Setting the record straight

The scribes made a few mistakes this week that I've been meaning to mention.

Most noticeable is the curious report I woke up to Sunday morning that the Phillies, with no real warning, signed two pitchers from Japan. It was quickly retracted by Matt Gelb:

Contrary to reports from Japan, the Phillies have not come to agreements with Japanese relievers Shigetoshi Yamakita and Naoyo Okamoto, a Phils spokesman said yesterday.

Gelb was the only American reporter who bit on the story and reported it as fact. He hasn't been heard from much since, and Andy Martino is back on the beat. Coincidence?

More discreet, but much more offensive, was this little passage in Steve Buckley's Kevin Youkilis story that I talked about yesterday:

The late Dick Radatz landed a job with a local oil company. Carl Yaztrzemski, among many other ventures, owned a car dealership. Mike Andrews became so entrenched a Bostonian that he wound up running the Jimmy Fund.

How in the world can a Boston Red Sox beat writer and his editors allow Carl Yastrzemski's name to be misspelled? I know it's a difficult name, but c'mon, we're talking about a pillar of the franchise.

Sleep deprivation

In recent years I've grown accustomed to missing sleep in October (except for most of 2005 and all of 2006). This year, April has been a bugger, too.

First there were the crack-of-dawn risings to watch the Japan games. Now, it's the Yankees. Last night - despite the game and series wins - was awful. Daisuke Matsuzaka decided to play "how many guys can I walk while still getting a win?" and the game dragged even for Yankees-Red Sox standards.

Gordon Edes pointed out this nugget:

It took 2 hours and 10 minutes for the Royals to beat the Twins 5-1 this afternoon. We're 7 minutes shy of 2 hours (10:04) since tonight's first pitch, and we're in the bottom of the third.

I finished watching the game in bed and was starting to nod off in the ninth. When they went to commercial for a ninth-inning pitching change, I fell asleep. I woke up at 12:08 a.m., mad because I didn't know for sure whether they held on to win. Instead of trying to stay up and catch the ticker, I reasoned with myself that if they blew the lead, the game would still be going on. Combined with the long, cold Phillies game, it was a wearing day.

Hopefully the Red Sox can quickly dispatch the Indians tonight so I can catch up on some sleep. (They're on ESPN tonight and Wednesday.) I'm going to have to be rested for a long Sunday, which requires a morning drive to North Jersey for my niece's communion and then back to Philly for a night game against the Mets.

One gimmicky series down, one to go

Wow. How has this not come up before? The New York Times reports that when the Red Sox play the Dodgers in the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday, they will be playing with left field dimensions that will make Fenway Park look like a cookie-cutter stadium.

Because of the football dimensions, a 60-foot fence (made of netting) will be placed 200 feet from home plate for the exhibition. Turns out they have done it before - in the 1959 World Series, as shown in this photo.

Juan Pierre is scared:

I’ll be like 180 feet from the hitters, and those Boston guys hit the ball pretty hard. I might have to wear a cup.

Don't worry about Manny Ramirez; he'll probably bounce one off the net in the first inning and still be standing at home watching it when it's time for him to take the field.

Too bad that game won't be on ESPN. I'd wake up at 6 a.m. for that one. Speaking of which, how is it possible that today's game started at 6 a.m. and I was able to leave for work on time? If it were a postseason game or any Yankees game, it would have still been in the fourth inning at 9 a.m.

Bummer of a game. I don't mind the loss, just wish Jon Lester pitched better. David Aardsma looked good.

A real interesting thing happened when Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips discussed Jose Canseco's hatred of Alex Rodriguez. (Hope you read the excerpt before Deadspin had to yank it.) Thorne said, "There will be some real interesting throws from third to first in the Bronx this year." I was tired and had no clue what he was saying until he then referred to Canseco as Jason Giambi. I know all drugged up A's-turned-Yankees look alike. But one is still playing and the other is a Surreal Life alum.

What do you expect from Gary Thorne, who last year "misunderstood" a conversation with Doug Mirabelli and said Curt Schilling faked the bloody sock?

Magic number = 162

Great game. I woke up to Joe Blanton finishing his warm-ups and saw a good chunk of the game before heading to work. I thought I had blown it by showering after the Sox took a 3-2 lead. They trailed 4-3 by the time I finished getting ready.

Great job by Manny Ramirez and last-minute replacement Brandon Moss.

Etc.: It was hard to get updates on the radio driving to work this morning. When the A's walked David Ortiz to pitch to Manny in the 10th, I started flipping through the sports stations to hear what happened. WIP came through with a rant about what awful managing and how only Charlie Manuel would do something like that.

