A quiet off-day

Both teams are off today; things seem to be quiet all around.

The big news for the Red Sox is that Joe Mauer is making a run at taking Jason Varitek's starting spot on the All-Star team. With injuries to David Ortiz and Daisuke Matsuzaka, we have to elect the captain to make sure the Yankees fans have plenty of reminders of who is the dominant franchise in baseball when the All-Star game comes to Yankee Stadium for the last time.

{Yes, the Phillies, the dominant franchise in baseball. However, the team isn't lame and doesn't have to elect a captain, and doesn't need every single one of its players at the game.}

The Phillies' ascent up that mountain is getting national attention, and Todd Zolecki keeps comparing them to the '93 Phils.


Sox-Phils interleague history, 2001: The Red Sox took two of three in a June series at Fenway; we were at all three games. Bleacher seats cost $18. The Sox loss came in the middle game. Making his second start since his infamous quote "Maybe they should wake up the Bambino and have him face me and maybe I'll drill him," Pedro Martinez struggled for seven innings, giving up five runs. Injuries would limit him to fewer than 30 innings for the rest of the season. I felt as if it were the beginning of the end for Pedro. In some ways, it was. But he did pitch three more full seasons, although he wasn't the dominant Pedro of old. Omar Daal, who came to Philadelphia in the 2000 deal that sent Curt Schilling to Arizona, got the win.


The opener was a 3-2 duel between David Cone and Randy Wolf, who took a tough-luck, 8-inning complete game loss. Why has Randy Wolf thrown so well against the Red Sox? Maybe Pat Gillick should call San Diego before the 16th. {No way, don't need him.} I checked the stats: In five starts against the Sox, Wolf is 2-1 with 2.73 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. I'll always remember that game as the debut of Eric Valent, who was drafted by the Phillies as compensation for not signing J.D. Drew. Valent was the Phillies DH that day.

The Red Sox won the last one 5-4. Rheal Cormier (then a Phillie) took the loss. Hideo Nomo won it. Best line in the box score was that the late Rod Beck - the Shooter - and Rich "El Guapo" Garces, got holds. Vicente Padilla, another piece of the Schilling trade, was still a reliever then.

{I got heckled during this series for wearing a shirt with a one-inch-by-one-inch Phillies emblem on it. Every time Phillies fans get a bad rap, I remember this, when Red Sox fans acted like jerks before their team even started consistently winning.}