Halfway There

October 29-February 14: 109 days

December 20-February 14: 55 days

As Maddie so excellently put it:

On February 14, some guy will come up to me and say, "Um, hi Maddie, do you know what day it is?" And I'll reply, "Yep! Pitchers and catchers report today!"

Red Sox Random Picture Day

Guess what? Liza got Photoshop for Hanukkah! But she made these before, with Gimp, and anyway, she's gonna stop talking in third person now.

So, after the Sox won, I got the (crazy) idea that I would make a 1024x768 (wallpaper size) image for every single guy on the 25-man roster (plus Buchholz and Wake, 'cause) But then I got lazy and it got repetitive and Yahoo sports took down the photos of the baseball players. But here are five, in the order that I made them.













Also, for a bonus, here's a couple more Sox Photoshoppings.

Bobby "One Swing" Kielty*

Clay Buchholz Blue
Clay Buchholz Red**

Beckett Boot Camp?***

FISTPUMP****

2007/8 Rookies*****


If anyone wants me to make them a custom wallpaper or anything else, just leave a comment or email me or something. Although I probably won't get to it until Friday or sometime over vacation--stupid essays!




*Only I would include the Sox, LotR, and Idina Menzel lyrics in the same piece, huh? Lyrics are "This is the moment/I stand here on my own/This is my right of passage/That somehow leads me home", from her new song Brave. Done in Gimp like a week into November.

**These were/are a commission from SoxxGirl. :)

***After TG from Center Field (arguably the best Red Sox blog out there, check 'er out!) said she just knew that Beckett was imagining those horns strapped to Clay's head and I had a free couple hours on a Friday, so ta-daa. Done in Gimp as well, and don't mind Beckett's foot and butt--I had to make those from scratch. >.> And Gimp doesn't have a very good clone tool.

****An I Can Has Cheezburger?-esque interpretation of the infamous fistpump.

*****I was going to make a blog called "Rookie Nation" and it was going to be about rookies, because they are just awesome as a species, except then I realized that every year's rookies change a lot (and there will never, ever be another Jacoby Ellsbury), and also that Blogger's custom layouts are really, really hard to code.

Post-Hanukkah Baseball Wishlist

In the spirit of a recent post from Ladies..., I've decided to post my own Top 10 Gifts Red Sox Wishlist! Seeing as how Hanukkah's already over, my chances of getting any of these before my birthday (early June, for the record) are approximately zero. Although, if anyone wants to get me a late present, that would be just fine with me! (Yes, they're all from the official MLB Sox store.)

1. Red Sox body pillow: $24. I honestly have wanted one of these obscenely huge body pillows for a long time. This one's 19x54 inches, which is like 13 inches shorter than me/Dustin Pedroia on a bad day. How awesome would that be? It's kind of like my own personal stuffed mini-Pedroia. I can just imagine he's short because he's closer to my age. ;D

2. Red Sox paper lanterns: $19 each. What sunlight? I've got a soxlight!

3. Red Sox fans parking sign: $40. It says, "RED SOX FANS PARKING: YANKEE FANS GO HOME." This would go right over my head, next to my poster of Tek screaming at A-Rod (right before he punches him--this one was courtesy of the Globe a couple years back).

4. Womens' Red Sox jersey: $60. Why do I STILL not have one of these?

5. Big B shirt: $30. It's men's. What do I care? It's awesome, and "cut smaller than most tees" so I guess it'd fit me okay.

6. Baseball seam big B bracelet: $12. I've wanted to have one of these for a while. I never wear bracelets in general, but this one, I would wear.

7. The awesomest t-shirt ever made, ever: $20. I. WANT NEED. THIS. NOW.

8. 2007 Facsimile Autographed Baseball: $8. I don't care if it's fake, it looks like it has all the guys' signatures on it. And it's $8, too.

9. 2007 Red Sox Monopoly: $35. I mean, really. Wasn't this specially made for me or something?

10. Autographed Celebratory World Champions Picture: $4,000. If I had a whole lot of extra money, I would definitely buy this one. No questions asked.

Oh, and a bonus gift: I'd love Jacoby Ellsbury for Hanukkah. ;D

Softball?

I still haven't been on. Ugh. I've mostly just been obsessing in my own little one-track mind about Jacoby and how awesome it would be if I met someone exactly like him but, uh, 10 years younger... anyway. Heh.

