First, a personal note: thank you, everyone, for reading my post on the Boston Marathon.  I never expected that so many people would see that post, and I feel honored that so many of you read it, shared it, and found something in it.  Things are still very raw in Boston, but the city’s also starting to pick itself up, dust itself off, and get back to business.

Speaking of getting back to business, we have a few Red Sox games to catch up on.  The Sox beat Tampa Bay on Monday in a true Patriots Day classic, and then proved their mettle against Terry Francona’s Indians for the first time yesterday.

The Patriots Day game is fun and unique, because it starts at 11:00 a.m.  You literally wake up, get dressed, and go straight to Fenway.  But, the fact that Patriots Day is always the third Monday in April portends a mixed bag on two fronts: weather, and early-season shaking the rust off.  Monday’s weather was beautiful, but I went to a Patriots Day game a few years ago (I don’t know which year – Josh Beckett pitching, playing the Angels, Manny was in the lineup) wearing my snowboarding gear, including a hat and gloves.  I had thought about bringing my goggles, decided not to, and then regretted it – good times!

Along with the weather, Monday’s game was also one of the good ones.  Ryan Dempster – RYAN DEMPSTER, folks – spun a gem, holding the Rays to one run and two hits through seven innings of work.  The former National Leaguer (I point that out because National League pitchers are not known for adjusting well to the American League, so this is an interesting and heartening development) struck out ten batters and only walked two.

Andrew Bailey picked up closing duties for the injured Joel Hanrahan, but he promptly blew the one-run save when he let Desmond Jennings on, and then let him steal second, and then let Ben Zobrist drive him home with a line drive to left field.  Oops.  It’s sad that this doesn’t surprise me – Bailey had such a clunker of a debut in Boston, that you can’t help but think that maybe his closer mentality’s gone.

Anyway, bottom of the ninth, Dustin Pedroia on first, tie game: Mike Napoli’s swing was horrible, but he managed to ding the ball off the Monster to score Pedroia and win the game for the Sox.  Pedroia and Napoli, Napoli and Pedroia: I picture them getting together after the game to be gritty and unshaven and clutchy together.

Tuesday’s game was more somber – the Sox traveled to Cleveland to oppose Francona for the first time since he left Boston.  Cleveland played “Sweet Caroline” during warmups (New York, which nobody ever accused of not having class, played it in the third inning).  Cleveland also held a moment of silence, after which the Red Sox bats made some noise.  Boston scored seven runs in the second inning (double, three walks, sac fly, single, walk, walk), putting the game out of reach.

It’s nice to think that the Sox are playing with the city on their minds – that they’re somehow playing for us, that they’re thinking of us when they dig in.  Boston needs something happy and joyous, and when baseball’s played right, in that ethereal, balletic way, it’s the very personification of joy, of the human capacity to be perfect for a brief moment in time.  But while the city needs the joy that comes from the perfect double play, the lope across the outfield grass, the uncoiling of a bat against a ball (PS: Mike Napoli’s double on Monday – you’re doing it wrong), the city also needs to not have that joy be a condition of grief.

Joy as a condition of grief: what I mean by that is, baseball will help this city heal.  The Red Sox can – and should, and do – acknowledge the city’s grief.  But instead of focusing on the tears, and the hurt and the uneasiness you feel when you notice a SWAT team on the corner of your street or when you step off the T to a phalanx of soldiers with assault rifles, the Sox are in the unique position of being able to help the city find joy again.  Very few things, we’ve learned, unite this city like an attack on one of its institutions.  Another one of its institutions has a chance to unite this city in joy, not in grief.  It sounds so simple: that baseball, the same simple game that’s always been there, can suddenly help us all handle this monumental obstacle that’s been put, unwillingly and unwelcomed, in front of us.  But, it can.

The Sox are winning games because they’re playing good baseball that, for short bursts, is perfect baseball.  That’s enough to help the city start to heal – play well, let spring turn into summer, let nights at Fenway be the place to be again, and smile in the dugout.  Let’s be happy about something as pure as baseball.  Let’s enjoy those small, sweet moments of perfection while they last.

ESPN and the Boston Globe report that the Red Sox are closing in (get it?) on a deal that would bring Pittsburgh Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan to Boston for prosepcts Stolmy Pimental and Jerry Sands.  The Globe adds that the Pirates initially wanted the heavily-touted Jose Iglesias as part of the deal, but that Boston wouldn’t budge.  That’s not too surprising given that Stephen Drew only has a one-year contract – but it seems like the Sox are really counting on Iglesias getting his hitting together in the minors this year so that they can call him a viable option at shortstop in time for the free-agent market to open up again next year.

Cody Ross and David Ortiz (credit: Amanda Laws)

The Hanrahan trade also, obviously, leaves Andrew Bailey’s future up in the air.  Not that he had much of a chance to wow the organization last year after spending most of it on the DL following his time in Oakland.

