Red Sox Memoirs - Spiderman and The Rocket (1996 - )

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

April 24
Red Sox (13-5) @ Indians (13-5)
Red Sox 6 - Indians 10

Not exactly the way I was hoping to start this series. Jeff Suppan allowed four earned runs in just 2 1/3 innings, and then another four runs scored on an error while he was on the mound. Nomar went 2-4 with a homer, two runs, and a walk at the plate, and Bonds and Ausmus both had two-run homers.

WP - Bartolo Colon (3-0)
LP - Jeff Suppan (1-3)
SV - N/A
HR - Brad Ausmus (2), Barry Bonds (4), Nomar Garciaparra (3)

April 25
Red Sox (13-6) @ Indians (14-5)
Red Sox 3 - Indians 9

Not the best start by mister Jamie Moyer. He lasted just 1 1/3 inning before giving up six runs and getting pulled immediately after giving up a grand slam to Albert Belle. The opposing starter, Brian Anderson, fared much better, pitching all nine innings and allowing just three runs and striking out five. Boone tripled and Nomar and Nixon drove in runs, but otherwise the offense was pretty much nonexistent.

WP - Brian Anderson (2-1)
LP - Jamie Moyer (3-2)
SV - N/A
HR - N/A

April 26
Red Sox (13-7) @ Indians (15-5)
Red Sox 7 - Indians 5

Well at least we managed to salvage one game in this series, although Stan Belinda nearly blew that for us when he allowed three runs in the eighth to make it a two-run game. Clemens put in a solid effort, allowing two runs over 6 1/3 innings while striking out five and giving up six hits. Jeff Cirillo dealt the crippling and game-winning blow in the eighth when he hit a three run homer to left-center field. However, Nomar, Rondell, and Barry Larkin all collected two hits and an RBI each as well.

WP - Roger Clemens (5-1)
LP - Dennis Martinez (0-1)
SV - Rich Garces (7)
HR - Jeff Cirillo (2)

Thoughts: Well that didn't go nearly as well as I was hoping it would. The Indians outscored us 24-16 in taking two of three from us, and we were lucky to salvage the last game of the series and keep their lead at only a game. Fortunately our next couple weeks are fairly easy. We've got the Rangers who will be formidable, but after that we have the Blue Jays, Orioles, Mets, and then the Orioles again, before we play the Indians for the second time this season.

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

CARD'S THIRD BASEMAN REACHES MILESTONES ON CONSECUTIVE DAYS

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Gary Gaetti has reached two significant career milestones on two consecutive days. The first milestone he reached was getting his 2000th hit on April 23rd, and the second was scoring his 1000th run on April 24th. Gaetti has enjoyed a rather impressive career as a major league third baseman. He's amassed over 2,000 hits, over 300 homers, exactly 1,000 runs, over 1,000 RBI's, and is a two-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove award winner.

COMMISHES OFFICE VETOS EDMONDS TO ATLANTA

The Commissioner's Office has decided to veto a trade that would send one of the game's best young players, center fielder Jim Edmonds, from California to Atlanta. Atlanta was going to be acquiring Edmonds for ten players, the best of which was 1B prospect Randall Simon who is peaked at an 86. Other than Simon no one had a peak higher than 82, and many of the players California was getting were simply AAAA players or veterans hanging on to the majors by a thread. The Commissioner vetoed it on the grounds that California was getting very little of value in return for a player of very high quality and value, and due to the league's concerns with competitive balance.

