Walking Wounded

As Spring Training ended, and the season began there was quite a bit of debate. Who was the fifth starter? Should Ellsbury lead off? Who’s the best option in the three spot? What about Papi/Lowell? When the questions and answers were sorted out, the line-up and rotation worked out something like this…

Ellsbury
Pedroia
Martinez
Youkilis
Drew
Beltre
Ortiz
Cameron
Scutaro
Beckett
Lester
Lackey
Matsuzaka
Wakefield.

Look about right? This is the set of players we all expected to play 150 games this season. As the Sox head into this series against the Rays, this is how that line-up looks…

Ellsbury – Still on the DL, where he’s been for most of the season.
Pedroia – out for a month with a broken toe
Martinez – out for some time with a broken toe
Youkilis
Drew – just returned from hamstring issues
Beltre
Ortiz
Cameron – after missing most of season, working way back into everyday line-up
Scutaro
Beckett – On DL
Lester
Lackey
Matsuzaka – Just back from DL
Wakefield – would be in ‘pen were it not for Beckett’s injury, replaced by Buchholz…who left his last start with injury

Really? That all happened? Add in the fact that both Ortiz and Pedroia went through EXTENDED periods of being completely unproductive and Lester had a poor April yet again. How has this collection of emergency room patients fared? How far gone is the season? Second place in the division? Huh? Two games back? Huh? Second most wins in the majors? No, really.

How do you explain this success? I have no idea. I’m reminded of a Yankees game I was watching a few years ago. The Yankees had a young group of players in the game like Cano and Cabrera. One inning, the announcers would say how amazing the Yankees are for pulling together with the young guys and still winning. The next inning they’d mention how wonderful the organization was to have such great players to fill in when they needed them. I kept wondering which it was. Were the veterans pulling together to help carry the team despite the stiffs they had to play with? Or was the organization pure genius for having Mays and Mantle in the system waiting to fill in? That’s the question I have with this year’s Sox. Who gets credit? I’m guessing they all do.

Theo gets credit for having capable players in the system that can help in a pinch. They might not all have been household names, but they all can apparently do what they needed to do. The rest of the team also gets credit for pulling more than their weight to get them through. Beltre has been amazing at the plate. (Ok. Maybe Theo gets credit for that too) Ortiz and Pedroia shook off slumps and did what they needed to do. It’s been amazing to watch. And it’s scary to think that eventually, the team will be at full strength. Eventually the line-up will be just like it was supposed to be. Eventually everything will fire on all cylinders. Eventually, the rest of the league had better watch out. The Yankees could only get a 2-game lead with all of Boston on crutches. They’re in trouble once the bandages come off.

Right?

Red Sox A-Z: R is for…

Ramirez, as in Manny.

I’ve talked a lot about Manny Ramirez on this site. I have to admit, I’m probably going to have trouble finding anything new to say about him. He was one of my favorite players while he was in Cleveland. He was one of my favorite players when he was in Boston. I still curse the day he was traded away for a bag of beans. Manny was Manny, and there won’t be another one quite like him.

The Red Sox have acquired their share of marquee talent the last few years. None of them brought the level of excitement Manny brought when I first saw that Red Sox hat photo shopped onto his picture leading off SportsCenter. He was the missing piece. He was the answer to the Red Sox troubles. He was everything they needed. How could I not dance around the room? Manny favorites? There are many. To pick a couple…

I have the DVD of the Red Sox 100 seasons put out a few years ago. One of the special features is the replay of Manny’s mammoth home run he hit off of Chris Carpenter in Toronto. Manny absolutely crushes the ball to left, and then looks out at Carpenter. He wasn’t taunting, really. It was almost pity. It’s like he was asking, “How could you throw me that pitch? Didn’t you know better?” Even better than that is the close-up view of Carpenter. He just gave up a 500-foot home run. He looks out at the ball, sees it land, and almost smiles. He starts to, but then remembers he was the opposing pitcher. It was a glimpse of even an opponent being simply amazed at what Manny could do.

