What the ...

I had a blog post in my mind and sat down to the computer at noon. It was going to be about how yesterday, when we were asked what team Trent will root for, Christine and I randomly said the Padres, even though we had no clue the Red Sox agreed to a trade with San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez.

Christine told me to hold off on writing until we knew for sure whether he was going to Boston, after the 2 p.m. deadline the teams had set to negotiate a contract extension with Gonzalez. We were all Trent for the rest of the day and after dinner turned on MLB Network in anticipation of seeing A-Gon with a Red Sox hat on.

Nope.

We saw what appeared to be a clean-shaven, short-haired Jayson Werth signing a huge contract with the Nationals. The Nationals? It elicited an out loud "Whaaaat?" from me. Trent was speechless.

I guess no one else was willing to go seven years on the former Phil. And I guess we might be back to Adrian Beltre and possibly Carl Crawford because the Sox didn't come to an agreement with Gonzalez.

But now, Christine has a real reason to root against the Nationals.

Consider the source

Adrian Beltre, soon to be a former Red Sox, was among the Silver Slugger winners today. No Phillies made the cut.

Buoyed by the award, Beltre's agent, Scott Boras, took to the airwaves to drum up interest for this player-for-hire:

Boras was on MLB Network Radio today and told the hosts that in his career as an agent, he has never seen more interest in a player than Adrian Beltre has this year.

Two questions: Why does anybody still put a microphone in front of this guy? And what does his other marquee free agent, Jayson Werth, who may become a SoxandPhil this offseason, have to say about his agent saying there's more interest in another player?

Time warp

Christine doesn't like it when I sing a Christmas carol too early (before Thanksgiving), so last night when she was watching a Christmas rerun episode of one of her favorite syndicated TV shows, I teased her, "Oh, it's OK for Buffy the Vampire Slayer to play Christmas music in July?"

Then I quickly remembered that we're not only out of July, but also August and just about halfway through September.

Where did the time go?

A baby has really messed with my internal clock. While running errands, the three hours between feedings can seem like five minutes, or the last 15 minutes before a feeding can feel like three hours if Trent's crying.

So I was a little surprised to see football on last night, even though I spent the last few days reading football previews in Sports Weekly, Sports Illustrated and ESPN magazines. I didn't mind it, but it was depressing today to see the Red Sox coverage focused on year-end individual success stories such as Darnell McDonald being a major leaguer for pretty much the whole year and Adrian Beltre's attempt to reach the 30 home run/100 RBI mark for the second time in his career.

Similarly, but on a better note, Phillies coverage focused on the health status of Brad Lidge and Jimmy Rollins as the Phillies head down the stretch run and probably the playoffs.

It seems like just yesterday Christine and I were deciding whether to plan a little getaway for a week off we had scheduled in July. Now, we're planning a run to the grocery store in between bottles while hoping we don't miss the start of the playoffs.

Today's games: The Phillies beat the Mets 8-4. The Red Sox are playing the A's late on the West Coast. They trail 5-0 in the 2nd - not that it matters anymore.

Oops

When I handed last night's post to Christine for her superb editing, I had written that the Dodgers were cruising to a victory. She toned it down a bit to say the Phillies were attempting a comeback, but I don't think she seriously expected them to come all the way back from an seven-run deficit in the 8th inning, even though they had scored a couple of runs by the time she posted.

I certainly didn't.

Oops ... Chooch did it again, knocking in the winning run in the best comeback of the year, in what could be the only game to rival Roy Halladay's perfect game as the Phillies game of the year.

Tonight, however, they couldn't come back from a one-run deficit. For the second time in a week, Cole Hamels pitched a gem against the Mets, but had to eat a 1-0 loss. The Phillies have been shut out in all four games they've played at Citi Field this year. Incredible.

