Beating a dead horse... you are nuts if you are against Interleague Pleay

The Red Sox and Rockies are squaring off...
The Rox beat the Sox in a thriller last night in their match up since the 2007 World Series, and the Rockies got revenge on Jon Lester, who won the clinching game in in '07, by beating him and also on World Series MVP Mike Lowell who was retired for the last out.

The Sox offense will probably come back in the thin air and deep power alleys of Coors Field.

But on the mound tonight for Colorado is Ubaldo Jimenez.

He's having a mind boggling first half of the season and is the Cy Young front runner.

Shouldn't the Cy Young winner have to face all the best teams in the game? The Red Sox have the second most wins in the big leagues and Jimenez is facing them while they are hot, last night's loss not withstanding.

And he could be getting revenge for Game 2 of the 2007 World Series... a game where Jimenez pitched and actually had the lead for a few innings before the Sox clawed a pair of runs off of him to get the lead and the win.

You don't get this match up in a regular season game without Interleague Play.
There isn't this kind of intrigue about a late June game if it were two contending teams in the same league.

And yet some lunatics will still say it should be abolished.

And THIS lunatic will continue pointing out how insane that point of view is.
I don't care if the horse is dead. Give me that whip!

I won't boo ANY member of the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox... not even these guys

When I wrote about how I would give Manny Ramirez an ovation if I were at Fenway (and I do cheer for Manny when I go the six miles from my house to Dodger Stadium) I got some people asking me privately (and someone asked on the site) would I also cheer for Johnny Damon.

Of course.
Both Manny and Johnny were big parts of the 2004 team that all of us Red Sox fans waited our whole lives for. And the make up of the 2004 team was NOT a bunch of home grown Red Sox who all played together in Pawtucket. The 1975, 1978 and 1986 Red Sox teams were primarily home grown.

With the exception of Youk, Nixon, Varitek and Lowe, none of them spent their rookie years with the Red Sox. And even Varitek and Lowe were actually originally drafted by Seattle.

Most of the 2004 squad were picked up from other teams and assembled like a baseball answer to The Dirty Dozen, slapped together for a crazy mission to reverse the curse.

So it is disingenuous to get mad when a mercenary leaves for more money. Pedro, Damon, Manny, Foulke, Schilling et al came to the Red Sox via free agency or forced trades to make dough.

When Pedro signed with the Mets, Damon signed with the Yankees and Manny forced the deal to LA, they were doing to us what they did to the Expos, A's and Indians before coming to Fenway.

I just say "thank you" and have them on their way.
And I have my policy... if you were on the Red Sox playoff rosters for 2004 or 2007 then I can not boo you.

But there are a few guys who test that theory... and it isn't Manny nor Damon.

There are 4 guys who at first make me want to boo... then I have to stop and say "But they helped the Sox win a ring" and reluctantly say "Oh alright. I won't boo."

They are...

RAMIRO MENDOZA, Relief Pitcher. 2004

He always felt like a Yankee mole, didn't he? I still remember him being on the mound in 1999, clinching the ALCS. (No offense to El Duque, but Mendoza should have been the MVP of the 1999 ALCS.)

He was a big pile of "eh" in his 2 seasons in Boston, compiling a combined 5.73 over 2003 and 2004. And he was the last Red Sox pitcher to record a loss in 2004, getting the decision in the 19-8 Game 3 Fiasco... against the Yankees. It was the last game he pitched in a Red Sox uniform and the Sox went 8-0 the rest of the way. I admit it looked odd seeing his celebrate with the other Red Sox at Yankee Stadium after Game 7. When he received his ring the next season, he was a member of the Yankees again.

I never trusted him. But I can't boo him.


ERIC GAGNE, Relief Pitcher. 2007

He was supposed to be the pick up that solidified the bullpen and made the World Series a lock. Instead he became the 800 pound gorilla reliever and the very symbol of how badly someone could suck when they get off the juice.

By the time the playoffs came about, he was banished to mop up duty. The only time he pitched in a close game, it was Game 2 of the 2007 ALCS which he of course lost.

