Wait till last year

Seems to be the theme surrounding Bostonians this time of year. So I didn’t update all season, kind of forgot about the blog, but a friend of mine started a basketball blog for the team he is coaching so it reminded me about this.

Sox didn’t do so well in the 2005 season, unable to defend their crown of World Series champs. They held a nice lead for most of the season in the AL East, only to give it up to the Yanks in the last couple weeks. But our beloved Redsox won the Wildcard again and squared off against the dominant Chicago Whitesox. Needless to say the Chisox swept the Bosox in 3 games. We didn’t even stand a chance, we played like shit.

So the off-season came and to the shock of Redsox Nation, our GM Theo Epstein resigned his position of General Manager and left the Redsox. Everyone was shocked, especially with reports earlier in that day that Epstein was ready to sign a 4 year deal. Their is still speculation now that Theo is pulling the strings behind the scene and may be offered another Job with the Redsox, so lets hope that happens.

In Epsteins absence, the sox were still able to make a few significant trades. The first was sending Hanily Ramirez, Anibel Sanchez and another minor leaguer to the Florida Marlins for Josh Beckett(2003 World Series MVP), Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota. The sox also traded bust Edgar Renteria to the Braves for 3rd base prospect Andy Marte. Other than those the trade fronts have been pretty quiet. Today on Bostondirtdogs.com, the Eagle-Tribune is reporting that the sox are interested in Cleveland outfielder Coco Crisp. Sox would send newly acquired Andy Marte and Guillermo Mota in exchange for Crisp. Oddly enough the thing holding up that deal is Indians ability to sign Nomar Garciaparra who would fill the gap in the outfield after the departure of Crisp.

Ben Cherrington and Jed Hoyer were named Co-Gm's of the Boston Redsox this week. Kind of came out of the blue to me, I haven’t heard of these guys, let's hope they can fill the gap left by Theo. Speaking of Theo. There are rumors going around that the Sox do want Theo to take an operations of baseball position with them.

The looks of Damon coming back to the Sox aren’t good, neither is Ramirez. Mike Myers signed with the Yankees. David Wells wants to be traded to the West Coast. Kevin Millar is probably not going to play for the Redsox. Doug Mirabelli was traded to the Padres for Mark Loretta which fills a gap at 2nd Base. We still really don't have a First baseman. Sox look like they have to do some major rebuilding before the season starts, can't wait to see what they pull off.

Reports are saying that Roger Clemens, if not retiring, is interested in 4 teams. Houston, Texas, Yankees, and yes folks, the BoSox. Redsox officials are very serious about obtaining Rocket who had a stellar season last year. I would love for Roger to come back to the Sox and finish out his career. It would be for one good story, and one hell of a career.

The last thing I am going to touch on today is the departure of Bill Mueller. Mueller, who wasn't offered arbitration by the sox, signed a deal with the LA Dodgers. Mueller was a true dirt dog who gave it his all and did anything for his team. Ill never forget that 9th inning two run homer he hit against the Yankees about 3 quarters through the season on that rainy day. I remember watching that whole game and how good of a game it was. Another Bosox/Yankees classic. With Mueller hitting that bomb off of the dominant Mariano Rivera was just something that was so awesome. I jumped off my seat and was yelling, one of the best games I have ever seen. Thanks Bill Mueller, you were a true dirt dog.

LET'S GO REDSOX!

Crushing Defeat

After the routing Monday night, the Sox hoped to rebound and score a victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Things seem to be going the right way up until the 8th Inning. Going into the top of the 8th the redsox had a 8-7 lead. Keith Foulke came in to start the 8th and gave up two, two run homers to Miguel Tejada and then Javy Lopez making the score 11-8. The sox bats went to sleep and they could not score a run, eventually making the final score 11-8. A tough loss for the Redsox.

Wells went on the DL and could be out for 6 weeks. Schilling was also placed on the DL with a bone bruise on his right ankle.

Things are looking two good for the Redsox, especially in the starting pitching department. Hopefully thinks turn around fast and we can win a majority of the games while Schilling and Wells are out.

Losing efforts in Beantown

Last night the Redsox started a 3 game home stand against the Baltimore Orioles. David Wells, who was terrific in his last outing against the O's went up again Bruce Chen, who didn't do to well against the Sox. Thing went differently this game though. Wells only went 3 2/3's giving up 6 earned runs on 8 hits and a walk. Wells left the game that inning with an apparent limp. First noticeable after trying to field a ground ball by Javy Lopez. He soon after went to the hospital for X-rays and tests. The sox bullpen went on to pitch a good game only allowing two runs, one of them earned. Matt Mantei pitched good but was injured during his final inning of relieve and left and had X-rays taken to see if there was any damage to his ankle. The Redsox ended up losing the game 8-4 as the Orioles pitching staff held them tight through the late innings. Tonight's game matches Matt Clement, who pitched brilliantly in his last outing against the O's, against Rodrigo Lopez who also pitched a great game against the sox, but didn't receive any run support. Game time is 7:05

I didn't get to see much of the Sox game last night because I was watching the Celtics playoff game against the Indiana Pacers. After a blowout on Saturday night, the Pacers played some good defense and took over the first half. The Celtics bench performed well below expectations after a fabulous performance Saturday at the Fleet. The 3rd quarter though, the celtics seemed to turn things around, they got there first lead of the game and then started pouring it on the Pacers. They had a commanding lead at one point and looked as if they would win Game 2 and take a lead 2-0 in the series. However that was not the case. The Pacers stormed back hitting clutch baskets in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. They went on and 8-1 run, eventually giving them a 3 point win over the C's. The 3rd game heads to Indiana Thursday night at 8:30

