Team Sets: 1987 Procards Pawtucket Red Sox

Players Included: Andy Araujo, Todd Benzinger, Tom Bolton, Ellis Burks, Chris Cannizzaro, Tony Cleary (trainer), Stephen Curry, Mike Dalton, Chuck Davis, Steve Ellsworth, Glenn Hoffman, Sam Horn, Mitchell Johnson, John Leister, John Marzano, Mark Meleski (coach), Mike Mesh, Gary Miller-Jones, Ed Nottle (mgr), Jody Reed, Mike Rochford, Kevin Romine, Hector Stewart, LaSchelle Tarver, Gary Tremblay, Scott Wade, Dana Williams

Best Picture: LaSchelle Tarver. Tarver could not look more bored. He’s doing what the photographer wants. He’s pretending to swing, but he’s just not into it. I wonder how many poses he had to take before this gem. How about after?

Hall of Famers: none

Future Hall of Famers: none

Reason the buy the set: Ellis Burks went on to have the best major league career of the members of this set. Most of it wasn’t with the Sox, but he did come back in time to get a ring in Boston. Otherwise, there are around ten players in the set who went on to play in the majors.

Overall Reaction: Minor league sets are fun. They contain the stars of tomorrow, as well as the busts. This was a pretty popular set back in the late 80’s due to Burks, Horn, Reed, and Benzinger. The quality of the cards themselves is lacking, as can be expected with a minor league issue. They just feel minor leagues. The design is appealing though, which helps. This would be a must have for fans of Red Sox teams from that era.

What Happened?

Ok, so I was a couple games off on my prediction. That’s pretty close, right? Can I get partial credit?
I know that before the series, several people were picking the Angels to take the series. I admitted, that the teams were pretty evenly matched, and it would be a close series. Did anyone think that the Sox would be swept, and the three losses would go to Lester, Beckett, and Papelbon? If anyone made that prediction, we need to check their garage for a DeLorean. That’s what’s most frustrating about the whole thing. The Sox had it just the way they wanted it. They just couldn’t get it done.
In Game 1, Lester pitched fine. He got knocked around a bit. But, lots of teams would love that performance from their starter. The offense just couldn’t get it done. Whatever it was…rust, nerves, the Angels pitching, tacos…the bats never came alive. The result wasn’t crushing. Losing a game 1 on the road is really to be expected. You had to assume that the line-up couldn’t go two games in that sort of a funk. Game 1 was also marred by a few terrible calls by first base umpire CB Bucknor. Sure, the calls didn’t actually cost the Sox the game. They didn’t help, but there was no direct affect. You can argue how much extra pitches really hurt a pitcher. Or, how Lester was affected mentally by the poor calls. Whatever it was, it happened. (As revenge some people took it out on Bucknor’s wikipedia page. I thought that was brilliant. It wasn’t crude, or obnoxious. It was thought out and clever. Just what you can expect from Red Sox fans.)
Game 2 was really more of the same. Beckett pitched just fine. He certainly wasn’t the reason they lost. Once again, though, the bats couldn’t do quite enough. It was widely pointed out that the Sox were only batting in the .150’s as a team after the two games, and that’s why they were down 0-2. It was less widely reported that the Angels were only batting in the low .200’s as a team. It’s not like they were knocking the cover off the ball either. Their hits were just slightly more effective. So, after two games, it was as close as a 2-0 series could be. There wasn’t a feeling of dominance from LA. It was just a couple more timely hits. Couple that with the Red Sox history during elimination games, and there was reason for cautious optimism among Sox fans.
Game 3 showed exactly why that confidence was warranted. The bats showed up at home, and scored plenty of runs. That was pretty impressive, really, considering all the trouble Kazmir has given the Sox over the years. As he has shown all year, Clay Buchholz pitched great when it mattered the most. Apparently he should only go against other team’s aces the rest of his career. That may be the definition of clutch. The Sox were able to hand the game over to Billy Wagner with a three run lead starting the eighth. Could Terry Francona have drawn it up any better than that? It just didn’t work. Wagner struggled, and Papelbon had to come in to put out the fire. Unfortunately, he didn’t put the fire out, as much as he threw kerosene on it. He allowed two runners to score, but was able to escape. Fine, no problem there, right? Papelbon will have the lead in the ninth. The Sox even added an insurance run for him in the eighth. Red Sox fans dream of the ball in Pap’s hands with a lead in an elimination game. Unfortunately, Papelbon picked this exact moment to channel his inner Schiraldi. With two outs, and two strikes three different times in the ninth, he couldn’t close it out. A whole new generation of Sox fans were introduced to a crushing defeat. All the kids who only knew of the Sox from ’04 and ’07 finally knew what their parents were talking about. It was the old Sox, blowing exactly what should have been theirs. Stunning.
I have no doubt, that if the Sox played the Angels enough, they’d come out about even. If the Sox had pulled out game 3, I would have felt pretty confident going forward. Just like in the 2007 ALCS, I felt the teams were pretty matched. Even when the Indians had the big lead, you knew that water would find its own level soon. Just like you knew the 2009 season series with the Yanks was going to end about even, I know the ALDS would have too. The Angels won the first three, and those are the only ones that count. That’s the beginning and the end of it.
Where do the Sox go from here? There are all kinds of questions entering this off-season. But, that discussion if for another time. For now… Go LA!
Both LA’s, come to think of it.

