Red Sox get first win!

Think about it. Starting out 0-and-3 is twice as good as last year's 0-and-6 start. It's 7 times better than the Orioles' 0-and-21 start in 1988. They could actually be at .500 for the Home Opener on Friday. So stop worrying.

I saw all of these guys play at Fenway

Notice that there are two #5's trotting to the dugout.

The Most Common First Name in the Majors

It's the annual Tom, Dick and Harry update.  What do you think is the most common first name in the Major Leagues?

HInt:  It's not Asdrubel.  Like Jeep, there's only one.  There's also only one Yuniesky and one Gorkys, but two Melkys.

I checked the 40-man rosters of all 30 teams.  That's 1200 players.

Initials:  19 use initials. Three AJ's:  Burnett, Ellis, Pierzinski.  Three DJ's:  Carrasco, LeMathieu, Mitchell.  Two JC's:  Ramirez and Romero.  Two JJ's:  Hardy and Putz.  Two JP's:  Arencibia and Howell.  Plus BJ Upton, CC Sabathia, CJ Wilson, JA Happ, JB Shuck, JD Martinez and RA Dickey.  (Fortunately, JD Drew retired.)

The five most common first names...

#5:  Zack or Zach:  Braddock, Britton, Cox, Cozart, Grienke, Lutz, McAllister, Phillips, Putnam, Stewart.

#'s 4,3 and 2 all start with J, but none are Jose.

#4:  Justin.  We have DeFratus, Masterson, Miller, Morneau, Sellers, Smoak, Thomas, Turner, Upton, Verlander and Wilson.

#3:  Jason.  There's Bay, Berken, Bourgeois, Castro, Donald, Giambi, Grilli, Hammel, Heyward, Insrighausen, Kipnis, Kubel, Marquis, Vargas, Werth (okay, he spells it with a y).

#2:  Josh:  Beckett, Bell, Collmeter, Donaldson, Hamilton, Harrison, Johnson, Lindbloom, Lueke, Outman, Reddick, Roenicke, Satin, Spence, Thole, Tomlin, Wall, Willingham.

and the #1 most common name....

Ryan:  Adams, Braun, Cook, Dempster, Doumit, Flaherty, Hanigan, Howard, Kalish, Lavarnway, Ludwick, Madson, Matteus, Perry, Raburn, Roberts, Sweeney, Theriot, Verdugo, Vogelsong, Webb, Zimmerman.

Don:  Only one.  Don Kelley of the Tigers.  Great name, even if he's missing the second E in Kelley.  

Tom:  Three.  Gorzelanny, Koehler, Wilhelmsen.  Plus three Tommy's:  Hanson, Hunter and Field.

Still no Dick and no Harry.

jetBlue Park at Fenway South

It's one of those names like "Orioles Park at Camden Yards" that looks good on paper, but it's well-known (at least in radio circles) that people love nicknames and they'll shorten anything they can. Just like The Fleet center was shortened to "The Fleet" and "TD Garden" is shortened to "The Garden," the new Red Sox spring training park will be popularly known as either jetBlue Park or Fenway South. My bet is on Fenway South. It's catchy and it fits. You don't have to remember that the "j" in jetBlue is lower case, but the B is upper case. Just say, "Fenway South" and everyone knows what you mean.

Here's the View From Section 29 in Ft. Myers (actually it's 209 or something like that). The grandstand roof looks like the bleachers at Dodger Stadium, but the field dimensions are almost exactly like Fenway. The Monster is actually 6 feet higher, and three rows of the Monster Seats are halfway up the wall with a screen. There's another row on top of the Monster South. For some reason that I don't get at all, the Red Sox dugout is on the third base side.

Why would they take such care to duplicate Fenway and get something that simple backward?  Everything else is identical. The stands jutting out down the third base line, 310' to the left field wall, the actual scoreboard from Yaz days in the wall, the triangle in center, the bullpens, the Pesky pole, the low fence in right like at Fenway. (In April 1990 Claudell Washington, not being familiar with the quirks of Fenway, tried to non-chalant a Bill Buckner fly ball to right where the fence is only about 4 feet high. Claudell fell into the stands and Bill Buckner got an inside-the-park home run. Buckner, knowing this was funny, laughed his way around the bases.)


