What We've Learned So Far
1. The addition of Abreu and hitting 5th behind Giambi combine to make AROD better. Team chemistry can be as much a matter of functional interaction as anything else, and in this regard, chaos theory would seem to apply:infintesmimal changes can have mediated but for that very reason profound effects on larger systems. In this case putting two more 400obp guys in front of AROD creates a critical mass of likely baserunners for him to deliver. It seems that somebody is always on and run-production is always possible. As a result, AROD doesn't have to be as anxious if he doesn't bring someone home on any given occasion. He doesn't have to worry that he's missed his chance. Heis therefor less likely to let a bad at bat--witness the DP he hit into in the 1st--take him out of his game altogether. Owing to the effect on AROD's psyche, more men on more consistently means that he will drive in a higher percentage of them. The effect on the overall Yankee offense is quantum, particularly with Cano staying hot behind him. That's 2 line-up changes (Giambi to 4 and Cano to 6) repeatedly called for by various people on this blog which, finally undertaken by Torre, have had a major positive impact on the offense.
2. The youth movement in BOSOX pitching is as overrated a phenomenon as the South American football at the World Cup. Delcarmen is really bad, perhaps as a result of off-season surgery; Hansen is even worse with less excuse; the American League seems to havew figured out Jon Lester (wait on him, he'll fall behind); and as for Josh Beckett, my favorite smug-faced object of shadenfreud, I think it fair to say the Red Sox now wish he had developed those chronic blisters and gone on the DL (they let him throw 123 pitches today, maybe they're trying to push him there). In sum, the Papelbon stands alone, at least for now. And while many blame the untimely injury to Varitek (look! the fans of Hideki and Sheff are playing the world's most sardonic violin), the truth is everyone of these guys either floundered (delcarmen, hansen) or had begun to flounder(Beckett, Lester) when Varitek was still bringing his 240 batting average to the park everyday. All of the young guns may be good in the future (though I think we know what Beckett is after 5 full seasons), like Bonderman, Robertson, Maroth and Verlander in Detroit. But the myth of the ChowderYouth was that they were so good Boston could win with them now and later, avoiding the rebuilding period that lesser teams (i.e. all teams not the Yankees) need to go through.
Indeed, it has been the contention of the Epstein years that the Red Sox are in a performance sense the Yankees (while retaining of course the moral superiority that only perpetual losing can bring). But having not won the division since I don't know when, more than 15 years?, having not manageds to get past the first round of the playoffs in their championship defense, should the Bosox fail to reach the playoffs this year, they will have not only attested incontrovertibly to the fact that they are not the Yankees in any sense, but will have given string indication that 2004 was, dare we say it, a fluke. We are not there yet by long chalks, but it is what's at stake for the Sox in the remainder of this campaign.
3. A pitcher doesn't reach the Hall of Fame without calling at different points in his career on a considerable reserve of intestinal fortitude. And he never needs that fortitude quite as much as when he is nearly done. Randy Johnson is nearly done; he can't even strike people a=out anymore and he gives up homers at an alarming rate for an ace. But what separates him from Sidney Ponson is his tenacity. To go out after he stunk the joint out in the fourth inning and essentially shut down an offensive powrerhouse for another three innings was really impressive, not just as a matter of athletics but as amatter of character.
4. In the second game last night Melky Cabrera reached base all 5 times he came to the plate (3-3, 2 walks). He must be the best no. 9 hitter in baseball. He may be the best 21 yr. old hitter in baseball. If Hideki comes back, he must DH or Melky must DH, but you can't take him out of the line-up. Which means the W&W boys (M&M upside down, isn't that fitting) will have to get their backsides used to the texture of pine in the autumn: it feels like victory to me.
5. What David Ortiz is to late inning executions, Johnny Damon is to revenge killings.
2. The youth movement in BOSOX pitching is as overrated a phenomenon as the South American football at the World Cup. Delcarmen is really bad, perhaps as a result of off-season surgery; Hansen is even worse with less excuse; the American League seems to havew figured out Jon Lester (wait on him, he'll fall behind); and as for Josh Beckett, my favorite smug-faced object of shadenfreud, I think it fair to say the Red Sox now wish he had developed those chronic blisters and gone on the DL (they let him throw 123 pitches today, maybe they're trying to push him there). In sum, the Papelbon stands alone, at least for now. And while many blame the untimely injury to Varitek (look! the fans of Hideki and Sheff are playing the world's most sardonic violin), the truth is everyone of these guys either floundered (delcarmen, hansen) or had begun to flounder(Beckett, Lester) when Varitek was still bringing his 240 batting average to the park everyday. All of the young guns may be good in the future (though I think we know what Beckett is after 5 full seasons), like Bonderman, Robertson, Maroth and Verlander in Detroit. But the myth of the ChowderYouth was that they were so good Boston could win with them now and later, avoiding the rebuilding period that lesser teams (i.e. all teams not the Yankees) need to go through.
Indeed, it has been the contention of the Epstein years that the Red Sox are in a performance sense the Yankees (while retaining of course the moral superiority that only perpetual losing can bring). But having not won the division since I don't know when, more than 15 years?, having not manageds to get past the first round of the playoffs in their championship defense, should the Bosox fail to reach the playoffs this year, they will have not only attested incontrovertibly to the fact that they are not the Yankees in any sense, but will have given string indication that 2004 was, dare we say it, a fluke. We are not there yet by long chalks, but it is what's at stake for the Sox in the remainder of this campaign.
3. A pitcher doesn't reach the Hall of Fame without calling at different points in his career on a considerable reserve of intestinal fortitude. And he never needs that fortitude quite as much as when he is nearly done. Randy Johnson is nearly done; he can't even strike people a=out anymore and he gives up homers at an alarming rate for an ace. But what separates him from Sidney Ponson is his tenacity. To go out after he stunk the joint out in the fourth inning and essentially shut down an offensive powrerhouse for another three innings was really impressive, not just as a matter of athletics but as amatter of character.
4. In the second game last night Melky Cabrera reached base all 5 times he came to the plate (3-3, 2 walks). He must be the best no. 9 hitter in baseball. He may be the best 21 yr. old hitter in baseball. If Hideki comes back, he must DH or Melky must DH, but you can't take him out of the line-up. Which means the W&W boys (M&M upside down, isn't that fitting) will have to get their backsides used to the texture of pine in the autumn: it feels like victory to me.
5. What David Ortiz is to late inning executions, Johnny Damon is to revenge killings.
posted by joe valente | 7:01 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home