Record Breaking Red Sox
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 1:40 am on June 30, 2009
Filed Under Baseball Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
It seems like at least one record has been broken per season for the past decade. There was Pedro’s career winning percentage, Youkilis’ consecutive errorless games streak, and Big Papi’s 54 homeruns in a season.
This year looks to be another one for the ages as a handful of records are in jeopardy of being snapped.
Record: 132 career saves in a Red Sox uniform, Bob Stanley
Potential New Record: Jonathan Papelbon got his 132nd career save as a Sox player on June 29th, 2009.
Analysis: Papelbon is tied with Stanley and the season isn’t even half over. The record will be snapped and it’s only a matter of when it will happen.
Record: 382 career starts in a Red Sox uniform, Roger Clemens
Potential New Record: Tim Wakefield made his 382nd career start as a Sox player on June 27th, 2009.
Analysis: Wakefield’s next start should be on Wednesday. This is another record that we’ll see broken soon.
Record: 54 single-season stolen bases in a Red Sox uniform, Tommy Harper
Potential New Record: Jacoby Ellsbury stole his 33rd base on June 29th, 2009.
Analysis: Ellsbury is getting on base pretty often, and it only took him 71 games to rack up 33 steals. Even if his SB percentage drops, he should still be able to slide his name into the record books.
Next year also looks to be pretty exciting (Tim Wakefield could pass Roger Clemens for most wins and most innings pitched as a Sox player.) Good times baby, good times!
Friday Linkage - 06/26/09
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 1:26 am on June 27, 2009
Filed Under Friday Linkage | 3 Comments
Detroit 4 Lyfe: Not only is Magglio Ordonez overpaid, so is hair!
The Nine Commandments: Poor Sox fan got tricked, amusingly though.
Chicago Tribune: Lou Pinella’s team is getting a little out of hand.
Batter-up With Bruno: I never thought about it but the Nats ARE the Al East’s rejects.
Bottom Line Sox: I know any publicity is good publicity but man.. I feel bad for anyone that has to listen to Michael Felger speak for more than 3 minutes.
Babes Love Baseball: It is absolutely DISGUSTING that ESPN/MLB made such a huge media circus about Manny Ramirez and his return from CHEATING. Poor taste.
Sox & Dawgs: Mike Scioscia as the number one manager in the MLB? I dunno about that..
Baseball & The Boogie Down: Of all the things I thought the Yankees would have problems with, offense was nowhere near the top of the list.
Fenway West: Tonight’s win, capped off by a dominating performance by Josh Beckett, was Tito’s 800th in his career.
Memories of Kevin Malone: I don’t hate Joe Torre as much as I hate a lot of previous Yankee members but.. he’s close to being the most overrated manager in the majors.
Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Honestly, why aren’t there more journalists talking about how amazing the Dodgers have been playing in Manny’s absence?
Red Sox All-Star Futures Game Participants
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 2:18 pm on June 25, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season, Prospects | Leave a Comment
The Red Sox have had two players selected to the All-Star Futures team. They are Casey Kelly (19 years old) and Junichi Tazawa (23 years old.) Kelly will play for the ‘US’ and Tazawa will represent the ‘World Team.’
Casey Kelly was drafted out of High School in the 1st round of the 2008 draft. He was drafted as a shortstop/starting pitcher. So far he has mainly pitched and done a dominating job (1.12 ERA in 48.1 IP for Single A Greenville, 2.51 ERA in 28.2 IP for Single A Salem.) The Red Sox plan on letting him play SS for the second half of the season so that they can find his strengths/weaknesses as well as save his arm from throwing too many innings.
Junichi Tazawa was signed as a free agent out of Japan. He became an overnight sensation after requesting that Japanese professional teams didn’t draft him so that he could come to the US and play in the MLB. Tazawa has also done an amazing job so far (2.92 ERA in 77 IP for Double A Portland.) This, combined with his domination of Major League hitters during spring training, could lead to his being called up to Boston late this season or the next.
