“All That Remains Is A Plaque”

The Red Sox returned home briefly for three games with Atlanta, their alleged “natural rivals”. In order to have a “rivalry”, there needs to be some type of connection, which no longer exists in this matter other than in someone’s distant memory. Anyone who can remember the Boston Braves when they played on Comm Ave. is on Social Security.

The Braves are like cousins who moved away two generations ago who come “back home” for a weekend every other year. They no longer speak with Boston accents, their children were not raised here and have no connection to the place other than the stories old folks told. With the exception of a small plaque at BU’s Nickerson Field, there is no acknowledgement that a National League team played in Boston for 76 years. Researching the 20th Century Boston Braves reveals a team that was always on the bad end of trades and always seemed to get the game’s greatest players—after their prime. It’s amazing to think that among the greats who wore the Boston uniform were Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler and the Bambino himself. Before Casey Stengel forged his Hall of Fame managerial career in the Bronx, he managed the Braves.

Boston University bought Braves Field after the team left town and parts of the original configuration remain intact, but the park is no more than a distant memory to those few New Englanders who remember when Boston was a two-team town. For the rest of us, all that remains is a plaque.

On a couple of occasions when the Braves played at Fenway in past years, they wore old-timey uniforms that had “Boston” on front, but not this time. In a way, it’s kind of sad, but that’s the story of America. There’s always a buck to be made somewhere else.

After thirteen years in Milwaukee, the Braves’ owners saw that the Idlewile South was virgin territory, so they went to Atlanta in ’66. Other than rooting for Hank Aaron and his chase of The Bambino, there wasn’t a whole lot to cheer about for many years. Along came a Son of the South who owned a small independent television station who bought the team, built his programming around the games, made billions in cable television, and after treating his team as a toy for many years (even managing a game), decided the way to higher ratings and revenues was to put a competitive team on the field. The key? Hire competent baseball people to make baseball decisions. The TV mogul hired away John Schuerholz from Kansas City to run the team. The general manager at the time, Bobby Cox, returned to the dugout. The result? Thirteen consecutive first-place finishes in the National League East, and a beautiful new ballpark (modestly named after The Mogul). The ratings and revenues were so good that the mogul sold out to the world’s largest multimedia conglomerate which, in turn, sold the team to another media conglomerate. Every year the Braves are always picked not to make the playoffs and every year they do. Once the Braves were Saturday’s Step-Child of Commonwealth Ave, now they are among the best-managed and most profitable professional sport franchises in the world. It’s the team behind the scenes that determines the success of the team on the field. Astute management (over the long run) yields favorable returns; simple as that.

Braves Field was a spacious pitcher’s venue, which was part of their problem. Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, the team was generally comfortably settled in the dreaded “second division”. Even though the park was located a few blocks up the road from Fenway, it was always a Red Sox town. They’d occasionally have some terrific players, but never a good team. The Braves won the 1948 National League Pennant and attendance soared. Bostonians came within a whisker of having a “Subway Series” of their own, as the Red Sox lost a season-ending playoff game against Cleveland to determine the American League winner. It must’ve been a magical year to be a baseball fan in Boston. When they left town after ’52, many of the players from ’48 were gone. They had signed Sam “The Jet” Jethroe, a former Negro Leagues star who went on to win Rookie of the Year (before fading quickly). However, that very same ’52 club who were the doormats of the National League already had the nucleus of a great team that featured two Hall-of-Famers (Warren Spahn and Eddie Mathews). During that fateful year the team also signed a promising youngster named Henry Aaron from Indianapolis of the Negro Leagues. There were also a few other youngsters who, a few short years later, brought two Pennants and a World’s Championship to Milwaukee. If Lou Perini only held out another year or two instead of grabbing the first ticket out of town, who knows what would’ve happened. The sad fact remains that a plant grown in Boston was forcefully uprooted, went west and flourished. There is no “historic rivalry” between Boston and Atlanta, at least none after 1865. The team left Boston 55 years ago. At least 90% of the people who were Braves fans have left us as well. Even though the uniform the Braves wear is virtually identical to the one they wore in Boston, everything else has changed. So why does MLB continue to foist a BS “rivalry” on the public?

