Big seven game stretch

As we wake up this morning, say good bye to interleague play and check the standings, the Red Sox are currently in second place behind the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Sox finish up a ten game road trip with series against the Rays and Yankees. To win five out of seven over the next week would suffice. We have Masterson (v Shields), Wakefield (v Garza) and Dice K (v Kazmir) going against Tampa the next three nights.

For some odd reason the Sox are not consistently hitting versus other team's relievers. The winning formula used to be wear down the starter and then light up the bull pen. The rays pen has performed well but are not dominating.

Suggestion time -- move Pedroia to lead off, bat Youk second and move Ellsbury down.

Sean McAdams in the Providence Journal today reported that Manny shoved a Sox employee to the ground after learning that his request for 16 tickets to a game may not be met.

Let's hope the Sox are feisty this week.

Batting second playing centerfield ...

Tris Speaker (1907-1915)

AL MVP 1912

1327 hits, 267 sb, .337 (3rd best in Sox history) career batting average

1937 Hall of Fame inductee

The best true center fielder the Red Sox have ever employed. Speaker was best known for his stellar defense but has the third highest batting average in Sox history. He had 207 outfield assists in his nine year career with Boston. Most impressive is the fact that in 1937 Speaker was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of only its second class ever. Still not convinced he was that good? In the 1937 balloting he finished ahead of Cy Young! Yeah, the same guy that the award is named after.

Batting the left handed hitting Speaker second will give him the 4-3 hold to hit through with Boggs on base. Speaker's on base percentage was over .420 for his career with the Sox.

Tempted to put one of my all time favorite BoSox players in this position but Fred Lynn didn't have the numbers or career to match up with Speaker's.

Good Win

Last night's win was very much needed. Hopefully this can propel the offense to start scoring some runs consistently. Thirty runs in the last eight games is not going to get it done.

Drew has finally cooled. Tek's hit last night "broke" a 1 for 30 slump. Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lowell and Youk have all performed as we would expect. Manny has struggled driving in runs of late. He has something like one rbi in his last ten games.

Ortiz hits off a tee today to see how his wrist has progressed. The Sox have weathered the storm since his departure. How long can we stay afloat offensively without the big guy? We'll see how he does off the tee. Hard to believe I'm interested in how a 6'4" 240 lb man is feeling after hitting a baseball off a tee.

Randy Johnson vs Wakefield tonight. Vegas has an even money line on a back injury tonight from one of the starting pitchers. Game time is 7:05 but with the daily rain delay it will start about 7:45.

Batting Leadoff at 3B

Wade Boggs (1982-1992)

5 AL Batting Champ ('83,'85,'86,'87,'88)

8 time AL All Star ('85-'92)

2098 hits, 1067 runs, career bavg .338

Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame 2005

"The Chicken Man" bats lead off on the All Time team. With a .428 on base percentage this guy will get on base and set the table for the heart of the order. Along with Tony Gwynn, Boggs was the hitter of his era. He collected 200 hits in seven straight seasons.

How sweet was the swing that produced countless doubles off of the Green Monster? How about the eye that produced nine consecutive seasons with at least 87 walks? How about the underrated defensive infielder that through a tremendous work ethic went on to win two Gold Gloves? Was there anyone else on the team you would want up in a big situation?

I think this selection at third base is a no brainer. Is there anyone else worthy?

Hobson?Petrocelli?

Regardless of his off the field escapades (Margo) and his defection to the Yankees (Didn't he ride the horse for the Sox in '86 before he did it for the Yanks?), Wade Boggs was the best third baseman in team history.

Manager

Terry Francona (2004 - present)

422 wins and 304 losses (.581 winning percentage)

3 postseason appearances in 4 seasons

1 AL East title

2 World Series titles

Obvious choice. Only competition would be Bill Carrigan who won back to back World Series titles in 1915 and 1916.

These are the glory days of the Red Sox. Guiding the team to the title after 86 years of near misses ('46, '67, '75, '86), heartbreak ('78, '03), and mediocrity would be evidence enough but Francona has excelled.

He has never publicly admonished a player and in this day and age it has to be very difficult for him not to. Managing a major league team today has to be far more difficult than it was at any other time in the history of baseball. Agents, incentive based contracts, blogs, Baseball Tonight, Around the Horn, sports talk radio, "hamstring injuries", Bill James' stat analysis, language /cultural barriers, tv cameras and dozens of beat writers all make him earn his keep. Obviously, Francona has more time to add to his resume.

Terry Francona has been a perfect fit for the Red Sox and deserves to be the manager of this All Time Red Sox team.

All Time Red Sox team

Over the next week I will post what is my all time Red Sox team. The team will be comprised of 25 players (eight starting position players, a designated hitter, two reserve outfielders, two reserve infielders, two "wild cards", five starting pitchers, four relievers, closer) and manager.

