What a difference a day makes!

Look at this picture from the Associated Press.
Doesn't it look like Big Papi is giving a high five to the bat boy?

That's Dustin Pedroia! The appearent 3 foot 8 inch representative of the Lollipop League who woke up our offense with a 5-5 night including a home run.

I am loving it. The bats woke up and somehow Julian Tavarez once again became a dominating big league pitcher.

The Dave Roberts ovation was nice.

The win was even nicer.

Coupled with the Yankees loss... even nicer than that.

The lead... back to 8 1/2

Savior test #2

Well... we saw how Clemens could do against a Triple A club in The Pirates.

Let's see how he does against the Mets.

By the way Mets, try to actually show up. Your lead has shrunk even faster than the Red Sox. Please don't pull a Diamondbacks and not show up!

The magic number has been stuck on 90 for a little bit too long!

There had better be a HUGE standing ovation for Dave Roberts!

I'm sure a lot of attention will be placed on how the Red Sox fans will treat Barry Bonds when he comes to the plate for the first time at Fenway.

Here's how the fans should be reacting:
They should be standing and cheering when Bonds comes to the plate.

But they shouldn't be cheering for Bonds. They should be STILL cheering for Dave Roberts.

The Roberts standing ovation should last his entire at bat, through Randy Winn's at bat, through Ryan Klesko's at bat... if it is a one-two-three inning, they should be standing and applauding when he goes out to center field. When the bottom of the first is over they should stand up and applaud when he comes back into the dugout and be STILL standing when Bonds comes up as the clean up batter.

The applause should be as loud as if the PA announcer said "Ladies and Gentlemen! PAUL REVERE!"

Both guys helped Boston with their speed late at night.
Roberts was probably more personable.

(What, was I supposed to go the whole week without bringing up the 2004 post season?)

Giants/Red Sox... father vs. son

A son and father face off this weekend. A father/son rivalry hasn't been this intense since The Empire Strikes Back!

My dad is a rabid Giants fan... has been since they were in the Polo Grounds.
I live and breathe the Red Sox... and haven't abandoned them even when I lived in the Bay Area for a Giants/A's World Series and lived in New York for a Mets/Yankees World Series.

The Red Sox and Giants face off...
And it should be an interesting weekend here in the Bay Area. Not sure if I should even watch them with my dad or not.

Both teams are desperate for hitting.
My God these could all be 2-1 games!

Both teams also need a win...
Although my dad keeps reminding me "I thought you never needed a winner after 2004! I need a winner now!"

And dad used a bit of passive agressiveness last night that I don't think Vader would ever use. He said "If you love me, you'll root for the Giants this weekend."

Man. Vader never tried to pull that off. He just chopped off Luke's hand.

Zito vs. Tavarez tonight.

I predict a 5-3 Sox win.
May the Force be with us!

OK, I'm officially worried

Thanks a lot Diamondbacks.
Seriously... thanks for showing up and getting swept by the Yankees.

So the lead is now 7 1/2... 7 in the loss collumn.
So basically they are a week behind the Sox.

Right now all Sox fans have to cling to is the fact that the Yankees winning streak (now at 9) can't last forever...
and that the insane slump the Red Sox are in HAS to end soon.

Oh yeah, and the Red Sox STILL have the best record in baseball and the biggest lead of any division leader.
But that's nitpicking.

This is why you jump out to a 2 week lead!

People have been asking me if I am nervous about the Yankees creeping up and the Red Sox blowing a 14 1/2 game lead.

First of all, as I wrote earlier, there was no way the Red Sox were that good and no way the Yankees were that bad.

And since taking 2 of 3 from the Sox at Fenway, the Yankees have been unstoppable.
And today they made it 8 in a row... a team rising from the dead.
A team that everyone wrote off blazing a longer than a week winning streak and slashing that lead nearly in half after the Red Sox loss tonight.

And guess what?
The Red Sox STILL have the biggest lead of any division leader.

And do you know what will happen if the Red Sox lose every game next week and the Yankees win every game next week?

The Red Sox will STILL be in first place.

The Yankees are doing a nice job beating up beatable teams (the collapsing White Sox and the entire National League) and I do admire that they have made it above .500.

(Start with modest goals I guess.)

Any team with that many veterans starters and that shaky a middle relief corp will come back down to Earth.

