Treading in the Wake

I hate the end of baseball season.  Regardless of whether or not the Red Sox make the playoffs, the end of the regular season, the nostalgia evoked from the “Boys of Summer” and the relaxation of a lazy afternoon at the ballpark are forgotten in the heat of a pennant race and the intensity of post season baseball.  As much as we await opening day with taut anticipation throughout the month of March, we forget the 162 previous match-ups just as quickly and focus, one by one, on each playoff game; “a mental breakdown divided into nine innings” described Earl Wilson.   

…but it is that much worse when they lose. 

It is particularly grueling when they lose as they did last night.  I needn’t go into details, but the phrase “star-crossed” comes to mind – blame my Shakespeare course.  However, unlike the famous “Romeo and Juliet” prologue, no one told us how this was going to end…but we should have been able to figure it out for ourselves.  Going back to December the Red Sox were the team to beat, at least in the American League; the Phillies kept up their end of the deal, even playing spoiler to the equally ill-fated Braves.  Must have something to do with Boston origin…

But why? I’ll admit, I was ecstatic the night I found out about the Crawford deal and remained glued to the TV as the Gonzalez saga unfolded, going through, falling through, and then going through again.  But what difference did that make? Enter Gonzo, exit Beltre.  All lateral moves.  Those in the know seemed to think that these were the only missing pieces to supplement an already potent lineup – I’ll buy that – and a stellar pitching staff. 

But what was so stellar?  The opening day starter was Jon Lester.  Solid and well-deserved, he has been the most consistent over the past three years and earned an opening day bid, his season overall was rocky, but he got his 15 wins I won’t fault a guy for one down year.

Day two. John Lackey, upon whom many have bestowed a new middle name – well, not new per se, Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone have often heard it as well from Sox fans.   Everyone predicted Lackey and Beckett to “bounce back” after a slow start the year before in Boston.  But why?  There was absolutely no basis for that claim.  While Beckett did have a more successful year than in years past, its expectation was unfounded and eventually he, too, collapsed. Additionally, I have a hard time believing that position players are unaffected by Lackey’s antics on the mound, particularly with David Ortiz’ cry for Alfredo Aceves to enter the starting rotation.  I believe this is only the tip of the disparity-iceberg in the Red Sox clubhouse.  Look for drastic change this offseason, but perhaps not amongst the usual suspects.  Tito, frustrating as he may be, has arguably succeeded more than he has failed and I would expect him to remain over say, David Ortiz.  I anticipate a purge relative to the Partiots’ 2010 offseason with the departures of head cases such as Adalius Thomas and eventually Randy Moss.

One fault that I can find with Francona is his treatment of this “all star” lineup.  Coming out of spring training the team seemed to have trouble defining an identity and starting off the season as abhorrently as they did was the product of this.  Players did not have set roles and the lineup was shifting and experimenting each evening.  This was something that should have been tinkered with in spring training, not two weeks into the season.  Injuries and left-handed pitching eventually exposed the weakness of the Red Sox bench.  No one puts more of an emphasis on the left/right matchup than Francona and the Red Sox never had the bench for this.  The all star acquisitions were both lefties and their right-handed counterparts (Darnell McDonald, Jed Lowrie) were not nearly as productive and the batting order suffered as a result without the protection afforded by these players.

September was in part a product of injuries, I will grant this, but that does not excuse the performance.  But even those who were not injured underperformed and those who were brought in to role play, (Andrew Miller, Eric Bedard, and Mike Aviles) were thrust into the starting rotation and lineups instead of coming off the bench in their respective capacities and again the lineup suffered.  I do not criticize these guys at all.  They did what they were brought in to do, they just started getting overextended.   Again, they were a product of a lacking bench and sub-par pitching staff.  The 2011 Red Sox were ill-fated – star-crossed – from the get-go, that was no more evident than when the Rays erased their seven-run deficit last night, and we should have expected it.

Looking ahead, it’s hard to imagine Lackey sticking around Boston.  This is clearly a failed experiment, which is too bad, he is a work horse who muscled through games with the Angels, but he also did so in a division that is not as offensively-potent as the AL East.  Daisuke will get his last audition coming off of Tommy John surgery this season.  While the obvious cry is that he is a bust, perhaps the surgery will have done him well enough to make him a relevant pitcher in this rotation once again.  Clay Buchholz will be in a similar situation returning from the disabled list and hopefully will be able to repeat his 2010 performance.  Overall, the first priority should be to add a proven pitcher to this rotation to solidify the top of the rotation with Lester and Beckett allowing Buchholz and a pitcher to be named later to round out the bottom.

