pedro martinez
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News Archive for July 16-31, 2002
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July 31, 2002
Pedro deals, then discusses deal — Pitcher discusses Sox trade after shutout
Rob Miech, mlb.com
No Angel reached second base against Martinez (14-2). He walked one and struck out nine. He boosted his July record to 5-0, allowing one earned run to cross the plate about every 13 innings or so during the month. … “I don’t really know what I’m doing,” [Martinez] said. … “I do know that today was a good outing. Guess what? I’m thinking for the next one.” …
“I would rather have Bartolo Colon,” Martinez said. “Our offense has been good. Not taking anything away from Floyd, he’ll make things easier for us. But I think we’re in more need of Bartolo Colon, or someone like that, than probably another bat like Cliff Floyd. I’m not taking anything away from … maybe Cliff will take the team to a different level. But I believe (we) need another starting pitcher with experience, another big pitcher. … We need a big-name pitcher like Bartolo, someone like that. Someone with experience to deal with the situation of going into the playoffs and facing a big team like the Yankees, or Angels, someone like that … Seattle. We need a big-name pitcher, if we can get him. If not, we’ll go with what we have. And you never know in baseball. We are willing to compete with anybody, the same way we have all year. We’re still pretty close to everybody, and we haven’t added all that much.” …
About that World Series championship ring that Floyd owns? “His ring doesn’t mean anything,” Martinez said. “The one we’re about to get is the one that’s gonna mean something. We’re not thinking about his. His is his. We need to get ours.”
Transaction gets seals of approval
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
Pedro Martinez found out about the Cliff Floyd trade while he was still pitching last night, informed in the seventh inning that his former Expos teammate was coming to the Sox. … [Martinez] used to call Floyd ”Sleepy” after the former NBA player [and] also called him ”Papaya Head,” a nickname without apparent precedent in the big leagues.
Cape escape — Diamonds without hard edges are the norm in this league
Stan Grossfeld, Boston Globe
When Jason Varitek caught for the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 1991 he always was penciled in at clean up. Not cleanup hitter, clean up the mess. ”I had to wash all the uniforms and clean the clubhouse at 7 in the morning,” said the Red Sox catcher. ”Man, I had the easy job,” said Nomar Garciaparra, shortstop for the Orleans Cardinals in 1993. ”I worked the baseball camps. I worked with kids every day. It was awesome.” Both Red Sox players were recently among those named to the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame.
Expos won’t leave Montreal, Spaceman says — Lee lets loose on Selig, contraction, labour woes
Ken Wiebe, Winnipeg Sun
Bill Lee was always known for his sense of humour, but he’s dead serious in his belief that the Montreal Expos won’t be leaving town anytime soon. … “They didn’t leave last year, they played this year. Something will happen and they’ll play one more year. They’ll never get rid of them. They’ll build them a new ball park, someone will come up with the money. You don’t take baseball out of the Northeast. Fans love it and you can’t take a foreign country’s team away and say it’s a world game. That’s shooting yourself in the foot, especially with a bilingual culture like in Montreal. … “Selig has got it all wrong, he’s always had it all wrong. … There’s no (shortage) of talent, there’s plenty of ball players. Contraction is ridiculous, (owners) are putting pressure to reduce players to force the players union to capitulate and stuff like that. That’s not going to work. … The only leverage that working people have is a work stoppage. … The problem is the owners cannot control their own purse strings and they never could.”
Hot, Hot, Hot
Toronto Star
Fireworks after Raul Ibanez’s home run in the third inning of last night’s Blue Jays-Royals game in Kansas City set off a grass fire on a hill beyond the centre-field fence outside the stadium. The fire department was summoned and the fire was put out within minutes. The Royals did not set off fireworks after Carlos Beltran’s home run the next inning.
July 30, 2002
An intelligence report on pitcher
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
Recently, Red Sox pitching coach Tony Cloninger said he thanked Pedro Martinez for being so accommodating to him in his first season, and for helping so freely with the other pitchers on the staff.