Collecting the Sox: Magazines

Magazines are a great Red Sox collectable. They have many of the same advantages of a newspaper, with several plusses of their own.

Like a newspaper, a magazine is a record of an event or team as it happens. The magazine is usually published a little bit later than a newspaper, but that can be a bonus. Usually the stories are a little more in depth and thought out. Rather than a simple retelling of game 4 of the World Series, for instance, a magazine article might dive into detail of the fans reactions, or what the players were going through. Magazine articles also tend to be less reporting, and more writing. So, a feature article of Pedro Martinez will read more like a biography than a recount in the sports section of a newspaper.

Another great thing about a magazine is the photography. Magazines are usually full of bright color photos to augment the article. If the Red Sox are featured on the cover, that another chance for a great visual of the hometown team. Red Sox covers are also great surfaces for autographs. Yet another way to enhance a Red Sox collectable.

I also like the size of magazines. They’re much more compact than newspapers, and quite a bit more durable. After all, newspapers are only supposed to last a day or so. Magazines have a much longer shelf life. They also store nicely if you grab a couple cardboard magazine storage boxes at your local office supply store. They’re even small enough to frame your favorites without costing an arm and a leg.

With any good collectable, there’s room to narrow down your collection to fit your needs. If you’re a big fan of the 2004 team, and why wouldn’t you be, you can collect magazines with cover features on that championship. You can collect the official Red Sox magazines they have at Fenway. Naturally, those will give you an in-depth look at the current Sox team. You can chase down every appearance of Jason Varitek on a cover. Maybe you like the writing in Sports Illustrated, and just want to focus on Red Sox appearances in that publication. As always, the possibilities are endless.

I love looking back at old magazines. How great is the cover feature in SI on Daisuke’s rookie season? Or their baseball preview featuring Pedro as the reason the Sox will win the World Series? (They didn’t) I can’t get enough of the cover story from ESPN the Magazine discussing the dominance of Pedro and Randy Johnson. These little glimpses into the Red Sox past are wonderful to dive back into.

Magazines are easy to find. Just swing by your local bookstore or newsstand. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you already subscribe to a sports magazine or two. If there’s a Red Sox player on the cover, just hang onto it. They’re fun to read over and over.

Anyone have a favorite magazine in their collection?

What’s Going to Happen?