In the bullpen it’s been more of the same for the last three years.  The one mainstay right now is Aceves who is unquestionably this team’s Tenth Man.  He played every role over the course of the season after having not even made the roster out of spring training.  When Lackey, Buchholz, and Daisuke went out with injuries, Aceves made the spot starts.  When he returned to the bullpen he worked as mop-up duty, set-up man, and even closed games.  Let there be no mistaking: without Aceves on this roster, game 162 would never have been as relevant as it was.  Speaking of which, after the loss last night, Jonathan Papelbon said that, “for [him], whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”  It is unfortunate, but that has been his mantra for the past three years.  After blowing Buchholz’ strong outing in the ALDS two years ago, Pap “bounced back” to blow eight saves last season.  Coming into a contract year it was uncertain if he would finish out the season as the closer.  That said, I don’t fault the man for blowing only three games this season, even the Yankee’s Rivera did that, I just wish two of those had not come in the last two weeks, over the Orioles no less.  Look for Papelbon to test the waters this offseason, but ultimately return to Boston.  The rest of the bullpen is on notice.

One through nine I expect to look relatively the same. 
CF – At the start of the season, I said that this was do or die for Ellsbury.  He had to come out and prove that he was not made of glass and had the mental and physical endurance to be the elite player everyone expects him to be.  .356 with 11 home runs in this futile September was just the icing on the cake of his MVP caliber season.
2B – although a sub-par season for Pedroia, he still managed to have a solid season overall.
1B – Gonzalez certainly earned his money the first half of the season.  I am of the mind that he may have been more injured than we were lead to believe the second half of the season.
DH – With the grooming of Ryan Lavernway as a DH who also plays catcher, I expect him to be on the team in some capacity next year and would not be surprised if he was the successor to Big Papi next season.  In any case, I think this is the end of an era for Ortiz.  There is more going on than we are privy to in the locker room and I believe Ortiz is at the epicenter.  I would also expect a play for Albert Pujols, but maybe that’s wishful thinking.
3B – Youkilis and his determination that no pitch is a strike is starting to wear on me, but he isn’t going anywhere.
C – Saltalamacchia definitely stepped up this season.  He is still sift-like at times, but seems to have shaken off his past in Texas and has matured into a bona fide starter.
LF – Crawford is an all star and that isn’t going away.  I write this season off as a bit of A-rod syndrome.  It’s hard to go from fan-less Tampa to Boston and adjust appropriately.  He has produced before and he will produce again.
RF – Proving once and for all that there IS a God, JD Drew will retire this offseason leaving the door open for Josh Reddick to earn the spot out of spring training.  Depending on injuries I hope for Ryan Kalish to join him either on the bench or in a platooning situation; maybe even earning the job outright.
SS – Keep Scutaro around.  His September was pretty well earned as well, particularly last night, but he is not an everyday player, but definitely worthwhile off the bench.  Trade Lowrie.

While we wait for 2012, I take the Phillies over Detroit in five.

No "I" in Ocho

A lot was made yesterday of Tedy Bruschi’s criticism of Ochocinco’s tweet Tuesday morning:

“Just waking up after a late arrival, I've never seen a machine operate like that n person, to see video game numbers put up n person was WOW.”

While I agree that when it comes to the Patriots, Bruschi is still an active, potentially biased voice that should be otherwise analytical in the forum of ESPN or any other sporting program (i.e. Dennis & Callahan), the message here is not one that is exclusive to the former Patriots’ captain.  When Ochocinco was first brought to New England over the summer, Skip Bayless, from his outlet at First and Ten, instructed Ochocinco to – and I’m paraphrasing – “drop the personae.”  Two months later, Ochocinco has moved in with Patriots fans, hugged media personnel, and is as active on twitter as he ever was in Cincinnati, sans the criticism, but has yet to show that he can produce within the Patriots’ system as proven by his slow pre-season and now a regular season debut with one catch in 18 plays while only being targeted one other time which, to his credit, should have been pass-interference.  This lack of production with the same overzealous off-field antics, though not as excessive, shows no attention to the sentiments of Mr. Bayless, who is one of the few critical analysts in the world of sports journalism now, which should be more respected and not dismissed as negative, but I digress.

