The walking wounded

Just before the season started, the cynics predicted the Red Sox would miss the playoffs. They claimed that Theo Epstein's roster, as assembled, couldn't compete in the American League East. They scoffed at the signings of Bill Hall, Scott Atchison, and Jeremy Hermida, and insisted that the likes of Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron couldn't possibly contribute enough.

Three months and change later, and those doomsayers look even more foolish than usual, as key contributions have come from, of all people, Daniel Nava, Darnell McDonald, and Atchison, among others.

Even Kevin Youkilis appreciates McDonald.

Somehow, the Sox are just two games out of first place in their division, while the Rays, who were the fashionable favorites early on to run away with it, are in third place. All this despite a rash of injuries, including many to key players, including Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, and now Dustin Pedroia.

According to the Boston Globe's Extra Bases blog, the injury bug isn't about to abate, as most of the key players are weeks away from rejoining the team. Beckett, though feeling better, still needs to complete a rehab assignment, and the Globe's Pete Abraham puts his return around the last week in July. Ellsbury is a mystery. The outfielder is still in Arizona, and no one seems to know how long the recovery will take, so don't hold your breath on seeing him before the All-Star break.

As for the more recent injuries, Pedroia will be out approximately six weeks with his left-foot fracture (I'm dying already), while Victor Martinez is a rare bright spot, who might - MIGHT - be able to play in a few days if his swelling goes down, even with a fractured left thumb.

The heart and soul of the Red Sox... and me.

This team has showed uncommon pluck in 2010, and if they can just weather the storm for a few weeks more and stay in contention until after the All-Star Game, help should be returning in droves. I for one think they can do it, especially if Pedroia hangs around the clubhouse in the meantime. What he means to that team in terms of spirit and drive absolutely cannot be overstated, and if he can be around to encourage and talk trash at the appropriate times, I think they'll pull through.

Baseball gods willing.

Say it ain't so, Pedey!

I was away from Red Sox baseball for two days - two days! - and the worst possible thing has happened. I'm never taking a weekend out in the woods again, since the world has obviously been punishing me for my irreverence for the Sox schedule by taking my favorite player out of commission.

Dustin Pedroia fractured his left foot on Friday when he fouled a pitch off of himself, and he'll be out for possibly six weeks or more, though the team doesn't have a timetable yet.


Selfishly, this is a huge blow, as Pedroia is my all-time FAVORITE player to watch: the way he puts everything on the line, every play, accompanied by his good-as-gold postgame comments make him my can't-miss player.

Of all the injuries this season (Ellsbury, Cameron, Beckett, Hermida, and now Buchholz), Pedey's will hurt this team the most, as he's not only a Gold Glove caliber defender and MVP type hitter, but he's the heart and soul of that team.

Since the "idiots" of 2004 disbanded, many fans have complained that the team lacked personality, and Pedroia certainly supplied his fair share of that. He's the undisputed spark plug of the team, and was coming off a "laser show" performance Thursday with three homers when his reality shattered.

Now that's personality...

“I’m just going to try to be positive for all the guys,’’ Pedroia said. “They know how I play the game, and they know I’ll be in the dugout watching the game and trying to see things on the field to help us win. I don’t know. I’ve never really done this before, so it’s not real fun.’’

His manager and teammates are almost as dissappointed as Pedey himself:

“He means a lot," said Bill Hall (who will be starting in Pedroi'a stead), "To me, he’s our second captain. Obviously, [Jason Varitek’s] No. 1. Pedey with his emotion and how hard he plays and the big hits he gets, he means a lot to this team emotionally. We’re going to miss him a lot. If he’s in the dugout, I know he’s going to be rooting for us and giving us that same energy and we’re going to need that.’’

I would take that even further and suggest that Pedroia is the de facto captain. I know Varitek is the one who wears that "C" on his chest, but with a diminished role this season he isn't as visible as he once was, while Pedroia is out there every play, putting his body on the line, and running his infamous mouth in the clubhouse.

This could easily be the straw that breaks the camel's back - there's no replacing Dustin Pedroia:

Said Tito, “You can’t replace Pedey. That’s why he’s Pedey. But we’ll do what we always do — look at the lineup, see who’s pitching, and tell guys the night before who’s going to play.’’

Of course, Francona has performed admirably this season, mixing and matching his way to the third best record in the majors, but he's right about Pedroia. You can scoff all you want at the notion of "intangibles," but Pedey's got them in abundance, in addition to his resume loaded with very real and measurable accomplishments, and the Red Sox are going to miss him.

As for me? I miss him already. I'll continue watching the Sox no matter what, but it just won't be the same without Pedroia on the job every day. Here's hoping Pedey's recovery time is as quick as his wit, because I'm already having withdrawal.

