The "Greek God of Walks" may need to be moved.

Reports are coming in that Kevin Youkilis [the Greek God of Walks - from Moneyball] is being "shopped" for a Planned Trade this year. Two years ago this might have been unthinkable for the Red Sox. Youk, a fan favorite, has had two disappointing years in a row, and each year he seems to be injured for long periods of time. These injuries are legitimate, not any sort of 'cry-baby' like behavoir from the Boston 3rd Baseman. However, it appears that Kevin's body is no longer able to hold-up to his 'style of play' and his energetic demeanor.

Prince Fielder is HUGE!

I just watched Prince Fielder at bat against the Boston Red Sox this afternoon. I always heard he was big, just did not realize how big. He looks like someone who might have just eaten David Ortiz. He makes Big Papi look like somebody's 'little' brother.

But, Holy Crap could he move running the bases! Hate to have that large mass moving towards me in a hurry. The momentum would scare the crap out of me!

Inter-League Play is here, again!

Like it or not, Inter-League Play is back for MLB this year.

Some people thrive on this time of year, while others absolutely HATE it! Myself, i kind of enjoy it, a bit, until my favorite AL Teams run out of Gas in the later innings and can not rely upon their BIG DH's to bail them out of the power-failure that comes with pitcher's hitting. Although it is kinda funny to see Big Papi [David Ortiz] with a baseball glove on his hand. {Looks kinda like a pot-holder!}

Umpires HATE when you head towards first!

Have you ever noticed that when an Umpire is 'slow to call the pitch' and the hitter thinks its the 4th Ball and begins to head towards firstbase, the Umpire "instinctively" calls it a strike? I believe this is built-in to the umpire's make-up and can not be helped. I'm not defending it, but it does happen too often to be coincidence.

Take into account the 'altercation' between Umpire Bill Miller and Blue Jays 3rd Baseman, Brett Lawrie the other night. Twice, in a row, the hitter thought it was Ball-four, and the Umpire Responded by Calling it a Strike. The first of those two pitches was CLEARLY outside the strike-zone. It could make you mad [as a hitter] but it should also teach you some patience. Hitters should realize that Umpires are people who are used to others listening to what they say and following their 'orders'. When someone thinks they know the truth that the Umpire has not given them, yet, the umpire reacts by 'proving the person wrong'. It's not really honest, but it happens all the time.

So, patience is prescribed for all. [Oh, and DON'T THROW YOUR HELMUT - for ANY Reason!]

Big MO may be NO MO!

Mariano Riviera Tore his ACL while messing around in the outfield during Batting Practice. He had planned to retire after this season, and this appears to be the end of this season. If this proves to be the end of his career, what a sad way to go out. Now, it's hard to blame him, for doing something unnecessary, since it is just as likely this [most likely] would have happened during normal exercises and game play, considering his age and conditioning.

As a Red Sox fan [for life!] you might expect me to be grateful for his early departure, but, no, I am not. I never really considered him the "Ultimate Closer" [especially with his track record against the Red Sox!] and looked forward to the Sox BIG Hitters coming up against him in the last inning of a close game!

John Grisham hits one out of the ballpark!

I was finally able to set down and read the new offering by one of America's Greatest Writer [John Grisham], "Calico Joe". The Baseball related storyline of this new book is a story that all people can relate to and enjoy. It contains comprehensive [although fictional] Baseball Game details, as well as Disfunctional Family plot-lines that cause the reader to tear up and think about people they know in reality. I also caught a few good belly-laughs in this book. It's a great story and it's told in a way that keep the reader interested, by traveling back and forth in the protagonist's mind to the point where things went wrong, and the point where he was trying to 'right' them.

I'd recommend this book for all sorts of readers. Baseball fans, as well as people who barely watch the sport. It can be read by teenagers, and pre-teens, as well as mothers, fathers, grand-parents, and grand-children. All sorts of people will enjoy this well-written story with a mixed ending. This book is for everyone who ever wanted to right a wrong, for everyone who ever 'had a catch' with their father, for everyone who ever 'missed a catch' with their father, and all those in-between. The book is fairly short. It took me about 25 hours to complete reading from start to finish, among my other 'things to do' in that time.

