Well, There You Go

Just when things were looking bad, David Ortiz produced another Papi Moment.

But, we certainly wouldn't want to forget the moment that happened before that. We've come to expect these heroics for Ortiz over the years. But, Jackie Bradley Jr has not been known for his bat. So, it's ironic that in the same game where he actually misplays a ball he also ties the game with a clutch hit. It was the exact situation that buries bad teams. You're facing a starter that had given you fits all night. Get a couple guys on, and your number nine hitter strikes out. But that's not what happened. Bradley came through in that situation, tying the game, and chasing the starter. It was wonderful.

It was also a reminder that Bradley has been doing that a lot lately. A game winning RBI the other night. A home run to provide a 1-0 victory another night. A game tying double late in last night's game.   Frankly, if Bradley does nothing else at the plate, he's already added enough to his otherworldly defense to make it a productive season. But, I don't imagine he's done wowing us at the plate.

And neither is Ortiz. He never seems to care how good the Yankees bullpen is supposed to be. He didn't even wait around last night. He guessed correctly on the first pitch, and took advantage. Just like he always does.

So, if your goal is to win every series at home, the Sox are off to a great start in this series. Parcel and Price are the next two starters, so you have to like the chances of taking at least one of those. Last night's game was the wild card. And it came up Sox.

Can't wait to see what happens next!

Papi Moments

As everyone in Red Sox Nation celebrates David Ortiz’s final season, I thought it would be a good excuse to recount some of the most memorable things I’ve seen David Ortiz do.

Especially on days where I can’t think of something else to write about.

These sorts of endeavors are always tricky, which I suppose is part of their charm. Of course, anyone can put together a list of David Ortiz Highlights. But, if I’m writing it, it should probably be the most important moments to me. Sometimes those will be the same thing. Sometimes they won’t. For that reason, most of them will be games I attended. For the most part, any moment that I’m present for will trump a moment I watch on television or hear on the radio. It has that ability to transform the last few hours of my life from a crummy time to a pretty good time.

Or, in the case of this moment, even longer.

I’m going to start with Ortiz’s home run to win game four of the 2004 ALCS. I was in the ballpark for that game. Although, I’ll admit it was pure luck that kept me in the ballpark until that moment.

Usually I take the T when I go to games. But, for that game my brother was driving us, and he decided to drive in and find a lot. We found a lot not too far from the park, that included blocked parking. We were somewhat near the entrance to the lot, but by the time we left the lot, a couple cars had come to block us in. 

So, I will fully admit that as the game dragged on and on, and the hour grew later and later, there were many discussions about how long we were going to stick it out. I had already seen the Yankees celebrate an American League Championship on the Fenway grass. I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of seeing another one. But, there were a couple deciding factors. Since we drove in, we weren’t slaves to the train schedules. Beyond that, we knew we were blocked in at the lot. How foolish would we feel if we left early, only to sit in our cars until the end of the game listening to it on the radio? So, we stuck it out through the cold.

What choice did we have?

Boy am I glad we did.

You all know the story. Dave Roberts stole the base after Millar walked in the bottom of the ninth. Bill Mueller drove Roberts home to tie the game. What at the time seemed like hours later, with Manny Ramirez on base Ortiz lifted a ball into the bullpen to send us all home happy.

Again, full confession, my emotion was a mixture of relief and excitement. Thank goodness the Sox hadn’t been swept. Thank goodness the game wasn’t going to go on any longer. And, Oh My God Did We Just See That?

Of course, at the time all we knew was that the series was now 3-1. For all we knew the Sox would be eliminated the following day. (Or, the same day as it turned out.)

But, of course, they weren't eliminated. That win was the start of a run unmatched in my memory.

And it all started with this Papi Moment.

(Oh. When we got back to our car, the three people blocking us in were gone. We joked with the people waiting in the cars we were blocking it that we hoped they hadn't been waiting for long. Their response was "an hour." Exactly what we were afraid of happening to us.)

From the Pedro Binder

2000 Skybox Metal

There is one thing that could make this card work. If it was, you know, actually metal. But, alas, it is not. 

Instead, Skybox just wants to give you the illusion that the card is a dull metallic gray. So, they took what would otherwise be a pretty decent card, and blurred it up to make it look metal.

Why on earth would you do that?

Because, look at that great design, if you could see any of it. The Skybox logo is so small that it's practically invisible. The Metal logo is almost as hidden. Pedro's name is nice and bold right across the top of the card. No tilting required to read it. His team, position, and even number are clearly written right under the name. Clear as day.