[All quotes in this post are from the Boston Globe online.]

Sunny side up

I know it's tempting to look at last night's loss and focus on the negative: Papelbon blew a save, and in the most painful way possible, by giving up two home runs, including the game winner to former Yankee Jason Giambi.

I (for once) am choosing to look at the positive... the bats came back with a vengeance last night, and against one of the best young pitchers in the game. Before last night, Ubaldo Jimenez had a 1.15 ERA. The Sox singlehandedly raised that to 1.6o. They scored six runs off of the right hander, more than any other team this season, and they were just the second team to score more than three runs off him.


Darnell McDonald had a two-run homerun of Colorado's ace, while Daniel Nava notched three RBIs. Not bad for two guys that weren't supposed to see any big league action this season.

Google search "daniel nava red sox" and this is the best you get... Sad but true.

So I'm pretty optimistic about tonight: the Sox have Daisuke Matsuzaka back on the hill after a brief absence, and the red-hot bats get to try their stuff against Jason Hammel, a righthander with a 5-3 record, 4.03 ERA.

Train'em early

Today was the first day of my summer job, and as a counselor at a day camp I see a wide variety of baseball caps. The little league teams in my town are named after Major League teams, and their uniforms have MLB logos, including the hats they all keep after the season.

So when I saw three Oakland A's hats and a Yankees hat this morning, I assumed they were just repping their little league teams, and I was partly correct. Unfortunately for my sanity, I have a ten-year-old bandwagon Yankees fan on my hands.

How do I know he's a bandwagon jumper? I asked him to name five players on the current roster, an easy feat for a reasonably tuned in fan, especially with a roster full of all-stars, but he failed my test. He managed to name Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira before he gave up.

But seriously... he only got one of the core four.

He challenged me to do the same for the Red Sox, and I complied, with about 15 extra names for good measure... I was going for the complete roster, but he stopped me.

Let me be clear: it's not the Yankee fan thing that upsets me, but rather the bandwagon thing. It's a kid from New England who picks the Yankees because his friends love the local nine, and he wants to be disruptive or controversial. The people who don't know a bullpen from a dugout, and yet claim to be all about "their" team.

As for the young man in question, I told him his fandom was being temporarily revoked until he could name more Yankees players than I can. I did, however, let him keep the hat.

Sabermetric Tidbits

I stumbled upon MLBNetwork's League Leaders, and I have to say, it was quite an eye opener. I won't get into the merits of the various statistics, because that's a whole other post, but for those of you that like this stuff, here are some of the more interesting tidbits from last night's show. (All stats are as of Monday morning.)


* When will Kevin Youkilis start to get recognition as the amazing player he is? He was in the top five in a lot of offensive categories, including runs scored (most in the league), OPS, and OPS+ (first in the league). I think most Sox fans see Youk as a great asset, but most of us don't see him as in the same category as a Mark Teixeira, Josh Hamilton, or Evan Longoria. He is on par with those players, and ahead of many of them in important ways. Let's show Youk some LOVE!

* Old friend Justin Masterson is tops in the league with 173 ground ball outs. We saw that firsthand in Cleveland last week, but I don't begrudge Masty some success. Baseball's never seen a nicer guy.

* The Red Sox are third in MLB against lefthanded pitching, and first in the American League. They also come in first in arguably the most important offensive category: runs scored. Unfortunately, the Yankees and Rays are second and third, so this catfight for the division isn't going to end any time soon.

* Joe West may have had a point way back after Opening Day.. Not about the Sox and Yankees being a "disgrace to the game," but that their games are just a bit lengthy. The Red Sox have the longest average game times of any team in baseball, with 3:07, and the Yanks come in at just a minute shorter with 3:06. It's not mistake that two of the best teams take the longest to play, however, and someone should inform West.

* To go along with length, David Oritz is tops in pitches seen per plate appearance, making the pitcher toss an average of 4.53 pitches every time he steps to the dish. Similarly, Dustin Pedroia has seen more pitches in 2010 than any other player, with 1409, more than 20 more pitches than his next closest competitor. Of course, seeing a lot of pitches is part of making every at-bat a battle, and wearing down starters quickly in order to get to the inferior pitching in the bullpen.

* For all the clutch hitting woes experienced by the Red Sox early in the season, they've obviously bounced back, led by third baseman Adrian Belte. Beltre leads the league in batting average with runners in scoring position, batting .392 in such situations.

