And what of Julio, JD, and Coco?

On not signing Schilling to an extension prior to the season:

"Curt's going to be 41, and at that age we get a little more conservative," Epstein said at the time. "That doesn't mean we don't want him back. We have all the confidence in the world that Curt wants to pitch in 2008, and if he pitches effectively, as I expect he will, we'll find a way to keep him in a Red Sox uniform. It doesn't make sense from a business standpoint right now to guarantee that kind of money a year in advance to a 41-year-old. Again, that doesn't change how we feel about Curt, his place in the organization.

"There's a bit of a sliding scale based on age," Epstein said. "The deeper you go into your career, I think the more hesitant the club might be to guarantee salaries years in advance."

Nine Lives

What's more amazing: nine in a row, or that Bean Me Up Scottie Proctor pitched today just to get some work in? The game itself was rather ho-hum, except for great pitching by Dandy Andy. Arizona didn't really look like a first place team, but that's how it goes.

We'll use the old joke here: the Mets managed not to lose today. Also, interesting that the Dodgers fired Eddie Murray as their hitting coach despite lighting up the Amazins' this past series. Memo to Clemens: do not do anything to wake the Mets up tomorrow, say, like drilling Paul Lo Duca. (What would he say? "I thought it was Piazza?")

Eights are Easy

Eight in a row, eight and half games back. I guess those who thought Mussina was done might have to take a little vacation. And A-ROD hit a monster shot off the facing of the upper deck in LEFT.

Mussina is an interesting character - as you probably know, he was one strike away from a perfect game, two outs away from a World Series ring, and has won 19 games twice but never 20. (Shades of Buck Showalter? Buck left the Yankees in 1995 and they won in 1996, left Arizona in 2000 and they won in 2001, and Baseball Tonight won an Emmy the year after left the show. I guess Texas isn't going to continue that streak this year.) He's been up and down in the postseason lately, but still he has a solid pitcher since 2001. And interesting how he is the only one currently on the team who was on the field for that Game 7 in Arizona, but wasn't part of the dynasty.

More good work from the Red Sox. Check out these headlines on the fan bulletin boards:

All Trade Ideas / Changing the roster
Yanks getting closer ... you worried?
move must be made and soon

I think WAIT FOR IT is the most appropriate response. Also, apparently the Red Sox have asked that Kevin Youkilis replace David Ortiz on the All-Star ballot submitted to the players, in the hopes this will boost Youkilis' chances. No word if they are trying to replace JD Drew with Wily Mo Pena, or Julio Lugo with Alex Cora. Clearly, Theo is spending his time wisely, just like his money. I suppose the Yankees should lobby for Miguel Cairo in lieu of Giambi or Mientkiewicz?

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

Back to .500, but the Red Sox held serve. El Comedulce really launched one, Cy Wang was dominant again, as was Rivera, who had both cutters working. (Anyone check out Rivera's ERA lately? Under 4). The only blemish was another scare from Kyle Dial 911, who somehow thinks it is a good idea to throw 3-2 sliders to a hitter who was consistently late on 95+ mph fastballs.

Nobody is watching the NBA Finals, but if I were the Cavs management, I would immediately sign Paxson or Kerr for the remainder of the series - nobody on that team can shoot, despite wide open looks. And the NBA better pray that Jordan is planning a 4th comeback. At this point I think just playing the NBA on NBC theme song might be better than showing the actual games.

What to Do with $100?

A Red Sox fan writes:

I have a $100 bill with a serial number DB19182004B on a NEW YORK BILL. Do you think this is newsworthy? I have tried to contact RED SOX have gotten no response.

Luckily Theo is not reading his e-mail, or else he might decide to give the benjamin to a player like Julio Lugo or JD Drew. The appropriately named Brian Cashman would send the bill directly to Roger. I assume Bobby Abreu might buy some candy bars. And we know what A-ROD would do with it.

Timlin Back in Time to Shave the Lead to 9

In the loss column, anyway. Mike Timlin emerged from the DL, and with Arizona leading 2-1 in the 8th inning, promptly threw the ball away on a sacrifice bunt attempt, leading to two more additional runs. Glad to have you back, Mike. Also kudos to the Big Unit, who apparently won't be making the trip to New York this week.

No doubt no one is happier about the reemergence of El Comedulce than A-ROD, who launched two more bombs today. And the Master Sheff absolutely destroyed the Mets this wekeend, who really have turned into the May Yankees.

It really must be a kinder, gentler Piniella. Ted Lilly was just ejected in the first inning of the game, after drilling Reneteria with a pitch - possibe retaliation for Hudson drilling Soriano yesterday. But no argument from Sweet Lou, at least so far.

