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

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

SPIDERMAN AND ROCKET UPDATE - ALL-STAR BREAK

SS/DH Nomar Garciaparra (85/95), 22 years old



Nomar has fallen off his spectacular start to the season. He is still a tough out, however. He's still leading the team in batting average (though not by the margin he was before), tied for first in RBI's, third in on-base percentage, second in slugging percentage, and second in OPS. He also still ranks in the top ten in the American League in batting average. I'm hoping that sooner or later he gets on another hot streak like he was to start the season and gets his name back in the MVP race and helps us to the playoffs.

SP Roger Clemens (96), 33 years old



Clemens has also fallen off his previous pace a bit (not as much as Nomar). He's still first in the AL in wins and ERA, and second in strikeouts and third in innings pitched. I still think he's the leading candidate for the AL Cy Young award. He's currently on watch for this 200th career win, as he's at 196 career W's at this point. We're gonna need him to keep pitching like the Ace he is if we're gonna make the playoffs.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

TEAM UPDATE - ALL-STAR BREAK

BATTING LINEUP

NOTE: I highlighted Larkin and Frye as the team leader in steals because they both have seven with the Red Sox.

The lineup continues to be very, very strong, and one of the best in the league. Nixon is the only one in the starting nine who isn't really hit as well as I'd like, but it's good enough, and the rest of the line-up really makes up for it. Rondell has really come into his own since joining the team, and is hitting at a .289/.333/.535/.868 pace since coming over from Montreal. We've also got Mike Greenwell looking like he's gonna break his career high single season homer total of 22, set in 1988, Vaughn looking like he's hungry for back-to-back MVP awards, Nomar looking to win Rookie of the Year, and Jeff Frye having a career year. Hopefully they can keep it up through the end of the season.

PITCHING STAFF

The starting rotation is doing much, much better than it was at the start of the season. Clemens is still pitching at an All-Star level, but now we've also got Jeff Suppan pitching well at the Major League level, Jamie Moyer and Butch Henry having respectable seasons, and Wakefield has even been pitching better lately, with a 4.89 ERA since being recalled from AAA. Garces has done just as well as I had expected and hoped in the closers role, and the rest of the 'pen has been pretty solid, for the most part anyways. I think we're in pretty good position to make a second half run at the playoffs.

[ewing6]

I love the formatt, becoming 1 of my fav dynasties. Your lineup is very good, you should trade for a veteran pitcher since your lineup is great. Let's get you into the playoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I love the formatt, becoming 1 of my fav dynasties. Your lineup is very good, you should trade for a veteran pitcher since your lineup is great. Let's get you into the playoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was thinking about trading for a pitcher. Maybe send Nixon and some one else somewhere and give RF to Cordero. Or maybe vice versa, trade Cordero and someone for a pitcher and leave Nixon in RF. And thanks!!

[ewing6]

wow i just noticed how balanced the nl is all teams in the 40s

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

wow i just noticed how balanced the nl is all teams in the 40s

The NL is very balanced, unlike the AL. Quite honestly I'm a little bit concerned at the lack of competitive balance in the AL. I might shake the league up after the season and move some teams from AL to NL and from division to division.

Oh, and the suggestion you had about a pitcher, ewing? Stay tuned for a while and you'll see what happened with it .

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

BREAKING NEWS

RED SOX ACQUIRE RADKE FROM MINNESOTA
TRADE CORDERO, WAKEFIELD, PROSPECTS


Today the Red Sox acquired Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Brad Radke (87/94) in return for five players. The players they traded were SP Tim Wakefield (78), Jamie Brown (63/87), SS/OF/1B Wil Cordero (81/88), SP Tomo Ohka (64/88), 1B Andy Dominique (65/86). I absolutely could not believe I got this offer from them. Originally all I had put on the block was Wakefield, Brown, and Cordero, and Radke was one of the first offers that came up. I didn't think they were getting enough out of the deal, especially with the salary they were taking on, and the idea of getting Radke was too good to pass up, so I decided to toss in a couple more good prospects for good measure and to even off the deal a little. Radke is gonna miss his first start with us, but I'm not too worried about it. And I do think this is a good deal for the re-building Twin.

