Those Aren't Beers Next to Him

Typical Pomeranz expression, this time after he left the game, pitching 6 innings of 1-run ball. He looks like that after a win or a loss, and possibly while at home in the winter. This is such a constant expression for him that The Eck said so on the air about a month ago. Anyway, Sox win 6-2 and lower their magic number to 14.

Sox 8 Blue Jays 7: 4.8.16

Photo: The Brockstar, just after his grand slam, courtesy of the Boston Herald at this link.

A few quick things about this very exciting game:

--In his post-game comments, Joe Kelly said that this was a game Boston would not have won last year. He's right about that, and just three games into this year.

--In one game, we see the two most glaring problems for both teams: Boston--starting pitching; Toronto--relievers. Both may hit themselves into the postseason.

--Boston needs to bring the Freudian couch to the mound for Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly. I mean that in the kindest way. They can maybe push it aside between pitches like other guys throw aside the resin bag.

--Buchholz has a defeated posture and attitude on the mound I just don't like. And when he was asked about the cause of his most recent performance, the first thing out of his mouth was "Twelve-minute rain delay." That tells you all you need to know about Clay Buchholz. And it explains why his performances are either shutouts or shellackings.

--And Joe Kelly has a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on the mound that must be addressed fast.

--It's one thing to pitch badly. But these two come very suddenly unglued. Which is even worse. Just ask Kevin Pillar. Or Josh Donaldson, for that matter.

--Whoever's the sports psychologist for these guys needs to be fired.

--Travis Shaw points out that the Brockstar is on a pace to hit over 60 homers this year. He's right, and that's why you don't look at a hitter's stats until a month into the season.

--Speaking of stats: I mentioned last time that the LOB stat needs to go on the NESN telecasts. Now I say that the OPS stat needs to go, too.  OPS is a useful stat for maybe four or five batters currently on Boston's 25-man roster: Ortiz, Ramirez, and maybe Shaw, Young and Pedroia--who reaches the outer fringe of OPS's usefulness. Technically, it's not Betts' or Pedroia's (or Holt's) job to slug, though they do that more often than your typical one-two guys will. But really their job is to get on base, not slug the runners in. Showing their OPS every at-bat, and those of the 7-9 guys as well, is wasting eye-strain. That's NESN trying to appease the stat-geeks and fantasy-leaguers, but even those fans know that LOB and OPS are essentially useless stats for most players on most occasions. The sport is polluted enough with numbers (and I'm a stat-aware guy myself), so let's dispense with them when we can.

--Let's watch when Boston has 7-10 straight games of leaving 10 or more guys on. I'll bet NESN will toss the LOB stat then.

--And I'd be okay with the OPS stat being replaced with the OB% stat, even every at-bat. Then Alex Speier can annoyingly but just occasionally remind us of the OPS of only the aforementioned players, when relevant.

--I see now that MLB.com has OPS in their box scores, too. Enough, I say.

--One last point (for now) about Buchholz and Kelly: Because they implode so suddenly, they can't be used as relievers, either, if later in their careers it's determined they can't be starters. This makes both essentially useless pitchers when they're like this, especially Kelly, who has closer-like stuff.

--The starters can't put their offense in this position as often as it looks like they will. The batters will literally get tired, and they'll sputter in the second half, just like overused relievers do.

--Toronto's carpet is a travesty.

--The last two home-plate umpires have been egregiously bad. Whoever the supervisor of umpires is now, he needs to talk to these guys. Have umpires across the leagues been this bad? John Hirschbeck's strike zone was (mostly) consistently a foot off the outside, and Fagan's zone was simply all over the place, inconsistently.

--Rarely do you allow 7 runs in 3 innings and not get the loss. In fact, Buchholz didn't get the L for his implosion, either. Tazawa did.

--Speaking of Tazawa, after the Sox brass said they would be more careful with using him this year, he's appeared in 3 of the team's first 3 games. But the relief was set in place last night once they had the lead after 6 innings. Both wins ended with Tazawa, Uehara and Kimbrel. But...

--100-loss teams this year: San Diego Padres; Milwaukee Brewers; Phillies. Maybe Atlanta, Minnesota and the Angels, too. They'll at least lose 90.

--Baseball rules aside, Noe Ramirez deserved the win last night, not Matt Barnes. Noe's two sanity-replacing innings saved the game.