* I know we were all freaking out about holding baserunners on, but in the American League, a high success rate for opposing teams corresponds with a good record, and vice versa. The two teams who are best at controlling the running game are Toronto and Oakland, in fourth and third place, respectively. The three teams who let opponents run wild on the basepaths are all fighting for first, in the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels (in that order).

* As for that heralded "run prevention" thing? Marco Scutaro is tied for first in most outs recorded, with 221, while Captain Intangibles himself, Derek Jeter, must content himself with second place. Maybe those unnecessary pirouettes make him sleep better at night.

Yes, I know statistics aren't everything. They are, however, an important part in the evaluative process. I know I can't get enough information about my team, and I know some of you are the same way. I can highly recommend MLBNetwork's League Leaders if this stuff interests you: Monday nights at 10PM... You can bet I'll be watching!

Young Guns

Need more proof that the American League East is the toughest division in baseball? The three pitchers with the most wins in the AL all reside within our division: David Price (Tampa Bay), Phil Hughes (New York), and our own Clay Buchholz all have 10 wins on the season.
Even more impressive? Their average age is twenty-four. In fact, Clay is the elder statesman among them, and he'll be twenty-six in August. The pitcher with the most wins in the National League, Ubaldo Jimenez (13-1), is just twenty-six himself. So what does all this mean?

None of the teams with the leading pitchers have records under .500, and, of course, of the AL teams, all three teams are within a game of first place in their division. The importance of pitching cannot be understated, and the Red Sox have come to appreciate the truth in the age-old adage, "you can never have too much pitching."

At the beginning of the season, we were fretting over how all six starters would get enough innings, and somehow, two of the games I've been to this month were started by Scott Atchison and and Felix Dubront, respectively. Of course, both games ended in a "W" for the Sox, so I won't complain, but we're a long way from the "How will Tim Wakefield get to start?" "What happens when everyone's healthy?" shenanigans of Spring Training.


Who would have thought that it would be Clay Buchholz who would be leading the Sox in wins in late June? After Josh Beckett's contract extension, the signing of former Angels' ace John Lackey, and the de facto coronation of Jon Lester as Sox ace, Buchholz came in just before Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka in terms of expectations. Sure, he showed flashes of brilliance at the end of last season, but we didn't know what to expect from him in 2010.

If there were any doubts left, Clay can handle himself, and he's part of a wave of great young pitching emerging across MLB. I for one am glad he's on our side.

An ode to Dustin Pedroia

When Dustin Pedroia came to the plate yesterday afternoon to a tie game in the bottom of the ninth inning, I wasn't worried. I trust Pedey to give it everything he has, every time he's on the field: as Manager Tito Francona said, "he kind of wills himself to do something good."

Tito loves Pedey... and I trust his judgment.

So I definitely wasn't surprised when Pedey came through with a walk-off hit into right field. I was, however, blown away when I heard it was his first career walk-off.

Pedroia's been coming through for the BoSox since he snapped out of an early-season 2007 slump... He hit a homerun in his first ever World Series at-bat, homeruns on Opening Days 2009 and 2010, was the 2007 Rookie of the Year, and the 2008 MVP of the American League. All these accolades, and never a walk-off hit?!

You all know my feelings about the Sox second-baseman, and it goes beyond the sparkling statistics. During the championship run of 2007, ROY Pedroia played for over two months with a painful cracked hamate bone in his left wrist, quipping, "You just try and have the adrenaline take over, and take a lot of Tylenol."

Also, unlike certain other Boston sports icons (ahem, Tom Brady), Dustin can support the local teams.

Yes, Pedroia is a true dirt dog, in the tradition of one Trot Nixon before him; he puts his body on the line every game, and every play, all for the good of the team. For the last month or so, Pedey has been battling a bad knee, which had been quite detrimental to his hitting (I use the past tense because he's been on fire this homestand, to the tune of 15-for-31).

Despite the pain in his knee, a joint we can all agree is of tantamount importance to a baseball player, Pedroia knew that it was better for the team that he play, even if it was only at 75%. You HAVE to admire that "team first" attitude, and the grit and will to win don't hurt, either.

It also doesn't hurt that his son, Dylan, is the cutest child EVER.

Of course, I love the witty remarks he comes out with, and I only wish we got to hear them all - you just know that the few that trickle down to the fans are the tamest of them. As for the cockiness? On a man of normal size, it might be annoying, but on Pedroia, a 5'8" (in his spikes, maybe) balding twenty-six year old, it's somewhat endearing.

What can I say? I've been head over heels for Pedey since he came up in late 2006 - wearing number 64 - and I won't hide my unabashed admiration for him. Hopefully, there will be no more need for a walk-off hit from Speedy Pedey in the bottom of the ninth... but if we need one, there's no one I'd trust more.