Sox doing well, Yanks doing bad

I haven't updated since January, but now I’m back. The season started off with back to back losses to the evil empire, but since then the sox have picked up the pace. As of today the Sox sit comfortably in second place at 11-8 behind the Baltimore Orioles at 12-7. 2.5 behind the Redsox are the Yank...oh wait no, the Toronto Blue Jays are in 3rd at 9-11. Behind the Jays by half a game are the Yank...whoops, my bad again, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in 4th at 8-11 and finally in last place in the AL East are the big bad, 250 million dollar payroll, all-star at every position, New York Yankees at 8-11. Things are just not going the way georgie porgie expected, hell not the way anyone expected. Wright injured his right shoulder again, the same one he had surgery on a couple years ago. He's on the DL for about 4-6 weeks. Kevin Brown came of the DL and got shelled. I'm sure we'll see him on the DL again sometime this year. So not even a month into the season and the Geriatric Pitching staff is starting to show. Hopefully the Yankee woes continue and we see Steinbrenner blow a fuse. Maybe some team other than the Yankees will win the AL East this year.

The 3-4 combo of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz is nuts. These guys are terrific hitters and boy do they crush the ball. Manny went through a tiny home run slump through the first couple games of the season, but has smashed 6 homers in the last 6 games. Ortiz put on a show this weekend by absolutely crushing 3 homers. Some 450 ft+ shots. Their isn’t a better 3-4 combo in the game of baseball. The two best hitters in the American League on the same team.

The new guys taking the hill for Bosox, Clement and Wells, are doing much better. They pitched back to back gems against the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles. Wells pitched 7 strong innings allowing only 3 hits and no runs. Clement pitched an 8 inning beauty allowing no runs with 7 K's. Hopefully this continues all throughout the season. Wade Miller wants to make a start in April but there is still no guarantee this will happen. When strong, Miller can be a great starting pitcher for the Sox.

Today's game ended the series down in Tampa against the D-Rays. The sox trying to avoid the 3 game sweep against the D-rays after a bad loss Friday night, and a heartbreaking loss Saturday. The sox came out strong scoring 2 runs in the first and 1 in the second, giving starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo a nice 3-0 lead. The game kind of dragged along with the sox and rays scoring a couple runs. Things flared up quickly after Aubrey Huff was hit by a pitch. The following inning Manny Ramirez was the target and Lance Carter (devil rays pitcher) threw behind Ramirez. Ramirez responded quickly by taking the next pitch deep, crushing a solo homer. The next batter was David Ortiz and after a couple of pitches, Carter threw at Big Papi's head. Papi got up yelling and screaming at Carter as Toby Hall and the home plate umpire held the big guy back. Benches cleared and Trot Nixon and Dewon Brazelton got into a little scuffle getting them both ejected from the game. Lance Carter and Lou Pinella were also ejected as warnings were issued after Ramirez almost got drilled. The following inning Arroyo threw at a batter again having the benches and bullpen cleared. Nothing much came out of it this time except Arroyo and Francona getting tossed from the game. The top of the 8th is when the Sox blew it wide open. They got the bases loaded and Johnny Damon roped a single into center scoring a run making it 6-3. The next batter would have been Trot Nixon, but he was ejected from the game, Instead his replacement, Jay Payton, nailed a grand slam to left giving the Sox a 10-3 lead. Ramirez recorded the second out and next up was Big Dave Ortiz. 'Tiz unleashed a mammoth blow drilling the catwalk at the Trop giving the Sox an 11-3 lead. Thus being the last run the sox scored. More than enough for the victory.

The sox begin a 3 game home-stand against the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow night with David Wells going against Bruce Chen. These two pitched against each other last time they started. The O's couldn’t hit Wells and Chen couldn't figure out the explosive Sox offense.

I leave you tonight with this. LET’S GO REDSOX!

Lowe close with Dodgers

The Dodgers and former Red Sox pitcher, Derek Lowe are close to a deal for about 36 million over 4 years. Lowe started his career with the redsox in 97 and has been everything from an established closer, to a reliever, and to now a good starting pitcher. The sox are just not interested in Lowe anymore and let him go to sign with another team. Lowe became the first pitcher in MLB history to win all 3 clinching games of each playoff series. Good luck D-Lowe and thanks for everything you did for the redsox.

Wade Boggs Elected to Hall

Wade Boggs was elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday and he will wear his Redsox cap on the way in. Congrats Boggs.

So long Pokey

Pokey Reese agreed to a 1 year, 1.2 million dollar contract with the Seatlle Mariners on Tuesday. It looks like he will see more playing time out in Seattle than in Boston. Thanks for everything Pokey.

Happy Holidays to all

Sorry for the lack of updates, Christmas has come and gone and quite frankly there hasn't been much Redsox news at all.

The starting pitching looks pretty solid for the Redsox so far. Schill looks to be out until May, maybe longer. David Wells, if he stays healthy and sober, he will be pretty dominant. Same goes for Wade Miller. If this guy stays healthy all season he is gonna be huge for us. If Clement can take the pressure from Boston he'll be fine, or could we be looking at another Derek Lowe? Arroyo didnt get much run support last year, but when the breaking ball is working, he is nasty. Halama will probally be in the bullpen. Hopefully we can have a injury-free, dominant, starting pitching this year.

That's it for now. I hope all that read have a safe and happy holidays.
-Schill05

Tek named Captain

The Redsox and Jason Varitek held a press conference today where they appointed Jason Varitek with home and away jerseys with the C patch on both of them. This would be the Redsox 3rd captain since 1923. Tek was unaware of this himself until he saw the jerseys with the C on them. Congrats Tek.