Entries Tagged 'Justin Masterson' ↓

The Sox handed themselves a Wild Card entry last night as the rain, some powerful hits against crappy pitching and a long, long night that flipped the clock ended any guess as to where they would be headed on Tuesday. With this season all over except a couple games that mean absolutely nothing –unless someone gets hurt, that is– I look at the playoffs with a few lingering thoughts:

• Mike Lowell is most likely done. As soon as he hit that ball last night you could tell it was over. Thank you, Mikey, you did a great job this year.
• The rotation is looking good, but I’m still nervous about Masterson and Delcarmen “shoring up” the bridge to Pap.
•  The 2008 AL Cy goes to Clifton Phifer Lee. At 22-3, Clif Lee has done an incredible job in the Indians rotation against almost every team he’s faced. Also, it’s excellent that there’s no “close call” this year. I think his record and performance basically leave no question.
• The 2008 AL MVP is a toss-up for me. I like Joe Mauer of the Twins, and I think he’ll get some serious consideration, but how can you not choose either Pedroia or Youkilis? Kevin Youkilis, especially, has stepped into the 4-hole and is bordering on thirty home runs and has over 115 RBIs. He’s become the power-hitting corner infielder that they need him to be.
• The trading deadline and wire waiver deals brought us Kotsay and Bay. I like both of the additions. Kotsay has certainly helped give the team “room for injury” and is able to handle Right and First without embarassing himself.
• Was it just me, or did it bring back all sorts of memories when Casey let the ball go through his glove at first last night? Eeep. That’s the kind of superstitious bullshit that’ll make a ballplayer say the Hail Mary five hundred times.
• The Sox are going to Anaheim and I think it’s going to take all five games if they want to get to the ALCS. The Angels aren’t the same team they’ve seen over the past two series. Don’t let K-Rod out of the gate.
• The Rays have won the AL East and they deserve it. That doesn’t, however, mean they’ll be able to perform as well as they did in the regular season. We shall see how they fair against the AL Central winners (We all know it’s the Twins, right?).
• I’m really, really pulling for the Brewers to get the Wild Card. They haven’t seen the post season since ‘82. And, they have a couple of really fun players to watch.
• I need to say that I am psyched that Don Orsillo is getting some games in as a broadcaster for the ALDS. Don Orsillo is articulate, knows the game and has a fantastic delivery. He’s become one of my favorites over the last few years.

SO! With the Wild Card secured and the Sox headed to Anaheim, I will trust that Tito makes the right calls for the ALDS and let the good times roll.

I look at the standings and I keep my cool. The Rays are a legitimate contender until someone kicks them in the private parts. The best part about this? I AM SO HAPPY IT’S NOT THE TYPICAL YANKEE RIVALRY. I yell because I care.

Clay Feet

The Clay Buchholz experiment is simply not working out so far this year. The kid is having a hell of a time adjusting to his first year in the Bigs and it looks like his confidence takes a hit each time out of the gate. I can’t help wonder if maybe a flip-flop between Masterson and Buchholz (starter vs. ‘pen) would have been a better decision; recognizing the no-hitter and the length of service.

It might be time to speed up the progress for Colon and see if he can jump in there for a couple starts.

Manny Being a #$(%$* ?

Listen, Manny can do whatever he wants and the club won’t do much about it. Whatever happens to his contract from here on out is anyone’s guess. Is he worth $20 million per year? Is he only worth that if he’s protected by Ortiz? His mischief does not bug me, but having an all-out fight with a 60-something year-old man wasn’t obviously very bright. He’ll still be here next year, I’m sure. It seems that he’s a necessary evil when things aren’t going his way and it’s a guaranteed hall of fame player when things are. Where’s Schilling in all of this? I’m surprised he hasn’t spoken up about the situation.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted on this thing. I barely remember all the stuff that’s happened since I took a break.

It’s all about the second half now, where the Sox will pick it back up against the Angels leading the AL East by .5 a game. It’s not much, but with the way the Rays were playing into the break, I would have rather skipped the All-Star Game and gone right to the second half to watch them crumble.