Enter Tedy Bruschi.  There is a “Patriot Way” and Bruschi knows it better than anyone, he was around it for four super bowls, three championships and was playing under it before Tom Brady was a starter and his commentary, while exuberant, is informed more than anyone on ESPN’s staff (I’m looking at you Damien Woody).  Bruschi instructs Ochocinco to “drop the awe factor” not because it is undeserved, but because it is forced and fake.  Ochocinco, like others on this roster, is trying to redefine his image within the scope of the NFL.  Albert Haynesworth has entered the organization with the same goals and has let his performance do the talking occasionally interjecting into an interview how grateful he is for such a rebirth.  Ochocinco has neither performed on the field nor has he stayed below the radar off of it.  These roles need to be reversed, his play needs to pop and his quotes need to stop.  I’m not saying that he needs to be tight-lipped as Belichick, the Patriots have seen a number of egos come through the system in the last decade and each has adopted the Belichick mantra in his own way.  Randy Moss was not absent in his end zone celebrations, he was just a Patriot in doing so, likewise I don’t expect Ochocinco to drop the tweeting all together, other Patriots tweet, as Mike and Mike researched this morning, he just needs to “drop the awe factor.”

To one final point, Mike and Mike suggested this morning that within a team unit there are certain superstars to whom the rules may not apply, citing that Michael Jordan typically did not have to run after games as other players had to, and questioned if Ochocinco perhaps fits that “superstar” build on the Patriots roster.  Golic was quick to acknowledge that this was probably not the case for the Patriots, at least not in the public eye.  He did suggest that behind closed doors there was probably some special treatment granted to Tom Brady and the like, but even that I might question, though I would not find it unexpected.  My evidence: following the release of Randy Moss last October, Brady, in his comments, often asserted that he had no say in personnel decisions, while the media implied for weeks that it was Brady’s team to determine.  In January, Wes Welker caved to the white noise from the Jets’ locker room and infamously held a press conference loaded with feet references for Rex Ryan.  He was benched for the first series of the ensuing playoff game.  Then to Monday night: following Brady’s 517 yard performance and Wes Welker’s record-setting 99 yard touchdown reception, Brady was asked about Welker to which he stumbled in response, catching himself before saying, “he is a player I love having on my team,” and instead saying, “he is a player we love having on our team.”  Ochocinco is right to call the Patriots “a machine,” because they are; no part functions without all parts and that’s what defines the Patriot Way.  The problem is that Ochocinco is one of those parts now and had he been more productive and less “awestruck,” perhaps that 517 may have become 600.  Certainly that is not to criticize any performance Monday night; it is simply meant to illustrate the competitive mentality that has lead to Tedy Bruschi’s three championship rings.

I Swear to God -- Brian Kelly

A little more about myself, despite my Boston inhabitance I am, in fact, a huge fan of the “golden domers” and a proud member of the “Subway Alumni” who has watched Notre Dame football religiously (pun definitely intended) since I was six years old watching games with my dad on the old 16 inch TV in my parents room.  It was the same TV I was watching when I saw Rudy the night before my first football practice and the same TV that (up until a week ago) has been in my room all throughout college for the sole purpose of being able to tune into South Bend on Saturday afternoons. 

I’ve suffered through the years of Carlisle Holiday, Ty Willingham, and Charlie Weiss which were all a far cry from the “echoes” of Knute Rockne, Dan Devine, and Joe Montana that so desperately need awakening, but to the day I remain loyal and that includes withstanding the outcry in the last week over the sideline activity of second-year head coach, Brian Kelly.  There are a few levels to this conversation which have become skewed in generalization over the past week.  For one, there is the “Notre Dame” issue which is a larger heading that I give to more micro-issues that come with coaching at the oldest and most prominent religious university in the country.  This has also been lumped together with the argument that it is college and treating the athletes of the university in such a manner might be detrimental as they are not professionals and still, in the seeming opinions of some, fragile teenagers and young adults.  To these points, I want to address each issue individually.

The Catholic Issue:  Notre Dame might be a Catholic college, but that does not mean that it is not a college.  I can only imagine from accounts that I have heard from those who HAVE attended the university that there is not much difference between the “college life” at ND and that which I’ve experienced in my own collegiate time in Boston, with the one exception being that I doubt they offer free condoms at every campus event.  That said, while I respect and appreciate Notre Dame for its integrity, particularly as a Catholic, that does not mean that the coaching staff should be held to the rigors of a moral code comparable to that of the priests on campus.  Without getting too much into a religious conversation, the cornerstone of Catholicism is Free Will and to that end, to each his own.  As a competitive athletic program that has yet to yield to the recruiting scandals of Miami and the extracurricular activity of…well, Miami, all that can be truly expected of the Irish is to maintain their reputation as one of the most historic and storied scholastic athletic programs in the country behind the service academies. 

