12eight

A quick smattering of stuff, before I hit the sack:

• First, looking over my posts the past couple of days, I notice that stunningly few of them have been about the actual games themselves.  Now, I tend to not write game by game recaps (others, such as Empyreal Environs, Joy of Sox, and Keep Your Sox On do a better job of this than I would), but even so, I've been lax.  I'm fairly certain those of you that actual come back here every now and again don't do so to read about my bug killing exploits or that time I insulted Mrs. Beck, so hopefully I'll start actually writing about the Sox soon.
• The Sox managed to avoid a reciprocal streak-ending sweep by Cleveland tonight, winning 5-2 behind solid pitching from Tim Wakefield and back-to-back dingers from Doug Mirabelli and Mark Bellhorn.  Timlin got the save, likely because Foulke had to throw 46 pitches to lose yesterday's affair rather than because of any long-term structural change in the Sox pen.
• Curt Schilling pitched his first rehab start of his second rehab stint tonight, going 5 innings, striking out 3, walking 1, giving up 1 earned run, and sporting a nifty new goatee.  His location and velocity were apparently fairly good considering the layoff, and those are the two things we should be most concerned about with him.  There's a decent thread on the start over at SoSH.
• A few links over on the sidebar that I haven't mentioned before: Blue Cats and Red Sox (Sam in Michigan, who splits her time between writing about the Sox and writing about the Tigers), The Baseball Desert (Iain, a Brit who lives in France but likes baseball anyway), Sox on Deck (Marc Normandin's prospects blog), and Twitch124, whom I can't provide any biographical data about but has quite an enjoyable blog nonetheless.  Click away.
• I finally finished collecting and crunching all the numbers for my little pet project study of Pythagorean Win Differentials.  The findings are fairly interesting, at least to me, and 'll be posting them in an obnoxiously long and geeky manner either tomorrow or Friday, depending on when I'm able to write them out and link to fun and exciting Excel charts (oh yes, I have charts.  Lots and lots of charts.)
• To round it all up, there is a new Dairy Queen ad - one that might just be up here in Canada - that everyone should watch because it nearly made me fall off my couch laughing.  Watch here (Warning: that link will open some form of multimedia device.  If it fails, click here and watch the 'Killer Bee' ad.)

That's it.

Never let it be said he wasn't selfless:

"If I have to go somewhere, I won't go," the Yankees' slugger told The Times. "If they said 'wouldn't you want to get paid', I'd say 'I've got plenty of money.' I'm not playing nowhere else, I can promise you that."

Sheffield seemed to hedge in another interview with MLB.com, saying he would want concessions for signing off on any trade.

"I'll ask for everything. Period. You want to inconvenience me, I'm going to inconvenience every situation there is," he added. "The only reason I'm playing is that I wanted to play for the Yankees. If I don't get that opportunity, things change."

I bet Gary Sheffield's eyes get all big and crazy when he's angry.

During yesterday's game, Mrs's Nixon and Mirabelli were in the booth, discussing the upcoming Can & Cash drive, the latest in a long-running string of annual charity promotions by the Red Sox Wives.  Every year, during this time, I'm reminded of possibly my most embarrassing Fenway moment, which I shall now relate.

During the summer of 2001, I attended a game on the evening of June 7th.  This game turned out to be dramatically important in many ways; it was the game, first of all, in which Jason Varitek injured his elbow on a brilliant diving play to turn a foul ball into an out.  It was quite soon after Pedro made his final start for much of that season, and right at the beginning of Nomar's recovery period.  It was also my first date with a now ex-girlfriend.  And it was the day of the Red Sox Wives' Cookbook sale, though I did not know that at the time.

We walked up to the park, and naturally I was in rare form, displaying incredible charm and wit.  She was a baseball-knowledgeable person, so we wee mostly talking baseball, and were on the subject of the bullpen as we made our way through the crowds outside. It was then that we walked past a woman wearing a Rod Beck jersey.

In my infinite wit and charm, I exclaimed (somewhat louder, perhaps, than I should have) "Who in God's name would wear a Rod Beck jersey?"  The woman kind of turned around and gave me a dirty look so I sorta felt bad,but it got a laugh from my date, so fine.  Then we got to the gate.