Rocket Reentry

Thank goodness he finally made his first start - if I had to live through another day of "Rocket Relaunch" or "Rocket Reentry" headlines, I quite possibly might have become a Tampa Bay Devil Ray fan (what other team can have their shortstop pitch more effectively than their actual pitchers?)

The start itself was about as expected. While fond of sweets, Bobby "El Comedulce" Abreu is decidedly less fond of catching fly balls that go anywhere near the right field wall, but at least he is hitting now. Amazingly, Beam Me Up Socttie Proctor didn't pitch in the game, despite the fact Clemens went only 6 innings and Rivera was unavailable due to pitching more than one inning each of the last two days. (Speaking of Proctor, perhaps "Bean Me Up" is a more appropriate nickname? Next time I run into Youkilis, I will be sure to ask him.)

The female horse won the Belmont Stakes [insert A-ROD joke here]. If I knew anything about horse racing, I would make some further comments, but since I don't, I won't (unlike someone else we know). We might as well go all the way and plug the tennis match tomorrow - apparently the result might determine who the best player of all time is (hint: it's not Guy Forget. I bet all of you tend to forget that guy.)

Mao can handle the Mets if he ever decides to return to this blog.

Clandestine Rocket Launch

Mad Cow, who lives out of the New York market, loves his Extra Inning baseball package, except when the geniuses at MLB, FOX, ESPN, etc etc. do stupid things like today. Since it is Saturday, FOX has exclusive rights to air all the games before 7 PM EST. Even after practically begging Clemens to start last week against the Red Sox (to boost ratings), the bigwigs have decided not to cover the Yankees-Pirates today, in favor of the Mets-Tigers. Normally this would be make sense, if not for Clemens. So we now have the odd reality that ESPN covered Clemens' three minor league starts, but his major league start won't be covered nationally. Even more to the point, the game starts at 1 PM, while the Mets-Tigers game doesn't start until 3:55. I guess Jeanne Zelasko's pregame show is more important than actual baseball. Well, Mad Cow will have to settle for the radio - OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS indeed.

At least Paris Hilton isn't the culprit. (If you didn't notice yesterday, her legal "situation" was deemed more newsworthy by the cable news networks than the fact that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was replaced.)

Also, apparently ESPN has made the whole thing moot. You can see how the season ends here. I take it these are the same idiots who predicted a .400 OBP for JD Drew this year - sorry, I couldn't resist.

BREAKING NEWS

Wouldn't you know it, Drew hit another one, and tied Minky. OK, time to lay off this guy, before he does some real damage.

Cutters and Choppers

The Yankee Express rocks on: four in a row, 7 out of 9. Another tough no decision for Pettitte, but at least the team won, despite Melky Cabrera doing an impression of himself and giving up an inside-the-park HR. Captain clutch won the game on a little infield chopper with the bases loaded in the 10th. More good work from Rivera: two scoreless innings pitched. Yes, two innings pitched. I mean which is the bigger joke: Kyle Dial 911 or Torre's "promise" in spring training to use Rivera for only one inning?

Speaking of Rivera, there is a common misperception that he has only one pitch. Granted, he uses his famed "cutter," which breaks inside to left handed batters (and away from righties) most of the time. But he also features the reverse cutter, which has similar movement to Al Leiter's cutter. That one breaks into the righties and away from lefties. Hence, I bet Rivera would make an excellent bowler, given that he can knock down the spare no matter which side the remaining pins are on. Finally, what are the odds he has been to Doha, Qatar?

For all you Nancy Drew fans out there: JD managed to hit a homerun tonight. One more and he ties Doug Mientkiewicz, who hasn't even been playing for the last week due to a broken wrist. Any chance JD paid Mike Lowell to knock Mientkiewicz out of the game last week? (JD also trails Julio Lugo, who hit one tonight as well. Apparently these clowns are signed through the 2010 season.)

Enter Sandman...uh A-ROD?

I was planning to do a post comparing Billy Wagner and Mariano Rivera. As you may know, both closers enter to the song "Enter Sandman" - which drew the ire of the Alteregos a few years back. The thrust was going to be that what has distinguished Rivera is his ability to get multiple out saves, whereas Wagner (and others) are usually called on to pitch only one inning, and so on. It was going to be great because Wagner blew a 4 out save today, while Rivera nailed down a 5 out one. But the implosion of the White Sox bullpen, coupled with another 9th inning A-BOMB from A-ROD, turned the game into utter joke (not unlike Torre's claim in spring training that he would only use Mo for one inning) . (BTW, that's 6 9th inning HRs for A-ROD this season - I do think we will have to lay off him for a while).