But here's a number for ya: 8. That is, the number of days in Hanukkah. And the eighth (final) night was tonight--I got a softball and a softball mitt. Actually, it looks exactly like a baseball mitt, so I'm not sure if there's even any difference. But they're for me to use when I start playing softball in the spring! I never wanted to try softball until about a month ago, when I decided I'd love to.

So I got a glove about an hour ago, and it's awesome. I've already started chewing on the leather, Clay-style.



I also got a softball. It really is a lot bigger than a baseball, and also a lot yellower. It has raised--red--seams, so I really want to try and throw it overhand a bit and try out a knuckleball. (Good luck to me, right? Heh.) I'd also like to learn to pitch softball, seeing as how my reflexes are terrible (so I'd be a bad infielder) and I don't like objects flying at me (hence why I quit soccer, and also why I'd be a bad infielder or catcher), so I'd just figured I'd be an outfielder... but I guess a pitcher would be cool, too! I also have a certain thing for outfielders and pitchers... as you may have noticed by the amount of Jacobys, Mannys, Mosses (not Randy, Brandon), Clays, Lesters, and Paps in my obsessions.

So yeah. I'm generally not into softball... but I'll do anything to have a link to baseball right now. I'm so pathetically un-baseball-supplemented that I've taken re-watching (again and again) videos of games throughout the season. The offseason isn't as great, since the only Sox news now is whether Lester or Jacoby will leave for Santana (out of the two, I'd prefer the Lester/Coco package, but I'm just biased), or if we'll even get Santana again. I'll worry myself to death if I spend too much time looking at that stuff.

So. Happy Hanukkah and merry pre-Christmas?

Well I haven't been around.

Instead, I've been constantly refreshing any authority on baseball news since the GM meetings ended.

Oh, and mourning the fact that Jacoby fired his old agent for that spawn of Satan who is/was, at the time of The Betrayal*, Johnny Damon's agent, as well as that of A-Rod (plus Dice-K and 'Tek, though): Scott Boras. He's up there with A-Snob and Barry Bonds as my top 3 least favorite baseball-related people.

Not much else to say, except to mention my Soxy Hanukkah presents: two books about baseball, as well as Baseball Mogul '08, which looks awesome. If this sort of present-ing goes on, I'll be equipped to last at least until January.

Also, a funny quote from Jacoby: "I am just trying to stay in shape and be ready for spring. I am actually taking yoga classes, to keep stress off my joints. It's great. You have these big strong guys and little old ladies all doing it--it's not just sitting on your butt, stretching. I am telling you, yoga is tough." My mom is really into yoga--she's been trying for a while to get me to start up, which I'm not really enthusiastic about, but it's a great description.


*With capital letters.

Not Sox, and Not Numbers?

Tyler Clippard, a pitching prospect with the Yankees the Nationals...




...looks like...



E.T.

OH MY EXPLETIVE.

So I was out for the afternoon.

I came home at around 7:30 and, of course, dashed up to see any updates on the Santana trades. I checked my default for news, Extra Bases, and saw only an earlier update on Gagne's arbitration offer. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I decided, just to be on the safe side, to check the Sox' official site.

Then I screamed.

When I saw the headline "Report: Ellsbury offered for Santana", I full-out screamed. Not a scream of excitement, or joy, or anything else. It was a mixture of terror and full-out-freak-out. My nightmare about Phil Hughes being added to the Yankees' offer had come true: while the Yankees raised the stakes, the Sox anted up and added Ellsbury.

I know it's pathetic, but I think I'm going to hurl.

I've been a big baseball fan since '03, just before I turned 10, when my brother started little league. But I wasn't completely immersed--obsessed--until late August, when I watched games nightly for two weeks with my grandfathe, who was a catcher through his college years, and probably knows more about the strategies behind baseball than anyone I know. My family was spending the two weeks with my grandparents on the Cape. I got 100% sucked into it, whereas since '04 I have watched games more or less just to see if they won or not.

A couple days after we returned home, I went with my dad, brother, and a friend to Fenway. It was September 2, the day after Clay Buchholz threw his no-hitter. That was also the day Jacoby hit his first major league home run. I was so happy, and when I got home, I was flipping through that program thing and realized he was "pretty cute". Honestly, that's what I thought. So I looked him up on Google, since I'd only really heard of him when he came up in late June. I wanted to "know" him more.