”I think he’s as intelligent about pitching as anyone I’ve been around,” Cloninger said … ”He reminds me of Warren Spahn, and Pedro had a lot better stuff than Spahn did, but Spahn would see what kind of swing a hitter had after a particular pitch, zeroed in on it in his own mind, then recall it maybe two at-bats later. That’s the kind of intelligence Pedro has, which you didn’t see when you were on the other side. I always knew he had great stuff, great command, knowledge of pitching, but to have the opportunity to go to the bullpen and watch him when he works, and watch how he tries to help our other pitchers in so many ways, is remarkable.” …
”I didn’t get along with Joe Kerrigan, but I didn’t make his life miserable,” Martinez said of Cloninger’s predecessor. ”Joe Kerrigan went on to win two [team] ERA titles, and he became a better pitching coach than he thought he would be with me here, even though I disapproved of certain things, the way he would talk to players.” …
Martinez said he has spent a good deal of time talking to rookie Casey Fossum, who started last night, and to Derek Lowe. ”I wish I could give myself to some of these guys so they don’t lose a game,” he said. ”I wish I could give them my knowledge, make myself blank, so they could pitch the best game they can. I don’t have any envy. I have enough money. I don’t want to be Roger Clemens or Cy Young or Nolan Ryan. I’ve done what I’ve done, I’ve done it cleanly, I’m proud of what I achieved, so now I wish I could help them have success. Even if they end up being better than me, I’ll be proud of them, because I will feel like I contributed a little bit.”
Damon talks tough
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald
“When I was growing up, I could sing songs without stuttering,” Johnny Damon said last night at Edison Field … “But when I would talk, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to say.” Words get truncated when a person stutters – it can sound as if a record is skipping – and sometimes the words do not come out at all… Damon estimated that he was about 5 years old when he began to stutter, but he is not quite sure why he had difficulty speaking. … He began taking speech classes at school. … Damon said he was still stuttering with regularity when he was 23 or 24, which is essentially when he began his major league career with the Kansas City Royals. … Damon took the obvious escape route. He rarely spoke.
Team looking left and right — Rogers is undecided about coming to Boston
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
Another day closer to tomorrow’s trading deadline, … there was growing confidence in Sox circles that the team would be able to pull the trigger on a trade by the 4 p.m. Eastern time deadline … While there were indications yesterday that the Montreal Expos will hold onto pitcher Bartolo Colon, the Sox were continuing to talk with the Expos about slugger Cliff Floyd … The Sox have yet to receive any encouragement from Cleveland that the Tribe would move Jim Thome … According to one Sox source, Texas Rangers lefthander Kenny Rogers … would be willing to accept a trade to [Boston].
Doing it the right way
Sean McAdam, Providence Journal
Some Sox were curious as to why some of the Orioles’ relievers had brought baseballs with them from the bullpen to the altercation. Some also remarked about the presence of David Segui, who was on the disabled list and shouldn’t have been on the field during the altercations. Injured players are allowed in the dugout with the permission of the opponent. But ineligible players are not permitted on the field.
July 29, 2002
Useless Information Department
Jayson Stark, espn.com
We also have a midseason bulletin from our marathon man, Allan Wood [me!], who has been keeping track of the longest at-bats of the first half. There were two 14-pitch at-bats before the break — by Nomar Garciaparra, against David Wells, on May 25, and by Tony Graffanino, against Robert Person, on June 20. And after all of that battling, both hitters made an out. But there have been 10 at-bats of 13 pitches this year. And check out the numbers of the hitters who hung in there for those at-bats: 6 for 7, with three walks, for an .867 batting average and a .900 on-base percentage. Go figure.
All in the family: Sox stick together in win
Jeff Horrigan, Boston Herald
Matthews attempted to steal second on Lowe’s second pitch to Tony Batista and the two exchanged words as he returned to first following a foul ball. Matthews suddenly changed course and headed toward the mound, but was intercepted by first baseman Daubach. Both benches cleared, but the situation appeared to be ending without further incident when Orioles shortstop Melvin Mora then began chirping at Lowe. When Mora made a step toward the pitcher, catcher Jason Varitek went after the Oriole – and the fuse was lit. “Mora’s an idiot and you can print that,” Varitek said.
Sox pitching coach Tony Cloninger grabbed Baltimore catcher Brook Fordyce and bench coach Sam Perlozzo in adjoining headlocks. Fordyce suffered a bloody nose while Cloninger was ejected by home plate umpire Randy Marsh, who said that he had squeezed the Orioles too tight.
Fracas fires up fighting Red Sox
Phil O’Neill, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
“We lost two players and they lost one fat coach,” grumped Orioles manager Mike Hargrove, not too svelte himself. … Grady Little: “We don’t initiate anything, but we do a good job of retaliation.”