--Note to Buchholz and Kelly: Henry Owens got the win in Pawtucket's opener, tossing six shutout innings and striking out 8. (I have his autograph, so I especially need him to do well.) You saw how The Overweight Panda lost his job? Look over your shoulders, guys.

--Guerin Austin has grown on me. I wonder if she's that naturally effervescent or if it's just for TV.

--I know I'm naive just asking that, but I usually like to earn my cynicism.

--Or did you not see Jenny Dell rip that overweight fan a new one when he stumbled in front of her during her segment a few years ago? But Jenny Dell always came across as someone who would rip you a new one--which, of course, was part of her allure. She'd kick your ass for ya, and that was OK.

--Considering how he's played the last few years, I wonder if she's been kicking Middlebrook's butt?

--Austin's a Miss Nebraska, after trying for the 2nd time, for those who care about such things. There's no truth to the rumor that she shucked corn (or juggled them) for her talent portion. (Sorry.)

Red Sox 2016 Opening Day 4.5.16

Photo: from ESPN.go.com. This could've been Price about to pitch during today's game, but it wasn't. Game time temperature was 34 degrees in Cleveland.

The game worked exactly as the Sox would've drawn up: the starting pitcher goes 6 or 7 innings, then you finish up with an inning each from your best relievers--Tazawa, Uehara and Kimbrel. That's what happened in this 6-2 win.

With a little bit of help from a truly terrible day behind the plate from John Hirschbeck, who had a strike zone that extended a good couple of inches (or about a foot for Napoli and Bogaerts) to the outside, the Sox best pitchers--the three relievers and David Price, their $30+ million per year ace--pitched well and made this look easy.

A few notes:

--the Sox were patient with Corey Kluber, who walked more batters and who gave up more hits than usual. He allowed 9 hits and 2 walks in 5 1/3 innings, and went to a lot of three-ball counts. He threw 96 pitches in just 5 1/3 innings.

--Price gave up 5 hits and 2 walks in his 6 innings, and struck out 10. He had great pace out there, and was helped out considerably by the wider strike zone. He saw that the pitch 2 inches on the outside of the zone was going to be a strike, and he kept throwing it to that exact spot.

--Napoli, especially in his last at-bat, was a victim of this. He had very good at-bats, especially the first K and his walk, and he deserved better. It was good to see him take pitches and field well, as usual. He can still play, even if not over the course of a full season. And nice sunglasses!

--Bogaerts, Betts and Bradley had very good at-bats. Shaw did, too, even though he struck out three times. Actually, twice, because that last strike three was in another time zone. The young core did well.

--Shaw's K came with the bases loaded, and that could have been haunting had things turned out differently. But they didn't.

--My guess is that Swihart missed a sign, but Bradley could have, too. But Swihart wasn't running on his own with just a two-run lead at the time.

--The next time Hanley Ramirez stands and admires one of his shots, like David Ortiz did after his last Opening Day homerun, it had better go out. His single that should have been a double should earn him a fine from the team. And not by a kangaroo court.

--Having said that, it was good to see him playing with fire, though it's a good thing that throw to third was off-line. Had he been out, as he should have been, I wouldn't be as forgiving. But it was good to see that intensity, and again when he clapped as he scored after Holt's bloop fell in. We didn't see him playing with that fire last year.

--Kudos also to him for coming to camp in much better shape, and with a much better attitude, than Sandroval did. They are noticeable opposites this year, though they were very similar last year.

--And, in all honesty, he's been better at first than I thought he'd be.

--I don't like the LOB column on NESN's graphic this year. Looks bad. I know some channels have had that for awhile now, but that's new to NESN. Needs to go.

--Let's not get carried away. Last year's Opening Day: a shutout for Buchholz, and Pedroia hit two home runs. And look how that turned out.

Opening Day 2013--Red Sox 8, Yankees 2

Photo: Jackie Bradley, Jr., from nbcsports.com

So I'm going to give this blog another shot.  Hope springs eternal, right?  Gone seems to be the bitterness of last year, in which we had a manager nobody liked (including his own players), players nobody liked (including the manager, and the other players) and a front office that seemed to be a bit distant from the action.  Then came the fire sale trades at the end of the season, and things looked up, except for the players themselves, because by then nobody cared.

In all of that, you have the fact that the players weren't trying at all, despite being paid millions (or, tens of millions, in a few cases), and then when the Jerry Sandusky thing came around, that was it for me, folks.  Maybe I'll see you, maybe I won't.

