Off-day observations
Oct 17th, 2007 by Bill Burt
This probably will not surprise you:
The Red Sox are tight. The Cleveland Indians are not.
Several Red Sox were given the day off (David Ortiz, Dice-K, Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp to name a few of the biggies) and few others were not in a talking mood, especially J.D. Drew, who was nowhere to be found after eating lunch as the media entered the clubhouse.
The shock of the day was Manny Ramirez. He not only spoke — he knows English! — but he had some interesting observations on the Red Sox plight.
I will have some of his comments, in context, later tonight.
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I had conversation with Jacoby Ellsbury and the fact that he isn’t getting a sniff in this series and he wasn’t biting. He said all of the right things, but you can see he wants more. His .353 batting average for 116 at bats apparently isn’t enough. Terry Francona, when asked about this on Tuesday with a small group of Sox beat writers, intimated that Coco Crisp’s “gold” glove is the reason. Sounds strange to me …
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C.C. Sabathia has a lot to prove tonight. He has been getting questions the last few days, particularly yesterday, about his dreadful post-season (1-1, 10.61 ERA).
Here are a few of the questions and his answers:
Q. Are you disappointed in yourself in the way things have turned out, and why they’ve turned out? And if so, why?
C.C. SABATHIA: “I wouldn’t say — I can’t say disappointed. You know, I was disappointed in the first game in Boston that I wasn’t able to keep us in the game. That’s something that I’ve been able to do all year. I didn’t even give us a chance the other day, and that’s something that I was definitely disappointed about.
You know, I mean, I just didn’t make pitches. I didn’t execute them when I needed to. I got into some tough situations and didn’t deliver.”
Q. Do you have any explanation for why you’ve had more trouble throwing strikes when you were just so great at it all season?
C.C. SABATHIA: No, not really. I mean, between this start right here, I just went into the bullpen and worked on trying to stay taller and throw the ball downhill, something that I hadn’t done in Boston, and I had a pretty good bullpen. It was command on both sides of the plate, opposite sides felt good. So I’m looking forward to being my normal self tomorrow night.
***
Mike Timlin was talking about Red Sox fans and playing in Boston and one comment he made brought a roar among media members:
“Some fans are as knowledgeable any in baseball,” he said. “And some aren’t, but they think they are.”
***
Here are some quotes from the two managers today:
Q. Are you amused by the general national perception of Joe Borowski as sort of an accidental closer, emphasizing the ERA and ignoring the 45 saves?
ERIC WEDGE: Yeah, I am amused. I think it’s ridiculous, really. You talk about baseball and you talk about that closer’s role, I’ve said it so many times but people hear what they want to hear. It’s black and white, either you get it done or you don’t. If you talk about saves, that’s what it’s all about, and he had 45, more than anybody in the American League. And that’s why I say I felt like he was the best closer in the American League this year because he had the most saves. He was the backbone of our bullpen and he helped the Betancourts and Perezes and Lewises and other people in the bullpen be that much better maintain their roles. He was still the guy that finishes it off. That’s why when you talk about your bullpen, it’s always going to start with your closer, and Joe has done a great job for us.
Q. You haven’t really put innings together. Any lineup thoughts for tomorrow, maybe at that bottom part of the lineup that hasn’t done a lot?
TERRY FRANCONA: Well, with Sabathia pitching, Kielty will play right field again.
You know, there’s a lot of thoughts, and Millsie and myself, we stayed here last night and talked about a lot of things. But I think we tried so hard to get ourselves in a position where we could run this lineup out there, and then in Games 1 and 2 really did such a great job. So in short doses things certainly get magnified. I think what we need to do is get ourselves in position where we do manufacture runs and not just lean on solo home runs. I don’t know that juggling people necessarily is going to make those solo home runs be different.