We have some really interesting things to watch on the sidelines for the second half of the season, including:

Papi

When will he return? Is he okay and ready to go? What will it be like for him to get back into his rythm? If he goes to both Portland and Pawtucket, and the Sox are losing groud, will they forgo any of the rehab assignments and just call his butt back up to the Bigs asap?

J.D. Drew

Wow, this kid spends 11 years being “promising”, then has a career year (so far). Not only that, but he picks up some MVP hardware at the All-Star Game to boot (sorry, Dan Uggla, I know that word isn’t too good for you right now… *cough error cough*). Unfortunately, when Papi does return, Drew will slide out of that powerful 3 spot in the order… then it’s anyone’s guess as to his “back problems” or his “hammy issues”.

Varitek

Is it time to get ‘Tek to pull 75% duty? Will he last the rest of the year, regardless of how horrible a hitter Cash is? The guy is in tremendous shape, and I’d love for him to be productive for the next six years, but I don’t see it. He’s losing his offense at a dizzying pace and his arm is showing fatigue.

Trade Deadline

What the hell will Theo do? Aside from bringing up Masterson to be a long-relief guy, what can they do to shore up the team? Is Lugo going to have 12 errors in the second half? Will they put up with his incredible missing offense? Is it time for Lowrie to hit the bench and be ready to play for a few days in a row?

I’m happy we still have half a season. I’ve been to busy to truly enjoy the first half.

Quick hits:

• Big Papi goes on the DL with a “slightly” torn tendon in his wrist. Is it or isn’t it? Isn’t saying “slightly torn” akin to “slightly pregnant”?
• UPDATE: 09:27 AM - It appears as though Papi’s injury will keep him out about 2 months… More as this develops. This word comes from inside the organization. Sean Casey could not be reached for comment…
• It appears that Toronto-born Hazel Mae is leaving NESN at the end of the month. She didn’t offer up what would be her next endeavor, but there has to be something contract-specific for a larger network happening. I’m sure she’s going to end up in San Diego or somewhere very pleasant.
• Masterson makes another start tonight and I’m pretty excited to see how he does. His two appearances in the bigs have been nothing but solid. He’s probably going to get at least two starts if Dice-K needs the extra day or so to recover the shoulder.
• Manny has hit home runs in 3 consecutive games. Nice work, man. Not as good as Chase Utley this year, but still…

Finally, I have to say… I don’t usually post links to non-baseball items, but I may have to start. Every once in a while I run into something that gets my odd humor in a frenzy. The more I think about this site, the more brilliant it is. Check out the life of John Arbuckle WITHOUT Garfield:

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

Lester was obviously brilliant keeping his focus for both the first no-hitter and complete game of his young but amazingly storied career. The fact that emotions were as high as they were during the World Series last year had almost no deadening on what was about to happen a couple of nights ago. As much as I’d love to say that this kid is one of the best pitchers, he isn’t. He’s a damned fine lefty who will do a great job and make a ton of money during his tenure. He may end up with a Glavine-like career, which isn’t too bad at all.

Masterson was pretty darned good. Especially if you consider this is only his second one-day field trip to the majors and that he’s already back in Double-A ball. He’s definitely someone to watch, but I do hope he develops quickly. His delivery is deceptive, but it may get figured out since it takes so long for his arm to come out of the slot on breaking pitches. So far, so good.

And, finally, Mike Piazza has officially retired from Major League Baseball. Five years from now people will be deciding the first chance at his Hall status. Just to show you some highlights of his offensive career:

• 427 home runs, including the most home runs as a catcher (396)
• .308 Batting average
• 1335 RBIs
• .377 On-base percentage (not horrible by any means)

Piazza will go down in history as one of the best offensive catchers in baseball. As a 12 time All-Star selection, Piazza worked on his popularity and his swing playing early for the Dodgers and eventually got his defensive skills up to par. I’m glad he’s calling it quits at this point since he didn’t sign with anyone for ‘08 rather than trying a stint in Japan or hooking on with a minor league contract somewhere. He’ll go out on his own terms.