Boston Sports Then and Now

I knew it was over when I got back from the gym and turned on the Little League World Series.

Like so many hundreds/thousands/millions of others, I’d been fighting the demise of the Red Sox as hard and as long as I could. I fought it through getting swept by Baltimore. Fought it through sweeping at Tampa. Through injuries, an early-summer surge, the All-Star Break, a return to health and, most recently, more injuries.

I watched the Blue Jays rout the Sox on Friday night, a 16-2 shelling that featured a most un-Herculean effort from team ace Jon Lester, thinking much of the time that there was a chance the Sox could still come back.

I watched Dasiuke Matsuzaka give up a 4-1 lead when Lyle Overbay went yard into the right-field bleachers to tie the game at four, and continued to watch into extra innings until Jed Lowrie hit the team’s first walk-off home run of the season, thinking much of the time that there wasn’t a chance the Sox would pull it off.

Despite his game-winning heroics, Jed Lowrie's Red Sox are in a tough spot.

Six games back of Tampa and seven back of the Yankees, these Red Sox are doing nothing but treading water at this point. It’s a fitting place for a team that’s done little but tread water all season.

Speaking of water, the Jays-Sox game was delayed an hour and 44 minutes by rain at Fenway. In that time, the team from Panama manhandled the Saudi Arabians, 13-0 in less than four innings. By the time I turned back to the Red Sox, Buchholz had recorded eight outs and another rain delay was starting.

Almost as if the baseball gods wanted to spare us from watching anymore of it.

Now normally, I’d be excited about a rain delay – more face time for Heidi and Kathryn, a chance for me to get a nap in, all sorts of excitement could arise. But the thought of watching feature pieces on the Red Sox sort of scared me.

Of course, I still watched. After all, the LLWS was over, what else was I going to bide my time with?

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Ethier, 28, is batting .295 with 16 HRs, and 59 RBIs. We can dream, can't we?

Theo needs to make a deal for a middle of the road reliever. However, you’d have to think he wants an impact player who can help for years to come. See Felix Hernandez last year.

This year’s move should be for Andre Ethier of the LA Dodgers. There’s no denying he’s a game-changing player with even better potential.

He’s a perfect fit. A legitimate 35 HR guy to hit third in front of Youk. He can play LF this year and next and then move back to his natural RF when JD leaves. He’s under team control for at least two more years with a chance to extend him in his prime. He’s Dustin Pedroia’s best friend and a great clubhouse guy.

Why not package Jacoby Ellsbury, Felix Doubront, and a low level pitcher with upside like a Roman Mendez for Ethier.

LA would listen because they have serious money issues with Frank McCourt’s

divorce and a big time need for pitching. Ellsbury is cheap, making only league minimum this year and going into his first arb year next year where his value will be lowered by a poor 2010. Doubront projects as a No. 3 starter down the road and would be their No. 5 to start 2011. Mendez has a live arm and is only 19 – a guy they might love to take a chance on.

The Sox get their impact bat to fill in for Ortiz’s impending departure and a good long term OF solution. It even leaves a spot for Ryan Kalish to finish his development next year and then come up to platoon with Cameron in mid 2011 until Cam is gone. LA gets a leadoff hitter who would dominate the NL on the basepaths and allow them to shift Matt Kemp back to his natural spot in the batting order.

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The Red Sox will miss Dustin Pedroia, who has led the offensive charge in recent years.

In the standings, the Boston Red Sox fully recovered from a slow start.  Entering Independence Day, the Red Sox trailed the New York Yankees by just half a game for the best record in the Major League Baseball.

However, as the Red Sox recovered on-the-field, their health deteriorated off of it.  At the All Star Break, the Red Sox led the Major League in players on the Disable List with 10, always a dubious distinction.  They also had Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron listed as day-to-day, and that list doesn’t include young reliever Junichi Tazawa, who is missing the entire season with Tommy John surgery.

The injuries have finally taken their toll.  Over the last eight days before the break, the Red Sox lost five of seven, including a sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays, which dropped the Red Sox five back from New York and three behind Tampa for the Wild Card.

Entering the second half of the season, the Red Sox need to recover physically before they can expect to contend for a playoff spot.