All of a sudden, I noticed a bunch of odd jersey's.  Hatteberg, for example.  And O'Leary. Mike Lansing.  All on women between the ages of 25 and 35.

Then, I noticed a table, behind which stood other women, all in Red Sox jerseys.  On the table were a number of books, in front of it a banner.  It read "Red Sox Wives Cookbook".  I stopped dead in my tracks, and looked behind me.

Mrs. Beck was shaking hands with various fans.  I hadn't seen her button and nametag from behind her.  My date felt that this was uproariously funny.  I did too, somewhere deep down, but mostly I just knew I insulted Rod Beck to his wife's face.  So, every year at this time, I am reminded of my pure and complete embarrassment, standing there on Yawkey Way, trying hard to impress and yet succeeding in insulting.

Damn you, insurmountable wit and charm.

Please stop making me cry.

Here's my final All-Star Ballot.  The AL is much easier to pick this year; the NL has a few tough positions (SS, C, #3 OF).  But I'm happy with what I got.

American League:
C - Jason Varitek.  Even if he wasn't potentially my favorite ballplayer ever, he'd be an absolute lock for this spot.
1B - Mark Teixeira.  If Tino Martinez manages to win this, they should just stop having All Star Games.  I mean, maybe they should anyway, but for lord's sake.
2B - Brian Roberts.  Since April: .355/.422/.569.  But wait, wasn't he supposed to fade away?  He's certainly not up to his April performance, but even over the last two months, he's been the absolute best 2B in the majors.
3B - Alex Rodriguez.  Sorry, but it had to happen.
SS - Miguel Tejada.  He's now pretty much the default answer to the question 'who's the best shortstop in the majors?' and will continue to be unless A-Rod moves back to it.
OF - Vladimir Guerrero.  Even given Abreu's performance in the NL, Vlad is probably the best OF around this year.
OF - Manny Ramirez.  Even when he was slumping, his numbers were good enough to deserve consideration; now that he's heating up, he deserves selection.
OF - Johnny Damon.  His power numbers might not be where we'd hoped, but his leadoff skills are currently unmatched.
DH - David Ortiz.  How can anyone choose anyone else?

National League
C - Michael Barrett.  Utterly unimpressive, though he happens to be better than everyone else.
1B - Derrek Lee.  Triple Crown candidate.
2B - Chase Utley.  Say what, you say?  Amidst a pretty weak NL 2B crop, Utley's power stands out.
3B - Morgan Ensberg. one of my three most prescient breakout picks of the year (the other two being Brian Roberts and Derrek Lee), Ensberg has really torched the competition for a lousy Astros club.
SS - Felipe Lopez.  Say what now?  How about .301/.348/.551 with 13 homers for the Reds?
OF - Bobby Abreu.  The easiest pick of the NL OF lot, Abreu has quietly become one of the best offensive forces in the majors.
OF - Carlos Lee. He's always been a quiet producer, but has taken more note on a decent Brewers club this year.
OF - Andruw Jones.  Rough start, but since he's been on an offensive explosion that has essentially kept the Braves in contention.

I could probably quibble with myself on a couple of these, but overall, these guys have all been solidly at the tops of their positions. Thoughts?

I live on the 11th floor, so my apartment is usually a fair slight warmer than it is outside, even when I keep the windows and balcony door open.  Said balcony door does not include a screen; this proves a problem, as bugs can find their way in fairly easily.  But here's the thing.

Ladybugs.  Lots of them.  All over my ceiling.  For two straight nights.

And fine, ladybugs are harmless.  Ladybugs are cute and colorful.  But when I turn off that light to go to sleep, the ladybugs get confused, and fly around, usually bumping into me in the process.  They're not so cute when they're fluttering around in your ear.  So then I have to get up and kill a whole bunch of ladybugs.  I don't feel good about it, readers.  But it is, nevertheless, necessary and unavoidable.

And no, I don't know why I posted this ether, except I just had to kill like 5 ladybugs, and I felt the need to share.

