G10: Rays 3, Red Sox 1 (12)

Rays    - 001 000 000 002 - 3  5  1
Red Sox - 000 010 000 000 - 1  5  1

The Red Sox loaded the bases in the bottom of the 11th on two singles and an infield error, but could not score (Ortiz FC/3-2, Beltre GIDP/5-3).

Then less than 10 minutes later, Pat Burrell hit a two-run home run off Manny Delcarmen. Jason Varitek doubled with one out in the bottom of the 12th, but Mike Cameron and Marco Scutaro could not advance him.

Friday's suspended game will be resumed tonight at 7 PM, and the regularly scheduled game will follow.

David Ortiz wanted to keep playing: "I was ready for a walk-off."

It is the Red Sox's first suspended since May 3, 1996 (Blue Jays at Fenway Park). The Rays had never had a regular-season game suspended.

Carl Crawford stole his 28th consecutive base against the Red Sox. Boston has not thrown him out since September 21, 2005. The Red Sox have thrown out only one of 17 attempted base stealers. Why don't teams run six, eight, ten times a game? It must be one of those "unwritten rules".

After a rain delay of a little more than an hour (10:21 to 11:24), tonight's game has been suspended with the Red Sox due to bat in the bottom of the ninth.

The Rays scored an unearned run off Beckett (7-4-1-1-8, 106) and Jason Varitek (!) tied the game with a solo home run in the fifth.

Wade Davis / Josh Beckett

Tampa Bay is 6-3, tied for second place with the Yankees, 0.5 GB the Blue Jays. The Red Sox (4-5) are 2.5 GB.

Alex Speier takes an in-depth look at several of the Red Sox's current problems. Since that was posted, it has been reported Mike Cameron has a kidney stone (which are no fun) and Jacoby Ellsbury will not be able to play tonight.

Until Game Time: The All-Color Team, including Jimmy Lavender and Preston Purple.

Stones: Plundered My Soul

UPDATE: Bits of six more songs: "Pass The Wine", "I Ain't Signifying", "Dancing In The Light", "So Divine (Aladdin Story)", "Following The River", and "Title 5". Going to have to take some time and compare these to any existing boots.

Alright, NOW I'm droolin'!

[unavailable]

Set to be released tomorrow, you can hear it today:

[unavailable]

This is pretty damn good! Since this is brand new to me, I have to regard this as a new Stones tune, not a tinkered-with (and to what extent?) Exile-era track. I'm at work, there is work to do, and I've listened to this three times in a row. (I may need to rethink some of this.)

Dice Strong In Buffalo; No Appendicitis For Cameron

Driving to the Buffalo airport yesterday*, I noticed the lights were on at (ugh) Coca-Cola Field; the highway goes right past the outfield. On the return, everything was dark. It turns out the Paw Sox were there in the afternoon and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched six scoreless innings.

Dice allowed three hits and no walks, with two strikeouts (86 pitches, 57 strikes). He pitched econo in the fourth and fifth innings, needing a total of only 13 pitches!

With 11 scoreless AAA innings, he feels he is ready for Boston:

I think I've thrown enough pitches at this point to be ready to pitch in the big leagues. ... I'm confident. ... I feel ready. Beyond that point, I really have to leave the decision up to the powers that be.

And the PTB have given no updated timetable for his return.

Mike Cameron does not have was appendicitis. He was scratched from yesterday's lineup about an hour before the game because of discomfort in his lower abdomen (which he first noticed on Wednesday).

Jacoby Ellsbury said he was at about 10% when trying to hit balls off a tee. "I still can't really take a deep breath without getting a sharp pain [in the lower chest area]. ... I don't want to make any predictions on what's going on."

Brad Mills got his first win of the season as manager of the Astros. After an 0-8 start, Houston beat the Cardinals 5-1 yesterday.

*: More fun and games at the border.

Trouble In The Outfield

Gordon Edes tweets:

Cameron not going home with team being checked for cause of abdominal pain Checking for appendicit[is]

Ellsbury also to see doctor in Boston Friday can't take deep breath without sharp pain

Sox facing possibility of two outfielders headed to DL

And J.D. Drew's neck has been bothering him recently.

Possible Pawtucket callup Josh Reddick is struggling so badly at the plate that he was benched on Thursday for what Pawtucket manager Torey Lovullo called "a mental health day".

What else? David Ortiz is being sued by Jay-Z.

Beltre: 69 PA Since His Last Walk

Adrian Beltre has not walked in his last 69 plate appearances -- his final 35 trips to the plate for Seattle in 2009 and all 34 of his PAs this year.

In fact, a quick look at my scorecards for 2010 has Beltre getting to three balls in a PA only twice: in the first inning yesterday and the eighth inning today.

Beltre's batting average is .303, but because he has hit one sacrifice fly, his on-base percentage is lower: .294.

G9: Twins 8, Red Sox 0

Red Sox - 000 000 000 - 0  6  3
Twins   - 010 032 20x - 8 15  0

Liriano (7-4-0-2-8, 96) had a fantastic slider the Sox batters could not lay off and Wakefield and Scott Schoeneweis melted in the middle innings.

Dustin Pedroia had three of Boston's six hits. Only three Red Sox runners got past second base -- and just one of those came after the second inning.

Tim Wakefield / Francisco Liriano

Mike Lowell will DH today, with David Ortiz (.154/.241/.269, and at least two strikeouts in each of his last five games) getting the afternoon off against a lefty. Flo:

[People] have no idea how badly you're struggling mentally, and how bad you try to do your stuff. ... So when people come out and start to try to bury your ass, it hurts.

Jacoby Ellsbury will also not play today. Terry Francona says

the soreness is getting a little more centrally isolated, which is good. He's still having a little trouble rotating. ... As much as we love having him out there, it's not a good thing to go too quick.

Ortiz has had a terrible start to the season, but J.D. Drew (.167/.259/.292) and Victor Martinez (.229/.270/.400) are not much better. Martinez's slugging is helped out by having three doubles and a dong among his eight hits. OPS+-wise, only Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis are truly above average.

Adrian Beltre (.345 average) and Mike Cameron (.217) have reached base the same number of times (10). Beltre has not walked in 30 plate appearances. And speaking of 30 plate appearances, Marco Scutaro did not strike out in his first 29 trips to the dish, before fanning in the eighth inning yesterday.

Through eight games:

         W-L  RS  RA   PA   H  2B  HR  BB  AVG  OBP  SLG   TB
Yankees  5-3  46  36  328  78  20   9  42 .278 .376 .459  129
Red Sox  4-4  41  37  312  78  23  10  25 .281 .344 .478  133

Boof Bonser will have his shoulder examined on Friday.

I'm liking Peter Abraham, who notes that Congress wants MLB to ban smokeless tobacco:

Well that is excellent news. Because if Congress has nothing better to do than worry about ballplayers dipping tobacco, every person must have a job, all diseases are cured, every homeless person is off the streets and we're not waging war anywhere in the world.

Henry Waxman (D-CA):

We don't let baseball players go stand out there in the field and drink beer.

For me, seeing Youkilis go over by the foul line and take a long pull off a tall boy in a brown bag would be pretty cool.

G8: Red Sox 6, Twins 3

Red Sox - 110 010 030 - 6 10  0
Twins   - 002 000 010 - 3  9  0

Jeremy Hermida's three-run, opposite-field double off Jesse Crain with two outs in the eighth was big hit of the day.

Marco Scutaro, Dustin Pedroia, and Victor Martinez each had two hits; FY hit his 4th dong of the young season, in the fifth, making him 8-for-his-last-13 at that point. David Ortiz smacked a line drive double to left in the ninth, ending the day on a high note after two strikeouts, a walk, and an outfield fly.

