Not a good week for SoxandPhils old goats

First, there were the reports that Pedro Martinez will not pitch this year. He hasn't retired, but I doubt he will be able to come back again.

Then, Jamie Moyer left Tuesday's start with an injury. There's a good chance he'll need Tommy John surgery. If any 47-year-old can return from Tommy John surgery, it's J-Moy. And, he's hopeful that he can pitch again this year. But you can't help but think that this is the end of a remarkable career.

Then, Moyer's former teammate, Tim Wakefield, who is a Sox, but never been a Phil, was sent to the bullpen as Josh Beckett came back.

Finally, as I was typing this, we watched former SoxandPhil and now Brave Billy Wagner blow a save against the Marlins. So it's not all bad tonight, especially because the Phillies beat the Rockies 6-0. The Red Sox and the Mariners are tied at 1-1 in the 4th.

B-Wags returns

Billy Wagner isn't returning to the Red Sox, but to the NL East, where he will get at least $7 million over one year from the Braves.

Despite an excellent - albeit very small sample size - return from injury this year and statistical projections for a solid 2010, I can't believe B-Wags was able to secure such a decent offer. I was convinced that he wouldn't be able to get a deal like this and would reluctantly accept the Red Sox arbitration offer.

Oh well, we got a nice month out of the SoxandPhil and will get two draft picks in exchange for Chris Carter.

I'm sure the Red Sox aren't upset that Wagner signed elsewhere. As Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald notes:

It worked out well for both sides. While the Sox get their picks, Wagner gets a team he can close with. The 38-year-old has made it clear that he hopes to earn 40 more saves to pass John Franco as the all-time save leader among left-handed pitchers. He was sharp with the Sox in the 13 games in which he appeared, compiling a 1.98 ERA in a setup role. The performance, coming off Tommy John surgery, helped Wagner land the deal with the Braves.

I'm not so sure, however, that the Braves won't regret keeping Mike Gonzalez or Rafael Soriano instead.

Remind me: Next year, I'm not getting out of bed on Dec. 2.

Last day

Yes, there are two more games left (not counting the playoffs), but with my bike ride tomorrow and tickets for Sunday, tonight was the last time we could watch a regular-season game.

We didn't get to see much, however, with the last-minute preparation for tomorrow. Please, please, please let me avoid rain.

We didn't miss much. Joe Blanton stunk, and the Marlins won 7-2. The Cardinals are losing, and the Dodgers just started. If the Cardinals come back, they will be tied with the Phils with the second-best record in the league, but the Phillies hold that tiebreaker. If the Dodgers win, the best the Phillies can do is tie them, but the Dodgers have that tiebreaker.

In a completely meaningless game, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched well, and Billy Wagner pitched in his second consecutive game. The Red Sox beat the Indians 6-2.

In memoriam: We lost a great Phillies fan - hope he has a good seat and the radio turned on to Harry Kalas.

Playoff baseball has arrived

Last night felt like playoff baseball - hoping not only for a win, but for an ending so I could go to sleep.

Somehow I was able to fall asleep even after all the craziness and excitement of the 9th inning in which the Red Sox stole a 9-8 walkoff win from the Angels.

Despite the playoff feel, the game never seemed comfortable other than the five-run 6th inning in which the Red Sox took a 5-3 lead. They coughed it right up and entered the bottom of the 9th facing Brian Fuentes trailing 8-7.

The Red Sox had a 23 percent chance of winning at that point, which dropped to 5 percent after two quick flyouts. Then things got crazy. David Ortiz worked a walk. J.D. Drew hit an infield single. Jed Lowrie, making his first plate appearance in more than a month, pinch hit and got another infield single. Actually, this could have been a game-tying double if Chone Figgins didn't knock it down.

Then, a nine-pitch walk by pinch-hitter Nick Green swung the odds in the Red Sox favor. I admit, Green, who looked awful and later said he had a dead leg, should have been punched out at least twice. Once on a checked swing on which he clearly swung and on the final pitch, which looked to be a perfect strike.

