Nice Win, But Work to be Done

Time and time again in his career, Josh Beckett has come through in big games, and while the season wasn't exactly on the line tonight, things weren't looking too great for the Red Sox and they really needed a great start from their best righthanded starter. 

And Beckett, true to form, did not disappoint.  He held the Rays to three runs (two earned) over six innings, struck out seven against only one walk (intentional) and outdueled fellow big game pitcher James Shields to earn his thirteenth win of the season.  The bullpen picked up where he left off, as Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon whiffed eight Tampa Bay Rays for the final nine outs and preserved a narrow 4-3 lead.  The win ended a six game losing streak to their Florida nemesis and was just the team's fourth victory in its last fifteen games.

Josh Beckett returned from a sprained ankle tonight
against the Rays and stopped the bleeding

Boston just needed a win in any way, shape, or form this weekend, and they got it tonight.  Didn't matter if it happened tonight, tomorrow or Sunday.  Multiple wins would be nice, obviously, but one victory was a necessity.  It might turn out to be the most important game of the season.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  No matter what happens this weekend, we can't guarantee Soxtober  even if coolstandings.com gives Boston a 95.8 percent chance to make the playoffs.  Forget about the final ten games of the regular season, when the Rays will face the Yankees seven times while the Sox get the Orioles for seven.  The Yankees will be resting their regulars and aligning their rotation for the postseason, so you can guarantee they won't be making a hard push for 100 wins (they currently have 90).  They're not going to roll over, but they won't be playing at full strength with Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher still dinged up and likely to get some breathers.

The last place Orioles are depleted, too, but they'll be playing for personal pride and to avoid losing 100 games.  Their pitching is ineffective but they can still swing the bat with J.J. Hardy, Mark Reynolds and the red-hot tandem of Matt Wieters and Vladimir Guerrero in the lineup.  And if you think Boston can just walk all over Baltimore, go ask the Rays how they dropped two of three in Camden Yards earlier this week.  Nothing is guaranteed, especially in a playoff race.

The way Tampa's had our number the last few years I'm just hoping for a series split, which would maintain Boston's comfortable four game lead.  If the Rays rebound to win their two remaining games with the Sox this weekend, then Boston's advantage will be halved to a slim two game lead with ten to play, and David Ortiz and company might go into full-fledged panic mode.  The Rays will leave town in a state of euphoria, brimming with confidence and walking with swagger, while the demoralized Red Sox will be left shaking their heads and wondering how in the world this could be happening when the Wild Card race was all but over two weeks ago.  While the Rays sprint to the finish line, Boston need crutches just to limp there.

Tampa Bay already got off to a great start in this do-or-die series by bashing their way to a 9-2 win last night against poor Kyle Weiland (still winless in the bigs), and the James Shields-Josh Beckett duel went back and forth before Boston squeaked out a crucial 4-3 win.  Boston has a good chance to win again tomorrow on national TV (Sox on Fox) when Jon Lester takes on Jeff Niemann, but Lester struggled mightily in his last start and Sunday's matchup favors the Rays, who will be throwing David Price against the newest member of the 200 (21 of which have come at Tampa's expense) win club, Tim Wakefield. 

But I'm not taking anything for granted, not when Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and Matthew Joyce are en fuego and their starting pitchers give them a chance to win every night.  Not when Boston's potent offense has been hit-or-miss lately and the bullet-riddled staff has the worst ERA in the majors so far in September and Daniel Bard suddenly can't get anybody out (although he did toss a scoreless eighth inning tonight that will hopefully get him back on track).  Not when Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew, Jed Lowrie, Clay Buchholz, Erik Bedard, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Bobby Jenks are wounded.  And certainly not when this team is finding a way to finish the season even worse than how it started.

So I don't really care about the schedule that favors the Red Sox, because the bottom line is this; the Sawx won big tonight but still need to put their foot on the gas.  Otherwise the unthinkable might happen; October baseball could be played without them.