And not even the biggest Yankee fans you will ever meet will admit that the Wild Card will come from the runner up of the Central.

But as a Red Sox fan, I won't get nervous until the Yankees get to within a week of the Sox.

Thank God they got off to the big lead.

Beckett goes tomorrow. Try to lower that magic number to 89 or 88.

That didn't take Brad Lidge long!

Well, Brad Lidge was putting up great numbers after being banished from the closers role, and the Astros said "I'm sure he's up to the task of being a closer again! Let's give him the ball in the 9th now."

It didn't take long to show he isn't.
He let up a 9th inning home run to Mark Kotsay, who prior to that at bat was tied with me for homers.

It was his third save chance of the year.
He has blown every chance.

He is undoubtedly a talented pitcher.
So was Calvin Schraldi... and Mitch Williams... and Byung-Hyun Kim.

And all of them were traumatized by post season meltdowns.
Maybe Kim can ressurect himself in Florida where even Armando Benitez flourished!


But it is time for the Astros to trade Lidge.
NOW!
While there is still a chance for them this season.
The Astros are 7 1/2 games out, but this division is so bad that a little run can get them back in it.

But you can't have a closer that makes everyone hold their breath the nanosecond he takes his warmup jacket off.

Yes, it began with the Pujols
homer.

It was an unbelievable ass whipping of a homer and one people will talk about for a long long time.
Yeah, the Astros won the pennant the next game... but did you notice that Garner brought in Dan Wheeler to close the pennant, NOT Lidge?

And before you label this as cheap arm chair psychology... remember what he did in the World Series right after the Pujols home run.



He let up a walk off home run in World Series game 2, deflating a terrific ninth inning comeback by Houston. Who hit the homer? Scott Podsednik, who had exactly zero regular season homers.

Game 4? The White Sox on the verge of a sweep but the Astros holding on with the score 0-0 in the 8th... Lidge loses that too.

So he loses 3 of his last 4 appearances in the 2005 post season... not a good record.
Then the next year dails his ERA up over 5 and loses his closer job.
Now he has let up more Mark Kotsay homers than has saved games this year.

Trade him Houston... now!
He's your Benitez. Get your Gummy Bears for him and move on!

I am going to count this as my Astros posting.
I've written about the Red Sox, Yankees, Devil Rays, Orioles, Pirates and now Astros...
Who is next in my goal to write about every team

Man I love winning the first game of a series!

As I said earlier, you live by the knuckler and you die by the knuckler.

Today we lived.
Man, sometimes Wakefield seems like the most dominating force on the mound and sometimes he seems like the guy tossing up fat pitches during the home run derby.

Winning that first game of the series is sweet.
Win one of the next two... keep winning 2 out of 3.

Magic number down to 90.

Schilling tomorrow.

I'll always take 2 out of 3 on the road

Sure, a sweep would have been nice, but going on the road and beating a first place team 2 out of 3 times (including a come from behind extra innings win) is something I'd take every time.

The encouraging thing about the past week, despite losing 3 in Oakland and yesterday's loss, is the pitching has been still solid. For some reason I get more discouraged when the sox lose 9-8 than when they lose 2-1.

Rockies are coming into town.
Then it is the Giants...

Next weekend will be interesting as a Red Sox fan in the San Francisco Bay Area and a rabid Giants fan for a father.

But first, let's take 2 from the Rockies.

MAKING SENSE OF THESE INTERLEAGUE MATCHUPS

Some interleague series make sense geographically (think Yankees/Mets, Cubs/White Sox.)
Some interleague series have intrigue because of recent events. (Having a Cardinals/Tigers rematch series.)

But besides the A's/Giants Bay Bridge series and the Reds/Indians All Ohio Series, it s tough to find any natural match ups for this weekend.

We here at Sully Baseball will try to find the angle for each series.