After that, I tried with some baseball cards--which I liked doing, by the way.  And I liked how I went into the players lives, and delved a bit deeper into their backgrounds, or their issues.  In the meantime, I learned a few things as well.  But then some personal changes happened, and my writing took off, and I didn't have the time anymore.

But now I'm back.  The smoke has cleared, and the dust has settled, and whatever other trite cliches you can think of have happened.  Spring is here.  There's hustle and bustle and excitement and exuberance on this Sox team again--for now, anyway.  But there does seem to be a new attitude, and that's not just the Sox ads on NESN talking there.

So, the game.  Opening game, opening series, and at Yankee Stadium, no less.  True, this Yankees team is essentially their Triple-A team right now, but the Sox still had to face Sabathia.  They've handled him well in the past, sure, but this game wasn't even about facing him, beating the Yankees, or even winning, per se.  It was about the new look, new attitude Sox.  The new face of the team.  That's what I mostly wanted to see.

And I did.  Specifically, here are the notes I took during the game (when I watched it on DVR after returning from an appt.):

--I'm glad I thought ahead enough to get two autographed baseballs from Jackie Bradley, Jr. when he was at Pawtucket Red Sox Hotstove League in January.  One to keep, and one to sell when the time is right.  Already his autograph has sold on ebay for about $50.  After one major league game.

--Lester is noticeably taking less time between pitches.  He needs to do that all year.  He was told to do so the last couple of years, but didn't.  This was a Becket influence, I think, since Josh has a cup of coffee and a sandwich between pitches.

--Lester's keeping the ball down and not feeling, also like Becket does, that he can just blow his fastball by people whenever he wants.  He has to set up his pitches better, which is what he's doing now.

--Seeing what I've just written, I'm noticing how glad I am that Becket's gone.

--Bradley's first AB was brilliant and memorable.  Down quickly 0-2 to Sabathia.  Takes some (very close) pitches for balls that you would expect a player with his limited experience to swing at.  Fouls off some good pitches.  Finally draws a walk after a seven or eight pitch at bat.  This pushes runners to second and third, which is more important than the fact that it loads the bases.  This PA proves John Farrell's point about how impressed he was with Bradley's approach every AB.

--I don't know why Sabathia didn't continue to give him off-speed stuff inside and low.  He was susceptible to those in this AB.

--Iglesias infield hit to short; Bradley safe at second by an eyelash, which extends the inning and scores the run.  Speed on both counts, Bradley safe at second and Iglesias fast enough to not even draw a throw to first.  I like it!

--Ellsbury hard hit to first, throw home for one out rather than to second and back to first for a possible double-play.  Youkillis knew that with Ellsbury running, the DP wouldn't happen.  Again, speed.  Iglesias now on second and Bradley at third.

--Victorino singles in both speedy runners with a hard hit single.  I was wrong to question batting him second.  I forgot about his solid production the last few years, and I forgot about his Gold Gloves.  My bad.

--Pedroia singles in speedy Ellsbury.  With Bradley batting eighth, Iglesias ninth, Ellsbury first and Victorino second (and maybe even Pedroia third), the Sox have five consecutive above-average to speedy runners.  That's very nice.

--Napoli, who'd looked silly in his first AB, just (and I mean just) gets under one and skies to deep center to end the second inning.

--Good show here in the second, with lots of walks, speedy running, and clutch-hitting.  You can do a lot of things with walks and singles.  This is how the Sox won titles in 2004 and 2007.  This needs to happen every game, all year, in order for them to have a chance.

--Bradley's great catch on Cano's (don'tcha know) drive in the 4th.  He took an odd-looking route to it, but it's a results-oriented business, as Orsillo says, and he made a great catch.

--Iglesias's push-bunt single in the fourth.  He needs to do that much more often.  Every time he hits it in the air, he owes me twenty push-ups.

--That's a line from Major League, by the way.  That one was for you, big guy.  (Because Bunky's already taken.)

--I love Jonny Gomes, the second straight Jonny the Sox got from the Oakland A's who's an under-rated table-setter, run-producer and all-around making-it-happen kind of guy.  You don't see a two-run infield single too often.  I won't be surprised if the players talk more about Gomes's hustle than they do Bradley's play in this game.