The Red Sox have gotten back to their form of recent years.  They’ve started dominating games at home, currently posting an impressive 29-17 at Fenway, trashed the National League, going 13-5 in Interleague Play, and boasting one of the best offenses in baseball, their 481 runs scored lead the Majors.

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Those of you who don’t “follow” baseball until August and, in fact, pretty much avoid sport in general between the NFL Draft and July, put your sunscreen and flip-flops away: your spring training is about to begin.

If you’re not one of “those” fans – and if you’re reading this, you’re probably not – you know that this regularly-scheduled interruption to the baseball season isn’t just a vacation for fans. It’s a vacation for a team that has almost 40 percent of its opening day roster currently occupying room on the disabled list.
For you semi-annual fans, here’s a rundown of what you’ve missed:
Beckett – Back (DL since May 19)
Delcarmen – Forearm (DL since July 1)
Pedroia – Foot (DL since June 26)
Martinez – Thumb (DL since June 29)
Lowell – Hip (DL since June 24)
Varitek – Foot (DL since July 2)
Hermida – Rib (DL since June 11)
Ellsbury – Rib (DL since May 28)
Buchholz – Hamstring (DL since June 27)

Of those, only Buchholz and Delcarmen are expected back immediately after the all-star break. Beckett, Martinez and Hemida should return by the end of July, with Varitek, Pedroia, Ellsbury and Lowell due back in early August – although it remains possible that Mike Lowell may never again don a Red Sox jersey.

No word on if the abs still look the same after a series of broken ribs. Sorry, Ladies.

A team that was assembled in order to prevent runs has proven more able to produce them, but without the likes of Ellsbury, Pedroia and Martinez, what was an offensive murderer’s row is now a veritable collection of meows.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been highlights. Or lowlights.

A 3-game sweep of Tampa in the other Bay Area, a 3-game sweep by Baltimore at The Piece of Real Estate Formerly Known as Camden Yards. A 13-5 interleague record, including a 8-1 homestand bookended by a noogie-fest against the ageless wonder, Jamie Moyer and a sweep of Manny Ramirez’s Dodgers. A 3-game sweep by Tampa in St. Pete to solidify the Sox’ 3rd-place role heading into the All-Star Break. The emergence of Adrian Beltre’s bat. Mike Cameron’s stomach. The return of the Papi. The Papelboner striking back. The unexpected play of the call-ups, especially Darnell and Nava.
But this is a team that goes into the All-Star break having played 41 games against the AL East, and plays their own division at a less-than .500 clip. A team that is a combined 7-14 against the Yankees and Rays, and – worse – 6-6 against the lowly Orioles. A team that leads the league in runs scored but whose bullpen leads the league in ERA.

In any season, disgruntled fans lean on the trade deadline. The truth is, the Red Sox may not make it there. If they do, they may have to waste valuable prospects in order to keep afloat.

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It changed everything, that weekend in San Francisco did.

An already hobbled Red Sox team hit the Bay Area coming off a disappointing series in Denver in which they lost 2 games that they led or were tied in the 7th inning of or later. Ellsbury, Hermida, Beckett, Drew, Martinez, Lowell and Cameron were all working at much less than 100%, but the Sox’ defense and pitching had carried them to a relevant spot in the AL East again.

It was as if snipers had been placed on the roof of AT&T Park. Friday night, Pedroia went down. Saturday, it was Buchholz. Sunday, it was Martinez – again. A return to Boston after the series ended didn’t prove helpful. Varitek fell victim to the injury bug, then Delcarmen was DLed and we were informed that Okajima was operating with a bad back – but really, who isn’t these days, with all the weight the remaining Red Sox have been shouldering?

It's going to be a long July without the Laser Show

The home nine split a series with Tampa, and beat Baltimore before taking to the road prior to the All-Star break. It was then that the wheels fell off. A lineup regularly featuring the likes of Darnell McDonald, Eric Patterson, Daniel Nava, Bill Hall and Kevin Cash is not fit to compete in the AL East, and that fact is being proven before our eyes.

Baseball is not, in the traditional sense, a team game. Nobody passes to anyone else; there are no screens set or fouls taken. And to the casual observer, watching as a team succumbs to injury after injury doesn’t make sense. But when the guys who are used to playing once or twice a week are suddenly playing 6 times a week, their bodies don’t always react favorably. They swing harder at the plate, misjudge fly balls or grounders, and tire more easily.

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