That's More Like It!

If you’re looking for a turnaround game for the 2015 season, you might want to mark down yesterday’s date.

Oh, I know. It’s only one game. But, July 24, 2004 was only one game too.

They’re all one game. So, you can only go by what happens within each one game.

And yesterday, a lot sure happened. Even if it was just one inning. Of one game.

When a team is struggling, sometimes it just takes a little confidence to get the ball rolling again. Yesterday’s game certainly provided a lot of that.

Rusney Castillo made key contributions, hitting his first home run of the year. He doesn’t have to look at that zero any more. Pablo Sandoval had a big hit to put runners at the corners. They weren’t rallying in spite of Panda, they were rallying because of him. Mookie Betts had an important steal. Hanley Ramirez had a bit hit, driving in a run. David Ortiz had an RBI. Dustin Pedroia got a hit and scored a run. Brock Holt had a hit and scored a run. Bogaerts had an absolute crushing two run double. De Aza had a pinch hit RBI for crying out loud. They had four hits with a runner in scoring position. Three of them in a row. With two outs. Maybe this can let everyone stop trying too hard. This proves that they just need to all do their part, and let everyone else take it from there. Panda only needs a single, because it’s will be followed by a double. This could help them realize that they don’t need to hit a three run homer with nobody on base.

This wasn’t them winning a game because Mike Napoli had two homers and drove in four runs. This was a team win if there ever was won. A team win where they had a huge comeback in a game they could have given up on. If you were thinking this team didn’t care, or wasn’t vested in the games, this was the perfect chance for them to prove it. Down four early, it was the perfect time to just mail it in. Instead they held on and rallied. Everyone. The whole team.

Now, they say that momentum is the next day’s starter. Well, with Eduardo Rodriguez next in line, they seem to have that covered as well.

Everyone is into it now.

This could be fun.

Patient Aggression

Jorge Posada used to drive me nuts. Well, OK, lots of Yankees used to drive me nuts. But, him especially. He was always being praised for being patient. He’d stand at the plate, and take a close ball four on a full count, and be heralded as he walked down to first. What a patient hitter! But, he wasn’t really patient. He just wouldn’t swing.

Yes, there’s a difference.

Sometimes, he wouldn’t swing at a pitch the whole at-bat, and walk on a full count. Sometimes he’d strike out looking. Sometimes, he’s foul off eight pitches before walking on a full count. Again, look how patient he is! Yeah. So patient that he swung at 10 pitches out of twelve. But, the point is, just because he didn’t swing at the last pitch, it didn’t make him patient.

When a kid is anxiously waiting for his ice cream to be scooped, the parents will remind it to be patient. That’s patience. Calmly waiting for a positive result. A kid waiting for an ice cream that isn’t coming isn’t patient. He’s stupid.

That distinction came up again with the 2004 Red Sox. Both the Sox and the Athletics were known for taking pitches. Terry Francona was asked if there was a difference between the teams. He answered that if the Sox saw a pitch they like, they hit it.

They were patient. The A’s were just waiting.

Which is important to remember when you’re watching the 2015 Red Sox. Patience doesn’t mean taking pitches. It means waiting for a pitch you like. That pitch might be the first pitch. How frustrating is it to have a batter watch a first pitch fastball go right down the middle for strike one, then strike out on two tough sliders. Bet you wish he had swung at that first meatball. It bugs me when people whine after a player makes an out on the first pitch. Somehow a flyball on the first pitch is bad, but on the third pitch it’s acceptable.

That’s some of what is happening with the Sox. They’re so busy being patient, that they forget to swing. I wonder if that’s the difference between players like Kevin Youkilis who were naturally selective and someone like, maybe, Castillo who is being told to be selective. I remember when I was playing Little League, my coach told me not to swing at the first pitch. Usually, that just meant I started my at-bat down 0-1. Pretty much guaranteed that I was swing at the second pitch at that point. I wasn’t naturally selective. I was told to take pitches.

Maybe even the veterans on the team need to be reminded that they’re supposed to be patient. Not just take pitches. When they see their pitch, though, they need to aggressively swing at it. Maybe it’s a reminder to go back to their natural flow. Maybe they’re trying too hard to do it all at once. Maybe they’re waiting too long before jumping into action.

Maybe they need to stop taking so many pitches.

From the Pedro Binder

2002 UD Ovation

I had to get a copy of my birth certificate at one point. I drove to my birth city to have them print me out a new one. The important part was that it needed to be embossed with a seal from the city office. Anyone could make a photocopy of a certificate. Or, even create their own certificate. But, only the select official few could emboss it with a seal.

Apparently Upper Deck is one of those select few. After all, they chose to emboss this card with the Red Sox seal.