Back to spring training 2012. I saw the Red Sox play the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. It's a decent ballpark with signs, seats and such that look just like Camden Yards, but the field dimensions are standard. The O's fans shout out "O" on "Oh, say can you see" in the middle of the National Anthem just like they do in Baltimore. They play "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" by John Denver right after "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" just like in Baltimore. Lots of O's fans there, but probably outnumbered by Sox fans. Just like in Baltimore.


Back to Fort Myers. Get there an hour early so you can park. Parking is in an adjacent grass field like you're going to a college football game. The fans are really into it. Sure, there is a heavy dose of guys walking with canes and women riding a Lark, but you also see tons of young families and 20-somethings on dates. I did a head count of 100 people and the gender skew was 51-49. It's a great-looking park. Every game is sold out, they play "Sweet Caroline" in the middle of the 8th and "Dirty Water" when the Sox win.

Youk was trying a new stance with his feet spread apart a little. It wasn't helping yet. Josh Beckett started one game with a quick one-pitch out, then proceeded to hit two guys in a row, then walk two guys. New closer Andrew Bailey came on the in the 6th and gave up three straight hits. 


Meanwhile, three regular starters are batting below the Mendoza line (Ellsbury, Youk and Saltalamacchia), one is in the 200's (Papi), one is in the 300's (Gonzalez) and one is over .400 (Pedroia). Lavarnway's batting average is double Saltalamacchia's. 


What do you do with guys like Lars Anderson, with more AB's than Gonzo, more hits, more runs, more HR's, more RBI's, more walks, higher OBP, slugging and OPS, and a BA that's 43 points higher? Or what about #77 (not a number that typically goes to someone traveling north with the big team), Pedro Ciriaco? An infielder who's hitting .643, made a fabulous Pedroia-quality play against the Orioles on Sunday, hit a 10th inning walkoff home run on Monday and scored the winning run on a single and fielding errors by the Yankees on Tuesday. He has much better numbers in everything than Aviles, Iglesias or Punto, the candidates for the starting shortstop job.


It makes you forget about last September.


Hope springs eternal.

Tek hangs up his catcher's gear

Jason Varitek was asked to come to spring training as a non-roster invitee.  The Red Sox already have Jarrod Saltalomacchia (the longest name in professional sports-three letters longer than Ben Roethlesberger) as the #1 receiver.  They also have Ryan Lavarnway, who came up from Pawtucket last fall and showed impressive power - substantially more than Jarrod or Jason over the last couple of years. Plus, the Sox signed former Pawtucket catcher Kelly Shoppach as a third catcher.  Shoppach was part of the trade to get Coco Crisp a few years ago, and wound up in Tampa Bay last year.  So, with three catchers on the roster, where would Tek play?

Jason probably could have found a backup gig with another team, but he said that he could not picture himself wearing anything but a Red Sox uniform.  No doubt he discussed the idea with Dwight Evans.

Dewey spent 19 seasons with the Red Sox, from 1972-1990.  He played in more games than any Sox player in history except for Yaz.  In one game in 1990 he hit three home runs against the Orioles.  So when he was released after the 1990 season, the Orioles signed him for one year.

He got his #24, and they paid him a million dollars.  Despite that, he has said it was the worst decision he ever made.  "In Baltimore, I was just another old outfielder.  No one remembered the great catch in the 1975 World Series, or the home runs in the 1986 World Series, or anything else that happened in Boston.  The biggest response I ever got as an Oriole was the night in June that I returned to Fenway and got an amazing standing ovation.  As I stepped into the batter's box someone hung a huge sign over the center field wall that said, 'Dewey-thanks for 19 great years.' "

Yogi Berra spent his last season with the Mets and basically did nothing. Hank Aaron, who started with the Milwaukee Braves and went with them to Atlanta, wrapped it up back in Milwaukee with the  Brewers.  His batting average was 72 points below his career average.  Willie Mays, the star center fielder for the New York Giants who moved with the team to San Francisco, finished back in New York as a Met.  His batting average was 63 points below his career average, and he embarrassed himself in the 1973 World Series.

So Tek decided not to do that.  He was a hero in Boston and will go out that way.  His most memorable moment was getting in the face of A Rod - literally - in that July 2004 game that turned the season around.  It's one of the most purchased Red Sox action shots ever (see above), but Jason doesn't like to be remembered that way and never signs copies of that photo.