I'll let Mike Scioscia and Fuentes do the griping. I don't want to be fined by the commissioner's office.

Nonetheless, in baseball, spit happens, like Alex Gonzalez's little duck snort to left to win it and put the Red Sox comfortably ahead of the Rangers by 6.5 games and still within hope (6.5 games) of catching the Yankees.

Tonight's games: Both games were on TV again tonight, but we decided to rely on the channel return button instead of watching in separate rooms - especially the breath-taking 9th innings that ended without a Red Sox comeback, but a Brad Lidge save in a blemished outing.

Both our teams' aces went eight innings tonight. Josh Beckett gave up three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts in the 4-3 loss to the Angels. Billy Wagner blew it for him in the 8th.

Cole Hamels was better than Beckett. He took a perfect game into the 6th. Christine blames me for getting up from the computer for breaking the streak. Hey, I finished prewriting the blog all I could and I was going to have to use the facilities. Jeez, it's not like I needed a substitution like Shane Victorino.

Cole finished with a run on five hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts. Brad Lidge gave up a run in the 9th, but he held on to preserve the 4-2 win over the Nationals.

Thus ended a successful 13-2 homestand for the SoxandPhils. They're cruising toward their October/November showdown.

Catching up with former SoxandPhils

There was no shortage of tidbits about former Phillies and Red Sox in the news today. Here are the highlights. Followed by some snark.

Helping the Astros enjoy a win at the expense of yet another Brad Lidge blown save wasn't good enough for Phillies discard Chris Coste. He couldn't resist taken a swipe at his former team:

It didn't surprise me they let me go. After four years, they never recognized that I was actually a way-above-average defensive catcher. When my role became righthanded pinch-hitter off the bench, and I wasn't doing well in that role, it made sense. But what I never did understand was that I lost my job as a backup catcher, because in my mind I didn't do anything to lose it.

He also said that because he was constantly removed from games in the 9th inning, it hurt his reputation, suggesting he couldn't catch a slider in the dirt. He acknowledges this could be the last month for the improbable Chris Coste story.

The assessment comes from honest feelings and may be true, but at some point, Coster has to accept that sometimes players fall through the cracks. He was destined, too, but he got at least four years in the big leagues. Many would love that without the constant griping about reputation.

Jim Salisbury reports that the Indians fans aren't happy with the Cliff Lee trade (though Phillies fans haven't been that pleased either during the last two weeks), especially because Jason Donald and Jason Knapp have been injured and Carlos Carrasco got shelled in his major league debut. Unmentioned is that Lou Marson is hitting .240/.313/.320 in AAA.

Egad. This one isn't exactly looking like a repeat of Lee, Brandon Phillies, Grady Sizemore and Lee Stevens for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew for the Tribe.

Nick Cafardo notes that Carlos Pena could be the first New Englander since Tony Conigliaro to win a home run crown:

"Don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but that would be an honor to be mentioned in the same way as Tony C," said the Haverhill native. "He's a Boston hero and I heard a lot about him growing up in the Boston area."

Good for him. I have no snark.

Cafardo also reports that Brad Penny credited his new catcher, Eli Whiteside, with his dominant outing against the Phillies because he suggested throwing more breaking balls earlier in the count.

Cafardo's snark:

Question: As a veteran pitcher, did Penny ever think about this on his own while he was getting drilled over his last 10 starts with Boston?

My snark: Um, where's the catching genius of Jason Varitek here? Shouldn't the columnist be questioning the Captain, too? But I agree, Penny's a punk.

Finally, hard to believe for those of us who watched him as a Phillie, but Gavin Floyd has pretty much become an ace.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen loves Floyd, and while he's placed the ace label on Buehrle, he said Floyd has pitched "tough games" for him the last two years. "When we most need him, he shows up," said Guillen. "This kid is so consistent. When he's out there in those situations, you're going to see who's tough. He goes out and dominates."