Standings at trade deadline often tell final result
Alan Schwarz, espn.com
It’s en vogue around the trading deadline to look at teams five games out of a playoff race and proclaim, “Hey, they’re in contention. The GM should go after it.” Deals fly fast and furious. But what exactly is “in contention”? How often do teams actually come back from such deficits? Not very often. … It might not seem like much — five, four, even three games to make up with two months and 60 or so games left to play — but history proves that the deficit is far greater than it first appears. Consider these facts …
July 28, 2002
When crime pays
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
Major League Baseball may disparage the credibility of Michael Franzese, the former mobster who went on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” last week and said that some Yankee players in the late ’70s deliberately threw games because they had huge gambling debts. But MLB thought enough of Franzese’s bona fides to invite him as a guest speaker to their annual rookie orientation a year ago. Red Sox third baseman Shea Hillenbrand was there and mentioned that spring training what an impression Franzese made on him. He basically scared the heck out of everybody, Hillenbrand said. …
July 26, 2002
Garces teetering
Steven Krasner, Providence Journal
There was a rumor that reliever Rich Garces erupted in a tirade in the Sox’ clubhouse after the night portion of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Little said if so, it was news to him. Garces denied it. A couple players appeared genuinely surprised, saying they knew of no such outburst. Regardless of the validity of the rumor, Garces’s tenure in Boston could be coming to a close, anyway. The Red Sox will make a roster move today, activating utilityman Carlos Baerga, and the release of El Guapo is a distinct possibility. … Garces, who was unable to pitch Tuesday night because he was distraught over his grandmother’s passing, has struggled all year.
Red Sox eyeing Thomas? — Boston may make pitch for slugger, Ritchie
Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune
The Boston Globe reported the Red Sox can be expected to make a call to Sox general manager Ken Williams regarding Thomas, as well as starter Todd Ritchie. … Thomas would have to waive his no-trade rights to make a deal possible. Williams declined to comment on the rumors, but there seems to be little doubt he personally would drive Thomas to Fenway Park and carry his suitcase into the clubhouse if the Red Sox were interested and Thomas is willing to go. … Boston’s payroll is already more than $110 million, though general manager Mike Port has said he has not been told he can’t spend more to go for a playoff spot. The Red Sox also reportedly are interested in acquiring Bartolo Colon and Cliff Floyd from the Expos in straight cash transactions …
Note Dated 2000 Says Williams Wanted His Remains Frozen
Richard Sandomir, New York Times
A note with the signatures of Ted Williams and two of his children dated November 2000, declaring their desire to be cryonically preserved upon their deaths, was filed with a Florida court yesterday in the battle over Williams’s body. … “To me, this note is the end of the road,” said Robert Goldman, the lawyer for John Henry and Claudia Williams. “The judge has to rely on the paper unless somebody can prove that it’s disingenuous.”
July 25, 2002
Expect Expos to factor in deadline deals
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
How the Montreal Expos fare over the next six days may have a big impact on what the Red Sox do before the July 31 trading deadline, as the Sox have not abandoned hopes of making a run at pitcher Bartolo Colon and slugging outfielder Cliff Floyd.
One man’s dump is Flaherty’s cathedral
Michael Muldoon, Eagle-Tribune
The Save Fenway gang might want to see John Flaherty for a contribution. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays catcher is an unabashed fan of Fenway Park. … “Some of the young guys say (it’s a dump),” said Flaherty, a native of suburban New York City who Boston drafted in the 25th round out of George Washington University in 1988. “I think it’s more of a cathedral. I appreciate the tradition of the old stadiums. I played 2½ years at Tiger Stadium. I enjoy that stuff.”
