The 2013 Red Sox baseball season is officially underway and to get Red Sox Nation excited—a challenge after a 69 win season—NESN sent broadcast team, Jerry Remy, Don Orsillo and Jenny Dell on a four-day, five-city tour of New England. It’s what I like to call the “we-know-the-Sox-totally-sucked-last-year-but-please-don’t-leave-us” tour. The NESN crew visited media outlets, businesses and schools and held meet and greets and autograph sessions.

Day 1: Tuesday, February 12 – Burlington, VT

Jerry, Don and Jenny departed the NESN studios bright and early on Tuesday morning and headed north to Burlington. They made an appearance at the State House where Jerry laid down the gavel—appropriate for the president of Red Sox Nation. From there, the trio made their way over to the Vermont Tourism Office, rounding up their visit to the Green Mountain state.

Day 2: Wednesday, February 13 – Hartfort, CT & Springfield, MA

Wednesday morning, Jerry, Don and Jenny stopped by a couple of Hartford radio and TV stations for interviews before dropping in at a local Chevy dealership. They also visited Comcast and surprised a few callers by answering the phones. Can you imagine calling to complain about your remote control not working, and being greeted by, “Thank you for calling Comcast, this is NESN’s Jerry Remy, also known as the RemDawg.”? Errrrr… ummm… huh? Can you fix my remote?

The crew ended day two with a free meet-and-greet at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA where they participated in a Q&A and autograph session with fans.

Day 3: Thursday, February 14 – Portland, ME

Finally… the NESN tour has arrived in my neck of the woods! First, the trio headed over to the WHOM-FM studios for an interview that quickly broached the subject of a certain event that happened on Patriots Day in 2007—PizzaGate! Definitely one of the funniest things I’ve seen happen on a broadcast, rivaled only by last season’s BoobGrabGate.

From there they gave a quick interview to WHOM’s sister station, WJBQ where the topic of conversation mainly revolved around RemDawg’s porn-style mustache. Yeah… baby!

As with other cities, the NESN Tour made stops at a local car dealership and a school where the threesome showed off their amazing dance moves and fielded questions from curious third graders—including one kid who really did his research and asked Jerry if it was true he only hit seven home runs in his career. It is, by the way…in case you were wondering.

They wrapped up Portland with yet another Q&A and autograph session—this one at Binga’s Stadium. Lucky for me, I know some people and was lucky enough to procure a private meet-and-greet with the team before they went on stage. Don spent the most time with us, and Jenny joined a few minutes later. Unfortunately, I met Jerry last and only got to spend a couple minutes with him. They’re all incredibly nice—although I was disappointed I didn’t get the chance to ask them any of the 734 questions I had floating around my brain. This will definitely go on my life’s highlight reel.

Day 4: Friday, February 15 – Rhode Island

The NESN tour concluded on Friday with a visit to Rhode Island. Once again consisting of a radio interview, visits to a few local businesses and a school and of course, a public meet-and-greet at the Warwick Mall.

Phew! That sounds exhausting! Next up for the trio… sunny (and not so warm) Florida for spring training. The first Grapefruit League game for the Red Sox is scheduled for Saturday, February 23rd against those pesky Rays at JetBlue Park.

The entire team deserves the gutter ball. (Photo by: Marcus McCurdy c/o Flickr.com)

Here’s a sure sign the Red Sox are terrible: the Sox vs. Jays game is on opposite the Orioles vs. Yankees game (a game that actually means something), and despite your allegiance to the Boston nine, you’d rather watch the O’s beat the Yankees. (I’m sure Yankees fans are still fuming over that bad call to end the game.) At least you know these guys are playing with heart. Plus, two hours worth of rain delays sort of makes watching the Sox even more tormenting.

Although, I will say I almost would rather watch the rain delay footage on NESN than the actual game. Don and Jerry did an #AskJerry segment where you could submit questions on Twitter and they would answer them on air. I had submitted a question during Friday night’s rain delay and it was actually used last night!! Pretty pathetic when that’s the most exciting that happened during the game.