ATLANTA TAKES SOLE POSSESSION OF FIRST PLACE

In what has already been a hotly contested division, Atlanta has been the most recent team to shift the balance of power. They're currently on a nine game winning streak and at 18-5 they're exactly one game ahead of the New York Yankees.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

April 27
Rangers (12-10) @ Red Sox (14-7)
Rangers 0 - Red Sox 14

We embarassed the Rangers in just about every way possible on a baseball diamond. Radke completely shut down their lineup, pitching a complete game, four-hit shutout with 11 K's. We went off offensively as well. Larkin, Bonds, and Nixon all homered and drove in three runs, Rondell White was 3-3 with two walks, Nomar drove in two runs and tripled, and the list goes on.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Larkin (SS)        5  2  1  3  1  3  0  0    .242
R. White (CF)         3  3  2  2  0  1  0  0    .357
N. Garciaparra (DH)   5  2  0  1  0  2  1  0    .333
B. Bonds (LF)         3  3  0  3  1  3  0  0    .304
J. Olerud (1B)        3  1  2  2  0  0  0  0    .407
B. Boone (2B)         5  1  0  0  0  1  2  0    .288
T. Nixon (RF)         4  1  1  2  1  3  1  0    .286
J. Cirillo (3B)       4  2  0  1  0  1  1  0    .297
J. Oliver (C)         5  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .200
TOTALS               37 16  6 14  3 14  6  0

   2B:  J. Olerud (7), B. Bonds (6), R. White (5)
   3B:  B. Larkin (1), N. Garciaparra (1)
   HR:  B. Larkin (3), B. Bonds (5), T. Nixon (2)

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        B. Radke  9.0  4  2  0  0  0 11 109   2.70
          TOTALS  9.0  4  2  0  0  0 11 109

WP - Brad Radke (5-0)
LP - Kevin Gross (2-3)
SV - N/A
HR - Barry Larkin (3), Barry Bonds (5), Trot Nixon (2)

April 28
Rangers (12-11) @ Red Sox (15-7)
Rangers 5 - Red Sox 3

Roger Pavlik exacted his revenge for the previous days blow out. Pavlik held us to just three runs over seven innings and struck out eight. Our one big hit was a two RBI triple by John Olerud in the eighth. Otherwise the offense was pretty stagnant, as we managed just five hits and three walks the whole game.

WP - Roger Pavlik (1-2)
LP - Jeff Suppan (1-4)
SV - Jeff Zimmerman (2)
HR - N/A

April 29
Rangers (13-11) @ Red Sox (15-8)
Rangers 8 - Red Sox 3

Rondell White hit his fifth homer of the season as our second batter of the game, but Rick Helling settled down from there and shut us down pretty effectively. Helling went eight innings and allowed only two runs to us, on five hits and two walks. Olerud also went 3-3 with a two-run homer, but offense was non-existent otherwise.

WP - Rick Helling (2-1)
LP - Jamie Moyer (3-3)
SV - N/A
HR - John Olerud (5), Rondell White (5)

Thoughts: Well the blowout in the first game was fun, but I'd definitely trade that one huge win for the two smaller ones the Rangers eked out in the series.

Since its the end of the month the stuff I'd normally say here I'm gonna save for the monthly updates.

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

PHILLIES AND REDS DEALT MAJOR BLOWS TO PITCHING STAFFS

The Phillies and Reds were both dealt significant blows to their pitching staff and playoff hopes. In Cincy, staff ace Bret Saberhagen went down for approximately two weeks with a dislocated shoulder. Saberhagen has been enjoying a successful season so far, with an ERA just over 3.00.

As for Philly, they were dealt even more devastating news when they found out he would miss about a month with a fractured ankle. Schilling was 4-0 with an ERA under 2.00 at the time of his injury.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Man, how filthy has Radke been in a Boston uniform!? Since he was traded, how do his career numbers look?? It'll take me a little while to get used to the new alignment, though!

And seeing as you're taking questions:

With Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens playing in the same city, have you or any of your players been approached by Greg Anderson or Brian McNamee?

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Radke's Boston #'s:

21 GS, 14-1 W-L, 3.23 ERA, 152 1/3 IP, 30 BB, 100 K, .229 BAA, 10 CG, 3 SHO

Pretty filthy if you ask me .

As for the question, Clemens will address it at the next press conference .