6 reader comments to “Off-day observations”
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1pasta diving lugo said:
steve buckley reported that Matsuzaka sat at his locker for 68 minutes after the game, speaking with no one, rocking back and forth and tapping his head.
did you see that burt?
i feel sorry for dice k; he’s really been thrown to the wolves by management.
i wrote earlier that that pitching would sink the sox and the only way out was having bucholtz ready. he’s not even on the roster and jacoby ellsbury has only been used for pinch running.
five and out…can we finally get rid of theo and lucky larry?
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2GaryFromChapelHill said:
Pasta:
He’s getting $100 million and management expects him to pitch in the playoffs. How is that “getting thrown to the wolves”?
Buchholz is being counted on to be a big part of Red Sox pitching for the next decade. If you were part of management, knowing that there is weakness in his shoulder, would you throw him anyway and jeopardize his career?
My son and I were at Game 2, our first trip to Fenway in over 10 years, and while it was a thrilling night, one comment from my son (who is a college pitcher) stuck with me (and it came while Schilling was struggling and the fans were getting “impatient”): “Boy, they turn on ‘em fast around here, don’t they?”
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3Marsh said:
Ellsbury shoudl be in that line up tonight, end of story. How much more “loyal” does Francona have to be to JD Drew and Crisp? Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing Crisp play defense, however, Defense is not the issue in this series, We need hits and runs and Crisp as well as Drew are not producing and they are KILLING us!! Why not give Ellsbury the chance? Yeah he is a rookie but can he seriously do worse than Crisp right now?
As for Manny?? haha well we all know Manny in these parts of the woods but I am wondering what others around the Country are thinking right now as they hear him speak. I already know what they think of him standing and watching is homerun that brought us within …………. 4! haha!
Bill, I know being at that series isn’t as exciting as covering us in the World Series, ah….. the good ole days
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4pasta diving lugo said:
Gary, first of all, he’s not getting 100 million dollars. It’s 50 million plus change. The other 50 million was paid to his parent team, the Seibu Lions, for the right to sign him. The fact you don’t know that shows me you don’t know much.
He’s getting thrown to the wolves because over the past month he has obviously pitched waaaaaay over his limit coming from a 132 game, every 6 day rotation season in Japan. This was pointed out by everyone when he first arrived. All we hear about is the 250 pitch high school game he was in.
The Yankees shut down Mussina for a couple of turns in the rotation when he first started experiencing the kind of dead arm that Dice-k was showing. Red Sox management never extended that kind of intelligence or care. They just kept running him out there to face the kind of uninformed criticism that fans like you generate — nitwits who don’t know much and can’t read. Your comments about dice-k seem to indicate that you’re the kind of fan your son was talking about.
Bucholtz: When you have a shot at getting to the World Serious, all hands on deck. “jeopardize his career?????!!!!!” You have got to be f—ing kidding me, Gary. They used him when they needed him before, albeit sparingly. Well, they need him again, sparingly. And I’d rather have Tavarez on the ALCS roster than Gagme being pushed down my throat. Management can’t seem to accept the fact that they made a disastrous deal, always hoping for the big save so they can say “See, we were right.” But as long as they have you and your big bucks in the stands, I guess they are safe, Gary. Have another hotdog and shutup.
Better to blame Dice-k for their failures than try to help him out. Even though he makes 50 million plus, he’s still a human being, Gary. Start thinking about who and what you support. Lucky Larry and Theo the Snake are the ones who assembled a team where the 2-3-4 hitters are 17 for 41 (.415) with 4 homers and 9 runs batted in and the remaining players are 20 for 104 (.192) with 2 homers and 12 R.B.I.
Go Sawks, hey Gary? Duh.
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5pasta diving lugo said:
Good post, Marsh.
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6GaryFromChapelHill said:
Nice flame, Pasta!
One quibble: Dice-K goes “waaaaaay over his limit” and he’s being thrown to the wolves. But it’s “all hands on deck” for Buchholz despite his shoulder weakness?
I attend one game in 10 years and it’s “me and my big bucks” are keeping Theo safe? Oh, I think it’s more than just that!
Is shut up one word or two?