For what it’s worth, Hanrahan should be fine.  He notched 36 saves last year, but it took him 63 appearances to do so.  And, he has a 3.74 lifetime ERA.  The closer market’s not great this year, and at the very least, this moves up the entire bullpen without sacrificing much equity.

Also, Cody Ross is officially an Arizona Diamondback.  He had some interesting comments to the media on the way out of town.  The Globe quotes Ross, talking about the Red Sox’s efforts to keep him on the roster:

“I don’t know what happened but we could never agree on terms. They thought I’d come back no matter what because they thought I loved playing there. And I did. Who wouldn’t love playing at Fenway Park? I just wanted a fair deal. I told them what I wanted. I wasn’t trying to break the bank. They weren’t willing to do it.”

That’s polite, but kind of a damning and insightful thing to say.  The Red Sox do tend to ask their stars to re-sign at a deficit, because their stars (until lately, anyway) loved playing in Boston.  The fact that Ross couldn’t be convinced to sign at a lower value just because he “loved” playing at Fenway is kind of a big deal to me.  The bubbles that start the boil, maybe.  I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Sox have trouble hanging on to their marquee players from here on out.

Which gives us a nice segue into Ross’s other comment, on ex-manager Bobby Valentine.  Ross alluded that he got along with Valentine better than any other player on the team.  “When Bobby came in,” Ross told the Globe, “his way of doing things was a lot different than what they were used to under Terry Francona and it was a shock to them. They weren’t on board with it.”

Also, Ben Cherington is officially Not Talking About Mike Napoli.  This should end well.

This entire episode – the July meeting in New York, the text messages from Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia, the entire soap opera that is a below-.500 team finding the gall to blame its issues on its manager – has taken an even more bizarre and blatantly uncommunicative turn.  Yesterday, instead of addressing the issues head on, talking straight with the media and the fans, and giving Red Sox Nation any smidgen of hope that ownership had its hands on the wheel of this Titanic, we get this, from Larry Lucchino:

“We are very concerned about a breach of confidence in this matter because in the 10 years we’ve held these meetings, we’ve never had information leak like this.”

Really, Larry?  Your most pressing concern in this matter is that, basically, someone told on you?  That’s the big takeaway here?  Don’t you think that’s a little… out of touch?

Look, Larry, I’m no public relations maven, and I don’t work for the Red Sox.  I’m a lawyer, like you, and I have the same training you have.  I see what you’re trying to do here: group people with opposing viewpoints together behind a common cause, get them all angry at the Other Guy, find the Other Guy, destroy the Other Guy, invite everyone out for a celebratory drink together, revel in newfound satisfaction.

But, this time, it’s utterly transparent.  Nobody cares, really, about who leaked the story of the meeting – it will probably remain a mystery forever, along with what was in those shakes in the Dominican Republic (David Ortiz is on it, and will let you know), the identity of the chicken and beer snitch (Josh Beckett’s on the case, folks!), and why Heidi Watney really left town (I’m going to just leave that one alone).  A lot of internet whodunit commenters think backup catcher Kelly Shoppach spilled the meeting on his way out of town.  Who cares?

Let’s say we learn that the snitch is Kelly Shoppach.  Big deal, it’s Kelly Shoppach.  That doesn’t change the substance of the meeting, and it doesn’t change the obvious rampant discord up and down the Sox organization right now.  It seems to me that it’s far more important to address WHAT was said, than it is to bluster about WHO said it.

And, it’s amazing how quickly the players have toed the company line on this.  Ortiz, one of the last vestiges of 2004, the guy everyone looks to when the team needs a boost, said the following:

I hope it’s not someone on the team. Maybe it’s coming from outside. A lot of this stuff comes from outside, from people who we never see here. It doesn’t come from the reporters who cover the team because they know what’s going on.

Note that Ortiz didn’t address the actual point, either: whether there’s a disconnect between players, management, and the front office, and where in the system the fault lies.  He’s blaming the media – just not the beat writers who play a huge role in forming and maintaining his public image.

And, from Bobby Valentine, the victim in this entire exhausting vortex of doom:

Huge news in Red Sox Nation yesterday.  HUGE NEWS.

Andrew Bailey, the team’s presumptive closer going into spring training, finally came off the disabled list last night, and held the Baltimore Orioles scoreless over a one-out appearance.

And we thought this was Bobby V’s low point.

Oh wait, that’s not it?

Huge news.  HUGE.

Josh Beckett got roughed up yet again last night, pitching five and a third innings and giving up six earned runs – three on a home run with Beckett’s runners on that Mark Melancon gave up in relief of Beckett, but still.  The 7-1 loss dropped Beckett’s record to a lowly 5-10, and was, in a nutshell, not what the Red Sox needed.  I fully expect Beckett effigies to start appearing on Yawkey Way any day now (not that the offense did much better – one run?  Come on, guys).

With the loss, the Sox fell to 57-60, and failed to pick up a game in the standings against not only an AL East competitor, but also to a team directly ahead of them in the wild card race.

Oh wait, that’s not it, either?

How about this: huge news in Red Sox Nation. HUGE.