The only two positive things about Gagne's Red Sox stay were his closing out the Division Series (in a mercy move by Tito) and this song inspired by his time in Boston.

He has a ring and Yaz doesn't? It's sick. But I can't boo him.


JAVIER LOPEZ, Relief Pitcher. 2007

I watched a lot of Red Sox games in 2007. And I watched a lot of games where Javier Lopez came into the game. And I honestly have no recollection of him recording an out.

I'm not being snarky. I am sure he MUST have got a batter out. But I don't remember it. It seemed like all of his appearances were listed in the Box Score as 0 IP, faced 2 batters.

When he came into the game, you just KNEW that Tito was going to relieve him before the inning was over. You KNEW that the rally was going to continue.

He was tough to root for... and I bid him farewell last year. As poorly as he pitched, I can't boo him.

JULIO LUGO, Shortstop. 2007

Oh boy this is the ultimate litmus test. This guy was TOUGH to root for. Not only was he obscenely overpaid ($36 million for a guy who lost his starting job with the Dodgers) but was BRUTAL in the field and had an 0-33 stretch at the plate.

Someday we'll learn what Orlando Cabrera did to tick off the Red Sox front office. But until then, Sox fans will all be scratching our collective heads wondering why he couldn't stay instead of shelling out tons of money for Edgar Renteria and Julio Lugo.

But he won a ring with the Sox (and made a few nice plays in the World Series.) Swallow hard... I can't boo him.



And folks, if I refrain from booing those guys, then I think I can find it in myself to cheer some of the heroes of the '04 and '07 titles.

Cash was fine... but where's Dougie?

Seriously, if the Sox are going to bring back an old friend who can catch a knuckle ball, who did it better than Doug Mirabelli?

He's got the two World Series rings to prove it and seemed to have a job forever with the Red Sox provided that Tim Wakefield was there.

In fact when the Red Sox started the 2004 World Series, captain Jason Varitek was introduced with the "other players and pitchers" instead of the starting lineup. Dougie caught game 1 for Wakes. He went 1 for 3 with a run scored.

He played for the 2007 World Champs and received a police escort to Fenway Park when he was reacquired in 2005 from San Diego.

He doesn't deserve to be on my All Ungraceful Red Sox Exit Team.

Bring him back! Just for a few games at least.

Right now he's a baseball coach at St. Francis High School in Traverse City, Michigan and also sells real estate there.

While it is great to see Doug moving on and settling down... I want him back with the Sox!

Maybe the Sox can buy a few properties in the deal. Heck, how could that be a worse investment than Julio Lugo?

Does Kevin Cash belong in that elite group of Red Sox/Yankees champions?

The Red Sox today welcomed back old friend and knuckleball catching specialist Kevin Cash in a deal with Houston.

With Victor Martinez hurt, it is good to have someone with big league experience backing up "The Lobster" and catching Wakefield (who goes tonight in search if his 178th win in a Red Sox uniform.)

Cash was on the 2007 Division Series roster but didn't get into a game. (He played and homered in the 2008 ALCS for the Sox.)

So he earned a ring with the '07 Red Sox.

But remember, he also played for the 2009 Yankees... which as painful as it is to remember... also won the World Series.

Now he only played 10 games for the Yankees that year and was released in September... but I wonder if he got a ring from the Yankees as well.

I guess he would join Ramiro Mendoza, Johnny Damon and Eric Hinske as the only living players to get a World Series ring as a player with the Red Sox and Yankees.

But I have a hard time putting him in that list because Mendoza, Damon and Hinske were all on the active roster for the post season while Cash was cut from the team before the season was over.

It's the sort of thing that a lunatic like me thinks about at this late hour.

Either way, welcome back... and don't get hurt.

He's baaaaack

I know it ended badly... but I really hope Manny gets SOME love tonight.

I can't boo a 2004 Red Sox. I just can't.

Lowell Spinner!

Well wasn't THAT a fine "Nice to have you back!"