He holds the Major League record for catching no-hitters.  He was calling the pitches when Hideo Nomo. Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholtz and John Lester threw no-no's.  He almost had a 5th.  I was in Oakland the day that Curt Schilling just missed having a perfect game.  No hits, no walks.  The only baserunner was due to a Lugo error.  In the bottom of the 9th with two outs Curt shook off the sign from Tek and Shannon Stewart singled.  The next batter was out and it went down as a 1-0 one-hitter.  Schilling, who would never blame anyone else if something didn't work out, blamed himself for shaking off Varitek.  Really he should have blamed Lugo.  Without that error it would have been a perfect game.

Varitek also holds the record for most games caught be any Red Sox catcher, and most games played by anyone who spent their entire career with the Red Sox but didn't play left field.  Okay, that may be stretching things.

Jason Varitek spent two summers playing in the Cape Cod League for Hyannis.  He is the only player in the history of baseball to play in the Little League World Series, the college World Series, and the real World Series.  And the Olympics.

The Red Sox got Jason at the trading deadline in 1997.  In one of the most lopsided deals ever, an ineffective closer named Heathcliff Slocum was sent to Seattle in exchange for Derek Lowe and minor-leaguer Jason Varitek.  Ever wonder what happened to Heathcliff?  He spent a year-and-a-half with the Mariners, half a year with the Orioles, a year-and-a-half with the Cardinals, and year with the Padres.  Career record of 28 and 37, ERA of 4.31.  His last season was 2000.

Jason Varitek was a player, a team leader, and a good guy who would sit in his front yard in Waban and hand out candy to neighborhood kids on Halloween.  I hope the Red Sox hire him as a coach.

            

Tim Wakefield hangs up his spikes

Not surprising, but a little disappointing.  Of all the Red Sox pitchers I've seen - and it's a long list - Tim Wakefield is at the top.  I've seen him more than anyone.  (Bob Stanley is #2 on that list.)

A knuckleballer is only supposed to win half of his games.  Sometimes the knuckler dances well, sometimes it doesn't.  Tim easily exceeded the expectation.  He was a starter, a spot starter, a middle reliever, a bullpen guy and a closer.  19 seasons in the majors, 17 with the Red Sox, starting in 1995.   He pitched over 3200 innings.  Struck out twice as many as he walked.

In the 2004 playoffs against the Yankees he came on in relief in the crucial Game 5.  It went 14 innings and lasted until 2AM, and Tim had to face Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Hidecki Matsui, Jorge Paada, et al. for three innings.  He gave up only one hit and was the winning pitcher.  He is the only knuckleballer ever to start a World Series game.

How many times did Tim Wakefield go out there and pitch well, but get no support?  Losing 1-0, or leaving with a lead that was subsequently blown by the bullpen?

He wound up with 200 wins, 186 of them with the Red Sox.  Only eight short of breaking the all-time Red Sox record of 194, shared by Roger Clemens and Cy Young.   He struck out well over 2000 for the Red Sox, not that far from the Clemens mark of 2590, and double what Cy Young did.  An amazing record for a knuckleballer.

Cy Young was too along ago to really know, and we know all too much about Roger.  Tim Wakefield, however, was well known as a good guy.  Always said the right thing in an interview.  Did a ton of community work.  Gave us many quality innings.  We'll miss him.

Thanks, Tim,  for 17 great seasons.

Yikes. I hit the 6-month mark.

The writer's strike, just like the NBA lockout, is over.  I'm finally able to update my blog, which has been silent for exactly 6 months. 

So much has happened.  When last I blogged, the Red Sox had just made it to first place, despite the 0-and-6 start.  We all know how it turned out, so let's look forward to 2012.

Predictions for 2012:

My seats: 
The day after Tito was fired I called the Red Sox season ticket office and asked if anyone had called up mad and canceled their season tickets.  If so, I'd like to move up a few rows.  Still in Section 29, which has a great view, but enough to get to the bigger, more comfortable red seats and still be just under the roof overhang.  When it rains during a game I don't even know it until they haul out the tarp.  They told me no one had called in to cancel yet, and they probably wouldn't know until January anyway.  It's in my tickler file.  I'll bet that I don't get to upgrade.

