Empyreal Environs

Game 87: July 2, 2008
Red Sox	6	H: Hideki Okajima (15) BS, L: Craig Hansen (2, 1-3)	50-37, 5 game losing streak
Rays	7	W: Gary Glover (1-2) S: Dan Wheeler (3)	52-32, 4 game winning streak
Highlights: In Japanese baseball the term for the hit and run play sounds more like a football play: endoran, the Japanized way to say end run. The Red Sox ninth-inning rally was killed by a failed hit and run with Jason Varitek in the box and Mike Lowell at first. I question the wisdom of such a tactic with a player who can’t hit at the dish and a player who can’t run on base.

With this loss the Red Sox equaled their longest losing streak of the season. The previous streak from April 23 to 27 also involved a series sweep by the Rays in St. Petersburg. That early in the season the Tampa Bay team was pshawed as a contender, but now that it is July the Rays appear to be the real deal.

Dustin Pedroia, like the Rays, had to prove naysayers that he could break into the majors. The petite infielder sustained his torrid pace going 4-for-5 with two RBI. Most intriguing was the order of his hits: home run in the first, triple in the third, double in the fifth, and another double in the eighth. He could have held up at first on his second double, but at the time his team trailed 7-5.

This season Pedroia is a shoo-in to make the All-Star team, in case his Rookie of the Year credentials from last year don’t pass muster with his doubters.

J.D. Drew was named AL Player of the Month for June. David Ortiz will likely take live batting practice next week. Mike Timlin will be activated for the Yankees series and Chris Smith will be optioned to Pawtucket. Red Sox first round pick Casey Kelly remains unsigned; I never trust people with two first names.

I’m tempted to replicate a dozen more Red Sox news links rather than relive the bottom of the seventh inning. As hard as it would be for me to write about it must be thousands of times worse for Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen. Both relievers faced three batters without tallying a single out.

Just as Boston played three games in Tropicana Field without garnering a single win.

3 July 2008 ∙ 6:00 PM ∙ July 2008 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Drew (J.D.) ∙ Japanese language ∙ Matsuzaka ∙ Pedroia ∙ Rays

Game 86: July 1, 2008
Red Sox	1	L: Tim Wakefield (5-6)	50-36, 4 game losing streak
Rays	3	W: Matt Garza (7-4) H: J.P. Howell (6) S: Grant Balfour (2)	51-32, 3 game winning streak
Highlights: The Rays bullpen reminds me of what the Red Sox bullpen did last year. Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon would close down the final two innings of games with regularity and if Papelbon wasn’t available Okajima could close out the game.

Previous incarnations of the (Devil Rays) consisted of a surfeit of talented hitters and a dearth of arms. Last year the team nailed down the makings of a dominant starting rotation by drafting David Price and spinning a powerful bat (Delmon Young) for another young gun (Matt Garza). Add these talents to the established Scott Kazmir and the emergent James Shields and the expansion franchise was two-thirds of the way to a team to be reckoned with.

That most capricious element of a baseball team, the bullpen, has solidified at last for the Rays. So many of the Red Sox’s comebacks came at a misplaced pitch by a Tampa Bay reliever.

So far in 2008 it seems the obverse is the rule: Boston’s bullpen is maddeningly inconsistent and unreliable while these Floridian upstarts slam the door on erstwhile rallies.

Yesterday Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) posted an analysis of Jacoby Ellsbury’s career arc thus far and revealed the center fielder’s troubling trend towards increasing strikeout rates with each promotion. Sheehan’s thinking was much in line with Dennis Eckersley’s analysis in his NESN segment; both observers noted that Ellsbury hasn’t sustained the power that he flashed when he first got on the big league squad nor has he got on base enough to use what appears to be his best offensive asset, his speed. The comparisons to Johnny Damon seem overly optimistic given that Damon made a major league roster at age 22, giving the former Royal and Red Sox player two more years to figure out major league pitching.