Like pretty much everyone else, I was completely appalled by the recent and completely inappropriate post on the Dirt Dogs website - a website produced and promoted by Boston.com - that compared Terry Francona's return to Philadelphia to a picture of a black man being beaten by a white mob during the Civil Rights struggle.  (If you do no know what I'm talking about, click here)

Most of what BDD has ever done has been at least mildly distasteful.  Much of it has been highly distasteful.  A few things have been downright, inescapably offensive.  This is one of those things.

The Globe, immediately recognizing that this was not such a hot idea, removed the picture and put up an apology, but at this point an apology is simply not good enough.  Below is the letter I sent to the Globe a couple days ago.  I urge you to do the same.  The more the Customer Service people have to read angry letters,the more apt they will become to actually, say, talk to someone about them.

I'm writing regarding the Globe Sports page's decision, of long and unfortunate standing, to produce and promote the Boston Dirt Dogs website. I've read with deep anger the most recent controversy surrounding this site, an incident in which the author made light of the beating of a black man during the Civil Rights struggle, and found myself in a familiar position; appalled at the things I was seeing from a site affiliated with what I had believed to be one of the best daily papers in the country. Let me be clear; beyond the simple rumor-mongering, slander, jingoistic and machoistic rants, and constant personality baiting lies a problem far more severe. I believe that the Globe has had to apologize publicly for this site on more than just this most recent occasion, either for deeply insensitive remarks (especially his long history of borderline homophobic comments) and posts or for basic libel. This is just the latest incident, is it not? How much more often does the Globe want to apologize for him? Because it will not be the last time. You can try to distance yourself from him legally all you like but no matter how many disclaimers I see, the link from your site to his, the fact that you pay this man to put up his sensationalist and offensive drivel, it all adds up to tacit approval from the Globe for his worthless sensationalism.

Basically, in this matter, the Globe has a choice. It can either continue to admit that it is simply going for the sheer traffic volume that only having an offensive and controversy-stirring site can provide, or it can attempt to produce actual and insightful sports commentary at the expense of a few hits. I used to be an utterly faithful reader of the Globe sports section; every day, every article. Now, I simply can't go near it. BDD may increase your general traffic, but I assure you you've lost at least one reader because
of him. Do what's in the best interests of your paper, and fire Steve Silva.

The Globe replied with this stock response:

Dear Andrew:

Thank you for writing. We agree that this photo was offensive, and we removed it immediately after it was posted. Please be assured that there was no malicious intent. We apologize for its use.

~The customer service team at Boston.com

Not an acceptable answer, but then there's really only one I'd find acceptable: the immediate dismissal of Steve Silva and the removal of the Dirt Dogs site.  I urge everyone to write as well.

Jon Miller, on the occasion on Derek Jeter's 31st birthday: "Now, Derek Jeter doesn't look 31, does he? He still looks like the young Derek Jeter who came up a few year ago... he stays in great, great shape..."

Honestly, is there a national sports personality that hasn't discussed the Derek Jeter Dreaminess Quotient at some point in their career?  Between this, and Kurkjian's "handsome face, rugged face, ebony-and-ivory face" soliloquy from a while back, and everything Tim McCarver has ever said, thought, written, and dreamt, you'd think Derek Jeter was competing for Mr. Universe rather than plying for some .500 team in New York.

Now, in principle, I have nothing against a nice compliment, you know?  But for the love of god, the aesthetic comments simply have to be far, far less frequent than the talent comments.  Ad right about now, they're probably approaching even.

I ask again: if Derek Jeter played for the Expos, would anyone know he existed?

Today's Game Hat

(Hebrew "Red Sox" hat)

PREGAME:
The Hebrew Sox hat had its Sunday Game Blog debut two weeks ago, in the final game of the Cubs series.  Not coincidentally, certainly, this was the game in which we began our current run; a run that has seen the Sox win 11 of 12 and pull from 3 games back in the AL East to 1.5 games in front.  The hat returned last week, getting us back on track after our last loss to the Pirates.  Well, we didn't lose yesterday, but I'm not going to mess with that level of success; the hat stays unless this streak ends.