Friday night’s renewal of “the rivalry” was washed out by heavy rains that haunted the region throughout the weekend. So, the teams played a day-night doubleheader in between the raindrops on Saturday.

In the afternoon game (Game 41 vs. Atlanta, Sat. Aft. 5/19/07), Daisuke was outstanding and the Red Sox bats were hotter than Roman Candles, as the team pounded the Braves by a score of 13-3. It was a case of “early and often” for Boston, as Lugo got things started right off the bat with a leadoff homer. The Sox grabbed two more in the second when Youkilis hit a two-run shot. The Sox put this one out of reach in the fifth when Ortiz singled to lead off, Manny reached on Chipper Jones`s fielding error and Drew singled to right. Lowell sent all the base runners home happy with his grand slam into the Monster Seats, making it 7-0 Sox.

In the sixth, the Sox blasted the cover off the ball, scoring five times to go up 12-0. Ortiz led off with a double. With one out, Drew walked. Lowell singled, Ortiz. With two outs, Crisp doubled scoring Drew and Lowell. Pedroia reached on an infield single and Crisp went to third on Renteria`s throwing error. Lugo doubled scoring Crisp and Pedroia.

The Braves scored three times in the seventh, Jeff Francoeur homered, which was OK, as his family originally hails from the Pioneer Valley and his grandmother was in attendance. With a 12-0 lead, Red Sox fans wouldn’t mind a little cheer for Grandma on an otherwise sorry afternoon for the Braves. By then, the Sox emptied the bench and Wily Mo responded by hitting his third home run of the year. Matsuzaka-san ran his record to 6-2, and everyone went home happy.

The Sox should not have scheduled the nightcap (Game 42 vs. Atlanta, Sat. N. 5/19/07), or somehow figured a way to keep John Smoltz away from taking the mound for Atlanta, as the Braves routed Boston 14-0. Davern “No-Hit” Hansack got the emergency callup from Pawtucket, taking Beckett’s spot in the rotation, and simply proved that he’s not quite ready for the Big Time. Of course, his cause was not helped by being pitted against a future Hall of Famer. The only innings in which Atlanta failed to score were the third and the eighth. Turn the page on this one but quick.

After a 2 ½ hour rain delay, Sunday afternoon’s finale (Game 43 vs. Atlanta, Sun. Aft. 5/20/07) turned out to be a terrific ballgame for the Red Sox. Rookie left-hander Kason Gabbard got the call for the Sox and twirled a beauty, going 5 ⅓, as the Sox built an early lead and held on to win 6-3.

Tim Hudson got the call for Atlanta, and the Sox got to him quickly, putting up a four-spot right off the bat. With one out, Youkilis singled and Ortiz doubled to the gap in right center. Manny grounded into a 1-5-2 fielder`s choice, erasing Youkilis at home. Drew walked and Varitek brought everyone home on a triple to right. Hinske singled and Varitek came home with the fourth run. The Sox picked up another run in the following inning when Pedroia doubled and scored on Ortiz’ ground out. After two, things looked as if another blowout was in the works.

Hudson is too fine a pitcher to allow that to happen, so things stayed 4-0 until the bottom of the fifth when Youkilis led off the inning with a homer. Gabbard, meanwhile, had held Atlanta in check until the sixth. Chipper Jones led off with a single to right. Francoeur hit a ground-rule double into the rightfield grandstand. On that note, Gabbard was relieved by Donnelly (who has been ineffective of late) Diaz singled, scoring Chipper Jones.
Diaz stole second. McCann walked and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (pinch hitting) walked in Francoeur. Javier Lopez came on for Donnelly and got the Sox out of the jam.
Papelbon came on in the ninth in another non-save situation and struggled. With one out Renteria singled. With two outs, Francoeur singled to right, driving in Renteria. Diaz followed with a base hit and Andruw Jones stepped to the plate with a chance to tie the ballgame. due up. Papelbon blew him away on strikes, and the Sox took the series. Andruw Jones struck out five times swinging to end the game.