The Week In Quotes, July 15-21, 2002
Derek Zumsteg, Baseball Prospectus
“Whack it. Hack it. Stay aggressive.” –Bruce Kimm, Cubs manager, on his hitting philosophy
“I want my big boys swinging. If they feel comfortable swinging at first pitches, I want ’em hacking, because they’re the guys who can do the damage.” –Kimm
“I want an offense that feels that not only [Sammy] Sosa, [Fred] McGriff and [Moises] Alou will drive in runs. I want Mark Bellhorn and Bill Mueller and everyone on the team to think that that run is theirs to drive in. I don’t want Bill Mueller taking pitches to try to draw a walk so Sammy Sosa can drive him in.” –Kimm
“We’re going to stay aggressive. There will be times when a guy is wild and you’ll say, ‘Boy, he should have them taking.’ But I’m going to let them whack. I want us to control the at-bat.” –Kimm, on what his hitters will do facing a wild pitcher
“I thought of [starting the ninth] with Alfonseca, but I wanted to run Wood up to 120 pitches. I want our starters to go 120. I wanted to give him a chance to close it out.” –Kimm, on leaving Kerry Wood in during a July 17th loss to the Phillies
“Ideally, you don’t want to go past 110 a lot of times. But up here these guys are good athletes, and there’s no reason they can’t go 120, 125. It’s not a set thing. But if they are really throwing well, I’ll push them up to 120.” –Kimm
“To be honest, when things are going good, players don’t need a manager. They don’t need me right now. They’re playing good. It’s when things go bad. That’s when they need a manager.” –Kimm
“It’s tough. We have to do something, maybe try 120 percent instead of 110.” –Carlos Lee, White Sox outfielder
“Now maybe everybody will quit asking me if he’s going to stay in the rotation. I should mess with you all and say I’m taking him out now.” –Art Howe, Athletics manager, on Cory Lidle after Lidle’s one-hitter
July 24, 2002
Garciaparra’s record-setting day
Ian Browne, mlb.com
Garciaparra was the first Major Leaguer to hit three home runs in a span of two innings. He was the first player to hit three or more homers on his birthday. He was the third Red Sox player to homer twice in one inning, joining Ellis Burks (Aug. 27, 1990) and Bill Regan (June 16, 1928). Garciaparra’s five homers in the last two games tied a Major League record. The last Red Sox player to do it was Carl Yastrzemski, who hit three in Detroit, followed by two at Yankee Stadium in May, 1976. The nine homers by Manny Ramirez and Garciaparra in a two-game span set a Major League record. … Garciaparra drove in eight runs Tuesday, making him the first player in Red Sox history to have two games with eight or more RBIs.
Sox broadcaster Martin, 78, dead — He announced games for 32 years
Gordon Edes and Chris Snow, Boston Globe
Ned Martin, who broadcast Red Sox games on radio and television for 32 seasons and delighted New England with his erudition and gentle wit, died yesterday at the age of 78, one day after appearing at the tribute to Ted Williams at Fenway Park. Martin’s daughter, Caroline, said he died en route from Boston to his home in Clarksville, Va. She said he apparently was stricken in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., on an airport shuttle bus that was taking him from the terminal to the parking lot where he had left his car. He was traveling alone, she said. … Martin often quoted Shakespeare. One of his favorite lines, which he used when trouble befell the Sox, came from Hamlet: ”Oh, Gertrude, when sorrows come they come not as single spies but in battalions.”
Ned Martin (1923-2002)
mlb.com
July 23, 2002
Yanks Rip Mob Claim of Fixed Ballgames
Bill Hoffmann, New York Post
The Yankees are crying foul over the claims of an ex-mob boss that top players threw games in the late 1970s to wipe out their heavy gambling debts. The charges made by Michael Franzese, a once-powerful capo in the Colombo crime family, are “absolutely beyond belief,” fumed Yankee spokesman Howard Rubenstein. …
Franzese, now a Little League coach in Santa Monica, Calif., tells tonight’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” that in the late ’70s, several well-known players began gambling with Colombo bookies. A few eventually fell into heavy debt, he says. “A few players from the Yankees had some gambling issues,” Franzese tells the HBO show. “They got into trouble, couldn’t pay the debt and eventually I got involved. [I] spoke with them and said, ‘You gotta work this out, get the money, borrow the money, do what you have to do. And if all else fails, I got another way for you to make it up: You’re gonna help us win a game.'” …
Franzese, 50, who calls himself “a big Yankee fan,” did not identify which games were allegedly fixed or what players were involved. “We’d tell them: ‘Whatever it is you have to do . . . and if that ball comes to you and the game is on the line, you don’t catch the ball,” he said. Franzese said the players were also sometimes ordered to “not perform at the plate.”
Ex-Mobster Implicates Yankees
Murray Chass, New York Times
Michael Franzese, once a capo in the Colombo crime family, has done freelance work for Major League Baseball’s security department, but baseball’s security chief said yesterday that Franzese had never told him that he conspired with Yankees players to fix games 20 or more years ago.