BRAD RADKE


TIM WAKEFIELD


WIL CORDERO


JAMIE BROWN


TOMO OHKA


ANDY DOMINIQUE

[ewing6]

Nice find he'll be around a while to make up for the losts, looks pretty good for twins as well

[futuremarlinsgm]

Gotta say I'm really enjoying this dynasty and your format. That was a terrific trade. Even to this day, Brad Radke is one of my favorite pitchers of all time since he always brought with him a resonating sense of calm leadership and had some of the best control I had ever seen. Great addition.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

July 13
Blue Jays (36-52) @ Red Sox (50-37)
Blue Jays 0 - Red Sox 6

Clemens makes the start for our first game since the All-Star Break and pitches a gem. He throws a complete game shut out on two hits and two walks, while striking out eight batters and lowering his ERA to 2.84. Freddy Sanchez also hit the first homer of his career, an inside-the-park job in the bottom of the third inning. Nixon also had a solid game, going 2-3 with a walk and an RBI.

WP - Roger Clemens (15-2;197 career wins)
LP - Pat Hentgen (5-9)
SV - N/A
HR - Mo Vaughn (22), Freddy Sanchez (1), Nomar Garciaparra (13)

July 14
Blue Jays (36-53) @ Red Sox (51-37)
Blue Jays 4 - Red Sox 15

We handed the Blue Jays another big blowout loss. Brian Shouse started for the recently acquired, injured Brad Radke and allowed only three runs in five innings, striking out three. Offensively Mike Greenwell was the biggest contributor, going 3-4 with five RBI's. Bret Boone also had three RBI's, while Freddy Sanchez smacked a pair of doubles.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Frye (2B)          3  0  1  1  0  1  1  0    .303
R. White (CF)         5  2  0  1  0  2  2  0    .292
N. Garciaparra (DH)   5  1  0  2  0  1  1  0    .331
M. Vaughn (1B)        4  2  0  3  0  0  1  0    .336
M. Greenwell (LF)     4  3  1  2  1  5  0  0    .317
M. Stanley (C)        5  2  0  2  0  0  3  0    .284
B. Boone (3B)         5  1  0  1  0  3  1  0    .286
T. Nixon (RF)         2  1  1  2  0  1  0  0    .254
F. Sanchez (SS)       4  2  0  1  0  1  0  0    .391
TOTALS               37 14  3 15  1 14  9  0

   2B:  M. Vaughn (17), B. Boone (19), F. Sanchez 2 (2)
   HR:  M. Greenwell (17)
   HBP:  M. Vaughn

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       B. Shouse  5.0  8  1  0  3  3  3  96   3.86
       T. Gordon  3.0  3  0  0  0  0  1  43   4.94
       R. Garces  1.0  1  2  0  1  1  0  25   2.55
          TOTALS  9.0 12  3  0  4  4  4 164

WP - Brian Shouse (1-0)
LP - Woody Williams (3-9)
SV - N/A
HR - Mike Greenwell (17)

July 15
Blue Jays (36-54) @ Red Sox (52-37)
Blue Jays 2 - Red Sox 4

We manage to complete the sweep on a very well played game all-around. Jeff Suppan snaps his personal losing streak by going 7 2/3 innings and allowing just two runs on nine hits and no walks, striking out three, and El Guapo gets the save in four out save, striking out every batter he got out. Offensively Mo Vaughn went 3-4 with two RBI's, and Rondell White was 2-4 with a walk, two runs, an RBI, and a stolen base.

WP - Jeff Suppan (7-2)
LP - Erik Hanson (3-8)
SV - Rich Garces (11)
HR - N/A

Thoughts: It was very good to get a sweep coming out of the gate after the All-Star break. We made up a game on the Yankees to pull within nine games, and we made up two on the Wild Card leading White Sox to pull within 4.5 games. Mo Vaughn passed Nomar on the team in batting average, hitting .342 to Nomar's .327, and is now leading the team in all of the hitting triple crown categories (BA, HR, RBI). But more exciting on the hitting front is how well Mike Greenwell has hit in his past ten games, collecting 15 hits in 38 at bats and putting forth a line of .395/.465/.789/1.254. Next up we're home for three more games against the Rangers, and then we travel to Toronto and play the Blue Jays again, where Brad Radke will make his first career Red Sox start.