The Football Issue: Is swearing ok in football? Of course.  It is a hard game with hard language and emotion that can only be conveyed through coarse phrase.  Notre Dame is a team that must rely on its tradition to recruit players rather than breaking recruiting guidelines a la Ohio State.  That and an emphasis on academics is not going to attract the best high school athletes who (to paraphrase my father) need only spell SAT to attend some of these schools.  If it takes swearing to motivate those players, so be it.  More to that point, I find it hard to believe that Boston College, TCU, and other Division I religious institutions have never had a coach that swore at his players.  These are also players that have brought the same argument that they deserve to be paid for competing in such a high profile arena, of course you can yell.  That may not be the M.O. of every coach, but there is certainly the occasion for it.  I am most curious why this was not brought up last year as Kelly has been red-faced on the sidelines for two seasons now and while I realize that this has only been thrust into the analytical arena because of the forum in which Notre Dame competes (i.e. NBC), but criticism such as this only seems to exist when it is demonstrated in mass.  Take for instance (and I can’t believe I’m using this example) Rex Ryan during Hard Knocks last year.  You watch Bill Belichick on the sidelines when someone SEVERELY screws up (I’m looking at you Lawrence Maroney), he definitely drops an ‘F’ bomb or two, but in Hard Knocks Ryan was shown on more than one occasion cursing his players.  Belichick has never been questioned on this tactic, yet Tony Dungy, a prominent voice in the NFL coaching community, criticized Ryan for his actions.  It is uncalled for to question a coach swearing about a play.  The distinction must be made; if a coach swears about a play that is certainly allowable, its emotional and uncontrollable and I don’t expect the swearing to be significantly reduced this week for Notre Dame at Michigan.   What is intolerable is to swear at a player, to call a player this that and the other.  This is not the case in any of these scenarios and players and (in particular) the spectators, regardless of affiliation or religion, must accept swearing as a evocation of emotion rather than intent and recognize that emotion as an element inherent in the game.

Instant Replay

A little bit about me before I get into yesterday’s controversial use of instant replay during the Marlins/Phillies game.  I have umpired baseball games since I was thirteen years old, starting out working little league games and eventually making my way to high school and legion levels.  It doubles as both a passion and a summer job for me and, post-graduation, I hope to attend the Jim Evans School in the winter of 2013 to try to break into the Major Leagues and umpire professionally. 

As an aspiring umpire, there are two things in pro-ball that I loathe: instant replay and Joe West.  However, in this particular instance I have to agree both with the decision to invoke replay and the way in which it was utilized by West’s crew.

For anyone who hasn’t seen Hunter Pence’s near homerun, you can watch it here.

There are a couple elements of this play deserve recognition here.  For one, you can hear the commentators acknowledging that there was fan interference in real time so West’s comments this morning that “[home plate umpire] Chad [Fairchild] already had spectator interference” seem genuine, unlike some justifications we have heard from umpires in recent years, particularly that of Jerry Meals who, after reviewing a play at the plate in the Pirates/Braves game earlier this summer admitted that he “was able to see that Lugo’s pant leg moved ever so slightly when the swipe tag was attempted.”  While this was by no means the smart call to have made in the situation, what no one seems to recognize is that there was no replay that definitively showed a tag in this play leaving Meals to undermine his own integrity as a professional by admitting error merely to suppress outcry rather than defending the call he made based on what he saw.  West not only defends the actions of himself and his crew, but also acknowledges that they were “dead in the water. Couldn’t win either way.” 

Let’s assume that Fairchild had not seen the interference in real time.  Even if this was the case, having gone to replay at Charlie Manuel’s request would leave him the option of getting the call correct based only on what is seen in the replay, meaning that he has every right to make a call of interference, or anything else for that matter, after review.

