CLOSED!! ? The Official 2006 Sports Thread ? CLOSED!!

Alrighty. Whether you want to talk about last nights Sox game, the Patriots upcoming draft picks or what's going on with any of our other teams (college or pro) you can do it here.

Consider it your virtual reality sports bar without the watered down beer and stale popcorn

 

Gotcha, boss!

 

In what seemed to be a carbon copy of his start in Texas, Josh Beckett had first inning trouble and gave up a run in the first inning, but got a double play to end the inning and went on to pitch seven-inning, three-hit, one-run baseball in today's Fenway opener against the Blue Jays, which the Red Sox won 5-3. "Big Papi" celebrated his new contract with a solo homer in the 7th inning off Blue Jay reliever Vinnie Chulk, and Adam Stern played well again in place of the injured Coco Crisp (who was officially placed on the 15-day DL today) with a two-run double in the second inning which put the Red Sox in the lead for good. Keith Foulke gave up a two-run homer to Frank Catalanotto in the eighth inning, but to be fair, it popped in and out of the glove of Wily Mo Pena (who replaced Trot Nixon in right field when Nixon came out of the game with a mild groin strain) and went over the bullpen fence. Jonathan Papelbon had a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his fourth save in as many chances. As an aside, the Bronson Arroyo trade continues to look worse for the Red Sox, as Arroyo had another homer for the Reds in his start against the Cubs, while Pena went 0/2 w/ a strikeout.

In Patriots news, restricted free agent DB Randall Gay was re-signed to an undisclosed contract.

 

The Sox finally have the 2006 season "officially" on the right track with a win in the first home game of the season today over the Blue Jays 5-3. It's got a little scary there in the 8th when Foulke gave up the 2-run shot but he got himself out of the inning and Papelbon locked it up for Boston. How could you ask for a better Opening Day? Newcomer Josh Beckett pitched a great game, Big Papi keeps things going with a HR, and there just isn't enough that you can say about Papelbon. Couldn't watch the game today... had to settle for GameCast, but back to a normal 7:05pm start tomorrow!

GO SOX!!!

Aroyyo hit another HR today?!? That means that he not only has more HR's than Pena, but more than all of the other Sox starters except Nixon (2).

 

Foulke didn't give up that homer. Good ol' Wily Mo couldn't catch a cold. It bounced off his glove before he hit the wall. If Nixon was out there he would have had it.

 

I know that now, but from an ESPN Gamecast window it looked like Foulke served it up. My bad . And I agree... Nixon wouldn't have dropped that one.

Even though it's been covered already I saw an article about Aroyyo's HR yesterday. Just priceless!

 

Couple of contract extensions to talk about. The Red Sox have locked up CF Coco Crisp with a contract extension through 2009 with a club option for 2010.

Meanwhile Mike Reiss over at the Globe is reporting that the Patriots and DL Richard Seymour have agreed on a contract extension.

Good news all around!

 

To make room on the roster for David Wells, who will make his first start of the season tonight, the Red Sox have placed reliever David Riske on the 15 day DL with a lower back strain. Meanwhile, it is also reported that right fielder Trot Nixon will miss the next 5-7 days with a groin strain I mentioned earlier.

 

During last night's 8-4 Red Sox loss, NESN's Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy identified one of the ball attendants as...Kelly Barons, who I had reported in the old Fenway thread as having been let go from her position by the Red Sox. Since then, she was working for NESN as one of the hosts of "Bruins All Access", but I guess she still needed something to do during the summer.

Anyway, glad to see her back @ Fenway.

 

Despite a 9th inning rally the Sox fell short 8-6 and drop 2 of 3 in their 1st home series to the Blue Jays. Clement just didn't have it last night as he did in his first start although it may not have mattered as Ted Lilly continued his sucess against the Sox last night with 10 strikeouts.

 

Nothing like a little fireworks on a holiday, eh? Loretta hits a 2-run, 2-out HR in the bottom of the 9th to win the game 7-6.

To quote the great Ric Flair..."WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 

Maybe it was just me but the first thing that came to my mind when Loretta stepped up to the plate was, "OK... all Loretta has to do is draw a walk and Ortiz can work his magic". One of the last people I would have thought to come through with the walk-off HR was Loretta himself!!! I wish I could have watched the game on TV rather than settle for GameCast. That was one of the most exciting games in Fenway since July. With the win the Sox take 3-of-4 from Seattle and welcome the D-Rays to town for 3 games starting tonight.

 

Being stuck at work I ended up 'watching' it on ESPNs GameCast as well. I nearly fell off my chair when I say that little 'baseball' carry over the monster. It reminded me of the old school Mattel Electronic Baseball hand-held game

 

I love how everyone on this team is capable of stepping up and getting things done. First Youkillis put the Sox ahead with his hit in the 8th then Stern makes the snow-cone grab in the 9th to end the game! These last few games have been real battles and I'm just glad that the Sox have managed to come out on top so far.

 

It's amazing how easy it is to stay in touch with Boston sports when you live ar away. I have MLB.TV and can see every sox game, and I can listen to streaming WEEI. Perfect.

Anyhow, I really don't think the sox could be more completely constructed than they are this year.

 

An extra bat in the lineup and another middle reliever wouldn't hurt

 

Outfielder Adam Stern will have met his Rule 5 obligation tonight, meaning he will be eligible to be sent down to the minors after tonight. However, Stern is not expected to be optioned until Coco Crisp comes off of the disabled list.

