This is an actual letter received from a regular reader of Red Sox Rants from China immediately following the 12-2 Red Sox win in Game 6 win over the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. By way of background, this reader lives in Hong Kong and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and as well as a supporter of the Colorado Rockies (note that this dual loyalty is not in violation of Bill Simmons' Rules for Being a True Fan because of the exception provided under Rule 19).
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Dear Red Sox Diarist:
Now it gets interesting!
Huge win today for Boston. Nancy Drew finally did something positive in addition to collecting his hefty paycheck. The sun's gotta shine on every dog's ass sometime. Lugo also finally hit a ball in fair territory. Even Gagne showed he can hold a 10-run lead!
What role do you think maturity has played in this series? Sabathia, Carmona, and Perez all seem nervous and determined to throw too hard and off the plate, instead of challenging batters in the strike zone as they did successfully throughout the regular season and the Yankees series.
Beckett, of course, has been dominating. Schilling doesn't have great stuff anymore and was just fair in today's game, but the big lead gave him a huge advantage. I think a combination of youthful overexuberance and an effort to be too fine by Cleveland's pitchers and greater maturity and patience by Sox hitters plus Beckett resulted in success for the Beaneaters in Games 1, 5, and 6 (and the beginning of Game 2).
Can Dice-K stop the Tribe tomorrow? He looked confused at times in his last outing. The game is in Fenway and the Sox have the momentum, but Tito better have Beckett ready in the bullpen and keep Papelbon for a save situation, if necessary.
I still like the Rox and Sox in the World Series!
Your Faithful Correspondent
Showing posts with label Terry Francona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terry Francona. Show all posts
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Questions Remain
So the Red Sox go back to Fenway after their 10 game road trip and play host to the Baltimore Orioles this weekend while the back-in-the hunt again Yankees, fresh off of their three game sweep of the Red Sox, entertain the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the Bronx. Presented with a golden opportunity to vanquish the Yankees for good in the American League's Eastern Division and to dent the Yankees' Wild Card quest, the Red Sox instead find themselves instead up 5 games up in the AL East race and the Yankees in first place in the Wild Card standings.
With beanballs forgotten (at least until September 14th) and the fashion police likely off to monitor woman's wear at center court at the U.S. Open, introspection demands pondering the implications of the past three days.
Will the Red Sox be in the playoffs? Although the 2007 edition of the Red Sox is to date, only a good team, not a great team, rest assured there will be baseball in the Hub come October. The Red Sox have the best record in baseball and have managed to maintain at least a four game lead over the Yankees for the past 5 months. They have one of the best, if not the best, pitching staffs in the American League. While their offense this season has been at best inconsistent and at worst lethargic, the Red Sox are in the top 3 in the American League in most of the important offensive categories. They also play Baltimore and Tampa Bay 13 more times.
Will the Yankees be in the playoffs? The Yankees are a team that knows how to get into the post-season and these past three days may point to the unwelcome truth that this year, the Yankees may be a team that is built for the post-season. They will be in the playoffs unless Seattle manages to hang tough during the next ten days--facing a fairly grueling schedule--and then manages to prevail in the wild card race because of a light schedule over their last 13 games.
Will J.D. Drew ever swing his bat? Watching this series, Your Red Sox Diarist gave up counting the amount of times J.D. Drew came up to the plate and then went back to the dugout without ever swinging his bat. Over the past three days J.D. Drew went 1-11 striking out three times, grounding into 2 double plays and stranding three runners in scoring position.
What is life like without Manny? Manny Ramirez is having the worst offensive year of his career. That said, he is batting .292 has an OBP of .385 an OPS of .880, 20 HR and 86 RBIs-offensive stats that every team in baseball would be happy to have. The past three days have once again shown that Manny is the straw that stirs the drink of the Red Sox offense and that his presence is a key to its good fortunes. It will be interesting to watch the impact Manny's continued absence will have on the team as he recovers from a strained oblique.