I pretty much fell in love with him.

Not real love, obviously, but he was my immediate favorite. His looks helped, of course, but I loved that he was so young. He was nearly a decade older than I was (well, is nearly a decade older than I am), but he was so young compared to my previous favorites--Manny, Lowell, and he was younger than even Papelbon--that I understood more what he felt like; we both emerged into the Majors around the same time.

As he played throughout September and posted such amazing statistics, I (who has always loved the idea of baseball being centered around numbers) was completely enthralled. And when he played so spectacularly in the postseason, I loved it. I had been thinking, sort of casually, about what I'd like to do with my life--and I decided I either wanted to be a reporter on the Sox or work with the players as some sort of coach. I wanted to interact with the players, and not just because of my baseball-crush on Jacoby, although that did definitely help. I was so deeply in love with baseball that I was like a giddy girl with her first serious boyfriend: already framing the rest of my life around it.

When Theo told the Twins a week or so ago that he was untouchable, I thought, Of course, why would you ever trade him? He's the future of the Red Sox. He doesn't have much experience in the majors, but he's played so well his entire life that you can't NOT expect him to be a great player. I still think that. But apparently, Theo doesn't.

Pitching wins championships. But players like Jacoby win fans' affection. Honestly, it sounds shallow, but if Jacoby is traded--I won't be as emotionally into baseball. Into the Sox. And I've become so dependent on it--on baseball--since August that I have no idea how that would work out.

There are other players. There are other good-looking center fielders. There are other prospects. They will be closer and closer to my age for the next ten years. But there will never, ever be another Jacoby Ellsbury for me.

So please, Theo. Santana would help us win. But so will Ellsbury. Santana is a free agent at the end of 2008. If he just stays with the Twins for next season, we can outbid the Yankees and have Santana, Ellsbury, AND Lester, and maybe Coco as well.

Please. For the sake of a little girl's happiness, please, Mr. Epstein. Don't trade him.

Magglio Ordóñez Scares Me

Does this man frighten anyone else to the point where they are quaking in their shoes (or slippers, as the case may be, such as in my case at the moment)?

All stats are 2007 (regular season, duh).


.363
Batting average. (Insert enormous shudder here)

.595
Slugging percentage.

1.029
OPS (on base percentage plus slugging).

139
RBIs.

54
Doubles.


But there's more to what makes him so scary than big numbers (I'm still stuck on that .363). I saw him play at a Tigers-Sox game in May and we were in the right field bleachers, so I got to see him play in the field up close*. He made some great catches. But the most amazing part of his performance that day was the way he fed off of the crowd. It sounds kind of weird, but he took the same kind of support or whatever it was from the boos at Fenway as anyone else would take from fans chanting their name at home.

Anyway. Just thought I'd put this out there, since there's nothing else to post, really, until the Santana deals are done. I'm actually too scared to write about it.




*Incidentally, the star of the show that day was Eric Hinske. Video here.

"This Year in Baseball" Numbers

MLB's This Year in Baseball awards' voting ends December 5. Go vote for Pedroia as RotY, Buchholz for best one-game performance, and Drew for Best Postsesaon Moment. There are Sox-related options in every category except for Best Regular Season Moment (I think).

For each option in each category, they have some numbers about each. I compiled all the most impressive stats for Sox-related options into a list, organized by player. All stats are regular-season.


JOSH BECKETT:

194:40
Strikeout-to-walk ratio.

1.14
Walks and hits per inning pitched.


JONATHAN PAPELBON:

12.96
Strikeouts per 9 innings pitched.

0.77
Walks and hits per inning pitched.


HIDEKI OKAJIMA:

.202
Opponents' batting average.


CLAY BUCHHOLZ

73
Strikes thrown. (Sept. 1, 2007 only)

115
Pitches thrown. (Sept. 1, 2007 only)

98
Most pitches thrown per game (in 2007) prior to September 1.


Sigh... isn't it February yet?

Santana/Sox Update

Several sources (including ESPN.com and a St. Paul newspaper) have indicated that the Sox have offered the Twins, in exchange for Santana, Lester, Coco, Jed Lowrie, and a minor league pitcher who may be Justin Masterson or Michael Bowden. The last three are highly touted minor league prospects in the Sox' stystem and, well, we've heard of the first two.