NEW YORK YANKEES vs. PITTSBURGH PIRATES

The "I'm sure there are some Yankee fans still mad about the Bill Mazeroski home run" Series









NEW YORK METS vs. DETROIT TIGERS


The "This would have been a World Series rematch if Carlos Beltran took the bat off of his shoulders in last year's playoffs" Series




HOUSTON ASTROS vs. CHICAGO WHITE SOX


The "These two played in a recent World Series that you don't remember" Series









TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS vs. FLORIDA MARLINS

The "Remind me why we thought it was smart to put Major League Baseball in Florida" Series









COLORADO ROCKIES vs BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Um... this one is tough.
I'm dubbing it the "Hey! You have a nice new stadium and a lousy team? ME TOO!" Series











PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES vs. KANSAS CITY ROYALS

The "Man, 1980 was a long time ago" Series












WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. MINNESOTA TWINS

The "Did you realize the Twins' franchise originated in Washington... You don't care, do you?" Series













LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM vs. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

The "I like David Eckstein but can't remember which team he plays for now" Series













MILWAUKEE BREWERS vs. TEXAS RANGERS

The "Wait, this is interleague? I thought they were both American League teams" Series








BOSTON RED SOX vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

The "Let's compare Mariano Rivera post season meltdowns" Series


(I can never resist sneaking in a 2004 post season reference)






SEATTLE MARINERS vs SAN DIEGO PADRES

The "Which uniform from the late 70s and early 80s was worse?" Series












TORONTO BLUE JAYS vs. LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Oh boy... this one is tough... the um...
Oh hell it is the "We've got to play each other eventually so let's get it over with" Series



So there you have it!
Every interleague series has a natural history and intrigue behind them.
You just need to look hard for it!

MAGIC NUMBER IS 91

The Yankees have snuck into second place...
But hopefully that magic number can be cut to 89 by the end of Sunday night.

Not a bad prediction by yours truly

I predicted 5 innings and 3 earned runs for Clemens
Off by an inning!

I also predicted Suzyn (sic) Waldman and John Sterling would be unbearable.

OK, that was like predicting the sun rising.

Not a bad start.
Thankfully Julian Tavarez had the exact same numbers tonight for the Sox... and for a lot less money as well.

It's savior time

So the 4th annual ROGER CLEMENS COMING BACK FROM RETIREMENT day has arrived.

And what more dramatic stage to have it than an interleague game with the Pirates!

My prediction:

5 innings pitched, 3 earned runs and at least one over the top statement by John Sterling like "This is one of the great moments in Yankee history!"

Did you feel a draft?

So the baseball draft was this week.
Did you watch it?

OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T!
Why would you?

I've already made my feelings about the NFL Draft and its coverage known.

Well, as silly as the football draft coverage is, the baseball draft is 10,000 times more riddiculous to televise.
At least in college, you have most of the players competing in the comparable setting of Division 1 NCAA football.

When they draft a hitter out of high school, who knows what level of talent they were playing against?
Some guy hit 35 homers in 40 games with a 4.821 OPS?

Fantastic!
Unfortunately a Girl Scout was pitching.

And making projections from the draft is equally insane.

The Braves did not draft high school phenom Todd Van Poppel in 1989 and they were chastised.
So instead of choosing a guy who would have 2 servicable seasons as a middle reliever, they were stuck drafting Chipper Jones... a potential Hall of Famer who won an MVP and help lead the Braves to 3 pennants and a World Series title.

Tough break for Atlanta.

I also remember how Baseball America riddiculed the White Sox for drafting the one dimensional Frank Thomas

The White Sox were fooling passing up the opportunity to draft the multitalented sure fire star Earl Cunningham.



Frank Thomas became the greatest hitter in White Sox history while Earl Cunningham has appeared in as many games in the majors as me.

What's sadder?
The fact that the draft is televised or that some A's games aren't?

Um, isn't Oakland a Major League city?

Let me just double check something.
The Oakland A's are a major league team, right?

Thus, by definition, Oakland is a major league city right?

As a rabid Red Sox fan living in the Bay Area, I wanted to watch the A's/Red Sox afternoon game this Thursday.
It had added significance because I learned Curt
Schilling was throwing a no hitter.

So you would think catching one of the local major league teams on TV would be an easy thing to do, this being 2007 and all.

Nope.
No TV.

Not that I didn't get the channel... there was no TV crew dispatched to Oakland today.
What was on Fox Sports Bay Area?

Either a countdown show listing the craziest Terrell Owens moments or the finals of the Hungry Hungry Hippos championship.



(Can you imaine the outrage in New York if the Yankees decided to not show a game? Or the Mets? Or in Boston with the Sox? In Oakland they don't even care.)

Fine.
I'll listen to it on the radio.

Now here in the Bay Area there are two 24 hour sports radio stations.
Guess which one was playing the only live Major League game going on in the Bay Area?