Usually the Red Sox have a pretty good showing at the Futures game, but the fact that only two players will be there might be a good thing. This means that most of the high-quality Sox draft picks are already making an impact at the big league level: Jacoby Ellsbury (’05), Jed Lowrie (’05), Justin Masterson (’06), and Daniel Bard (’06). With guys like Casey Kelly and Junichi Tazawa waiting in the wings, it’s a good time to be a Sox fan.
How far has Matt Clement fallen?
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 1:18 pm on June 23, 2009
Filed Under Baseball Miscellaneous | 4 Comments
2005 was Matt Clement’s year. He had a 10-2 record by the break and got elected to his first All-Star appearance.
It didn’t take very long for everything to fall apart. His next 4 starts were disastrous (22 ER in 23 IP.) The bad pitching stretch culminated with a game versus the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in which Carl Crawford hit a line drive that landed square on the side of Clement’s head.
Since then Matt hasn’t been able to get it together. He had a 6.61 ERA in 2006 with the Sox, while only making 12 appearances. 2007 was full of surgery and rehab, and he spent the next 2 years bouncing between the lower ranks of the Cardinals and the Blue Jays. He never made another Major League appearance after his ‘06 season.
What’s Matt Clement doing now? He’s just been hired as the boys’ varsity basketball coach at Butler High School in Pittsburgh. Ouch.
An empty Yankee Stadium
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 10:19 am on May 5, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season | Leave a Comment
A lot has been made about how empty Yankee Stadium has been so far this season. They’re averaging a few thousand less fans per game than they were last year. A lot of people are blaming the economy but the fact remains that nobody is going to pay $2,000+ for a single ticket. That’s why the bleachers remain packed but the premium seats don’t.
The stadium looked particularly empty during last night’s Red Sox/Yanks game. Part of it was the outrageous ticket prices but part of it was also that it had been raining for a few hours; however, people usually stick around during rain delays for the rivalry. What gives?
Apparently a few hundred fans left the park last night because security told them the game was canceled. They were denied re-entry and weren’t too happy (one of them even kicked a security guard in the face.) I understand that it’s policy not to let them back in but if the security guards really screwed up AND your stadium is going to look pitifully empty on national TV.. why not?
Red Sox 25 Game Wrap-Up
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 10:46 pm on May 4, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season | Leave a Comment
The Red Sox have completed 25 games so far and they are 15-10, sitting in second place in the AL East. Why second place and not first? Easy.
Starting Pitching
Boston’s rotation has a 5.75 ERA as a whole. They’ve only managed to pitch 139.1 innings; that equals to about 5 and a half innings per start. The lack of quality starts is leading to a lot of come-from-behind situations and plenty of un-needed stress on the bullpen.
David Ortiz
Big Papi has been sitting in the cleanup spot all season long. Usually that’s a good thing, but not when he’s hitting .208 with 0 homeruns and a .302 SLG percentage. Hopefully he’ll pick back up but for now he’s cheating on fastballs and just looks sloppy at the plate.
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With that said, the Red Sox ARE in second place and they’ve got a very respectable record for a few good reasons.
The Bullpen
This year the pen has been the polar opposite of the starting rotation. Despite already having to throw 83 innings, they’re rocking a 2.93 ERA. This includes the fact that they’ve had to call up Hunter Jones and Michael Bowden. Oh, and did I mention that they even had outfielder Jonathan Van Every pitch a scoreless inning? As long as the name on the back of the jersey isn’t Lopez, Boston’s pen is in good shape.
Kevin Youkilis
Youk has started the season by absolutely hammering the ball. He’s got a .407 AVG, 6 HR, 20 RBI, and a .519 OBP. No, that’s not a typo. Kevin Youkilis reaches base more than 50% of the time.
Jason Bay and Mike Lowell
Bay is almost reaching base as much as Youkilis (.477) and Mike Lowell is doing his job and driving in runs (24 RBI.)
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That’s about it. If the starting rotation picks it up and Ortiz remembers how to hit, the Sox will be unstoppable and we should have a VERY good season on our hands.
PS: Joba Chamberlain’s mom deals meth. What a classy family, no wonder he drinks and drives/throws at people’s heads.
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