Since I've been tooling around with Pythagorean winning percentage data a bit over the last while (and will probably put up a big boring post about the findings later this week), I thought I'd introduce today's game by looking at the Pythagoreans for both the Sox and the Phillies.

The Sox have performed, to this point, close to their pythagorean: our actual W-L stands at 43-30 (a .589 W%), while our Pythagorean W-L reflects a slightly lower W% of .580, for  projected 42-31 record.  The Phillies, meanwhile, have outperformed their Pythagorean by 2 games: their W-L stands currently at 39-36 (.520) while their Pythagorean projects a 37-38 record, at .492.

Today, David Wells takes on the Phillies best starter to this point in the season, 24 year old righty Brett Myers (5-4, 2.66 ERA, 96 K and 26 BB in 98 IP).  Wells has been very good of late, though his last start was a bit rough; we may need him to step up today vs. a very promising young pitcher.

Edgar Renteria is sitting today, in favor of Ramon Vazquez, who will take over the #9 spot in the lineup.  Bellhorn will hit 2nd today. There are no particular surprises in the Phillies lineup; Kenny Lofton remains sidelined, with Jason Michaels getting another start in center.

The bullpen, coming off an off day and a strong performance by Matt Clement yesterday, is well rested.  Mantei threw 14 pitches over 2/3 of an inning, Myers threw 11 and retired 1, and Foulke pitched a scoreless 1-2-3 ninth on 9 pitches.

Game time, 1:35pm, EST.

FIRST PITCH:
Outside fastball, ball 1 to Damon.

My cabbie on the way back from the bar tonight was the first truly insane one I've had in Toronto, which got me thinking that what passes for insane here would have been pedestrian for an NYC cabbie.  This guy drove fast and nudged stop lights, and I found myself reaching for the seatbelt; when I lived in Brooklyn, I reached for the seatbelt in a cab exactly once, immediately after the car descended to four wheels after hitting a curb and driving on two for more than a second (as we were going over the Manhattan Bridge, no less).  Tonight's guy might have been able to hack it in NYC.  He's the first one so far.

The Sox did some hacking of their own, mostly connecting tonight, as they devastated the Phillies 8-0.  Behind three homers (Mirabelli, Manny, Papi) that accounted for all 8 runs, Tim Wakefield pitched a truly superlative game, possibly his best of the season.  He went 8, allowing only 2 hits, striking out 6 and walking 2.  Alan Embree pitched a scoreless, 1 hit ninth to polish it off.  Overall, a convincing victory - made more so by the fact that it propelled the Sox into sole possession of first place in the AL East for the first time this season.  The Sox are playing their best ball of the year, having won 10 of their last 11, and their last 5 straight.  And one has to like their chances tomorrow, with Clement up against Vicente Padilla and the Sox offense firing on all cylinders.

Speaking of offense, let's take a quick look at he numbers of one Manuel Aristedes Ramirez over this 11 game span.  Manny, since June 12th, is hitting .410/.477/.923 with 6 homers.  He's raised his average up to .273 from .247, his OBP from .331 to .362, and his SLG from .457 to .538.  That's a truly amazing jump considering how deep into the season we are.  A few more games of this from Manny, and the early season struggles ill be all but forgotten; if he were to duplicate his last 11 games over the next 11, his numbers would essentially be in standard Manny territory (which is to say, he'd be the best hitter, by rate stats at least, in the AL).  So, here's hoping he keeps pounding the ball and making up for lost time.  It's wonderful to see him breaking out after his early struggles.  This is also, by the way, proof of how uncertain a lot of stats tend to be in this regard; one blistering streak, and weaknesses start to look like bumps in the road.

At some poit this weekend or early next wek, I'll be putting up the results of a pretty complex statistcal evalution of Pythagorean differentials; at the moment, the data I've got asks more questions than it answers, but it's an interesting bunch of material nonetheless.  And of course, Sunday's Game Blog will feature David Wells against Brett Myers in a fairly interesting matchup of the ancient guileful lefty vs. the young hotshot righty.  Could be a marquee matchup (though I think Myers is the type of pitcher the Sox offense will dismantle - more about that then).

For tonight, we're the best team in the (surprise) weakest division in the AL.  Let's pad that number, shall we?