Here was my question:

I was hoping they would discuss something like the Boob Grab of 2011. But they were thinking of the present and actually talked about how they had been practicing how to pronounce the last name of the Blue Jays third baseman – Adeiny Hechavarria. Neither one of them could seem to get it right and just the inning before, Don had a meltdown trying to get it right. I swear, if it weren’t for Don and Jerry, I might never watch a game.

Honestly, I didn’t care what the answer was, I was just giddy that they actually picked my question. Hey… give me a break. I’ve got very little good stuff to hold onto this season. Very, very little.

In case you missed it, the Jays beat the Sox 9-2 last night. Daisuke Matsuzaka once again proved that the win a couple weeks ago was a total fluke and he just plain sucks. He lasted an eternal 1.1 innings and gave up five runs on five hits. What happened to the Dice-K that went 18-3 in 2008? Here’s one pitcher I’m not going to be sad to see go once this season is over…

The Red Sox line up was almost as crappy as the pitching, mustering just two measly runs. Can you at least make it look like your trying? No one deserves to be named here. Nothing exciting happened. Everyone stunk.

Click here if you care to see the crappy box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. The Sox have on more chance to beat the Jays this afternoon behind Clay Buchholz. Or they could just lay down and give up like they seem to do every day and fall even further down into the cellar all by their lonesome.

PS: I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass on watching this game today… because I am ready for some football and the Patriots!! Finally… a team that plays like a team and a coach that doesn’t take any shit.

Click here for The Jimmy Fund.

If you’re a Red Sox fan, you know about the Jimmy Fund. Founded in 1948, the Jimmy Fund has teamed up with Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to fight cancer in both children and adults. The story about how the Jimmy Fund began, as well as all the various events that are associated with it can be found here!

WEEI started this Radiothon in 2002, and in 2003 NESN hopped on board to make it a radio-telethon. And every year, for the two days this happens, I sit and I watch and I listen and I cry. The 2012 Radio-Telethon is happening right now and goes through tomorrow, August 22. This morning, I spent the entire 35 minute drive to my office wiping tears from my eyes — trying desperately not to break out into a full-on sob and ruin my makeup.

The thing about the Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon — it makes me feel incredibly inadequate. The folks involved with the patients at DFCI are amazing and selfless and caring and heroic. And every year, I tell myself I need to be more like that, I need to take more of an active role in helping those in need. I need to volunteer, I need to donate, I need to be a better person. Maybe 2012 will be that year… I know one thing, as soon as I hit publish on this post, I’m going to donate. For now, it’s the least I can do.

If you’re interested in helping out, call 1-877-738-1234 or visit www.jimmyfund.org to make a donation.

I saw a number of headlines this morning as I was watching Dennis and Callahan on NESN — headlines that said the Red Sox season “is on the brink” or “is on the verge of unravelling.” Um… where have these people been? This season is so far over the brink they can barely see it anymore, and it had pretty much unravelled by the All-Star break. Kiss that second wild card spot goodbye because guess what? You sort of need to beat the teams ahead of you to actually gain ground in the standings. And clearly that’s not happening.

Is my disappointment showing this morning? Sorry… but I think at this point, I’ve moved past the disappointment to full-on anger. I am pissed off. It would be one thing if the Red Sox sucked but maybe this was a rebuilding year and everyone was still trying so hard. Maybe the heart and drive were there, but the talent was missing. That’s what infuriates me — this team HAS the talent even with the 8,437 players on the DL. What they lack is heart and drive. And what they need is a swift kick in the ass.

This season is done. I used to be a glass-half-full type of gal, but bearing witness to this debacle of a performance by this team has made me a pessimist of the highest degree. With the childish crap that has gone on, I’m surprised no one has thrown themselves on the floor of the dugout in an arm-flailing tantrum — although I half expect to see Dustin Pedroia to do this before the end of the road-trip.

There used to be a handful of guys I actually admired on this team. Now I hate everyone.