Today's games: Coste didn't play today, but Michael Bourn went 2-4 with two runs in the Astros third straight win over the Phillies. Cole Hamels' recent dominance has vanished: four earned in six innings. Astros 4, Phillies 3.

Billy Wagner gave up a solo home run after Jon Lester pitched seven scoreless. But the Red Sox scored three more in the 9th for a much-need 6-1 win over the White Sox.

Quotable SoxandPhils sluggers

The other day, I forgot to mention a quote that I just loved from Matt Stairs. He wants to play one more year for the Phillies and made his case why he deserves another year:

I'd like to be back, but that's a decision for the team. I'm inexpensive, and I don't complain that I don't play a lot.

While Stairs has been a fan favorite because of his key pinch hits (not so many this year), he's also likable because he's a rare average Joe in this era of athletes with super-sized egos. Who can't relate to wanting to earn $1+ million to sit on the bench, watch a game and chew on some sunflower seeds? You've got to love honesty from the big lug who has a history of being honest, if not the most cautious, with his comments.

The Red Sox big slugger, David Ortiz, also had a quote this week that was more like Stairs' famous postseason quote than his more recent one. Papi explained how Victor Martinez has motivated him this year:

Victor, man, he just push me, man. Every at-bat since he's been here, he just get in my face and start screaming at me and everything. I like it, I really like it. He gets me in the mood.

Eww.

But I guess I'd prefer Papi be turned on by our catcher than steroids.

Today's games: Billy Wagner is in Fenway, but unavailable tonight. (Brad Penny was released to make room for him.) B-Wags probably wouldn't be needed anyway; Junichi Tazawa couldn't follow up on his strong performance against the Yankees last week. He gave up nine runs in four innings. The White Sox lead the Red Sox 9-2 in the 5th.

The Phillies, behind J.A. Happ, lead the Pirates 2-1 in the 7th. Whose turn is it to blow a save tonight?

Hibiscus update: We have a full-fledged flower and more buds ready to bloom.

Another new SoxandPhil All-Star pitcher

All day I expected to write a post on how Mensa members were probably disappointed that they weren't going to open a chapter in the Red Sox bullpen because Billy Wagner didn't want to join Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox.

But the six-time All-Star, most famous for insulting Phillies fans and raising alpacas, suddenly changed his mind and will join Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Ken Ryan and Heathcliff Slocumb on the SoxandPhils pitching staff.

Wagner, who said he'd prefer to stay in New York to keep his options open to be a closer next year, had the second-biggest about-face of the day. The first, of course, came from Papelbon,who had said he wanted no part of B-Wags in the Red Sox bullpen when reports first surfaced that the Red Sox claimed him:

It's just a simple thing that when things are taken out of context, you get to where you're going to affect the ballclub. It affects them to where, now you're going to have an effect on whether we're going to get a player or not. Now you're affecting whether we may win a championship. And when you do things like that I just don't think that's the right way to go about it. People make mistakes and people learn from them. I think everybody in this clubhouse is a man and admits to what they do. I've said things in the past and I've never strayed from them. If I need to apologize for something, I'll apologize. This is a situation where there's nothing for me to apologize about. I said nothing demeaning about him. We'll get along great. I know we will. I'm looking really forward to seeing how he works and maybe picking up a couple of things from him.

Theo Epstein said it more succinctly:

I think Pap feels he was misunderstood. He's not a Rhodes Scholar to begin with. When I talked to him directly about it he couldn't have been more excited. When we had our window (to speak to Wagner), Pap went out of his way to make sure he knew he was more than welcome here.

