Down on the Farm – 6/20

df1.gif

pawsox.gifPawtucket Red Sox:

The Pawsox wasted chances as they lost in the 10th inning last night.

Team Stats

International League Standings

Pawsox website

seadogs.gifPortland Sea Dogs:

Knuckleballer Charlie Zink went the distance as the Sea Dogs defeated the Defenders 2-1.

Team Stats

Eastern League Standings

Sea Dogs website

jethawks.gifLancaster Jethawks:

Bubba Bell was named MVP of the Cal League vs Carolina League All-Star Game

Team stats

California League Standings

Jethawks website

drive.gifGreenville Drive:

Something I missed the other day. Joshua Papelbon was named to the South Atlantic League All-Star game.

Gabe Kapler is enjoying learning on the job in Greenville.

The North beat the South in the Sally League All-Star game.

Team Stats

South Atlantic League Standings

Drive website

spinners.gifLowell Spinners:

Adam Mills might be the most decorated pitcher on the Spinners staff.

The Spinners held on to win their season opener against the Tigers.

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

supercrisp.gif

becks.gifAfter another stellar outing from Josh Beckett, the Red Sox got some encouraging news about Curt Schilling’s shoulder. They found no structural damage and he will undergo more tests to determine what’s going on. So folks that’s a good thing. It does look like he will miss his scheduled start on Sunday right now against the Padres but with Jon Lester and Kason Gabbard down in Triple-A, I know we will be ok. With the win last night and the Yanks losing, the Sox lead is back up to 9 games. So this whole thing with Schilling is like Beckett’s avulsion situation. Err on the side of caution and make sure he is healthy for the long run. Enough of my jibber-jabber, let’s take a look at what the Boston area and Atlanta media has to say about Schilling’s shoulder, the game last night, and other baseball things in this Super Coco edition of Red Sox News & Notes.

Curt Schilling’s MRI results were normal. [Boston Globe]

According to a source, Schilling’s MRI results ok. [Boston Herald]

No damage found in shoulder of Schilling. [Pro Jo]

The Braves were blanked by Beckett and the BoSox. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] (Passwords for AJC available by clicking on the AJC link to the left)

Beckett proved he was the ace last night. [Hartford Courant]

Are the Braves doomed? [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

The Sox braved the elements in their victory last night. [Boston Herald]

Atlanta was blanked for Beckett’s 10th win. [Boston Globe]

Alex Cora is a triple threat again. [Hartford Courant]

Josh Beckett overmatched Tim Hudson and the Braves. [Pro Jo]

Josh Beckett was cuckoo for Super Coco’s catch. [Boston Herald]

Josh Beckett loves to hit. [Boston Globe]

The struggling Julio Lugo got the night off. [Boston Herald]

Coco Crisp is having a field day in Atlanta. [Boston Globe]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution websites.

Wednesday’s Half Marathon Around the NL

Astros 2B Craig Biggio is just 8 hits from 3,000.

Slumping Braves OF Andruw Jones is searching for answers.

Brewers SS J.J. Hardy sat out Tuesday’s game with an ailing hip.

The slumping Adam Kennedy has found a seat on the Cardinals bench.

Sammy Sosa has a chance to hit #600 against his former club, the Cubs.

The Diamondbacks pushed Brandon Webb’s next start up a day.

Chad Billingsley will take Jason Schmidt’s place in the Dodgers rotation.

Bengie Molina got a day off on Tuesday for the Giants.

The Marlins are having some issues with their defense.

Last night was the 18th anniversary of Dwight Gooden’s 100th win for the Mets.

Jason Bergmann and Luis Ayala will be returning to the Nationals very soon.

Chase Headley is making the most of his first chance with the Padres.

Phillies reliever Geoff Geary shaved off his goatee to change his luck.

It felt like home for Pirates OF Jason Bay in Seattle.

Bronson Arroyo will get an extra day of rest for the Reds.

Todd Helton is taking things one day at a time for the Rockies.

Beckett Wins 10th With Shutout Over Atlanta

beckett-copy.gifJosh Beckett became the second 10 game winner with 6 shutout innings as the Sox beat the Braves in front of another sold out crowd at Turner Field. Beckett may have gone longer but a 48 minute rain delay chased him from the game. He even helped his own cause out with a RBI double that scored Alex Cora. Every Sox starter had at least one hit except for J.D. Drew. Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek each had two hits.

Hudson was strong for the first 3 innings as Youk was the only batter to reach base. Youk was retired when Varitek hit into a double play. Meanwhile Beckett had a little trouble in the first inning. After Kelly Johnson struck out, Willie Harris lined a double to deep center. Edgar Renteria got him over to third on a ground out to Cora at short. Chipper Jones drew a walk but Beckett got last night’s hero, Brian McCann, to fly out to Drew in right to end the inning.