There’s somewhat of a mutiny afoot.  Back on July 26, while the team was in New York, Adrian Gonzalez, who claimed to represent a group of players (p.s. – NOW Adrian Gonzalez acts like a leader?), sent a text message to the team and ownership.  The text, according to story-breaker Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, blasted manager Bobby Valentine for leaving starting pitcher Jon Lester in Boston’s July 22 game to get blasted for 11 runs, embarassing Lester and shortening the lifespans of Red Sox fans everywhere in one fell swoop.

A meeting followed between a group of players and ownership, and to read Passan’s piece, people are p-i-s-s-e-d.  Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were the most vocal, and some players flat-out said that they didn’t want to play baseball for Valentine anymore.

Interjection: if these players call their lollygagging the ball around the infield, their lollygagging their way down to first, their lollygagging in and out of the dugout, “playing baseball,” then I’m not sure I want them playing baseball for Valentine anymore either.  Because you know what that makes them? Larry? Lollygaggers!  Lollygaggers.

Passan notes, and I think this is important, that not all the players share Gonzalez’s and Pedroia’s and their amorphous scary-sounding “group of players” concern – many players, it appears, feel that Valentine is being unfairly scapegoated for the team’s sheer inability to play baseball with any modicum of skill, competitiveness, or, lately, professionalism.

Ben Cherington and the ownership, predictably, gave some boring quotes about how the front office was behind Valentine and was committed to him managing at least through the season and blah blah blah.  Boring, but what do you expect?  They’re really going to say that they made a mistake with the hiring?  That would open up the Terry Francona drama all over again (oh, and interestingly, this text message was sent at around the same time that Francona spent 45 minutes hanging out with his old players in the Sox clubhouse a few weeks back – coincidence?).

Readers, let’s get serious for a second here.  The part of the Passan piece that stands out for me is the part where we really see how immature and terrible some of our most respected, shortest, “team-player,” “grittiest” Red Sox players are.  I’m talking to you, Pedroia.  Compare this quote, from the Red Sox’ wrap of last night’s game, to Pedroia’s antics as described by Passan.  First, the wrap quote:

We’re going to go out and play as hard as we can. That’s all we can do. We’ve dug ourselves this hole and we’ve got to try to dig ourselves out of it. We’ve got to be professional, go out and grind out at-bats, play good defense and pitch well. That’s it.

Second, from the simply illuminating Passan piece:

From the beginning of the Red Sox’s courtship of Valentine this offseason to the double-barreled votes of confidence last week, the match of the hard-nosed Bobby V with the laissez-faire Boston clubhouse seemed tenuous at best. It has proven far worse, personified best perhaps by a picture circulating around via text message, according to a fourth source.

Pedroia, notorious among teammates for his wit and humor, is in the foreground with a giddy smile, his tongue wagging and both thumbs up. Next to him is allegedly Valentine, face down on a table, apparently asleep. A caption accompanies the picture: “Our manager contemplating his lineup at 3:30 p.m.”

Yeah Dustin, that’s mighty professional of you.  Please, please, grow up, and back up your manager.  That’s part of your job.  And if you can’t do that, at least don’t strut around acting like a professional baseball player – because to me, the word “professional” has a much greater connotation than just the simple fact that you get paid (millions of dollars) to play a game.

Passan’s story has a lot of meat to it, and I recommend that you read it in full.  It describes a clubhouse in flux, a mercurial manager who has made some terrible baseball and personnel decisions with only the veneer of front-office approval, and hints at another major scapegoating to come in the offseason (because, as we all know, the fact that the players are playing badly can’t just be the player’s fault – clearly, Valentine has to go so that the Red Sox PR machine can roll on unencumbered).

I also recommend that you read this internet gem, which makes an amazing play on the iPhone’s tendency to autocorrect text misspellings in hilarious ways.  Somewhere, Adrian Gonzalez is blushing.

If it even matters anymore, the Red Sox are playing in Baltimore again tonight.  Aaron Cook (3-5, 4.70 ERA) starts in place of Felix Doubront against Miguel Gonzalez (4-2, 3.42 ERA).

Just ridiculous.  Ridiculous.

Last night was not pretty. Put on your earmuffs if you need to because I might say a bad word or two in this recap (my apologies for it being so very late) so if you’re easily offended by colorful language…well, earmuffs.

In short, Jon Lester sucks. And frankly he has sucked since last September. Sure, we’ve seen glimpses of the pitcher he once was but right now he deserves neither the #1 spot in the rotation, nor the “ace” label. And while I’m at it, Josh Beckett sucks too. Between these two fried chicken lovers, they have a combined 34 games started; they also have a combined record of 10-14. Now that’s just plain bad.

And not that you didn’t know this already, but last night was no exception as the Sox of White beat the Sox of Red 7-5. Lester lasted just four innings where he gave up six earned runs on seven hits. One of those hits a three-run shot by former teammate, Kevin Youkilis, to put the White Sox ahead for good. Lester seems confuzzled by the whole situation, lamenting to reporters after the game.

