Entries Tagged 'Red Sox' ↓

Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo release his first album this week. Good times.

Keith Foulke is up to it again. Tonight, he gave up the game against the Rangers. He gave up the game tying run on a double with one out, and a bases-loaded single to hand the win to Texas. Tito, catch a clue…in the late innings Foulke is not your guy.

He just gave up a grand slam. I have no confidence in Keith Foulke anymore.

I’m too cheap to purchase the MLB.tv package to watch my Sox, and we have the cheap cable, so I’m left with watching the games on MLB.com’s Gameday feature. Gameday is actually a really slick, for what it is. I can check in on the live action of any game going on.

I’m sitting here watching Keith Foulke try to give up another game. He just gave up the tying run as I was typing this out. I know he was brought in and dominated most of last year, but I started having suspicions about him during the playoffs last year when he was making “things interesting”. He has been anything but consistently good this year. If anything he has been consistently average. Some games good, some games bad. Today is of the bad variety. I know that Tito is sticking with him because he has proven himself in the past, but his performance this year is downright scary. I’m pretty sure that Foulke’s contract is up after this season, and I really hope that Theo goes on the market for a new closer.

Well, this will hopefully catch you up on what’s been going on in my world over the last week-and-a-half.

As mentioned here, I was recently in Michigan for a conference. There are portions of the conference that were geared towards me, more of the technical/operations side of things. It was good to hear from the presenters, and to recognize that while we are doing things well there are definitely things that we can improve upon. I’d like to see us take some of our print marketing we do and turn it into some electronic format. That process has already started in a very minor way, but we are a long way off (both in the office and in society) from moving totally away from paper.

For the trip we flew into Chicago, then rented some vans for the drive to western Michigan. When the conference finished on Saturday we drove back to Chicago and saw the sights. We took a ride on the Chicago River (which was very relaxing), strolled along Navy Pier, ate at Giordano’s, and saw the Navy Pier’s fireworks show from the top of the Hancock Tower. While waiting to get into Giordano’s we saw Tim Wakefield and Doug Collins (separately) walking down the street. On Sunday we went to Willow Creek for church. Boy howdy that place is huge, but they have a very effective ministry going on.

Work last week was mostly me trying to get back into the rhythm of being in the office. Lots of stuff going on, so there was no real time to relax.

I haven’t written about my beloved Red Sox in a while, well, because they’ve been depressing as of late. I love the fact that even Johnny has been saying that they “are just a bad team right now”. I was a little worried with them going into a weekend series with the Yankee$ in NY. The first game was a bit of a pooper. There was some questionable decisions made by the third base coach that cost us some potential lead-extending runs, but that’s life. Then game 2 just exploded! Holy crap, 17 runs and 27 hits!!! Unbelievable…that all I can say. That brings us to tonights game. Boomer has been very bi-polar in his starts this year. He managed to bring the kick-a arm with him tonight, and pitched a gem. He only allowed 6 hits and 2 runs over 8.1 innings. Way to go Boomer. And the bats are really starting to pick up now. Manny and Edgah are pulling out of their funks and are now putting up some big numbers. Destination: Dynasty writes:

Edgar Renteria is up to .290 and scorching hot right now. At one time in this game he was 12 for his last 14. Manny, at one point in the game, was 7 for his last 7, all singles.

Papi had 2 MONSTER long-balls tonight; an upper-deck shot in the first to right field, and a straightaway center shot in the third. Dynasty called the second HR “Reggie Jackson-esque“, and also says that “He hit that ball wicked hahhd.” Gotta love it.

Congratulations to Manny Ramirez for hitting his 400th home run today. He is the fifth fastest player in MLB history to reach that milestone.

I was a fairly stereotypical boy growing up. I loved climbing trees, riding my bike, and in the summers I loved playing and watching baseball. I turned 8 in October 1986, and that month has shaped my life since then.

1986 was the first calendar year I really watched any major sporting events. In January my teacher had us do some kind of project on the Super Bowl. That was the year Phil Sims led the Giants over the Broncos. I remember that for two reasons: my school assignment had to do with the Super Bowl (very cool assignment idea), and that year Elway led the Broncos on “the drive” to defeat the Browns in the AFC Championship game (I have family in Cleveland, so I didn’t like the Broncos after that game). Then in October I watched every game of the World Series between the Red Sox and Mets.

I was in 8-year-old bliss that month. I was so caught up in the WS spectical that I couldn’t decide who I wanted to cheer for. My dad took to calling me a flip-flop fan. I didn’t really care who won, I just thought both teams were great. For the Mets it was Doc Gooden, Daryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, and Co. For the Sox it was Roger Clemens, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, and Co. Seriously, it was a crazy up-and-down series, with the defining ERROR by Bill Buckner. We all know how that series ended.

The Mets became my favorite NL team, and the Red Sox my favorite AL team. There was not interleague play back then so I didn’t have to worry about when they played each other during the season. Over time I started following the Mets less and less, and I became solidified as a member of the Red Sox Nation. I think it was in the fourth grade I did a report on Ted Williams. Man his swing was pretty. I remember watching a clip, I think during the 1989 WS, comparing Ted’s swing to Will Clark’s swing and how nearly matching they were.

Ok, so if I had to make a lineup out of all those that played for Boston from 1986 to today, who would be on it? Granted this is with good health and “in their prime” in mind (which for some is now), here goes:

• Mo Vaughn - 1B
• Marty Barrett - 2B
• Nomar Garciaparra - SS
• Wade Boggs - 3B
• Jim Rice - OF
• Mike Greenwell - OF
• Johnny Damon - OF
• Jason Varitek - C
• David Ortiz - DH

And my starting rotation would be:

• Roger Clemens
• Pedro Martinez
• Curt Schilling
• Derek Lowe
• Tim Wakefield

There are some guys I left off these lists that I’d love to include — Scott Hatteberg, Shea Hillenbrand, Dwight Evans, Ellis Burks, Manny Ramirez, Bill Mueller, Bruce Hurst, Bret Saberhagen — but there just isn’t room for them.

That’s all for now. I’m sure you’ll get more thoughts on how the current team is doing at a later date.