GREENWELL'S LAST TEN GAMES AND SEASON STATS

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Gotta say I'm really enjoying this dynasty and your format. That was a terrific trade. Even to this day, Brad Radke is one of my favorite pitchers of all time since he always brought with him a resonating sense of calm leadership and had some of the best control I had ever seen. Great addition.

Thanks very much . I was extremely surprised when he came up when I put Wake, Cordero, and Brown on the block. Before him the best offer I had seen was Kevin Appier (89), and I was pretty sure I was gonna take that. But once I saw the Twins were offering Radke I decided to throw them a couple more prospects to even it off and take Radke. He was just too good to pass up.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

BREAKING NEWS

RED SOX SIGN RONDELL WHITE TO LONG-TERM DEAL
AVOID ARBITRATION



Today the Red Sox agreed to terms on a long-term extension with the recently acquired Rondell White. The deal covers the remainder of this season, and the following three, at 2.5 million dollars a year.

Rondell has hit very well since coming over from Montreal, and we were happy to be able to come to this deal with him, as opposed to going year-to-year in arbitration and have things be even more expensive. With as well as he's hit this season, we're hoping he receives some sort of ratings boost and can become a premier offensive center fielder in all of baseball. Originally he had wanted a no-trade clause, but I was able to get out of it by offering a little bit more money in comparison to my initial offer.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

July 16
Rangers (43-47) @ Red Sox (53-37)
Rangers 5 - Red Sox 7 (10 innings)

Jamie Moyer had a rough first inning in which he allowed three runs, but he settled down after that and allowed just one run the rest of the game. Overall he went six innings and allowed four runs on seven hits, while also striking out seven. Rondell White had a fantastic game fresh off signing his new deal, hitting a walk-off two run homer in the bottom of the tenth inning, and going 3-6 with two runs, a homer, and five RBI's total.

WP - Heathcliff Slocumb (1-5)
LP - Ed Vosberg (2-3)
SV - N/A
HR - Rondell White (15)

July 17
Rangers (43-48) @ Red Sox (54-37)
Rangers 3 - Red Sox 1

Butch pitched a fantastic game, going eight innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and one walk, while striking out five, but unfortunately the offense was held in check by Rick Helling. Helling held us to seven hits over eight innings and the only run he allowed was in the seventh inning on a Freddy Sanchez single. Mike Stanley was our only hitter to collect more than one hit, going 2-4, and Bret Boone was our only hitter to get an extra-base hit, hitting a double in the seventh inning.

WP - Rick Helling (4-5)
LP - Butch Henry (5-6)
SV - Jeff Zimmerman (3)
HR - N/A

July 18
Rangers (44-48) @ Red Sox (54-38)
Rangers 6 - Red Sox 7

Clemens second start after the All-Star Break didn't go nearly as well as the first. Clemens last only 1 2/3 innings before giving up five runs on five hits and three walks, but fortunately the bullpen was able to hold bac the powerful Rangers offense. Shouse, Gordon, Maddux, Stanton, and Garces combined to pitch the remaining 7 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on four hits and one walk, while striking out nine and getting us the win. Mo Vaughn and Mike Greenwell each went 2-4 with two RBI's, and Trot Nixon also drove in two runs.

WP - Mike Maddux (7-1)
LP - Gil Heredia (4-2)
SV - Rich Garces (12)
HR - N/A

Thoughts: We've only lost one game since the All-Star Break and we're STILL ten games back of the Yankees and five back of the White Sox. We're gonna have to play really, really well the last 2 1/2 months of the season if we're gonna make the playoffs, and we're gonna have to hope and pray for the White Sox and/or Yankees to cool down a bit. Next we have an off day, then we have Brad Radke making his first Red Sox start on the road against the Blue Jays. We have three against the Jays, then we go on a West Coast trip in which we play four against the M's and three against the Rangers before coming home again to face the Yankees. Hopefully certain members of the offense (like Nomar whose hitting .188 in his last ten games) pick it up by the Yankee series so we can sweep or at least take two of three against them.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

July 20
Red Sox (55-38) @ Blue Jays (36-58)
Red Sox 4 - Blue Jays 0

Brad Radke's Sox debut couldn't have gone any better if Hollywood had written a movie about it. Radke went all nine innings to get the complete game shutout, and allowed only four hits and three walks, while striking out five. I hope to see more performances like this out of Radke in the future. Offensively Nixon had a two run home run, and Nomar was 2-5 with an RBI, and Jeff Frye reached base four times in five plate appearances, going 3-4 with a walk and a run.