In the Boston eighth, Yook singled and one out later, Adrian Beltre ripped a double down the left field line. Drew was intentionally walked to load the bases for Hermida, who had grounded out to second twice and lined to short.

Although Lackey (6.2-7-2-4-2, 107) had four walks (three of them to Denard Span), he was never in much trouble outside of the third. Bot's control was shaky in the ninth (he franked Span and Justin Morneau), but stranded them at second and third.

John Lackey / Kevin Slowey

Jacoby Ellsbury is not in the lineup.

The Deadball Red Sox are 2nd in the AL in slugging percentage (.479, .003 behind the Yankees), 4th in batting average, and 5th in OBP (despite being last in walks).

The Red Sox have been the visiting team in the first official game at five ballparks. They have lost all five games.

1901  Oriole Park, Baltimore        Lost 10-6
1909  Shibe Park, Philadelphia      Lost  8-1
1911  Griffith Stadium, Washington  Lost  8-5
1923  Yankee Stadium, New York      Lost  4-1
2010  Target Field, Minneapolis     Lost  5-2

Casey Kelly (2-3-1-1-2, 45) made his AA debut on Monday; the run was unearned. ... Boof Bonser allowed nine runs in two innings for Pawtucket last night; in two starts, he has allowed 16 baserunners in 6.1 innings.

Is John Tomase suggesting the Blue Jays might be an AL East threat this year?

Those Ad-Free Days At Fenway

Thomas Grillo, Herald:

The pitches at Fenway Park don't just come from the mound.

Ads surround the ballfield, causing some to long for the days when they could watch a game without being bombarded by signs. ...

Many Sox fans recall a time when the only sign at Fenway Park was the Jimmy Fund billboard in right field. They say the proliferation of ads has turned the park back into a commercial zone. ...

Really?

Ortiz Still Struggling, Denies Wrist Injury

David Ortiz denied a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune stating that "friends" of Ortiz say his left wrist is hurting.

Don't pay attention to that crap. I'm fine. If I'd have been raking, they wouldn't be saying that.

After not playing on Saturday, Ortiz struck out four times on Sunday, although he was ahead in the count every time up, including 3-0 and 3-1. He fanned two more times yesterday. In 24 plate appearances, Ortiz is hitting .136 and has 10 strikeouts in his last four games.

Dave Magadan says that Ortiz is

for the most part he's getting himself in decent hitters' counts. He just needs to start taking advantage of it. ... When you're a little unsure of the strike zone and have a fear of recognizing the pitches you tend to get a lot of check swings. ... There are some mechanical issues we're still trying to iron out. I think when you are working on things mechanically, your focus isn't 100 percent on the pitches. ... [R]ight now he's probably 70-30 focused.

Also: Opponents have stolen 12 bases in 13 attempts against the Red Sox, including 11 of 12 against Victor Martinez.

G7: Twins 5, Red Sox 2

Red Sox - 000 100 010 - 2  7  0
Twins   - 210 100 10x - 5 12  0

Lester (5-9-4-3-5, 107) was off from the start, facing eight batters in the first inning (three singles, two walks) and five more in the second, throwing 58 pitches in the two innings. He ended up going through the order three times in his five innings.

A day after Clay Buchholz allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in all five of his innings, Lester put the first hitter on base in three of his five innings; all three scored.

Back-to-back doubles by Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz (off Pavano (6-4-1-1-4, 95)) gave Boston a run in the fourth. Flo's hit was to deep left and it was a fly that Delmon Young got twisted around on and tried to catch with his back to the infield; the ball hit off the heel of his glove.

The other run scored when Jeremy Hermida doubled, took third on Marco Scutaro's single, and scored on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly to right.

Ortiz continued to look very bad at the plate, striking out twice and fouling out in his three other trips to the plate. Don and Jerry said earlier in the game that it sounds like Tito is already thinking about benching him -- and the fact that Ellsbury sat this one out was the only reason he was in there today.

Jon Lester / Carl Pavano

The Red Sox will help the Twins christen their new outdoor ball park this afternoon. Amalie Benjamin has some photos from the press box.

Lester was meh (5-5-4-3-4, 94) against the MFY last week, while Pavano had a 7-6-1-0-6, 102 line against the Angels. As expected, Jacoby Ellsbury has the day off.

Peter Abraham notes that his Kansas City cab driver told him "the government has Nazi scientists from World War II locked up on military bases in the desert working on advanced weapons". Hahaha, what a nut! ... What's that you say? The CIA admits, at length on its own freakin' website, that it did recruit Nazi scientists after the war while letting others escape and resettle in South America, and then covered up that information for decades? Gee, it sounds more like a fact, Peter.

L is in New jersey for the week. We had another delay at the border, though it was much shorter this time.

Blue Jays Fans Giddy With Success

American League East standings, 3:03 AM:

            W   L   PCT   GB 
Blue Jays   5   1  .833   --
Yankees     4   2  .667    1 
Red Sox     3   3  .500    2 
Rays        3   3  .500    2 
Orioles     1   5  .167    4

Nothing out of the ordinary for the first week of a season. If you check back in three weeks or so, things will probably look a bit more like they will in early October.

But up here in Canada, the strong showing by the Blue Jays -- after losing Opening Day, they have won five straight -- has some fans puffed up with pride, strutting around, and talking trash.

One of them left me a message:
Isn't that cute? Toronto's magic number is 156!

So Boston is actually 3-3, not 1-2, and "losses" is spelled with three "s". But when your team is 5-1 and you can't sleep because you know a playoff spot will be there in six months and those stupid Boston fans will be crying in their beer, you can be forgiven some slips of the keyboard.

All us Sox's fans are a bit more experienced with a winning baseball team -- the Jays have finished higher than 3rd place only once in the last 16 years -- so we know not to put a whole lot of stock in the first 4% of the regular season. After all, the Jays went 15-9 last April -- a superb 101-win pace -- but OOPS! they finished with only 75 victories.

Las Vegas oddsmakers put the team's final win total at 68, worse than all but one team in baseball. Mr. Holloway should get in on some of that action. He should be able to cash in well enough to grab a handful of box seats for every single Skydome World Series game.

Ellsbury: Rib Contusion, X-Rays Negative

Jacoby Ellsbury was initially worried he had broken a rib or two after colliding with Adrian Beltre in foul territory in the ninth inning on Sunday. Post-game x-rays were negative.

It's sore, but I'll be fine. He kneed me right in the ribs ... I'm sure there's quite a bit of swelling because it is tough to breathe but I think I'll be fine. ... As long as nothing is broken, I guess it's [a matter of] pain tolerance. ... I know it's going to be really sore tomorrow. I also hit my hip pretty good.

Tuesday is an off-day, so the cautious thing to do would be to give Ellsbury the day off tomorrow and see how he feels on Wednesday.

W-L Contest - Fun With Pythag

A little while after contest entries started coming in, I realized that everyone was submitting (mostly likely without knowing it) two W-L guesses.

The second guess could be determined by the tiebreaker choices. With the runs scored and run differential, I could get a guess of runs allowed. Then, using good old Pythag, I could determine an expected W-L and compare it to the contestant's actual W-L guess. Fun!

Here is everyone's actual W-L submission, in the same order as posted before the season began, and the expected amount of Red Sox wins according to each person's RS/RunDiff guesses.

I predicted 98 wins, but my other guesses worked out to only 93 wins. Could that be seen as a "truer" measure of how I think the team will do?

