Saturday, June 02, 2007
The Ghost of Karim Garcia & Other Transparencies
I came this close (my index finger and thumb almost touching) to commenting to one of my friends, a Boston fan, that I thought the Sox were going to put a, as I typed it in my email, a "f'n beating" on the Yankees this weekend.
Then I caught myself for a second, and reminded myself of the pitching match-ups. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that the Yankees could take 2 out of 3 this weekend at the Fens. I just didn't think it would happen. In any case, I chickened out and hedged my bets.
"A part of me thinks the Sox are going to put a f'n beating on the Yankees this weekend."
So far that prediction isn't looking like gold. If Yankee fans are still allowed to hold on hope for a successful season, their best beacon that things may be turning around is the type of game last night's was. It was a typical Yankee-Red Sox game, really the first typical Yankee-Red Sox game out of the 10 the two teams have played. Most of the games have been boring, one-sided blow-outs, with a Mariano melt-down and a Kei Igawa miracle thrown in.
Last night? It felt like the kind of game the two rivals have been playing since at least 2003. Game time: just under four hours, and it felt even longer than that; the late start due to the rain may have had something to do with that. Guys padding their OBPs. Pitchers overwhelmed with the line-ups and the ballpark. Edgy managers. A-Rod baiting. And of course, the brushback pitches. With these two teams the lines of typical baseball decorum have blurred to the point that you really don't know what's intentional and what isn't.
I didn't think the Lowell HBP had intent; the Sox clubhouse thought it did. I thought the Cano HBP had intent; I heard Ken Singleton in the post-game say it didn't. Did Proctor have intent? My gut reaction was yes, but I don't know . . . it probably did. But I don't think he was a) going after his head and b) was actually trying to hit him. Knock him down? I'll buy that, for sure. Regardless, when you throw that close to a guy's noggin, you're gonna take a hit, not only from the other clubhouse, but from some guys on your side as well. You just can't do it.
Mad Dog Russo is blathering on this Saturday morning about Proctor being a hot-head, and almost breaking Youkilis' jaw and "awakening" the Red Sox. Awakening the Red Sox? They have a 12.5 game lead! The idea that now the Red Sox are going to be as angry as a bear, as Russo put it, and fighting tooth and nail for the rest of the series is a joke. The Yankees are fighting for the survival of their season; there is nothing the Red Sox can drum up this weekend that matches that desperation.
I think the gamesmanship ends this afternoon with two old war-horses taking the mound in Schilling and Mussina. Mussina never likes coming inside with intent to hitters, and Schilling should be concerned about just getting outs and eating innings, considering how he's thrown against the Yankees this year.
Maybe it gets chippy in the late innings if one of these two games is out of hand and you're in the in the nether-regions of one of the bullpens. But I don't think this is going to be some kind of galvanizing moment for Boston; they're already on their way to have one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise.
As far as Uncle Joe's theatrics in the middle innings. This was as painfully staged as a b-rated high school production. Maybe Joe is getting tired of all the insinuations and accusations about his lethargic manner on the bench, and its perceived negative effect on this passive group of ballplayers. Maybe he's tired of all those tiresome pictures of him playing with that dumb bat, looking to the world as if he'd give anything to head back into the clubhouse and take a cat nap. Whatever the case, he saw a window to argue (a legitimately blown call, mind you), saw that his team was exhibiting a little gumption on this night, and he threw it wide open. As soon as he left the dugout a 2nd time, he knew he was going to get tossed.
The ejection was noted by the players, and received with at least a nod of approval. "I kind of liked it, to tell you the truth," Jorge Posada said of his manager's rare eruption. "It was good to see." (Daily News)
I'm all in favor of the manager not afraid to bark at umpire when the occasion warrants; it sends at least a subtle to message to the players that he's in the trenches too. I'm not saying you have to be Bobby Cox, but it was good to see Uncle Joe have some life last night. I'm just wondering why it couldn't have happened sooner . . . where was this when the team was DOA against the Angels for three days last weekend? Or against Toronto on Monday and Tuesday? Or countless other nights this season?
Maybe the calendar flipping to "June" was a dose of cold reality to this team, and to its manager. It's time to show some fire, some spunk, even misdirected emotion, as in the case of Proctor. It's just frustrating that they've let two months go by without even showing one iota of the life they brought to Fenway last night.
photo linked to Daily News, www.nydailynews.com
I came this close (my index finger and thumb almost touching) to commenting to one of my friends, a Boston fan, that I thought the Sox were going to put a, as I typed it in my email, a "f'n beating" on the Yankees this weekend.
