Entries Tagged 'milestones' ↓

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.

Manny stood at the plate and took a massive but fluid swing at the first pitch from former Sox pitcher Chad Bradford and hit the ball about 410 yards to the opposite field. It was, without question, his nicest home run this year.

Ramirez will never win a gold glove, but he is one of the best natural hitters the game has ever seen.

Mike Lowell is now in the Red Sox record books as the all-time club leader for RBIs in a season. This guy has been amazing this year and I can’t imagine how incredibly proud he must feel after slumping for a two-year period, then come back and kick collective buttocks.

Typically throughout his career, Mike Lowell has taken a sort of dive in the second half. This time, Manny got hurt, and Mike comes in to the 4 spot (thereby allowing Ortiz to keep his comfortable spot in the lineup) and driving in runs like no other third baseman in the history of the organization.

When his bloated contract came as part of the deal with Beckett, I and many other people said, “Well, at least his defense is solid.”

Notes:

• Barry took his last hacks as a professional baseball player. I know he’s not retired, but he’s not playing this weekend and something tells me he’ll be a little busy playing a whole new type of defense next year.
• With Lester not doing too well (how can you get 9 strikeouts and still give up 4 ER is beyond me), he probably won’t make it to the first post season roster. I seriously doubt he’ll be on the roster at all, but we’ll see.
• Gagne really isn’t doing all that well, is he? Wow. If they “need him” so much, he better try not throwing any more fastballs.
• The magic number is two.
• The Yankees are officially in the post season. I can’t believe how hard they charged to get back to the playoffs.

Congrats to big ol’ Jim Thome on his 500th career home run.

A walk-off homer in the 9th. Fantastic way to get in the books, big guy.

The dynamic duo had their 45 minutes together last night for the first time in a couple of weeks and then Mirabelli strains his hammy coming across first after his only at bat. Great. Enter: Kevin Cash, the quiet, yet interestingly weak-hitting catcher who seems to be the only “other” person in MLB to employ the soft hands required to receive the knuckle ball.

If you keep your eyes on the next two years, we’ll see the emergence of George Kottaras as the starter and Cash as the Wakefield binky. Kottaras is a highly-regarded prospect and good catchers are becoming hard to find these days.

Notes:

• I will be seriously amazed if Youk doesn’t get the Gold Glove. He is ONE game away from breaking the AL record for most consecutive starts at first base without an error. He’s already shattered the club record.
• Dice-K thinks Pedroia should be the Rookie of the Year. So do I. But, then again, I’m biased at the moment. His play during the last few weeks has been nothing short of spectacular. The only problem is, aside from Jon Donovan of SI.com, he hasn’t gotten that much national attention.
• Papi hit his 200th home run with the Red Sox. Why didn’t we know about this kid when he was with Minnesota!? Wow. What an amazing free-agent find.
• Buchholz loves kicking the collective butts of the Orioles. He’s now held them scoreless in consecutive outings. Nice.
• Rick Ankiel, Cardinals phenom for the second time after converting from pitcher to hard-hitting outfielder, has his name on a list of people who purchased HGH in 2004. I can’t wait to hear all 45 names from this list. Expect to see Nomar and a couple of other former (and current?) Sox players.