Remember when Gump apologized for scoring a lot of runs against Florida? ... Could New York have managed a last-inning rally against what everyone says is a leaky Sox pen? Of course, they could. It was unlikely, but possible. If the other team gives you a base, take it.
If Kapler had hit a ball in the gap and the Yankee outfielders were slow to get to it, would he stop at second with a double when he could easily leg out a triple? Of course not. And if he did go into third standing up, would he be sorry the next day? It's laughable.
Kapler's only brain cramp was in issuing his mea culpa.
The bullpen has pitched only 10.1 innings in the last nine games. ... The Sox have signed 26-year-old, right-hand hitting Cuban first baseman Michel Abreu. ... Wade Miller started and allowed two runs in 2.2 innings as the Portland Sea Dogs advanced to the EL championship series with a 9-2 victory over the Yankees' Trenton Thunder team. Miller also walked three, struck out three and threw a wild pitch.
Who works inside the Monster? ... Rick Ankiel completed his first season (A and AA) as a positional player with a .259 average, 21 home runs and 75 RBI. ... Gordon Edes reviews "Mind Game: How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart, Won a World Series and Created a New Blueprint for Winning"; when discussing Dave Roberts,
[Theo] Epstein's orthodoxy, reinforced by special adviser Bill James, the creator of the whole analytical business that had debunked stolen bases in the first place, held that if you built the right kind of team, Roberts's skill set would be largely extraneous. Except -- and this was the key part of it that most people didn't get -- except when it was necessary . . . It was a desperate moment, but nonetheless a moment that had been planned for.With 20 games left:
If Boston goes 10-10, the Yankees would have to win 13 of 20 to force a tie. That's a .650 percentage -- much higher than their .563 mark in 142 games so far.Boston 83-59
New York 80-62
Mike Vaccaro had a great article in Sunday's Post, headlined: "Stadium Now Boston Colony". After the final out of the Sox's 9-2 win:
You couldn't hear the first few notes of "New York, New York" ... because there was a deafening spasm of noise spreading through the grandstand, and just about everywhere you looked inside Yankee Stadium you could see row after row of red shirts, hear choruses of cheering. ...
Walking through the concourses at Yankee Stadium during the top of the fourth inning yesterday, there rose a deep, throaty roar from the other side of the walls. Yankee fans scurried to the concession stands to check TV monitors; such a sound could only mean a Yankee had just made a splendid defensive play.
Imagine their surprise, then, when they saw this instead: Red Sox first baseman John Olerud trotting around the basepaths after smoking a ball into the right field stands off Yankees starter Shawn Chacon, extending the Sox lead to 3-0.
"Why the hell is everyone cheering?" asked a guy in an Alex Rodriguez jersey, and it's a hell-of-a-good question. ...
4 comments:
Didn't the ever-so-verbose-fill-every-minute-with-the sound-of-his-own-voice-even-if-there's-nothing-to-say-colorman Tim McCarver actually recall a good quote from Whitey Herzog, "I'll stop sending them if you promise not to score any runs."
I don't know why Kapler was thinking apologizing -- it's like a pitcher letting a batter know he didn't mean to hit him. You never let them know -- even if it wasn't intentional.
Kapler should have stloen third too..
As for the Red Sox fans at the Stadium, I am one of those fans. I am a Mass native but transplanted in Brooklyn. It's not my fault that the Yankees can fill a stadium with their own fans. People have always made fun of our passionate fan base (Cubs too for that matter) because we didn't win.. their thought: "You don't win. WHY do you care?"
SO now the Sox HAVE won.. and we have the same passion and are not afraid to show it in public. Instead of being "pathetic" we are now a "bandwagon losers". Whatever... because the Yankees aren't in first place thats why their are seats available.
I bet it would be A LOT harder to get a seat in Cleveland...
because the Yankees aren't in first place thats why their are seats available.
It's funny, 'cause Yankee radio announcers can't stop talking about how great attendance is. They are positively obsessed with the Yankees setting new attendance records. They never mention that a sizeable percentage of those tix are sold to Sox fans.
They were making a big deal about the Yankees 41st sell out of the season. Meanwhile the Sox have over 200 in a row -- the 2nd longest sellout streak in history. Sure Fenway may be smaller, but given the size of the fan base in the NYC area, you can't attribute it to ballpark size alone.
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