One more game against the Twins later today, and they disappear from the Sox radar until August -- August 16th to be exact. -- They disappear for almost four months. These will be two completely different teams when they meet again in 118 days(yes, I counted). There will be trades, and injuries, and I'm sure they will have swapped places in the standings a few times. With that said, the Sox would love to send a little message -- one that they seem to send every year around this time -- that they aren't going to lie down, at least not until later in the season.
Onto some thoughts from last night's game...
* * * * *Joe Crede looked great. Sure the HR was nice, but he hit 21 of them last season, and he looked like crap for most of it. I was particularly impressed with his play in the field. I've felt that Joe's defense has become overrated, largely because if you aren't hitting, well, you must have a good glove, right? Well tonight Joe made a number of nice defensive plays. Starting that DP in the first, and the final out of the game are the ones that stick out in my mind.
* * * * *Remember when I was
worried about the health of Jurassic? Yeah, I'm not anymore. That's not to say his future health isn't still a concern; he answered all questions about his present health with a towering shot off of Kyle Lohse (Why
is that pronounced lowshe?) in the 6th inning, his second of the game off Lohse.
* * * * *I seriously hate games when I see the name Contreras listed at starting pitcher. For as maddening as Freddy Garcia has been in his first three starts, he doesn't even come close to matching The Count's sloth with men on base. Contreras is like a life-size bobble head doll when he's on the mound, constantly shaking his seemingly empty head.
I thought I knew
what a balk was, but after last night, I have no clue. Actually I still think I know what a balk is, I just didn't see one last night.
* * * * *Note to Ozzie: DON'T LET SHINGO PITCH TO JOE MAUER. He's the guy with the sideburns that apparently came free with the signing bonuses given out in 2001. Mauer is now 3 for 3 lifetime off of Shingo, with 3 extra base hits, 2 of them HRs. Those two homeruns represent over 25% of his major league homeruns, and 12.5% of all of his professional homeruns. IN THREE AT BATS. Stop pitching to him.
* * * * *Even though my Baseball Tonight viewing has fallen dramatically in the past couple of seasons, I've still been left feeling completely empty by the new Trifecta set up. There's hardly enough time to even give the scores from every game, let alone highlights or
insightful analysis. You would think that the two teams with the best record in the AL facing off would be central to the show. Instead the game receives just a passing mention. They did focus on the Orioles and Nationals getting shelled though, so they're starting to creep westward. I suppose it is an improvement over last week when the Twins/Sox game didn't even warrant a mention.
* * * * *I'm going to keep
bidding on this, and when I win, I'm going to make him a D-Rays fan.
* * * * *Just in case you didn't quite get one of the references in the title.
This should explain it. Last Saturday when Scott van Pelt dropped a "boom goes the dynamite" in the opening minutes of Masters coverage, I completely lost it.