--Bullpen is doing a good job, but we knew heading into the season-opener that the bullpen was actually going to be a major plus for this team.  That, by itself, is unusual for Boston, even for the World Series winning teams.

--There's so much talk about Bradley right now, it seems like Sox fans have him already ticketed for the Hall of Fame.  And he doesn't even have a hit yet.

--Great start for what hopefully is a new-look, new-attitude team.  They should at least be fun to watch, on tv and at Fenway.  I go to my first Fenway game on April 12th.

At Fenway, July 7, 2011

An interesting blowout game, to say the least.  It's hard to keep a game interesting after the home team scores 8 in the bottom of the first, but this one managed.  First, it was a race against the weather, as the skies looked like they'd open up at any time.  With a lead like that, you hope the batters swing at the first pitch and get the fifth over with quickly, so that it's an official game.  But then the rains never really came.

But the thunder and lightning did, in the 8th inning, when Gregg threw three straight pitches up and in on Ortiz.  At first, being there in person, it looked like he was just pitching up and in--and I missed the first pitch or two.  Don't know why.  Couldn't tell you.  Anyway, after watching the 2-hour edited game today, it is clear that he was being thrown at--three times!!!--and that Gregg told him to run down to first after he popped up and strolled to the bag.  Halfway there, he did what Gregg told him to do--he ran.

At Gregg.  They exchanged punches, they both missed, they both got ejected.  With Salty and a Baltimore reliever and God knows who else.  Why Showalter wasn't also tossed is beyond me, and he further slowed the game down by appearing about ten different times on the field to talk to an umpire.  (This annoyed the NESN commentators as well.)

And then Josh Reddick, who had hit a triple to drive in the last run before Ortiz came to the plate, gets called out at third for abandoning the base, which he did when Ortiz charged the mound.  Never seen that before, and I've seen my share of brawls.  Possibly it's a rule that's never been enforced before?  So a new pitcher came in to replace Gregg, who'd been ejected, and I guess he either threw over to first, or the umpires figured out before he finished warming up that Reddick was automatically out for "abandoning the base."  And I guess the new reliever gets credit for his 1/3 of an inning?  Weird game.

3-10

Here's what I saw that worked yesterday:

--Beckett pitched.  He owns 2 of their 3 wins, and is by far the most impressive pitcher on the team.  His success now as compared to the past few years is simple to see: he's not throwing 100% fastballs (of any of the three types he throws) and he's getting his off-speed stuff over very consistently.  Before he dogheadedly threw the #1 all the time, to every hitter, and it didn't move much, so if you're a professional hitter and you're sitting on it, you can hit it.  And they did.  A lot.  Because he's throwing much more off-speed stuff (getting them over for strikes is a big plus), they can't sit dead-red.  Gives them something else to think about, and they're also not so comfortable hitting off of him.  I can see the difference in the confidence on their faces; they don't feel they can hit him as easily as before.  Now that he's getting the off-speed stuff over, they have to look for that.  But if they're looking for that, he can blow his #1 by them, thereby getting even more outs.  I'm tellin' you, it's that simple: If you can throw 93+ and get off-speed stuff over consistently, you can pitch in the major leagues.  (Another improvement is that he's not walking everyone.  Those totals are down because he's not missing with his off-speed stuff, which leads to an avalanche of positive things for him.  Dice-K should learn from this.)

--Varitek caught.  I know that one leads to the other these days, that Beckett wants Varitek catching him, but I still stand by my opinion about how important pitch-selection is.  Varitek knows all the hitters, but he can out-smart them back there, too.  (He also might be a little bit of Jake Taylor back there, too, for those of you who get the reference.)  NESN showed the stat yesterday that Varitek is 2-2 and the staff has an ERA below 3.0 when he catches.  Salty is 0-8 with an ERA over 6.  Granted that Varitek has half the control group that Salty has, but I can see what I see, and he is better back there overall.  He threw someone out yesterday, too.

