Music From The Mound

Are you interested in what type of music Daisuke Matsuzaka listens to? Well if you are, then this CD is for you. “Music From the Mound” is a collection of Dice-K’s favorite Japanese, American and English songs.

The album also features the new original track “Gyro Ball”, which includes guest performances from former J. Geils harmonica player Magic Dick, former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt as well as Boston Red Sox television announcers Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy.

A portion of the proceeds from all albums sold, as well as the download of “Gyro Ball”, will be donated to the Red Sox Foundation, the official team charity of the Boston Red Sox.

The CD will go on sale July 17th at www.dicekcd.com or can be pre-ordered at amazon.com. As stated above, part of the proceeds will go to the Red Sox Foundation. So get the plastic out Red Sox Nation and start ordering.

Schilling Checks In

schill613.jpgCurt Schilling finally checked in over at 38 Pitches with a very short blog entry by his normal standards.

Arm feels fine, the injection made an immense difference almost immediately, which was a great sign. So we are working towards milestones each day and hopefully I’ll begin throwing again in the next few days.

It’s great to hear that his shoulder is doing better already. Keep working hard Curt so we can get you back on the mound.

Interleague Play is Over For 2007

Much to the happiness of Red Sox skipper Terry Francona, interleague play is over and done with in 2007. He doesn’t like it because it doesn’t allow him to put his best team on the field. I agree with him on that because most teams, the Red Sox especially, are built around their DH. So this means, he had to rest one of his better players to get David Ortiz in the lineup.

However, I do like interleague play. I think it’s great for the game and it’s nice to see some different teams. Seriously think about it for a second, how many times do we get to see Barry Bonds play in Boston. Unless the Giants and Sox made it to the World Series, it would never happen.

I don’t like the idea of a natural rival. Since when are the Braves our natural rival. I understand some cities have two teams, (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco). The schedule makers can keep those games on the schedule but for only 3 games. Six games is overkill to me. Just alternate it between stadiums each year.

The American League won this year with a record of 137-115. The Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anahem were the best of the AL, with identical 14-4 records. The Colorado Rockies took the NL with a 10-8 record.

American W L National W L
Detroit 14 4   Colorado 10 8
Los Angeles 14 4   Florida 9 9
Boston 12 6   Washington 9 9
Minnesota 11 7   Houston 9 9
Texas 11 7   New York 8 7
Toronto 10 8   Philadelphia 8 7
New York 10 8   Milwaukee 8 7
Kansas City 10 8   Chicago 8 4
Oakland 10 8   Arizona 8 7
Cleveland 9 9   Cincinnati 7 11
Seattle 9 9   St. Louis 6 9
Tampa Bay 7 11   San Diego 6 9
Baltimore 6 12   Pittsburgh 5 10
Chicago 4 14   Los Angeles 5 10
        San Francisco 5 10
        Atlanta 4 11

Down on the Farm – 6/25

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pawsox.gifPawtucket Red Sox:

A rough 1st inning cost David Pauley and the PawSox a win.

Team Stats

International League Standings

Pawsox website

seadogs.gifPortland Sea Dogs:

After blowing a 5-run lead on Saturday night, the Sea Dogs made sure it didn’t happen on Sunday.

Team Stats

Eastern League Standings

Sea Dogs website

jethawks.gifLancaster Jethawks:

Justin Masterson was dominant in a 14-4 win over Bakersfield.

Team stats

California League Standings

Jethawks website

drive.gifGreenville Drive:

Hickory ripped the Drive on Sunday.

The Drive hope to gain momentum on their 8-game homestand.

Team Stats

South Atlantic League Standings

Drive website

spinners.gifLowell Spinners:

The Spinners slayed the Lake Monsters on Sunday 4-2

Lowell Spinners Blog

Spinners website

If you would like to listen to any of the games from your favorite Red Sox minor league team, head over MILB.com Gameday Audio. It’s free to sign up.

Red Sox News & Notes – 6/25

While the pitcher’s duel never really materialized yesterday, one thing remained constant. The pitching of Josh Beckett. Despite the bumps in the road with the avulsion and against the Rockies, Beckett has looked like a man on a mission. His mission, should he choose to carry it out, is to lead the Red Sox to another World Series title. Manny’s hitting, J.D.’s hitting, Coco’s hitting, Big Papi is doing his thing. Now if they can only get Lugo out of his funk. Think about it for a second, with all the slumps the Sox had in the beginning of the season, they were able to build the lead in the AL East. And if you noticed, as soon as a few guys started to come around, the big lead came back. Imagine if you will, Lugo getting on base at a better clip then he is, how many more runs might they score? The answer to that remains to be seen, but I can tell you this. Before the Red Sox take on the Mariners, who are good now by the way, let’s take a look at the headlines from the San Diego and Boston media about yesterday’s happenings.

Coming Up Aces. [Boston Globe]

Beckett the Ace of Aces. [San Diego Union Tribune]

Sox sail in San Diego: Beckett strong in 11th win. [Boston Herald]

Splitting aces: Boston’s Beckett bests Peavy in historic duel. [North County Times]

Beckett comes up aces. [Pro Jo]

Patient Red Sox wear down Peavy. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Ex-mates remember Beck. [Boston Globe]

Padres mourn death of ex-teammate Beck. [North County Times]

Put to good use: Pap makes quick work. [Boston Herald]

Readers’ response on Padres colors: Go retro. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Sox hold all the power: Buehrle move in their court. [Boston Herald]

Varitek not done swinging just yet. [Boston Herald]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, North County Times and San Diego Union-Tribune websites.

