Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Another chilly night for baseball. But as I rubbed my hands while sitting in the Red Sox dugout before tonight’s second game, I was reminded by Jacoby Ellsbury about something.
“That means baseball in October,” said Ellsbury, who has yet to play in this series and has only been up once, making an out, in the 2007 post-season. “When you are playing baseball and you can see your breath, it means you’re stilling playing. That’s a very good thing.”

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Among the most impressive of Curt Schilling’s post-season stats, which include a 9-2 record, a 1.93 ERA and a 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, is this: He only gave up more than two runs only twice in 16 starts. Amazing.

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Sometimes in the outfield between games, Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis is seen throwing a football around in the outfield. He looks like might have been a pretty good quarterback in his day.
Looks apparently are deceiving.
“No, I played one year as a freshman and then it got in the way of baseball, especially in the summer,” said Youkilis. “I played on the defensive line. I was not a quarterback.”

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A few Red Sox medical people were talking about the Bruins game last night around the batting cage last night when Youkilis jumped in.
“The score was 4-1 and then I looked up and it was 4-3,” said Youkilis. “I was ticked.”
Ticked about the Bruins?
Well, apparently Youkilis got close with ex-Bruins star Joe Thornton, meeting with him a few times on the road trips.
“Joe is a great guy and never wanted to leave,” said Youkilis. “That was the stupidist thing the Bruins ever did. You don’t trade away a guy like Joe.”
Wow, I had to go to the batting cage at Fenway Park to talk about the Bruins.

Here are some pregame questions and answers from the managers:
First Indians manager Eric Wedge:
Q. Last night as far as Sizemore is concerned, is that kind of an example of when Grady goes, the team offense goes, and when he struggles it —
ERIC WEDGE: “I wouldn’t say it’s that black and white, but Grady definitely provides a tremendous amount of energy for us at the top of the lineup. I think he’s one of the most exciting players in the game. Last night he was a little bit long and he was a little bit off. I think it’s fair to say we were a little bit off as a ballclub.”

Q. Last night Ramirez and Ortiz obviously hurt you guys, but can you talk about the difficulty in pitching around them?
ERIC WEDGE: “You know, it’s tough because what they’re doing right now is pretty incredible. You’ve got a guy behind them that only knocked in 120. So it’s not just about those two guys, but obviously they’re the backbone of what they do here offensively.
We’ve got to be a little bit more aggressive with our approach. We’ve got to put ourselves in a better position to work ahead and stay ahead and get outs. There are points in time I think you’ve got to maybe be a little bit more careful, but I think last night maybe we were too much so.”

Red Sox manager Terry Francona:
Q. I know your preference is not to rate and rank guys, but a lot of other people have put Manny and David up with some legendary names, Hall of Famers. With the splurge that they’re on right now, could you talk about how impressive it’s been?
TERRY FRANCONA: “The reason I don’t do it sometimes is I don’t feel like I’m very good at it because I don’t spend much time — it’s not that they don’t deserve it. Hopefully what they’re doing I know certainly can’t last a full year, but hopefully it can maybe be sustainable through a nice little playoff run, but having them on base at the rate they are with the danger that they present, you know, they can hit the ball way out of the ballpark. If you want to come in, they can pull the ball out of the ballpark. They’re taking their walks, keeping the lineup moving, trusting the other guys in the order, it makes them very, very dangerous. I think I’m probably understating it.”

Q. You’ve been around long enough to know what a Hall of Famer looks like. Does Curt Schilling look like a Hall of Famer to you?
TERRY FRANCONA: “I haven’t spent a lot of time looking at the numbers. We get so wrapped up in what we’re doing. I guess from being very biased, I hope so. I’ve been around him a long time. I do know that when you need to win a game, putting the ball in his hands is a good feeling, just because it never assured you’re going to win, but you’re pretty much assured the other team has to beat you. He doesn’t walk people, he’s not going to balk, he’s going to field his position, he’s going to hold runners, he knows how to compete. The magnitude of the game won’t be too much. Now, saying that, their guy is pretty good, too.”

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