Where is the Real Dice-K?

The Fourth of July is the traditional halfway point of the MLB season. Easter Sunday has no such significance, although the season has started on Easter Sunday a couple of times. If this season started today, we Red Sox fans might still be talking about winning a hundred games. Every team goes through a couple of slumps, and the Sox got one of theirs out of the way early. The slump was so bad that they are 6-1 in their last seven games and still are three under .500.

Back in the mid 1960s, teams called other teams that they could beat on a regular basis "cousins." The Minnesota Twins of that era (Killebrew, Oliva, Kaat and company) were 42-12 against the Sox from 1964 through 1966. They were even 11-7 against Boston in 1967, but lost when it counted, when the Sox won the final two games of the season and the "Impossible Dream" pennant. Since the 2009 playoff debacle and Papelbon's famous meltdown, Boston has had that kind of relationship with the Anaheim Angels of Not Los Angeles, going 12-1 heading into the final game of the four-game weekend series.

The Saturday night game gave hope to those of us who stayed up, switching between the Sox and the Bruins, that things are starting to even out on this team. Carl Crawford had a couple of hits, Jacoby Ellsbury also had a couple to move above the Mendoza Line, with a couple of steals as well. But it looks like some aliens have captured Daisuke Matsuzaka and replaced him with a pod-person clone.

The entity that has made the last two starts wearing number 18 is clearly not the same one that started all of the last two seasons, or the first two starts this year. That number 18 was 13-14, gave up four and a half walks and sixteen base runners per nine innings, and was impossible to watch. This guy has pitched 15 innings in his last two starts, given up two hits and no runs, and walked only four batters. It's like Pedro has come back.

This year the Red Sox switched pitching coaches, as Saint John Farrell moved on to manage the Toronto Blue Jays and Curt Young came to Boston. Regular readers (I know there are one or two of you out there) know that I was never a fan of Farrell because, if something went wrong with a pitcher, Farrell could not get that pitcher back on track. Look at the World Champion Giants last year, with Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez 1.35 and 1.54 ERAs after washing out here. Look at Brad Penny, who went 7-8 here in 2009, then 4-1 for the Giants down the stretch. (Maybe that says something about Dave Righetti, the Giants pitching coach). Look at Daisuke Matsuzaka, who never even came close to duplicating that 18-3 season of 2008, the luckiest 18-win season in baseball history.

Which brings us to this season, and Curt Young. Maybe he saw something wrong in Dice-K's delivery. Maybe he allowed Dice-K to go back to some of his Japanese training methods. Maybe it's just plain luck. No pitching coach is going to turn a player around immediately, but maybe with spring training and a couple of real starts behind him, whatever Young and Matsuzaka have been working on may be starting to pay off. After only two good starts, you hesitate to say a corner has been turned. Dice-K has proven to be pretty stubborn since getting here, and he could go back to the maddening Dice-K again, but if they had an award for pitching coach of the year, Curt Young would be an early favorite. Now if he could just bring back the gyro ball.

Manny Being Gone

Oh, sure, he's quit before. He quit on the Red Sox. He quit on the Dodgers. He quit on the White Sox. But it's never been like this. This time he really quit, before they could toss him out on his ass.

Off to a 1-for-17 start with the Rays, one of the last remaining idiots from the 2004 Sox gave the baseball idiots of Tampa Bay and their cowbells the Cliff's Notes version of life with Manny. When he first arrives, it's great. What a wonderful teammate. Funny. Amazing work ethic. Marketing plans are made around him (remember Mannywood?) Starts off fast. With the Red Sox in 2001, in April he had nine home runs and was hitting .408. In 2008 he personally carried the Dodgers into the playoffs and hit .500 in their division series against the Cubs.

Then things start to go wrong. Here in Boston it began with the nagging hamstring injuries take him out of the lineup at key times and continued with behavior so off-the-left-field-wall that it bordered on bizarre, but just gets chalked up to Manny being Manny. He was the World Series MVP in 2004, but at the 2005 trade deadline, Manny was pulled from the lineup. The deal didn't go down, and Manny drove in the winning run against the Twins with a pinch-hit single. Just before he was traded to the Dodgers, Manny had pushed the Sox 70-something-year-old traveling secretary and had gotten into a fight with Kevin Youkilis.

