From 'The Town and The City' by John Kerouac

George Martin speaking to his eldest son:

“And do I hate this hell-hole New York! Joey, do I hate it! If God would only let me die in peace back in beautiful New England, that’s all I ask. Men don’t live the way God intended them to live in this place! Whatever you do, Joe, don’t stay here, please don’t stay here!”

Nuf Ced!

Fenway West 02.28.10

Ramon Ramirez

I've been thinking about the current dilemma of having 2 pitchers named Ramon Ramirez on the 40 man roster this year. The Red Sox decided to name the newer acquisition Ramon A. Ramirez to differentiate between the two. (They had a similar situation a couple of years ago when there were two players named Javy Lopez on the roster at the same time.)

But what will the media and the bloggers call them? There are all sorts of catchy nicknames with dashes out there- A-Rod, K-Rod, Dice-K, V-Mart. Some hung the tag of Ram-Ram on Ramon Ramirez #1 last year. Some folks can't stand those monikers, others are now totally ingrained in baseball lore. I then recalled Dr. Seuss's 'Thing 1 and Thing 2' from my childhood, and also that of my daughter's.

Hmmm.......

OK, I've got it- Ram 1 and Ram 2.

Ramon Ramirez (Ram 1) Ramon A. Ramirez (Ram 2)

As an aside, as I was composing this post, I came to the conclusion that a former Red Sox player with the last name of Ramirez now playing in Ellay, home of the rock and movie stars, should drop his last name and just go by Manny. It works for Cher, Jewel, Liberace, Madonna, Charo, Eminem, Flea, Sade, Seal, etc., so why not just 'Manny'?

Fenway West 02.27.10

Pro’s and Con’s of Life as a West Coast Red Sox Fan

Pros

1-SF Giants have a really nice park, accessible by ferry, too.

2-Don’t have to stay up late to watch Sox home games, especially extra inning games.

3-You rarely have rain delays or cancellations.

4-You don’t have to worry about Yankee’s or Ray’s security Nazis if you yell ‘Go Sox!’

5-Don’t have to listen to Yankee fans cackle as much as back east when they’re having a better year than the Sox.

6-The Connecticut Yankee

7-They have Fat Tire Ale at Oakland Coliseum.

8-Watching games at Oakland Coliseum is a lot cheaper (the money) than at Fenway.

9-It’s hell of expensive to live here.

Cons

1-I miss Fenway.

2-I can’t stand listening to Joe Morgan, (nice guy, helluva smart player, smooth voice, but puh-leeze, talk less!)

3-I miss Jerry.

4-Have to listen to Bob Fosse when A’s play the Sox in Boston.

5-Although there are a lot ofSox fans here, you have to look for them, you just can’t presume that *everyone* is a Sox fan.

6- McGreevy's, Cask 'n Flagon, Jillians, Yawkey Way, et. al. are 3k miles away.

7-They don’t have Green Monsta Ale here.

8-Watching games at Oakland Coliseum is a lot cheaper (the experience) than at Fenway.

9-It’s hell of expensive to live here.

Fenway West 02.27.10

More on LOST, the TV show, and the Red Sox

The ABC TV show LOST made its premier on September 22, 2004. I started watching it shortly after the historic 2004 World Series was over. It is a confusing show to watch if you haven't been watching since that season, and I'll not try to explain it here, but there is a Red Sox connection to the show. I've written two posts about the show, one in January of 2009 and another in April of 2009.

Executive producer Carlton Cuse is a Red Sox fan and executive producer Damon Lindeloff is a Yankee fan. (I'm not the only one who works with a Yankee fan!) At the time of the premier, the Sox were still mired in an 86 year World Series title drought. In the first season, the sentence, "That's why the Red Sox will never win the World Series," is used two times.

Jack Shephard who was 'lost' on the island in October of 2004, had discovered that the Sox had alledgedly won that year's World Series, yet remained skeptical that they actually had done it. In a conversation between Jack and one of his rescuers, he asked the pilot if it was true that the Sox had won it. The pilot's response was, "Don't even get me started on that. I grew up in the Bronx." In another scene after Jack had made his way off the island and back into civilization in August of 2006, he looked at a sports section headline that read 'Yankees Bludgeon Red Sox,' Jack grumbles, "A-Rod! Grrr....." Lindeloff had to get back at Cuse somehow after the Yankee's world class implosion of 2004!

LOST is now in its 6th and final season. In last night's episode, Jack, who is divorced and has his son 1 weekend each month, says to him, "[I] hooked up the cable in here so you can watch the Red Sox if you want." The son is later seen in a photo wearing a Dodgers hat. (Hmmmm.... Manny went from the Sox to the Dodgers.)

While Jack's apparent allegiance to the Red Sox may only incidental to the main plot of the show, of which I have not been able to determine the origin, (did he go to med school in Boston?), I remain hopeful that this sub-plot is explained before the season is over. Then again, it may only be playful banter between a Red Sox fan and a Yankee fan working together, proving that it is possible for that to happen without one running over the other with a car, or smacking the other upside the head with a baseball bat.

Fenway West 02.24.10

Where Are They Now: Bobby Kielty

Bobby Kielty was last seen in the big leagues in October of 2007, when he led off the 8th inning for the Red Sox in Game 4 of the World Series. This was to be his last at bat in the Major Leagues and he certainly made it one of the more memorable moments in Red Sox history when he belted a home run which proved to be the winning run in that game. That game was the 8th straight Red Sox World Series victory in three years.