I guess I'm OK with this move - I'm just concerned with how often the recovering Wagner will be able to pitch. If nothing else, it should be an interesting meeting of the minds with him and Papelbon. I don't believe, as Christine predicts, that he will destroy the 2009 Red Sox. {Sure he will. He's going to ruin any chemistry this team may have had; after all, he is a rat, likes to hit young college batters and doesn't mind throwing his teammates under the bus.}

He will be a valuable addition, and come October, he will help do what he could not do as a Met: prevent the Phillies from winning the World Series. {Bwah, ha ha ha ha. Greg, you're too funny. Let me catch my breath. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.}

Tonight's games: Jimmy Rollins led off with a home run on the first pitch. Usually that would prompt Christine to declare the game over. I asked her if it was cinched. She wouldn't admit it, but she was pretty confident in tonight's outcome. He hit another one in the 3rd, and the Phillies were leading until Joe Blanton, who had a laborious outing, gave up a two-run homer in the 6th. Pirates 3, J-Roll 2 in the 8th.

The Red Sox are tied with the White Sox 3-3 in the 8th.

Worry for Phils, Sox still sputter

As the Red Sox have sputtered, everything has seemed golden for the Phillies. Other than insulting their aged warrior, there's been little consternation in Philly. The biggest dilemma may be whether J.A. Happ or Joe Blanton should be the third starter come playoff time.

But Paul Hagen issued a new warning for the Phightins': They're cruising to the playoffs, and teams that have sailed into the playoffs haven't done too well recently. Over the past decade, no team with the biggest divisional lead has won the World Series. Only one such team made it to the World Series, and half were eliminated in the first round.

So I guess there is worry for the Phillies - that they'll continue to steamroll through the rest of the season and then get knocked off by a team that had to squeeze through the playoff entry door.

Entering the day, the Phillies had a 6.5 game lead, which is the same amount as the Yankees and a tick behind the Cardinals' seven-game edge over the Cubs.

So, that's why I'm not too worried about tonight's pasting of the Sox by the Empire, currently 15-5 in the 6th. We're just letting them build up their divisional lead. (Although, I am ready to kick Brad Penny to the curb.) We'll knock them off in the playoffs. Maybe Billy Wagner will be part of the fun. Can you imagine a SoxandPhils World Series with Pedro Martinez and B-Wags?

I wonder if the old lefty will make an appearance tonight. Cole Hamels still can't get on track and has the Phillies in a 4-1 hole to the Mets in the 5th inning (it was delayed by rain).

We have some races

With the Red Sox entering play five games out, I'm thinking the unthinkable. It might be time to be - gasp! - rooting for the Yankees against the Rays this week. A solid 1-0 win over the Twins (7.1 scoreless innings by Daisuke Matsuzaka) crept us back to four out and extended our wild card lead to 2.5 games over Minnesota. I'll put off rooting for the Empire, but if the Rays don't start losing soon, I may be forced to root for evil next time.

The Phillies, meanwhile, dropped their third straight to the Mets, who are now just 2.5 games behind. A lousy start by Adam Eaton culminated in the Phillies being down 10-1 entering the bottom of the 6th. The ghosts of 2007 seemed to return as the Phillies scored in all of the remaining innings, including two in the 9th off Billy Wagner. But Jayson Werth, who had been perfect against B-Wags, flew out to end the game with the potential tying run on second base. Mets 10, Phillies 9.

They're losing their minds

Things aren't starting out too well for last year's uncrowned NL East champs. You would figure signing Johan would do something to overcome the fact that they crumbled last year, couldn't even beat the Marlins on the last day of the season to force a tie for the division and were basically whiny little bitches as the Phils took care of business.

Now, the Mets can't even beat a college team. And they can't even do that without Billy Wagner threatening a kid who tried to bunt off him. Apparently, you don't make B-Wags field during the first spring training game - especially if you play for the University of Michigan.

Wagner, clearly annoyed, shook his head a number of times, and Cislo wisely swung away, grounding out. Wagner said he couldn't believe that Cislo, a junior, bunted.

"If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy," Wagner said. "Play to win against Villanova."

Even Willie Randolph - one of the few Yankees who doesn't sicken me - didn't have a problem with his ace reliever's threat.