I honestly do not want Lester or Coco to go--but if it's not Jacoby or Buchholz, I guess I'm sort of okay with it. By no means do I not want either on my team, but I think this is the best offer the Sox could've made.

Coco definitely played Gold Glove-caliber defense this season. Although his bat was not exactly spectacular (cough), he had a career year defensive-ways. His fielding percentage was .998, the highest of his 5-year career. And people seem to forget that he's just 28, and still to reach his peak performance years--and he's only newly 28, as his birthday was November 1.

Lester--well, again, I'll be sad to see him go, but if it's him or Buchholz... sorry, Jon. Of course both are going to be great pitchers; I don't doubt that. Both have proven they can do really well against the big boys (again, for proof just look at the no-no and game 4 of the WS) but I think Buchholz just has better stuff. I'm not going to go into my worship of/love-rant about his changeup, but I think the only thing he could really do to be LESS hittable is to be able to throw his fastball with the precision that Beckett and (in past years) Schilling have shown. Lester's great. Don't get me wrong. But Buchholz is just better.

Also, I like Buchholz better personally. Not just based on performance, that is.

On the topic of minor leaguers, it's always a bit sad to part with young guys, but Lowrie doesn't have a slot with the Sox. He's a shortstop, and we've got Lugo. Masterson and Bowden are both really good pitchers--but I don't really know much about either, and if we already have Buchholz and Lester, plus whoever isn't traded (of course, assuming the Sox do end up trading these guys) out of these two for young starting pitching talent. Although it's hard to choose between these guys who to keep, it is kind of nice to have too much starting pitching.

Not many numbers. I'm just analyzing here. Wow. Weird.

(So weird I just typed "wierd".)

Thirty-One Days Ago...

...we were playing in the World Series.

Was it really only that recently?

Anyway.

In honor of this anniversary-of-sorts, as Texas Gal put it, I'm putting up some honorary statistics of the three who I think were most in contention for World Series MVP: Mike Lowell, Jacoby Ellsbury, and David Ortiz (in that order).

Player Name	H/AB	2B	HR	RBI	TB	R	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG
Mike Lowell	6/15	3	1	4	12	6	3	1	.500	.800	.400
Jacoby Ellsbury	7/16	4	0	3	11	4	2	2	.500	.688	.438
David Ortiz	5/15	3	0	4	8	4	2	3	.412	.533	.333

Jeez. You have to pick just one for MVP?

Anyway, on another note, I just realized I have another two and a half times what I've already gone through, but with less trade rumors, until pitchers and catchers report. What am I going to do? This is far worse than any other offseason in my memory (granted, this is only the fifth, but that's okay).

I asked various people the what-should-I-do question. The answers I got?

• "Get a life" -My mom


• "Get a hobby" -A friend who doesn't care about baseball


• "Get more pictures of that hot guy" -A friend who doesn't care about baseball but thinks Jacoby is the best player in history

But why would I want a life or hobbies over baseball? (Other than, you know, school. And horseback riding. And homework...)

Sometimes Crazy's All Right

My friend Maddie and I love looking for "baseball songs"--that is, songs that we can relate to baseball. After seeing Dirt Dogs do this (you have to scroll down a bit, past the second big picture), I've decided to make my own version.


"Crazy Girls" (Bethany Joy Lenz) describes Maddie and me--and pretty much every other baseball fan--in the offseason.

And now this whole world is going ‘round
But it’s when you’re gone it really brings me down, down


"Extraordinary" (Mandy Moore) reminds me so much of this year's awesome rookies and how they must've felt after winning... especially the parade part with weather that involves fallen leaves. ;D

Waking up to wake up some day
I got my own parade
Stopping off at a sidewalk cafe
The wind is playing up in the trees
Kicking up confetti leaves


"Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" (Pink) is what I imagine a Yankee fan (coughMADDIEcough) thinks about that annoyance who is the epitome of money-grubbing professional athlete, Alex Rodriguez.

I don't wanna wake up with another
But I don't wanna always wake up with you either
No you can't hop into my shower
All I ask for is one fuckin' hour
You taste so sweet
But I can't eat the same thing every day
Cuttin off the phone
Leave me the fuck alone
Tomorrow I'll be beggin' you to come home


"I'll Make a Man Out of You" (Mulan soundtrack), aside from being a hilarious and awesome song in its own right and being from a hilarious and awesome movie, is just the Sox exactamundo-ly. Or, even, any team that wants to win. The title also sounds like the minors.