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

STANDINGS AND LEADERS
APRIL

AMERICAN LEAGUE

DIVISIONAL

WILD CARD

BATTING LEADERS

PITCHING LEADERS

NATIONAL LEAGUE

DIVISIONAL

WILD CARD

BATTING LEADERS

PITCHING LEADERS

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

TEAM UPDATE
APRIL

PITCHING

Player Name	Team	Starts	W	L	ERA	IP	K	SV	CG	OBA	OOPS	K/9	BB/9
Radke, Brad	BOS	6	5	0	2.70	46.2	36	0	3	.207	.598	6.94	1.54
Clemens, Roger	BOS	6	5	1	3.44	36.2	31	0	0	.239	.606	7.61	1.72
Moyer, Jamie	BOS	6	3	3	5.51	32.2	30	0	0	.262	.771	8.27	3.58
Suppan, Jeff	BOS	6	1	4	7.22	28.2	17	0	0	.292	.859	5.34	3.45
Stanton, Mike	BOS	0	0	1	5.40	16.2	9	1	0	.299	.890	4.86	2.16
Belinda, Stan	BOS	0	0	0	3.38	13.1	14	1	0	.226	.658	9.45	2.70
Slocumb, H.	BOS	0	0	0	8.10	10.0	8	0	0	.417	.967	7.20	7.20
Garces, Rich	BOS	0	0	0	0.96	9.1	13	7	0	.231	.568	12.54	2.89
Shouse, Brian	BOS	0	0	0	0.00	8.1	2	0	0	.214	.527	2.16	3.24
Maddux, Mike	BOS	0	1	0	11.74	7.2	7	0	0	.378	1.155	8.22	2.35
Henry, Butch	BOS	0	0	0	0.00	0.0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0.00	0.00

The top two of Clemens and Radke has been really solid; Radke has even looked like a possibility for Cy Young at this early stage of the season. Otherwise, we've been shaky. Moyer has had some really, really good starts (three starts with 2 ER or less) but he's also had some really, really bad starts (two starts with 6 ER). And aside from Suppan's first start of the season he has just been horrendous. Just take a look (not including his first start):

The bullpen has also been spotty at best. Garces has been dominant as closer, but everyone else has been downright awful. Maddux was an All-Star last year and our most dependable bullpen arm, and so far this year he's got an ERA a tick under 12.00! I do have hope for him, though, because he started the season like this last year too, and ended up being extremely dependable for us. However, I'm not so confident anyone else will be able to find themselves.

BATTING

Player Name	Team	AB	H	HR	R	RBI	Avg	OBP	SLG	OPS	SB	SB%
White, Rondell	BOS	105	36	5	23	18	.343	.389	.552	.941	2	100.0
Garciaparra, N.	BOS	104	34	3	16	15	.327	.375	.462	.837	0	0.0
Larkin, Barry	BOS	98	22	3	20	13	.224	.300	.418	.718	2	50.0
Olerud, John	BOS	87	37	5	19	27	.425	.514	.701	1.215	0	0.0
Bonds, Barry	BOS	87	26	5	28	18	.299	.407	.575	.982	2	66.7
Boone, Bret	BOS	86	23	4	13	19	.267	.343	.500	.843	0	0.0
Nixon, Trot	BOS	83	23	2	13	14	.277	.355	.410	.765	1	100.0
Cirillo, Jeff	BOS	81	23	2	9	13	.284	.368	.407	.775	0	0.0
Ausmus, Brad	BOS	78	16	2	11	7	.205	.287	.308	.595	0	0.0
Frye, Jeff	BOS	7	2	0	1	2	.286	.444	.429	.873	1	100.0
Oliver, Joe	BOS	5	1	0	0	0	.200	.200	.200	.400	0	0.0
Clark, Phil	BOS	4	1	0	0	0	.250	.250	.250	.500	0	0.0

The offense has been simply fantastic. I don't give out monthly awards for my team, but if I did Olerud would definitely get MVP for the month of April. I acquired him for his glove, and I definitely didn't think he'd be tied for team lead in homers, and leading in RBI's, as well as the triple slash stats (BA, OBP, SLG, OPS). Bonds has also been good of late. He started slow, but in his last ten games he has an OPS over 1.000, two homers, and 10 RBI's. Ausmus has been simply pathetic at the plate, but I don't mind because I got him for his glove and not his bat (and I think the relative success of the starters to this point is largely due to his influence behind the plate).