Asked about Wagner's reaction, manager Willie Randolph laughed.

"He couldn't bring himself to drill the kid," Randolph said. "Nolan Ryan might have. Nolan or Roger [Clemens] may have done it, kid or not."

But then again, maybe Willie also remains shell-shocked from last year:

While the Mets viewed the game as their preseason tuneup, Michigan was fired up, and Randolph mentioned that all the Wolverines' chatter "-- me off a little bit."

The Mets are clearly a wounded, demoralized animal, the wrong mix when people are already predicting a Phillies-Mets brawl. Ironically, when that talk was going good, Wagner was complaining about a young Phillie taking him on, but he has no problems threatening to put a fastball in some young kid's gut.

"I have all the respect in the world for those guys," Billy Wagner said [of the Phillies]. "I don't have any ill will against them. But if they want to come out and fight, then bring it on. That's their prerogative -- fine. I'm too old to be worrying about fighting somebody. I'm having enough trouble getting somebody out as it is.

"If one of their little 25-year-olds wants to come out and whip my ass, they can brag that they whipped a 37-year-old man's ass. Well, good for them. It's always good to play that underdog role.

"If they come out there, though, there's two things that could happen. I'm pretty sure they're going to whip my ass. But what if I get a shot in? What if? Then you just got your ass whipped on national TV by the littlest guy in baseball, so think of that 'What if?'"

Houston, we have a problem

In 2003, my work week ran Sunday through Thursday. That was a good thing on Oct. 17 - the day after Grady Little earned a middle name. After a late night and the most painful loss I have experienced, I was in no condition to work.

Little's inept management and a roider named Giambi cost a nearly certain, first-ever meaningful victory over the Empire. I was in shock and sputtered through that Friday, unsure if the game really unfolded like that. The joy of '04 took away the sting, but I still feel cheated as we have learned of more and more taint to the Empire.

Last night, watching highlights of the Andy Pettitte apology (although he's not a cheater, you know), a thought occurred to me: He and the prime roider, Roger Clemens, also fueled the Astros to the postseason. In 2005, when they went to the World Series, they narrowly edged the Phillies for the wild card.

While everyone marveled that the 'Stros finished 16 games over .500 after falling 15 games under in May, no one really questioned how an aging team could recover like that. Now we know it was fueled by the best 1-2 combo drugs could produce: Andy Pettitte and the Roidger. Each had what can be considered a career-best season: 17-9, 2.39 for Pettitte and 13-8, 1.87 for the 42-year-old Clemens.

In what I've considered - until now - to be a Phillies' choke job, the Astros won the wild card by 1 game. Looking back, the Astros swept the six-game season series, with Pettitte and Clemens winning half of those games. Then-Phils closer Billy Wagner blew two of the other games in a September series in Philly. The first blow, a home run by Craig Biggio, sounded like it killed Harry Kalas

I can't say the Phils would have replaced the Astros as league champions, but they did have winning records against all the other playoff teams that year. Why hasn't Arlen Specter tacked this onto his investigation of the Eagles-Pats Super Bowl?

Addendum: It seems as if that Kalas call isn't anywhere on the Internet, as this post from Crashburn Alley recounts an interview with Kalas on WIP.

About 32 minutes into the clip, Cataldi is asking Kalas about the most downtrodden he’s been on the air, and before he even said it, I was thinking “Craig Biggio’s ninth-inning three-run home run off of Billy Wagner in 2005.” I can remember Harry’s voice clearly to this day and it may have been the furthest my heart has sunk in my entire life.

"Probably the most downer call I ever made, Angelo, is Billy Wagner’s last year with the Phillies when Biggio hit a home run off him and we were on our way to perhaps post-season, and when Biggio hit that home run — I mean I heard a replay of that …"

The WIP team struggled with finding a clip of Harry’s call, and, unfortunately, there isn’t one on MLB.com, as they have the FSN Houston broadcast team for the September 7, 2005, game in question.