We must be swift as the coursing river
With all the force of a great typhoon
With all the strength of a raging fire


"Misery Business" (Paramore) is about a girl who steals a guy from another girl, but it's also about how Lowell is here for at least three more years. And not anywhere else.

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But god does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.

Why Santana Can Forget Boston

Why? The asking price is kid prospects, which we can't give up. Most of our little guys are great players with the potential to become superstars.

Jacoby Ellsbury is definitely going to be one of those always-on-base guys with hits every which way--not to mention a spectacular base-stealer. There's also great evidence that he'll improve over the winter; he hit .308 in 2006 in AA Portland, and in the first 17 games of 2007, still with the Sea Dogs, hit .452. This year, in case you haven't noticed, he also made it to the majors. This has also been the case in the rest of his career; he hit .330, .352, and .406 in his three respective years in college, for example. It seems to me that he'll do most of his improving during the offseason until his crazy talent plateaus in a couple years (at what we can expect to be a high level). In my opinion, he will probably have a Pedroia-type rookie season--that is, struggling at some points but ultimately doing a great job.* See: September 2007.

Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester both have great stuff** and could each win 20 games within even the next few years. See: no-no and World Series game 4, respectively.

Brandon Moss sometimes gets overlooked. Whoops, did I say "sometimes"? I meant "often". He did pretty well in his September call-up, batting .280 in 25 at-bats. Of his 7 hits, 3 were for extra bases, including a triple. Also, Moss has a great arm, which Jacoby definitely lacks (one of his biggest faults, and the main reason he should stick to center field). He's also noted as a great teammate, a guy who can notice his mistakes and fix them, on and off the field. His approach at the plate is very refined and doesn't really chase balls. Basically, watch out for Brandon when he establishes himself in the majors. Nothing to see here except what we can expect he'll do next year as the first off the bench for the outfield.

Not that he'd be potential trade bait, really, but it's worth mentioning Jed Lowrie. He was promoted to AAA-Pawtucket this year and hit .300 there, .298 overall. He's one of those guys who can really work a count, which is probably his best asset; he can also field well, as a shortstop, and a move to second is possible (though not likely, if he's to move up to the majors, considering we've got Pedroia). He's also a speedy guy, considering he's on the smaller end of professional baseball players at 6' even. Nothing to see, again, except what we'll get of him next year.

Honorable mention to George Kottaras--what's up with that guy? When will we expect to see him play with the big boys?

But I'm not even going to bother mentioning li'l Dusty P. He's not goin' anywhere.****




*More on my statistical love affair with Jacoby soon, I promise.

**I had a thing with Clay's changeup for a while, right after the no-no. Seriously, have you seen it? Smokin'.***

***Yes, I did just say "smokin'". Did you notice the regular post went from ** to ****?

****Yeah, no one's untouchable. But do you really think the Sox would like to lose this guy?

Not Disappearing or Anything...

So I went on vacation for Thanksgiving and no one was traded, signed, or otherwise decisive that impacts the Sox greatly. But I did get back to find my Google alerts for the keywords "jacoby" and "ellsbury" full of a load of crap about a potential Ellsbury and/or Buchholz and/or Lester and/or other prospects trade for who but Johan Santana. To this I say:

NO!

More on this tomorrow. Sleep is in order right now. I stayed up until 1-2 AM each night since Wednesday, chatting with my cousin, and need to be up for school in 8 1/2 hours.

[insert huge sigh of relief]

Hi. My name is Michael Avarett Lowell, but you can just call me Mikey.

You might know me for hitting .324 this year. Or for my fabulous clutch hitting. Or for my defense that far outclasses Alex Rodriguez's. Or even for my fabulous classiness that holds so much higher than his in every single person's eyes except for those who don't care about anything but numbers. And even though his numbers are great and I respect that, mine are so far beneath his in unwanted categories such as "strikeouts",

By the way, I'm stickin' around in Boston for (at least) three more years. Why would I ever want to play anywhere else?

See you in Spring Training,
-Mike






Sorry this is late. By uh. A long time.