The closest thing I have to a personal Manny encounter happened in batting practice a few years ago. I was staking out centerfield (in front of Section 35. Shhh) and happened to have a good bit of real estate to myself. I was watching Manny launch ball after ball to all parts of the field, and over the fences. Suddenly, he hits one of the balls right at me. It’s sailing out to center field, and I know I’m going to get it. It’s getting closer and closer, and suddenly I realize something. This is a ball that Manny hit that will travel over 400 feet by the time it gets to me. It has to be going pretty darn fast. If I try to catch that, it’s going to HURT! I can’t possibly try to stick my hands in front of that, can I? So, as the last minute, I step to the side and let it bang into the front row of seats behind me. My immediate plan is to grab it after it bounces off those seats. Naturally, the ball bounces off those seats, off the wall in front of me, and back about ten rows into the stands. There, of course, a couple kids fight over it and I’m out a ball. I do, however, have a hand with all its bones in the correct places. That’s why I always bring a glove now when I get to batting practice. It’s all thanks to Manny.

R is for Ramirez, Manny.

TTM Success!

Especially if, as I do, you consider a success anything better than being completely ignored. In this case, I had two wonderful responses on the very same day.

These were new response forms for me. I have been sending letters to Red Sox players for quite some time, and never had this. It wasn’t enclosed in the SASE I sent, which is usually the way I know I got a response. In this case, it was in a Red Sox envelope. I looked at them and wondered…why are the Red Sox sending me a letter? Why are they sending me two?

They were responses to my requests from Tim Wakefield and Jonathan Papelbon. When I sent out the request, I mentioned that I didn’t expect Wakefield to respond. I had heard he only signs for charity. So, I was really only hoping for a form letter telling me how to do that. Papelbon was also risky. As an elite player in the league, I figured he got his fair share of fan mail. So, the chances of being lost in the shuffle were pretty high. What I think is most interesting about the letters is how they are different, in spite of being so alike.

Starting with the Wakefield letter, it was very well written. He thanked me, and explained the situation. He enclosed the team issued picture, which is great. It even has a facsimile autograph on it so it will display nicely. Wake was kind enough to include the extra note saying he was sorry, but was too busy to personally respond. He even went so far as to send my card back. (Unlike Youkilis and Francona, it even appeared to be the same card I sent him.) It was really a fantastic response.





The Papelbon letter is also a great one. It’s even worded differently than Wake’s version. Wouldn’t you imagine that Pap and Wake would use slightly different vocabulary? He also included the great team issued photo in the letter. Papelbon didn’t return my card, but that’s OK. It’s a great response as it is.

But, once again, a response from a Red Sox player has left me with questions. How does this all work? From what I remember, I didn’t send the Wakefield and Papelbon requests on the same day, but they were returned to me at the same time. The letters themselves are interesting. They both have the same basic format and paragraph structure. That would certainly imply that the players didn’t sit down and write them out themselves. Did they have any part in it? Were they given a mad lib? “Dear Fan, Thank you for the letter it was (adjective).” Were they interviewed, and a staff writer put it into a letter? Did some flunkey write the whole thing, but know that Papelbon would say “awesome” but Wakefield wouldn’t? Fascinating.

Despite the questions, or maybe because of them, I couldn’t be happier with the responses. I certainly want to thank Tim Wakefield and Jonathan Papelbon for whatever role they played. I also need to thank the Red Sox organization. It’s this sort of fan respect that makes them so classy. They provided paper, an envelope, postage, and a picture just to respond to someone bugging one of the players. Pretty cool.

Guess I need to write more letters.

Wantlist: 1984 Topps

1984 Topps - RED SOX

COMPLETE!!!!

List of 36: Things it Would be Nice to See Live at Fenway.

1. A batter hit for the cycle
2. The return of a former Sox favorite
3. A ring ceremony
4. A well-known person throw out the first pitch
5. A Major League record set
6. A future Hall-of-Famer
7. Throwback uniforms
8. A walk-off win
9. A playoff game
10. A flyover
11. A major league debut
12. An inside-the-park homerun
13. A famous person in the stands
14. A bench-clearing brawl
15. A 100 mph pitch
16. A number retirement ceremony
17. A pitchers duel
18. A statistical career milestone
19. A ball off the Pesky pole
20. A Yankees loss
21. A no-hitter
22. A home opener
23. A position player pitch
24. An out at the plate
25. A three-homerun game
26. A pitcher strike out 15 batters
27. A grand slam
28. A well-known singer sing the National Anthem
29. A triple play
30. A pitcher throw a perfect game
31. A pick-off
32. An All-Star player
33. A steal of home
34. A World Series game
35. A player’s last game
36. A clinching victory
　
Oh, and for the record…I’ve seen 29 of these. How about you?