Wake Wins 200th

It's been a big summer for baseball milestones, and tonight Tim Wakefield joined Derek Jeter, Jim Thome and Michael Young, three outstanding men who recently reached big round numbers.  It has been more than seven weels since the rubber armed Iron Man walked off the mound in the seventh inning of a slugfest at Fenway to a standing ovation.  He'd just served up a grand slam to light hitting Mariner shortstop Brendan Ryan, but luckily for him the Sox had lit up Rookie of the Year candidate Michael Pineda and Seattle's middle relievers for a dozen runs.  So Wake got his 199th career win (and his 2,000th strikeout as a member of the Red Sox), even if his stat line (ten hits and seven earned runs over six and a third innings, known as a "distaster" start for allowing more earned runs than innings pitched) resembled a typical A.J. Burnett performance. 

And then a funny thing happened.  Timmy, for the life of him, just couldn't get that 200th win.  He was the tough luck loser of a 3-1 pitcher's duel with Gavin Floyd in his final start of July, earned a pair of no-decisions in eventual Boston victories before going the distance against the Mariners, only to lose 5-3.  In his next turn, he left in the sixth inning against the Royals and was slapped with another ND, then got rocked by the light-hitting A's at Fenway.  After tossing four shutout innings during mop-up duty of a 10-0 Rangers blowout, his seventh try at the milestone qualified as cruel and unusual punishment; he departed after the fifth with the Sox up 8-5, then could do nothing but watch as Daniel Bard and the bullpen blew the lead and the ballgame.  Boston scored ten runs and pounds out fourteen hits, and he still didn't get the win.

By all rights, he should have had his 200th win a few weeks ago, but baseball can be a funny sport.  He gets knocked around by a AAA lineup and wins, then holds his opponents to four earned runs or fewer in eight consecutive starts and somehow can't buy one.

Wakefield rarely makes it look easy these days, but he can still get the job done

But the 45 year-old knuckleballer finally got that elusive W in front of the supportive home crowd at Fenway tonight, and now we can all rest easy.  Fittingly, number 200 was a classic Wakefield workmanlike effort; six innings, five earned runs and gopher balls to slugging catcher J.P. Arencibia and MVP contender Jose Bautista.  This mediocre line was good enough on a night when the Red Sox crossed home plate 18 times against Brandon Morrow and the Blue Jays.

It's been one heck of a career for Tim.  The oldest player in the game three years running leads all active pitchers in wins and innings pitched, but despite his impressive career totals he's only been a slightly above average pitcher throughout his 19 big league seasons.  It's safe to say his overall statistics reflect longevity, endurance, and perseverance more than elite skill.  He's had his fair share of highs and lows throughout his two-decade major league odyssey that originated in Pittsburgh with Barry Bonds.  After a sensational debut and sophomore slump there, he was unceremoniously let go and the 28 year-old's career was in jeopardy (his timing was impeccable, though.  He left the Pirates when the wheels fell off and arrived in Boston just as the team became perennial contenders).  Boston GM Dan Duquette took a flier on him after Roger Clemens and Aaron Sele went down early in the '95 season, and Wake thanked him by resurrecting his career and becoming a fixture for the Old Towne Team over the next decade and a half. This guy played with Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Jon Lester.  I see him as the team's pitching equivalent of Jason Varitek; long-tenured sources of production and leadership.

And like Varitek, Wakefield has shown time and time again that he's willing to do whatever's best for the team.  After averaging fifteen wins a season for the first four years of his Boston career, he became the team's closer and saved fifteen games during the middle of the '99 season when Tom Gordon got hurt.  Because of his late game success and versatility, Wakefield spent the next three years alternating between starter and reliever before becoming a permanent starter again late in the 2002 season.  In the ALCS two years later he volunteered for mop-up duty in Game Three's 19-8 shellacking, sacrificing his Game Four start to help preserve the bullpen.  He took a beating from the Yankee sluggers but unwittingly saved the season by keeping Boston's relievers fresh for the 26 combined innings of Games Four and Five.  He's a mid-rotation innings eater (a job he has embraced by finishing more than 3,000 frames; most among active pitchers), and to top it off every offseason he signs a cheap one year contract and ends up being one of the best bargains in baseball.  Ole Reliable is always ready and willing to fill a rotation slot when Daisuke Matsuzaka or Josh Beckett gets hurt.

Although he is once again splitting time between the bullpen and starting rotation, Wakefield continues to contribute even as he loses effectiveness and lobs the slowest fastball in The Show.  As I took a look back at Wakefield's illustrious career, I decided it would be fun to remember some of his best moments as well as his rocky ones.

