Are you kidding me? (To all the red sox haters out there......)

Hey all, Th3 Izhkabam here. Doing a guest blog here on Dobber's Sports blog.....I'm going to be ranting and raving here for a few moments, hope you don't mind.......

An intro will be needed, of course. But not now, I have more pressing matters to attend to.

It all starts here........October 21st 2007, game 7 versus the Cleveland Indians......it was a series that all the way around, was a classic. Both teams fought hard, tied for the best record in baseball with 96-66 records, it had all the makings of a prize fight, neither team was going to go down easily, and that point was proven in each of the seven games. Unfortunately like most things, the series had to end; and Cleveland was the team who drew the short straw and ended up losing the series. Then came something I never thought I'd experience from Cleveland fans, whom I previously thought were a classy group of fans from a great baseball town, bitterness.......

Are you joking? Seriously? Are you? But hold on there's more.........

A week later........October 28th 2007, World Series Game 4 versus the Rockies........
The Red Sox showed that they were the better team by outpitching and outhitting the Rockies in each of the 4 games, and instead of maybe giving A-Rod, and his agent Scott Boras a bunch of crap for announcing that Rodriguez was opting out of his contract, people gave the Red Sox crap about "Buying a World Series" and that really burns me up.....and that's what this blog is about.....

Do people still buy into the philosophy that money buys chemistry? or worse than that, world championships? Have you not been paying attention to what's happened to the Yankees, Mets, or the Pre-2004 Boston Red Sox? Hell even 2007's Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, LA Dodgers, LAA Angels, Chi Cubs and White Sox, all of which have payrolls eclipsing the 100 million dollar mark, can all agree with that. And honestly no one had bigger collapses than The Mets, or the White Sox.

There's spending money, and there's spending money wisely, and not every player needs to be an all-star, Coco Crisp, JD Drew, Julio Lugo, Eric Gagne anyone? They all had pretty terrible seasons, proving that even if you spend the money, you don't what you're going to get. Or better yet.....anyone notice the Baltimore Orioles spending 22 million to improve that ailing bullpen of theirs....and what happened, another season in 4th place.......

Look I'm not saying that I'm defending all the free spending that a lot of baseball has, but when you think about it, since baseball doesn't have a salary cap, what do you really expect? People who have money are going to spend money to improve their ball club, and yes even Cleveland will spend to improve their club, especially since I don't see Paul Byrd or Cliff Lee being with that club anymore. But think, if baseball had a salary cap none of this would even really matter to anyone. would it?

Oh and by the way, complaining about a Baseball team that's won 2 championships in the last 90 years, that's pretty low......considering Cleveland went to the world series twice in the last ten years......and it took Boston at least 18 years to get back to the world series, even after spending all that money........

Baseball teams spend money.....get over it.....if you're not the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates, or Washington Nationals, teams with payrolls under 50 million dollars; you really have no right to complain....get over it, they're the teams without the money to spend.

Bring on the bitterness !

The Sox sweep the Rockies . Was it really that much of a suprise ?
I was tired as hell going to work today. The damn game got over after 12:30 am. Then the post game festivities! The alarm clock went off damn early today. I thought some good banter about the season and the series would get me though the fog. I was sure my co workers would get over their bitterness, as I remember going in to work after the Yankees, White Sox and Mets celebrated post season sucess with a congratulations, and a handshake. Boy was I in for a suprise. The bitterness remained, and actually doubled ! A team wins two World Series in almost 90 years, and all of the sudden we are the Evil Empire. Whatever.......................
Get over it, stop welching on your bets, and be a man/woman and have some class will you !
Bottom line I don't need the handshakes, my 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONS hoodie will keep me happy !

More from old man Schil.

Boy, Curt did not waste any time posting another article on his blog.
Like I say, Love'm, or hate'm 38pitches.com is always a good read.


Up 2-0 and a mile high.

