# 100

I started this blog, appropriately, on Truck Day, the psychological start of the baseball season. Now, with the season winding down, I’ve reached post #100. Here are some of the highlights, lowlights, right predictions, wrong predictions and downright stupid things I’ve said in 99 entries.

2/6/09 (Truck Day): “But, here in Boston, the truck better have lots of medical equipment on board. I’ve never seen such a roster of walking wounded.” Right!

2/12/09: 5 reasons the Sox are better than last year

(1) Better starting pitcing – check

(2) Better relief pitching – check

(3) The Rays won’t be as good – check

(4) Fewer distractions in left field – check

(5) Deeper bench – struck out on that one until August

2/22/09: 5 reasons the Sox are worse than last year

(1) The 2009 Yankees are better than the 2008 Yankees – yup

(2) No Coco – wrong. Ellsbury has emerged as a better player

(3) Easy outs at the bottom of the lineup – check

(4) Big Papi may never equal his 54-homer season, but his slide from 54 to 35 to 23 last year in an injury-plagued season is a problem – yes and no

2/22/09: “With so many walking wounded coming off injuries or medical issues last year, or just getting older (Ortiz, Lowell, Baldelli, Kotsay, Drew, Bard, Varitek, Beckett, Wakefield, Penney, Smoltz, Saito) a whole lot has to go right for the Red Sox to contend in 2009.” Some things went right, some not.

2/25/09 “The team thinks that Dice-K is following their program in Japan, but they don’t know for sure.” By April, they knew.

3/6/09 “Even RemDawg is being held back with a mysterious ‘infection that he got while out of the country.’” If we only knew!

3/8/09 “Papelbon clone Daniel Bard pitching the fifth. Goes into the Papelbon stare before he pitches, then hits 99 on the gun. In one sequence he threw two at 97 then the next one at 86 to strike out the batter and prompt my wife to remark that ‘he’s got a good changeup.’ Yup, he sure does.” This is called foreshadowing.

4/3/09 “The team has eight starting pitchers (Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, Wakefield, Penny, Smoltz, and Buccholz and Bowden at Pawtucket). If they can keep any five of them healthy at once, it is the team’s strong suit.” Well, they couldn’t.

Also 4/3/09 on the bullpen: “The sheer numbers mean that nobody will be overworked.” Looked stupid there, but on the other hand I said, “Nick Green appears to be a capable backup, and could be versatile enough to last the season.”

4/8/09 on Varitek: “If he can hit .250, it will be a 30-point improvement over last year.” He can’t and it’s not.

4/13/09: “Was Josh Beckett throwing at Bobby Abreu? I don’t think so. When time has been called and the pitcher is already into his windup, the ball often ends up going high, often to the backstop.” MLB disagreed.

4/15/09: “Dice-K left the game in the first inning last night. The first inning!!! Of course, he did give up five runs and throw 43 pitches in that first inning, but still. How can a pitcher have a tired arm one inning into his second appearance of the season?” And then did it again in pitching for Portland in September. Bookends to a lost year.

4/27/09, as Sox sweep Yankees: “Unfortunately, there is a pattern here that goes back several seasons. The Red Sox sweep the Yankees early in the season, then the Yankees sweep the Sox later in the season.” The pattern continues.

5/5/09: “What is obvious from the weekend is that I was wrong about the Rays (and so was everybody else for that matter). They haven’t slipped back, they are better. Probably the best team in the American League, with great pitching, excellent timely hitting, power that puts the Sox to shame.” And I was wrong about being wrong.

5/18/09: “If you want to get on base, just hit it to the Red Sox shortstop. The Sox have made 24 errors, 11 of them by Nick Green and Julio Lugo.” And so the trade for Alex Gonzalez after three months of this nonsense.

6/3/09 on Jonathan Papelbon: “…he gave up three singles to load the bases then struck out the side to preserve the Sox 5-1 win over Detroit.” Just a typical Pap performance.

6/10/09 on the bullpen: “There really is nobody out there that makes you think, “Oh, no,” when he starts warming up (Oh, no, it’s John Wasdin).” I take that back, “Oh, no, Ramon Ramirez.”

7/3/09: “So, here’s to Tim Wakefield on the occasion of his 383rd start. Every time Kevin Kennedy, Jimy Williams, Joe Kerrigan, Grady Little or Terry Francona has given him the ball, he has given it his all, and more.” Tim has made only three starts since that game.

7/6/09 (midseason review): “A typical Red Sox season seems to be developing. They start strong and build up a small lead. The Yankees start poorly and then go into a surge in mid-June (they have won 12 of their last 13 at this writing) to take the lead in the division. The Red Sox give chase and possibly end up with the Wild Card.” Looking good on that one.

7/17/09: “Here’s hopin’ the August schedule doesn’t kill them. Starting July 31, the Sox play 15 of 19 games on the road, including two at Tampa Bay, four at New York and three in Texas.” 9-9 in the 18 games, but those six straight losses to the Yankees and Rays pretty much consigned them to second place in the division.

8/6/09: “Remember when the Red Sox had a five-game lead in the diviision? They have lost 7 ½ games in the standings since then.” It’s now 12½.

8/29/09: “When all the dust settled at the trading deadline, Terry Francona may have lost a long reliever, but he was given a bench. And he has used that bench to maximum effectiveness.” Still the case.

And now on to post #101 and beyond.