Mob figure says players owed money to crime family
espn.com
A man who said he represents admitted mobster Michael Franzese told ESPN.com Tuesday afternoon that Franzese never identified any team or players in an HBO interview about baseball players fixing games in the 1970s. That contridicts reports from several media outlets, including the New York Post, that said the Yankees were one of the teams Franzese was talking about on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” when he said that baseball players in the 1970s owed money to the Columbo crime family.
Sox know the drill: With Tampa in town, beanballs in forecast
Jeff Horrigan, Boston Herald
“Every year, why is it always this team?” asked pitcher Derek Lowe, who will start for the Sox tonight. “It seems like something always happens. It doesn’t make sense. We’re not rivals, we’re not even geographically close. … Now you can bank on a Red Sox-Devil Rays brawl at some point during the year. … [On Aug. 29, 2000] they threw at Daubach nine times because he slid into a bench-clearing brawl. What the hell is that? . . . They were throwing behind him and around him, and Rothschild said, ‘We had a good game plan, but we didn’t execute it.’ Unbelievable.”
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu
John Updike, New Yorker
July 22, 2002
Get Used To It
Art Martone, Providence Journal
Omens? Curses? Ghosts? After the Yankees twice botched four-run leads and also rallied in the late innings to swipe the final two games of the series, all of the “19-18!” chants and all of the discussions about the Red Sox’ futilely and perpetually chasing them seemed as apt as ever. — Jack Curry, New York Times
Sick of it? I certainly am.
Or did Trot Nixon not realize he was playing right there on the Bambino’s sacred right field turf when he let Bernie Williams’ base hit go under his glove, allowing pinch-runner Enrique Wilson to score the tying run all the way from first base in the ninth? Nobody saw him, of course, but who among the sellout Stadium crowd would doubt the Babe didn’t wake up from his celestial hangover and intervene at precisely the right time for the Yankees – as has been the case in this ancient rivalry for over 80 years now. — Bill Madden, New York Daily News
Who indeed? Certainly not your typical dipstick Yankee fan. Or your average New York media member, several of whom — George King and Filip Bondy, most notably — sometimes write as if their paychecks were signed by G. Steinbrenner. (At least Michael Kay actually has that excuse.)
After Pedro Martinez won 4-2 in the series opener, the Red Sox lost a pair of 9-8 decisions — just another example of how things have gone for most of the last 80 years in this storied rivalry. Mike Fitzpatrick, Associated Press
Most of them. Except, of course, for 1946 … And 1948 … And 1967 … And 1973 … And 1974 … And 1975 … And 1986 … And 1987 … And 1988 … But you know what? It doesn’t matter. … all the facts in the world … can’t do anything to change this maddening, infuriating tide. …
You never see the Yanks blow games like that, do ya? Well, as a matter of fact, you do. Last Sunday in Cleveland, for one. Game Seven of the 2001 World Series, for another. Game Four of the 1997 ALCS, for a third. Games Four and Five of the 1995 ALDS, for a fourth and a fifth. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. …
Because until the Sox win it all — and I mean the World Series — and knock off the Yankees in the process, facts will be ignored and fiction will be repeated and this nonsense is never going to end. Never.
July 21, 2002
Pedro faced N.Y. with injured thumb
Sean McAdam, Providence Journal
Pedro Martinez, who was masterful Friday night in shutting out the New York Yankees for seven innings before being reached for two runs in the eighth, wasn’t sure he was going to be able to make his start when he arrived at Yankee Stadium. Martinez had suffered a jammed right thumb Wednesday while running sprints in the outfield at Tampa, the result of a minor collision with Bryant Nelson. The thumb swelled immediately and Martinez iced it. … Yesterday, the day following his start, Martinez said the thumb was “still sore . . . but the swelling has gone down quite a bit.” …
A Day Later, Yanks Praise Pedro
Bob Herzog, Newsday
Forget pitch counts and radar readings. Forget the injuries to his gifted right shoulder. Pedro is still Pedro. … Yankees leadoff batter Alfonso Soriano, who was 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Martinez, said: “That’s the best I’ve seen Pedro pitch. Sometimes I look for his changeup, but it’s a different changeup from anyone else. I’ve never seen a pitch like that.” .. “Like Maddux, but with more pop. He can beat you soft and beat you hard,” Joe Torre said. “His 94 is like 98 because of his other stuff. He’s got a variety of pitches and terrific control. His biggest asset is his confidence. He’s got a presence out there.”