(Gonna start displaying the stats every month this way because it allows me to display more stats, and stats other than the basic BA/HR/RBI and W/ERA/IP stuff.)

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

SPIDERMAN AND ROCKET UPDATE
APRIL

DH/SS NOMAR GARCIAPARRA (86/95), #3 BATTER, 23 YEARS OLD

Nomar hasn't gotten off to quite the start this season as he did last season in his rookie year, but it's not often that a guy is going to hit .400+ in the first month of the season multiple seasons in a row, and regardless of that he's still been a very valuable piece of the lineup. His rankings on the team are as follows:

• 3rd in Batting Average
• 4th in On-base Percentage
• 5th in Slugging Percentage
• 5th in OPS
• T-3rd in Homers
• 5th in Runs
• 4th in RBI's
• 3rd in Hits
• 2nd in AB's

Again, he hasn't been quite as good as he was to start last season. That said, Nomar's the type of hitter whose liable to go on a massive hot streak at any moment. Last season that happened in the first 4-8 weeks of the season, and this season it just hasn't happened yet. I fully expect his numbers to skyrocket by the end of the season, and I'm expecting him to have a legitimate case for league MVP, and if not team MVP. He's also going to benefit greatly now that Bonds is finally starting to hit, and his RBI total will start rising once Larkin starts hitting. I'm hoping that with a full-season under his belt he'll be able to crack 200 hits, 100 RBI's (again), 30 homers, and a .900-1.000 OPS.

SP ROGER CLEMENS (93), #1 STARTING PITCHER, 34 YEARS OLD

Like Nomar, Clemens hasn't gotten off to the same start he did last season, but he's still been very, very effective. Team rankings:

• T-1st in Wins
• 2nd in ERA
• 2nd in IP
• 2nd in K's
• 2nd in BAA
• 2nd in WHIP

Every one of those categories he's second in, he's second to Brad Radke, whose had a Cy Young season so far. I think that if anyone on this staff is going to win a Cy Young this season it will be Radke and not Clemens, but I am still expecting big numbers from Clemens. I'm also very, very surprised to see that he's only given up two homers this season. He hasn't allowed single-digit homers in a full season since 1990, and that's the only time he's done it in his career.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

May 1
Red Sox (15-9) @ Blue Jays (11-14)
Red Sox 9 - Blue Jays 4

Although Clemens pitched beautifully in this game, it wouldn't have made too much of a difference if he hadn't. That being said, Clemens went seven, gave up eight hits, walked one, struck out eight, and allowed one earned run. Barry Bonds is trying to make up for lost time, as he goes 2-4 with a walk, three runs, two homers, and four RBI's.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 2-5, R, RBI/7 IP, 8 H, BB, ER, 8 K
WP - Roger Clemens (6-1)
LP - Juan Guzman (0-4)
SV - N/A
HR - Barry Bonds 2 (7), John Olerud (6)

May 2
Red Sox (16-9) @ Blue Jays (11-15)
Red Sox 4 - Blue Jays 8

Not one of Radke's more impressive performances. He started the game well, allowing just one run through the first five innings he was on the mound, but he blew up and allowed five runs in the sixth before getting a single out. Offense was pretty hard to come by, too. Halladay held us to four hits, two walks, and two runs over the first seven innings.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 1-4, 2B/DNP
WP - Roy Halladay (2-2)
LP - Brad Radke (5-1)
SV - N/A
HR - Barry Bonds (8), Rondell White (6)