          ACTUAL W-L    PYTHAG WINS FROM
          PREDICTION   TIEBREAKER GUESSES
Rick F      100-62            98.7
Jere S      100-62            98.7
  
Edward N     99-63           100.8
Justin M     99-63            93.5
Matthew K    99-63            99.1
  
Steve S      98-64            96.9
9casey       98-64            96.7
Tim B        98-64            97.5
Ofer C       98-64           101.9
Joe G        98-64            97.2
Sean O       98-64            98.3
Allan W      98-64            93.3
Geoffrey W   98-64            97.2
  
Jonathan A   97-65            95.6
Franco B     97-65            96.4
Rich G       97-65            95.4
James C      97-65            98.0
Andrew B     97-65            98.0
John Q       97-65            91.4
  
Tim L        96-66            97.0
Richard L    96-66            99.1
Jeff L       96-66            95.1
Matthew B    96-66           100.0
Steve T      96-66            95.9
Dan C        96-66            94.6
  
Joel F       95-67            91.7
Ignacio C    95-67           112.8
  
Philip H     94-68           101.9
  
Matt M       93-69           101.6
Lewis S      93-69            95.4
  
Jeff R       90-72            95.1
  
Peter L      89-73            89.4

G6: Red Sox 8, Royals 6

Red Sox - 410 300 000 - 8 12  1
Royals  - 111 000 03x - 6 10  1

Another fun day from the Supposedly Hitless Wonders.

Ellsbury singled, doubled, stole a base, and scored twice; Pedroia went 4-for-5, and hit his 3rd home run of the year; Martinez singled, doubled, walked, scored twice, and drive in one; Beltre singled twice, doubled, and drove in three; Hermida had a two-run single in the first inning; and Youkilis walked twice and stole a base.

Ortiz did not have a fun day. He walked and scored in the first, but then struck out in his subsequent four plate appearances, two swinging and then two looking. Flo is now 2-for-18, with nine strikeouts. In his last 11 plate appearances, he has fanned eight times.

Ellsbury collided with Beltre in foul territory in the ninth inning and left the game. He was sliding in to make the catch and Beltre's right knee struck him in the chest. If either player called the other one off, it wasn't loud enough.

Buchholz (5-7-3-2-1, 94) struggled and could not get into a rhythm. Delcarmen pitched two innings, allowing only a walk. Bard retired three in a row int he eighth after Ramirez allowed KC to come back within two runs. Papelbon's ninth was interrupted by the collision, but he set the Royals down in order.

Clay Buchholz / Gil Meche

Both pitchers are making their 2010 debut.

Back on September 24, Buchholz turned in a 6-5-0-0-8, 109 line against the Royals in KC. Meche is coming off the disabled list (shoulder bursitis).

G5: Red Sox 8, Royals 3

Red Sox - 000 020 213 - 8 12  0
Royals  - 100 000 200 - 3  9  0

For about five minutes in the ninth inning, Jason Varitek was the team leader in home runs. He had led off the inning with his second solo drive of the game. Three batters later, Dustin Pedroia hit Boston's fifth long ball of the night and joined Tek as the only two Sox with two dongs.

Jeremy Hermida and Varitek went back-to-back off Greinke in the fifth. Kevin Youkilis smacked a solo shot in the eighth. Jacoby Ellsbury was 3-for-5, with an RBI double and two runs scored.

Beckett (7-9-3-1-4, 105) had two rough patches: allowing a double, walk and single after two were out in the first, and allowing four hits and two runs (on 32 pitches) in the seventh. Hideki Ojakima and Ramon Ramirez set down all six batters they faced.

Josh Beckett / Zack Greinke

Greinke started against the Tigers last Monday (6-6-2-1-4, 96), leaving with a 4-2 lead. The Royals' bullpen promptly allowed six runs in the seventh inning and Kansas City lost 8-4. Same old story for Greinke, who had several leads tossed away last season; he posted a 2.35 ERA in nine no-decisions in 2009.

Beckett (4.2-8-5-3-1, 94) faced the Yankees last Sunday. It was only the second time in Beckett's career that he pitched at least 4.2 innings and did not record more than one strikeout. the other was June 14, 2007 against the Rockies.

Bad bullpen: In 13.1 innings, 21 men on base via hit or walk. Daniel Bard and Hideki Okajima have allowed 11 baserunners in six innings.

Red Sox And Yankees Comment On Joe West

Players from both Boston and New York offered their thoughts on umpire Joe West's comments that the length of Red Sox/Yankees games are "pathetic and embarrassing" and a "disgrace to baseball".

Kevin Youkilis:

I don't know if he got fined or whatever, but if we ever called an umpire pathetic and embarrassing, it would be the end of the world. We'd get fined and we'd deserve it.

Anonymous Yankee:

What would happen if we called their crew pathetic and embarrassing? We would get fined, big-time. I hope the league takes some action against him, because what he said was just out of line.

Terry Francona:

When you have someone in charge of running the game without bias, and then you hear those comments coming out pretty strong, it probably worries you a little bit.

Joe Girardi:

We're not going to ask our hitters to change their approach to speed the game up. ... We're trying to win games, not trying to see how quick we can play.

Dustin Pedroia:

Does somebody have dinner reservations? We're playing baseball. It's not a timed game. There's not a shot clock. ... If those guys have an issue with that, it might be time to pick a new profession or talk to the umpires' association about not working any more Yankees-Red Sox games.

Mariano Rivera:

It's incredible. If he has places to go, let him do something else. What does he want us to do, swing at balls? ... He has a job to do. He should do his job.

Derek Jeter:

You can't control the time. You can't do one thing because every game is different. ... If it's 20 minutes shorter, it's not pathetic or embarrassing? At what point is it not embarrassing? You'd have to ask him. If you go over 3:12, it's embarrassing?

Jacoby Ellsbury:

The biggest thing is the TV. [Nationally televised games require 2:25 for commercial breaks every half inning, roughly 30 seconds longer than a NESN or YES game, which adds about 10 minutes to every game.] I'll go up for an at-bat, and I'll have to wait a minute and a half. ... Leading off a game, I don't know how many times I've had to wait. The pitcher is ready, I'm ready.

Youkilis:

It seems every time we're ready to play the game, there's an umpire at second base holding a stop watch waiting for TV.

Bonus! Twins manager Ron Gardenhire:

Over three hours is pretty much normal in baseball. You want to cut it out? Cut out the 2:25 between innings for TV. See if that's going to happen. Ain't going to happen, right? That's where they make their money.

The Post's George King reveals that West himself unnecessarily delayed two of the three games in the series:

CC Sabathia confirmed that West made him change shoes in the second inning of the Opening Day game at Fenway Park. West told Sabathia he had to change his gray shoes because there wasn't any blue, a Yankees color, in them, even though the grey shoes matched the gray Yankees uniform.

The next night [actually, it was two nights later; the teams were off on Monday] West told Marcus Thames he had to take tape off his wrist because it didn't match the uniform. And West stopped reliever Joba Chamberlain on the way to the bullpen to check his shoes, but told Chamberlain his cleats were OK because there was blue in them.

Players' quotes from Herald, Globe, ProJo, Post, Daily News, and MLB.com.

G4: Royals 4, Red Sox 3

Red Sox - 000 300 000 - 3  9  0
Royals  - 000 002 02x - 4  8  1

J.D. Drew crushed a two-run bomb to dead center in the fourth -- following a Kevin Youkilis single, a David Ortiz double, and an Adrian Beltre RBI groundout -- but the bullpen crumbled in the eighth.