Time is right for wheeling and dealing
Providence Journal
It’s that time of year, again. The July 31 trading deadline is fast approaching and the rumors are easier to come by than John Henry Williams punchlines. …
BOSTON
The Sox couldn’t get Bartolo Colon because they didn’t have the prospects. They lost out on Chuck Finley when the Cardinals gave the Indians a prospect the Red Sox once had. Get the picture? The Sox’ minor league cupboard is bare and they are severely limited by that reality. They could probably get Ellis Burks from Cleveland, but are reluctant to add another $6.5 million toward the 2003 payroll. “The one thing we have going for us next year,” said one Red Sox official, “is some financial flexibility.” Less expensive — and less interesting — are Florida’s Kevin Millar and Derrek Lee. As for pithcing, the Sox aren’t convinced that Jeff Suppan, Shawn Estes, Kenny Rogers, Esteban Loiaza, etc. are much of an upgrade over what they have in their current rotation. Their best hope is that the Mets and Indians will substantially lower their prices on Al Leiter and Jim Thome respectively. It’s doubtful either will happen.
July 20, 2002
Optimistic tone at labor talks
Jeff Horrigan, Boston Herald
Following months of posturing and preparing for the worst, several members of the Red Sox received unexpected positive news that a strike may be avoidable after attending a negotiating session between owners and the Players Association yesterday in Manhattan. Tony Clark, Johnny Damon, Derek Lowe, Jason Varitek, John Burkett, Alan Embree, Doug Mirabelli and Tim Wakefield attended the bargaining session and came away feeling that an August or September strike could be averted.
July 19, 2002
Coverage of Pedro’s start against the Yankees can be found here.
Sox know the drill by now — Hit early and late, they rally and brush aside Rays
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe
Think the weekend showdown between the Red Sox and Yankees in the Bronx could get wild? Wait until those devilish Devil Rays arrive at Fenway Park Tuesday for a four-game series that could have all the ingredients for a good old-fashioned donnybrook. … ”It’s the same M.O. every time we play these guys,” said Lou Merloni … ”If somebody is swinging the bat well or somebody burns them the night before, that guy ends up getting hit the next day. That’s made for bad blood. .. I don’t know, whoever burned them today better watch out the next time we play them because they’re probably going to hit him.”
No Love (Or Sox) Loss — Manny Hit Twice; McRae, Yan Ejected
David Heuschkel, Hartford Courant
It’s a good thing this series between the Red Sox and Devil Rays was an abbreviated one. Otherwise Pedro Martinez would be on the mound today and a Devil Ray might end up on the ground. “No comment,” Martinez said when asked of that likelihood.
Boston Ownership’s Pink Sox are Showing
Tom Keegan, New York Post
By the time new owners Tom Werner and John Henry get done with their subtle dismantling of the Red Sox, the team might want to consider changing its name to the Pink Sox. Why do you think Commissioner Bud Selig approved them as the purchasers when they weren’t the highest bidders? Because they won’t be the highest bidders for key free agents either, that’s why. They won’t put serious pressure on the Yankees …
Don’t count the Red Sox among those with reason to feel as if they are shut out by the system. Count them among those not trying as hard as they can to beat the Yankees. … The Boston media, repeatedly lauded as the toughest in the country in this space, is so giddy over being rid of condescending, impersonal Dan Duquette they have given the new horse-meat peddlers a free pass and by doing so are contributing to the Yankees getting a free pass to yet another division title.
July 18, 2002
Ted Williams’s Will
The Smoking Gun
Though Ted Williams is now being “cryonically preserved” in that frozen Arizona canister, the late baseball star wanted to be cremated and have his ashes “sprinkled at sea off the coast of Florida where the water is very deep,” according to his [8-page] will … With Williams on deathbed, controversial son filed to trademark his famous father’s name.
Red Sox Notes
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe
[I]n Tuesday’s 9-4 victory over the Tigers … the Sox did not strike out once in the game. It marked the first time the Sox have not whiffed in a game since they faced Detroit May 1, 2000. The closest they had come this year was a 7-5 loss to the Orioles April 23, when they registered only one strikeout.