What would your playoff rotation be? If I am Joe Torre that is an easy question as Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Chien Ming Wang were playoff caliber the past three days and would be a formidable threesome in the post-season. Terry Francona will have a more difficult time however choosing his three starters for the playoffs. The collective wisdom previously held that it would be Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling come October, despite Tim Wakefield being the American League's co-leader in wins.. These past three days has made things more difficult. While Beckett is a lock and Schilling's good performance on Thursday (his second in a row) would seem to enhance his case, Dice-K's propensity to give up the home run complicates Tito's decision.
Are the Yankees Dice-K's Daddy? Facing the Yankees three times this season Dice-K is 2-1 with a 7.06 ERA and a WHIP of 1.41.
For what it's worth. The Yankees have won 7 of the last 9 games against the Red Sox and lead the season series 8 to 7.
With beanballs forgotten (at least until September 14th) and the fashion police likely off to monitor woman's wear at center court at the U.S. Open, introspection demands pondering the implications of the past three days.
Will the Red Sox be in the playoffs? Although the 2007 edition of the Red Sox is to date, only a good team, not a great team, rest assured there will be baseball in the Hub come October. The Red Sox have the best record in baseball and have managed to maintain at least a four game lead over the Yankees for the past 5 months. They have one of the best, if not the best, pitching staffs in the American League. While their offense this season has been at best inconsistent and at worst lethargic, the Red Sox are in the top 3 in the American League in most of the important offensive categories. They also play Baltimore and Tampa Bay 13 more times.
Will the Yankees be in the playoffs? The Yankees are a team that knows how to get into the post-season and these past three days may point to the unwelcome truth that this year, the Yankees may be a team that is built for the post-season. They will be in the playoffs unless Seattle manages to hang tough during the next ten days--facing a fairly grueling schedule--and then manages to prevail in the wild card race because of a light schedule over their last 13 games.
Will J.D. Drew ever swing his bat? Watching this series, Your Red Sox Diarist gave up counting the amount of times J.D. Drew came up to the plate and then went back to the dugout without ever swinging his bat. Over the past three days J.D. Drew went 1-11 striking out three times, grounding into 2 double plays and stranding three runners in scoring position.
What is life like without Manny? Manny Ramirez is having the worst offensive year of his career. That said, he is batting .292 has an OBP of .385 an OPS of .880, 20 HR and 86 RBIs-offensive stats that every team in baseball would be happy to have. The past three days have once again shown that Manny is the straw that stirs the drink of the Red Sox offense and that his presence is a key to its good fortunes. It will be interesting to watch the impact Manny's continued absence will have on the team as he recovers from a strained oblique.
What would your playoff rotation be? If I am Joe Torre that is an easy question as Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Chien Ming Wang were playoff caliber the past three days and would be a formidable threesome in the post-season. Terry Francona will have a more difficult time however choosing his three starters for the playoffs. The collective wisdom previously held that it would be Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling come October, despite Tim Wakefield being the American League's co-leader in wins.. These past three days has made things more difficult. While Beckett is a lock and Schilling's good performance on Thursday (his second in a row) would seem to enhance his case, Dice-K's propensity to give up the home run complicates Tito's decision.
Are the Yankees Dice-K's Daddy? Facing the Yankees three times this season Dice-K is 2-1 with a 7.06 ERA and a WHIP of 1.41.
For what it's worth. The Yankees have won 7 of the last 9 games against the Red Sox and lead the season series 8 to 7.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Memo to Tito
Memo To: Terry Francona
From: Your Red Sox Diarist
Re: Recent Resurgence of Red Sox Offense
With a copy to: Theo Epstein
Over the past 3 games against the Chicago White Sox your offense has scored 35 runs. For this you should be congratulated. This is an average of approximately 12 runs per game. As you know, this is clearly above your season average, even though as a team you are 3rd in the American League in runs scored, 2nd in on-base percentage (OBP) and 2nd in on-base percentage plus slugging (OPS). At the risk of generalizing, I ask you to give serious consideration to my view that one of the reasons for your recent offensive surge is that your third baseman, Mike Lowell, has been batting in the number 5 spot in your batting order for the past six games (of which the Red Sox have won five).