Hideki Okajima gave up a double to David DeJesus to start the inning and Scott Podsednik bunted him to third. Daniel Bard came in and walked Alberto Callaspo. Bard struck out Billy Butler for the second out, but pinch-runner Willie Bloomquist stole second. Rick Ankiel then flaired a broken-bat single over shortstop to bring in the tying and go-ahead runs. It was Bard's second blown save of the young season.

Ankiel went 4-for-4, with two singles, a double, a home run, and 3 RBI. He and Butler went back-to-back off consecutive Wakefield (7-6-2-1-6, 96) pitches in the sixth.

Mike Cameron singled off Joakim Soria in the top of the ninth. Marco SCutaro sacrificed him to second, but Jacoby Ellsbury struck out on three pitches and Dustin Pedroia battled through a nine-pitch at-bat (with six foul balls) before flying to right.

The Rays beat the Yankees 9-3; Mark Teixeira is 0-for-16.

Tim Wakefield / Kyle Davies

Elias Sports Bureau:

At 43 years and 250 days old, Tim Wakefield will become the oldest Red Sox pitcher ever to start a game when he takes the hill against the Royals tonight. He would pass David Wells, who was 43 years, 98 days old in his last start for the club in 2006.

The only Boston hurler to appear in a game at an older age is Dennis Eckersley, who was 43 years, 358 days old in his last appearance for the team in 1998.

Wakefield will pass Eck with his first start on or after July 27.

The Westmoreland family released a statement today.

Weekend starters:

Saturday: Josh Beckett / Zack Greinke, 7 PM
Sunday: Clay Buchholz / Gil Meche, 2 PM

In a Wakefield-related note, Japanese knuckleballer Eri Yoshida has signed with the Chico Outlaws of the independent Golden Baseball League. The GBL has teams in California, Arizona, and Canada; spring camps open early next month. In addition to being the first woman to pitch for a professional US team since Ila Borders retired in 2000, Yoshida will be the only woman to ever pitch in pro leagues in two countries.

Joe West Calls Lengthy Red Sox-Yankees Games "A Disgrace To Baseball"

Jeff Roberts, Record:

Umpire Joe West blasted the Yankees and Red Sox just before Wednesday's game, accusing the two clubs of being "pathetic and embarrassing" in dragging the pace of games and refusing to work with umpires. ...

"They're the two clubs that don't try to pick up the pace," said West, chief of the umpiring crew that worked the three-game series in Boston. He was the home plate umpire Sunday. "They're two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest?

"It's pathetic and embarrassing. They take too long to play. ... The commissioner of baseball says he wants the pace picked up."

West also said that umpires are evaluated on how quickly the games move. So that's it. It's been obvious that the accuracy of their calls has no effect on their job security.

The Globe's Peter Abraham (who is doing fantastic work at the Extra Bases blog) writes that it's "somewhat ironic that Joe West would be calling anybody out for being embarrassing. But that's another story."

I don't have anything noteworthy to say about this except there have been complaints about the excessive lengths of baseball games for at least 100 years. And somehow the game has survived.

Plus if the umpires called pitches according to the actual strike zone that is in the fucking rule book they supposedly have to follow, games would be at least 30-45 minutes faster. Calling nothing above the belt a strike is like calling a runner safe at first when the throw beats him by five feet. Or ruling a base hit if the outfielder makes a snow-cone catch.

The SoSH discussion includes strike zone plots for each home plate umpire. That is the disgrace.

Giving Ortiz A Chance - Being Reactionary Is The Media's Job

Terry Francona:

I'm not trying to be disrespectful but my goodness, it's the third game of the year; it's crazy. The thing I've learned here that's hard is you have to be patient ... Being reactionary in my job, especially here, that has a chance to set off things in a bad chain reaction as opposed to helping.

And "being reactionary" is, when you boil it down, the precise job description of the sports columnist. Something happens - and he reacts, usually in a vacuum, in the heat of the moment. A bad loss = the end in nigh. A blow-out win or two = we're unstoppable.

The columnist's job is not to inform, not to offer perspective or analysis of the situation. If no one reads the column (or clicks on the article link or turns on the radio), the writer is not doing his or her job. They want to - they have to - get your attention. Acting rationally is dull; explaining nuances takes time. In a sound-bite culture, where having a webpage take an extra four seconds to load is exasperating, blurting out something - anything, often more emotional than accurate - is not only easier, it's required.

And speaking of dubious accuracy, check out what John Tomase wrote in this morning's Herald:

[T]he resulting firestorm [over Ortiz's explicative-packed statement Tuesday night] made him a talking point on the radio and TV, and at the very least, betrayed his sensitivity to repeated questions over his struggles, questions that date back to this time last year.

So Tomase claims that Ortiz's outburst "made him a talking point" in the media, and then immediately says repeated questions about his struggles at the plate are 12 months old! Talk about writing in a vacuum. Each thought exists in its own reality, divorced from all other context.

Chad Finn (Globe) notes that April is traditionally Ortiz's

worst month for batting average (.259 career) and on-base percentage (.348) and second-worst (to, of all months, August) for OPS (.855). In 2003, he began the season 0 for 6. In '04, 1 for 6. In '07, 3 for 19. In '08, 0 for 11. Last year? Well, you know. ...

Judging him on seven at-bats? That's not a [giving him a] chance. That's an agenda.

Ortiz is 1-for-11. Mark Teixeiria is 0-for-12. Grady Sizemore is 1-for-9. Alex Rodriguez is 2-for-15. ... Vernon Wells is 5-for-7, with three home runs. And Edgar Renteria is batting .727.

G3: Yankees 3, Red Sox 1 (10)

Yankees - 000 000 100 2 - 3  6  0
Red Sox - 001 000 000 0 - 1  7  0

Chan Ho Park allowed only one single in three innings of relief (7th-9th), while Jonathan Papelbon, in his second inning of work, allowed a solo home run to Granderson and two one-out walks before being yanked mid-inning

David Ortiz's line drive single to right brought in Dustin Pedroia with Boston's only run. Flo also grounded out hard into the shift in the first.

Lackey (6-3-0-2-3, 100) pitched very well. After they scored a run in the third inning, the Red Sox got only one runner past first base -- and that was thanks to an accidental HBP with two outs in the fifth.

Andy Pettitte / John Lackey

The concern or panic or anger over David Ortiz's weak bat began (or was rekindled from last June) in spring training and now that he has gone 0-for-7 in the first two games of the season, it's getting louder.

... how long can the Red Sox afford to wait?

There was even a SoSH thread bright and early on Monday morning about how Ortiz should not have started on Opening Night. (It looks like that thread is (for now) where discussion of Ortiz/playing time/DH platoon will happen.)

Terry Francona, who wisely doesn't give a shit what the fans and media think, says Flo will start tonight against Pettitte. And it's worth noting that Tiz does have better slugging numbers against the large-beaked lefty than Mike Lowell does:

Ortiz:  18-for-49  .367/.431/.551
Lowell: 10-for-29  .345/.429/.379

Last night, Ortiz showed that he is already pissed off about having to answer questions about a slump:

(Expletive) happens. Then you guys talk (expletive). Two (expletive) games already. You (expletives) going crazy. What's up with that, man? (Expletive). There's (expletive) 160 games left. Y'all (expletive) go ahead and hit for me. ... Ain't that a (expletive).

He is absolutely correct -- divining anything meaningful from two games of data is complete nonsense. At the same time, his level of frustration right out of the gate is also a bit disconcerting.