Well, clearly, since the Red Sox have owned the Angels in the playoffs, they’ll win easily again this year. They shouldn’t even bother with the series.
What’s that you say? I’m not a Yankees fan? I need to look at this year, and not the years of the past? Oh, well, if you insist.
It’s an interesting match-up. I never got a “dominant” feeling from the Sox this year. I think most of that came form the replacement starters they kept tossing in there. Smoltz was a disaster. Penny was iffy. Dice-K and Wakefield went down for long stretches. Even though the Sox ended up with 95 wins, you never had that long stretch of superior play. Every fifth game or so, Smoltz would throw up a stinker, or they’d have to start Tazawa in a pinch. So, at least once a week, the Sox had a big question. It was hard to think of them as an elite team in that case. I look at this series, and get that feeling the Sox may be vulnerable. But, once I remember that even the best teams lose almost 40% of their games that feeling goes away. Just because the Sox spaced out their losses pretty evenly doesn’t mean they are an inferior team. How does that help them in the 2009 ALDS?
First off, it looks like the Sox are considering a three-man rotation. That’s an interesting ploy. Can the Sox pull off an effective Lester-Beckett-Buchholz-Lester-Beckett run? Is it making the Angels shiver at having to face Lester and Beckett twice a piece in a five game series? Can the Angels win 3 of 4 from those two guys? That’s a great twist.
The Sox line-up has rounded into shape. It’s not the 2004 Red Sox offense, but it doesn’t have to be. Just like we want all our aces to pitch like Pedro, we want our offenses to hit like 2004. There’s a great heart of the order. V-Mart really shores things up. That might be some of the problem when looking at the Sox. If you go down through Martinez-Youk-Bay-Ortiz-Lowell-Drew, they’re really the same players. It’s not like the Manny-Ortiz attack of 2007. It’s more balanced. The Sox haven’t been this balanced in a long time, and that probably scares some people. There’s not the one or two people you can count on to carry the team. But, the whole line-up is a tough out. I don’t see a break anywhere in there. That’s a tough call for any opposing pitcher.
It really looks like the Sox and Angels are very similar teams. Both have some potent offensive players. Both have some speed at the top. Both teams have solid rotations. I don’t think the Angels have Lester or Beckett. That’s where I see the big advantage.
Tonight’s game is huge, even more so than usual. I don’t generally like a five-game series. I think it’s too short to be fair. It makes game 1 abnormally important. If the Sox win tonight, it will immediately put the Angels in a huge hole. It won’t just steal home field advantage away. It won’t just mean that the Angles will have to win 3 of 4, including at least one more of Beckett and Lester. It will mean they’ll have to go through another day of questions from the press on whether they can ever beat the Sox. They’ll be even tighter for game 2, and things could snowball from there. It’s a big game for LA. I don’t think they can pull it out.
I say Sox in 4.

It Figures...

Some teams just get all the breaks.

First, MLB creates a ridiculous rule that the team with the best record in the league plays the wild card, unless the WC team is from the same division. I don't know why that matters, but that's the rule. Normally, that would be a disadvantage for the division champ. After all, instead of playing the weaker (in theory) WC team, it has to play another division champ. But, not in this case. This year, it mean that the Yankees got to play the winner of the only division race left. So, instead of playing one of the teams that was setting its rotation and resting guys for the last month, they get to play a team in a dogfight until the end. It gets better for the Yanks...

The Tigers and Twins end up tied at the end of the season, so they need to play even one more game. There's a stadium conflict. So, instead of pulling rank and kicking MNF to the curb, MLB pushes back the playoff game another day. So, now the game will be played the day before the Yankees play the winner in Game 1. It gets better for the Yanks...

The game goes into extra innings! So, the Twins needed to use a whole host of pitchers, the day before Game 1. The game took forever, so the Twins couldn't get to NY until much later than they should have.

So, the Twins are tired, spent, and have to play the Yanks in NY with no pitching left. The Yanks are rested, waiting, and all lined up for the series. Incredible.

Maybe CC will blow up like usual, and it will all be moot.