While it doesn’t make the card any more official, it does give it a nice look. I do like that it’s not embossed just for the heck of it. It’s not bumpy stripes. It’s not raised letters. A large Red Sox logo is exactly the sort of thing that might be embossed on a regular basis. I could just imagine Ben Cherington sitting in his office with a trade proposal in front of him. If he agrees with it, he’d sing it and emboss it with his Red Sox stamp. Then put it in an envelope, and melt some wax on the back. Now, I doubt Ben handles proposals in that manner…although, I suppose he might. But it certainly does give the feeling that the Red Sox approve of this card.

Maybe it makes the card more official after all.

(Am I allowed to change my mind after just a paragraph?)

Another thing that’s nice about the seal is that it provides an huge design element without detracting from the rest of the card. It’s different, visually, than if the logo was a red and blue circle behind Pedro. It’s obvious without being distracting. The rest of the card? Lots of clutter. If you have the big stamp, what do you need all the gold foil lines for? Or the different colored background effects? It makes it a lot more cluttered than it should be.

And, makes it look much more official.

What Would You Do?

I’m going to play along with you for a minute. I don’t agree with you, but let’s pretend a change needs to be made with the Red Sox. Right now, to save the season.

What would you do?

Actually, the better question might be, what would you do next?

I see lots of opinions out there. Blow the team up! Hanley needs to go. They need a bat. All of those flood twitter…usually right after the team leaves a few men on base.

So, let’s pretend that one of those is your plan. What do you do next?

After you “blow the team up” or trade your clean-up hitter. What’s your plan to actually improve the team from there? And don’t give me “that’s not my job, it’s up to Ben.” If you’re telling him how to do half his job, you need to finish it.

Well?

Which player on the offense do you move? Personally, I’ve been begging them to trade Pedroia for years. But, whenever I suggest it, I’m attacked like I’m suggesting pulling the eyelashes off kittens. So, I’ll assume that he’s still off limits. Is Swihart killing the team? He’s certainly underperforming. But, he’s so young. You’re certainly not going to trade him. But…you could bench him certainly. He wasn’t supposed to be with the team yet anyway. You could drop Leon, move Swihart to the back-up and get an offensive catcher to play most of the time. Someone like…umm…yeah…him. Guess that’s not going to work.

OK…first base. Yes. You could trade Napolil. That might even make sense since he’s in the last year of his contract. Fine. Who are you trading him for? Or, more to the point, who are you replacing him with? One of your extra outfielders that weren’t good enough to play for you in the outfield? That doesn’t seem like a good plan. Are you replacing him with a minor league first baseman? Don’t think the Sox have any of those ready to go. So, you’re going to need a first baseman from outside the organization. This first baseman needs to be both available, and better than what you hope to get from Napoli.

Who’s on your list?

Oh, sure Napoli’s not hitting well at the moment. But, do you expect that to change? Then you need to trade for something better than what you think he might be. Or, do you think he’s going to hit .202 the rest of the year? In that case, what are you replacing him with? Someone hitting .210? .260? Is that worth it to you? Are you so sure Napoli won’t hit that you’re dumping him for an average player?

Have that same discussion about the rest of the team. Who are you so eager to get rid of? Who are you getting in their place?

Different isn’t always better. If you’re plan is to just be “different,” that’s not a plan.

If you have “better” ideas, let’s hear them.

Red Sox Magic Number is 116!

The Red Sox are not good right now.

They’re in last place.

They have a sub-.500 record.

They’re 3-7 in their last ten.

They have the worst run differential in, like, the history of mankind.

They look worse than the Patriots did in September.

But, here’s the key. They’re only 4 games back.

ALL that garbage has happened. Nothing his gone right. Nothing they’ve tried has worked. Everyone is slumping. Nobody is hitting.

And they’re four games back.

Just like the Patriots, though, they’re not a bad team. They’re just playing like it at the moment. Water WILL find its own level. All these hitters will play to the back of their baseball card. And, when they do, they’ll only have to make up four games.

Because, actually, the entire season hasn’t been terrible. If you look at the OPS for the non-rookies, only Ortiz is significantly off his number from last year. They just had a high peak in April, and a low valley in May. If June is a plateau somewhere in the middle, things are going to be just fine.

Is there reason to think there will be a plateau? Of course there is. Ramirez has been crushing the ball the last couple games. He might not be April Hanley, but even “regular Hanley” will be a big boost to the offense. Pedroia and Bogaerts are definitely trending upwards. They’re definitely getting plenty of runners on base.

Everyone who tweets out their disgust at ANOTHER double play is missing the obvious point. You need a runner on base to ground into a double play. Or, to strand a runner. So, they’ve been getting their hits. It’s just a matter of getting them in a different order.

Odds are that will start happening very soon. Once it does, the Sox should be off and running.

With only four games to make up.