From the Media Guide

It's been a while since I've done one of these. So, though it was a great chance to try this again.

In my collection, I currently have every Red Sox Media Guide dating back to 1998. I love flipping through them to see what tidbits they contain. I figured that if I liked it, you might enjoy taking a look along with me. So, I had a not-so- random number generator select a page from the 2004 edition to talk about today.

Page 55.

This is the second (and final) page for the entry of Edwin Almonte. This page contains his early career, personal information, and his stats. I usually find these end pages to be some of the most interesting for any player. For Almonte, this page tells us that...

In 2000 Almonte was promoted to AA after going 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA. Not exactly setting the world on fire, but good enough for a promotion.

In 1999 he went 9-12. I know. Records mean very little when you're in A ball. Whether the collection of potential nobodies you're teamed with can pull out a win isn't much of a reflection on your pitching abilities. Even more than in the majors. But, I can imagine that as a young kid, looking at that 9-12 must have been incredibly discouraging. Wonder if he ever thought he'd make it at that point.

Looking down at his career stats, we see a couple interesting things. He twice led his minor league in saves. This is interesting, for the same reason I just touched on. That's a lot of saves for a minor league team.

Looking over his personal information, we see that he pitched in Yankee Stadium as a high schooler. I wonder if that helps, at all, when you eventually make your first major league appearance there. 

The transactions are often a lot of fun. For Almonte, we see that he was involved in a pretty cool trade. He was part of the package that the White Sox sent to the Mets in exchange for Roberto Alomar. Now, this wasn't exactly Alomar in his prime. But, it's cool that he was involved in a trade for a future Hall of Famer. Even if the Mets dumped Almonte at the end of the year. It's always nice to know how a player arrived in Boston.

All that information can be found on this Media Guide page, along with lots of other great information.

Just like every page.

Harping on Hanley

It’s still Spring Training. There’s still nothing real going on. But, as expected, that hasn’t stopped reporters from reporting on anything they can think of.

Like Hanley Ramirez.

It happens sometimes when the media has their stories written before getting to Florida. Hanley was going to be their focus. Just like people decided in 2007 that Dice-K was going to be the focus, and started reporting on the number of strikes he threw in batting practice.

Hanley’s transition to first base was going to be the story. The media had made his transition to left field the story almost all last year. So, the move to first base allowed them to practically use the exact same stories. He wasn’t trying to learn the position. He was lazy. He did want to try.

But, they hit a snag.

He was trying. He was asking to get more practice. He was staying late and arriving early. Their story was going up in flames. So, they did the next best thing. They wrote the opposite story. 

Hanley is working hard! Praise the lord, he was working hard! See, haters, he does care! Look at him take grounders!

Of course, as with any story, it only last so long before the other angle shows up. In this case, as the EEIdiots were harping on yesterday, it’s the “why is working hard a story?’ angle. Look at those “other” media members congratulating Hanley for working hard. What fools. Of course he should be working hard. That’s his job. He should be putting in effort all the time. He shouldn’t be praised for it.

So, how do you explain Dustin Pedroia?

Isn’t his entire storyline that he tries hard? Is there every a story about him that doesn’t mention his uniform getting dirty? Didn’t we hear over and over and over how he was taking ground ball from his knees with a broken foot? Nobody even bothered to ask what skill he was perfection by taking ground balls from his knees. It doesn’t come up all that often in a game, after all. Nobody even mentioned how he was actually hurting the team by not just letting the foot heal. Nope. By goodness, he was working hard. What an example he is to every person on the planet everywhere. He’s working hard!

Just like Hanley is. When Pedroia does it, it shows his leadership and why he’s a true asset to any team lucky enough to have his glow fall on them. When Hanley does it, we really need to stop mentioning it because every player should be doing it. 

I wish everyone would just make up their minds.

I Need Your Help!

I know. Tell you something you don't already know. But I noticed something the other day. It's about pictures.

I've mentioned this quite a bit. I love pictures. I post one or two on the Section 36 Facebook page almost every day. I think it really spruces up a timeline. It can be any picture, really. But, I'd prefer it if the pictures had some correlation to the day they're posted. Even if it's a bit of a stretch. You know, like a picture from Section 36 of a flag to post on Flag Day. But, naturally, when you need specific subjects in a picture, it means you need a slightly larger inventory.

One of the things I've been looking for lately as the season creeps towards us is pictures featuring other teams. I mean, if the Red Sox are playing the Blue Jays it would make sense to post a picture featuring the Blue jays in some way. Naturally, it should be one that fits into one of the categories that I usually post pictures in. But, that shouldn't be too hard.

Pics With Section 36 can easily be associated with another team. Take this one from Kaitlyn, for example.

See how that works? That's a perfect picture to post on a day the Sox play the Jays.