Ellsbury is at a crossroads, and last night seemed to be a step down the right path. The outfielder went 2-for-4 with one questionable call in the eighth by the official scorer that had him reach base on an error rather than a hit. Ellsbury scored the only run by the visitors, aided by a throwing error by a panicked Dioner Navarro.

There were several times in the late innings when Boston could have tied or taken the lead: J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez popped out in the sixth with two men on, Mike Lowell grounded out to short with the bases loaded to end the eighth, and Jason Varitek whiffed on high heat with Alex Cora on second to end the game.

2 July 2008 ∙ 4:40 PM ∙ July 2008 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Ellsbury ∙ Rays ∙ Wakefield (Tim)

Game 85: June 30, 2008
Red Sox	4	L: Justin Masterson (4-2)	50-35, 3 game losing streak
Rays	5	W: James Shields (6-5) H: Grant Balfour (1) H: Dan Wheeler (20) H: Troy Percival (2) S: J.P. Howell (2)	50-32, 2 game winning streak
Highlights: Perhaps a bit of bad karma followed the Red Sox from the clubhouse to the field yesterday. Manny Ramirez uncharacteristically blew up at traveling secretary Jack McCormick Saturday afternoon in a row about tickets. McCormick was shoved to the ground as a result of the altercation over Ramirez’s request for 16 tickets for a game that evening. If Ramirez were a lesser player or McCormick a higher official, a closed-door apology probably wouldn’t cut the mustard. Just ask Shawn Chacon.

I am more than a little disappointed in Manny Ramirez’s behavior. The instant one person elevates himself over another just because of assumed superior position is the moment that person needs to be taken down a notch.

I harbored no illusions about Ramirez’s character being immaculate just because of prowess with the bat and his occasional flashes of brilliance on the field. Nor did I believe the portrayals of him by the knights of the keyboard who are all to quick to raise their lances against the spirited outfielder.

With this incident and his run-in with Kevin Youkilis in the dugout Ramirez has provided fodder for reporters and talking heads. He’ll be accused of everything from roid rage to cavalierness.

At first it was difficult for me to get behind the team last night because of Ramirez’s actions. But because of the threats made against African American and Latino players, I felt that despite one player’s undesirable behavior the team as a whole was targeted in a hateful, frightening way and should be supported more strongly than usual.

Justin Masterson turned in six innings but seems to have plateaued in his progress against major league hitters. He struck out five but also gave up the same number of free passes. Surrendering two homers against B.J. Upton and Gabe Gross is also troubling as Masterson is a pitcher is most successful when he is inducing ground ball outs.

Boston surged in the ninth with a gift double off the catwalk blasted by Brandon Moss, who really does seem to enjoy hitting indoors. The scuffling Jason Varitek (.222 BA, .304 OBP, .373 slugging percentage) followed up with a sacrifice fly to pull his squad within a run.

Troy Percival was yanked from the mound when the 38-year old exacerbated his ailing hamstring. The maneuver resulted in what was in theory a favorable match-up between southpaw J.P. Howell and right-handed Julio Lugo.

A lot of those theories don’t play out with Lugo in the box. The shortstop smack the ball into his counterpart’s glove for the final out of the game. The Red Sox have dropped the last three games and all of them have been one-run affairs.

1 July 2008 ∙ 4:10 PM ∙ June 2008 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Masterson (Justin) ∙ Ramirez (Manny) ∙ Rays

Game 84: June 29, 2008
Red Sox	2	L: David Aardsma (2-2)	50-34, 2 game losing streak
Astros	3	H: Wesley Wright (7) BS: Oscar Villareal (1) W: Doug Brocail (4-3) S: Jose Valverde (21)	39-43, 2 game winning streak
Highlights: Ruh roh, Rito! Rai rhope ru ron’t ret rired rike Rirrie Ranrolf! Eep opp ork ah-ah, that means I love you.