Seriously, Youk gets hurt, Lowell comes back and BAM! Sox take the lead, Lowell makes a nice play in the field, Beckett looks dominating and the Red Sox beat Cleveland.

It's 2007 all over again!

OK, probably not. We'll probably have a MUCH different result. Yeah I know Lowell and Hall are essentially replacing Youk and Pedroia right now and they both homered last night. But the Sox are still a little too far back to realistically make a run at this.

But as long as they keep winning and the Yankees keep dropping games to Toronto... who knows?

Let's update the tally.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 35

April 4 - 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 - 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 - 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 - 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 - 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk's 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 - 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre's bases loaded walk.)

April 24 - 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 - 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 - 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 - 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)
May 4 - 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia's 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 - 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)
May 6 - 11-6 win against the Angels. (Dice-K puts the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole before they even bat. The Sox bats respond.)
May 10 - 7-6 win against the Blue Jays. (Sox blow an early 2-0 lead, take advantage of some errors and hang on.)
May 18 - 7-5 win in New York. (Sox climb back from a 5-1 hole. A day after hitting a walk off homer, Marcus Thames drops a fly ball to start the winning rally for the Sox.)
May 25 - 2-0 win in Tampa. (Big Papi supplies all the offense as Papelbon wiggles out of a 9th inning jam.)
May 29 - 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Zack Greinke holds the Sox to one run, but they make it stick)

June 1 - 9-4 win against Oakland. (Lackey puts the Sox in a 4-0 hole but Victor Martinez goes 5-5 and the Sox score 9 runs late.)
June 2 - 6-4 win against Oakland. (Dice-K puts the Sox in a 3-0 hole before they come to bat, but come back thanks to Papi's homer.)

June 8 - 3-2 win at Cleveland. (With Papelbon unavailable, Okajima, Ramirez and Bard hang on to make a winner out of Wakefield.)

June 19 - 5-4 win against the Dodgers. (Sox make 4 errors, blow a late lead and let Manny homer, but they win it in the bottom of the 9th on a Pedroia single.)
June 20 - 2-0 win against the Dodgers. (Dodgers blow an early bases loaded scoring opportunity and allow Buchholz to settle down for the win.)

June 24 - 13-11 win in Colorado. (The bullpen lets up 9 runs in 5 innings, but Pedroia homers 3 times including with 2 outs in the 10th to win a wild and stupid game.)
June 26 - 4-2 win in San Francisco. (An injury running the bases takes Buchholz out in the second, but the bullpen and Mike Cameron's bat and glove win the game.)
July 2 - 3-2 win against the Orioles. (Wakefield gets the win and J.D. Drew homers twice, but it is Nava's 2 out 8th inning bloop that landed between three fielders that breaks the tie.)

July 11 - 3-2 win in Toronto. (Jesse Litch took a no hitter into the 6th but back to back homers by McDonald and Big Papi win the game.)
July 17 - 3-2 win against Texas. (Youk ties the game in the 9th off of Cliff Lee and wins it in the 11th with a sacrifuce fly)
July 19 - 2-1 win at Oakland. (Beltre homers and Dice-K holds on to the win.)
July 22 - 8-6 win at Seattle. (Lackey lost a no hit bid in the 8th and the Mariners scored 5 in the 9th to tie before the Sox won in 13)
July 23 - 2-1 win at Seattle. (Bill Hall's barely fair homer gives the Sox the win on Beckett's return.)

July 26 - 6-3 win in Anaheim. (Papi homers twice and Buccholz and Papelbon each wiggle out of jams to get the win.)
July 27 - 4-2 win in Anaheim. (Jed Lowrie's 2 run 7th inning double gives the Sox the lead and makes a winner out of John Lackey. )

July 28 - 7-3 win in Anaheim. (Youk ties the game in the 7th with a homer and Scutaro wins it with an 8th inning grand slam to sweep the Angels.)
July 31 - 5-4 win against Detrout. (Big Papi hits a 3 run walk off double to crush the Tigers in the 9th.)
August 1 - 4-3 win against Detroit. (Sox blow a 3 run 9th inning lead but the Tigers throw away a 9th inning sacrifice bunt to give the Sox the win.