Head-Hunting in Detroit this season?

I am NOT naive. I know that Pitchers throw at Hitters. Happens every day. Happens on every team. Sometimes it seems to "come out of no where" [to the home viewer] due to bad blood for comments and actions not seen by the TV cameras or heard by the Microphones. What I do NOT understand is why when a pitcher throws directly at a batter's head, not once, but twice in a single at-bat, he is NOT thrown out of that game?

Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox game on Easter Sunday [no less!]. Lefty Phil Coke came in and threw at the head of Adrian Gonzales [went behind him, but looked obvious!] Then, next pitch, he hit Gonzalez in the shoulder. Umpires seemed to move on, like it had not happened. They awarded the base to Gonzales, who walked slowly to First, staring at the Pitcher. Given that Gonzalez had homered his last time up, the Manager, Bobby Valentine, came out to complain. Crew-Chief [2nd base] Umpire Dan Iassogna agreed and warned both teams. Valentine came back out. But there should have been an ejection. He clearly threw at the head of Gonzales with the first pitch, and missed. So, he tried another one up high and tight and plunked Gonzales on the shoulder [very near the head].

I know that hit-batsmen are a part of the game, all teams do it, most times they get away with it. But, usually the pitcher throws at the back-side of the hitter, or the leg. To throw one at the head is rediculous. To throw 2 pitches in a row at a batter's head should be automatically an ejection, and ultimately a suspension and fine from MLB.

Wierd to see both at the bottom!

The Red Sox and Yankees usually end up with pretty good records. No matter whether they start the season 6 and 0 or 0 and 6. But, usually one of the other is in the Division Lead in that first meaningless week of April. So far this year, the Yankees and Red Sox are a combined 0 and 6. Feels wierd to have Baltimore and Tampa Bay on top of the Division with Toronto not far behind. Starting Pitching appears to be the culpret for at least one of the perenial Division Leaders. Red Sox two pitching stars, Josh Beckett and Clay Bucholtz gave up 7 runs each over the weekend, claiming their velocity was there, but location was not. Sounds like Spring Training needed to be worked at a bit harder. Yankee hitters did not seem to be able to get out of their own way in their series against the Tampa Bay Rays, or is Tampa's pitching just THAT good? Only time will tell.

Even John Grisham's mind is on Baseball

Spring Training brings everything into alignment with America's Game: Baseball.

Even one of America's greatest writers has Balls and Strikes in mind as we move

into the next Season. This Book should be kept on the shelf of all real Baseball

Fanatics [and John Grisham readers].

The pain has waned - it's Spring-Training again!

Another Season of Major-League Baseball is about to start. For Spring-Training enthusiasts, it has started already. Practically a month has passed since Pitchers and Catchers reported for the start.

Are you ready for some BaseBall?

Still Shell Shocked

It's been a week since the most memorable 90 minutes of Baseball Played happend in front of my disbelieving eyes. The Red Sox lost in the most bizzare manner [the Whole month of September, really was a lost month for them - at 7 and 20] and the Tampa Bay Rays won in incredible fashion. Coming back from 7 runs down in the 8th inning to over-take the Yankees in extra innings and sink the Red Sox into their own mire.

Still shell-shocked about the whole thing, really.

Various Sports writers have written items, now, about discord in the Red Sox locker-room for the 2nd half of the season. Hind-Sight being 20-20 and all. But, Now, Terry Francona has been given his walking papers. Theo Epstein might be interviewing for a higher-level job at the Chicago Cubs. All things Red Sox have kind-of ground to a halt.

The Rays have already been exiled to the off-season, due to 3 losses against the Texas Rangers in the ALDS. The Yankees were pushed to the Brink in their series against the Detroit Tigers and that will get decided tomorrow night.