I don’t love interleague. Just too much of good (?) thing. I can’t tell the difference between the Astros and Diamondbacks’ uniforms any longer. In the words of George Jetson, “Stop this crazy thing!”

As with any game there was an instance of brilliance that should be remembered but won’t show up in the box score. Dustin Pedroia smacked a single to left field and then swiped second not on the basis of speed but by superior reaction time. As the infielder slid into second he avoided a sweep tag by raising his arm above the arc of the mitt and touching the second base sack at the end of his evasive maneuver.

It was a perfect example of what sets Pedroia apart from other hitters. He doesn’t need the stature of a power hitter as his hand-eye coordination compensates for his lack of muscle. Not that he can’t propel one to the stands, as he did to lead off the third inning, from time to time.

He should have done so more often yesterday. Josh Beckett was accosted by usually mediocre hitters such as Geoff Blum and Ty Wigginton and also walked pitcher Brian Moehler with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Moehler scored on a ground ball single up the middle by Lance Berkman.

The Red Sox seemed preoccupied knowing that two huge series against the Rays and the Yankees are in the offing. And I am, too, sweeping this last vestige of interleague play back into the dusty corners of my mind so that more important things, like series against other teams in the AL East.

30 June 2008 ∙ 5:46 PM ∙ June 2008 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Astros ∙ Beckett (Josh) ∙ Pedroia

Game 83: June 28, 2008
Red Sox	10	H: David Aardsma (4) H: Craig Hansen (6) BS, L: Manny Delcarmen (2, 0-2)	50-33, 1 game losing streak
Astros	11	BS: Geoff Geary (1) W: Doug Brocail (3-3) S: Jose Valverde (20)	38-43, 1 game winning streak
Highlights: Michael Bourn time and again got the better of the Red Sox infield when at the dish by successfully executing two bunts for base hits. But when the speedy outfielder tried to come home on Carlos Lee’s single in the first the Boston Juggling Troupe of Pedroia, Varitek, Lowell, and Lugo stopped him from scoring. The home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski could have and should have called Bourn out for running outside of the basepath. Muchlinski appears to have been brought up from the minors as the replacement for Brian O’Nora, who was slashed by a shattered maple bat. Muchlinski and O’Nora are now on the same squad.

A brutal back-and-forth game, the antithesis of a pitchers’ duel. The Red Sox frittered away two massive leads to come up short in the middle game of the series.

Remarkable offensive performances by Dustin Pedroia (4-5, 1 RBI), Mike Lowell (4-4, 3 RBIs, solo HR), Kevin Youkilis (2-5, 3 RBIs), and Manny Ramirez (1-4, 2 RBIs) could not overcome the Astros’ power surge. Three Houston players homered (Mark Loretta, Carlos Lee, and Ty Wigginton) in the slugfest.

It was Lance Berkman’s breakthrough double in the bottom of the eighth to plate two runs that was the difference in the game, however. Berkman was stifled by Jon Lester in his three at bats; he struck out swinging twice and looking once.

One slip by Lester kept the Astros in the game. He hit pitcher Brandon Backe to lead off the third inning and Michael Bourn bunted to get on base. Both were driven in by Lee’s liner to center. Miguel Tejada (we know his name is really Tejeda, however) smashed the ball off Lester’s ankle to reach first and Loretta cleaned up the mess with a homer to the Crawford Boxes.

The Astros reciprocated in the sixth with Hunter Pence’s poor play on Jacoby Ellsbury’s fly ball. The lanky right fielder misread the ball’s flight and came in before retreating to the fence to attempt to correct his path. The ball clipped the tip of his glove, Julio Lugo scored, and Ellsbury stood safe at third. Cecil Cooper pulled Backe from the game and placed Geoff Geary on the mound. Four more runs would follow that inning.

They certainly do do things bigger in Texas.

29 June 2008 ∙ 1:13 PM ∙ June 2008 Game Comments ∙ Permalink ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Astros ∙ Berkman (Lance) ∙ Lester (Jon)