That leaves plenty of room for the picture to come front and center. Sure, the picture is pretty basic. But it's well cropped, and has everything you'd want in a picture of Pedro delivering a strike.

Then they had to go muck it up my making the card look metallic.

And it's not even metal.

Family Friendliness

I went to a minor league baseball game a week or so ago. Like many minor league teams, the games were being advertised as “family” friendly. It seemed to work, because the stands were full of families with kids. 

But, it didn’t seem to be all that friendly to them.

Most of the kids I heard were complaining that they wanted food. Or something to drink. Most of the requests, though, were to go to the playground area behind the grandstand. There was one kid, though, seven or eight, happily scoring the game. He wasn’t complaining. After all, he had something to do.

Now, I’ll admit that scoring a baseball game isn’t something every kid would like to do. Heck, I’ll happily admit that it’s not something every adult would want to do. But, it struck me that there was something different about the scoring activity, and the activity that the other kids wanted to do.

Scoring kept the kid in the stands watching the game.

It occurred to me that it was a pretty obvious idea. When you go to a restaurant, with a kid, they often have “kids menus.” They sometimes have coloring pages, or mazes on them. Some pizza places hand out pizza dough to play with. Or other toys or activities to use while at the table. You know what they don’t do? They don’t provide activities in another building to do instead of sitting at the table. They’ve realized that just as important as the kids enjoying the outing is the idea of the kids enjoying their time at the table. After all, that’s what will bring them back to the restaurant.

If a kid thinks he’s having a great time at a minor league game because he loves going in the bounce house, is he really enjoying the game? Are they going to want to go back when the bounce house loses its appeal? Aren’t these minor league teams actually creating playground fans instead of baseball fans?

The Red Sox do this too. They have a time for kids to go and meet Wally. But, that happens in the middle of the game. So, again, rather than the kids learning how to enjoy themselves at the game itself, they take them somewhere else.  Why not just play Zootopia on a big screen under the bleachers? 

The minor league game did have some “in seat” entertainment. Major league teams have those too, like sausage races. But, they also took advantage of the video scoreboard more than Fenway does. Things like appropriate video clips. The one that stuck out was the “Monster’s Inc. clip of the “2319” alert that they played during a pitching change. It was clever, and appropriate. Again, Fenway does some of this when Josh Kantor plays a song with an appropriate title at an appropriate time. Would purists get upset if movie clips showed up on the video screen during a pitching change? I’m not sure. But, they already show news clips, or baseball bloopers. Why not more things that will make a kid smile. Something simple and subtle could make a kid want to stay in their seat the whole game.

Which will teach them that being in your seat is the best part about being at a game.

It’s not the Money

As the Red Sox play their very short series in Altanta, I can’t stop thinking about money. Specifically, money the Red Sox have spent. And, beyond that, money other people don’t think they should have spent.

Some of it is because Rick Porcello pitched last night. As I discussed last week, people seem to have all sorts of problems with his contract. Not only when the Sox signed him to it, but how much money it involved. Then people remember that the Sox have Allen Craig and Rusney Castillo in Pawtucket at the moment. Both of them have pretty large contracts. When Pablo Sandoval eventually makes a rehab start in RI, it’s possible that team will have a higher payroll than many MLB teams. People yell and scream that they signed these terrible contracts and how much it has screwed the team.

Then I remember who is pitching for the Red Sox tonight.

David Price.

That’s when I feel I need to remind people that this is baseball, not football. There’s no salary cap. Signing one player doesn’t mean you automatically can’t sign another player. 

So, we need to change the question. It’s not about being overpaid or underpaid. It’s whether the player adds any value, and whether he prevents you from signing another player. 

Since David Price got his $200 million, I’m assuming the Pawtucket payroll isn’t hurting the Sox any. Now, I suppose you could argue that Craig and Castillo aren’t adding a whole lot of value. But, a former major league player isn’t a bad thing to have at the ready. And, Castillo has some skills that could be useful. As long as he’s not hurting you.

That thought process works even better in Boston. Sandoval is paid a ton to, oddly, ride the bench. But, there are worse things to have on the bench than a proven clutch performer. Hanley makes a ton, but he can play three or four positions for you, and seems to be doing a damn fine job at first base. 

If you hadn’t overpaid Rick Porcello two years ago, you wouldn’t have your best pitcher thus far this year. Which is the risk you run when trying to live up to an imaginary budget. You might miss out on players. You might miss out on players you need. All in the name of saving money.

Even though you could still go out and sign your ace.