Oct 26th, 2007 by Curt Schilling
We landed in Denver around 4:45am this morning. Needless to say the flight felt a lot shorter after the win than it otherwise might have.
Papajima, that’s mine. It was that or Okibon. Whatever you want to call it those two guys, along with the HORRIBLY unheralded Mike Lowell, were pretty much completely responsible for the 2-1 game 2 win. If you go back and watch Okie’s 2 1/3 innings I think you’ll agree that it was pretty much as perfect and dominating a relief appearance as you could ever expect or imagine on the October stage. Paps was flat out dominating in finishing it up too.
A huge shout out to our advanced scouts as well. The pickoff of Holliday was on them, completely. Our pre-series scouting reports and meetings are far and away more detailed and in depth than anything else I’ve ever been a part of and things like that pickoff are material we cover. For the most part relievers do not throw over unless the sign comes from the bench. That exact scenario was talked about in detail prior to the series, and look what happens. It changed the game. Regardless of the fact Paps K’d Helton to start the 9th it was huge because he’s as dangerous a hitter as anyone in that 8th inning situation.
Mike Lowell, where to start. Throw away the error totals, the guys a consummate gold glove 3rd baseman. He’s a blend of Matt Williams and Scott Rolen to me. Matt Williams never, and I am not exaggerating when I say I don’t think I ever saw Matt drop a ball that hit his glove. Much like Dustin. He threw like Cal Ripken, always one step ahead of the runner. Scotty was far and away the most athletic 3rd baseman I ever saw. Mike seems to be a mix of the two and it’s a pleasure to be able to watch it from the mound. His clutch hitting this year I think has gotten lost in the mix as well as his heads up baserunning.
I find it continually amazing that given the coverage of our sport and the hype around things players do and say that it never fails to ALWAYS come back to fundamentals in the seasons biggest games. Detroits pitchers fielding their position, players throwing to the wrong base, not covering, etc., and then you have the teams that do it right. Mike going first to third won that game, period. Obviously it took Tek getting the ball deep to the OF as well, but if Mike’s not on third it doesn’t matter.
So here we are, 3 games in Denver, needing to win 2. No matter which side of the fence you’re on I would bet you’ll see two teams playing tomorrow that are playing for their lives. We’ll play this game as if we were down 2-0. We have to because the Rockies are backed into a corner and prior to game 1 of the world series they spent 22 straight games being backed into a corner and won 21 of them.
Much is being made of the altitude here. What I can tell you about it’s affect on pitchers is this. Your stuff changes, it’s different. Nothing breaks as sharply here and you have to work harder to make that happen. Changing speeds and keeping the ball down become much more important. The other side effect, for me anyway, was the extra time needed to recover after pitching here. You have to work harder to do the same things you do at sea level, and that being the case I am always sorer after pitching here, for a longer period of time than normal.
As far as how the game changes, that’s a bit different as well. The outfield here is huge, and I mean huge. There is almost an extra field tacked on here, at least it seems that way. The statistics back up the fact that it’s less of a hitters park than it once was, but it still remains a hitters park. The challenges though, are not what some think.
One of the major things that change, due to the size of the field and the long grass, is that you are always pitching with a runner in scoring position, regardless of where the runners are. The size of the field, the length of the grass and often times the depth the visiting teams play allows the Rockies to almost always take 2 bases on a ground ball hit. They play 81 games here and know that opposing teams often times play too deep and they are almost always going 1st to 3rd on ground balls through the infield.
Opposing teams often times have their OF playing deeper due to the parks reputation, when a lot of times the exact opposite approach is the way to go. Fly balls here that get over your head, most times are home runs, especially here. Playing deep is literally giving away ground that sees short pop ups become hits in this park much more so than any other parks out there. Those short pop ups here are often doubles too, instead of singles, because of the parks size.
In any case it should be an exciting and cold couple of days. If we can have it our way we’ll fly home World Champions, but I am pretty sure Colorado plans on forcing a return trip to Fenway.
As to the question that’s often asked, and always answered the same way. Yes I have thought about the fact I’ve made my last start as a Boston Red Sox. It might be the case, it might not. Both sides know how the other feels and when the more important matters are taken care of, it will resolve itself. Neither side is worried or concerned and I’ve stated repeatedly why it’s a non-issue for me. My faith in God means that whatever the outcome here, is what is and was meant to be. It’s that easy. If it was the final game, who can complain? The last 4 years have certainly had their share of ups and downs but I can promise you Shonda, my kids, and I, would not trade a second of the experience. Being able to become a member of this 16+ million people family has been an absolute honor and pleasure. Filled with way more unforgettable memories and experiences than we could ever have imagined or deserved.
If it’s over for us here then the only thing we could honestly say is thank you.

