Category: Red Sox

Adrian Beltre Gets Ejected for Being a Hilarious Dickhead

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I respect the shit out of anyone who can really dial up the sarcasm and Adrian Beltre had that here in spades. The former Red Sox third baseman got ejected for essentially not warming up in the on-deck circle. “Oh you want me to move over there? Let me just drag this plastic fucking rug over here if its such a big deal.”

SEE YA LATER.

Beltre is such an enigma I love it. He only played here for one year, but the guy was loved by fans, unlike half the assholes we trot out there now. Don’t touch his head, crushing dingers over the monster from one knee, and now he’s out there rearranging the field just to tweak the umpires. Love it. Never change, Adrian.

Big Day for Sale, Sox in Seattle

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Chris Sale has been solid for the Red Sox all season. When he takes the mound at Seattle this afternoon to face the Mariners, it might be his biggest start of the season.

The Red Sox are scuffling. The Red Sox have lost four games in a row, which is their longest losing streak of the season, and are just 5-8 since the All-Star break. The Yankees, meanwhile, are 7-5 since the All-Star break. The Yankees have won four of their last five games, and recently took 3 out of 4 in Seattle to win their first series since they swept the Baltimore Orioles June 9-11.

Just a week ago, the Yankees found themselves in third place in the AL East,  4.5 games behind the Red Sox. Today the Yankees start the day in second place, just one game behind the Red Sox. If the Red Sox lose today and the Yankees win, the Yankees will finish the day percentage points ahead of the Red Sox for first place in the division.

The big problem on the field has been the Red Sox offense. The Sox have been outscored by their opponents 50-44 since the All-Star break, and it doesn’t even feel that close at times. On the season the Red Sox have hit just 100 home runs in 102 games. That’s 27th in the big leagues and dead last in the American League.

But the on-field issues have taken a back seat as of late to the clubhouse soap operas. By now you’ve probably read Dan Shaughnessy’s account of what happened between David Price and Dennis Eckersley on the Red Sox’ June 29th flight to Toronto (if you haven’t used up your free articles for July). Shaughnessy’s story portrays Price as oversensitive and petty, which is not surprising. What is surprising is that, according to Shaughnessy’s story, many players applauded Price’s dressing down of a broadcaster who is essentially a team employee.

Then on WEEI yesterday, after evading the question several times, Manager John confirmed that he had not apologized to Eckersley since the Price incident. The second David Price media explosion of the month. John Wayne Manager John is not. Manager John is afraid he’ll lose the clubhouse if he simply asks one of his highest paid players to stop acting like an unrepentant asshole.

Normally with the team in a tailspin the last week of July, trade deadline blockbusters would seem less likely. But, the Red Sox still have the second-best record in the American League. The Red Sox certainly don’t look like a World Series contender right now, but who will stop them? The Houston Astros are the favorite to win the American League right now, but they aren’t your traditional juggernaut. They’ve made the playoffs once in the last dozen years. Don’t tell me they couldn’t be beat in a series.

Which leads me back to my original point. Today is a big day for Sale and the Red Sox. If they win, they have tomorrow off and come home for a 10-game homestand that starts Friday. If they lose, does John Farrell get on the same plane as the 25 players? Or does Dave Dombrowski try to find a no-bullshit manager to try and right the ship for two and half months?

If only such a manager were available…

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If You Stay Up Really Late For An Extra-Innings Game, You Have No One To Blame But Yourself

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Now mind you I’m not that huge of a baseball fan so I don’t really follow the Sox with a great amount of zeal until the playoffs/a tight end of year playoff race, but I keep tabs on them enough to know that there have been a couple of long ones recently. I also am on social media and listening to the radio enough to know that people love nothing more than to humblebrag about having “stayed up for it” only to see them lose.

I’m here to tell you this: if you stay up until “3:00am”, “2:00am” etc. for an extra innings baseball game, win OR lose, you have no one to blame but yourself. There are 162 baseball games a year, all of them count the same, and you know if you have work the next day, so it is on you and you alone, a Goddam adult, to make the decision if you want to stay up to watch one specific game. More to the point, watching a game through extra’s and then bitching about it is like if movie goers of yore walked out of the theater bitching about how they sat all the way through 3 hours of “Titanic” only to watch Jack die and then went home and wrote one of the first dozen scathing Rotten Tomatoes reviews about it. You decided to see this through. Keep your whining to yourself.