G2: Yankees 6, Red Sox 4

Yankees - 010 030 011 - 6  9  3
Red Sox - 102 010 000 - 4  9  1

With the game tied 4-4, Terry Francona went with Daniel Bard to face New York's 2-3-4-5 hitters in the seventh inning, a Jamesian decision (aka the nearly universally misunderstood "bullpen-by-committee") that had his best available bullpen arm on the hill at the most important part of the game.

Bard started by walking Nick Johnson, but then came back to get Teixeira on a pop to left (Ellsbury made a back-hand diving catch) before buckling Slappy with a nasty slider for strike three and fooling Cano on a change before jamming him with a fastball for an easy 4-3.

In the eighth, Posada hit a ground rule double to right off Okajima, but he could not advance to third as Gardner singled softly past shortstop and Granderson flew to the track in left. Scutaro should have closed the inning on Jeter's grounder, but his throw was low for an error that loaded the bases. Jeemer then walked Johnson on five pitches to force in the go-ahead run, dropping Boston's chances of winning from 47% to 26% (according to Fangraphs, above). Suddenly, Scott Atchison was in the game -- and it felt like the pen was simply punching the clock.

Youkilis singled to start the bottom of the eighth and moved up on an errant pickoff attempt, but the Sox could not move him past second base. Ortiz flew to center and Joba came on to fan Beltre (who had singled twice and lined out earlier, but here lunged at a pitch way outside) and Drew. Scutaro doubled off Rivera with one out in the ninth, but Ellsbury was caught looking and Pedroia flew to right.

Victor doubled, homered, walked, and drove in three runs. Ellsbury singled (with a stolen base) and doubled in his first two trips.

A.J. Burnett / Jon Lester

Burnett had a rough time in his three Fenway starts last season: 22 runs in 12.2 innings. He did quite well in his one Bronx start, but overall Boston worked him over for 16 walks, 23 hits (7 doubles and 6 dongs) and 23 runs in 20.1 innings. His WHIP was 1.918 (omg!!!).

Jacoby Ellsbury's glove was stolen during spring training last year. He borrowed one of Mark Kotsay's gloves for awhile, then bought a new one. Before Sunday's game, two MLB officials arrived at Fenway with a present. Someone tried to sell LBJ's glove on e-bay and MLB was able to get it back. Portland Press Herald: "When Ellsbury held his glove, he looked at it like it was a runaway dog come back."

So ... are the sports radio airwaves burning up yet? OPS+: J.D. Drew (36), David Ortiz (-25). And both with 0 RBI!

Minor league rosters: Pawtucket, Portland, Salem, Greenville.

Right out of the gate: one of the plays of the year.

Beckett, Lester, Lackey, Buchholz Locked Up For The Next Five Seasons

With Josh Beckett avoiding free agency and signing an extension yesterday, the Red Sox has four-fifths of its current rotation under contract or club control for the next five years.

Theo Epstein:

Knowing we have Josh and Jon Lester and John Lackey and Clay Buchholz all signed through 2014, there's no guarantees in baseball, but it should mean that we have outstanding starting pitching for that period. That's the building block on which we can go about finishing off the rest of the club.

In addition, Daisuke Matsuzaka is signed through 2012 and top pitching prospect Casey Kelly is starting the year in Portland (AA).

Dustin Pedroia and Daniel Bard are under contract through 2015 and Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury are under contract for the next four seasons (through 2013). It's a hell of a foundation!

Theo, on going four more years with Beckett:

No change in philosophy. I still believe shorter (contracts) is better. I still believe in avoiding risk, but I also believe we operate in the real world, not some fantasy world where you can pick the type of player and contract that you want to sign. You don't get to pick and choose.

A few days after spring training began, Kevin Youkilis yelled out to his teammates:

Can we score a bunch of runs on Opening Night so we don't have to hear about this [alleged unavoidable offensive drought] anymore?

Yook did his part, becoming the first Red Sox player to have three extra-base hits (two doubles, one triple) on Opening Day in almost three decades. Carlton Fisk hit two home runs and a double on April 6, 1973, also at Fenway and also against the Yankees (a 15-5 win).

Pedro Martinez said when the Red Sox suggested having him throw out the first pitch of the season, "right away I got turned on by it. I guess they wanted to give a surprise gift to the fans and to the Yankees, and they felt I would be one of the biggest surprises."

Jerry Remy is doing well:

I feel like myself again. I put the weight back on that I lost. I feel strong, and mentally I'm doing well. ... [2009] was just a year I'd like to forget ...

Ryan Westmoreland attended Opening Night with his parents in Theo Epstein's luxury box. A club press release stated Westmoreland has made "significant gains" since his surgery on March 16. His father, Ron: "[H]e's trying to get back to a point where he can live a normal life. If baseball is in the cards, it's a bonus. Right now, we're just concentrating on quality of life."

Pawtucket: Boof Bonser gets the ball in Pawtucket's season opener on Thursday. Matsuzaka will start on Saturday.

NYY Infield Earning More Than 16 Teams

The Yankees' starting infield will earn $85.2 million this season.

That is more than the entire payroll of 16 teams: Atlanta, Rockies, Orioles, Brewers, Rays, Reds, Royals, Blue Jays, Nationals, Cleveland, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Rangers, Athletics, Padres, and Pirates.

New York also has the four highest-paid players in the game this year: Alex Rodriguez ($33 million), CC Sabathia ($24.2), Derek Jeter ($22.6), and Mark Teixeira ($20.6). John Lackey ($18.7), at #12, is the only Boston player in the Top 25. Last year, the Yankees had six players in the Top 25, while Boston had none.

Beckett Signs 4/68 Extension

It's official:

It'll be four years and $68 million. Press conference will be this afternoon at Fenway Park as many predicted.

Back with more in a little bit.

(SoSH discussion)

Pedro!

More pics (and NESN video clip). It would have been a completely perfect three minutes if not for the unnecessary and utterly insipid music. And not surprisingly, ESPN botched the entire thing, showing only a short snip of the pitch after the fact.

Schadenfreude 94 (A Continuing Series)

John Harper, Daily News:

Opening Day losses don't get more exasperating than this. When your ace can't hold a 5-1 lead, when your bullpen spits up a two-run lead quicker than you can say Chan Ho Park, your first thought is that 2009 suddenly seems like a long time ago. ...

Perhaps Sabathia needed to do a few more wind sprints in Florida. ... [He] seemed to run out of gas in the sixth ... Either that or the Sox aren't going to be as offensively challenged as we've all been led to believe. ...

Damaso Marte once again seems to have lost his way. ... Joba Chamberlain wasn't exactly the dominant reliever of old, either, allowing a vital insurance run in the eighth on a walk and two singles.

Matt Gagne, Daily News:

Is Jorge Posada having early communication problems with the pitching staff?

George King, Post:

On a wonderful spring night to open the season, the World Champions flushed a three-run lead in the sixth and a two-run bulge in the seventh and watched the Red Sox stumble out of New England's living room with a 9-7 victory that was witnessed by 37,440.

[Sabathia:] "It was the season-opener and we got five runs off Beckett. It just got away from me." And from David Robertson, Chan Ho Park, Damaso Marte and Joba Chamberlain.

Brian Costello, Post:

Last year [on Opening Day] in Baltimore, [Sabathia] allowed six earned runs in 4.1 innings and did not strike out a batter. So this year was a step in the right direction.

Last night's stinker comes after a rough spring for Sabathia. He allowed 15 earned runs in 18.2 innings in Florida ...

Ben Shpigel, Times:

The Yankees cruised into Fenway Park on Sunday night as the defending World Series champions. They left on Monday morning thankful for a day off. ...

To dethrone the Yankees, the Red Sox spent the off-season focused on improving their pitching staff and their defense. Questions abounded about their offense, but Boston battered 12 hits over all and scored four runs against the Yankees' bullpen.