Of course, Kyle 911 outdid himself this time. Handed a 4-1 lead, he surrendered a single, threw the ball away on a pickoff throw, and then gave up another hit. At least he didn't balk. WHY IS THIS GUY CONCERNED WITH THE RUNNER WITH A 3 RUN LEAD? ARE HIS GLASSES NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO SEE THE SCOREBOARD?

I guess we should mention something about the Ducks quacking their way to the Stanley Cup. But then again I think I will preempt that idea in favor of a discussion of the Belmont Stakes. Apparently a female horse is running - that should make A-ROD happy (you didn't think I was serious about laying off him?)

Public Enemy No. 1

Julio Lugo may have just surpassed Coco Crisp and JD (Back in the Lineup) Drew as least favorite Red Sox in Boston. Schilling had a no hit, no walk performance going for 8.2 IP, but Lugo made a error back in the fifth inning, and Shannon Stewart got a single in the 9th. If the next hitter managed to hit a home run, and the Red Sox had lost the game, Lugo may have had to go where ever those South American soccer players go to hide when they shoot a goal in their own net.

(Enough bashing on Crisp already. The guy made a great catch to save the no-no earlier in the game. As for Drew, 1-4 today, raising his average to .224)

P.S. I think this sums it up from the Boston fans:

How do Crisp, Drew and Lugo get into major league baseball????? Base pay then incentives may give them a boot in the a**!

BREAKING NEWS

JD Drew has materialized in the form of a pinch hit appearance in the 9th inning. He drew (no pun intended) a two out walk, but the Red Sox lost 3-2.

Bad Endy

Ineffective offense, horrendous relief pitching, and a rash of injuries. It's the Yankees...it's the White Sox...it's the Mets. After a string of miracle wins, the Mets have suddenly lost two of three to Arizona and the first two to Philadelphia. Aaron Heilman did his best Kyle Dial 911 Farnsworth impression, and Endy Catch-It-I-Can Chavez went down with a hamstring injury. Time to fire the conditioning coach?

(How good is El Duque? Good enough to have his own dance [old school, but still a classic]. I think it's perfectly clear why The American Idle doesn't have his own dance. And we know what kind of dances A-ROD enjoys.)

We'll lay off the Yanks for one day, thanks to Cy Wang.

Still no sign of JD Drew (Wily is getting Mo Pena-time). No sign of Chairman Mao, either, for that matter.

Oh, there's panic in Beantown

The Red Sox have lost five out of six, the lead is down to 11.5, and you can sense it. JD and Coco seem to be taking the brunt of it. Granted, we've been hard on JD here, but Coco seem like an OK guy, and has annoyed the Yankees this year. But the real stunning quote comes from Dice-K:

"The Red Sox are a team that doesn't lose many games often," Matsuzaka said. "I felt a sense of urgency to stop the losing skid."

I guess the Boston Massacre II wasn't televised in Japan?

(Hey, let me have my fun for one day.)

Won One for the Clippard

Finally, a solid win - solid hitting, solid start pitching, and while Kyle Dial 911 and the Sultan of Bruney made it a little interesting, Rivera shut the door. A bit of a quick hook for the Clippard (5 innings, 89 pitches), which led to two innings for Beam Me Up Scottie. (I wonder what happens more frequently: Proctor pitches in a game for the Yankees, or Kirk says "Beam Me Up" in a Star Trek Episode?) Also props for the Egyptian one: after not playing in weeks, Cairo had an RBI single and made several plays in the field that Josh Phelps would probably have screwed up.

Interesting note on the Abreu-Dye trade rumor. Apparently this is a case where the media can cause something to happen, rather than just report on it. Cashman must have been overjoyed when reading his Chicago newspaper, which first floated the idea, as he promptly called the White Sox GM to see whether there was really an interest in such a trade. Predictably, the answer was no. (Any chance this was a practical joke either by the Chicago paper or the White Sox to see how fast Cashman could press the speed dial button? If so, it worked.)

Back to the Drewing Board: In case you were asleep last night, Francona pinch hit for the $70 million man in the 9th inning with Varitek, who delivered a pinch hit single. JD hasn't been seen to date in tonight's game, either.

We've Seen This Movie Before

When they pitch, they don't hit. When they hit, they don't pitch. When they hit and pitch, they don't play defense. Well, tonight they managed not to pitch, hit, or play defense. And, ironically enough, the only team they can seem to beat, other than the hapless Texas Rangers, is the Boston Red Sox.