Kielty arrived in Boston after being released by the Oakland A's mid-season 2007. The Sox picked him shortly thereafter to add a switch hitting outfielder to the roster. During the spring of 2008, the Sox assigned him to AAA Pawtucket. After undergoing surgery on his left hand that would put him out of commision for several weeks, he requested to be released. In 2009, he signed a minor league contract with the NY Mets and was released in June of that year.

Bobby Kielty in Oakland and yes, that is his own hair

Three days ago, it was reported that he signed a contract with the Twins, the team that had originally drafted him, and was assigned to Rochester, but not as an outfielder. Kielty is attempting to make a return to the big leagues as a relief pitcher and a right handed bat off the bench.

Bobby Kielty should at least receive an honorable mention in the Sox Hall of Fame for that World Series winning home run. Best wishes to Bobby in his attempt to return to Major League Baseball.

Fenway West 02.08.10

Has this ever happened to you?

I was about to grab my Sox hat and head over to my new mechanic with my van when I stopped short and thought to myself, "What if he's a Yankees fan?" Really. Have any of our readers living outside of New England ever have that or a similar thought? I swapped it for my Giants hat. (With my luck, he's probably a Dodgers fan. lol)

Fenway West 02.08.10

Box Scores From The Past

There was a football game on the tube today, but not much going on today in baseball, so I'm posting two box scores from the past for your perusal.
Enjoy these two!

BOX SCORE 1
BOX SCORE 2

Fenway West 02.07.10

Off Season, Mid-winter Doldrums & Ramblings

This is the quiet time of the year in baseball. No international competitions, no international exhibition games to worry about, most free agents have been signed, and most trades have taken place, but I’m sure there will still be some surprises in between now and Opening Night. Baseball continues its morph into more of a business as Opening Day has been changed to Opening Night so ESPN can air another game in prime time. The Super Bowl is now in February when it used to be in January. The World Series now reaches into the first week of November. Next they’ll extend the schedule to 180 games, and make the Division Series 7 games. (We want your money!)

Theo is still looking for low risk, high rewards bullpen help, but it's looking like the roster is pretty much set for 2010. Barring any unforeseen injuries, the biggest problem the Sox have is one that the Royals and Pirates would love to have- too many starting pitchers, and too many 3rd basemen. We saw last year that you can never have too much pitching depth. In between now and the 6th game of the season, bloggers everywhere will be speculating who will be left out of the rotation. I don’t hear anyone mentioning a 6 man rotation, though. I’m no GM, but it would seem that a 6 man rotation would ease the burden on the bullpen, and reduce late season fatigue on the starters. There were whispers of a 6 man rotation in the past. Even if there were no injuries all season long, each man would still get 25 or more starts. We’ve seen a lot of that late season fatigue in the not too distant past, so why not go with the six?

As for 3rd basemen, this scribe still has faith in Mike Lowell. He hit damn near .300 last year, and while his defense slipped some, I think he still has a couple of more good years left before he hangs up his cleats. He’s a class act, someone you want in your clubhouse, and after a whole winter of rest, his defense will return, maybe not quite as good as in 2007, but definitely better than 2009. Theo will have to get him some decent playing time in order to prove to the rest of MLB that he has some trade value. Same goes for Jed Lowrie, as he will have to prove that he can stay healthy while playing. Can’t do that sitting on the bench. And what if Beltre goes down? That Rangers non-trade would be huge.

Boston makes its first appearance at ATnT Park in 6 years this June to play the Giants. Tickets for these games will sell out fast, but as for BOS @ OAK, you can’t give those tickets away. I had a couple of extras in 2005 when the Sox were the reigning world champions, and I was lucky to get $5 each for them. Go figure.

Johnny Damon, poor, poor pitiful Johnny Damon. He wanted money, and he got it 4 years ago, $52 million. He still wanted $13 million/year to stay with the Yankees, but they only wanted to pay him $7 million, only $7 million. Now he wants to play for the Tigers, but the Tigers haven’t said they want him. There have been some speculations of him signing with Oakland. Now wouldn’t that be interesting. Does anybody in Oakland still have a Johnny Damon shirt? Dan Shaughnessy is not the only one still in love with him, as this blogger and this blogger attempt to paint a scenario in which he would return. Yeah, I know what he did in 2004, but sorry guys, some relationships just never can be repaired. Go watch ‘The War of the Roses.’

Slowly we see owners and GM’s watching their wallets as never before. Top free agents remain unsigned well into the off season, only to sign 1 year bargain basement deals, (e.g. Bobby Abreu.) I hope this trend continues as long as FO salaries don’t skyrocket as player’s salaries did after the introduction of free agency.

Lou Merloni takes a look at how the Sox and the Yankees fared against the top 6 pitchers in the AL. Apparently good pitching does beat good hitting.

Many seem to think that the AL East has become a 3 headed monster- Sox, Yanks, and Rays.

Jacoby Ellsbury is now patrolling left field at Fenway. Absolutely no dishonor there! He joins an elite roster of left fielders- Williams, Yaz, Rice, Ramirez, and Bay. While Bay’s stay in Boston was short, he certainly made folks forget about his predecessor fast. While Manny was a buffoon, he remains one of baseball’s all time greatest hitters.

I’ll leave our readers with a box score from the past. (This could become the first in an occasional series of box scores from the past.)

BOX SCORE

Fenway West 02.02.10