Then I caught myself for a second, and reminded myself of the pitching match-ups. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that the Yankees could take 2 out of 3 this weekend at the Fens. I just didn't think it would happen. In any case, I chickened out and hedged my bets.
"A part of me thinks the Sox are going to put a f'n beating on the Yankees this weekend."
So far that prediction isn't looking like gold. If Yankee fans are still allowed to hold on hope for a successful season, their best beacon that things may be turning around is the type of game last night's was. It was a typical Yankee-Red Sox game, really the first typical Yankee-Red Sox game out of the 10 the two teams have played. Most of the games have been boring, one-sided blow-outs, with a Mariano melt-down and a Kei Igawa miracle thrown in.
Last night? It felt like the kind of game the two rivals have been playing since at least 2003. Game time: just under four hours, and it felt even longer than that; the late start due to the rain may have had something to do with that. Guys padding their OBPs. Pitchers overwhelmed with the line-ups and the ballpark. Edgy managers. A-Rod baiting. And of course, the brushback pitches. With these two teams the lines of typical baseball decorum have blurred to the point that you really don't know what's intentional and what isn't.
I didn't think the Lowell HBP had intent; the Sox clubhouse thought it did. I thought the Cano HBP had intent; I heard Ken Singleton in the post-game say it didn't. Did Proctor have intent? My gut reaction was yes, but I don't know . . . it probably did. But I don't think he was a) going after his head and b) was actually trying to hit him. Knock him down? I'll buy that, for sure. Regardless, when you throw that close to a guy's noggin, you're gonna take a hit, not only from the other clubhouse, but from some guys on your side as well. You just can't do it.
Mad Dog Russo is blathering on this Saturday morning about Proctor being a hot-head, and almost breaking Youkilis' jaw and "awakening" the Red Sox. Awakening the Red Sox? They have a 12.5 game lead! The idea that now the Red Sox are going to be as angry as a bear, as Russo put it, and fighting tooth and nail for the rest of the series is a joke. The Yankees are fighting for the survival of their season; there is nothing the Red Sox can drum up this weekend that matches that desperation.
I think the gamesmanship ends this afternoon with two old war-horses taking the mound in Schilling and Mussina. Mussina never likes coming inside with intent to hitters, and Schilling should be concerned about just getting outs and eating innings, considering how he's thrown against the Yankees this year.
Maybe it gets chippy in the late innings if one of these two games is out of hand and you're in the in the nether-regions of one of the bullpens. But I don't think this is going to be some kind of galvanizing moment for Boston; they're already on their way to have one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise.
As far as Uncle Joe's theatrics in the middle innings. This was as painfully staged as a b-rated high school production. Maybe Joe is getting tired of all the insinuations and accusations about his lethargic manner on the bench, and its perceived negative effect on this passive group of ballplayers. Maybe he's tired of all those tiresome pictures of him playing with that dumb bat, looking to the world as if he'd give anything to head back into the clubhouse and take a cat nap. Whatever the case, he saw a window to argue (a legitimately blown call, mind you), saw that his team was exhibiting a little gumption on this night, and he threw it wide open. As soon as he left the dugout a 2nd time, he knew he was going to get tossed.
The ejection was noted by the players, and received with at least a nod of approval. "I kind of liked it, to tell you the truth," Jorge Posada said of his manager's rare eruption. "It was good to see." (Daily News)
I'm all in favor of the manager not afraid to bark at umpire when the occasion warrants; it sends at least a subtle to message to the players that he's in the trenches too. I'm not saying you have to be Bobby Cox, but it was good to see Uncle Joe have some life last night. I'm just wondering why it couldn't have happened sooner . . . where was this when the team was DOA against the Angels for three days last weekend? Or against Toronto on Monday and Tuesday? Or countless other nights this season?
Maybe the calendar flipping to "June" was a dose of cold reality to this team, and to its manager. It's time to show some fire, some spunk, even misdirected emotion, as in the case of Proctor. It's just frustrating that they've let two months go by without even showing one iota of the life they brought to Fenway last night.
photo linked to Daily News, www.nydailynews.com