“It’s been a frustrating year, frustrating night, just keeps adding on and I’m getting tired of it,” Lester said. “I try to make adjustments, try to do the things I need to do and I’m just not getting results.”

No shit, Sherlock.

Under the heading of I-don’t-freaking-believe-it, Carl Crawford, in his third game back from a lengthy stretch on the DL, went three for four with two runs scored and three stolen bases. He credits his success to playing for a new manager, not one that didn’t give him a chance. Crawford told WEEI.com that Terry Francona was the cause of last season’s major slump-o-rama (my word, not his.)

“I didn’t feel like I had the manager’s confidence. I don’t know about the organization, but I don’t try and look past the manager, so I feel like I didn’t have the manager’s confidence, therefore I started to think something was wrong with me, and it just snowballed after that. It had a trickle-down effect, and it just got worse and worse as the days went by.”

The only other highlight in my book was Kelly Shoppach’s pinch hit two-run home run in the bottom of the 8th to bring the Sox of Red to within two. But that’s it. *fizzle*

Click here for the low highlight box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. Tonight the two teams wrap up their series with Felix Doubront (who, at 9-4 should be the new “ace” of this staff. Just sayin’.)

And I thought I’d save the even worse news for last. David Ortiz has officially been placed on the 15-day DL. Crap, crap, CRAP! This makes me want to cry. Even if there is no crying in baseball. Ortiz has been the one consistent force in this line up so let’s hope this injured Achilles tendon is nothing big. *crosses fingers*

It’s so refreshing to see a Red Sox starting pitcher take the mound, throw strikes, not make faces at the home plate umpire, not buy into his own hype, and just quietly and calmly gut out a win for a team that really needs them.  Thank you, Franklin Morales, for being the most admirable starting pitcher in the bunch.  Morales, who took over the injured Josh Beckett’s slot for a spot start last night, pitched five innings.  His 80 pitches were the most he’s thrown since he was a starter for the Colorado Rockies in 2009.  He gave up two runs, four hits, and struck out nine without walking a single batter.

On Morales’s effort, the Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 7-4, taking two of three in the interleague series.  The Sox are (gasp!) BACK AT .500.  They’ve won two straight, and they’ll take a day off today (one of Josh Beckett’s 18 days off, I presume?) before returning to Fenway to host the Miami Marlins.

The game started off strong for the Sox.  Scott Podsednik led off with a single, and then scored on Dustin Pedroia’s double to left center field.  A Kevin Youkilis sac fly and a David Ortiz single scored Pedroia to give the Sox an early 2-0 lead.

The Cubs scored one run in the bottom of the first.  Things settled down until the bottom of the third inning, when Chicago scored its second run on a Starlin Castro “double” to shallow right field that Pedroia and right fielder Darnell MacDonald couldn’t sort out before it bounced off Pedroia’s glove.  Two things: first, very very hometown scoring there – if that’s a legitimate double, then I’m Bryce Harper; and second, Terry Francona, who was calling the game for ESPN, instantly jumped to Pedroia’s defense and heaped all the blame on MacDonald.  Personally, I saw Pedroia call for the ball and then let it bounce off his glove.  We all know how much Tito loves Pedroia, his cribbage buddy.  But, if Tito wants to be a neutral ESPN analyst, he should start by being neutral.

Anyway.  Ortiz made things right the next inning, when he hit a monster home run to center field to put the Red Sox ahead again, but his efforts were thwarted by yet another defensive miscue involving Pedroia.  Pedroia and Mike Aviles Aviles met at second base to handle a force out from a tap-back to pitcher Matt Albers.  Aviles cut in front of Pedroia, dropped the ball and picked up the error, and the Cubs evened the score again.  This one was clearly Aviles’s fault, but it’s kind of weird that Pedroia was involved in both defensive communication issues this game.  Is he not calling for the ball or something?  I find it hard to believe that both Aviles and MacDonald would just ignore Pedroia calling for the ball.

It seems like all was forgiven though, as the Red Sox put up three runs in the top of the seventh inning to grab the lead for good.  MacDonald doubled, pinch-hitter Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled, Ryan Kalish – who made his return from the minor leagues yesterday – singled, Will Middlebrooks hit a sac fly to center field, and Daniel Nava dropped a bunt.

Good win for the Red Sox all around.  Except for the Curse of Dustin Pedroia, it looks like things were rolling, at least for one night.  Here’s a link to the box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Boston returns to Fenway from its 4-2 road trip on Tuesday, when it welcomes the Miami Marlins.  Clay Buchholz (7-2, 5.38 ERA) will try to repeat his last great start against Miami.  He’s up against Mark Buehrle (5-7, 3.41 ERA), who picked up his first loss in ten interleague games against the Red Sox last week.

The Boston Red Sox won again last night, pushing themselves to two games over .500 with a 6-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.  The offense was the star last night.  David Ortiz and Will Middlebrooks each hit a two-run home run in the juggernaut fourth inning, and Kevin Youkilis continued his “I’m going to get traded soon” tour with his own solo jack over the Monster to lead off the eighth.