Honestly, I almost can’t even bring myself to write a recap for last night’s pile of turd. The Red Sox lost 5-3 — in case that wasn’t clear. The frustrating part? After five innings, the Sox had a 2-0 lead, Aaron Cook was cruising right along, flirting with a no-hitter. They actually looked, dare I say, good. And then, the proverbial shit hit the fan. An occurrence that has become far too frequent of late.

The Orioles scored five runs in the sixth inning when Cook botched a throw to second that easily would have ended the inning with a double play. Awesome. Unlike some pitchers on this staff, Cook took ownership of the loss in his post game interview.

“Yeah, I feel awful,” said Cook. “I let the team down. We’re trying to win games, and that was a game we should have won. We lost because I made an error.”

The Sox came back in the top of the seventh with A run, but you could almost hear the fizzle as there chances of a comeback died. Why? No heart. *pffffft pffffft pffffft* I bet you could even hear that noise on TV. I probably would have totally heard it if I hadn’t fallen asleep on the couch, obviously to spare myself having to witness such a pitiful effort.

If you really want to check out the box score, it can be seen here. I don’t recommend it. Tonight, the Red Sox and Orioles finish up their three-game series with Clay Buchholz on the mound — truly the one of the few pitchers I have an iota of confidence in. Don’t let me down, Clay.

I hear there was some kind of important basketball game taking place yesterday?  Some team from Boston was trying to win its seventh game or something?  Some guy named LeBron wore fake eyeglasses?  I don’t know…

In all seriousness, it’s pretty clear that baseball was overshadowed by the Boston Celtics’ run for the Eastern Conference championship last night in a win-or-go-home game seven in Miami.  And, the Celtics went home.  Boston was buzzing all day yesterday in anticipation, and even though we might have seen the end of Boston’s big three, there’s no denying that Rajan Rondo’s made his mark as a postseason gamer.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (firebrandal, c/o flickr.com)

Anyway.  There was, in fact, a Red Sox game yesterday also.  Daisuke Matsuzaka took the mound at Fenway one year to the day after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  Matsuzaka stepped in to replace struggling starter Daniel Bard.  Bard was sent down to AAA Pawtucket after a disastrous start last week that showcased his sudden inability to get batters out, or even maintain the strike zone.

Shockingly – shockingly! – the Red Sox lost again yesterday, dipping below .500 (on June 9th, guys – that’s kind of late in the season for a so-called contender to be playing .500 baseball).  They lost to the Washington Nationals, 4-2.

Here’s the thing about Daisuke: he didn’t pitch terribly.  In fact, one could easily argue that he had a decent-to-good return debut for the Red Sox, going five innings and striking out eight while allowing four runs.  Matsuzaka’s always had a lot of hype around him: who else remembers when NESN literally tracked the live flight path of his airplane when he was flying to Boston when they signed him?  Tangent, I remember that because I happened to be innocently eating dinner at the Boston Beer Works near Fenway when I was picked to be the “(wo)man on the street interview” by some Japanese media.  My contribution didn’t make it onto tv, as far as I know, quite possibly because I had a belly full of cheeseburger and a brain full of Fenway Pale Ale at the time – but I digress.

Anyway, the thing about Daisuke is that the hype hurts him sometimes.  He’s obviously had a pretty rocky road here in Boston, and a lot of that’s due to the hype that preceded him, not to mention the contract that accompanied him.  We’ve always expected ace performances from a pitcher that’s just not an ace.  Which is fine in a vacuum: if any other pitcher came back from Tommy John surgery to take the mound a year later and give their team a chance to win a game from the fifth spot in the rotation, he’d be congratulated, welcomed back with open arms.

With Matsuzaka, though, it seems like people always want a bit more.  Do I think Daisuke’s earned his contract?  Not by a long shot.  Do I think that he can replace Bard and be a serviceable fifth starter for this iteration of the Red Sox?  Definitely.  The problem, though, is this: the Red Sox don’t need a serviceable fifth starter.  The Red Sox need better pitching overall.  Boston cannot rely on an inexplicably shaky Jon Lester, a volatile Josh Beckett, an unreliable Clay Buchholz, a green Felix Doubront, and an untested Matsuzaka if they expect to compete in the AL East, or the postseason.