Tonight's culprit was clearly Josh Phelps, who is not long for this team, at least not as an everyday fill in for the injured Doug Mientkiewicz. Phelps is so bad that I have to stop referring to Mientkiewicz as Me-I-stink-o-witz. In addition to throwing the ball into centerfield on a potential double play ball, he grounded into two double plays that killed potential rallies. He can't field, period. Even Giambi was better. I really don't understand why Andy Phillips is not on this team - the guy can play first, not as well as Mientkiewicz, but he can hit a little better. If you were willing to live with Mientkiewicz's low batting average for his glove, why not the same with Phillips? The most notable thing that Phelps has done is level Seattle catcher Kenji Johijma for no apparent reason. Well, at least that did lead to four days off for Proctor (who, incidentally, didn't pitch yesterday or today. That must be a record).

Minor point: A-ROD needs to work on the 5-5-3 double play, which he botched tonight as well as last week in Toronto.

24-31. That means they have to go 15-8 just to get to 39-39, which is where they were on July 1st in 2005. The scarier part is that the 2005 team went 56-28 the rest of the way, to finish with 95 wins. Does anyone sense that is going to happen here? Remember also that Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small went a remarkable 17-3 in 2005, and to my knowledge neither one suffered from a fatigued groin.

Everything Exactly Backwards

I admit, I thought it was over when Pettitte was taken out - not just the game, but the season. For a few hours there, it seemed liked Pettitte was seriously injured, but apparently it was just some stiffness in his back, and he says he will be ready for his next start.

Starting from the bottom of the 7th inning, the game proceeded in exactly the opposite fashion from the rest of the season to date. Farnsworth managed to retire the side without giving up a run (apparently Ortiz has never got a hit off him - go figure). The Yankees tied the game off Hideki-Everything-Will-Be-Ok-ajima, after being completely baffled by him in previous outings. Abreu actually caught one in RF to keep the game tied in the bottom of the 8th. Then, improbably, A-ROD of all people hits an A-BOMB off Papelbon of all people to take the lead. Finally, Rivera records a save against the Red Sox - and retires Ortiz, Ramirez, and the new Yankee killer Lowell to end it. Turning point? I wouldn't bet on it, but at least the season was saved for another day.

(One aside: The crowd was chanting "Where is Roger?" the last two days. Personally, I think a "Where is JD Drew?" chant is order. He was taken out of Friday night's game, presumably with an injury, and wasn't seen since. $70 million well spent).

One Step Back

If you had been on vacation for April and May somewhere without access to baseball, and froze your television set at the beginning of the bottom of the 7th inning today, you might well have assumed that Boston was the team that was 13.5 games behind in the standings. After Wakefield imploded last night, the Yankees managed to knock out Schilling and survive another 5 run, 5 inning performance from Mussina. They had a one run lead and needed nine outs, with a Hall of Fame closer ready to get at least three of them, but of course, not with this team, not this year.

The seeds were actually planted in yesterday's game, and some of the blame has to rest on the manager. Granted, Torre was ejected yesterday, so it may have been Mattingly actually handling the bullpen, but regardless, I doubt the strategy would have been any different. I have no idea while Kyle Farnsworth and Scott Proctor needed to pitch the 8th and 9th innings, respectively, of a game in which the Yankees had a 6 run lead. If Vizcaino and Villone can't get six outs with a six run lead, they shouldn't be on the team. And Proctor drilling Youkilis last night not only forced Rivera into the game, but probably contributed to the meltdown in the 7th today.

Proctor did his job in the 6th, after Mussina gave up the lead, and that should have been it. The whole purpose of having Mike Myers on this team is to get Ortiz out, and if Torre doesn't have confidence in him to get him out with nobody on base, Myers has to be released. Instead, Proctor was brought out for a second inning, after seemingly pitching in every game this year save the four in which he was suspended. Granted, the defense was horrendous - Abreu can't go near a wall, Cano made another careless feed to Jeter, and Jeter himself made two errors. But Proctor should not have been out there. And certainly not after he intentionally walked Ramirez (after Ortiz doubled) - having him face Youkilis again was just asking for trouble. It should have gone Myers-Bruney-Farnsworth-Rivera. Farnsworth may not have been available, which is maybe why Torre left Proctor in (with Bruney pitching the 8th), but that's only because he pitched yesterday in a meaningless situation. Of course, Farnsworth easily could have blown it, but at least you go with the plan you drew up, rather than continuing to throw Proctor to the wolves. It has to stop, or this team is beyond dead. If confidence is gone in the other relievers, you have to get rid of them. Mussina is at best a 6 inning pitcher, and even if Clemens materializes that is the most you are going to see from him, and probably form Clippard as well. Nine outs from the bullpen three out of every five days is going to require more than Proctor and Rivera. The bullpen must be fixed, and right now. Torre is a great manager (just look at what is going on in Chicago if you want Piniella instead), but this Proctor fixation must end.