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Hindsight's 20/20: Lowell trade a...
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 9 months ago on |
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In late 2005, the Red Sox had a decision to make.
The club was in a position to add Josh Beckett to their pitching rotation via a trade with the Florida Marlins.
However, if they were to acquire Beckett and give the rotation a 1-2 punch they hadn't had since their World Series run in 2004, they would need to take Mike Lowell's contract off of Florida's books.
At that time, Lowell was coming off the worst...
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Worst Winter Yet...
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 10 months ago on |
| For the first time in what seems like forever, I don't feel a huge excitement going into Spring Training. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled the Boys of Summer are back, and it sure helps ease the pain of the Patriots' loss. But it's not the same.The defending World Champions remain mostly the same in 2008 as they did back in 2007. Not that that's a bad thing, in fact, I think it's pretty f'in awesome that Theo was able to keep this team intact. But...
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History repeats itself...
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| In 1995, I was a freshman in high school. My grades in World History weren't that good to start the school year. The Red Sox were charging towards an AL East crown, and studying the past was the last thing on my young, naive mind. When my father came home furious after parent-teacher conferences, I asked him why I needed to learn about what was done and over with anyways. His response: "It's important for us to learn from and not repeat the mistakes we've made in...
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Five things I'm thankful for....
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| 1) A scrappy little second basemen2) Finally an end to the rotation of middle infielders3) Manny being Manny4) The entire starting team from '07 returning in '085) Two titles in four years!
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The Mike Lowell Identity
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| In the weeks since Jonathan Papelbon struck out Seth Smith to secure the Sox' seventh World Series Title, the major talk in Boston has been about re-signing Mike Lowell. It seems that everyone and their ugly step-sister has felt the need to weigh in on the subject. And, to no one's surprise, the overwhelming majority of Sox fans want Lowell back in a Sox uniform in 2008.Now it's my turn to weigh in. Before I go any further, I'm going to say that I'd like Mike...
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Dear Ryan Garko
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| Dear Ryan Garko,You were right about the champagne. Thanks for the tip!Sincerely,
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Dear JD
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| Dear JD,Welcome to Boston! It took six months for me to say that, but last night, you earned every cent of the multiple millions you earned this season. Thank you for bailing out Mike and Manny in the first. Thank you for being there to catch those hard fly balls in the second. Thank you for making Game Seven a reality.It's been a tough season, JD, but based on last night's performance, I think it's safe to say that the Nation is willing to let...
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Dear Tito
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| Dear Tito,One of the traits that makes you a desirable manager is that you have faith in your players. You "stick with your man." You proved the nay-sayers wrong when Dustin Pedroia heated up in May, en route to his pending Rookie of the Year award. You knew Lugo hadn't lost it after he was 0-June. You kept the future Gold Glover in centerfield despite his struggles at the plate. Now you're sticking with Gagne out of the...
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Brace yourselves... here comes Tim...
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| The only bad thing about the Red Sox advancing to the ALCS is that Fox will be broadcasting the games. And with Fox's broadcasting rights comes the superb color commentary of Tim McCarver.Tim McCarver was a two-time National League All Star during his 21 year playing career that featured stop in St. Louis, Montreal, Philadelphia, and yes, even Boston. If you ask me, the only All Star team that McCarver should ever have been named to is the...
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Superstitions
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| Baseball is a game of superstitions. From players to refusing to step on the foul line to wacky desires to eat fried chicken before a game, superstitions mean a lot to the men in uniform, and they believe that their superstitions can affect the outcome of the game.But what about the fans? We have our own superstitions too. For me, I have to wear the same Red Sox hat all season, but I must retire it prior to the next season. I can only wear a Red Sox jersey to a...
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Navarro comes through
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| I had the pleasure of meeting Devil Rays' backstop Dioner Navarro two and a half years ago, when he played for the Las Vegas 51s. At the time, he was a highly touted prospect whom the Yankees had just traded away for Randy Johnson. Although he has yet to live up to his potential, on Tuesday night he did fulfill one fan's simple request.Navarro and I had a short discussion prior to a game. We made fun of the Cashman Field announcer, and I asked him a few questions...
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Dear Eric Gagne
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| Dear Eric Gagne,I thought we were friends again. Since returning to the Sox bullpen from your injury, you'd only given up one run in three and two-thirds innings. In two innings against the Yankees, you only gave up one hit. We, the fans, were writing your poor performance off to injury. I was even thinking about buying an 83 player tee. Then Frank Thomas stepped into the box, and you lost your cool.Your schtick is about as funny as...
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Memories of 1995
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| I'm not big on predictions, but the more I look at it, the more it looks like this post-season will shape up very similar to 1995. The AL East Champion Red Sox will take on the AL Central Champion Indians, and the Wild Card Winner Yankees will take on the AL West Winner (this time around, Los Angeles).
That said, I wanted to look back at the last time the Red Sox won the division, and reminisce.
- The every day lineup looked like this: Mo Vaughn at first, Luis Alicea at 2B,...
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Varitek's third No-No
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| Hidden behind the excitement of Clay Buchholz's no-hitter in just his second Major League start is a stat that puts the Red Sox captain in some elite company. Behind the plate, Jason Varitek has caught his third no-hitter.
Varitek is tied for second all-time, behind only Ray Schalk, who caught four no-hitters for the Chicago White Sox between 1914 and 1922.
To put this is perspective, Varitek broke into the Majors about 10 years ago. Since then, there have been 14...
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Julian Tavarez is awesome!
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| A year ago, I posted a blog on Myspace stating that if Julian Tavarez was not DFA'd by a certain date, I'd refuse to cheer for the Red Sox for the remainder of the season. Throughout my life, the Sox have let me down countless times, but keeping Tavarez on the roster was one of the many more times they didn't. It just took me a while to realize it.
A year ago, Tavarez became the mop-up guy, and it seemed he couldn't even perform in that role. He gave up countless leads and...
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The Battle of the Sox
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| I always love it when the Boston and Chicago face each other, battling for "Sox Supremacy." The Red Sox and the White Sox have so much in common, most notably, the 86 and 88 year Championship droughts that recently ended. That in mind, I've decided to compare red and white, to find some things the two teams don't have in common.
WHITE
Wikipedia defines white as the "combination of all colors in the visible lights spectrum." I'm pretty sure that means all the colors you see when...
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Too close for comfort
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Matt-suzaka wrote this 1 year ago on |
| Four games ahead. Yikes. The Sox lead in the division has slimmed down faster than Jared from Subway. Wasn't this supposed to be the tough part of the Yankees schedule? Weren't the Sox supposed to pull away in August, and clinch by September 15? At the risk of sounding redundant, yikes.
That being said, I've come up with a few keys for the Sox in order for them to keep their lead:
1) Call the Rangers' GM and see if they can get backsies on the David Murphy trade.
2) Fly to Japan and...
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