Baseball is not a “dead-ball” game like football, for example.  The ball, aside from time-outs accounted for in the rules, remains “in-play” to some extent throughout the duration of the game.  A football player may make a catch for a first down, but the next play cannot start until the official has re-spotted the ball, but a baseball player might get a base hit and can continue to run and move around the field at will.  As a result of this potential, there is no natural break in the game for challenges and replays.  It causes unnatural pauses to occur which undermines the anatomy of the game play.   However, in the few instances where replay is allowed currently (homeruns, fair foul down the line) the ball is already dead as a result of the reviewable action.  Similarly, to expand review to questions of fan interference would also be an act of questioning this inherent pause and I believe that this would be a worthwhile use of replay.  Fans are external to the game and, as such, are dead territory for the sake of definition.  If a ball touches a fan it is dead at that time and interference rules are invoked immediately.  To not review questionable instances such as this allows for peripheral actions to impact and skew the game. 

Major League Baseball is also considering expanding replay to “trap” balls, where an outfielder may have just trapped a bouncing ball with his glove to appear to have made a legal catch.  The problem with this is that, with runners on base, this again causes an unnatural pause within the game.  A runner could tag on a caught ball, but would be fooled by a trap.  It would be the fielding equivalent of a balk.  While to call catch or no catch would be a worthwhile review, placement of runners could not be equitably and uniformly enforced.  A player like Jacoby Ellsbury, Curtis Granderson, or Ichiro Suzuki might more easily attain two bases on a trapped ball, whereas slower players might not even have the speed to pick up one base.  That considered, yesterday’s elastic use of instant replay no doubt falls into an abundant grey area in this developing rule, but it remains important that any ensuing conversation of expanding replay be cautious not to interfere with the natural game.  Rather, replay should serve only to eliminate external flaws of making calls in real time.

           

Tito

Terry Francona: a manager I have begrudgingly followed for the past seven years.  He frustrates me to no end, leaving pitchers in games well beyond innings where they are clearly on the brink of implosion and pulling solid relievers after three pitches in favor of a lefty/righty matchup.  Nonetheless one thing has remained true about “Tito:” he gets results.  As Boston fans we are quick to condemn players after a poor at bat, but Francona consistently remains steadfast behind his players demonstrating the utmost confidence in their abilities and even more patience in their development.  It seems like an obvious attribute for a manager to possess, but it can be surprisingly absent in so many.  Francona truly recognizes that there are 162 games to be played and that there is room for error, thus room for development. This patience has paid obvious dividends across his tenure yielding two Boston world championships with the Red Sox seemingly poised to make a healthy run at a third this October.

            Take for instance, Dustin Pedroia.  The inauspicious start to Pedroia’s rookie campaign has been long since overshadowed by his immense accolades since, but April of 2007 was one that saw abundant fan outcry for Alex Cora as the starting second baseman with Pedoria hitting only .172 at the start of May.  While Tito allotted a platoon role between the two, Pedroia took hold of his opportunities with a vengeance and won the starting role, batting .317 over the course of the season en route to a Rookie of the Year and World Series title.

            Similarly, at the start of this 2011 season the question mark on an otherwise prolific starting nine was the young and under-proven catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  With the departure of all-star Victor Martinez to Detroit and veteran captain Jason Varitek on the outs, Saltalamacchia, picked up from Texas at the 2010 trade deadline, appeared in line to get a second shot as a starting catcher.  A second chance, given that a year earlier his first opportunity had come with the Rangers where throwing issues, past balls, and underwhelming offensive production made “Salty” one in a rotating door of catchers in Texas at the start of 2010.  Despite a promising preseason, the throwing errors and inconsequential offense returned in Boston prompting more playing time for Varitek, who had returned to the Red Sox in more of a mentor role than anything else.  While Saltalamacchia remained the starting catcher, not being the “every day” catcher allowed him the time to develop defensively throwing out 29 runners with a .993 Fielding percentage while also contributing offensively with 13 home runs and 44 RBIs on the season.

            The positive impact of the Red Sox coaching staff could be no more evident than in last night’s 6-0 victory over AL West leading Texas Rangers (a team I would argue to be the best in the American League) behind first-year Red Sox pitcher, Andrew Miller.  Miller, acquired in a forgettable deal for minor league reliever Dustin Richardson, had spent time previously with Detroit and Florida, his most proficient season coming in 2008 with the Marlins where he went a paltry 6-10 in 20 starts.  So far in 2011, Miller has seen immense resurgence with the Red Sox going 6-1 over 12 starts.  Granted, while Miller is in line to have his first winning season having never pitched above a .500 record in any of his previous five seasons, some of this is a credit to the powerful offense behind him, nevertheless, Miller’s performance blanking the best in the west speaks volumes to his development and the faith that Francona has shown adding him to the rotation as a sixth starter.