For the Boston offense, Jarrod Saltalamacchia continued his recent hot streak, knocking in Boston’s only two runs with a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning off the Washington bullpen.  Besides that, nothing doing – Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez pitched a gem, allowing two runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings. The Red Sox were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, which given the power in this lineup, is JUST a little disheartening.

Just some bookkeeping here: Marlon Byrd was designated for assignment to make room for Matsuzaka.

Here’s a link to the weak box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Jon Lester (3-4, 4.64 ERA – not very ace-like) takes the mound against Jordan Zimmerman (3-5, 2.82 ERA) in today’s 1:35 matinee.  The Red Sox will try to avoid a sweep at home before heading to Miami to face the retooled Miami Marlins.

Damn. The Red Sox really needed a win today and I had a real good feeling about this game despite the fact that Clay Buccholz was starting. Coming off the high of last night’s walk-off win, I just figured the momentum was with the home team. I figured wrong.

Buccholz actually looked pretty good today. He seemed to make it through all seven innings of his outing without having a confidence meltdown. He gave up eight hits but just two earned runs while striking out six. It’s the best I’ve seen him pitch all season. It’s a shame he didn’t get the win.

The Rays got the scoring started, plating one in the fourth on a Matt Joyce double, a Red Sox throwing error and a Ben Zobrist ground out. And one in the seventh on a Sean Rodriguez double and a Will (Busta?) Rhymes single.

The Sox came alive in the bottom of the seventh. David Ortiz led off with a walk and Kevin Youkilis singled. During Youk’s at bat, NESN announcer Jerry Remy said he had a feeling that someone was going to hit a home run in that inning. As if on cue, Adrian Gonzalez hit the second offering from Jeremy Hellickson just over the Green Monster, very close to the foul pole for a three-run shot. Red Sox up 3-2.

Franklin Morales and Vicente Padilla combined for a scoreless top of the eighth. And then the Sox line up threatened to expand their lead in the bottom of that inning when they loaded up the bags for Adrian Gonzalez. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the hero for a second straight inning and grounded out sharply to the short stop to end the threat.

So you think it’s in the bag, right? Alfredo Aceves comes in for the save and he’s been pretty lights out lately. Today, not so much. He looked flat and uncomfortable. Aceves walked the first batter he faced and struggled with Luke Scott before getting him to pop out. Sean Rodriguez then hit a 93 mph fastball over the Monster to go ahead. Rays up 4-3.

Mr. Crooked Hat himself, Fernando Rodney came in for another shot at save #16 and set the Sox down rather quickly in order to secure the save. (I really hate that crooked hat.)

Click here for the extremely frustrating box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. Up next, the Sox square off against the Detroit Tigers for an afternoon Memorial Day game. First pitch is at 1:35pm. Felix Doubront (4-2, 3.96 ERA) tries to get back to his winning ways after his last disappointing start against Doug Fister (0-2, 1.84 ERA.)

Red Sox fans have experienced a mixed bag of outcomes over the past few Grapefruit League games. Some of them good, some of them not so good. And one was just downright gross. How many more days until the season starts? Spring training is really starting to tick me off.

Possibly overshadowed by Bobby Jenks’ trouble with the law, the Red Sox played to a less than satisfying 4-4 tie with the Yankees on Thursday night. After seven scoreless innings, the Sox plated three in the 8th to close the gap within a run. And then in the 9th, Ryan Sweeney scored the tying run on a squeeze play (oh how I love the squeeze! But rather than play the 10th inning, Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, claimed to be low on pitching and asked that the game end after the 9th. I’m pretty sure he was just scared of those surging Sox. Sissy.

On Friday, the Sox fell short to the O’s 6-5 on a pretty poor performance by Clay Buccholz. He gave up five runs in five innings including two 2-run homers. Not good. In his first three spring starts he allowed just three runs on seven hits in ten innings. The bright spot of the game was a 3 for 3 performance by Darnell McDonald who increased his spring average to .500.
» Continue reading “Red Sox: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…”