The Red Sox and Rangers aren't participating in such a pitching duel. David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre and J.D. Drew went back-to-back-to-back in a seven-run 4th inning, but Josh Beckett couldn't keep his foot on the Rangers' neck. The Red Sox still lead, 9-8 in the 8th, but I'm not comfortable at all.

Nice way to end the first half

Toward the end of the Phillies 1-0 win over the Reds today, Christine noted that I prefer pitching duels. I didn't understand that she was referring to the fact that it would have been a great game to go to and that we would have been there today if something better hadn't come along.

I enjoyed watching my first Sunday afternoon game with my wife and our son, which we followed with a barbecue. (I wasn't allowed to give Trent a burger.) I know we're still in the early innings and that there will be difficult and unpleasant times ahead, but I'm going to like this parenting thing.

And everyone likes that the Phillies are now 4-0 since the little guy came home. Although he broke his streak of walk-off extra-inning wins, he did will them to consecutive 1-0 wins for the first time since 1913.

The Red Sox have improved to 2-1 since Trent came home, after beating the Blue Jays 3-2 in a game affected by shadows because of a malfunctioning retractable roof.

At the All-Star break, the Red Sox trail the Yankees by 4.5 games and the Rays by 3. The Phillies trail the Braves by 4.5 games and the Rockies by 2. (The Mets and Dodgers are also ahead of them.) Despite all their troubles in the first half, I think our teams are well positioned for a magical ending in which I'll have to wake Trent up on a fall night and he won't know how to react to the ending of the SoxandPhils World Series because one of his teams will have won, the other will have lost.

Interesting trivia: Yesterday's gem between Roy Halladay and Travis Wood was the first time two starters matched nine shutout innings since 2003. Doc was one of those starters too. ... Nick Cafardo notes that "Adrian Beltre had hit the most home runs among active players who hadn’t made an All-Star Game, until he was finally selected. Beltre hit 262 homers before being named. Matt Stairs has hit 261, and will likely never go."

Premature retirement: I retired my David Ortiz T-shirt today. I wanted to wear it one more time, but it's just too big.

Fun-filled 4th

Here are the happenings, in brief.

The AL All-Star team will have six Red Sox, including Clay Buchholz, who is heading to the DL. He'll be joined by injured Victor Martinez and Dustin Pedroia and healthy David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre and Jon Lester. Kevin Youkilis was snubbed, but he's headed to the ballot for the final roster spot.

Charlie Manuel selected only one Phillie for the NL team: Ryan Howard. He'll be joined by fan-selected but injured Chase Utley and player-selected Roy Halladay.

The Sox and Phils each lost today to crappy teams, the Orioles and Pirates.

Joey Chestnut won another hot dog eating competition, but they had to arrest Takeru Kobayashi to keep him from reclaiming his spot as the world's top eater.

Christine and I had a nice dinner.

Unwelcome return

I logged on thinking that Davey Lopes' comments about Chase Utley and his knee, and the Phillies' offensive explosion, would give me an excuse to downplay the return of Manny Ramirez to Fenway.

Nope.

An even bigger former Red Sox/roider/horse's ass stole my attention. Roger Clemens decided tonight would be a good night to catch a game in the Monster seats. What an ass. Doesn't he have a lawsuit to worry about?

The Globe reports that Manny was largely booed, but that there were some cheers and a video tribute to the former Red Sox slugger. He rewarded the appreciation by showing no acknowledgment. I probably would have neither cheered nor booed.

Manny aside, Felix Doubront won his big league debut despite giving up five runs (three earned) in five innings. The Red Sox beat the Dodgers 10-6 behind home runs by Manny's bud David Ortiz and former Dodgers Adrian Beltre and J.D. Drew. Former Phillies prospect Carlos Monasterios got shelled.

If you care (I don't) Manny was 1-5 with a run. Daniel Bard struck him out looking to end the game. {Greg cared so little that he stood up and cheered when Manny struck out.}

Phillies: Davey Lopes told Baseball Prospectus that Chase Utley has a knee injury, confirming much speculation. Utley denied it, but said he wouldn't ever say if he's injured:

Chase Utley said today he is a private person, so he probably would not admit if an injury affected his play.

