Entries Tagged 'Sean Casey' ↓

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.

Mike Lowell is on the DL until the 25th (if nothing else goes wrong) due to the sprained left thumb. He’ll try to keep up some conditioning, etc…, but how good did Casey look last night when he stepped in? A veteran who could have been a starter for a lesser team, Casey is a professional and rumored to be a hell of a teammate. We’ll see if he can stay focused and give the Sox the production they’ll need to protect Papi and Manny.

Hey, don’t look now, but the Yankees are coming to town for the first of 19 games. With Wang coming in to face Buchholz, this might be interesting. I want to see Buchholz pick it up and pitch better. He has the potential to be a solid #2, but he’s going to have to seriously control his pitches and learn how to stay out of the mental side of things when he doesn’t do well. Derek Lowe could not be reached for comment.

It looks as though this is the end of the Mitchell report fallout. Bud Selig, whether truthfully reluctant or not (hey, he could certainly be crying wolf here), is going to accept the recommendation made in Senator Mitchell’s report and not punish any of the players, former or current, for their alleged steroid and / or PED use.

If you’re looking at the sheer expense of bringing some modicum of justice to a steroid or PED user, then sure, this is the right call. I’m not so certain it gives any closure to the players who came in #2 in voting for some award that had both financial and Hall of Fame impact on their career when they, themselves, played clean. I’m being biased, but Mike Greenwell would love more phone calls to discuss how insanely pissed off he is at MLB in general.

The new players agreement for PED use / distribution will be out soon and we’ll see how serious everyone is THIS time (that’s the third time they’ve been “really serious” if you’re keeping tabs).

ok - looks like they’re working on that bench.

Sean Casey, pending a physical, is headed to the Red Sox to back up Youk at first.

A couple things to note:

• Casey’s contract is NOT guaranteed, even though it’s a small $800k
• Casey is in no way, shape or form going to resemble the player he was a few years ago.

That is all.