The Yankees consider their bullpen a strength, but each of the four relievers surrendered a run or allowed an inherited runner to score. ...

G1: Red Sox 9, Yankees 7

Yankees - 020 300 200 - 7 12  1
Red Sox - 010 013 31x - 9 10  0

After retiring the first five batters on 13 pitches, Beckett gave up solo dongs to Dumbo and Granderson -- and then singles to Swisher and Gardner. CI tangibly grounded out to end the second.

Youkilis doubled to start the second and Beltre brought him in with a one-out sac fly to deep center.

The bottom of the order got to Beckett in the fourth. Cano doubled and two outs later, Swisher walked. Then Gardner and Jeter singled -- and pulled somewhat of a surprise double steal. Beckett couldn't get the third out in the fifth and was pulled with two men on: 4.2-8-5-3-1, 94/54.

Two-out singles -- all crisp line drives -- by Drew, Cameron, and Scutaro brought in a fifth-inning run. An error moved the runners up, but Ellsbury struck out looking with runners at second and third. CC lost his command in the sixth. FY walked, Victor doubled into the left field corner, and Yook smoked a triple over Swisher's head into the right field corner. With one out, Beltre's single to Cano's right tied the game at 5-5. But New York came right back in the seventh. Ramirez put two guys on and Okajima let them come around to score.

The Sox took the lead after the stretch. Scutaro singled off Park and Pedroia homered to left. When Yook doubled, Marte came in and wild pitched him to third. Then Dumbo's passedballa (!!) gave Boston its first lead of the night.

In the eighth, Bard allowed a two-out walk, but retired Teixeira on an FC. In the home half against Joba, Cameron singled with one out and Scutaro walked. With two outs, Pedroia singled to right to make it 9-7.

In the ninth, Papelbon retired Slappy and Cano, then allowed a two-out single to Dumbo. He got Granderson to ground to third for the final out.

Beckett, RamRam and maybe Jeemer were shaky, and there were no real fielding gems. Damn shame we can't hit/score.

CC Sabathia / Josh Beckett

Yankees                 Red Sox
Derek Jeter, SS         Jacoby Ellsbury, LF
Nick Johnson, DH        Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Mark Teixeira, 1B       Victor Martinez, C
Alex Rodriguez, 3B      Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B       David Ortiz, DH
Jorge Posada, C         Adrian Beltre, 3B
Curtis Granderson, CF   J.D. Drew, RF
Nick Swisher, RF        Mike Cameron, CF
Brett Gardner, LF       Marco Scutaro, SS

2010 W-L Contest

Here are the entries. Good luck!

             W - L   RS  DIFF
  
Rick F      100-62  920  +184
Jere S      100-62  899  +180  jere
  
Edward N     99-63  889  +196
Justin M     99-63  882  +127
Matthew K    99-63  819  +167  mattymatty
  
Steve S      98-64  893  +161
9casey       98-64  880  +158  9casey
Tim B        98-64  869  +163  SoSock
Ofer C       98-64  866  +201  aconformer
Joe G        98-64  844  +156  joe grav
Sean O       98-64  840  +165
Allan W      98-64  835  +120  redsock
Geoffrey W   98-64  822  +151
  
Jonathan A   97-65  900  +150
Franco B     97-65  857  +150
Rich G       97-65  856  +142
James C      97-65  855  +165
Andrew B     97-65  854  +164  seawolvesfan
John Q       97-65  850  +103  The Omnipotent Q
  
Tim L        96-66  889  +162  tim
Richard L    96-66  873  +178
Jeff L       96-66  868  +141  zenslinger
Matthew B    96-66  855  +182
Steve T      96-66  818  +139
Dan C        96-66  801  +126
  
Ignacio C    95-67  876  +298
Joel F       95-67  800  +100
  
Philip H     94-68  845  +197  vrictare
  
Lewis S      93-69  856  +141
Matt M       93-69  843  +194
  
Jeff R       90-72  775  +125
  
Peter L      89-73  720  + 72  Lord Lynch

Check out that consecutive string of RS in the 97 group -- and James C's and Andrew B's picks are nearly identical!

Predictions: Globe, Herald, MLB, SI, NYDN

Globe:

AL East
Abraham     Red Sox, Yankees, Rays
Benjamin    Yankees, Red Sox, Rays
Ryan        Yankees, Red Sox, Rays
Gasper      Rays, Red Sox, Yankees
Mazzarotti  Yankees, Red Sox, Rays
CHB         Rays, Yankees, Red Sox
[Everyone picked 2nd-place ALE team as WC]

World Series
Abraham     Twins over Phillies
Benjamin    Cardinals over Yankees
Ryan        Phillies over Yankees
Gasper      Phillies over Angels
Mazzarotti  Cardinals over Yankees
CHB         Phillies over Yankees

Herald:

           East     Wild Card  World Series
Silverman  Yankees  Red Sox    Yankees over Atlanta
Tomase     Red Sox  Yankees    Yankees over Rockies
Lauber     Yankees  Red Sox    Yankees over Phillies
Borges     Yankees  Red Sox    Phillies over Yankees
Callahan   Yankees  Red Sox    Mariners over Phillies
Buckley    Yankees  Red Sox    Phillies over Yankees

MLB.com (Mike Bauman, Hal Bodley, Jim Duquette, Peter Gammons, Jeff Nelson):

              Bauman    Bodley    Duquette  Gammons   Nelson
AL East       Yankees   Red Sox   Yankees   Yankees   Yankees
AL WC         Red Sox   Yankees   Red Sox   Red Sox   Red Sox
AL Pennant    Yankees   Red Sox   Red Sox   Red Sox   Yankees
NL Pennant    Phillies  Phillies  Cardinals Rockies   Cardinals
World Series  Phillies  Phillies  Red Sox   Red Sox   Yankees
AL MVP        Mauer     Mauer     Teixeira  Upton     Rodriguez
AL CY         Hernandez Hernandez Lester    Hernandez Hernandez

SI's Joe Lemire previews the AL East:

Yankees     100-62
Rays        95-67
Red Sox     93-69
Orioles     76-86
Blue Jays   64-98

Bill Madden, New York Daily News:

Red Sox     96-66
Yankees     93-69
Rays        88-74
Orioles     78-84
Blue Jays   71-91

ESPN Predictions

The "experts" at ESPN have posted their picks. The relevant stuff:

