There’s always a sense of loss when Red Socks like Trot Nixon, Curt Schilling and Kevin Millar leave the stage in Boston, isn’t there?
Now another villain has vanished, gone to the other league. Yes, Jonathan Papelbonzilla has signed a humungous deal with the Phillies, and the AL East won’t have him to kick around anymore. I thought it would be fitting to take a pictorial look back at the man they call “Paps.”
Goodbye, old friend.
xxoo
Photo: Greg Flume/Getty Images
Tonight’s game lasted forever – or so it seemed. Beckett does like to take his time between pitches, and given how patient both teams are at the plate we were looking at a marathon. I just didn’t expect an extra-innings marathon.
Not that the game wasn’t a really entertaining one with good pitching by both sides. Freddy was much better than I thought he’d be. Cory Wade pulled a Dave Robertson in the 6th and got us out of a jam. Soriano was effective once again in the 7th. Dave Robertson gave us heart attacks in the 8th but kept the score right where it was.
But then came Mo in the 9th. Ouch. He must be allergic to Marco Scutero. I know I am. He gives me hives.
Was bringing Hughes in for the 10th a wise move? In hindsight, no. Seriously, no. He lost the damn game. Very disappointing.
On the positive side, how about Nunez and Gardner, our new Ruth and Gehrig? On the negative side, we left way too many RISP and there were defensive lapses (yes, you, Nuney).
I was saddened by the news earlier tonight that Jorge was being benched – permanently, in all likelihood. Not that he was getting the job done as our DH. As he told the media, he brought this on himself. But I think the demotion could have been handled differently. Joe could have put Chavez in the lineup tonight and made the announcement about Posada tomorrow, an off-day, instead of right before a nationally televised game.
Speaking of which, is ESPN for real? I know it’s unattractive to whine about the broadcasters and their anti-Yankees bias, but tonight was a new low for the network. I have never – and I really do mean never – heard a game in which the commentary was so slanted toward the Red Sox. We had to suffer through two (or was it three?) innings of Schilling in the booth talking about the glory of 2004 (and yes, there was a flashback to the Bloody Sock episode). We had to hear about Pedroia and his “heart”….about Youkilis and his “grit”…about Ortiz and his “smile”…about Ellsbury and his “power.” Blah blah blah. It was a veritable love fest. Meanwhile, Nunez hits a homer and they say, “That ball wasn’t hit that well.” It was as if the Yankees were some interlopers, not the team that came into the game tied for first place. I was truly offended. We all have our problems with Buck/McCarver on FOX, but tonight ESPN was the Red Sox version of a Yankeeography.
Rafael Soriano told the Yankees that he didn’t want to pitch against an American League East team in spring training, so he was scratched from tonight’s game and will pitch at the minor league complex tomorrow.
The above little gem was courtesy of LoHud and it sort of put a damper on my euphoria about Ivan Nova and the Yankees beating up on the O’s 10-0 in the kind of game I love (a blowout). I was so impressed with Nova, enjoyed seeing the regular lineup play most of the game and, of course, was thrilled to have Mo come in to pitch the seventh.
I expected to see Soriano too and was surprised when I didn’t. Now I know the reason for his absence. He’s certainly not the first guy to want to avoid his division rivals during spring training.
Francona scratched Buchholz the other night when the Yankees were in Fort Myers to play the Red Sox; supposedly the manager didn’t want his pitcher facing the Yankees any more often than necessary. I remember saying, “How silly is that? The Yankees have seen Buchholz a thousand times and will see him a thousand more.”
I also remember when Curt Schilling refused to face any AL East teams in spring training the year he came to the Red Sox from the Diamondbacks. In that case, I just said, “It’s Schilling. He’s a diva. What else is new?”
But Soriano? He faced AL East teams every six seconds when he was with the Rays. What’s the big deal all of a sudden? It’s stuff like this that pisses me off. If you’ve got good stuff, you’ll fool hitters no matter how many times they’ve seen you. Am I wrong?