Highs
-Third place finish in 1992 NL Rookie of the Year balloting.  Went 8-1 with four complete games and a sparkling 2.15 ERA over his first thirteen starts.  The Sporting News named him NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year and he spun a pair of complete game victories in a losing effort against the Braves in the NLCS
-After Boston scooped him up, he earned his keep by finishing third in the 1995 AL Cy Young race on the strength of his sixteen wins and 2.95 ERA.  Won Sporting News AL Comeback Player of the Year for his efforts
-Shut down New York in the 2003 ALCS and would have won series MVP if Grady Little hadn't forgot about his bullpen during Pedro Martinez's infamous meltdown in the eighth inning of Game Seven.
-Earned his first and only All-Star selection in 2009 at the age of 42, making him the second-oldest first-time All-Star ever behind only the immortal Satchel Paige
-Recipient of 2010 Roberto Clemente award, first Red Sox player to win it
-Is the oldest Red Sox pitcher to win a game and the oldest Red Sox player to appear in a game at Fenway
-Making the postseason ten (soon to be eleven) times and winning a pair World Series rings

Acknowledging the Fenway Faithful

Lows
-Followed up stellar rookie campaign by struggling, losing rotation spot, and getting demoted to AA in 1993
-Spent all of '94 in the minors and was released by the Pirates on April 20, 1995
-Led the American League in losses with fifteen in 1997
-Struggled mightily in the '95, '98 and '99 playoffs by allowing nearly twice as many earned runs as innings pitched.  He also surrendered the gopher ball to Aaron Boone that ended the 2003 ALCS and failed to make it out of the fourth inning in his only career World Series start against St. Louis in 2004.  He has more losses than wins in his postseason career, not to mention an unsightly 6.75 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 1.42 K/BB ratio.  Yikes
-Was left off the 2007 World Series roster because of a shoulder injury
-Hasn't finished a season with sub-four ERA since 2002 and has only four such seasons for his career
-A dozen seasons with double digit losses and more L's than any active pitcher.

But through it all, Wakefield has remained a class act and the ultimate team player.  He's a consummate professional on the field and off, where he donates time and money to charities throughout New England.  Tim Wakefield isn't a Hall of Fame pitcher, but more importantly is a Hall of Fame person.

Also-congratulations to Mariano Rivera on his 600th career save.  Two more and he'll break Trevor Hoffman's record.  Like Wakefield, Rivera is a class act and deserves all the praise he gets for this remarkable achievement.

Brady, Pats Sink Dolphins

New England started its 2011 season on the right foot last night by taking down the Dolphins, 38-24, in Miami.  The Patriots are no stranger to winning their season openers, however, as this marked the eighth straight year they've enjoyed a victory in Week 1. 

Reigning MVP Tom Brady became the 11th quarterback
 in league history to toss at least 500 yards in a single game

Tom Brady was the star of the show last night, leading New England's offensive attack with four touchdown passes and compiling a team record 517 passing yards (take that, Cam Newton) with 32 completions in 48 attempts, capping it all off with a 99 yard TD to Wes Welker about halfway through the fourth quarter.  The defense had just made a critical stop at the one yard line, and while passing out of his own end zone on first down may have been a risky play call, Tom Terrific was up to Belichick's challenge and fired a perfectly placed laser to Welker, who had snuck free at the 30 yard line and bolted to the end zone for his second touchdown of the evening.

The Pats moved the ball 622 total yards, another franchise record, and the offensive line deserves plenty of credit for that achievement.  Brady consistently benefited from ample time in the pocket and rarely had to throw under pressure, so he could let the plays develop and pick out his receivers.  Pint-sized Danny Woodhead led New England in rushing with 69 yards on 14 carries, but it was BenJarvis Green-Ellis who accounted for NE's lone rushing TD.  Sophomore tight end Aaron Hernandez chipped in with 103 receiving yards and a touchdown as well.

The defense was solid, too, by shutting out the Dolphins in the second quarter and limiting Miami to just seven first half points.  They did allow Miami QB Chad Henne to notch 416 yards with 30 of 49 passing, but compensated by shutting down the Dolphins' running game for the most part. 

All in all, last night's victory was a great team win for the Pats.  Their next game is this Sunday against the Chargers (who overcame a 17-7 halftime deficit against the Vikings to pull out a win in Week 1) in Foxborough.

