than 10th in the race. However, he will probably finishing somewhere between 4-8 in the voting.

 
Carlos Quentin, Chicago White Sox
.288-30-100 OPS: .965. Led the White Sox offensively, until missing the final month of the season with an injury. He may have been the leader of the pack at one time, but that injury may be what keeps him from winning, as he was limited to only 130 games.

 
Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
.326-17-83 OPS: .869. Pretty much was lifted into MVP contention with a stellar August with clutch hit after clutch hit, picking up for Manny Ramirez. He even hit in the clean-up hole for a couple games with big results. Boston fans will light up the WEEI phone lines if he doesn’t win it, but I’m not sure he is the favorite, it is that close in this race.

 
Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
.328-9-85 OPS: .864. Winning a batting title as a catcher is a TOUGH thing to do. This was his 2nd batting title in 4 seasons. He plays the most demanding position in baseball, and I’ve heard some talk that he is more valuable to the Twins than Morneau is. However, he probably is the darkest horse in this race.


 
Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
.304-32-130 OPS: .901. He got off to a monster start, and was the story of baseball by the All-Star break. However, he faded a bit during the hot Texas summer, and not too mention he plays on the Rangers. If he was on the Angels, Red Sox, Yankees, or White Sox he’d be the winner hands down.


 
Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins
.300-23-129 OPS: .873. May be the front runner with Pedroia for this award, he was the offensive power for the Twins again AND played in all 163 games. However, could his and Mauer’s 0 for in the playoff game with the White Sox affect his chances in a race this close?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
.312-29-115 OPS: .959. Filled the void in the clean-up hole that was left when Manny decided he didn’t want to play in Boston anymore. This was definately a career year for Youkilis, and I think he is the Red Sox MVP over Pedroia, but Pedroia has all of the sentiment on his side, especially nationally, that he probably finishes 3rd behind Pedoria and Morneau for this award.

My Choice: Dustin Pedroia

The announcements begin today with the Rookies. I look forward to this, and the drama will build for the AL MVP which, like the Best Picture, will be announced Tuesday, 11/18 to close this show.

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!

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