I have switched over to full-time watching and caring for Football for the next 3-4 months. Not sure what The Hot-Stove or Spring Training will bring. Will wait and see. - Need to get some much needed sleep, now, from the frantic Baseball watching of September!

Updated: 10/07/2011 - All I can say is that I'm glad THE EVIL EMPIRE was knocked out of the play-offs, last night. Makes things a bit easier to live with.

Giants needed Beltran?

Did the SF Giants need Carlos Beltran to repeat in the National League [and the WS]? You bet your butt they did! Just look at the Powerful hitting [and pitching] lineups they are likely to face. Philadelphia with it's triple threat pitching rotation and it's powerful hitting lineup. Forget about those potent American League offenses [ie: Red Sox, Yankees, Texas, etc]

The Giant's offense is generally considered the 3rd worst offense in Baseball. They are lucky to be over .500 [let alone 16 games over .500!]. Their pitching is solid, but their hitting has been suspect. They have just been lucky, so far, to be where they are. They have the prospects, they have the salary capp space. So, why not make a splash in the Pre-Deadline trade-market?

Angels Starter throws a No-No over Indians

Angels Starter, Ervin Santana, threw the first nine inning no-hitter for the Angels in nearly 27 years to lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to victory over the Cleveland Indians by a score of 3-1 this past Wednesday.

And there was much rejoycing! Looks like a bunch of kids winning a Little League Game. That's what makes MLB so fun to watch!

Instant Replay WILL be added to MLB!

Anyone who saw [or heard about] the 19 inning debacle between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves, which ended with an obviously BAD call at the plate {Julio Lugo was out by a few feet!}, knows there will HAVE to be some additional usage or framework for some form of Instant Replay in Major League Baseball. I know that Baseball 'purists' say that the Human Element is part of the game, but when millions of viewers watching a game live, and [potentially] Billions of viewers can watch things immediately afterwards [in slow motion - frame by frame] online on the Internet have a better view and knowledge than the Umpires in a Game, we are going to have uprisings. There simply MUST be a way that Instant Replay can be added to MLB games without causing things to slow down to a crawl. I mean, look at the NHL. They have Instant Replay available [from the home Office!] for every [potential] goal to make sure that IF the puck even brushes across the line for a split second, that goal is recorded.

Stay Tuned!

Double-Digit Mastry?

How often does a Major League team put up 10 runs in one game? 5 times per season? 8 times per season? Not sure what the average is over-all in the past, but the Boston Red Sox seem to be doing it at least weekly, if not twice a week!

Let's look at the math. There were 4 weeks in April. There were 4.5 weeks in May. There were 4+ weeks in June. There are 4 weeks in July. That is 17 weeks [give or take a day] and we are NOT yet done with July. The Boston Red Sox have placed at least 10 runs on the board in 16 games [so far] in the season. What is even more amazing about this is that they did not do this [at all] in April. They only did it 3 times in May. In June, they did it 6 times and [so far] in July they have accomplished this feat an incredible 7 times! That's 7 times in an incomplete month which was also abbreviated by the All-Star-Break! Not only are they putting up more than 10 runs, many times they are putting up a couple of Touch-downs on the board. By touch-downs I mean that the Sox put up at least 14 runs! Out of those 16 games with more than 10 runs, 7 of them had 14 or more runs. I'm not sure statistics like this are tracked with much regularity or accuracy, but this team has an incredible amount of offense!

July 30th 2011 - update: Red Sox scored 10 runs [again] tonight {in their 10-2 victory} making this the 17th game where they put up 10 runs [at least] of the 2011 Season. That's 17 weeks and 17 games with 10 runs or more. It's getting to be like clockwork! 1 per week [minimum] and many times twice per week.

Recently, Tim Wakefield has given up large numbers of runs [early] in games, but has still won those games because the offense put up 11 runs per game! Now THAT is run support!