Utley then said he is fine.

The Phillies said he is fine, too.

He looks fine tonight. Utley, who dismissed before the game that he has an injured right knee, singled and scored from first on a triple in the first inning, hit a three-run home run to right field in the second inning and made a fantastic diving catch in the third inning.

He also specifically refuted Lopes' comments:

"I think there's a little confusion and maybe a little bit of a difference of opinion with what Davey said," Utley said before the game. "In my opinion, an injury is something that keeps you off the field. When you play 162-games-plus over the course of the year you're going to have aches and pains. That's part of this game. That's part of being a baseball player. In my opinion there's no injury whatsoever."

In case you don't believe him - because he said he wouldn't admit if an injury affected his play - Chase was 2-5 tonight with two runs, four RBI and a home run. He was a big cog in what we hope is the official start of hittin' season as the Phillies beat the Twins 9-5. Ryan Howard was a bigger cog, going 4-4 with three runs, three RBI and two home runs, a triple and a double.

Off to Colorado

It's a good thing Roy Halladay wasn't involved in the debate Christine and I were having the other day about who Phillies fans would choose as their favorite BraveandPhil. He would have sided with Christine because he was a big Dale Murphy fan, as we learned in this story about Halladay who is scheduled to start against the Rockies on Tuesday - the first start he'll make in his hometown:

"I was a big Dale Murphy fan, so it was pretty exciting when they got him," Halladay said. Just before the start of their inaugural season in 1993, the Rockies signed Murphy after he had been placed on waivers by the Phillies at the end of spring training. Halladay was 15 at the time and had grown up a fan of the Atlanta Braves.

"I just watched them on TBS all the time, so I became a Braves fan," Halladay said. "They weren't any good until after Murphy left, which is when I became a Phillies fan for a couple of years."

Murphy was traded to the Phillies in August 1990 and also played for them in 1991 and 1992. Because of a balky left knee that required constant draining, Murphy's career with the Rockies lasted only 26 games, and Halladay's interest in his hometown team did not last much beyond that.

Because of Doc's connections among these teams, I thought I would do the all-time RoxandBravesandPhils team. Christine doubted me ... she was right. There are only eight such players, including someone else who was an option in the poll the other day, Ron Gant, current hitting coach Milt Thompson and the immortal Andy Ashby. Off the top off my head, I could only come up with Marvin Freeman. The others: Adam Bernero, Jose Hernandez and Jeff Parrett.

SoxandPhils who don't love their Mommas: I know that not every player uses a pink bat on Mother's Day, but I've never heard of players specifically shunning them. Today, we learned that Phillie Jayson Werth and Red Sox Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz wouldn't use them yesterday.

"I tried those pink bats in the past and they didn't work so well," Werth said.

He added that his mother would not be offended.

Tonight's games: In an ugly one, the Red Sox lead the Blue Jays 7-4 in the 4th. The Phillies are just under way in Doc Halladay's hometown with an early 1-0 lead.

Raul helps team chemistry

Everyone was pleased with the way Raul Ibanez replaced Pat Burrell last year, even though the Phillies didn't achieve as much as they did in 2008.

Ibanez isn't resting on his laurels and, in a true spirit of SoxandPhils, has even helped the Red Sox. When Adrian Beltre considered whether to sign with the Red Sox, he was concerned about stealing Mike Lowell's spot.

Today's story by the Globe's Amalie Benjamin almost suggests that Beltre didn't want to come to Boston purely out of respect to the 2007 World Series MVP. But Ibanez, who played with Beltre in Seattle and is a friend of Lowell, put those feelings to rest:

"I talked to [Ibanez] and said I was thinking about calling Mike before," Beltre said. "He said, 'Don't. Just talk to him when you're in spring training. Mike's a great dude, and he'll understand.'"
[...]
"Those are things that you can't control," Ibanez said. "You can't look to the left or to the right or behind you. You can only look at what's right in front of you and control what's right in front of you."