Red Sox-Yanks in The Bronx:

Red Sox-Yankees for three at the Stadium. Forget about their respective records, they mean nothing. Round Three kicks off in earnest tonight with a three-game series in the Naked City. Though the weather may be delightful, it’s never an opportune time to enter the Belly of The Beast. If the Yankees fail to take at least two of the games, there will be problems with The Boss. The Sox have played two doubleheaders in three days and five games in three days. New York’s top three pitchers are reasonably healthy and lined up to face the Sox. With Beckett on the DL, they’re most likely looking at Wakefield, Tavarez and Schilling. In a matchup of starters 1-2-3 vs. 4-5-1, the former has a big edge.

Many Sox fans simply don’t enjoy watching the games played in New York. The Red Sox win maybe 10% of their games there and fans just get too fraught with anxiety to enjoy the experience, having been burned oh so many times. Perhaps the events of 2004 excised much of the angst, but not all. So, it’s wise to periodically check in on the score and tune into something a little less stressful. If the Sox win, then we’ll roll tape; otherwise, why bother being tortured by the sound of obnoxious New Yorkers cheering?

For New Englanders, there are only two opposing teams that twist our emotions into a pretzel: the Yanks and Le Club de Hockey Canadien. When the locals lose in these venues (as occurs on average two out of three times), the fans become morose. The young can ride the emotional rollercoaster. When the amount of sand in the bottom of the hourglass of life gets progressively higher, the lower the probability of feeling sadness or anger over the result of a baseball game. It ain’t life and death; it’s a baseball game. Nothing that occurs on the field of play will materially affect my life or yours.

If anyone thinks that the Yanks are cooked in mid-May, perhaps they ought to revisit the starting lineup. One through nine, the Yankee hitters can turn the lights out on any team in a hurry. The problem hasn’t been hitting, it’s been a result of injuries to the starting pitchers. New York set a dubious record of starting the most different pitchers (10) in the month of April. None of their starters (save Pettitte) were healthy. Wang and Mussina were both hurting. Wonderboy Philip Hughes went down with a hamstring pull, Karstens (another promising youngster) went down with a broken finger. The list goes on and on. This is not mentioned to elicit sympathy for the Yanks. It’s simply a fact that the health of starting pitchers is paramount to success. Red Sox fans should be mindful of last season’s injury-induced meltdown.

If their starters remain healthy and Clemens is effective, there’s no reason the Yanks can’t go on a tear. Torre needs to employ the bullpen with less frequency (less their arms fall off). But there’s always enough cash stuffed away in the Bronx to buy middle relievers.

On to the action (Game 44 at NY Yankees Mon. N. 5/21/07): Wang easily retired the first two Boston hitters before walking Ortiz and allowing a base hit up the middle to Manny. Drew grounded out weakly to second to kill that threat (for $14MM, you can only expect so much, you know). Wang throws a lot of off-speed slop, so the Red Sox’ hitters need to be patient and make him put balls in the zone.

Whither the knuckleball: Wakefield (4-4, 2.41) started off by giving up a bloop single to Damon. Jeter (batting .355) flied out to center. Damon stole second with no trouble. Matsui (who always seems to hit well against Boston) struck out swinging. A-Rod (who’s starting to get hot at the plate once more) hit an absolute bomb, way back into the bleachers in left-center to put the Yanks up 2-0. My goodness, that ball was crushed. It must be a state of ecstasy in the Yankee broadcast booth.