During these games, Lowell, who as you know is my often-stated choice for Red Sox MVP for 2007, is 13 for 21, with 8 runs scored and 10 RBIs.
In case you believe that these statistics are an aberration, I have compiled the following for your information:
Batting in the 6th slot in the order, where he has had 391 at bats this season, Lowell has a batting average of .304, an OBP of .358 and OPS of .842.
In the 5th spot in the order, Lowell has had 69 at bats and is batting .464 with an OBP of .537 and an OPS of 1.276.
Compared to J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis, who have had the majority of the team’s at bats in the 5th spot this year (270 at bats and 129 at bats respectively), Lowell excels.
J.D. Drew has a .261 batting average and .359 OBP with only 6 home runs and an OPS of .746—both career lows.
In the 5th spot of the batting order Youkilis is only hitting .217, with an OBP of .313 and an anemic OPS of .616. When moved to the second spot however, he is hitting .299 with OBP of .398 and an OPS of .913 in 249 at bats. It is very clear from these stats that the number two spot in the order suits Youkilis well and this is where he should remain.
While you enjoy a deserved reputation as the consummate players’ manager, admirably standing up for your players during both their highs and lows, I offer that you have had enough patience with the charade that is J.D. Drew in 2007 and instead depend on your MVP, Mike Lowell, to protect the big guys in your number 3 and number 4 slots.
By copy to Theo, please consider the above in deciding whether to re-sign the 33 years old Mike Lowell to a multi-year contract or let him become a free agent in the offseason.
From: Your Red Sox Diarist
Re: Recent Resurgence of Red Sox Offense
With a copy to: Theo Epstein
Over the past 3 games against the Chicago White Sox your offense has scored 35 runs. For this you should be congratulated. This is an average of approximately 12 runs per game. As you know, this is clearly above your season average, even though as a team you are 3rd in the American League in runs scored, 2nd in on-base percentage (OBP) and 2nd in on-base percentage plus slugging (OPS). At the risk of generalizing, I ask you to give serious consideration to my view that one of the reasons for your recent offensive surge is that your third baseman, Mike Lowell, has been batting in the number 5 spot in your batting order for the past six games (of which the Red Sox have won five).
During these games, Lowell, who as you know is my often-stated choice for Red Sox MVP for 2007, is 13 for 21, with 8 runs scored and 10 RBIs.
In case you believe that these statistics are an aberration, I have compiled the following for your information:
Batting in the 6th slot in the order, where he has had 391 at bats this season, Lowell has a batting average of .304, an OBP of .358 and OPS of .842.
In the 5th spot in the order, Lowell has had 69 at bats and is batting .464 with an OBP of .537 and an OPS of 1.276.
Compared to J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis, who have had the majority of the team’s at bats in the 5th spot this year (270 at bats and 129 at bats respectively), Lowell excels.
J.D. Drew has a .261 batting average and .359 OBP with only 6 home runs and an OPS of .746—both career lows.
In the 5th spot of the batting order Youkilis is only hitting .217, with an OBP of .313 and an anemic OPS of .616. When moved to the second spot however, he is hitting .299 with OBP of .398 and an OPS of .913 in 249 at bats. It is very clear from these stats that the number two spot in the order suits Youkilis well and this is where he should remain.
While you enjoy a deserved reputation as the consummate players’ manager, admirably standing up for your players during both their highs and lows, I offer that you have had enough patience with the charade that is J.D. Drew in 2007 and instead depend on your MVP, Mike Lowell, to protect the big guys in your number 3 and number 4 slots.
By copy to Theo, please consider the above in deciding whether to re-sign the 33 years old Mike Lowell to a multi-year contract or let him become a free agent in the offseason.
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