With the Yanks extending their lead to 7.5 last night and playing like an unstoppable freight train, I wanted to take a look north and see what out main rivals have been up to. Win or lose, it is never dull and always seems on the verge of breaking out into a food fight.
-Josh Beckett had another bad outing last night, making it his 4th in a row. Last night’s effort puts him at 0-2 with an 8.88 ERA in his last four appearances. He claims he’s healthy, but it’s worth noting he was shut down at this time last year and his struggles last season started around mid-August as well. This year, they don’t have the luxury of shutting him down. There have long been doubts about his shoulder in Boston, and since the Sox are more secretive with injuries than Bill Belichick we can only speculate something is going on health-wise. I’ll say this, if Beckett can’t turn this around I think the Sox will miss the playoffs. They just won’t have enough pitching and I still think the Rays still have a run in them.
-If you’re wondering why Red Sox fans are ticked off at Paps, and why they’ve been kicking around the idea of Josh Bard as the closer, it has to do with statements like these:
“I’m here to get my fair share of money,” Papelbon said. “My main priority is to stay healthy and be able to make money, not to go out and try and hurry up and win a championship this year (at the risk of injury). It’s not like I’m hurrying up and going back to the closer’s role because we have a good team this year and I’m going to blow (my arm) out and try and win as many games as we can (at any cost). No, it’s not going to happen.
“I’ve got a lot of money to be made in this game, whether it’s with Boston or not. My goal is to make sure I’m ready to play every day and to make money, and you can’t make money if you’re sitting on the bench. That’s the way I look at it.”
Now the reality is many players feel the exact same way, and don’t care about the team like fans do. It’s a job to them, one that is unpredictable with a limited window of opportunity to earn big money. We all know that. But when you come out and say this stuff publicly (especially as bluntly as he does) then all you accomplish is to turn most fans against you. Theo will offer him the same contract when free agency comes with or without these comments, and statements like these could have the reverse effect of making it easier to let him go. The edit button, Paps. Use it once and a while.
-Jon Lester says his hip is fine. He’s been the Sox most consistent starter all year and hasn’t shown any ill effects on the mound.
-The always media-shy Curt Schilling is interested in running for the US Senate. No, I’m not kidding. He released this statement via his 38 Pitches blog on WEEI.com:
While my family is obviously the priority, and 38 Studios is a priority, I do have some interest in the possibility. That being said, to get to there from where I am today, many many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen. I am not going to comment further on the matter since at this point it would be speculation on top of speculation.
My hope is that whatever happens, and whomever it happens to, this state makes the decision and chooses the best person, regardless of sex, race, religion or political affiliation, to help get this state back to the place it deserves to be
That would make . . . what, two comedians in the Senate, right?
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
0 Responses to The Goings-on in Beantown
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
I just heard Curt on WEEI, and he basically declared. If he wins, I think I will move.
Joe Kennedy will clean his clock. I don’t want to get too political, but Curt’s views are way out of the mainstream for Massachusetts politics.
Yup. However, after he spoke on WEEI, people were already talking him up as an outsider, unfettered by the typical bonds of politics.
I agree sir !!..Masschusetts has been and will be a liberal state. Schilling trying to sell his ultra-conservative garbage will be tough. Schilling is a political Papelbon !!
Even though I am a conservative, Schilling is a bit to much for me…let alone ultra-liberal Massachusetts.
News Flash for Schilling…you lost, even before you started.
Agreed. Schilling would get politically pwned.
schilling is just another egomaniac, mass likes its politicians liberal and compassionate, as the saying goes he couldn’t carry emk’s jock strap.
Agree with you Steve, with Pap saying the things he did, he is just saying the same thing a very large majority of ball players think.
Every team has had one or more of those players on their team. After all; it is true (with most), they follow the money (almost) every-time.
Yeah, that’s why players like Jeter, Posada and Pettitte are so special. You get a sense that the pinstripes really mean something to them, perhaps even defines them as ballplayers.
To be honest, I’m not even sure Mo wouldn’t pitch elsewhere if offered more money. I know A-Rod, CC, Damon and Burnett all would. And that’s fine, if I were in their shoes I’d probably do the same thing.
You don’t know what CC would do from here on out, yeah last year he didn’t know much about New York or the Yankees and wanted the money to come here but I think he really enjoys himself here and he is accepted here… Sabathia was loyal to Cleveland no reason to think he wouldn’t be to New York.
You make good sense with that scenario, I also think that may very well apply to a few more players on a lot of teams.
Johnny came to NY for the money but, now he wants to stay as do a few other players…A-Rod didn’t want to go anywhere else either.
New York is a funny place if you can’t control yourself and you act like a jack ass you are going to hate it, but if you preform, be respectful and represent the Yankees in a good way the fans and town will treat you really well and I find a lot of players get here do well and just don’t want to leave… it even applies to the Mets for some reason.
In related news that brings a smirk to my face, former Red Sox Brad Penny and John Smoltz are doing pretty well away from Beantown.
Penny put up 8 shutout innings last night for the Giants and in two starts Smoltz is 1-0 with 1 run allowed, 7 hits and 1 walk in 11 innings for St. Louis. Say what you will about the NL being different for pitchers, I think both of them have exceeded their initial expectations and it’ll probably drive Boston fans nuts.
I think a lot has to do with poor coaching on the Sox side… I think they have gotten comfortable and the players have gotten big enough name wise that the coaches are just there and not actually correcting much at this point.
I think it’s funny that ol’ Papelbum had everything figured out and it’s slowly caving in on him and it’s all his fault. He thought he was going to wait until his contract ended and then bid the Yankees and Red Sox against each other until he ended up with the biggest reliever contract ever, but as it stands I don’t think the Red Sox are even going to offer him more than Arbitration in order to get draft picks and I am almost certain he doesn’t fit into there plans long term. His mouth constantly runs to the press and makes him look terrible every time but he still won’t shut up, he has huge injury concerns regarding his arm and everyone in Boston or related to the Red Sox in some way seems to be in love with Bard and his ability to throw hard, and truthfully he looks a lot like Papelbon… When it comes to the Yankees I think they may look but ultimately he will ask for a “Mariano contract” and they won’t come close to giving it to him and he will end up having to take a lesser contract for a lesser team and the Red Sox and Yankees will move on Papelbon’s career is going to take a serious down turn, he is already showing the signs of failure that plagued so many closers before him, lets face it other than Mo and Hoffman for the most part the role of closer is a revolving door and they are usually only good for a 3-5 year period for any team.
I find something astonishingly funny regarding Mr. blood-sock Schilling. He was always the first to knock the Yankees ownership, the Steinbrenner’s and there open wallets. Wasn’t it him who stated that it is ruining baseball. Well than he favors the more socialistic salary cap where the owners keep a cap on the players and to that end the owners make more of a profit. The owners would represent big government placing a cap on it’s citizens, aka the players. Very similar to the socialistic values that our current President is pushing for where money is redistributed to the masses, enough money to keep the people quiet but the ends would be more control by the government and more taxation and more pet projects and more money overall to the government. Strikingly similar to the proposed salary cap. Now being a conservative as Schilling is, I wonder where he now stands on this issue.