--Crawford didn't play and Ellsbury didn't lead off.  Crawford will have to come around, and I feel badly about the boos he's getting, but, as he said, they should boo him, he deserves it.  But he can hit .300 and have 200 hits and 50 stolen bases, so he absolutely must come around.  Yesterday was a good mental health day for him, though.  Ellsbury looks more comfortable now batting 7-9, so I would keep him there.  I won't pretend to know what ails him; I haven't understood him for years, since just after he came up late in 2007, had a HOF second half...and then I don't know.  Sox fans don't, either.  A guy at Fenway a few nights ago (when I was there) yelled things at Ellsbury I won't repeat here, but also added the caveat that he hasn't been good for awhile now, that he had that mysterious year last year that people still whisper loudly about, and that he's only popular because women think he's handsome.  The guy wasn't all right, but he wasn't all wrong, either.  With the glut of outfielders the Sox have, I wouldn't be surprised if the brass grows disenchanted with him and trades him late in the year.  Having said that, Ellsbury's upside is only a smidgeon lower than Crawford's, and is therefore way too potentially good to give up on.  But now's the time to walk the walk.

--Jed Lowrie has always been a small favorite of mine, though I am still surprised by his hitting and defense this year, and I'm even more surprised to watch him lead off yesterday and not only go 3 for 5, but also hit scalding drives for his two outs.  I love the old-fashioned gloves hanging out of his back pocket when he hits; he's scrappy looking, weighs about 170, max, and frankly makes it look like you or I could also get a hit up there.  Jeff Frye struck me the same way, that if he can do it, I can do it.  I can't, of course, but that's undoubtedly some of Lowrie's appeal.  He looks like a throwback player, anywhere from the 1880s to the 1920s, and has the name to boot.  He's playing comfortable up there, and I think it's because he knows he's coming back next year and Scutaro isn't.  (Don't be surprised to see Scutaro traded, either.)  The SS phenom is waiting to be the starter late this year or definitely next year, so you can't keep Lowrie and Scutaro.  Lowrie can play short, second and third, and Scutaro can only play short.  Lowrie has also shown that he can hit first or second like Scutaro can.  His versatility makes him just a little more valuable than Scutaro.

--I'm not down on Scutaro, by the way.  He is what he is, which is a singles and doubles hitting, average fielding SS who can lead off or hit lower, bat .275 to .285 at the end of the year, drive in some runs with a good lineup, maybe 80 to 85, max, in a great year, and he comes to play every day.  What's not to like?  Plenty of teams could use him.  The problem for him is that the Sox can't.  Lowrie can do all those things, too, maybe a smidge better since he's younger, and he's also cheaper and has better range and versatility.  He's also never going to be any better than that, and has been that consistently for awhile now, but to the extent that, for him, there's nowhere else for him to go but down.  He's on the downside now, but I'll bet his declining years will be many, as his slow but steady descent will take a few years, too.  Still a valuable player for many teams.

--Yesterday the Sox were still terrible with RISP.  They were 2 for 12, or something like that, and left close to 11 on base again.  That has to stop.

--The umps and fans were dressed like they were watching a game in Siberia.

--Right now, it's Pedroia and Lowrie, Beckett and Lester, and pray for rain.  The core has to step up.  Now.

Game 2--Beltre, Rangers 12 Sox 5, and More

--Still no time to panic, though you are allowed to feel a strong sense of unease.  I do.

--To state the obvious, the pitching looks to be a bit of a problem right now.  I'm more concerned about the relief pitching than the starting pitching, though you would think Lackey wouldn't leave a pitch middle in to a right handed hitter, especially one of Beltre's caliber.

--If you leave the ball up, the Rangers hitters will hit it.  Hard.  Everyone, of almost any caliber or type of pitcher, needs to keep the ball either down or away from them.  Even their 8th and 9th hitters look good.

--The worry with the starting pitching is that we haven't gotten to Beckett and Dice-K yet, who we expect to do badly.  So if the others do as well...

--It's early, but a win today is strongly needed.  You don't want to be swept during the first series of the season.

--A little perspective: The Rays lost 2 straight to the Orioles.  The Orioles are not better than the Rays, I assure you.

--Ortiz hit another homer, good for him.  Then again, so did Ian Kinsler...and Ellsbury looks good at the plate, too.  In fact, the whole Sox offense looks good, except for Crawford, who really looks like he's pressing.  I was guessing at that yesterday, but a golf-swing and miss on a pitch low and away yesterday proved it.

--The Cleveland pitching staff looks helpless.  This against the Chicago White Sox, who don't have a thunderous lineup.

--I won't look at the standings until the Sox win one.