For those who say the Sox just buy players.......

During this playoff season, the Red Sox have used Youkilis, Pedroia, Elsbury, Delcarman, Leister and Paplebon. All home grown contributers. Sure they have "bought" important pieces of the puzzle, but their roster is far from expensive old fart free agents like the Yankees. This drivel has been spewed alot this week, and again, it is just because they are BITTER !
The Red Sox have spent lots of revenue on biulding up it's farm system. This should provide young talented players for years to come.........Hey maybe this is why there is so much bitterness !

GAME TWO: No Holliday for the Rox

Gotta give them a little credit, the Rookies, er Rockies showed up after the terrible thumping they took in game one. The game was very exciting for the most part. Good pitching on both sides. Then came the play of the game, and maybe the play of the series. Matt Holliday gets picked off of first. He looked like me out there on the bases. Cripes , with the game on the line only the speediest basestealers should be thinking of swiping a base. Holliday was picked off by a country mile ! Red Sox Nation thanks you Matt.

GAME ONE

Geez, what do you know, Pedroia leads off the 2007 WS with a dinger................Beckett looks unbeatable, and the Sox bats remain red hot. Welcome to Fenway Rockies !

Much deserved props !

Here is the post from Curt Schilling blog 38 Pitches. Like him or hate him, Curt always speaks his mind..............Unlike some of Tribe Nation the past few days, he has a pretty classy post.
38 Pitches can be read at 38pitches.com.


Rox and Sox 2007 World Series, it’s on….

