Tag Archives: Boston Red Sox

MLB: Discipline Ortiz

29 Monday Jul 2013

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David Ortiz, the best Designated Hitter in baseball, deserves to be disciplined.

Ortiz simply lost control the other night in Baltimore and had a tantrum that fortunately did not result in any damage, other than to the bullpen phone box and to his own reputation.

He should be fined or suspended, whatever MLB determines is proper for similar, previous situations.

Apparently, Ortiz was most incensed by the umpire’s unwillingness to admit he had made a mistake in the call and is reported to have said something like, “we all make mistakes, but we need to admit when we do. That’s all.”

Will Ortiz apply that to himself?

I hope so.

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Buchholz: What Gives?

23 Tuesday Jul 2013

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(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

I’m generally critical of Boston sports’ writers who ‘go after’ Sox players, but I’ve been wondering about something for several weeks now.

Let me start with the admission that I do not know the details of the issue I’m about to discuss. Other than what I read in the media, which includes various blogs and social media outlets, I have no inside knowledge.

Nevertheless, to me, something seems wrong with the Clay Buchholz, “I won’t pitch until I’m 100%.”

For those of you who may not be as obsessed as I about the Red Sox, a quick update. Buchholz started the season going 9-0 with an ERA of 1.71. He was as good as any pitcher in the Majors, probably the best.

Then around June 8, Buchholz apparently felt stiffness in his neck area and shut himself down, saying he didn’t want to risk more serious damage. That seemed to make sense.

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At the Halfway Mark

28 Friday Jun 2013

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Team W L Pct GB
Boston 48 33 .593 –
Baltimore 44 36 .550 3.5
NY Yankees 42 36 .538 4.5
Tampa Bay 41 38 .519 6
Toronto 39 39 .500 7.5
 

Well, everyone said at the start of the season that the AL East would be a tough Division and all five teams had a shot. Most people who cared about such important matters, myself included (see my preseason predictions), thought the Sox and Yankees would be contending for the bottom of the Division, not the top.

So it is a pleasant surprise to see the Sox in first place in the AL East and with the best record in the AL.

I know. I know.

As my ‘Yankee friends’ (not so much of an oxymoron as it might seem) continually remind me, August is a coming, and that is very different than April (where the Sox were 18-8).

It’s a bit worrisome that it is hitting and not pitching that has gotten the Sox this far. They are at the top of their league in all the important hitting categories while their pitching and fielding is only average. We know what happens to teams that rely on hitting to carry them through the season.

Their lack of pitching depth is worrisome, and while the Sox have weathered some injuries already, tho as yet nothing equal to last year in that respect, the 162 game season is beginning to take its toll on the pitchers.

And how have the Yankees with all of their injuries and second and third string players managed to win so many games? They are probably likely to get better as some of the injured return, probably after the All Star break.

Then there’s Toronto who is finally beginning to play as well as everyone expected. Plus, Baltimore has a lineup that is powerful and relentless. And Tampa Bay can never be counted out.

But it’s exciting to have all five of the AL East teams at .500 or better for the first half of the season.

For the Boston fanatics, the Sox Magic Number is 76 with 81 games remaining!

But I’m sticking by my preseason predictions.

 
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David Ortiz & Steroids

08 Wednesday May 2013

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Photo by Matthew Lee/Boston Globe

Photo by Matthew Lee/Boston Globe

Does he or doesn’t he?

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe sports writer since 1981, eight times sports writer of the year and seven times named to AP’s top 10 list of sports columnists, etc., clearly has questions about how Ortiz can be performing so well that this stage in his life.

(Personally, I have not be a fan of Shaugnessy, never put him in the category of say a Tom Boswell or a Joe Posnanski. In fact, I’ve often felt he tries to carry on a tradition of Boston baseball writers who take a certain pleasure in being hard (tough, oppositional, nasty, negative, spiteful, you choose the best word) on the Sox and their players. Plus, he doesn’t seem to have much humility. Just saying…)

Nevertheless, Shaugnessy has an interesting article in today’s Globe. As you will see when you read the article, he says, “This (use of steroids) is an uncomfortable topic, but it’s preferable to question a man face-to-face than to tarnish him by whisper and innuendo.” So he went to Ortiz yesterday, and you can read for yourself what Ortiz said:

Dan Shaughnessy’s Boston Globe column today.

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Are the Sox Setting Us Up for August?

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

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If you’ve been a Red Sox fan as long as I have, 62 years, you no doubt understand the headline above.

At dinner last night, my wife of almost 45 years (and a ‘fair weather’ baseball fan — she only goes to games when the weather is fair) asked how the Sox were doing. When I told her they were 18-7, leading not only the AL East but also all of the majors, she said, “I guess they’re setting you up for their August fade.”

Could be.

If they continued at their present W-L rate (.720), they’d win 116 games.

Won’t happen, of course. Tho if they simply played at a .500 rate for the remainder of the season, they’d end up winning between 86-87 games, almost exactly what I predicted on March 18, 2013: Don’t Bother Reading This Post.

Still, Continue reading »

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