Jon Lester was ok.  Another start, another middling result – four runs on ten hits in 6.2 innings – and another no-decision.  Can we just make Felix Doubront pitch every day instead?

Center fielder Marlon Byrd was the defensive star – he made a ridiculous diving catch to retire Gerald Laird on a soft pop to center, ending the Detroit eighth.  Adrian Gonzalez, not so much – the first baseman who is playing right field missed a sliding catch of his own.  He made up for it with a torrid day at the plate, hitting two ground-rule doubles.

Here’s a link to the heavy-hitting box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Boston finishes up its homestand tonight against Detroit, before heading to Toronto.  Josh Beckett (4-4, 4.15 ERA) takes the hill against Max Scherzer (4-3, 5.67 ERA).

OK.  Now that we’ve recapped the game, can we talk about the more interesting things that happened yesterday?

Abductor muscle (Gray's Anatomy, c/o wikipedia.com)

First, Dustin Pedroia’s thumb.  It turns out that he tore the abductor muscle in his right thumb a few weeks ago, and that’s what’s keeping him out of the lineup now.  Google tells me that your abductor muscle is the muscle in the palm of your hand, going from your thumb to your wrist (the thick part of your palm).  It controls pretty much all of your ability to move your thumb.  So, tearing it doesn’t sound like a wonderful plan.

Of course, the Red Sox are being a little indecisive about what they’re going to do about Pedroia’s sudden inability to move his thumb in any direction.  But, everyone agrees that he can’t hit right now.  The Boston Herald reports that Pedroia is trying out a thumb brace to see if he can play through the injury, but it will be a few days before anything becomes clear.  We all know that Pedroia is gritty, gutty, dusty, etc., and that he hates to sit out games – so, putting him on the disabled list is something the Red Sox appear to want to do only reluctantly.  But, because of Boston’s reluctance to put Pedroia on the DL, the Sox can’t make any roster moves to help out the sudden dearth of middle infield players.  When asked by reporters, manager Bobby Valentine said that “we’re going to let some higher beings make that decision. God hasn’t returned the phone call yet, but I’ve been promised he will.”  I’m sure that God will get right on that, Bobby.

Tito in a towel (c/o deadspin.com)

Second, Terry Francona’s towel.  Deadspin came out with this nugget yesterday.  It looks like Francona – ex-Red Sox manager and soon to be ex-husband – has been sending some pretty salacious texts and emails to some guy Rob’s girlfriend.  And Rob’s girlfriend has been sending a few pretty salacious texts and emails back.  Tito’s 53 years old, and the girlfriend is, it sounds like, in her early 30s.  The two met recently through their mutual connections to the University of Arizona (she lives in Tuscon, Francona played there).

I mean, what can we say about this?  It’s a little sketchy, since Terry’s 20 years older than her, and she has a boyfriend.  We’ve also built Tito up to be this angel on a white horse lately, and that’s just not the case.  But, people are just human, and public personas often don’t match up to private lives.  This twist is interesting, but ultimately just talk and gossip.

Once a month, we’re going to try to take a step back and take stock of what the bigger picture looks like for the Boston Red Sox.

April 2012: the bigger picture’s a little blurry.  It’s definitely no DaVinci, and it probably doesn’t belong in an art museum.  I think that a lot of people still aren’t really sure what this team has in it.  But one thing’s for sure: so far, the Red Sox haven’t impressed in the long term.  Sure, there are dominant streaks here and there – the Sox blew out a few teams, won a lot of games in a row after a truly dismal start – but still on May 4, we’re looking at a team that’s two games under .500, last in the ultra-competitive AL East, and staring up a steep six-game deficit to first-place Tampa.  The Yankees are in fourth, and Toronto and Baltimore probably won’t last in the third and second spots, respectively, but that doesn’t make me feel mounds better.  Even if the Sox scramble into third place, third place in the AL East is the first loser in playoff contention.

Starting pitching: here’s what worries me about the starting pitching.  They’re working through their fifth turn in the rotation, and none of the Red Sox front five have an ERA under 4.00.  Josh Beckett’s averaging around 6.2 innings pitched per start (32.1 innings pitched), and Jon Lester’s at around 6.1 (31.0 innings pitched), but that’s about as good as it gets.  What that means is, to put it simply, that five turns in, the starting rotation hasn’t been able to put together consistent quality starts.

Clay Buchholz, especially, is getting beat up.  Even though he leads the team with three wins (and as we all know from the Felix Hernandez Cy Young discussion, wins are pretty irrelevant in evaluating an individual pitcher’s success), his 8.69 ERA reflects the fact that he’s let up seven home runs (tying Beckett for a team high) and struck out far fewer batters than many of his rotation buddies.  There’s no denying that Buchholz has the talent to make him an outstanding pitcher.  But, it’s been what, five years since he first got his shot at the Red Sox rotation?  At one point is an ERA over 8.00 just not acceptable for a number three starter?  He’s not a rookie, and he’s had plenty of chances to ease in to the big leagues.