Atlanta managed a couple of runners in the 3rd inning but couldn’t push anything across the plate. Hudson flew out to Manny to lead off the inning and Johnson drew a walk. Beckett got Harris on some high cheese but Renteria reached on an infield single. Beckett got Chipper to ground out to end the threat.

papihr-copy.gifThe Sox finally struck for a run in the 4th inning. Drew reached on a error by Renteria. With Pedroia at the plate, Drew was thrown out trying to steal second although it looked like a hit-and-run was on and Pedroia couldn’t make contact. Pedroia ended up grounding out to Chipper. Big Papi then took a Hudson offering and planted it in the left field seats for his 12th homer of the year. The homer put the Sox up 1-0. Manny followed Big Papi with a single and Youk hit a double, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. Varitek was intentionally walked by Hudson, loading up the bases for Coco. Unfortunately Coco couldn’t get the job done as he grounded out to second.

Boston struck for two more in the 5th. Cora led off with a triple and came around to score when Beckett lined a double to the gap in left center. Drew flew out to center and Beckett being the excellent runner, advanced to third. Beckett came around to score on Pedroia single. Big Papi and Manny both flew out for the last outs of the inning.

supercoco.gifBeckett was still cruising along. He had set down six in a row before Johnson singled in 5th. One of those he retired was Hudson on a flyball that Super Coco flew thru the air to catch. How many times have we seen this, this year?

The Sox chased Hudson from the game in the 6th inning. Youk started off the inning grounding out to Hudson. Varitek hit a double to centerfield and Super Coco hit a single advancing ‘Tek to third. That was the last batter Hudson faced as Oscar Villareal came in and promptly allowed a run to come across the plate when Cora hit a sac fly. His sac fly gave the Sox a 4-0 lead.

Beckett allowed a hit to Renteria leading off the 6th but then retired the next 3 batters in a driving rain. A 48 minute rain delay knocked Beckett out of the game as he didn’t return when the Braves batted in the 7th inning.

Beckett’s line: 1-3, RBI. 6 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts on 88 pitches.

Kyle Synder replaced Beckett after the delay and set down the Braves in order in the 7th inning. He gave up a lead-off single to Johnson in the 8th and was replaced by Hideki “Darkman” Okajima. Darkman had a little trouble finding the plate as he walked Matt Diaz, who pinch-hit for Harris. Darkman then got Yunnel Escobar to ground into 5-4-3 double play. With Johnson at third base and 2 outs, Chipper grounded out to Youk ending the threat.

The Sox couldn’t manage anything in the 8th or 9th other than a Varitek single (8th) and Cora was hit by a Macay McBride offering (9th). Both were retired on double plays.

Texas Gal’s hero and mine also, Jonathan Papelbon came in for the 9th inning. He set the side down in the order perserving Beckett’s 10th win of the season.

papeltexasgal.gif

The Sox now anxiously await the results of Curt Schilling’s MRI that he had earlier in the day. Yo-Yo takes the hill for the Sox as they try to win this series in Atlanta. Gametime is 7:35 PM.

Continue reading

8th Grader Commits to USC

I wasn’t going to blog anymore today other than the Red Sox recap but this one caught my eye.

14-year old Ryan Boatwright, from Illinois, accepted a scholarship offer from USC coach Tim Floyd over the weekend to play basketball. This is actually the second commitment from a 14 year old that USC has gotten in the past two years.

The kicker. The kid hasn’t even decided what high school he is going to attend and yet has already made his college decision.

All I have to say is WTF!!! Next thing you know, parents are going to be having their kids recruited by colleges while the child is still in the womb.

Schilling On His Way To Boston For MRI

schill613.jpgI am sure you can all the sense the big gasp in the air here in New England as the various Boston media outlets are all reporting that Curt Schilling is enroute to Boston to undergo an MRI on his right shoulder. This comes on the heels of his velocity being down in last night’s game.

From Tom Caron’s NESN blog:

Schilling is heading back to Boston to undergo tests, and a Red Sox official told us there were concerns over the lack of velocity in Schilling’s performance last night. According to the NESN radar gun, Schilling never hit 90 mph over his 81 pitches last night.The Red Sox confirmed that he would be undergoing a precautionary MRI and there was no word yet on whether or not he would miss his next start, scheduled for Sunday against Jake Peavy and the San Diego Padres.

Schilling has also yet to blog about last night’s game.

Let’s hope that this is nothing more than just a deadarm phase. If that’s the case maybe Schill can ask Papelbon for his shoulder workout.

[Extra Bases, Clubhouse Insider, ProJo SoxBlog]

Down on the Farm – 6/19

df1.gif

pawsox.gifPawtucket Red Sox:

The PawSox lost last night on a walk-off walk.

Team Stats

International League Standings

Pawsox website

seadogs.gifPortland Sea Dogs:

Beau Vaughn was drafted a round ahead of Jonathan Papelbon but isn’t progressing as fast.

Team Stats

Eastern League Standings

Sea Dogs website

jethawks.gifLancaster Jethawks:

Team stats

California League Standings

Jethawks website

drive.gifGreenville Drive:

The Drive’s Reid Engel is scheduled to start in right field for the Southern Division in today’s South Atlantic League All-Star game in Rome, Ga.