August 3 - 3-1 win against Cleveland. (Lowell homers on his first pitch back and plays sparkling defense to preserve the win.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 33

April 6 - 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro's error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 - 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson's 10th inning homer)
April 9 - 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 - 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can't score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th... lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 - 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 - 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 - 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 - 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.
May 12 - 3-2 loss against the Blue Jays. (The Sox rally in the 9th comes up a run short and Kevin Gregg gets an ugly save.)
May 15 - 7-6 loss in Detroit. (The Sox blow a 6-1 lead and lose it on a 2 out bases loaded walk in the 12th.)
May 17 - 11-9 loss in New York. (The Sox come all the way back from a 5-0 first inning hole to take a 9-7 lead in the 9th... but Papelbon lets up a 2 run game tying shot to A-Rod and a 2 run walk off shot to Marcus Thames.)
May 21 - 5-1 loss in Philadelphia. (Big Papi's bid for a game tying 9th inning grand slam is caught at the warning track.)
May 27 - 4-3 loss to Kansas City. (Dice-K walks the go ahead run in and lets another score on a wild pitch as the Royals no name bullpen shut down the Hot Sox.)
May 28 - 12-5 loss to Kansas City. (Sox blow a 3-0 first inning lead to be blown out in Fenway.)
June 3 - 9-8 loss to Oakland. (Sox lose a slugfest where two Boston runners are thrown out at home.)

June 6 - 4-3 loss in Baltimore. (Sox rally to tie the game in the 9th only to lose it on a small ball rally in the 11th.)
June 10 - 8-7 loss in Cleveland. (Sox blow an early 5-0 lead and then after rallying in the 9th to take the lead coughed it up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th)
June 13 - 5-3 loss to Philadelphia. (Sox 9th inning rally comes up short)
June 22 - 2-1 loss in Colorado. (The Sox waste a solid Lester start and twice leave the bases loaded.)
June 23 - 8-6 loss in Colorado. (The Sox batter Ubaldo Jimenez around but Papelbon lets up 2 homers in the 9th to lose it.)
June 25 - 5-4 loss in San Francisco. (The Sox strand 11 runners in the last 4 innings wasting a solid Wakefield performance.)
July 5 - 6-5 loss in Tampa Bay. (Sox spoil a 5-1 lead and 2 homers by Eric Patterson when Dice-K and the bullpen couldn't hold down the Rays.)
July 6 - 3-2 loss in Tampa Bay. (Sox bats go dead and Kevin Youkilis goes down to injury.)
July 7 - 6-4 loss in Tampa Bay. (Matt Garza comes out of the pen, shuts down a late rally as the Rays sweep the Sox.)
July 10 - 9-5 loss in Toronto. (The Sox give Lackey an early 5-3 lead that he couldn't hold.)
July 18 - 4-2 loss to the Rangers. (Lester loses a rare game at home that included a Rangers steal of home.) July 20 - 5-4 loss in Oakland. (The Sox go up 4-0 after 2 but don't score again and lose it in the 10th)
July 21 - 6-4 loss in Oakland. (Buchholz can't hold on to an early lead as the Sox lose the series.)
July 24 - 5-1 loss in Seattle. (Lester's perfect game is foiled and the Red Sox bats die.)
July 25 - 4-2 loss in Seattle. (Okajima misplays a sacrifice bunt and the Mariners rally in the 8th to win.)
July 30 - 6-5 loss to Detroit. (Papi's grand slam makes it a 1 run game in the 9th but Cameron strikes out looking with the winning runs on base.)
August 2 - 6-5 loss to Cleveland. (Beltre drives in 5 runs by himself but the Red Sox leave the tying run on base with Big Papi on deck.)


Back up to +2

Lester tomorrow... hey he won the clinching game of the 2007 World Series. Maybe the 2007 feel good party can continue!