Meanwhile, the Daniel Bard Experiment appears to be working out.  Bard, you’ll recall, was the focus of the entire organization’s existential crisis once presumptive closer Andrew Bailey went down with a thumb injury the day before the regular season started.  So far, though, he’s proved an admirable starter, especially for a starter just starting to start.  His 4.38 ERA leads the starting staff, and he’s only allowed one home run so far this year (compare that to Beckett’s seven, for example).  Felix Doubront’s also been a pleasant surprise.  I mean, he’s a fourth starter who has an ERA just over 5.00 and basically always gives the team a chance to hit their way to a win – what else can we really ask for from a pitcher who is just easing his way into the major leagues?

Bullpen: Let’s just get the easy one off the board first.  Remember Mark Melancon, he of the two-inning, eleven run, 49.50 ERA fame?  That was fun, wasn’t it?  Remember how he was the Astros’ closer, and a pretty good one at that, last year?  Remember how he used to pitch for the Yankees here and there, and he was decent?  Yeah.  That was fun.  Remember when people thought maybe he should be the closer, or maybe the eighth inning guy?

Anyway.  So far, Bobby Valentine’s gotten the most work out of Scott Atchison, Matt Albers, Vicente Padilla, and Franklin Morales, followed by Junichi Tazawa (sent down to AAA a few days ago) and Justin Thomas (in Pawtucket following a terrible start and a Rich Hill callup).  Atchison and Albers definitely lead the pack here – Atchison’s logged a 1.88 ERA over 14.1 innings of work, and Albers is close behind with a 1.80 ERA over ten innings.

Now, here’s where things get interesting – Padilla has an 8.00 ERA.  That’s really not good, especially not for a bullpen pitcher who gets regular work.  Morales is better, with a 4.32 ERA; but still, I think we can easily make the point that once we get past the solid Atchison and Albers, hold on to your hats.  And the closer!  Whoo!  Alfredo Aceves had a rough start.  I think that, you probably think that, I’m sure Ace himself thinks that.  We’re reminded that he came to spring training intending to start, found out that he was apparently just a pawn in the Daniel Bard as starter idea, got put in the bullpen, and then ingloriously became the closer when Bailey went down.  Given all that capital-D Drama, Aceves has done all right for himself lately.  He has five saves in seven chances, so he’s getting the job done.  He’ll never make the Hall of Fame for the ninth inning, but it seems like he’s a serviceable option until Bailey gets back.

Offense: The good news is, there are two very bright spots in the Boston offense.  David Ortiz and Ryan Sweeney have been mashing.  Currently, Ortiz is fifth in baseball in batting average (.391), second in doubles (11), sixth in OBP (.441), and fourth in slugging percentage (.707).  Not too bad, big guy.  Sweeney’s seventh in batting average (.361) and first in doubles (12).

After that, the Red Sox regulars seem kind of just that – regular.  Dustin Pedroia’s been getting it done as expected (.294/.339/.471), and unexpected leadoff man Mike Aviles has emerged as a force (.281/.317/.500).  Cody Ross has five home runs, and he’s hit some of them in some pretty clutch situations.

Other than that, there’s really not too much to get excited about so far.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s started to turn his early-season black hole around, and he’s currently batting .241.  After the .070 I saw on the Fenway scoreboard with my own eyes, I’ll take a .240 average.  Kevin Youkilis has, it seems, been hurt – he’s on the DL now (hi there, Will Middlebrooks!) with a bad back and a .219 average.  Because he’s hurt, we’ll give Youk a pass.

You know who we can’t really give a pass to?  Adrian Gonzalez.  This guy – with the perfect Fenway swing, the huge contract, the Big Excitement – is hitting .250.  He has a middling five doubles, only two home runs (on pace for what, 12?) and 20 strikeouts.  That’s not very good.  What’s up, Adrian?  Not only is he not getting the big hits we were promised – he’s really not getting any hits.  The offense needs someone else to step up: it can’t rely on an aging Ortiz, a Sweeney who is playing way over his head, and Pedroia and Aviles all year.  It needs a steadying force, and I nominate Gonzalez.

Managing: Bobby Valentine’s been interesting.  He’s no Terry Francona, that’s for sure.  I have to think that the Sox knew what they were getting into with him – a history of poor media relations, disguises in the dugout, of not getting along with some players, and of general non-Titoness.  But, maybe that’s what the Red Sox thought they needed.  And, maybe it’s still what they need.  It remains to be seen.  Bobby’s made some terrible bullpen decisions so far, and he posted a lineup based on a misunderstanding as to whether an opposing pitcher was a lefty or a righty a few games ago, but let’s give him some credit.  He willingly took on a difficult, fractured clubhouse in an intense organization, and he’s doing his best to turn it around.  And, he can’t swing the bat or throw the ball for the players.