May 3
Red Sox (16-10) @ Blue Jays (12-15)
Red Sox 3 - Blue Jays 5

Jeff Suppan.....implodes.....again. This time out he allowed 11 hits and five runs in just 4 1/3 innings. The bullpen pitched well in relief of him, giving up no runs in 3 2/3 innings of work, and allowed us to stay in the game. We mounted a small rally in the ninth by putting up two runs and bringing the tying run to the plate, but we just couldn't get it across.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 0-5/DNP
WP - Pat Hentgen (2-2)
LP - Jeff Suppan (1-5)
SV - N/A
HR - N/A

Thoughts: Ayeyaiyai. We are really not playing well right now. We've dropped two of three for three consecutive series. All of which were against teams we either should beat or need to beat. We're just lucky the Indians have been playing like sh*t too or else we'd be digging ourselves a deep hole. We need to step it up soon, because we have a three game set against the Indians in less than two weeks.

Although, there is some good news. Barry Bonds has DEFINITELY remembered how to hit a baseball. In his last ten games he's hitting .351/.415/.919/1.334 with five homers and 12 RBI's. The recent hot streak has brought him to .320/.430/.660/1.090 with eight homers and 23 RBI's for the season.

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

FUTURE HALL-OF-FAMER MOLITOR REACHES HIT MILESTONE

Future Hall-of-Fame first baseman/designated hitter Paul Molitor reached a significant milestone in his illustrious career, logging hit #3,000 of his career.

CLARK LOGS RBI #1,000

Rangers first baseman Will Clark also reached a milestone recently. He knocked in 1,000th run of his career. Although it's still too early to tell, Clark also looks like a possible future Hall-of-Famer. At just 33 years old he already has 1,700+ hits, 200+ homers, 1,000+ RBI's, and a career OPS near .900!

RANGERS TAKE WILD CARD LEAD

With the Boston Red Sox reeling and going just 3-7 in their last ten games, the Rangers have managed to take control of the Wild Card race. The Rangers took the lead from the Red Sox, and they currently lead them by one game.

NL EAST FEATURES THREE 20-WIN TEAMS

We have a rather unprecedented level of dominance being displayed by the National League East division so far this season. Approximately only 30 games into the season and the division already has three teams with 20 or more wins. The Braves lead things at 22-7, New York places second at 21-8, and Philadelphia comes in third at 20-10.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

May 4
Orioles (11-16) @ Red Sox (16-11)
Orioles 7 - Red Sox 8

This game feature a lot of early scoring, and then practically none later in the game. The teams combined for 14 runs in the first 2 1/2 innings, but just one the remainder of the game after that. Moyer managed to get the win in spite of giving up six runs in five innings. The game also featured two grand slams, one by John Olerud (which proved to be the game-winning hit), and one by Mike Deveraux that actually made it a game.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 1-4, 1B, K
WP - Jamie Moyer (4-3)
LP - Scott Erickson (1-3)
SV - Rich Garces (8)
HR - John Olerud (7), Rondell White (7)

May 5
Orioles (11-17) @ Red Sox (17-11)
Orioles 2 - Red Sox 5

Due to a number of off days in April, Butch Henry didn't make his season debut until this game. The large amount of time off didn't seem to affect him however, he went 8 innings, gave up only two runs, and struck out four. We did need a late rally, however. With the game tied at two going into the eighth Ausmus singled to lead off the inning, and was then sacrificed to second, singled over to third, and then driven on a Nomar RBI single up the middle. We managed to tack on two more runs of insurance after that as well.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 3-4, 2 R, RBI, GW RBI 1B
WP - Butch Henry (1-0)
LP - Roger McDowell (0-4)
SV - Rich Garces (9)
HR - Barry Larkin (4)

May 6
Orioles (11-18) @ Red Sox (18-11)
Orioles 4 - Red Sox 8

It's nice to see a sweep for a change! Bonds and Boone had a lot to do with this win. They combined to drive in seven of our eight runs, both homered, and both had two hits in four at bats. Clemens got victimized by the computer pulling him out too early when he really wasn't pitching that badly. But regardless, the 'pen managed to hold it down and let us get the win.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 4-4, 3 1B, 2B, 2 R/4 IP, 6 H, BB, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 K
WP - Mike Stanton (1-1)
LP - Rick Bauer (1-1)
SV - N/A
HR - Bret Boone (5), Barry Bonds (9), Trot Nixon (3)

Thoughts: The sweep vaults us over Cleveland and puts us in first place by 1 full game! This is just about the perfect time for us to start picking it up again, because we've got six games before we play the Indians again. Hopefully we keep doing work over these next six games and can go into the Indians series strong, and hopefully they keep falling on their faces.