Just One Number...

30
Number of years in jail that Barry Bonds may face for perjury and obstruction of justice.

(Sorry. Had to say something.)

Spotlight Stats: Mike Lowell

Whoops. I was planning on doing a "Spotlight Stats" thing each Saturday, but I forgot and it's now Sunday. xD Here goes, delayed.

So in the spirit of RE-SIGN LOWELL, because the message obviously hasn't gotten to Theo and the front office yet, I now present to you some kickass Mike Lowell statistics that PROVE he needs to stay with us.

.304
Career batting average with the Red Sox.

.269
Career batting average with teams that are not the Red Sox.

100
Career average of RBIs per season with the Red Sox.

~85
Career average of RBIs per season with teams that are not the Red Sox.

.488
Career slugging percentage with the Red Sox.

~.434
Career slugging percentage with teams that are not the Red Sox.

.373
Batting average (regular season) at Fenway Park for 2007.

.276
Batting average (regular season) at stadiums that are not Fenway Park for 2007.


Okay, I give up. I'll probably post some more... at some point... I am REALLY tired.

The "Whys" of the General Awesomeness of Mike Timlin

Why?

Why is he almost 42 years old and still perfectly comfortable with striking out the only two batters he faces in game 4 of the World Series?

Why is he almost 42 years old and still able to fire fastballs into the mid-90s?

Why does he have four World Series rings and not as much attention as this deserves?

Why does he have four more World Series rings than Alex Rodriguez? (Never mind. Lots of reasons for that one.)

Why can he get away with having a stuffed parrot attached to his shoulder?

Why can he pitch so well, and also be so talented at drumming (in the 'pen) and dancing (on moving flatbed trucks)?

Why is he one of the only non-Varitek guys on the Sox to wear baseball pants the way they're supposed to be worn--high-cuffed, (red) knee socks and all?

Why does he have so much endurance that next year will be his 18th season in the majors?

Why was he really good-looking (and YOUNG) before I was born? (Sorry. Girly moment over.)

And, most of all...

Why, in the name of all that is Timlin, have we not already signed him? I mean, really. They picked up the option on Tavarez fast enough. What'll we do without him? Will Pap have to take over as captain of the 'pen? Will Mikey Tim take Parlay to wherever he goes, be it another team or retirement? In that case, what will Okie do without his good luck charm?!

Scariest numbers ever?

WHDH is scaring me. I mean, the whole Mike Lowell thing is scaring me, but this more than anything.

A source close to the Lowell side of the negotiations tells 7Sports that each offer [one from each the Braves, Angels, Cardinals, and Yankees] is a 4-year contract, worth between $55-60 million.

4/55-60?

With a team that's not the Sox?

With a team that might be the Yankees?

Say it ain't so. Please, Theo, say it ain't so.

Say you didn't offer him around 3/40 when you could have predicted he'd get at least 4/55-60 from another team.

Say it ain't so.

It's Jacoby Time Now.

You knew it was coming, people. I do have eyes, after all, although they're not just used for gazing adoringly at, you know, this...



...they also look at THIS!

Games	ABs	Hits	2Bs	3Bs	SOs	SBs	Avg
33	116	41	7	1	15	9	353

Yeah. Those are pretty awesome too.

Consensus: Jacoby Ellsbury is hot. Not that we didn't know this already... I think it's pretty much summed up in the words Blue Cats and Red Sox.

Every Red Sox fan everywhere, regardless of gender association or sexual preference, [has fallen] deeply, madly, intensely in love with Jacoby Ellsbury. Seriously. He cuts across all attempts to categorize and separate sex and gender roles. He is JACOBY ELLSBURY, and he appeals to all.

I think I will be the exact demographic for each and every promotional deal he will ever do, ever: baseball- and Jacoby- obsessed teen girl. Wow. For once I'm the demographic for something with "baseball" in it. Who knew?

More Pedroia Obsessing

I'm marveling at myself. Two non-stats-related posts about Pedroia and none about Ellsbury. I need to step it up.

But really. How can you not love this kid?



Thumbs up to you, too, MiniPetey.