My criteria will be;

• Players can come from any era but I am partial towards players I am familiar with
• Players must have played the position they would occupy on the team
• Selection is based on the player's performance while on the Red Sox

Readers of the blog are welcomed to offer their own insight and opinions concerning their personal choices.

Schill -- HOF?

On WEII this morning Curt Schilling said he was having season ending shoulder surgery. While this season is over for him, so may be his career.

Is this guy's career worthy of Hall of Fame status?

216 wins and 146 losses
3.46 ERA
3116 strikeouts in 3261 innings
6 time All Star
3 20 win seasons
Cy Young Runner Up 3 times

His regular season numbers alone simply do not stack up to others in the Hall. Schillings postseason contributions bring him closer to consideration.

11 wins and 2 losses
2.23 ERA
120 strikeouts in 133.1 innings pitched
1993 NLCS MVP
2001 World Series MVP (tie with Randy Johnson)
3 time World Series Champion

My guess is that Curt Schilling will not garner enough votes to make the Hall of Fame. Clearly, Schilling is among the greatest pitchers in postseason history. However, 216 career wins simply is not enough for a guy that pitched for more than sixteen years in the bigs. I know Sandy Koufax had 165 wins in his career but he was the dominant pitcher of his era. Schilling was not.

Since 1975 the Red Sox have had some big time pitchers including; Luis Tiant, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez and Josh Beckett. If the Red Sox had to win one game in a playoff and I could choose any pitcher the Sox have had since 1975 to win that one game or go home -- i would choose Schilling. He is not better than Pedro or Clemens but he had a desire and will to win that was unparalleled. More impressive than his "bloody sock" game 6 game in 2004 was his performances last year. Three wins in four postseason starts when he did not have a fastball over 90 mph. This is a guy who reinvented himself by changing from an overpowering pitcher to a finesse pitcher.

I hope this year that Schilling can get ring number four and go out on top because the Hall of Fame simply is out of his reach.

All Star Voting

The Sox look to be well represented at this year's MLB All -Star Game. Currently, five of our guys lead at their respective positions; Jason Varitek (catcher), Kevin Youkilis (first base), Dustin Pedroia (second base), Manny Rameriz (outfield) and David Ortiz (designated hitter).

Voting closes on July 2nd. Fans may vote on line (www.mlb.com) up to 25 times. The guy that needs the most support form Red Sox Nation is Varitez who holds only a 30,000 vote advantage over Minnesota's Joe Mauer.

As Al Capone (I always thought Boss Tweed said this) said, "Vote early and often".

In Theo We Trust

Colon, Casey, Okajima, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Buchholz, Lester, Moss, Lowrie, Papelbon, Masterson -- What do these guys have in common?

They are all members of the 2008 Red Sox that have made significant contributions, they are all guys Theo Epstein and his staff are responsible for bringing to Boston and lastly the are not costing the team a great deal of money.

The Red Sox right now have a great deal of depth in their upper minor league and major league rosters. Theo and the boys must take a great deal of credit for this. Now I realize that the financial resources that is at the disposal of this general manager is the second highest in baseball, but those eleven guys listed are absolute bargains.

Colon -- taken as the ultimate low risk - high reward guy is a steal that all other MLB teams wish they had taken. Contract is driven by incentives but will likely not cost the team more than 2 million this year.

Casey -- great clubhouse guy, professional hitter and serves as a back up first baseman and pseudo third baseman (move Youk) over. $800,000

Okajima -- All Star middle reliever and (recent struggles aside) one of the top set up men in MLB. $1, 275,000

Pedroia -- All Star second baseman and 2007 Rookie of the Year. Was overlooked by many teams in the 2004 draft because of his lack of physical skills. $457,000

Ellsbury -- The present and future of the Sox. .300 hitter and stolen base machine. This year's ROY? $406,000

Buchholz and Lester -- Future #2 and #3 starters, electric stuff. $406,000 and $421,500

Moss -- the prototype #4 outfielder that may get traded before he plays regularly for the Sox. $400,00

Lowrie -- showed flashes when called up, big time future. League minimum $400,000

Masterson -- how good has this guy been? Looks like he belongs. League minimum $400,000

Papelbon -- arguably the best closer in the league. $775,000.

Of course, Theo has made mistakes in signings that he wishes he could take back - Lugo, Renteria, Clement - but the Red Sox are developing and signing the right guys at the right time. The minor league system is now ranked second according to Baseball America. This is a huge jump from twenty-seventh at the start of this decade. Though the Sox have money to spend they are spending it very wisely.

It will be interesting to see what Theo decides to do with the contracts of the young players most notably; Papelbon, Pedroia, Buchholz, Lester and Ellsbury. Signing them now to long term (5-7 years) deals below market value (i.e. Crisp, Beckett, Ortiz) would be ideal but the young guys aren't naive.

For now, let us enjoy the great signings and drafting our franchise has made and the knowledge that we will be at the very least one of the top three teams in the American League for years to come. Can the Yankees say that?

