Former Giant and Red Sox player Randy Kutcher joins The Sully Baseball Show

Monday Night Around the Majors/The Sully Baseball Show 04/30 by Seamheads | Blog Talk Radio

Former Hum Baby Giant and Morgan Magic Red Sox player Randy Kutcher is the first former big leaguer to join The Sully Baseball Show podcast.

We discussed being congratulated by Steve Garvey on his first hit, which Red Sox players were pooped by the end of the 1990 season and how ditch digging helped propel him to the major leagues.

And he on the field for the Fenway Park 100th Anniversary celebration.
It's a nice chat with a baseball survivor.


It is on the second hour of the Seamheads Tuesday night block.

Listen to internet radio with Seamheads on Blog Talk Radio

Tweeting a disaster in Fenway

I can't go over the game again.
I don't have the energy to recap the John Carter like disaster.

But as I saw the end of the Phillip Humber perfect game, Fox cut back to the disastrous 7th inning.
And as it unfolded, I went to Twitter.
My handle is @sullybaseball .

This is what I wrote. It is raw, unedited frustration and frankly I don't think I can write anything more sincere than my Tweets.

Here they are in order... enjoy.

How could MLB.com drop the ball this badly?

I wasn't able to watch the 100th Anniversary celebration live.

So I went to MLB.com to check out the recording of it.

And they did indeed have a 23 minute long clip.

I was super excited to watch it.
Beautiful day at Fenway.
Blue spring New England sky.
James Horner's score from Field of Dreams playing.

I was expecting goosebumps.

 Out steps Jim Rice.

I was anticipating the roar of the crowd. I heard his ovation was tremendous. So was that for Bill Buckner, Dwight Evans, Pedro Martinez and of course Terry Francona.

 But there was nothing in the clip.
There was no sound of the crowd.
And no sound of the players names being introduced.

Just the images of the players walking out to the clumsily edited clips of Field of Dreams and The Natural.

And worse yet, sometimes it was hard to recognize the players. There is a reason why people wear a nametag with their senior picture on it as a class reunion. It's been a while since we've seen each other.

When a parade of 40-80 year old men come out, it isn't always easy to figure out who they are. They've gained weight or lost their hair or grew out a beard or in someway their appearance has altered.

And the fun of an event like this is to see the players that maybe you forgot about. I listened to WEEI the other day and heard Joe Castiglione talk about how he loved catching up with Red Sox players like Dana Kiecker and Tom Bolton.

Now there are two players that I can't say I've thought about any time recently, but it was cool to hear their names.

They were members of the 1990 AL East Champion Red Sox. Hearing their name brings back memories of chasing Toronto and Tom Brunansky's catch.

Was Brunansky there? I have no idea. There were some players about his age wandering around, but unless they got a back shot where you could get a glimpse of their name, half the players were anyone's guess.

How hard would it have been to put a caption on the players?
There were players from the 1950s and 1960s whose names I know but faces were never familiar to me.

I turned off the video.
How awful is that? I stopped watching the celebration because I felt so frustrated!

And would it kill anyone to post a list of all the players who were there?
Oh some articles very cleverly say "Red Sox players from Aase to Zupcic were at Fenway."
Great!
Can I see the list please?
I can find the complete cast and crew list of Jaws 4: The Revenge in a manner of seconds and yet I can't find a complete list of the players in attendance despite actively seeking it out.

I can't be the only Red Sox fan who would want to see a list like this.

The ball was dropped today.
Let's have a better showing for the 200th anniversary.

Sully Baseball Salutes... the never built NEW Fenway Park

In the late 1990s and early 2000s when the last remnants of the Yawkey empire was still crushing the Red Sox, there was talk about building a new Fenway Park.

Fenway was old. Crumbling. It smelled like Pee. It was hard to get to. The seats were too narrow. And the explosion of new ballparks in Cleveland and Baltimore and around the majors made the popular rallying cry "New Stadium Equals More Jobs And Championship Teams!"

The Red Sox wanted a new Fenway Park and there was a campaign to build it.

I remember seeing a commercial reminding people that the last time the Red Sox built a new stadium, they won the World Series. (The Sox won the thrilling 1912 series.)

It seemed like a great plan.

Check out info for the proposed New Fenway at Ballparks.com.

The park would look like Fenway. It would have the same dimensions. The left field wall. The triangle in center. Williamsburg Bullpens in right. A Citgo sign over the wall.

But the concourses would be wide and there would be an upper deck.
It would be cleaner. And respectful of the past.

They were going to preserve the original diamond of Fenway and have that be part of a Museum.

It would be a wonderful Red Sox wonderland.

And it would be in the same part of town... JUST ACROSS THE STREET!

And most of the financing would be private.

How could that be a bad thing?

Well the new management came in and they decided that Fenway Park was actually an asset and not a liability.

They fixed up the park. Built the Monster Seats. Made the Fenway Experience more enjoyable. And hey! In just two years the Sox won the World Series!