Red Sox vs Mariners Pitching Matchups

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Monday June 25th, 10:05 PM

Julian Tavarez (R) (5-4, 4.50) vs Jeff Weaver (R) (1-6, 8.56)

Tuesday June 26th, 10:05 PM

Kason Gabbard (L) (1-0, 3.60) vs Felix Hernandez (R) (4-4, 4.00)

Wednesday June 27th, 4:30 PM

Daisuke Matsuzaka (R) (9-5, 4.01) vs Ryan Feierabend (L) (1-2, 8.20)

Monday Jog Around the AL & NL East

Boston handled the call-up situation very delicately.

Yunel Escobar may be the next utility guy for the Braves.

Royce Clayton is not happy sitting on the Blue Jays bench.

Josh Willingham is making his name known down in Miami.

Speedy D’Rays OF Carl Crawford is one of the best triples hitter in the game.

The Nationals might give two of their top pitching prospects auditions in the second half.

Orioles skipper Dave Trembly is remaining calm after Saturday’s letdown.

Sean Green gave Carlos Delgado a rest at first for the Mets on Sunday.

Derek Jeter was back in the Yankees lineup on Sunday after leaving Saturday’s game early. Also Roger Clemens came out of the bullpen for the first time since 1984 in a regular season game.

Pat Burrell is hitting .146 since April 26th for the Phillies.

Sox Of Both Colors Talking Trade

With just over a month before the July 31st trade deadline the Boston Red Sox have become the front runners to land Chicago White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

ChiSox GM Ken Williams feels that all avenues have been exhausted in trying to sign Buehrle to a contract extension that it’s time to talk trade. And supposedly it is serious with Boston as they sent assistant GM Allaird Baird to scout Buehrle’s last start against the Cubs.

Williams is reportedly interested in several of the BoSox top farm hands. Those on the list are pitcher Clay Buchholtz, outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, pitcher Michael Bowden and short stop Jed Lowrie. Buchholtz and Bowden were just said to be ‘untouchable’ in an ESPN.com article by Peter Gammons.

The Sox, those of the Red variety, are reportedly willing to give Buehrle the long-term extension he desires. This would be a drastic change in the company policy of not talking contract during the season.

A Buehrle pick up and contract extension could signal the end to Curt Schilling’s Boston tenure after this season. If that were to happen the Sox could have a 2008 rotation of Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Mark Buehrle, Tim Wakefield and Jon Lester.

Stay tuned Red Sox Nation this could get interesting.

R.I.P. Rod Beck 1968-2007

Former Major League closer Rod Beck has passed away today at the age of 38 in Phoenix. The cause of death is not known at this time.Originally drafted by the A’s, Beck made his MLB debut with the San Francisco Giants in 1991 where he pitched until the 1997 season. He signed with the Cubs in 1998 and played there until 1999 when he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. He pitched in Boston thru the 2001 season. After the season, he had Tommy John Surgery and was out of baseball until 2003, when he came back with the San Diego Padres. He pitched in San Diego until the 2004 season when he was released in August. He had been out of baseball since.

My condolences go out to Beck’s friends and family.

Are They Hall of Famers? – The Starter Edition

We at Sox and Dawgs decided to start taking a look at some current players to see if they could gain election to Hall of Fame. In this series, we’re going to look at players who are currently active who have reasonable consideration to be a Hall nominee. This isn’t a science and you may have others on your list that we left off. There are some fine young players who are just starting their careers who may have Hall potential but for arguments sake these are guys who have been around a bit or those few outstanding younger players who just jump off the page at you.

In this series we’re going to look at the players by position as compared to Hall members of that position. The position is the primary position of the player through his career. If he played a significant amount of games in another position that will be listed next to his name. Some of the guys we will look at over time have endured position changes, but because the majority of their career was at one position over another we have chosen that as the position in which they are being considered.

The second category we will look at is starting pitchers. Because there are so many starting pitchers in the Hall we are going to use only a few of the later editions to compare our picks to. I’ll do this in the interest of research time, not boring you to death with the numbers and to compare today’s players with players closer to their era.

The Baseball Hall of Fame members we will use are:

Tom Seaver 20 yrs, 311-205, 2.86 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 3640 K, 61 shut outs, 12 all-star teams, ROY, 3 Cy Youngs, wins leader 3x, ERA leader 3x, strike out leader 5x, 3 post season wins

Nolan Ryan 27 yrs, 324-292, 3.19 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 5714 K, 13 shut outs, 8 all-star teams, ERA leader 2x, strike out leader 11x, 2 post season wins

Jim Palmer 19 yrs, 268-152, 2.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 2212 K, 53 shut outs, 6 all-star teams, 3 Cy Youngs, wins leader 3x, ERA leader 2x, 8 post season wins

Bob Gibson 17 yrs, 251-174, 2.91 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 3117 K, 56 shut outs, 8 all-star teams, 2 Cy Youngs, 1 MVP, 2 World Series MVPs, 9 Gold Gloves, ERA leader 1x, win leader 1x, strike out leader 1x, 7 post season wins

Sandy Koufax 12 yrs, 165-87, 2.76 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 2396 K, 40 shut outs, 6 all-star teams, 3 Cy Youngs, 1 MVP, 1 World Series MVP, ERA leader 5x, wins leader 3x, strike out leader 4x, 4 post season wins

Steve Carlton 24 yrs, 329-244, 3.22 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 4136 K, 55 shut outs, 10 all-star teams, 4 Cy Youngs, 1 Gold Glove, ERA leader 1x, wins leader 4x, strike out leader 5x, 6 post season wins

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