At a loss

The streak is over. Attended last night's game and my five game win streak watching the Sox in person came to an end.

Strange game. Sox played awesome defense (Pedroia, Crisp) and hit well (back to back jacks) but the pitching was not there. Beckett's off speed pitches were abysmal. He was not fooling too many guys. Oki couldn't get it done either. It was stifling hot in the stands and the crowd was not into it as much as usual.

Good news was that I got to drive up and sit with a buddy I don't get a chance to see too often. At least the trip was enjoyable.

I Stand Corrected

The Boston Globe reported today that the reason behind the Youk - Manny flare up had nothing to do with the brawl.

It seems Youk's teammates are getting tired of his antics after a bad at bat / complaining about the strike zone. Manny took exception to the throwing of bats and helmets. I'm not surprised that Manny would do this. Even with all of Manny's aloofness, he rarely complains to the home plate umpire.

The report also said that many teammates have also expressed their dissatisfaction with Youk over this type of behavior. Youk is as passionate as they come and Sox Nation loves him for it. However, he's got to tone it down a bit. Both Manny and Youk said, "It's a new day" and that it was over.

Hopefully, this was just a "family" fight and the boys can move on.

BaseBrawl

Sorry people but I need to tell it like it is ... CoCo Crisp was wrong, dead wrong the last two nights.

#1 As a base stealer he slides head first all the time. This is asking for trouble -- baseball coaches do not teach this because it increases the likelihood of injuries. Jammed fingers, wrists and hands are among the risks. Check out the best base stealer in the American League, Jacoby Ellsbury, he goes in feet first. CoCo and others go in a la Pete Rose because it does allow you to explode more to the bag. So when the Rays' shortstop Bartlett decided to go down on a knee and block the bag on an attempted steal, it was a "heads up" play. CoCo took exception to this because he thought Bartlett was gaining an advantage (and increasing the odds of an injury to CoCo) by not allowing the base stealer to reach the bag. Bartlett would never had done this to Ellsbury because he would have been spiked by the cleats on a head first slide. What does CoCo do? He goes after the Rays' second baseman the next chance he gets and barrells into him on an attempted steal (Please note - he slid feet first). He then yells profanities from the dugout.

#2 The next night, with his team trailing 3-1, the Rays' starting pitcher Sheilds throws at Crisp which results in the bench clearing brawl. Baseball has a way of policing itself. Shields did not throw out CoCo's head. He hit him in the thigh. CoCo realizing that he was wrong the night before should have taken his base and that would have been the end of it. If Shields goes head hunting then okay go get him. But that was not the case.

#3 After the brawl is over and Coco, Shields and Johnny Gomes are ejected, Coco gives a post game interview where he says the players on Tampa scratched him, pulled his hair and hit like girls. Sexist remark aside (I assume Chyna from the old WWF never hit CoCo in the mouth), he is taunting the opposition like a middle school student.

Other observations from last night:

• Gomes and Carl Crawford will be suspended for at least five games each. Coco and Sheilds maybe three each. Crawford's rabbit punches were uncalled for
• Youk vs Manny. Manny's backhand slap was caught on tape (Go to NESN.com to view). Why it happened? My guess is Youk called out Manny's reluctance and/or lateness to get on the field and protect his teammates. This is why Francona is a good manager and earns every cent he is paid. I bet we see a photo of Manny and Youk chatting or sitting together tonight.
• Where was the crowd? Around the sixth inning a good 8,000 people must have left to get to the North End and see the Celts.
• Chris Carter gets his first two major league hits. His reward = back to the Pawsox and hello Brandon Moss.
• It used to be funny seeing Remy and The Thumb joking around in the booth but last night's "slap fight" was annoying.

Sorry Sox Fans -- but I gotta call'em the way I see'em

Hazel, Papi both sidelined

[Laughing] "You, you knew Marcus Aurelius?" -- Maximus
"I didn't say I knew him. I said he touched me on the shoulder once." -- Proximo

Sorry to see that Hazel Mae is leaving NESN. First Tina Cervasio and now Hazel. Hazel Mae grazed my knee as she scooted by me at the Mohegan Sun during a baseball convention two years ago ("I didn't say I knew her"). She is tiny. No taller than 5'2". I thought she brought a great deal of energy to the NESN updates, Red Sox Report and even during the Bruin's show entitled "The Buzz". Would love to know the real reason why she is going. Greener pastures? Conflict? Going back to Canada?

The other big Sox news is that Papi is on the DL. The Sox have called up Chris Carter. I have heard good things about him. He can hit. I've also heard is pretty bad defensively.

This Sean Casey signing looks real good right now. Lowell gets hurt, Papi goes down both injuries are insured by "The Mayor".

This series with the Rays will be interesting. Especially after a road trip that started and ended so badly. Did anyone else notice that Oki just didn't have it last night?