Oct 22nd, 2007 by Curt Schilling
Congratulations to Josh Beckett, 2007 ALCS MVP. I don’t doubt for a second that we don’t get here if he doesn’t clutch up with arguably the most dominating post season start in my lifetime. So many guys came up huge but the awesome part of this was that I don’t think at any time after game 4 did we think about the deficit as anything other than a number.
After game 4 it got very easy in the sense that there was zero gray area, it was win or go home. That’s not to make it sound trivial but game 5 was truly the first time this entire season when we had our backs to the wall for real, and the team responded as a championship team has to, and will.
Josh comes out throwing 125 in the first and Youk jump starts us with a bomb. Game 5 we took a mentality of one pitch, one out, one inning at a time and ran with it. The exact same thing we said from game 4 of the ALCS in 2004 on through. It’s one thing to say it, but another to actually put it in play. The guys did that and that’s as big a reason as any we ended up winning 3 straight. I also know that the last three games created some chemistry that only win or go home games can create. We embraced it and ran with it.
Congratulations to the Cleveland Indians. Say what you want but that’s a hell of a team with a hell of a future. The core of the team is incredibly young and talented and I would imagine they’ll be participating in many more October games over the next 5-10 years. Even though their big two had games they’d like to replay, those kids are going to be fine. They’ll learn from this and get better. I know CC a bit and he’s a kid that gets it and respects the game, he’s on the path that if he can stay healthy will most likely end up with a plaque in Cooperstown. Jake pitched an absolutely gutsy game last night. It will get lost in the shuffle but to finish with the linescore he did after the pressure we put him in those first 3 innings was nothing short of awesome. Carmona already proved from 2006 to 2007 that he knows how to learn and I don’t doubt for a second that he’ll be a force in this league for years to come.
It was a hell of a series that felt every bit the heavyweight fight it appeared. No one budged and the scores will NOT reflect the intensity and closeness of the games or the series. I thought it was pretty cool that what I thought were the two best teams in the AL both made it to the ALCS and gave fans a series worthy of crowning a league champion.
Now we move on to the last dance against a team that’s basically lost 1 game in the past month. Some people are already crowing about the NL being the ‘little sister’ to the AL but I can assure you every one of us knows that this is going to be a hell of a series. I think, like pretty much every other World Series, it will come down to starting pitching and who gets the most out of their guys. Both teams can hit so the team that executes it’s game plan from the mound I think will be the first team to 4 wins over the next 10 days. None of us have forgotten the 3 games we matched up with them earlier this year and the offensive whipping they gave us in 2 of those games.
Hats off to Sox nation as well. Fenway was absolutely electric for games 6 and 7. It was night and day from games 1 and 2 and every one of us noticed. There can be no doubts going ahead how important Fenway and home field advantage is for us when the city of Boston is worked up.
Congratulations to Terry Francona as well. In a city that features armchair QB’ing and media second guessing as legitimate paid professions, he stayed true to himself and true to us as players and managed his ass off. I still think he’s the most underrated manager in baseball. Sticking to your guns is hard enough, but in a town where the home team is pretty much second only to catholicism doing so is even harder. We won because he made the moves he had to make, and because he trusts us to do what we’re supposed to do when it matters most.
A few random observations. The Red Sox in me is happy Joe Torre is no longer in charge in NY. The person in me wonders how does a guy who obviously has the respect and loyalty of his entire roster, a guy who’s taken his team to 12 straight post seasons, a guy who exudes class and respect, how does he, in the midst of what might have been his most challenging and defining season and post season, not only have to manage his team in a best of 5 win or go home series, but also answer a billion questions about being basically told ‘win or you’re out’? How did it come to that? I have never had a chance to get to know Mr Torre beyond handshakes of congratulations or hellos, but I have never heard a player on his team utter anything but respect for the guy. Much like Boston, managing a 175m+ roster of super star players, in that market, with a hack to writer ratio bordering on 100-1, how does he basically win pretty much every year, get to the post season and get an ultimatum at THAT point in the season? I have always thought very highly of Mr Steinbrenner as well, anyone that pours that much of himself into his team, is that dedicated to his teams fans is ok by me and I would think ok by pretty much anyone that plays for him since he never makes issue with paying the huge salaries players make these days but only adds the caveat of “Just win a World Series”. I don’t think players have ever had problems with owners like that.
Then he gets ‘offered’ a pay cut with strings? That sucks. Was very cool to see the mass of Yankee fans at the “keep Joe” rally though. Amazing how that loyalty card plays out in the public eye and through the media when the shoes on the other foot. Managers don’t win ballgames, players do, and I think you’d be surprised to know how bad we feel when managers we care about get fired because we know, if we have one ounce of integrity, that our failures as players are, most times, what gets a manager fired.
Terry Francona is a genius since he arrived in Boston? Having been on his team the first day he managed in the big leagues through today I’ll tell you up front that he is not much different. He does suck much more at cribbage now than he ever did and his fantasy teams continue to suck as well, but as a manager he’s not really different. I think the interim jobs he had in Cleveland and Oakland showed him the inner workings of baseball front offices more and helped him in some areas but in the clubhouse, dugout, and on the field he’s pretty much the same non-jersey wearing guy he was in Philly, he just has a front office comprised entirely of people that understand winning games on the field matters more than anything else. The ‘know it alls’ in Philadelphia, from Conlin to Cataldi to Macnow, aren’t really know it alls are they? Their people who’s life it is, who’s entire job description, revolves around creating news or stories where there is none, to make you think their ‘in’ and you’re not, and if you want to truly know or get smarter, listen to them. Pretty cool when you can be wrong pretty much 90% of the time and still be considered an expert.
Wonder how smart Tito looks to the guys that hacked him in Philly now? 3 post seasons, 2 world series appearances in 4 years here. Nice to know he gets that last laugh.
Starting Wednesday it’s on.