Manager:
No thoughts really on whether Bobby Valentine or Gene Lamont would be the right choice.  They do need a guy who can kick some butt in the locker room like Billy Beane did wth Jeremy Giambi and David Justice in Moneyball.  Great scene:  David Justice is in the batting cage, dripping with attitude, and Beane says to him, "You think you're a pretty big deal, huh?"  Justice says, "Yeah.  You're paying me 7 million dollars a year, so I guess that makes me a big deal."   Beane responds, "No, we're paying you 3-and-a-half million.  The Yankees are paying us 3-and-a-half million for you to play against them.  Still think you're a big deal?"

Offense:
Ellsbury and Pedroia will once again have great seasons.  Youk will be less beat up and have more of a normal season, hitting just over .300 with 100 rbi's.  In 2011 Carl Crawford was overwhelmed.  He was used to playing in a half-empty stadium with a crappy field in St. Petersburg, where the few fans who were there would be 80 years old and would only think to ring their cowbell when the scoreboard told them to.  In contrast, the nightly rock show at sold-out Fenway - especially playing the legendary left field - required a major adjustment. With a year to get used to it under his belt, he will have a substantially better season (he sure couldn't have a much worse one) and he'll be motivated to show that he's worth the money.  Papi will be re-signed to a two-year deal and he'll hit around .290 with 30 homers and 95 rbi's.  Adrian Gonzalez will be about the same - maybe slightly better toward the end of the season with a less tender shoulder.  Ryan Lavarnway will see some decent playing time and will be a very good hitter.  Marco Scutaro will be mediocre at short, and Jed Lowrie will get one last shot and the job.  Varitek?  They should make him the pitching coach and activate him if they get into a pinch.

Pitching:
Starters will be an issue.  Beckett and Lester have to play nicely in the sandbox and show us that they've still got their good stuff.  Buchholz will be okay.  They need two more, but John Henry won't open up the checkbook after getting burned over the past few years by the Matt Clement, Dice-K, John Smoltz, Brad Penny and John Lackey signings.  Wakefield will be back for insurance purposes.  He's inexpensive, reliable and eats up a lot of innings.  Unlike much of the pitching staff, he has a great reputation.  Aceves will be the setup guy.  (I still distrust anyone that the Yankees let go.)  Michael Bowden will see more action and he'll be allright.  Daniel Bard will be the closer and have a better season than Papelbon has in Philly.

So that's what I think?  Any thoughts?  I'd love to hear them.   

Worst to first in four weeks

This afternoon Magic 106.7 will be playing the special mashup of "Dirty Water" by the Standells - complete with the crowd cheering and singing along - for two reasons.

One, the Bruins won Game 7 last night and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.   

Two, the Red Sox beat the Tigers again last night, and on the left coast the Mariners beat the Yankees. Meaning that the Sox, who began the season with the worst record in baseball and were in last place on May 1st, are now in first place.  How do you like them big apples?  We'll also be playing our exclusive Fenway crowd mashup of "Sweet Caroline."  A couple of years ago Tom Werner heard it on the air and called me asking for a copy. That was pretty cool.

My daughter, who lives in New York and works at MTV Networks (but is definitely not a Yankee fan) just got a promotion.  Looking out the window on Bass River, I see that Memorial Day Weekend is sunny on Cape Cod and all is well..  

Throwback night

This weekend the Chicago Cubs made their first appearance at Fenway Park since 9/11/1918.

They made a pretty big deal out of it, which is a good thing.  That hasn't always been the case.  Back in 2003 the Red Sox went to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates in Interleague play.  It was the first time the two teams had met since the 1903 World Series.  That's 100 years without playing each other, and it hardly got a mention.  Same thing when the Giants played the Sox for the first time since the 1912 World Series.  All the talk was about Barry Bonds and his steroids.

This was very different.  On Friday night. the Red Sox proceeded to pound the Cubs, 15-5.  On Saturday night they planned Throwback Night, with both teams wearing 1918 uniforms.  I have a replica 1918 Red Sox shirt that I've had for at least 15 years, so I wore it on Saturday.  It still fits (although a year ago it wouldn't have), but being a gray road shirt it looks nothing like what the Sox wore.  The home white uniforms were just that:  white.  White cap (no B on it), white shirt (no lettering at all), white pants, high red socks.

There were tons of Cubs fans there, none of whom acted like Yankee fans.  They all seemed to be friendly and having a fun time.  They were treated nicely by Sox fans, just as my daughter Kara and I were when we went to see the Sox play the Cubbies at Wrigley back in 2005.  That's the Midwest attitude for you.