And what would have happened if they went through with the project?

It would have been like what happened in The Bronx.

There was nothing wrong with the old new Yankee Stadium. But they built the new one, made it feel like the old one and even kept it in the neighborhood.

But there is no connection to the past in the new place.

I would write more about that topic, but I am standing on thin ice doing that as a Red Sox fan. Instead read what Yankee fan and friend of Sully Baseball Jason Keidel wrote for CBS New York today.

If there was a new Fenway Park, there would be no celebration today for 100 years.

This would be the 6th or 7th anniversary of what would inevitably be called "First National Savings Bank of Boston Park at Fenway."

I like the old park.
I don't live in New England anymore but I like knowing that the new (not that good) team in Fenway will be playing on the same grounds as Ted Williams, Yaz, Rice and Dave Roberts.

And someday the Red Sox will actually clinch the World Series in Fenway. And when they do, they will be doing it in Fenway Park.

I'm glad about that.

So Games 3 and 4 will be at Fenway

The National League won the All Star Game.
So that means the National League gets the Homefield Advantage.

Good! Let me tell you why.

When the Red Sox won the 2004 and 2007 World Series, I kept hearing from Red Sox fans "Wouldn't it be better if the Red Sox won at Fenway?"

Of which I would ask in response "If I am rooting for the Red Sox to win in 6, which two games am I rooting for them to lose?"

Well if the Red Sox make the World Series THIS year, then I won't have to hear such nonsense.
Then we will ALL be rooting for a sweep.

So for those of you keeping score...

Games 1 and 2 will be at AT&T in San Francisco.
Then Games 3 and 4 will be at Fenway.

The Sox will clinch Game 4.

Hope this was helpful.

Come to Fenway, Carl

It's a little better than the Trop.

There is the Green Monster in left rather than those stupid rings in the Trop that you could hit with a flyball.

And oh yeah, they don't have to literally GIVE tickets away to fill up the place.
I think you'll like it.

I know trying to sign Crawford away from Tampa, which the Red Sox are evidently trying to do, makes my team as greedy and as vulture like as the Yankees.

And do you know what?
I don't care!

My team plays for fans who PAID ADMISSION.

First Vazquez... then Redding... will the Yankees bring back Kevin Brown next?

The Yankees signed Tim Redding today and are bringing him back for his second go round with the club.

This picture is from his first stint with the Yankees in 2005. In fact I can't believe I could find it on the internet...

It's from the only game he ever pitched in a Yankees uniform.

The first time around he was gone before he could even be fitted for pinstipes. The Yankees pitching staff in 2005 was a mess and only their bats and Mariano Rivera's dominance kept them in contention.

So on July 15th, the Yankees brought in Tim Redding from San Diego to start a game in Fenway Park.

It didn't go well. Both Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek hit RBI doubles in the first to make it 3-0.
In the second he walked Mark Bellhorn and Johnny Damon and allowed a single to Edgar Renteria. (Man, what a time capsule that game was... Idiots like Millar, Mueller, Manny and Mirabelli all played in that game. As did the late Geremi Gonzalez.)

Torre lifted him and all of the runners would come around to score.
The Red Sox won 17-1 that day.
Redding's line was 1 inning pitched, 4 hits, 6 runs (all earned) 4 walks, 2 strikeouts.

The other pitchers Darrell May, Jason Anderson and Buddy Groom fared poorly as well... and like Redding were all long gone by the time the playoffs got started.

The Yankees wound up winning the east thanks to unlikely contributions from Shawn Chacon, Chein Ming Wang and Aaron Small... all of whom made up for the failures of Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano, Kevin Brown, Sean Henn and of course Tim Reding.

With 2004 flop Vazquez coming back and yesterday not withstanding being a disaster it seems like they are trying to have a reunion of those mid 2000s pitching flops.

Of course Vazquez and Redding weren't teammates in 2005... you had to be quick to have called him a teammate that year. You only had 24 hours.

There is a playoff preview this weekend... and it isn't in Fenway

Today there is a game between First Place American League teams. Technically it is an "If the Playoffs Started Today" match up.

One team has the best record in baseball and the other has had a surprising run to tie for the division lead.

And I am NOT talking about the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Oakland, who is tied with Texas for the top of the AL West (and might stay up there if the Angels and the Mariners keep collapsing) is hosting the Tampa Bay Rays, who at 21-7 has the best record in the game.

This should be an exciting and talked about game... and if ANY of the games draws 20,000 I'll be stunned.

Come on fans! You are sick of everything being Red Sox/Yankees? Then pay attention when there IS a good match up.

Let's go A's fans. This is a year you can steal the division and a team that is LOADED with exciting young talent is coming to town.

This could be a huge test for the A's right after winning the series against Texas.

Let's see at least 20,000 there tonight. Tickets are cheap.
You could be a Cubs or Mets fans and paying premium prices for a subpar product.