 

Unfortunately Cmdr. it doesn't look like they're going to wait. Despite his incredible performace in the WBC, his amazing defense in CF, and his hitting ability Adam Stern was optioned down to Pawtucket. It hasn't been made official yet but Stern will not dress for tonights game and it's been said that the Sox Brass thinks Stern needs more time on the farm before becoming a regular part of the lineup.

Personally I think that Sox will keep shuffling Stern back-and-forth up until the trade deadline and either use him to fill some last minute gaps or they might come to their senses and dump Pena instead. I know it's early and he deserves a chance but either Pena is trying too hard and needs to relax a bit or he's just been overhyped and the Sox need to cut their losses.

 

Stern is being sent down so they can bring Willie Harris up from the Paw Sox. Harris was a member of last years White Sox team and brings a more veteran presence to the outfield until Crisp is ready to go.

As for dumping Willy Mo? Aint gonna happen. He's only 25 and the organization believes he has tremendous upside. Unfortunately he doesn't have any minor league options thanks to the Spankees signing him to a Major League contract when he was 18 or 19. He could really use a whole season at the AAA level to play the field on a consistant basis and get himself 500 ABs. Besides, he was brought into the Sox organization because they're extremely thin with power hitting outfield prospects and Trot Nixon (sorry Raldayen) will be a FA after this season and may not be back.

 

How much more of a vetern presence do they need? They already have Ramirez and Nixon out there who are not only veteran players but two of the longest standing members on the entire team. If they really want Stern to build some "real" experience he should be in Boston as a bench player for the occasional start and as a late inning substitution.

That's what I don't get about this guy. Sure... he has "potential" but unfortunately after 4+ years he hasn't developed into the power hitter everyone says he can be yet and now that he's in the AL that could take even longer to happen (if it ever does). Plus if he can't adjust to the pitfalls of RF in Fenway and he's not fast enough (or smart enough) to play CF then he's no good to the team until he actually develops into a better player. Besides with Ortiz locked up till 2010, Youkillis (who probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon ) hitting like he is, and guys like Crisp and Manny being... well nevermind, I think the Sox have time to find power hitting prospects that have potential rather than trying to teach Pena some new tricks. As for Nixon, who I agree probably won't be back next year, there are better options to fill that gap when the time comes IMO.

 

As good as a defensive replacement Stern is, Willie Harris is better and brings better offense at the same time. Harris is a career .250 hitter while Stern was struggling at around .150. He (Stern) needs at bats and the best place for him to get them is in Pawtucket. If he hits .150 down there, who cares. If he does it for a team with a realistic chance at competing for a championship, he's potentially costing them games. Keeping him on the end of the bench and using him once a week as a defensive replacement runs the risk of stunting his development.

Harris is a veteran who filled this same role with the champion White Sox last year. He's used to coming off the bench, it's his role and both he and the Red Sox know it. The whole Stern/Harris argument will become moot soon enough anyway. You have Crisp coming back in probably 2-3 weeks and then Kapler should be back in July. By that time Harris will either be back in Pawtucket with Stern or will have been released, freeing Stern to be the emergency call-up if there's an injury to one of the OFs.

As for Pena, I think people are blowing his inabilities way out of proportion. He had 2 glaring mistakes in the outfield and has already been tagged with the 'He S*cks' tag. If you look at his stats so far this year, he's already made some promissing improvements. His average is up around .290 and he appears to be heeding the advice of hitting coach Ron Jackson. He's showing some dicipline at the plate, shortening his swing and even worked a nice walk the other game after getting down 0-2 in the count. Add to the fact that he's ONLY 24 and I think his best day are not too far away. I'd much rather have him coming off the bench as a 4th/5th OFer than Stern.

 

I wouldn't say that I'm ready to write him off as a wasted trade already, I just don't think that he's the star player that he was hyped up to be. Maybe he will grow to have more discipline at the plate and improve his fielding abilities, only time will tell. All that I'm saying is that Stern has just as much potential to be a solid offensive contribution to the team and he already has the defensive quality that make him a reliable bench player and future starter. I just hope he's still with the Sox when he gets to that point.

Maybe I'm just a little biased since I thought the Aroyyo/Pena trade was a terrible idea in the first place. Whether it's in the starting rotation or the bullpen, the Sox always seem to find themselves in need of pitching. Sure... they made some great decisions by going after Beckett and keeping Papelbon with the club, but with the possibility of Wells not coming back from the DL (may just retire) and Foulke still up in the air about his knees, Aroyyo's trade is another example of "Well it looked like a good idea on paper." IE: Tony Clark.

 

Closer Jonathan Papelbon recently lost a bet to Kevin Youkilis that if Papelbon went more than 10 scoreless innings to start the season (which happened in Friday night's loss to the Blue Jays), Papelbon would have to get a mohawk (shown below, click for full-size image).

[image=http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/BDD_JP_hair_4.22.jpg]

Photo courtesy of the Boston Dirt Dogs web site.

 

I heard that they played the Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn music as he was called out of the bullpen onto the field ! I'm just glad the Sox were able to avoid the sweep over the weekend and put an end to their skid with the win yesterday. The best part of the game however was Ortiz dropping down a bunt single to counter the extreme shift Toronto has been putting on when Papi comes up to bat .

 

With the NFL draft this coming weekend, I'd like to ask the Patriots fans here which positions they think the Pats should fill. I'm hoping they can get a good linebacker or a defensive back in the first round. They could use a wide-out, too, but the receivers that turn out to be the good pros often are the ones taken in the later rounds rather than early.