Let's Play Two Today

Saw Mike Andrews on NESN (via MLB.TV) tonight. Mike has been chairman of the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox Official Charity, for 25 years. Andrews was in the booth with Rem Dawg and Don Orsillo as part of the Jimmy Fund Telethon which raised more than US$3 million in donations over a 24 hour period on Friday. Andrews was of course a member of the 1967 Impossible Dream Team, playing second base for the Red Sox. Even though he played 5 years for the Sox, the most memorable “Mike Andrews’ Moment” was when playing for the Oakland A’s, he committed two consecutive errors in the 12th inning of the A’s Game 2 loss to the New York Mets in the 1973 World Series. Enraged, the flamboyant and controversial owner of the A’s, Charles Finley, “fired” Andrews immediately after the game. Other A's and manager Dick Williams rallied to Andrews' defense and baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn intervened forcing Finley to reinstate Andrews.

Wily Modesto Pena was traded today to the Washington Nationals for a player to be named, ending his almost two year stint in Boston. Bobby Kielty will take Pena’s roster place. Wily Mo never got enough at bats in Boston and therefore, not a fair chance at becoming the power hitter he probably will be. Prior to coming to Boston, Wily Mo got regular playing time in Cincinnati and put up promising numbers, especially in terms of home runs per at bats. In 2004 he averaged one home run per every 12.92 at bats and was even better against lefties, averaging one home run per every 9.55 at bats.

Speaking to my buddy O'Brien after today's second game against the Angels, we both agreed that watching Eric Gagne come in during the 9th inning with a 5-4 lead in the night cap of the day-night doubleheader was like watching a train wreck. The Red Sox, trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the 8th, had stormed back to take a 5-4 lead only to see it quickly squandered by Gagne in the 9th. Gagne gave up 3 hits, 1 walk, 3 earned runs and ultimately the game, blowing his third save since joining the Red Sox a little more than two weeks ago. In the first game, Clay Buchholz, making his first major league start, got the win while pitching a very solid 6 innings in the Red Sox 8-4 victory. Super set-up man and rookie of the year candidate Hideki Okajima went 5 outs in the 7th and 8th innings in relief for the hold and Jonathan Papelbon got one out in the 8th and went the distance in the 9th to earn his 29th save of the season. This was the first time since April 8th that Papelbon has been called on to convert a 4 out save.

Finally, and having nothing to do with the Red Sox or baseball, embattled NFL quarterback Michael Vick, facing federal charges in relation to his alleged involvement in a dog fighting ring was sued by a South Carolina inmate for US$63 billion claiming Vick purchased missiles from Iran and was connected to Al Qaeda.

Random Thoughts

Today, the day Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record*, was a "must-win" day for the Red Sox in Anaheim and not surprisingly, Tim Wakefield was not up to task. His inconsistency has been maddening this year. The Red Sox are now 5 games up on the Yankees, their lowest cushion since May 2nd. Assuming 95 games will win the AL east, only 3 games above .500 the rest of the way should do it for the Sox but the flipside of this is that the Yankees only need to play .653 ball the rest of the way to force a tie in the AL East. The Yankees have been playing over .720 ball since the All-Star break so the division race is definitely on.

Wily Mo Pena supposedly clear waivers today and therefore any team is free to try to cut a deal for him with the Red Sox. Bobby Kielty has signed a minor league contract with the club and the contract evidently has a clause saying the deal can be voided if he is not called up to "The Show" within one week. I am not impressed. This season, Kielty, a 31-year-old switch-hitter batted .200 with three RBIs in 13 games with the A's. Kielty has a career Major League average of .255 with 52 home runs and 244 RBIs in 579 games with Minnesota, Toronto and Oakland. These numbers equate roughly to a 14 hr season with 70 RBIs and of course a .255 average. Unless the Red Sox get something good in return for Wily Mo, I for one am in favor of continuing to work with Wily Mo and not become overly concerned or enamored with Kielty. Let's not forget, the Sox have already parted with Bronson Arroyo to get Wily Mo. Also don't forget, Wily Mo's numbers were fairly decent last year--much better than Kielty's numbers project. Nonetheless, I suspect I am in the minority on this one.