Must we? The camera always pans on the “celebrities” who turn out for the action in Yankee Stadium. Tonight, it’s the omnipresent Billy Crystal and Chazz Palmenteri getting the honors. The Sox put another pair aboard in the second with two outs. Lugo then bounced one to the middle that Wang deflected and Jeter couldn’t handle. The Sox need to make Wang throw a lot of pitches. He’s been trying to work low and the Sox’ hitters aren’t biting. Wang took Youkilis to a full count before striking him out swinging. Now, that’s Red Sox-style! Five LOB in two innings: this ain’t gonna be Boston’s night, pal. Accordingly, Giambi hit a one-out bomb in the bottom of the inning that curled around the foul pole and land in the upper deck in rightfield. Cano followed with a line-drive double to the gap in right. With two out, Damon bounced one into the hole that Cora had to eat, putting runners on the corners. Jeter lined a single to left, driving in Cano with the fourth run. Heading into the third, the Sox chances of winning have dropped to slim and/or none…and slim is hailing a cab. Manny struck out on a pitch down by his ankles; disgusting is what it is.

Wakefield walked A-Rod to lead off the third, and he stole second, but was nailed by Mirabelli trying to steal third. Damon got his third hit of the night with one out in the fourth, stole second again and made it to third on Jeter’s long fly to center. And there he remained as Matsui flied out to right.

The Sox got on the board in the fifth with one out on back-to-back doubles by Youkilis and Ortiz. Big Papi barreled into second and dove head first into the bag, knocking the ball loose from Jeter’s tag, and putting Jeter on his ass. The Yankees came right back and plated a pair with two outs. Wakefield walked two and Cano doubled them in, 6-1 New York. Wakefield’s night was finished. Romero came on in relief in the sixth and loaded the bases but was able to escape without any runs crossing the plate.

Lugo led off the seventh with a walk. Wang was over 110 pitches at this point, so if there were any chance of getting back into the ball game, this would be about as good a time as any. Youkilis followed with a long line drive double to left field, and Wang was removed. He pitched a whale of a ballgame. Mike Myers came on to face Ortiz, and Big Papi hit a long fly to left on which Lugo scored. Myers “got his man” and Brian Bruney came on to face Manny, and caught him looking. Ouch!

Manny Delcarmen (just up from the farm) entered the ball game in the seventh. With one out in the eighth, Cano hit a fly to the gap in left center, Manny gave chase and made a fine diving catch. There’s no dog in Manny tonight. Delcarmen got the Yanks 1-2-3, so that ought to boost his confidence. With two outs in the eighth, Crisp walked and Mirabelli hit a slow dribbler up the third base line. Bruney made the pick but threw wild. Torre came out with the hook. On Proctor’s first pitch, he drilled Cora on the upper arm. That ought to leave a bruise. Bases loaded and Lugo’s up. He hit grounder up the middle that Cano picked and flipped to Jeter for the force. Joel Piñiero and his 6.06 ERA came on for the bottom of eighth. He got Damon to fly out; then stuck a fastball in Jeter’s ribs. Matsui reached on a 3-6 force and A-Rod grounded out 5-4.

The rather large and imposing Kyle Farnsworth entered in the ninth for New York. Youkilis hit a long fly that made it to the warning track before dying. Ortiz walked and Manny followed by smacking one deep to center, where it too died. Drew fouled out, and that was that. When it’s not your night, you pick up your glove and move on to the next game.

Game 45 at NY Yankees (Tues. N. 5/22/07): Julian Tavarez (2-4, 5.59) returns to the hill tonight, looking to build on his outstanding performance against Detroit last Thursday. It would be hard to duplicate that feat against the Yanks, especially so with Mike Mussina (2-2, 5.64) pitching. There were no excuses for last night’s defeat. Wake did not pitch well, but the offense failed to execute. There were a number of missed opportunities and the team failed to deliver.

Mussina always seems to pitch well against Boston, despite being on the back nine and having to rely on an assortment of off-speed pitches. Lugo got caught looking at a curveball inside to start things, Youk ripped a single to right (hitting streak’s up to 15). Ortiz followed with an inside-out base hit to left field. Manny followed with a bullet, a rocket that left the yard in a blink, 3-0 Red Sox. It was career home run #477, tying Manny with Jim Thome for 25th all-time. With two outs, Lowell ripped an opposite-field double and Varitek ripped a base hit to right. Crisp grounded out to first to kill the chance of putting up more runs. This is not a matter of being greedy; the Sox need to pound the ball all night with Tavarez on the hill, because one never knows how effective he’ll be. He struck out Damon to start things, Jeter flied out to right and Matsui grounded out 4-3.