Pats Ready to Rumble

With the Patriots only two hours away from kickoff in Miami and memories of the NFL lockout quickly fading away, New England is ready for football season to begin on this beautiful Monday night.  That, and we really need something to take our minds off the slumping Red Sox, who have somehow turned an insurmountable wild card lead into a race with the Tampa Bay Rays. Boston's recent struggles have fans worried about a September collapse, the kind of epic choke that only the Red Sox are capable of.

Thankfully, there is much more optimism on the gridiron.  The Pats have assembled an impressive array of talent this season, leading some pundits over at The Sporting News to predict a 15-1 regular season (why not just go all in and mark 'em down for another 16-0?), especially since New England isn't saddled with a tough schedule this season.  I'm not as optimistic; 13 or 14 wins, the latter representing last season's total, sound about right, and I'm concerned the team might need some time to mesh before it really takes off.  I'm not sure how high-profile newcomers Albert Haynesworth, Chad Ochocinco and BenJarvus Green-Ellis will fit into Bill Belichick's system, and they may need some time to get comfortable and adapt to their new surroundings, teammates and roles. 

Adding big personalities to quiet, professional teams such as the Patriots can cause chemistry issues; look what happened to the New York Yankees from 2002-2008 when they added Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, and Johnny Damon, among others, and couldn't win a World Series.  On the other hand, the Pats thrived in Randy Moss's inaugural season and could enjoy a similar level of success four years later. 

But hopefully they've worked it all out during preseason (not that anyone cares, but they were 2-2) and are good to go tonight, because after the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and the Sox slipping on a banana peel this weekend, we just need to kick back, stoke up some nachos and enjoy a few hours of pure American entertainment. The Dolphins look like a mediocre bunch this year, so they shouldn't pose much of a challenge for Tom Brady and co.

All signs point to an easy win for the Patriots, which is exactly what this city needs.

Similar Royal Stats

The Kansas City Royals are mired in another lost and forgettable season, buried deep in the AL Central Standings and on pace for another 90+ loss regular season.  2011 will mark their eighth straight losing season and sixteenth out of their last seventeen (2003 was the streak buster), so by now the city casually associates its once-proud baseball team with mediocrity, hopelessness and despair.   Fans have given up and as a result the team ranks third to last in attendance in the American League.

And if you want to know where the season went wrong, you don't have to look far.  The starting pitching, stripped of 2009 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke, has been atrocious.  The bullpen has had a few bright spots a la All-Star Aaron Crow, but even reliable closer Joakim Soria has sputtered through a down season by his lofty standards.

But there is some hope on the horizon, for the young and talented lineup has gotten lost somewhere in the shuffle. Designated hitter Billy Butler and three outfielders Melky Cabrera, Jeff Francoeur and Alex Gordon have enjoyed remarkably similar levels of success at the plate this year. Their statistics are almost identical. Check it out here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCR/2011.shtml

They're all basically the same age, and 21 year-old rookie Eric Hosmer is keeping up with them, too.  Glad to see the Melk Man and Frenchy have rejuvenated their careers in Missouri away from the bright lights of New York where Cabrera was a Yankee and Francoeur was a Metropolitan.  Gordon, fully healthy after a pair of lost seasons to injuries, has salvaged an unimpressive start to his hyped big league career and seems to have finally turned the corner.  Butler may never develop 30 home run power, but if he ends up being a righthanded Nick Markakis then nobody will complain.

All of these guys have been instrumental in keeping the Royals' offense above average this year.  They've done their best to negate some of the team's pitching woes and unite with the struggling but still developing Mike Moustakas to create a great nucleus for the organization to build around.  New manager Ned Yost has performed admirably as he lets his youngsters mature while he waits for reinforcements to arrive, because right now that's pretty much the only thing he can do.  Kansas City doesn't exactly have the money to acquire big name free agents, but as Joe Posnanski has noted the organization spends what little dough it does have quite poorly.

But their loaded farm system is stocked with talented pitchers, and everyone's talking about the Royals as contenders in 2013 or 2014.  We just need to wait a few years and give their prospects time to develop, and before we know it the Royals might be the top dog in the eternally unstable AL Central.  Rebuilding takes time and patience, and for now the fans in KC must weather the storm and hope the sun comes out tomorrow.