August 6th 2011 - update: Red Sox scored 10 runs [again] today. This time against their 'hated rivals' The Yankees. 18 weeks and 18 games with 10 runs or more. Clockwork - still!

August 23rd 2011 - update: Red Sox scored over 10 runs again, tonight, at Texas. There has been a 'power-outage' among the Sox valued offense. This is the first 10+ run game since August 6th [nearly two and a half weeks!]. So now we are at this rate: 19 games with 10+ runs scored by the Sox in 20.5 weeks. Still pretty impressive!

August 25th 2011 - update: The Boston Red Sox continued their heavy-hitting-ways last night. They put up a touchdown and two field goals in their 13-2 rout of the Texas Rangers. For those of you that are counting [like me] they have now hit 10+ runs in 20 games in 20.5 weeks. I would not be surprised to see another game like this, this very week - to keep up their torrid pace. - Incredible!

September 7th - update: The Red Sox have scored more than 10 runs in two more games. This continues their torrid pace for the season. On Sept 3rd they scored 12 against the Texas Rangers [again] and then scored 14 against Toronto last night [Sept 6th]. They even scored 9 against the NY Yankees on August 31st, but have also lost their lead of the Division to the Yankees because they lost several games over the last week and a half. So, now, we are at 22. 5 weeks and the Sox have scored 10 or more runs in 22 games. Still inccredible [but what would all that mean if they do not win the Division?!?]. - Stay Tuned!

Sept 12th Update: Red Sox added another 10 plus run game [although it was a defeat!]. They lost 11-10 to the Toronto Blue Jays. At present, they have lost about 8 of their last 11 games. This is causing concern in Red Sox Nation, even if they do score 10+ runs every week. The play-offs are approaching and the Sox are beginning to play very poorly. I hope it is just a short phase!

Sept 14th Update: Red Sox put up another 2+ Touchdown performance, last night. They scored 18 runs [7 of them in 1 inning!] beating the Toronto Blue Jays 18 - 6. While this feat means that they have put up 10+ runs in 24 games [within 24 weeks] - it does not guarantee that they make the play-offs. Tampa Bay happened to lose last night [to the Orioles - no less!] but they are just 4 games back of the Sox in the Wild Card hunt and I think the Sox are just too far back [4 games] from the Yankees to over-take them in the Division [AL East].

Sept 20th Update: Red Sox put up another 2+ Touchdown performance, last night. Again, they scored 18 runs [7 in one inning!] beating the lowly Baltimore Orioles 18 - 9. Now, if they had not lost the early game of the double-header, I might feel a bit better! They are holding onto their lead in the Wildcard race by a thread. They are 2 games ahead of Tampa Bay [a team with better pitching] and way too far behind the Yankees to even think of winning the Division. They have lost 15 of their last 20 games! What does it matter that they have scored 10+ runs in 25 games in the last 25 weeks? It means nothing!

Seattle needs to rebuild

The Seattle Mariners have lost their franchise record 15th game in a row, today. They are in sorry shape. Pitching seems to be inconsistent and hitting seems to be nearly non-existent! Do they really care in the upper west coast region that follows these Mariners? Hard to say. But something needs to happen there in the next year or two to mkake them competitive again.

Note from July 28th: NEWS FLASH! - Seattle Mariners have won a game! Losing streak ends at 17. They beat the NY Yankees [to boot!]. Way to go!

Tim Wakefield and Cy Young in the same sentence?

Who would EVER place Tim Wakefield in the same sentence as Cy Young [or Roger Clemens for that matter]? But it is happening. Wakefield has nearly 200 wins in the big leagues. He has 185 of them with the Red Sox. Roger and Cy are tied atop the Red Sox wins category with 192 wins each. Wakefield only needs 8 more to pass them. Could happen this year? [Not likely] but could REALLY happen in April or May of 2012. Stay tuned.