It works with the other categories too. For instance, pictures in Section 36 like this one from Adam.

Perfect for a Yankees game!

And, of course, some of the easiest are the pics with a Rather be in Section 36 sign. You can simply throw on another team's jersey, make a sign and snap a pic. Or, you can make a sign to bring with you to another team's game. Like this great one from Lisa and Serena.

So, wherever you are, you can help me out! Or, if you're lucky enough to own some Section 36 gear, it'll be a breeze to take pics wearing that

Which is great for me. Not only do I keep getting amazing pictures, but my Facebook post can be even better. Take this month's featured Facebook post. Dione noticed that my Valentine's Day post was lacking. (I mean, Swi-hart was a bit of a stretch.) So, she took it upon herself to send me a much better one to post. It was definitely an upgrade, right?

So, keep sending those pics and sending them in to me! And, if you can fill a need that's even better! 

Even if it's one I didn't know I needed.

I Scored!

July 26, 2003

There are several things I love about this scorecard, and one that will probably bug be forever. (I mean, as much as something on a scorecard can bug a person. I’m not spiraling down into an abyss or anything.) 

The best part of the scorecard, of course, is that it documents a walk off win for the Red Sox during their ALCS season. But, let’s look a little deeper into that win. Check out the ninth inning. After Bill Mueller flew out, Jeremy Giambi walked…as he so often did. But, then he stole second base…as he almost never did. That’s right. It was Giambi’s legs that got the winning run into scoring position. A strikeout and a walk later, and things started to get interesting.

Here’s the part that’ll bug me. I clearly goofed with my scoring. Todd Walker was clearly lifted for the pinch runner (Jackson) in the eighth inning. How else would David Ortiz be able to pinch hit for Jackson in the ninth. So, instead of the double vertical line, I should have put one of them on the other side of the box. But, that doesn’t change what happened. David OrtizCame in to pinch hit, and drove home the winning run with a single. I remember at the time almost hoping Ortiz made an out. (Hey, I said almost.) After all, Ortiz was hitting for the replacement at second. If he doesn’t win the game…does he have to play second base? That would have been an interesting decision. 

But, it ended up being a moot point. Ortiz, of course, came through in a clutch situation and the Red Sox won a game that almost slipped away. That made him a pretty easy choice as player of the game.

The goat? Really hard not to hang the horns on Jason Varitek. Even from the number nine hitter, three strikeouts are hard to swallow. Especially in that crucial ninth inning. He had a golden opportunity to be the hero, and let it slip by.

But, naturally, it didn’t matter. Once again David Ortiz carried the Sox on his shoulders. (well, of course, at that point it wasn’t “once again.”) He helped them snatch victory from the hands of defeat as he started to craft his legend.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.

That Was Easy

The 2016 World Champion Red Sox started off their run to the title yesterday with a couple exhibition exhibition games. As expected, they proved unstoppable as they cruised to easy victories.

It was nice to be proven correct right off the bat. Hanley Ramirez was flawless in the field. Exactly as I told you he would be. It didn’t matter if it was fielding a groundball and taking it to the bag himself, or taking a throw from a fellow infielder. Hanley handled the position like he had been there his whole life. He’s on pace to tie the team record for fielding percentage in a season for a first baseman. Start engraving that gold glove.

And some of you were worried.

The offense also looked amazing. Mookie Betts showed that he can make adjustments mid-game, and showed no signs of a sophomore slump. He seems ready to make another run at an American League MVP award.

What’s more is that the Red Sox were able to completely dominate while holding back David Ortiz. Imagine, resting your presumed clean-up hitter, but still cruising to an easy victory. I team like that will be hard, if not impossible, to stop all season.

Similarly, the Red Sox have yet to throw their ace. They have been content to show the rest of the league that starters 2-10 are perfectly capable of shutting down the competition on their own. At this point, one has to wonder if David Price should be simply traded for prospects. If you don’t need him this year, then why not use him to build for the future?

Of course, as any great team will tell you, the general public hates perfection. Just ask the Patriots. So, these Red Sox knew that simply steamrolling team after team after team was boring. The fans and the press would grow antsy. If there wasn’t a flaw, they would make one up themselves. Thankfully the Sox know how to play the game. They had Pablo Sandoval muff a ground ball. They knew that morons would quickly grasp onto that as some sort of flaw. It would be too easy not to fall back on fat jokes and comment how he can’t even bend over to field a grounder. (I know. Hard to believe people would be that pathetic.) It was sheer genius. This team really does have everything.

It won’t be long now until the Sox unleash their team on the rest of their league. I half wonder if other teams will bother to show up. Or, maybe the Sox will lose a game early on? Again, just ask the Patriots how annoying endless questions about an undefeated season can be. 

Maybe 161-1 will have to do.