No Baseball

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do: I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

I hate off days. I have no idea what to do with all my extra time.

Watching Baseball: Discovering the Game Within the Game - By: Jerry Remy with Corey Sandler

This book explains some of the thinking behind what goes on in a

baseball game. Why is 2-0 a hitters count? When is a good time for a squeeze play? Why does the shortstop keep opening his mouth behind his glove? It allows the reader to look at a baseball game the way a manager might, and explore it beyond the swings and misses. It hints that people who don’t like baseball, or think that it is boring, simply don’t understand enough about it.

Unfortunately, this book was not written for me. If you’ve watched Red Sox baseball with any regularity, you’ve heard Remy discuss most of the items in this book many times. Therefore, I was already aware of most of what was explained in the book. The things that were new to me were way beyond the effort I want to spend when watching a ball game. I can only watch the footwork of the left fielder so long before I start missing the actual game. While this book claims to be for the “rainy day fan and the avid addict”, it’s definitely geared towards the former. I want to like this book a lot more than I did.

I’d rate it at 2 bases.

Big Papi: My Story of Big Dreams and Big Hits by David Ortiz (with Tony Massarotti)

As the title would imply, this is an autobiography of Red Sox

slugger David Ortiz. It chronicles his life growing into the most feared clutch hitter in baseball. It follows him as a youngster trying to get a break, through his early years with the Twins, and his stellar stint with the Boston Red Sox. It also includes sidebar interviews with Pedro Martinez, Torii Hunter, Theo Epstein, among others. The result is the definitive tale of the creation of Big Papi.

As with many autobiographies of sports figures, you have to deal with the fact that they’re sports figures and not writers. One day I’ll figure out what the “with” or “as told to” person does to get his name on the cover. It certainly wasn’t correcting grammar or word choices. It also appears that this book may have been translated from Spanish. That may explain the overuse of words such as “killin’” or “Bro”. In any event, you have to get past the writing to enjoy this book. Once you do that, it’s a great book. It fills in a lot of holes in Papi’s career. Since Papi pretty much burst on the scene when he got to the Red Sox, not much was reported of his earlier career. This is a chance to learn it all. It explains what goes through a person’s mind what they get released, or signed. It gives views inside a clubhouse, and a team as a whole. It’s also always nice to read about the 2004 World Series run. I never tire of that. All an all, it was a book I had trouble putting down.

Rating: 3 bases.

My All Stars

As I mentioned before, All-Star game voting is currently underway. Get yourself to mlb.com, or any of the other places to get a ballot, and pick your team. If you need some help, here’s what my ballot looks like.

National League
1B Lance Berkman (Astros)
2B Chase Utley (Phillies)
SS Hanley Ramirez (Marlins)
3B David Wright (Mets)
C Russell Martin (Dodgers)
OF Matt Holliday (Rockies)
OF Ryan Braun (Brewers)
OF Chris Young (Diamondbacks)

Wow. Every player is from a different team. That’s interesting. Does that imply that the NL is wide open? As for reasons… Berkman is having a monster year to push him ahead of the likes of Howard, Pujols, and Fielder who are slumping. Utley may be the MVP this year. Ramirez might be the best player in the NL…why can’t the Red Sox get players like him? David Wright got the nod over Chipper Jones mostly because the game is in NY this year. Russell Martin is the best catcher in the NL. Holliday could have been the MVP last year, and is keeping it up. Braun simply looked amazing in Fenway last weekend, so that’s enough for me. Chris Young might be a little…ok…Young. But, he’s a star in the making, and I couldn’t find a player to vote for over him. Besides, the NL’s best team should have a player somewhere.

American League
1B Kevin Youkilis (Red Sox)
2B Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox)
SS Michael Young (Rangers)
3B Miguel Cabrera (Tigers)
C Jason Varitek (Red Sox)
DH David Ortiz (Red Sox)
OF Magglio Ordonez (Tigers)
OF Grady Sizemore (Indians)
OF Manny Ramirez (Red Sox)

Quite a few Red Sox ended up on the team, but that’s certainly OK with me. Youkilis is having a great year at the plate, and is still playing a stellar first base. None of the usual suspects at the position are thrilling me. Dustin Pedroia is having a solid start to the season. He’s among the league leaders in a few hitting categories. I could have gone with Kinsler, but didn’t. At Shortstop, Michael Young deserves some recognition. I know that there’s no way Jeter doesn’t start the game at Yankee Stadium, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually vote for him. At third, injuries to ARod and Lowell open the door for Cabrera based on reputation alone. At catcher, Varitek has been having a great start, including catching a no-hitter. A weak field can’t overcome that. David Ortiz could lead all players in votes again this year, so that was an easy vote. In the outfield, I wasn’t overwhelmed by anybody. I like the way Sizemore plays. Magglio could have been MVP last year, and has a great bat. Manny’s just Manny. I could have voted for Crawford, Hunter, or Guerrero, but didn’t. The likes of Jones or Gomez are too raw for my liking. I’ve never been a fan of Ichiro, so I couldn’t vote for him either. So, I went with the three I went with.

There’s my ballot. What does yours look like?

Lester throws a No-Hitter!

Even more proof that you never know what to expect when you go to the ballpark. One day after staff ace Josh Beckett struggles his way through a victory, inconsistent #4 starter Jon Lester comes out and throws a no-hitter. Incredible. We’re getting a little spoiled around there as far as no-hitters go. After going almost 40 years without having a no-no at Fenway, we’ve now had three in less than ten. We better not start expecting them.

This marks the second straight no-hitter baseball wide to be thrown by a Red Sox pitcher under 25 years old. The farm system “machine” that Theo talked about appears to be in full swing. You can always use young pitching, and the Sox look to have lots of it.

Jason Varitek has now caught four no-hitters…the most ever. I know that no-hitter are fairly fluky, and hit-or-miss…but that has to be more than coincidence, right?

Speaking of fluky no-hitters, how odd is it that Lester has one, Hideo Nomo has two, and Pedro never got one?

Only Lester could throw a no-hitter while walking only two, and still chuck up 130 pitches. Even while dominating, he’s throwing as many pitches as he can. Maybe that’s just him?

There’s another example of the Yankee-Red Sox role reversal. It the late nineties, the Yankees were winning the division every year, and their pitchers were throwing no-hitters left and right. Doc Gooden, David Cone, David Wells all pushed across no-nos in those years. And here the Red Sox are with four no-hitters since 2001, and they’re the class of the league. Once again, is it coincidence?

Congratulations Jon!