In LA, he followed the great finish in 2008 with a 50-game drug suspension in 2009. By 2010 he was a regular fixture on the Disabled List, and the Dodgers released him. Manny signed with Chicago to the usual great fanfare, one home run and two RBIs.

The Rays got the entire Manny experience condensed into a two-month period. And now he's retired so MLB can't suspend him for 100 games.

It's clear that when he wanted to ramp up his game, Manny Ramirez turned to performance-enhancing drugs. He was on the leaked 2003 list of drug users, along with David Ortiz, Jason Giambi and A-Rod, and had a great 2004 season that ended with a World Series win. His 2009 suspension came just months after his great finish to 2008. His latest issue came as he was being praised for coming into Spring Training in great shape.

Manny was a model citizen in Cleveland. The Manny-being-Manny stuff really didn't begin until he got to the Red Sox, and continued for the rest of his career. Mood and behavior swings are one sign of drug use. So are constant muscle problems. And, as we have found over the last few years, so are increases in production that are so dramatic that they stand out.

It was a fun ride for Manny's fans. We all enjoyed watching him stride to the plate and power one out. But now facts are facts. Manny wasn't just being Manny. He was also being Barry Bonds.

It's Opening Day!!

So, here we are at the beginning of another marathon, with people saying this might be the best Red Sox team ever. For that to be true, a lot of pieces will have to fall into place in just the right way. Pieces named Beckett and Saltalamacchia for example. I try to not get too up on the team, because the further up you get, the further down you go. That said, this is a team that is going to score a lot of runs. But, based on spring training, it looks like the pitching is not going to be what most people expect. Prediction: They'll make the playoffs, but they'll get there by winning a lot of 6-4 and 7-5 games.

As far as this being the best Red Sox team ever, well, when the club has been around for 112 seasons, there are a lot of teams to measure this team against. The early 20^th century championship teams had a lot of great players like Speaker, Hooper, Lewis, Young and the Babe. Then there's 1946, with three Hall-of-Famers. But to me the best team was the ill-fated 1978 team that led most of the year only to end up the season in a tie and, well, you know.

That club had four Hall-of-Famers on it: Yaz, Fisk, MVP Jim Rice and Eckersley. Add to that a couple of guys whose numbers are better than some Hall-of-Famers (Evans, Tiant) and some really good ones like Bill Lee, Fred Lynn and Bob Stanley. That team was 99-64, scored 796 runs, hit 172 home runs, led by as many as eight games and, well, you know.

Three Red Sox teams have won more than 100 games: 1912, 1915 and 1946. As this season starts, I'd settle for 98 wins. The last time they won 98 games was in 2004 and, well, you know.

--000--

Jet Blue Park, huh? It does kind of roll off the tongue pretty well. If the Sox were going to sell naming rights to the new Fort Myers ballpark, they could have done worse. CVS Stadium sounds awful harsh. But still, it does sound like it's referring to the tarmac where Jet Blue leaves its planes overnight. Can't wait to see it, though. It's the closest thing we'll ever have to a new ballpark.

Back at the beginning of the 20^th Century, when ballparks were first being built, they had a life of about 15 years. Of course, they were made of wood and had this nasty habit of burning down every now and again. The next generation was built mostly of concrete, with only some wooden sections to burn down. Places like Forbes Field and Shibe Park lasted about 50 years. Then everybody got the idea that giant donuts were the best way to go. Forbes Field gave way to Three Rivers Stadium and Shibe Park was replaced by Veterans' Stadium. They were built for both baseball and football and the sight lines were bad for both sports. But they had luxury boxes and other ways for the team to make money and distract the fans. That era lasted for only 30 years or so, until the owners demanded even more luxury boxes and even more ways to make money. Three Rivers Stadium gave way to PNC Park and Veterans' Stadium was replaced by Citizens Bank Park, as owners realized that honoring veterans made no money, while honoring a bank did.

Through it all, Fenway Park has just chugged along. Always small, always green, always with the same wooden seats that has given it the title of America's Most Cramped Ballpark®. The Sox stayed in Fenway not because they wanted to. The real reason is that the city and the state would not build them a new ballpark, as those other cities have done at least twice now. If Massachusetts had a Stadium Authority to build ballparks the way Maryland does, do you really think Fenway Park would still be around? But, here we are, about to celebrate the 100^th home opener. Even for those chilled fans who will be sitting in right field facing East Boston instead of home plate, it is a reminder that this ballpark is special, even if the only reason it still exists is New England frugality.