RIGHT!
NEITHER!

One had Ralph Barberi still complaining about Benitez and the other had Chris Myers talking about NFL training camps.

No, the A's have their games broadcast on another station that must be a one watt radio station.



Seriously, you have to sit in the station parking lot in order to get the signal clearly.

A guy broadcasting from his dormroom sticking a coathanger out the window would get a wider audience.

COME ON, A'S!

You want to build a stronger fan base?
START BY SHOWING THE GAMES!

And sign a deal with a radio station that doesn't say "10-4, Over" at the end of the broadcast.

I'll Admit... That One Stung

Yeah tonight's loss stung.
Especially having BOTH Okajima and Papelbon both let up runs...
And a 2 out homer in the 9th to A-Rod of all people.

But Sox fans... try not to get carried away.
The Red Sox STILL have a double digit lead IN JUNE!

My fellow Sox fans are carrying on like the Yankees have caught us!
They haven't even caught them in the season series (7-5 in favor of the Sox)

The Sox STILL have the best record in baseball and the Yankees are still a losing team.

Calllllllllm down.

If they get to within a week of the Sox, THEN worry.

MAGIC NUMBER IS 99

It's June 1 and the Magic Number to win the division is in double digits.
Mind you, that's any number of Red Sox wins and BALTIMORE losses that equal 99 will win the Division.

As for eliminating the Yankees? The magic number is 97.

But there is no regional chain of restaurants in New England called 97.

My thoughts on the two most recent A-Rod controversies

A few people have e mailed me privately wondering why I haven't commented on A-Rod's infidelity nor his yelling "hey!" during a pop up distracting the Blue Jays' third baseman the other day.

Could it be that I don't care about either?

CONTROVERSY ONE
Alex Rodriguez is an unfaithful husband.

Wow, I don't think even Razor could have predicted that!

You mean a famous, handsome, athletic, rich ego maniac who spends weeks at a time on the road in fancy hotels was unfaithful?

IT MUST BE A FIRST!

Now there is a slight ripple effect to this controversy.
First of all, someone at the Post got a bonus for the STRAY ROD headline.
And I'm sure Joe Torre is so happy that all of this is happening on the eve of another Red Sox/Yankees series.

I'm sure the Boston media will let it blow over.

So will the fans, no doubt. They overlook details like that in Fenway.

But I really don't care.
I know ballplayers run around on their wives. Not all of them, but a lot do.

And while that stinks, it also doesn't affect my life one bit.

Yankee fans should be concerned about how he plays on the field and that's it.

I cheer for Curt Schilling
even though he is a right wing Christian coalition blow hard.

I don't care about his politics. I care that he can throw a little horse hide ball past grown men swinging a bat. And that's all. And if being a blowhard makes him a better pitcher than so be it!

Being a lousy husband didn't hurt Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle.

In fact I think finding morality can hurt a player. When Gary Gaetti was a hellraiser, he was an All
Star and won the ALCS MVP in 1987.

He found God and also found a .226 average.

He should have gone back to drinking.

It's irrelevant. We should know by now to not expect these guys to be beacons of morality.

Of course, for a guy as obsessed about his image as A-Rod is, he may have thought about separate cabs. I know cab fare can be expensive, but Cynthia might be getting a lot of that $250 million contract now!

Again, a nasty divorce and faces all over the tabloids might be the last straw before he opts out.

Hell, if the Yankees fall any further in the standings (if that's possible) why not consider trading him?

Also, for a guy who wants to emulate Jeter, he missed a
crucial lesson from the captain.

If you want to run around with lots of very hot women and cash in your "I'm a horny handsome athletic world famous millionaire" card for some string free sex... don't get married!

Very simple. No scandals around Derek Jeter. Just a huge smile and 4 World Series rings.

Also he didn't write a crappy children's book.











CONTROVERSY TWO

A-Rod yelled and distracted a Blue Jays infielder during a pop up.

Um, OK.
So what?

I didn't realize baseball stadiums were supposed to be as quiet as Wimbledon now.

How is that any different than pulling a decoy play?

Besides, the Yankees needed a win any way possible and A-Rod would do anything short of slapping the ball out of someones glove.



So, this extensive post not withstanding... I don't care.

Red Sox/Yankees tomorrow.
THAT'S what I care about.