Today, Tim Wakefield celebrated his 199th win in the Major Leagues. 199 wins for a knuckleballer! Seems kinda odd. The largest reason is longevity. Pitching knuckleballs is much less strenuous on the throwing arm. Allows for better healing between starts and more years able to continue pitching. You see, Wakefield is 44 years old. There does not seem to be any reason for him to hang-up his spikes yet either! He just keeps slinging his knuckleballs and frustrating most hitters [and a few Catchers] and keeps grinding out numbers. 199 wins [check] 2000 strike-outs [check] Age 44 [check] Starting pitcher [check] Long relief man [check] short relief man [check] relief appearence between starts [check] - the man is a machine. He just keeps on going and going..

Go Wake!

Update 08/23/2011 - There have been at least 4 chances for Tim Wakefield to have reached the 200 Wins mark, but he just has not made it. He has pitched pretty well, but many of these games had low scoring offense from the Sox hitters. A couple of these games had Tim leave when they were ahead, but the game bec ame tied [or something] and a few times the Sox even came back and won the game, but the 'W' went to another pitcher. Still waiting! Hopefully this week!

ALL Star [?] Game

With all of the recent rash of players deciding NOT to play in this year's All Star Game, it's a wonder that this game keeps it's name "All Star Game". Yesterday, eight more players threw in the towel. Even John Lester from the Red Sox was placed on the Roster to fill the spot of an injured player, and then was replaced, himself, due to the fact that he is on the 15 day DL. Weird!

No Yankee has 3000 hits? Are you kidding?

This season there are several things to watch and monitor in MLB. Schedules and opponents are one aspect. Division Titles and Standings are another. Then there are the various pursuit of the Season's awards [such as Cy Young Award, MVP, etc]. But, this year, there is also a career pursuit to watch. Derek Jeter will surpass the 3000 hit mark [this weekend?] this year. 3000 Hits does not seem like it is THAT rare. There are alot of people who have surpassed this number. Then again, there are alot of Hall of Famers who have NOT surpassed this number.

Also, can you believe that no Yankee has surpassed this number? None. Not one little Yankee. Not one. None! Former consecutive games king, Lou Gehrig did NOT make 3000 hits. Neither did "The Mick" nor "The Babe". Even  "Mr. Coffee" Joe D [Dimaggio] did NOT hit 3000. Even [recent?] hit machines like Bernie Williams or Don Matingly never reached the 3000 hit level. The Yankees only have 8 players [including Derek Jeter] who have surpassed the 2000 hit level!

Seems very hard to believe. With all the Hall of Fame Members to have come out of that team over the past 10 - 11 decades, you'd think there would be a few [let alone one].

Update from July 9th 2011: Derek Jeter hit his 3,000th hit today!

Must be very hard to get to 3000 hits. It takes longevity [years and games], hit production, health [staying off the DL], and Defensive superiority [otherwise you might not remain a starter!]. Must be very hard indeed. It could not happen to a better player, either. Derek Jeter is about as nice of a player as you get. He plays hard. He hits hard. He gets his small hits. He runs hard. He gets injured, but does not linger on the DL. He is a professional. He is an athlete. He is a superior player who deserves all of the accolades he has coming to him over the next week and this season.

All this from a life-long Boston Red Sox fan [who HATES the Yankees] - Pretty Strong Words.

The NL Tampa Bay Rays?

There are reports that the Tampa Bay Rays are sending out signals that they would be willing to move into the National League if MLB has a major re-alignment as has been proposed. Not sure moving to the NL will help Tampa Bay with their largest worry [attendence]. The Boston Red Sox' and NY Yankees' fans always help to sell-out "the Trop" whenever they are in town. I don't think Atlanta Braves or Washington Nationals Fans would be willing [or able] to put up the same numbers for them. Also, TB has been competing pretty well within the perpetual hot-stove that IS the AL East. They have won 2 of the last 3 AL East Division Titles. Not sure they would faire as well against the Phillies in a Pitching and smallball contest that is NL Baseball.