Friday night, Dennis Eckersley, one of only four Hall-of-Famers who played for both the Red Sox and Cubs, threw out the first pitch.  (Note that it wasn't his performance with either team that got Eck into the Hall).   On Saturday it was Babe Ruth's daughter.  That can't be right.  Must have been his granddaughter.

The whole throwback thing was fun for the most part.  One thing they did was interesting, but weird.  At the beginning of the 3rd inning they announced that the clocks were being turned back to 1918.  No videos on the new HD jumbotrons, no Carl Beane announcing the batters.  The scoreboards were turned off except for the big manually-operated one in the left field wall.  No music except from the organ, and there wasn't much of that.  The only announcements were from guys on top of the dugouts using megaphones.  It was cute for a batter or two, but if you weren't scoring the game on a scorecard you'd have no idea what was going on.  No idea of the count or who was at bat.  Was that an infield hit or an error?

The megaphone idea, as I said, was cute, but didn't work.  You could tell the guy was yelling into it, but you could barely make out anything he said.  I might have caught the middle syllable of Jacoby at one point, but that was it.  Did they really do that back during games back in 1918?  The crowd would have been smaller, but they also must have talked to each other a lot less.  Nick Cafardo wrote in today's Boston Globe that he liked the idea that you could have a "quiet" experience that would let you concentrate on the game itself, but he's a writer.  I'm a fan, and I disagree.  I, and everyone sitting near me in Section 29, groaned a little when the megaphone guys came back out for the 4th inning.  We were hoping it would be a one-inning diversion.  In the 4th, David Oritz hit his 300th home run as a member of the Red Sox and no one in the ballpark knew it.  They all knew he hit one into the Monster Seats,  but not that it was momentous number.

Things went back to normal for the 5th, and the crowd cheered.  The music, the videos, the PA announcements and all that make the experience more entertaining.

My daughter was going to a friend's birthday party, so we had to leave after the 7th.  As I got in the car, the top of the 8th was under way,  and Dave O'Brien was saying that if the Sox were to hold on to the 3-1 lead they'd be in 1st place.  Pretty amazing after the 0 and 6, 2 and 12 start.  It was not to be.  The Red Sox pitching and defense turned into the Bad News Bears and they gave up 8 runs on four hits, three walks and three errors.  It was actually worse than that.  The Bad New Bears would have had the standard Little League 6-run-per-inning limit.  It was the worst Red Sox inning I can remember, and I've seen a lot of them.  But I was in the car at that point.  When all the fun stuff happened, i was in the park, sitting in Section 29.

Remarkable Monday Night

Monday night, May 2nd was quite a night at Fenway. Close to midnight the night before we learned that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by Navy Seals. The Monday night game was the first public gathering in Boston since the news broke, and the display of patriotism was truly remarkable.

Prior to the National Anthem they dropped that huge American flag over the left field wall - the one they use for Opening Day and the World Series. There was a moment of silence for all those who perished in the 9/11 attacks and the years of subsequent war. Soldiers who had returned from five tours of duty were honored, and the crowd chanted, "U-S-A...U-S-A...U-S-A!!!!" They did it again after "God Bless America" (usually only sung during Sunday games) during the 7th inning stretch.

It was also a fun game. The Sox opened the season with the worst record in the majors. Now, a month later, there are 9 teams that have a worse record than the Red Sox. And they're tied for 4th place in the AL East - meaning they're not last. Tonight, if they win and Toronto loses, the Sox will have sole possession of 4th place. We're #4, we're #4!

Simultaneously, the Bruins played Game 2 of their playoff series in Philadelphia.  The crowd at Fenway was kept up to speed with the score posted on the hand-operated left-field scoreboard and highlights were shown on the huge new HD video screen. Many fans were wearing the color clash of red-and-blue Sox shirts and black-and-gold B's hats. The B's won in OT just as Okajima recorded the final out in the 9th for the Red Sox win.

A fun night all around, but the most remarkable thing was the overwhelming display of patriotism. The biggest I've seen in almost a decade.

Tuesday  night update: Not only did the Red Sox win again, but both Toronto and Baltimore lost.   So Boston is now in sole possession of 3rd place, only four games out, and there are 10 teams with worse records.