Go Sox!

I have some Red Sox things that I need to spill this morning, and yes, a trading deadline comment, after I said I wouldn't do it. First, I couldn't pass on this piece in the Boston Globe yesterday, about the MLB "Manager Move of the Week" award:

"Little, edging out Dusty Baker of the Chicago Cubs and Ned Yost of the Milwaukee Brewers, won the award for sending David Ortiz to pinch hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the scored tied, 4-4, in last Saturday's game against the Yankees...the thing is Little said he had never heard of the award. "I'll be damned," he said."

Poor Grady. Of course you've never heard of it. Everyone kept it a secret from you because they didn't want your feelings to be hurt every week. Truthfully though, has anyone heard of it? And who decides who wins it? It says "edging out" Baker and Yost. Does that mean there's a vote? And what about the decision he's getting the award for? Sending up a pinch-hitter? There's so much potential for an award like this. How about giving it to him when he doesn't put Todd Jones in the game (unlike last night)? How about creativity in a batting order, or handling a bullpen, or getting just the right lefty-righty matchup you wanted? If we weren't so busy here with all of our other stuff, I'd have half a mind to give out the award myself.


Theo and his trades: I love all of them. I haven't been this excited about the Sox since the year they reached the ALCS against the Yankees. Having said that, I can't help but think that Dan Duquette would be trashed for some of these moves. All we heard since John Henry took over was how bankrupt the farm system was, and how we need to build from within. Well, if there was so little talent there, how come we were able to get Sauerbeck, Williamson, and Suppan without giving up a Major leaguer? Or, on the flip side, how litlle talent is down there now? The Red Sox did get proven players in these deals, guys they can bring back next year, and maybe this will be their year. But then again, maybe it won't be, and pennant races are addictive. It's only the first year of Theo, and they're already trading the kids. This is the exact same trap that Duquette fell into, going from rising phenom in MLB front offices, to peddling Dennis Tankersley in an alley for just one more hit off of Ed Sprague. Let's hope Theo doesn't end up there.

On a similar note, I saw the ESPN crew go crazy yesterday for Brian Sabean and his genius move in acquiring Sidney Ponson for Damian Moss and Kurt Ainsworth. Four months ago, Sabean would have only made this move with a gun to his head. Ponson was nobody going into this season, and Baseball Prospectus spent their entire entry on him talking about what an enormous injury risk he was. On top of that, Sabean traded Russ Ortiz to get Moss in the off-season, so now its Ortiz and Ainsworth for Ponson, who's contract is up at the end of the year. What kind of genius is that? Its a great move if the Giants win the World Series, but that's what it's going to take to justify it.


You probably noticed the Alejandro Fund link at the top of the page. Alejandro is Alejandro Escovedo, a musician who's career has been so varied that he has to be the only Texas alt-country rocker who has written a play and opened for the Sex Pistols. His band was one of the last musical acts my wife and I saw before we had our child, and during that show Alejandro spoke about a song writing project he was doing with schoolchildren. Anyway, he's sick, and because its the music industry, he has no health insurance. Criminal. Check out the link above for more information, or go to this site to learn more about purchasing Escovedo's music:

Alejandro at Bloodshot Records




BAP scores: From now on we will only be doing OBP and SLG scores for games BAP loses, or other unusual games. Our job was not to diss OBP and SLG, and my feeling is that at this point BAP can stand on its own. So of course, BAP has its worst day in its history.


Texas 7 Boston 3 (11 innings) From Tim Musings from RSN


BAP - Tex .563, Bos .467


Oakland 3 Cleveland 1

OBP - Oak .281, Cle .278
SLG - Oak .286, Cle .313
BAP - Oak .406, Cle .417

An oddity. Only OBP gets it right. This might be the first time that has happened.

Chicago 8 KC 6 (11 innings)
OBP - CHW .681, KAN .604


Tampa Bay 7 Toronto 6

OBP - TB .357, Tor .366
SLG - TB .525, Tor .441
BAP - TB .619, Tor .707

Only slugging wins.

Minnesota 10 Baltimore 9 (10)
BAP - Min .895, Bal .673

Minnesota sets a record with 22 EBs. SLG would have lost this game.


Montreal 3 St Louis 2

OBP - Mon .324, Stl .242
SLG - Mon .387, Stl .250
BAP - Mon .500, Stl .500

Another unique finish. BAP's first tie, and the other two win. Beau Hart gets 4.5 EBs in this game. Brad Wilkerson gets thrown out stealing in the 8th to cost BAP the win.

Cincinnati 5 Colorado 4(10)
BAP - Cin .632, Col .333

It's not fair to do standings, because we only checked the games for all three when BAP lost or tied, but still the worst day for BAP, and hard to see why. BAP goes 4-2-1, leaving its record at 45-3-1.

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