A season begins

By the time you read this on Tuesday, the Red Sox, favored by many to repeat as World Champions, will have begun their title defense in Japan. Still seems odd to be opening a week before everyone else in a game that requires an early alarm clock to watch.

As part of another cheesy ESPN feature - comparing the impending season to the presidential campaign - Jayson Stark has a good read on how the Red Sox have gone from cursed to powerhouse.

"The thing about this team is, we don't just want to win one," Youkilis says with a laugh. "We want to try to catch Yogi."

Of more immediate concern, however, is a feud brewing between Phillies pitchers Brad Lidge and Kris Benson and the cast of The Andy Griffith Show. The Phils injured pitchers (I told you Lidge wouldn't be ready for Opening Day) are blaming a mound for their troubles. That caused Phillies Florida operations groundskeeper Ron Cheek, and his boss, older brother Opie Cheek, to let loose on complaining Phillies over the years.

They even throw Curt Schilling under the bus. It's a very funny story - I can't believe it didn't get any attention last week. But I don't like the tenor of Benson and Lidge; they're starting to sound like whiners.

Preseason almost over

We interrupt the Red Sox's rampage through Japan,

with this scary headline from the Inquirer: Eaton looks like a lock for fifth starter's job. Charlie Manual sums it up:

When you pitch like that, what the hell? He's had it all along, really. I haven't seen anybody take it away from him. That's how I see it.

Great, two more years of Adam Eaton.

Back to Japan: I can't decide which is more jarring, that the Hanshin Tigers would play Eye of the Tiger to pump themselves up to play an American team or that they would play Sweet Caroline mid-game. I guess the latter because although Rocky is All-American, you could make the underdog argument for the Hanshin Tigers.

Boycott over, on with the picks

I thought I'd have to boycott posting as a sort of sympathy strike for the Red Sox, but the coaches will be paid, the team is headed to Japan and everyone is as happy as the monkeys Kris and Anna Benson just bought.

So, on with the picks. Today it's Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump, the creator of Only Time Will Tell. {Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump is still in denial that his team is now called the Nationals}:

NL East: Expos
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: D'backs
NL Wild Card: Mets

AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: Tigers
AL West: M's
AL Wild Card: Yankees

World Series: Tigers over D'backs 4-2

AL MVP: Grady Sizemore, Indians
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Tigers
AL ROY: Joba Chamberlain, Yankees

NL MVP: Jose Reyes, Mets
NL Cy Young: Dan Haren, D'backs
NL ROY: Clayton Kershaw , Dodgers

First manager fired: Willie Randolph, Mets start the season 4-11 and Willie is looking for a job.
First team with a player suspended for drugs: "I'm not here to talk about the past."
Next team to be rumored to sign Bonds or Clemens: Newark Bears

My NL East prediction is correct because: Youppi endorses the hard hitting lineup of Milledge, Dukes and Young. They will do a lot of damage both on and off the field.

Tomorrow: We'll change back to the Phillies perspective with Brian.

Media musings

I have to post early today because Christine and I are heading into enemy country (Yankees and Mets region) this morning.

A few headlines did jump out at me: Dice-K's return to Japan on hold till wife has baby from the Philadelphia Daily News and Matsuzaka might make it from the Boston Globe. I guess they're both accurate. The stories, which are essentially the same, say that Daisuke Matsuzaka's wife is due March 19, and he won't travel to Japan with the team for its March 25 opener against the A's. But he may be available to pitch depending on when the baby comes. Basically, yesterday's news makes it seem more likely that he will pitch than when the trip was first announced. Then, the Sox were non-committal about Dice-K pitching. (Did I mention our trip to North Jersey is for a baby shower?)

And then I read: Let's not go overboard on the Red Sox. I knew instantly it was Dan Saughnessy. I must say, however, I agree with him. The crusty columnist has been better in recent years. He's not denigrating the Sox's success, just pointing out some have gone overboard:

Two new books (at least) are scheduled to hit stores this spring: Michael Holley's "Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance"; and Tony Massarotti's "Dynasty: The Inside Story of How the Red Sox Became a Baseball Powerhouse." Whoa. Dominance? Powerhouse? (Gulp) Dynasty?

We aren't a dynasty. Even ignoring the two-year gap, the teams of 2004 and 2007 are too different to be considered as part of one. Yes, key players such as Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield remained, but a bulk of the roster overturned. Now, if they win in '08, start printing those books.