Maybe, after all the hype, the big names, the long contracts, maybe this year’s version of the Boston Red Sox just isn’t that good.  Maybe after we look at the statistics, the personalities, the slowly-withering crowds (don’t let the “sellout streak” fool you – as the Globe pointed out this morning, it’s manufactured, and owes a lot to team personnel giving tickets away for free at the last minute), we’re just led to one simple conclusion: this team doesn’t have what it takes.  If it does, it needs to start showing that soon.  As Yogi Berra said, it gets late early out there.  We can look at injuries – sure, a healthy Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford would probably help – but all teams deal with injuries.  It’s only May, but it’s already May.

It’s a rainy Monday and my mind is definitely not on work today. I’m still busy reminiscing over the events that transpired at Fenway Park this past Friday. The events that shot April 20, 2012 up to the top of my list of most memorable sports moments for me (at least that I’ve witnessed live.) For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how the Red Sox organization would pull off the introduction of some 200+ past players and still start the game on time. But they did it, and did it in star-studded style.

Photo by me.

Baseball has always been a very emotional sport for me. I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember — thanks to my dad, grandfather and even my great grandmother (who loved her Sox!) I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love this team. I’ve endured so many ups and downs over my 35+ years of following them — for most of those years, I suffered mainly through the ‘downs’. The ‘ups’ came later. When the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004 after an 86 year drought, I cried.

I knew from the time I secured tickets for this historic game that I would be a blubbering mess. And stupid me, I forgot my tissues. I spent a good portion of the celebration wiping tears from my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. And just when I would get myself under control, another past player would appear and the waterworks would start again. But nothing made me out-loud sob like when Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield (with David Ortiz) wheeled out a 92-year-old Johnny Pesky and a 94-year-old Bobby Doerr to the middle of the field. I’m too young to have seen them play, heck my dad is too young to have seen them play, but there is just something about Johnny’s relationship with organization that gets me every time I see him.

Photo by me.

My Top 5 6 Loves from Friday, April 20th:

1. Yaz. Enough said.

2. Seeing some of my favs from my childhood – Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Jerry Remy, Carlton Fisk – to name a few.

3. The return of Bill Buckner to cheers! And of course, Terry Francona’s return to the biggest cheers. I miss him a lot right now!

4. The roar of the crowd each time a favorite walked onto the field. Fenway seemed to be almost buzzing with excitement, like nothing could ruin the day….

5. The throwback uniforms. Although having no numbers on them made it a bit difficult to keep track.

6. Getting to meet Becca in person!!

My Top 5 Dislikes from Friday, April 20th:

1. The obvious missing players. Where or where was Rick Burleson?? I know some had an excuse, like Fred Lynn. But Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, John Valentin, Bob Stanley… where were they?

2. A ceremonial first pitch that made me want to gag. Caroline Kennedy, Mayor Tom Menino and Thomas Fitzgerald threw out the balls to Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski and Pudge Fisk from their seats. Lame.

3. Not learning until after the game that the Budweiser Deck was filled with a bunch of old players. CRAP!

4. Warm grape juice. I’m going to tell you a secret… I barely took a sip. *bleck*

5. Losing the game. That sucked.

Despite the loss, it’s a day I won’t soon forget. I’m so thankful that my father-in-law invited me to meet him in Boston for this unforgettable event. (Happy Birthday to me — a few months early!)

Sometimes, a fan is lucky enough to attend one of those baseball games that stick with you over time, the memories etched indelibly into your mind.  We’re lucky enough to randomly have bleacher seats for a Tuesday afternoon getaway where a no-name pitcher throws a perfect game.  Or, we find ourselves standing and applauding for a three-home run night that came out of nowhere.  Or, we see a play unfold that, even though it might take all of five seconds from start to finish, will leave us shaking our heads at each other and marking up our scorecards with asteriks and stars and made-up language to suit our own memories.

National Anthem (credit: Amanda Laws)

Yesterday, Stacy and I were both lucky enough to get to a game that we knew going in would be historic – a Red Sox-Yankees game that fell on the 100th anniversary of the opening of Fenway Park.  We were both there well before gametime (we found each other in the stands to say hi, and we have the picture to prove it!), and we both watched what was probably one of the best tributes to baseball – and to the power of sport – that I’ve ever seen.

First things first: I got to Fenway early enough to sneak my way into the fancy box seats against the third baseline, where I caught the tail end of the Yankees’ batting practice.  Now, I’ve lived in Boston for years, and I cover the Red Sox for Aerys.  But I’ll be the first person to tell you that I grew up in New York, and my Yankees bloodline runs pretty deep.  So, I’m always a little bit starstruck when I get within 500 feet of any Yankee, let alone Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez.