--Lou Gorman was apparently a really nice guy.  That's always said when someone dies, but it's been the overwhelming thing that everyone's been saying about him, even before his 30 years or so in the business.  He was the GM when I first started watching baseball, in 1984, and I remember that during interview spots he would always talk very slowly, very muffled, and that he cared more about the players themselves than is usual for GMs, then or now.  He was the exact polar opposite of Dan Duquette.  I have a very vague memory of maybe talking to him--or at least he was in the same room with me--when I was at McCoy when very young.  This is back when Mike Stenhouse was involved with the team and he gave my Dad tickets, or maybe just AMICA in general.

--Dunkin' Donuts doesn't sponsor Sox games anymore?  No more Dugout?  I saw a Honey Dew commercial on NESN and I almost fell over.

--The Sox pitching coach will be earning his money starting right now.

--I want to see Varitek behind the plate today.  Let's see if he can bring the staff ERA down.  If he is in, and if Bucholz has a good game, I want to see him in there the next day, too.  Even if Salty has a batting average a 100 points higher than Varitek's, it won't be worth it if Varitek calls a superior game and takes hits and runs off the board doing so.  I believe this can happen, and that it has happened.  With the Sox lineup the way it is, they can afford a great game-caller with a weak batting average hitting ninth.

--Castig has gotten even more nasal, if that's possible.

--By the way, why's Lackey the Number 2 over Bucholz?  At this point, Lackey and Beckett are capable of each winning 20, but are presently lumbering innings-eaters.  Let's have the younger guys who've been pitching much better and winning more consistently at the top of the rotation, okay?

--If you have 3 doubles, 2 triples and 2 homers (one a grand slam) hit off you in 3 2/3 innings, now that's a bad day.

--Someone needs to keep the cameras off of pitchers during obvious f-word moments, such as Lackey's yesterday right after Beltre's slam.  They're obviously putting the lens on these guys at those moments so that we, the viewers, can see them mouthing the f-word.

--Completely unnecessary, by the way, as we are saying the same thing at the time ourselves.

--The guys next to me were very vocal against Francona, as if they expected him to pull his starting pitcher, who is getting paid about $12 million this year to win and eat innings, in the fourth inning of the second game of the year.  There's 160 of these left, guys.  Take it easy.

--I see now why sports pros from across the country say that Sox fans are unique in their rabidity for the team.  Every game really is life or death for many of these guys.  These guys yesterday were an example, confusing the second game of the year for an ALCS or World Series game.

--By the way, kudos to my better half, who sat through five innings of a game, at a local restaurant/bar, surrounded by these guys, watching her second game in a row--while not appearing tortured.  Though she still calls "uniforms" "outfits."  I tried to explain that ballplayers wear uniforms and tennis players wear outfits, but she was not deterred.

--She said that she was now a Rangers fan because they at least make things happen.  And said that all teams should use just one pitcher every day.  I took that opportunity to speak about the 1880s Providence Greys, and Old Hoss Radbourne, and how teams then did just have one pitcher, who would often win 40-60 games a season while tossing 400 to 600 innings.  Luckily she was on her second Mojito at the time and so was able to make it through my explanation without her eyes glazing over.  (I did have to explain who Nomar was.)

--Beltre 1, Sox 0 for those keeping track.

--Speaking of Beltre, I didn't know that he'd been offered a one-year, $10 million contract by the Sox last year.  Instead he signed a guaranteed 5 year, $80 million contract with the Rangers.  That's an average of $16 million a year, each year for five years, for those bad at math.  I'd turn down the Sox offer for that, wouldn't you?  Sox fans vilified him, as they had Damon when he left for much more money than the Sox offered.

--As part of that contract, Beltre makes $14 million this year, and one million more each year until 2016, when he drops back down to $16 million a year.  Included also is the stipulation that the Rangers can defer $12 million of the 2016 contract at 1% interest.  Oh, and it's in his contract that he gets uniform #29. 

--Remember that this guy was in the slush pile after 5 very bad years in Seattle, on an exorbitant contract that he landed after his one--and, at that time, only--great season with the Dodgers.  His stats that year, especially the 49 homers, are dubious when compared to those 5 terrible seasons, a drop-off that he has never fully explained.  Then one more great year, this time in Boston, and he uses that one good year again to garner an exorbitant long-term contract.  I hope he does well this year, or else this would form a very questionable pattern of behavior, if you know what I'm sayin'.

--And speaking of money, Cliff Lee said No to the Rangers this past offseason when they offered him a 6-year/$138 million contract so he could return to the Phillies.  That's an average of $23 million per year.  And he said No.  Tough to fathom, isn't it?