A little update on the progress of one of our prospects. Reliever turned starter Hideki Okajima has been enjoying great success in his new role at AAA. In seven starts Okajima is 2-2 with an ERA of 2.45, 31 K's, 12 walks, a .241 BAA, and only three homers allowed in 36+ innings.

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

CLARK GOES DOWN

Just a few days after getting his 1,000th career RBI, Texas first baseman Will Clark goes down for roughly a month with a fractured ankle. This is a major blow to Texas' playoff aspirations. At the time of the injury Clark was hitting at a .923 OPS, and all the success that Texas has had this season has been due to their play at the plate as they don't currently have a starter with an ERA under 5.40. In other words, they need offense to win, and having one of their best hitters go down for a month is not a good way to accomplish that.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Is tacking on the NOMAR/CLEMENS update with every game a nice touch, do you think? Or is it a little too much? I've been wanting to do it for a while but I haven't been able to figure out a way to do it without it standing out way too much or forcing them into every game synopsis. I still think it sticks out too much, but I just put in there to play around with for now.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

May 7
Red Sox (19-11) @ Mets (11-21)
Red Sox 4 - Mets 2

Radke made yet another excellent start, allowing just two earned runs over seven innings while striking out four. Wasn't a whole lot of offense to speak of in this game. Bonds and Nomar both hit solo homers, and Larkin and Nixon drove in the other two runs.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 1-4, Solo HR, K
WP - Brad Radke (6-1)
LP - Rick Reed (2-3)
SV - Rich Garces (10)
HR - Barry Bonds (10), Nomar Garciaparra (4)

May 8
Red Sox (20-11) @ Mets (11-22)
Red Sox 7 - Mets 8 (10 innings)

Garces got the loss in this one, but I'd really love to give it to Jeff Suppan again. Suppan started the game fantastically. He allowed no earned runs through 6 2/3 inning, but that last out of the seventh was just too much for him apparently, because he allowed six runs with two outs in the inning. Lance Johnson had the game-winning single with Vizcaino on second in the bottom of the tenth inning.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 3-5, 2B, RBI
WP - Mark Fyhrie (2-0)
LP - Rich Garces (0-1)
SV - N/A
HR - Rondell White 2 (9)

May 9
Red Sox (20-12) @ Mets (12-22)
Red Sox 1 - Mets 3

Moyer actually pitched well in this game (3 ER in seven innings), but he just got outdueled by the reigning NL Cy Young winner Pete Harnisch. Harnisch allowed just one run to us over 6 2/3 innings. We did have opportunities to score, as we had 10 base hits and drew three walks, we just couldn't get the big hit to bring anyone around.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 4-4, 4 1B
WP - Pete Harnisch (2-2)
LP - Jamie Moyer (4-4)
SV - John Franco (7)
HR - N/A

Thoughts: So much for starting to play well I guess. We dropped 2 of 3 to one of the worst teams in baseball. The thing that makes it even more frustrating is that the Indians lost two of three as well and we missed a chance to put some ground between us. At least we can still call ourselves the AL East leaders, though.

Nomar is really tearing shiz up right now. He as twenty hits in his last ten games, and overall is hitting .465/.465/.605/1.070 in his last ten. He only has one homer and five RBI's, but at the rate that he's collecting hits that number is sure to rise rapidly. Even more scary is the fact that he's only made six outs in his last five games, as he's 15-21 in that stretch. The recent hot streak has helped raise his season stats to .371/.404/.510/.914, 53 hits, 4 HR, and 19 RBI's.