Anyway. I'm beating around the bush--the real reason for this post is mostly to squeak and squeal and squee over this text message li'l Dustin sent to his college coach (who he's kept up a correspondence with after being drafted) in April, when he was slumping. Word-for word, down to the last punctuation mark:

Book it

i am going to hit 300 even after the horrible start i'm having right now

you taught me how to deal with this

1 for my last 26 no biggie

an explosion is going to happen soon

He's very laid back about being 1 for 26 (which translates to a .038 batting average, by the way), but he's so determined to step it up. And look what he did--even with a .172 BA in April, he ended up making his mark of .300 by .017.

For the record, without April factored in, he hit .339. Excuse me? Can we just have that repeated once more?

Without his abysmal April, Dustin Pedroia hit .339.

No wonder his RotY was so definite.




Oh. And I also find it unendingly adorable that he's admitted to being "5'7" or 5'8" or whatever the heck they list me at", when I'm about 5'6''.

What Cy Young?

We've got the Josh Beckett.




Congratulations to Sabathia, though, on a season well pitched.

That's our Dusty P.

Dustin Pedroia was announced the AL Rookie of the Year for the 2007 about an hour ago.

I had been checking the time every five minutes or so since 1, but when I saw it was 1:59, I picked up my laptop and raced down the stairs and put on ESPN, but they were talking about football. I opened tabs on mlb.com, redsox.com, and boston.com and refreshed each constantly. Then all of a sudden, a refreshed mlb.com had a headline announcing the NL Rookie of the Year (I wanted Tulowitzki to win, but congratulations to Braun), and I squeaked--then actually screamed when I saw "PEDROIA AL ROY" smaller at the bottom.

I love that little guy.

In other news, the Sox have nine hours before their exclusive negotiating rights with Lowell and Timlin end. We know the Sox have given Mikey L a three-year, $12-15 million option. No news on Mikey Tim. The infamous Gagne is expected to want to go back to closer next year, as his catasrophic appearances as set-up man with the Sox explain. Since we've got our Paps and he'll be here for several more years at least, he's expected to depart. Good riddance, that's all I have to say.

Spotlight Stats: Dustin Pedroia

With the news that rookie second baseman extraordinaire Dustin Pedroia played most of September and all of October with a fractured hamate bone, I figure it's time to lay on some Dusty P stats.


The Broken Hamate Bone

The hamate bone, firstly, is one of the bones that takes a lot of wear and tear when batting, and since it's his left hand, it really took a lot of battering. It's also at the base of his glove hand--imagine how catastrophic it would have been had a line drive hit it. According to the Herald, when he had surgery to remove the bone on Tuesday (November 6), it "crumbled". That isn't supposed to happen, by the way.

One of the biggest "wow"s about this is that he kept it quiet. He found out on September 10, and didn't let the media find out until yesterday. Thankfully, though, he said that the soft cast he's now wearing "won’t affect my offseason workouts at all".

(It occurred to me, while voting for the "This Year in Baseball" awards, that Pedroia made a huge diving, sliding catch onto that hand while preserving Clay Buchholz's no-hitter on September 1. Could the play that wins Pedroia the Defensive Play of the Year [take a minute to knock on wood here] be the one that broke a bone in his wrist?)


Rookie of the Year?
As we all know, Pedroia had a terrible slump early in the season. I, personally, was a supporter of the starting-Cora-over-Pedroia idea, and I've been shown time and time again just how wrong I was: ever since August, he's been a RotY favorite. And mine.


.317
His regular-season batting average. Let's all stare at this for a minute or so.


.823
Regular-season OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging). Let's stare at this, too.


.832
Playoff OPS. Staring is optional, but recommended.


47 vs 42
Regular-season walk-to-strikeout ratio. These are in the right order, I promise.


5
RBIS from game 7 of the ALCS. Yes, from a single game.


.351
Batting average at Fenway, regular season. Why can't we play at home more often?


180
This number's in pounds. The kid is worth twice his weight in gold.

So what is this, exactly?

I bet you're wondering why I haven't posted in, um... 8 days, and why the last/first (?) one said the word "test" six times, and little else. Well, I'm still kind of trying to get this up and running and all that. (Duh?)

Anyway, the name of this blog is kind of misleading. "SOXtistics" makes it seem like this is going to be all statistics--which it is going to be in part, but it'll also be a collection of random facts, mixed in with my commentary.

So here we go.

Testing, one, two, three.

this is a test.
testing, testing, testing.

la dee da. test, in case you couldn't tell.