                   ALE      ALWC      AL       WS
Jorge Arangure Jr. Yankees  Rays      Rays     Phillies over Rays
Matthew Berry      Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Phillies over Yankees
Steve Berthiaume   Red Sox  Yankees   Yankees  Phillies over Yankees
Aaron Boone        Red Sox  Yankees   Yankees  Phillies over Yankees
Jim Caple          Yankees  Rays      Twins    Giants over Twins
Tristan Cockcroft  Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Rockies
Jerry Crasnick     Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Rockies over Yankees
Richard Durrett    Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Phillies
Gordon Edes        Red Sox  Yankees   Yankees  Cardinals over Yankees
Pedro Gomez        Red Sox  Yankees   Yankees  Yankees over Rockies
Christopher Harris Yankees  Red Sox   Red Sox  Red Sox over Phillies
Orel Hershiser     Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Phillies
Tony Jackson       Yankees  Mariners  Yankees  Phillies over Yankees
Eric Karabell      Yankees  Red Sox   Red Sox  Phillies over Red Sox
Tim Kurkjian       Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Phillies over Yankees
Keith Law          Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Cardinals
AJ Mass            Yankees  Rays      Yankees  Cardinals over Yankees
Joe McDonald       Yankees  Red Sox   Red Sox  Red Sox over Atlanta
Joe Morgan         Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Phillies over Yankees
Amy K. Nelson      Yankees  Red Sox   Red Sox  Cardinals over Red Sox
Rob Neyer          Yankees  Red Sox   Red Sox  Red Sox over Cardinals
Buster Olney       Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Rockies over Yankees
Peter Pascarelli   Yankees  Rays      Yankees  Atlanta over Yankees
James Quintong     Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Phillies
Karl Ravech        Red Sox  Yankees   Red Sox  Red Sox over Rockies
J.P. Ricciardi     Red Sox  Yankees   Red Sox  Phillies over Red Sox
Brendan Roberts    Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Phillies
Mark Saxon         Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Dodgers
Jon Sciambi        Yankees  Red Sox   Red Sox  Red Sox over Phillies
Dan Shulman        Red Sox  Yankees   Red Sox  Red Sox over Phillies
Mark Simon         Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Yankees over Phillies
Chris Singleton    Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Phillies over Yankees
Jayson Stark       Red Sox  Yankees   Red Sox  Phillies over Red Sox
Rick Sutcliffe     Yankees  Red Sox   Yankees  Rockies over Yankees
Jon Weisman        Red Sox  Yankees   Red Sox  Red Sox over Cardinals
Gene Wojciechowski Yankees  Rays      Rays     Rays over Phillies

All 36 ESPNers picked the Yankees to make the playoffs; 6 had the Red Sox staying home in October.

AL East: Yankees 27, Red Sox 9

AL WC: Red Sox 21, Yankees 9, Rays 5, Mariners 1

AL Pennant: Yankees 22, Red Sox 11, Rays 2, Twins 1

WS Champs: Phillies 11, Yankees 9, Red Sox 7, Rockies 3, Cardinals 3, Rays 1, Giants 1, Atlanta 1

WS W-L:
Phillies  11- 9
Yankees    9-13
Red Sox    7- 4
Rockies    3- 3
Cardinals  3- 3
Atlanta    1- 1
Rays       1- 1
Giants     1- 0
Twins      0- 1
Dodgers    0- 1

Arm Out Like A Hack's Arm, Gately Blasts Through B.U. Country

One of the possible weak spots in Gately's AA recovery-program of rigorous personal honesty is that once he's jammed himself into a black-as-water Aventura and watched the spoiler throb as he turns over the carnivorous engine, etc., he often finds himself taking a little bit less of a direct route to a given Ennet-errand-site than he probably could. If he had to come right down to the heart of the issue he likes to cruise around town in Pat's car. He's able to minimize the suspicious time any particular bit of extra cruising adds to his errands by basically driving like a lunatic: ignoring lights, cutting people off, scoffing at One-Ways, veering wildly in and out, making pedestrians drop things and lunge curbward, leaning on a horn that sounds more like an air-raid siren. ...

He likes to make a stately left onto Commonwealth and wait to get out of view of the House's bay window and then produce what he imagines is a Rebel Yell and open her up down the serpentine tree-lined boulevard of the Ave. as it slithers through bleak parts of Brighton and Allston and past Boston U. and toward the big triangular CITGO neon sign and the Back Bay. ... The giant distant CITGO sign's like a triangular star to steer by. ...

Below the split on Comm. it's Boston U., Kenmore and Fenway, Berklee School of Music. The CITGO sign's still off in the distance ahead. You have to go a shocking long way to actually get to the big sign, which everybody says is hollow and you can get up inside there and stick your head out in a pulsing neon sea but nobody's ever personally been up in there.

Infinite Jest, 475-477

Red Sox Announce Plans To Return Fenway To Original 1912 Conditions

A return to the good old days!

Book Review: Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself By David Lipsky

In March 1996, David Lipsky was on assignment for Rolling Stone, accompanying David Foster Wallace for the end of his promotional tour for Infinite Jest. The assignment fell through -- Lipsky never submitted anything to the magazine -- and the interview tapes went into storage.

After Wallace committed suicide in September 2008, Lipsky was asked to write a eulogy of sorts for RS: "The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace".

Shortly after it was reported that D.T. Max, who published an article in The New Yorker about Wallace and his unfinished novel The Pale King (due April 2011), had signed a contract to write a biography of DFW (also 2011?), Lipsky also signed a book deal. Last September, I posted: "I'm not sure what form his book will take, but I'd be thrilled with an introduction and a complete transcription of the interviews."

It turns out that I am pretty much getting my wish*! Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace will be published on April 13. It is roughly 350 pages and is mostly Wallace's own words.

* When I noted this at The Howling Fantods, site owner Nick Maniatis replied "it's better than that. There's a neat introductory piece, and David Lipsky's thoughts and observations appear throughout the text without disrupting the conversations."

From the book copy at Amazon*:

They lose to each other at chess. They get iced-in at an airport. They dash to Chicago to catch a make-up flight. They endure a terrible reader's escort in Minneapolis. Wallace does a reading, a signing, an NPR appearance. Wallace gives in and imbibes titanic amounts of hotel television ... They fly back to Illinois, drive home, walk Wallace's dogs. Amid these everyday events, Wallace tells Lipsky remarkable things — everything he can about his life, how he feels, what he thinks, what terrifies and fascinates and confounds him — in the writing voice Lipsky had come to love. ... Then Lipsky heads to the airport, and Wallace goes to a dance at a Baptist church.

* Amazon has that "search inside" function for this book. Oh no. There goes the next five hours.

Some reviews: Maria Bustillos (The Awl) calls it "intoxicatingly intimate", Marie Mundaca (Hipster Book Club) says it's "ambling, fun, and a little intense ... [like being] in the back seat driving with [your] smartest friends", and Andrew Shaffer (Pop Matters) says it's "as close to an autobiography as we'll ever get". Zac Farber thinks it's "occasionally mesmerizing" and will likely appeal more to "academics, the literati, and hard-core Wallace disciples" than casual readers.

Lipsky has taken the time to do three lengthy interviews via email. Two of them are at Mark Athitakis's American Fiction and The Howling Fantods. But the whopper is with the wallace-l list serve group. List overseer Matt Bucher collected questions and sent them to Lipsky. He posted the Q&A at his site today: "Rarely do we get to see such an extended portrait of a writer during the moment their masterwork enters the public arena."

I'll snip my question and Lipsky's answer (he goes into this kind of depth (or more) for every question):

Allan Wood: Is there any indication that DFW knew or hoped or imagined that IJ would be the important novel it has become? We've read [Little, Brown editor Michael] Pietsch saying that after he read some of the manuscript, he wanted to publish IJ more than he wanted to breathe. Did Wallace give any indication that he felt he had really nailed it?

David Lipsky: That's funny, Allan. I really smiled when I read this, because I asked the exact same question, in two parts, in more or less the exact words that you did.

Lipsky: "Michael Pietsch's presentation. He went to his sales force, at their conference, and said, 'This is why we publish books.'"

David: "I wasn't there. I know he really liked it. And I know he really read it hard, because he helped me — I mean, that book is partly him. A lot of the cuts are where he convinced me of the cuts. But also, editors and agents jack up their level of effusiveness when they talk with you, to such an extent that it becomes very difficult to read the precise shade of their enthusiasm. What's being presented for you and what they really feel."

And then at little later I asked your second part — exactly the way you did.

Lipsky: "But when did someone come to you and say, 'David, you really nailed it'?"

David: "It's very odd, because Michael would say really nice stuff to me, and he'd say it in the context of having critical suggestions. So I could write it all off as you know, Well he, this is the sugar that's making the medicine go down.