And, now despite a situation that can't be welcomed for Lowell, the two are handling things very classy and professionally:

Their stories are intertwined, the new third baseman and the old. Their lockers are close together. They take ground balls one after the other, inhabiting a spot big enough for only one. A situation that could have bred distrust and strife in a clubhouse has not, from all evidence, though it is clear that, on many days, Lowell would rather be just about anywhere else.

Perhaps that's because they are, as Ibanez calls them, "two of the best people I've had the pleasure of knowing."

Thanks, Raul. If Lowell's still around in October, I'm sure he'll tip a bottle of champagne to you before he dumps it on Beltre.

Christine's psychic powers strike again: Yesterday, Christine and I were discussing Jamie Moyer's good spring. I noted that Tim Wakefield, the other SoxandPhils elder statesman, was also exceeding expectations. She asked me what the Red Sox were going to do with their rotation, and I said they'll probably start Daisuke Matsuzaka in the minors on injury rehab and then see what unfolds.

"Oh yeah," she said. "And he hasn't even had his annual spring injury yet."

Oops. A stiff neck has officially reduced the number of starters the Red Sox could use to start the season from six to five.

And, last week, Christine and I were talking about Ryne Sandberg, and she noted how no one else has that name. Today's spring training update: "Josh Beckett is sick and will not start today. Minor leaguer Ryne Miller will get the nod."

Her insulting questioning of Beckett being sick on a Sunday morning will be ignored.

When one old lefty moves out, another moves up

When Randy Johnson announced his retirement this week, it did have some meaning for the Phillies - well, one of them anyway.

With Johnson out of the picture, Jamie Moyer has moved up in a couple of categories on the ol' active leader lists, according to The Bill James Handbook.

Before the Big Unit retired, J-Moy already led active pitchers in games started (609), losses (195) and home runs allowed (491).

Now, he will open the season also leading in wins (258), innings (3,908.2) and batters faced (16,642).

Moyer also moved up to fifth in complete games (31), third in strikeouts (2,342), second in walks (1,117) and third in hit batsmen (138).

Moyer - whose fastball averaged a league-low 81.4 mph last year - will be the active strikeout leader if Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz don't play in 2010.

Another old Phillie: Brett Myers, who has a been a Phillie for so long that his major league debut occurred during our honeymoon, is officially gone. He's now with Ed Wade and the rest of the Philadelphia Astrox. Christine laments the end of an era. We said our peace to young Brett in November.

Mutual (g)love society: Mike Lowell once told Nick Cafardo that Adrian Beltre was the best third baseman he's seen:

"Tools-wise, Adrian Beltre is the best one," he said. "He can be the best one. He's very, very quick. He comes in on the ball incredibly. I relate it to the way I can catch some ground balls. But I see some balls he gets down the line where I really have to concentrate on setting my feet to make a good, strong throw and he's off-balance throwing from the side and it's a rocket that comes out of his arm.

"So I enjoy watching his tools. I wish I could have that ability to flick the ball across the diamond and it goes like a bullet. In the minors, he was like a man playing against boys."

Beltre, supplanting Lowell at third for the Red Sox, returned the kind words today:

New Boston Red Sox third baseman Adrian Beltre has played against Mike Lowell since they were in the minor leagues, and said Lowell has the best hands of any third baseman in the game. "I know Mike Lowell," he said after his introductory press conference in Fenway Park on Friday. "I'm a huge fan of Mike Lowell. Mike is a great guy."

Thanks: Big kudos to Cafepress.com. Christine's Chooch T-shirt was a little too small. We asked to exchange it for a larger one. They just sent us a larger one without asking us to send the other one back. It arrived today. Great customer service.