Just about says it all.......................

I found this post on my favorite baseball website http://www.rotojunkie.com/.
It is very strange how things in baseball shake out. Lofton has had a very productive career, funny how bad things have followed him around. Maybe this is why he was so sour.

Originally posted by: Jestaticx

Kenny Lofton- October's Bad Karma

Has anyone had a chance to look at Kenny Lofton's postseason resume lately? It's quite fascinating when you look at the plethora of playoff teams he's been on and the awful ways they've exited the playoffs. Early in his career, you could just associate blame to the Indians for not getting it done. But then when Lofton became expendable later in his career, he somehow ends up in a trade to land with a contender. Only for his team to wind up losing in the worst ways. No rings in eleven tries in the postseason for Lofton. The anti-Robert Horry

-95 Best record in majors and lost to Braves in World Series
-96 Best record in majors and lost to Orioles in Division series
-97 Best record in majors and lost to Marlins in NLCS
-98- Lost to Yankees in ALCS

Here is where this guy seems to end up on every team that collapses in the postseason

99- Indians blow 2-0 lead to Red Sox and lose in division series
01- Indians lose to Mariners
02 Up 3 games to 2, Giants blow a 5-0 lead in 7th in Game 6 vs Angels and lose (Lofton was the last out of series)
03- Steve Bartman
04- Yankees blow 3-0 ALCS series lead to Red Sox
06- Dodgers go down in 3 to the Mets in divisional series
07- Indians blow 3-1 lead to the Red Sox. Just to add on, it seemed ever since Game 5 when Lofton got into it with Beckett, the Indians just went downhill from there with Boston outscoring Cleveland 28-4 from there. Also more interesting, Lofton was called out on a key questionable hit in Game 7 and later held up at third on a goof by the third base coach. Bad things just happen around this guy in the postseason.

ALCS = World Series ?

Well, here I type, the night after, and I am still exhausted! I told myself I would watch the game on TV until 10:30, and listen to the rest, as I had to get up for work at 5 am.
Truth be told, I was too nervous to watch it, and listening seemed less stressful! Ater tacking on several runs in the 8th, I made my way downstairs to watch the final half inning......Big mistake, I was so wired, that I did not get to sleep until 2:30am. The 5 am alarm came awfully early. The thought of going to work, and shutting up the Yankee portion of the Indian bandwagon Seemed to help. Until I got to work, and found all but one stayed home ! Boy did the day drag !
I sure hope this does not sound obnoxious, but I think we saw the best 2 teams matched up in a classic battle. The Sox and the Indians traded blows to the end. making for a very exciting series.
Looking ahead, I just don't get the same feel for the Sox vs the Rox matchup.
The 2 things that stick out to me as a Sox fan :

Who is gonna be the Rox DH ? Nobody on the bench scares me. may some NL fans can enlighten me on this one.

They only have 3 left handed batters. The Indians lineup was full of lefties. This "should" give the advantage to Beckett, Schilling and Dice-K.

They have swept both their series, so how well will they handle the pressure cooker of a long series ? They have not really been pressured in the playoffs, and we all know the plyoffs are way different than the regular season.

This is just my thoughts, and I really think the Redsox/Indians series was the real Fall Classic!

Side note, I do wish Jaime Carroll well, he spent a season here in Vermont, and you won't find a nicer person !

Stienbrenner is Chicken Sh@t !

