Cleaning up yesterday's Tasch

In yesterday's post recapping our conversation about Jack Taschner's crappy performance and lack of a nickname, I forgot to say that it started with Christine lamenting, "Where's J.C. Romero?" when things started to turn bad.

"I dunno, off doing steroids," I snarkily replied.

Well, turns out Christine wasn't the only one missing J.C. for Sunday's game. While most reporters obsessed about moving Jimmy Rollins out of the leadoff spot, Scott Lauber focused on the Phillies playing a tight game without their best reliever of the past three seasons.

"That would have been J.C.'s role if he was here, definitely, without a doubt," Manuel said later, standing outside his office in Citizens Bank Park. "That's how we did it last year. That's what got us through to [closer Brad] Lidge."

[...]

"I gave up three base hits, and not one of them did I consider to be well struck," Taschner said. "It's just the way the game goes. I'm the one to blame for this one."

Somewhere, Romero must've felt responsible, too.

Red Sox: Dan Duquette defended his regime against the steroid accusations leveled by Lou Merloni. Their stories aren't entirely dissimilar; it's just a matter of interpreting whether the doctors were purely educating about the risks of steroids or how to do them safely. I don't want to be dismissive, but I'd be more concerned if it involved the current ownership.

I didn't like one answer because it's more implication of Manny Ramirez's Red Sox years:

On whether he was surprised by Manny Ramirez's suspension:

Duquette: "I was disappointed. I wasn't surprised."

Last night's game: I struggled to stay up as Jonathan Papelbon struck out the side to preserve the 4-3 win after starting the inning with a walk and a hit. Other than the time (and an injury to Dustin Pedroia, who wasn't playing shortstop, as first reported by the Globe), it was a pretty good game - solid start by Josh Beckett and another late clutch hit for Jason Bay.

Pat Burrell jumped out of the box when the crowd erupted in reaction to the Celtics playoff win.

With Hideki Okajima on the mound, much of the crowd started applauding for no reason that was evident on the field. Burrell, in fact, was confused enough that he stepped out of the batter's box and looked around.

Glen Davis's jumper at the buzzer had just gone in, and the Celtics had evened their series with Orlando.

"I didn't know if there was a big fight going on or did somebody run on the field," Burrell said. "Definitely, it was time to get out of the box. No idea.

"And then as soon as I thought about it, I said, 'Oh, it's probably hockey.' The home plate umpire said, 'I think it's basketball.'"