It’s news to Clark
Sean McAdam, Providence Journal
First baseman Tony Clark, the American League player representative, said he hadn’t heard about the Players Association setting a Sept. 16 strike date, as was rumored throughout the game yesterday. “That’s news to me,” Clark said. “I haven’t heard anything yet.”
Red Sox unveil plan for new concourse — Proposal would use Yawkey Way
Scott S. Greenberger, Boston Globe
Trying to enlarge the smallest park in Major League Baseball, the Red Sox yesterday announced detailed plans to turn Yawkey Way into an extension of Fenway Park, complete with Cuban food cooked by legendary pitcher Luis Tiant, an antique uniform exhibit, and touchable samples of the holy Fenway Park sod. … Live music, appearances by current and past players … would also be part of the concourse, the Red Sox say. They want to perform a trial run for 14 September games.
July 17, 2002
Red Sox pound out 18 hits in win
Ian Browne, mlb.com
The Red Sox trailed 4-0 after five, but scratched away for a run in the sixth, three in the seventh and five in the eighth … The Red Sox erupted for 18 hits, thanks in large part to Manny Ramirez (5-for-6, three RBIs), Brian Daubach (3-for-3, two RBIs) and Trot Nixon (grand slam). … It was the first five-hit day of Ramirez’s career, and it was an emphatic breakout from a 3-for-20 slump.
Garciaparra out of whack: Declining average raises eyebrows
Karen Guregian, Boston Herald
He batted .330 in April, .318 in May, .300 in June. And now, thus far in the month of July, Nomar Garciaparra is hitting a Mendozaesque .208 (11-for-53). … Yesterday, the Tigers actually had the chutzpah to intentionally walk Damon to load the bases just to pitch to Garciaparra in the seventh inning.
Sox must trade for a hitter of quality
Art Martone, Providence Journal
After games of June 6, the Red Sox were 40-17. They had a team batting average of .293 and were averaging 5.77 runs per game. Their team earned-run average was 3.62. From June 7 to this morning, the Sox are 14-20. Care to guess what their team ERA is in those 34 games? Go ahead, think it over. Give up? It’s 3.75. That’s right. The Red Sox’ team ERA during this 34-game slide is less than 0.15 of a run higher than it was during their 57-game sprint to glory at the beginning of the season. Their offense, on the other hand, has fallen off the table and shattered. In these 34 games — even counting yesterday’s nine-run explosion at Detroit — the team batting average is .251. They’re scoring 4.32 runs per game.
Bud’s been whining for 10 years
Bill Conlin, Philadelphia Daily News
Bud Selig said this: “The economics of the game are disastrous. … And Bud said this: “More than a third of the clubs would sell if they could find a buyer…” Later adding: “The players association refuses to believe several clubs are in financial difficulties, and most of the owners are convinced that the union will only open its eyes when a club or two goes into bankruptcy…” … Selig’s morose words about his dying industry have hung in the air for a decade now. He was an owner when he spoke them during the summer of 1992 …
July 16, 2002
Match game
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe
As it stood last night, the matchups for the Yankee series would be Martinez vs. Mike Mussina Friday, Rolando Arrojo vs. Orlando Hernandez Saturday, and John Burkett vs. Jeff Weaver Sunday.
Red Sox fumble it away in 11th
Phil O’Neill, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Panic buttons are being pressed all over New England as the staggering Red Sox can’t seem to halt a second-half slide that is threatening to wash them right out of the playoffs. A triple bullpen collapse was the latest disaster.
Judge chides Tigers for ‘shameful behavior’
Fred Girard, Detroit News
A judge says several Detroit Tigers players engaged in ”shameful and disgraceful” behavior toward a flight attendant on the team airplane. Lisa Kesner, of Lima, Ohio, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit claiming that players and others subjected her to unwanted physical touching and drunken and lewd behavior, beginning on her first flight with the team in April 2000. … Zatkoff noted that the Tigers organization and other defendants in the lawsuit did not make any attempt to deny Kesner’s allegations. But he dismissed 29 of the 30 complaints she made. …
She claimed sexual harassment, sex discrimination, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress … claimed players displayed pornography on laptop computers during flights on the team plane. She also claimed a former player used marijuana in the plane’s restroom, and that current player Matt Anderson called her profane names after she told him marijuana use was not permitted on the plane. She also accused player Bobby Higginson of profanity.
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