Team Stats

South Atlantic League Standings

Drive website

spinners.gifLowell Spinners:

Tonight is opening night for the Spinners.

Ryan Kalish is back in Lowell this season.

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.

Is Jim Rice a Hall of Famer?

ricecard.gifAfter doing the original article on Dwight Evans, Ian and I thought it’d be good for me to take a look at Jim Rice and ask the same question. So I decided to take a look at some statistics and see how they support it.

When you go to the baseball-reference.com and look up Jim Rice one of the things they give you is the pages for similar hitters and for players who were comparable at the same age. With Rice being a left fielder/DH I compared him to outfielder’s who are Hall members. The problem with Rice is that many of the players they compare him too are also not in the hall. Players like Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, George Foster and others. So what I did was used outfielders and some noted power guys to see how Jim Ed’s numbers stack up.

Jim Rice:
16 years, 2089 G, 8225 AB, 1249 R, 2452 H, 373 2B, 89 3B, 382 HR, 1451 RBI, 670 BB, 1423 K, .298 BA, .352 OBP, .502 SLG, averaged 30 HR, 113 RBI, 8 All-Star games, 1 MVP.

The players we will look at when comparing Jim will be:

Duke Snyder:
18 years, 2143 G, 7161 AB, 1259 R, 2116 H, 358 2B, 85 3B, 407 HR, 1333 RBI, 971 BB, 1237 K, .295 BA, .380 OBP, .540 SLG, averaged 31 HR, 101 RBI, 8 All-Star games.

Eddie Murray:
21 years, 3026 G, 11336 AB, 1627 R, 3255 H, 560 2B, 35 3B, 504 HR, 1917 RBI, 1333 BB, 1516 K, .287 BA, .359 OBP, .476 SLG, averaged 27 HR, 103 RBI, 7 All-Star games, Rookie of the Year, 3 Gold Gloves.

Kirby Puckett:
12 years, 1783 G, 7244 AB, 1071 R, 2304 H, 414 2B, 57 3B, 207 HR, 1085 RBI, 450 BB, 965 K, .318 BA, .360 OBP, .477 SLG, averaged 19 HR, 99 RBI, 10 All-star games, 6 Gold Gloves, 1 All-Star MVP, 1 ALCS MVP, 1 Batting Title.

Dave Winfield:
22 years, 2973 G, 11003 AB, 1669 R, 3110 H, 540 2B, 88 3B, 465 HR, 1833 RBI, 1216 BB, 1686 K, .283 BA, .353 OBP, .475 SLG, averaged 25 HR, 100 RBI, 12 All-Star teams, 7 Gold Gloves.

Mickey Mantle:
18 years, 2401 G, 8102 AB, 1617 R, 2415 H, 344 2B, 72 3B, 536 HR, 1509 RBI, 1733 BB, 1710 K, .298 BA, .421 OBP, .557 SLG, averaged 36 HR, 102 RBI, 16 All-Star games, 3 MVPs, 1 Triple Crown, 1 Gold Glove.

Roberto Clemente:
18 years, 2433 G, 9454 AB, 1416 R, 3000 H, 440 2B, 166 3B, 240 HR, 1305 RBI, 621 BB, 1230 K, .317 BA, .359 OBP, .475 SLG, averaged 16 HR, 87 RBI, 12 All-Star teams, 1 MVP, 1 WS MVP, 12 Gold Glove, 4 Batting Titles.

In addition to above mentioned stuff, Rice lead the AL in HRs 3 times, twice in RBI, twice in slugging percentage, once in hits, once in triples and 4 times into double plays grounded into. The GIDP has been for some voters a HUGE knock on Rice. He is 6th all-time in that category. The top five are 5. Eddie Murray 4. Dave Winfield 3. Carl Yastrzemski 2. Hank Aaron 1. Cal Ripken. The top 5 are all HOF members. End of argument.

When compared to the Hall Famers above he more than holds his own. Jim’s numbers compare favorably to the HOF’s listed above. He is only missing a batting title and maybe a few more All-Star games but even without those look at his numbers compared to Mantle.

My opinion is that Jim Rice deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and that the Hall voters are either blind or high or both. In fact I’d be willing to bet if you looked at numbers of some other players who aren’t in from the same era they deserve to go as well. I remember watching some of these guys that I mentioned above as a kid and announcers and writers would say they were having a hall of fame career. If that’s so how come these guys, especially Jim Rice, are not in the Hall?

Hank Aaron Has His Own Plane

aaron-plane1.gif

Hideki Matsui has one. So Daisuke Matsuzaka. Now you can add Hank Aaron to the baseball players with faces on an airplane. Delta Airlines unveiled Hank Aaron’s likeness on a plane yesterday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The plane’s name is the “Hank Aaron 755”.

“I am honored and sometimes you know I pinch myself every now and then to see whether it is real or not,” Aaron said.

Added the 73-year-old Aaron: “I am so thrilled to have an airplane named after me. This is something I never dreamed about. As my mother always said, you’ve come a long ways baby, and enjoy yourself.”

Hat tip to my Uncle Jock for the tip.

aaron-plane2.gif