D-Fence and the new-look Red Sox

It's quite clear by now that Theo Epstein thought the best way to improve the Red Sox was via leather and pitching. Run prevention is the new catch phrase in Boston.

So Jason Bay was banished to New York, and Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek were sent to the bench, and Jacoby Ellsbury was sent to left field.

What?

Interestingly, I was looking at defensive stats this morning in The Bill James Handbook and was surprised to see that, defying conventional wisdom, both Ellsbury and Shane Victorino rank among the worst center fielders in the game. So although I was surprised when news broke this afternoon that the Red Sox will play Mike Cameron in center, I wasn't completely shocked.

I'm really psyched for the new-look defensive Red Sox, even though I'm sure some, like this moron particpating in a Rob Neyer chat, will question Theo's logic:

Steve (NYC)
Rob, do you think the Sox are putting too many eggs in the UZR basket? They've improved their defense, but from a distance it also looks like they've added mediocre bats to 1/3 of their lineup. Are we really so confident in the relative value of defense to offense that these "WAR" numbers are gospel? I guess we'll find out, but I personally find the Sox a lot less scary than in previous seasons.

Rob Neyer (12:10 PM)
Cameron has been an above-average hitter in each of the last 11 seasons; Beltre has been above average in four of the last six seasons. So, no.

Thanks, Rob.

A little longer defense of the Red Sox D-Fence comes from Dave Cameron:

Beltre isn't just a good defender. He is in the conversation of the best defensive third baseman of all time.
[...]
It isn't just the numbers, either. When you watch Beltre play third base, you are amazed at the things he can do. He has perfected the charge on a bunt – no one in baseball comes in on the ball as well as he does. His lateral range is hilarious at times, as he regularly fields balls that are hit directly at the shortstop, just because he can. He has a great arm, often throwing lasers across the field without transferring his weight, showing pure arm strength.

Nuggets gleaned today from Bill James: Chase Utley was the best base-running second baseman in 2009 and was second only to Michael Bourn among all players. Mike Lowell was the worst base runner at third base - another reason the Adrian Beltre signing makes sense. Although he's not an excellent base runner, at least Beltre is on the positive side of the ledger, unlike the guy he is replacing.

Brad Lidge had the worst OPS (.912) among relievers with at least 50 games. He was also tied with the second worst save percentage (74 percent).

Ryan Madson tied for second with 29 appearances in which he pitched on the previous day. But with all the talk about not using the injured Lidge on consecutive days, the closer did have 21 such appearances.

[Photo credit: HuggingHaroldReynolds.com]

Back to work

Rob Neyer opened his morning blog post with the observation: "When I have to work every day, I want a day off. When I have days off, I want to work. Go figure ..."

I interpret that as saying that he updates his blog even if he is off. Andy Martino, however, does not. I know it's the holiday season and Phillies news has been slow, but he's gone nearly two weeks since posting. That's ridiculous. Even if he has a good excuse like a personal reason for being unable to work, you'd think a colleague would post something every couple of days to stave off the blog's stagnation.

Christine and I returned to work today after a nice holiday break. I did have time to peek at a couple of pages of The Bill James Handbook that Christine got me for Christmas.

Among the early SoxandPhils highlights is the closest vote ever for a Fielding Bible Award. At second base, Aaron Hill and Dustin Pedroia were tied at 76 points with Chase Utley in third with 73 points. Hill won the tiebreaker with more first place votes than Pedroia.

And the best two catchers at blocking bad pitches? Jason Varitek (95.9 percent) and Carlos Ruiz (95.8 percent). See, Chris Coste, maybe you getting yanked in the 9th inning was more about Chooch and less about you. (That sentiment isn't as bitter toward Coste as it sounds. I was just a little defensive about Christine's favorite Phillie.)

Red Sox still working: But Mike Lowell won't be working as much in 2010. Welcome aboard Adrian Beltre. I like that this is a one-year deal; I'm just perplexed what it means for Lowell's role with the team.