"And Charis [Charis Conn, his first Harper's editor] liked it, but Charis likes everything I do. There was some stuff — because Mark Costello is really good friends with Nan Graham, who knows more about the publishing industry than anybody. She was DeLillo's editor, which as far as I'm concerned does it for me. So I can remember — when they did this postcard thing, and they wanted to do signed bound galleys and sent me boxes full of paper — my not knowing what to make of it. And calling Mark and having Mark find out, I presume from Nan, that this meant that they were going to support the book, and that they were into the book or whatever. Which given that the book is a thousand pages made me think that they thought it was a pretty good book."

I think David hoped it'd be a great book. Mark Costello told me David announced to him all at once in college, "I want to write books people will read 100 years from now." David said he worked harder on this book than any other. But he was immensely prickly with himself — he graded himself on a very steep curve — so he didn't take the early reviews seriously. He said, "The book takes at least two months to read well. If two years from now, I've got people who like have read the thing three times, who come up and say, 'This thing's really fucking good,' then I'll swell up ... like, if I have a bunch of conversations, like with this guy Silverblatt [Michael Silverblatt, host of NPR's Bookworm], or with Vince Passaro, or with like David Gates, somebody who clearly read the book closely. And a bunch of people are saying it's good, then I'm probably gonna start feeling wholeheartedly good about the book. As it is, there's a kind of creeping feeling of a kind of misunderstanding."

He also said a great thing about how you start to write a really good book. "I think I have a really low pain threshold. I think the 'I'll show people,' or 'People are really gonna like this' - thinking that way has hurt me so bad. That when I'm thinking that way, I'm not writing. That that's this thinking in me that's gotta reach this kind of fever pitch, and then break. In order for me to even start — not to get in the groove, but to get started ... And I would still hear the, 'This is the best thing ever written,' and 'This is the worst thing ever written.' But it's sort of like, you know how in movies there will be a conversation, and then that conversation gets quieter, and a different conversation fades in. I don't know, there's some technical word for it. Just, the volume gets turned down. ... I mean, this is absolutely the best I could do between like 1992 and 1995. And I think though that if everybody'd hated it, I wouldn't be thrilled, but I don't think I'd be devastated either. It's about that it got, it became alive for me."

RLYW's Season Simulations

Replacement Level Yankees Weblog plays the 2010 season 100,000 times in each of five simulation programs (and offers the usual wheelbarrow of caveats).

Marcel

          W     L     DIV    WC    W+/-   RS+/-  RA+/-
Yankees  97.1  64.9  49.4%  20.3%  -5.9   -17    -24
Rays     89.6  72.4  23.4%  19.7%   5.6    13    -29
Red Sox  89.1  72.9  22.5%  19.6%  -5.9   -52     -9

(W+/-, RS+/-, RA+/-: 2010 projected wins, runs scored, and runs allowed, respectively, minus 2009 actual totals. So Marcel projects the Red Sox to win almost six fewer games than in 2009, while scoring 52 fewer runs and allowing 9 fewer runs.)

CHONE

          W     L     DIV    WC    W+/-   RS+/-  RA+/-
Yankees  95.2  66.8  38.1%  22.9%  -7.8   -13    - 6
Red Sox  93.8  68.2  35.7%  20.3%  -1.2   -50    -46
Rays     87.2  74.8  19.1%  16.5%   3.2    12    -10

Oliver

          W     L     DIV    WC    W+/-   RS+/-  RA+/-
Yankees  98.7  63.3  44.2%  25.4%  -4.3     0    -38
Red Sox  94.3  67.7  29.3%  23.7%  -0.7   -66    -68
Rays     92.0  70.0  23.9%  22.0%   8.0    13    -55

PECOTA

          W     L     DIV    WC    W+/-   RS+/-  RA+/-
Red Sox  92.3  69.7  32.9%  20.1%  -2.7   -39    -27
Rays     91.7  70.3  31.3%  19.3%   7.7    15    -48
Yankees  90.4  71.6  27.7%  19.4% -12.6   -38     19

CAIRO

          W     L     DIV    WC    W+/-   RS+/-  RA+/-
Yankees  97.7  64.3  41.1%  24.1%  -5.3   -34    -45
Rays     94.2  67.8  29.5%  24.4%  10.2   -20    -99
Red Sox  93.9  68.1  27.6%  24.6%  -1.1   -48    -51

Overall

          W     L     DIV    WC    W+/-   RS+/-  RA+/-
Yankees  96.1  65.9  40.7%  22.3%  -6.9   -20    -19
Red Sox  92.9  69.1  30.3%  22.7%  -2.1   -51    -40
Rays     91.2  70.8  25.4%  20.7%   7.2     7    -48

PECOTA projects the Red Sox as East winners -- while still seeing them as three games worse than 2009 -- but that is more due to a huge drop-off from Yankees. Also, its data is only as of February 15. And just about everyone has the Rays (19 GB) back in the fight.

RLYW likes pie charts:
SG says the Yankees' usual risk is "their continued reliance on players in their mid 30s and their ability to both stay healthy and be productive" -- Posada is 38, Jeter turns 36 in June, and Rivera is 40 -- but "that's generally worked out pretty well most of the time".

Opening Day Roster

Courtesy of the Globe's Peter Abraham & MLB's Ian Browne:

LINEUP
Jacoby Ellsbury, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Victor Martinez, C
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
J.D. Drew, RF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Mike Cameron, CF
Marco Scutaro, SS

BENCH
Jason Varitek, C
Jeremy Hermida, OF
Bill Hall, INF/OF
Mike Lowell, 3B/1B

ROTATION
Josh Beckett
Jon Lester
John Lackey
Tim Wakefield
Clay Buchholz

BULLPEN
Jonathan Papelbon
Daniel Bard
Hideki Okajima
Ramon Ramirez
Manny Delcarmen
Scott Atchison
Scott Schoeneweis

DISABLED LIST
Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boof Bonser, Jed Lowrie

Sox Close On Beckett Deal; TJ Surgery For Tazawa

The Red Sox are reportedly close to agreeing on a four-year contract extension with Opening Day starter Josh Beckett. Sports Illustrated and MLB.com posted reports of 4/70 and 4/68, respectively.

Peter Abraham reports that Scott Atchison will be in the bullpen when the Sox head north, with either Scott Schoeneweis or Joe Nelson in the final spot. Alan Embree (who allowed four hits and four runs in one inning yesterday) will not make the team.

Junichi Tazawa is scheduled for Tommy John surgery next Tuesday.

The Herald's Gerry Callahan is still trying to convince you the 2010 Sox are doomed:

The pitching and defense approach has a certain snob appeal. Anyone can win by just, you know, bashing the ball all over the park. All those home runs and RBI and three-run rallies - as Theo Epstein would say, how primitive. ...

[D]id you know that Mike Cameron and Adrian Beltre combined for fewer RBI than Jason Bay had last season (119-114)? And that was in almost one thousand at-bats (993). What if that happens again this year? Is everyone going to be OK with that? And one more nagging question: Did you realize Bay was a butcher in left field last year? Me neither. ...

Someone has to hit. ... Ortiz is the only hope.

Callahan also tries his hand at stand-up comedy by saying Epstein has had "about as much luck with shortstops as Nancy Pelosi has had with plastic surgeons". Enjoy the veal.

Bernie Carbo talks quite openly to the Globe's Stan Grossfield about his battles with drug addiction:

I played every game high. I was addicted to anything you could possibly be addicted to.

John Lackey makes his final spring start today against the Twins at 1 PM. The regular lineup is expected to play and the game is on MLBTV.