Man, How low can you go ? Low balling a HOF manager. Now as a Redsox fan, I enjoy watching the Yankees implode before my very eyes, but this latest action is kinda embarrassing !
Dragging Torre down to Florida, and then laying such a crap contract in front of him.
The money is very reasonable, but the incentive laden contract is a joke. Torre does not hit, or pitch, and to make his contract based on his players making the playoffs is just a plain lack of confidence. The Boss just wanted to go to is All Star players and tell them that they offered him a contract, and he turned it down. Trying to look like the victim. Not even Arod is that dense not to see through this one.
I am sure Joe wanted to open the new Yankee stadium, and why the Yankees would not like that to happen is beyond me. Now Joe is gone, I will really enjoy the Yankee misery.

Tribe Bandwagon ?

I have been a baseball fan for a long, long time.............................I have talked baseball with hundreds of people, and I know only one TRUE Cleveland Indian fan, and he is our own Mark Trombley. he has stood by his team for as long as I have known him, over 15 years now.
He garners ever ounce of respect that is to be sent to a Cleveland fan right now.
What really irritates me is the damn BITTER Yankee fans who have decided to become Cleveland fans overnight. I have been confronted with dozens of them at work. Now I enjoy discussing ALDS with most baseball fans, It really ticks me off that Yankee BITTERNESS = opportunity to hassle us Sox fans. It's truly amazing how a Yankee fan can ride the coat tales of the powerful Indians. I think they all know the Yankee Era is over, and some lean years may be ahead. Especially if they are foolish enough to fire Joe Torre.
I think we all have had bosses that have made dumb moves to make a power statement.
Good, or bad they feel the need to show who is boss. Even if it eventually bites them in the ass.
At least they showed who is boss. Normally the business/team tumbles into the toilet because everyone thinks you are either incredibly dumb, or incredibly arrogant.
Nothing would make me more happy is to see the NY Mets fire Willie Randolph, and hire Joe Torre. That way George will have to read about his mistake everyday in the tabloids.
I don't think the Sox are gonna lie down like the Diamondbacks. Should be a good series the rest of the way !

Peaking at the right time ?

Anyone who does not think that the Red Sox are running on all cylinders right now is crazy!
Cleveland is a very, very good team, but the Sox bats are lighting Tribe pitching like a Christmas tree.
I have heard all week that the Sox should fire Francona, and hire Torre if he becomes available.
Franconia is "just right" for the Sox, he knows when to manage, and when to let his stars "do their thing" Who else would handle "Manny being Manny" who by the way looks refreshed and as "locked in" as any hitter I have seen in quite a while. Ortiz looks like his knee has healed, and the team as a whole looks loose, and having fun!
It should be an exciting series, but right now the Sox are on a roll, and who knows when this ball will stop. ( photo courtesy of mannyramirez.com)

More Spring Training Fun!

These pictures always put a smile on my face !
My buddy Tom Fraser and I were in the NY Mets dugout, in Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter. FL. We were shooting video and stills of the Vermont Expo alum. Behind us, there was a drunk heckler "dogging" Rickey Henderson for about three innings. Finally, a fan a few rows in front of him had had enough. He started to scream at the guys to shut the hell up. Needless to say, these guys got into it pretty good. Next thing I know, peanuts were raining down on me ! The drunk guy flung a big bag of peanuts at the fan, and completely missed ! The peanuts flew into the dugout, hitting me in the head. Not a huge deal, but it sure did suprise me! What made it special was that I was standing next to Rickey, and the peanuts would have hit him, if I was not there. Rickey was really POed at the drunk, but he was awesome to me, he came over and asked me if I was ok, and then hung out with us for an inning or two, chatted us up. !
Henderson has a rep of being a real nasty guy, but he was really cool to me !

Thank you Carrie !

Tony Romo has single handedly transformed my TSFL team the Motor City Badboyz from joke to halfway decent . I owe it all to his girlfriend Carrie Underwood. Although the rumors are out there that they don't see much of each other during the NFL season, I am willing to bet it's the
"getting together" that has propelled Tony into the top tier of fantasy football quarterbacks.

You always see him with a smile on his face, and we all know why ! Thanks Carrie !

(photo courtesy of James Smith)