Game Reaction/Mini Ellsbury Rant

Wow.  Seriously.  Just wow.

I think i may have shaved 2-8 months off of my life watching that last half-inning.  Where was the crazy closer we know and love?  Was he trying to pull a Matsuzaka? I know he's often said he wants to be the best in all pitching categories, but if it's all the same, I'd rather he didn't try to top Daisuke's .000 batting average against with the bases loaded.  Please Papelbon, for the sake of the collective heart health of Red Sox Nation, find your command, and hold onto it.

On a lighter note, Jason Varitek celebrated his 37th birthday today with a single and a double, his first right handed hits of the season.  The Captain is currently hitting .267... hopefully he can keep up some semblance of this production over the next 158 games.

The reigning American League MVP is doing his best to prove that he inevitably will start off slowly every spring, regardless of level of preparation.  Pedroia is hitting .167, including an 0-for-4 performance this afternoon.  The Fox cameras didn't zoom in on him at the plate today, but I imagine that he would have provided us with some colorful language if they had.  Pedroia's partner in crime, Kevin Youkilis, went hitless today, although he got on base via a walk.

The biggest moments of the day went to Mike Lowell and Jason Bay[X2], as both men went yard during the course of the game.  Lowell's came in the fifth inning and tied the score 2-2.  Bay hit his pair in the seventh and the ninth, collecting a total of three RBIs.

Ellsbury's day wasn't nearly so productive, and the more I watch him, the more skeptical I become about his potential to be a leadoff hitter in the major leagues.  He had one good at bat today, in the first inning: he didn't swing at the first pitch, and got on base [single].  His next at bats saw him flailing at the first offering like a 4-year-old at a pinata, and he didn't manage to get to first base again.  It's getting to the point where I literally cringe when he comes up to bat.  

Maybe I'm too hard on Ellsbury because I feel that he gets easy fan adoration for being the resident pretty-boy.  My favorite players have always been those who work as hard as they can every day to make up for some shortcoming: bad body, limited agility, wrong stature, etc.  I love that Youk has matured from the Greek God of Walks into the premier hitter in the AL; I can't wait for Chris Carter to get some playing time; and don't get me started on Pedroia [I'll wax poetic for days - just ask my friends].  Ellsbury's been that presumptive professional athlete all his life, and as excited as everyone is about him, I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon until he proves that October 2007 was more than a fluke.  I also refuse to buy an Ellsbury jersey on principal, as every obnoxiously drunk female fan I've run into at Fenway in recent years has been sporting one [I know not every girl in a #46 shirt is obnoxious, but I can't be lumped in with those who do fit that stereotype].

So that post turned from a game reaction into a mini-Ellsbury rant... my bad.  I'll try to be more organized in the future, but I just had to get this one out.

Enough Already...!

OK, after the last loss, I tried to be rational, and even optimistic.  Since that didn't work, I'm going to go off on my first Official Rant of the 2009 season.

First of all, even though Ellsbury managed to get on base twice last night (a new season high!), he really needs to stop flailing at the first pitch every time he comes to the plate.  Really.  This is way beyond impatience, it's as if he's trying to prove all his doubters wrong with a single swing.  Here's a tip for the leadoff man: leave the whole "wounded pride" thing to Pedroia, he does it better than you.

Speaking of Pedroia, how on earth did Figgins snag that "laser" down the line that Pedroia hit in the sixth?  Number fifteen didn't look pleased (though the NESN camera people have finally figured out not to close in on his face after disappointments)... 

Tim Wakefield, by the grace of God (and some great defense behind him), managed to grind out a quality start, and the game was within reach until the bullpen gave up three runs.  I thought pitching (and especially relief pitching) was supposed to be the backbone of this team?!?  I guess I can deal with a bad outing from Masterson, I just wish it could have come while we weren't mired in a losing streak and in last place in the division.

So ends the (abbreviated) melodramatic rant.  I know this is an overreaction, and that we're four games into the season and that there's no reason to panic, but sometimes acting absolutely ridiculous and ignorant makes me feel better (hmmm, I wonder why Rush Limbaugh isn't happier?).

Oh, and for a more personal note, my friends SO don't get the extent of my devotion to this team... one of them actually asked if he could put in a movie near the end of the game last night!  Seriously?!? I've been waiting for this since last October, and you want to watch something previously recorded instead?!

I like to picture Youk saying something like "Nice job getting on base... you DO know you're supposed to do that more than once a week, right?"

Looking on the bright side...?

Six good, or at least vaguely humorous, notes related to the Sox loss today:

1.) I could easily become a fan of new Sox reliever Ramon Ramirez.  You know, the guy we got from Kansas City in return for the center fielder who hits them game winning home runs.  Though Ramirez didn't win us the game, he kept that outcome within the realm of possibility by bailing out Delcarmen with a 1-6-3 double play in the eighth.  Ramirez pitched 1 1/3 innings and allowed one hit and no runs.

2.) NESN needs to be careful about its cameras following Dustin Pedroia after he makes an out at the plate.  Yesterday, the home viewers clearly watched him mouth, "Fuck you, ump! Piece of shit! What the fuck?!" directly after he struck out in the eighth.  Perhaps thinking they might avoid such antics today, the cameraman decided to avoid the close up directly after the out, and waited to show the feisty second baseman until he was safely back in the dugout.  Fail.  Pedroia dropped the most vehement f-bomb I've ever [not] heard, as soon as the camera closed in on him.  Watch out Red Sox Nation, or the FCC might be closing down our game feed.

3.) How ridiculous is Kevin Youkilis?  The Goatee went 3-for-4 with a walk today, improving to 8-for-11 in three games.  That is a .727 average.  I know that Youk has to come back to earth eventually, but he sure is fun to watch in the meantime.  The only bad thing about Youk's day was the timing of his hits... if he could have moved one to the ninth-the only time he was retired all game-the outcome might have been different.

4.) Jason Bay hit an RBI triple.  Any triple is rare, and I was thrilled for Bay, but to be honest, my favorite three-bagger of all time had to be David Ortiz chugging around the bases near the end of last season.

5.) In sort-of related news, I was watching the first half of the game on ESPN Gamecast in my Constitutional Law class, and when Matsuzaka gave up the first homerun, the guy next to me looked over and sighed.  When he gave up the second, I swore.  My Sox fan neighbor looked over and pulled a Pedroia, only the sound wasn't muted in class.  I'm pretty sure the Professor thought we were upset about the case we were briefing.

6.) This video.