WP - Brad Radke (1-0)
LP - Woody Williams (3-10)
SV - N/A
HR - Trot Nixon (4)

July 21
Red Sox (56-38) @ Blue Jays (36-59)
Red Sox 0 - Blue Jays 4

I guess you could say the Blue Jays exacted their revenge in this game, since this time we were on the losing end of a complete game shutout. Erik Hanson went all nine innings against us and allowed six hits and three walks, no runs, and struck out our hitters seven times. Nixon was the only hitter of ours to collect multiple hits, going 2-3 with a double. Suppan's start wasn't nearly as successful as he allowed four runs in four innings, with all four runs coming on two two-run homers by Joe Carter.

WP - Erik Hanson (4-8)
LP - Jeff Suppan (7-3)
SV - N/A
HR - N/A

July 22
Red Sox (56-39) @ Blue Jays (37-59)
Red Sox 15 - Blue Jays 6

I think it's some sort of federally mandated thing that there is at least one blow out everytime we play the Blue Jays. Rondell White went 4-6 with five RBI's and is now flirting with .300, and Nixon went 2-3 with two walks to raise his batting average to a respectable .267. Nomar also seems to be getting off the schneid, as he's gotten a hit in five straight games, and gotten multiple hits in three of those five, including today's game in which he went 3-5 with a walk, two runs, a homer, and three RBI's. Moyer pitched a very good game as well, allowing three runs over seven innings on six hits and four walks, while striking out seven.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Frye (2B)          5  2  0  3  0  1  0  0    .308
R. White (CF)         6  4  0  2  0  5  1  0    .298
N. Garciaparra (DH)   5  3  1  2  1  3  0  0    .328
M. Vaughn (1B)        5  2  1  0  0  3  2  0    .332
M. Greenwell (LF)     6  1  0  0  0  1  1  0    .306
M. Stanley (C)        4  1  1  2  1  1  2  0    .284
B. Boone (3B)         5  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .295
T. Nixon (RF)         3  2  2  4  0  0  0  0    .267
F. Sanchez (SS)       5  1  0  2  0  0  0  0    .320
TOTALS               44 17  5 15  2 14  7  0

   2B:  R. White 2 (22), T. Nixon (16)
   3B:  J. Frye (6)
   HR:  M. Stanley (14), N. Garciaparra (14)
   HBP:  J. Frye
   GIDP:  J. Frye

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        J. Moyer  7.0  6  4  1  3  3  7 120   4.86
       T. Gordon  2.0  3  1  1  3  3  2  54   5.24
          TOTALS  9.0  9  5  2  6  6  9 174

WP - Jamie Moyer (8-3)
LP - Juan Guzman (6-7)
SV - N/A
HR - Mike Stanley (14), Nomar Garciaparra (14)

Thoughts: Hopefully Nomar's hits in five straight games, and three of five with more than one hit, is actually him breaking out of his slump and not just a blip on the slump radar. We really need his bat to be going strong the next two weeks because we've got some tough games against the AL West leading Mariners, the just-under-.500 Rangers, and the Yankees. I think that the Yankee series is make-or-break for our division hopes. If we can take two of three, or better yet sweep them, then we might still have a shot at the division. And if not then we'll probably be lucky to make the playoffs at all.

I'd also like to draw everyone's attention to the play of one Mr. Trot Nixon as of late. He's currently on a ten game hitting streak and tearing the cover off the ball, and his brought his season line up to a very respectable .267/.335/.438/.773. It's nice to see that my patience with him is paying off.

TROT NIXON'S LAST TEN GAMES AND SEASON STATS

[ewing6]

Go brad! CG shutout in debut is good, hopefully a sign of things to come. Nixon seemed to go off right when you traded cordero, funny how that works.