And oh hey, look, it’s Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez:

credit: Amanda Laws

I have to say, I hardly ever get to a game in time to see batting practice.  But I’m always glad when I do.  It’s like a home run derby without the silly rules and overdone hype.  And, I’m always blown away by how massive the players are in person.  Alex Rodriguez is, up close, really, really tall and really, really jacked.  It’s just kind of insane how athletic these players are.  It’s also kind of insane how easily they flip batting practice pitches out of the stadium.  It’s as casual to them as it would be for us to swat a fly.

credit: Amanda Laws

Soon after batting practice ended, the pregame ceremony began.  We noticed that there were, oh, something like 200 people standing in the garage in the center field wall.  The PA announcer launched into a Field of Dreams soliloquy, and soon it all became clear: those 200 people crammed into the garage were all old Red Sox players, coaches, and managers, and they walked out onto the field in “if you build it, they will come” style, taking their old positions.  The ceremony took a long time – the Sox properly and correctly gave each player, whether bit part, role player, Hall of Famer, or living legend, their due.

credit: Amanda Laws

The crowd loved it.  A friend of mine who works a good mile away texted me to ask what all the cheering was about.  By far, the biggest cheers were for recently-ousted manager Terry Francona, members of the 2004 and 2007 teams, and for the old greats.  My experience was enhanced by the old men sitting directly behind me, who screamed out the name of every player they recognized in pitch perfect Boston accents (“Billy Bucknah!  No-mah Gah-cia-parrah!  Cahl-ton Fisk!”).

credit: Amanda Laws

Once all the alums were on the field, the current Red Sox joined them for the rest of the ceremony.  This was the crowd’s first chance to see the 1912 version of the uniforms (the Sox wore their pullovers for batting practice), and I thought they were really cool.  Bright white uniforms with “Red Sox” on the front in red writing, without numbers.  White hats with no logos.  And, to a man, the players wore white socks with red stripes, socks pulled up.

The Yankees wore gray road uniforms with a slightly different, but recognizable interlocked NY logo on the left chest.  No numbers on the back, gray hats with navy brims.  And, I thought the coolest part was the Yankees’ socks – also pulled up, navy and dark red stripes.  I think it’s really, really special that the Yankees wore throwback uniforms for this game.  They hardly ever (and never in my lifetime) have strayed from their regular uniform, except for the odd patriotic hat on July 4th or something.  The rivalry goes back a long way, but so does the shared history between the two teams, and I think the Yankees did a lot to help the Red Sox respect the centennial milestone.

When everyone was in place, renowned conductor John Williams conducted the Boston Pops in his Fanfare to Fenway, followed by Pops conductor Keith Lockhart (the guy who dominates your television during the July 4th fireworks) giving us the National Anthem.

credit: Amanda Laws

After that, things got a little rowdy – at least, as rowdy as things can get during a family-friendly event sponsored by Welch’s sparkling white grape juice drink (TM).  Kevin Millar and Pedro Martinez – who sounded as if they might have already been celebrating a bit beforehand – clambered up on top of the Sox dugout and led the entire ensemble in a birthday toast.  The toast supposedly broke the Guinness world record for number of people (obviously, it was a packed house yesterday), but I thought the highlight was when Millar implored everyone to “Cowboy Up” again, and when he rambled on for a little too long and then said “this is getting awkward now… please stop filming me.”  The grape juice drink itself was not the finest I’ve ever had, by a long shot – but when Kevin Millar tells you to drink, you drink.

Even after all this, a good two and a half hours after I went through the turnstile on Yawkey Way, there was still a game to play.  A Yankees game, no less.

On April 20, 1912, the Boston Red Sox, who were a beast of a team at the time, staged a comeback rally to beat the mediocre New York Highlanders, 7-6 in 11 innings.  I guess the baseball gods couldn’t allow that much poetry to unfold in a single day, though, as history didn’t repeat itself.  The Yankees beat the Red Sox, 6-2, in a pretty thorough drubbing.  Derek Jeter led off the game with a pop fly to second base that Dustin Pedroia lost in the sun and dropped.  Jeter came around to score, and the Yankees never looked back.  Clay Buchholz went a full six innings, and walked Curtis Granderson to start the seventh, before Bobby Valentine (who was booed lustily every time he popped his head out of the dugout amid chants of “we want Tito”) pulled him.  Buchholz allowed six runs, five of them earned.  He gave up solo home runs to Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, and two to Eric Chavez.  The Boston bullpen held New York scoreless from there.

For the Red Sox, David Ortiz and Mike Aviles each pushed runs across the plate.  Aviles scored Cody Ross on a double to right field in the fifth inning, and Ortiz hit a monster solo home run in the second.  Ortiz, fittingly, illustrated one of the quirks of Fenway Park’s dimensions, when his shot bounced off the top of the Green Monster at its center-field corner, and landed back on the field.  The umpires originally ruled the hit a double, but let Ortiz round the bases after reviewing the film.  Boston staged a sort-of rally in

the ninth inning when Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled off of David Robertson to lead off the frame.  But, Joe Girardi squelched that dream quickly, bringing in Mariano Rivera to protect the four-run (read: non-save situation) lead.  Yankees starter Ivan Nova picked up his third win, allowing two runs over six strong innings of work.

Here’s a link to the box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  The rivals meet up again today for a 4:05 start, when Felix Doubront will toe up with New York’s Freddy Garcia.