NOMAR'S SEASON STATS + LAST TEN GAMES

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

SEATTLE AND TEXAS FALL INTO A TIE FOR FIRST

Out in the surprisingly competitive American League West, the top two contenders in the division, Seattle and Texas, have fallen into a tie for first place. Texas has managed to make up ground on the Mariners by going 9-1 in their last ten games, in spite of missing first baseman Will Clark for a portion of that time. Colorado also only sits 4 back at 18-16.

NL EAST FLIP-FLOPS AGAIN

The NL East has had a change of division leaders once again. Atlanta relinquished the lead to the New York Yankees by 1/2 game. This division is just amazingly tough. Four of the five teams in the division have 20+ wins (Florida is the only team that doesn't, and they're only two games off with 18 wins), and every team is above .500.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

First question: Do you like the new addition to the regular updates? The new addition being the aforementioned "AROUND THE LEAGUE" part. And also now the "NOMAR/CLEMENS" addition.

Second question: What things do you think I can/should improve on? For example, would you like me to key in on Nomar and Clemens a little more? Am I posting too frequently? Things like that.

Third question: What do you think of my writing/writing style? Is it too predictable or anything like that, for example?

Fourth question: Do you think I went through the off season too quickly? Also, did you think the trades I made were unfair, or do you think I made too many of them?

Just re-posting these because I'd still like some more criticisms. Always looking to get better and improve .

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

May 11
Red Sox (20-13) @ Orioles (11-23)
Red Sox 1 - Orioles 9

We could just not get anything going in this game, and a poor start by Clemens didn't help things. We managed just five hits off Mike Mussina, and our only run came on a solo shot by Bret Boone in the sixth inning. Clemens made it through 5 1/3 innings before allowing six runs on eight hits.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 0-3, BB, K/5.1 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 6 ER, 2 K
WP - Mike Mussina (2-1)
LP - Roger Clemens (6-2)
SV - N/A
HR - Bret Boone (6)

BREAKING NEWS

Following this game we received news that our starting third baseman, Jeff Cirillo, will miss the next six games with a pulled hammy. Jeff Frye and Nomar will get starts at third base in wake of this injury.

May 12
Red Sox (20-14) @ Orioles (12-23)
Red Sox 1 - Orioles 0 (10 innings)

Quite an exciting game here. Both of the starters pitched into the tenth inning, with Brad Radke getting the ten inning complete game shutout, and Ponson surrendering just the one run in 9 2/3 innings. The lone run of the game came when Phil Clark singled through the left side to score Bret Boone from second.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 0-4
WP - Brad Radke (7-1)
LP - Sidney Ponson (1-5)
SV - N/A
HR - N/A

May 13
Red Sox (21-14) @ Orioles (12-24)
Red Sox 2 - Orioles 0

I think I just took a trip into the twilight zone. JEFF SUPPAN, of all people, pitched a complete game, four hit, shutout, without walking a batter and he struck out six. David Wells pitched well in opposition too, allowing just the two runs over 8 2/3 innings.

NOMAR/CLEMENS - 1-4
WP - Jeff Suppan (2-5)
LP - David Wells (4-5)
SV - N/A
HR - N/A

Thoughts: We've maintained our 1 game lead over the Indians heading into our series against them. We've got an off day before we start the series, and because of that we'll be able to start Moyer the first game, Clemens the second, and Radke the third. I'd like to sweep 'em, but I'll settle for taking two of three.

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

JOHNSON NOTCHES K #2,000

Mariners ace Randy Johnson recently hit a significant milestone in his pitching career, striking out the 2,000th batter of his career. He reached the milestone in just ten seasons and 1,730 1/3 innings pitched, making him one of the fastest to do so. You have to think that if he's even close to as dominant in his mid-late thirties, as he was in his early 30's that he'll be a lock for the Hall of Fame when he retires.

[metsguy234]

You misspelled "dynasty" in your sig.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

You misspelled "dynasty" in your sig.

Yeah, I noticed that, I just haven't gotten around to fixing it.