Pedroia led off the second with a single, but was erased on Lugo’s double play grounder. Lugo made up for that blunder by making a nice backhanded grab of A-Rod’s grounder in the hole leading off the second. Tavarez struck out Posada swinging on a change-up outside and Abreu hit a weak grounder to short. It’s only been two innings, but Tavarez has done well (so far).

Ortiz led off the third by ripping a base hit up the middle. Manny fouled out to first. And Drew grounded into another double play. Drew’s average has fallen to the .240’s and the natives are beginning to get restless. For $10 million less, they could’ve had re-signed Nixon. Lowell led off the fourth with a line-drive home run down the left field line to lead off the fourth. Matsui got the Yanks’ first hit with one out in the fourth, a nasty line drive up the middle. A-Rod hit a long fly to the warning track in center that Crisp hauled in. Posada singled to right, Matsui took third and scored on Tavarez’ wild pitch.

With one out in the Yankees’ fifth, Cano doubled down the right field line and Minky walked. It appeared as if Tavarez was beginning to unravel as his pitch count neared the 100 mark. Damon walked and Jeter grounded into a force play with Cano scoring. A two-run deficit is nothing for the Yankees to overcome, so the Sox need to get the offense in gear. Mussina retired the Sox 1-2-3 on six pitches, surely portending bad things for the Red Sox.

A-Rod walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth, and Tavarez was running on fumes. He was able to get Posada to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, and Francona came out with the hook. Javier Lopez (the lefty sidewinder) came on to face Abreu and struck him out swinging. All in all, Tavarez gave the club everything he had tonight. When a team gets that type of an outing from the #5 guy in the rotation, everyone gets a boost.

Crisp walked, stole second and scored on Lugo’s base hit to right, Youkilis followed with a long double that bounced off the wall in right-center and Lugo raced home from first to put the Sox up 6-2. Mussina’s night ended then and there. Old Friend Mike Myers came on to face Ortiz. Big Papi came through big time by lining a base hit to center and Youkilis came home with the Sox’ seventh run.

Francona elected to leave Lopez out there for the seventh. He retired Giambi and Cano on two harmless grounders to first, and struck out the pinch-hitter Phelps. This was a very nice piece of work by Lopez. He recorded four critical outs. Okajima came on for the eighth, and allowed a one-out single to Jeter. He then faced his former Japanese teammate Matsui and walked him. In stepped A-Rod and he walked on four straight, prompting a visit from the pitching coach (since neither speak a common language it’s hard to tell exactly what was discussed). Posada grounded into a 5-4 force and Jeter scored. Before Abreu stepped to the plate Papelbon began heating in earnest. The Sox were able to get out of the inning without any further damage.

Papelbon came on for the ninth (not a wise idea in a non-save situation) and walked Giambi and Cano to open the ninth. Melky Cabrera came on as a pinch hitter and was blown away on strikes. Damon grounded out to second and the runners moved into scoring position. Jeter went down on three pitches; the bat never left his shoulder. This was another nice win for the Red Sox.

The "rubber game" of the series on Wednesday Night (Game 46, Wed N. 5/23/07) featured Schilling against Andy Pettitte. There was not much to discuss, as Schilling was awful and the Yanks smoked the Sox 8-3. New York out three runs on the board before Schilling recorded an out. Damon led off with a double and scored on Jeter's base hit.

Matsui followed with a two-run shot to put the Yanks up 3-0. After that, it was pretty much downhill all the way for Boston. The Yanks put up single runs in the second, third and fourth en route to a big night. Other than that, there's not really much more to discuss. Boston has a 9 ½ game lead leaving town and don't return to the Big Apple for three months. Everyone's pretty happy with that.