Jordan Spieth Reels It In Late, Wins The Open Championship

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Image result for jordan spieth claret jug

The 146th Open Championship, sometimes referred to as the British Open, wrapped up yesterday. There was drama, there were birds of all feathers, there were nut taps, and behind all of that was just-shy of 24 year old Jordan Spieth, who took home his 3rd major.

The drama that will make this Open one that is talked about for years was actually self-created. Spieth shanked his 13th tee shot so badly to the right his second shot was hit from the Royal Birksdale driving range over a large hill that completely blocked his view of the hole. For about 20 minutes he talked it over with his caddie, discussing options from atop the hill, looking out at the expanse of 13, and his win slipping away. Well, he hit a testicularly heavy shot to get himself in a good enough position to bogey the hole. Then he simply went birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie before a casual par on 18 to beat Matt Kuchar. Ridiculous stuff from the Prince of the high school class of 2011 that also produced the likes of Justin Thomas, among a slew of others.

A couple of other things should be noted. One being that Kuchar played exceptional as well, hats off to him.

Finally, huge tip of the cap to Branden Grace and his score of 62 on day 3, the lowest in tournament history. Just an obscene day on the links for the man from Pretoria.

The next major is the PGA Championship beginning on August 10th. We’ve already had a couple of classics this year and here is to keeping that trend going.

ONE Championship Secures Major Investment, Looking To Make A Move

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Chatri Sityodtong, Founder and Chairman of ONE Championship

So this news broke recently, and really it’s a story that it’s even a story. A couple of years ago ONE Championship, then known as ONE FC, was a solid Asian promotion made up of fighters mostly from that area of the world and served as an example of the talent and competition that could sustain a market there. Certainly there were consumers to be had, as the UFC was putting (and continue to put) on shows in plays like Macau. But that’s sort of where it began it ended, a fun, peripheral side story to follow.

Well fast forward a couple of years and not only has other promotions like Rizin sprung up to create some fun competition in the Asian market, but the playing field to land talent has leveled somewhat thanks to a couple of fuck ups by the UFC (Reebok, general apathy toward fighter pay). What shakes out is Asia is now a trendy place to go for a fight career and ONE is now the name-brand destination for fighters looking to ply their trade in Asia. Yesterday’s news and this investment means that ONE is officially serious about being  a major player in the global MMA scene. Will they ever compete with the UFC for overall, decided global dominance? Probably not, no. This might come off as a bit of an arrogant American point of view, but it is definitely still true that the allure of coming to live in America and fight in front of an American audience for the premier promotion is still very strong. However, for fighters who are looking to take a different root or are simply sort of over the American MMA scene, ONE is or could be a very attractive option, especially with it’s newfound financial legitimacy.

The Rafael Devers Era in Boston Begins Right Now

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So after another tough loss to the Angels on Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox announced the promotion of Rafael Devers from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Devers, of course, is the Red Sox top prospect and has been a virtual untouchable in any trade talks since Dave Dombrowksi has dealt so many prospects the last couple of seasons. Devers started the year in Double-A Portland and dominated before getting nominated to Pawtucket on July 14th.

  • In Double-A this year Devers hit .300 with 18 Home Runs and 56 RBI.
  • Since being called up to Pawtucket, Devers has raked, hitting .355 with 3 Home Runs and 4 RBIs in 8 games.

Now, are NINE days in Triple-A a great preparation for the jump to the majors? Probably not. But last year, Benintendi jumped straight from Double-A to the majors and didn’t miss a beat, immediately taking over as the Red Sox every day left fielder. On the other hand, Dombrowski promoted Yoan Moncada straight from Double-A to the majors and he looked terrible. SO, this could go either way, but by all accounts from the local beat writers its more so his defense that isn’t necessarily major-league ready. If his bat is even half decent though, its a major upgrade at third base, especially after just cutting the fat fucking panda. This probably all but ends the Red Sox pursuit of a third baseman on the trade market. Welp, let the Rafael Devers era in Boston begin.

So Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons IS Austin Powers Villain No. 2 Right??

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So with the Toronto Blue Jays in town, naturally NESN kept showing the Blow Jays manager John Gibbons on TV and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It finally dawned on me. John Gibbons is Dr. Evil’s henchman from Austin Powers, No. 2. This is the same goddamn guy, no doubt.

Finally had enough of trying to take over the world so he settled for Toronto.

Wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t also post the “Who does No. 2 work for?” scene, right?

Did the Red Sox Commit Another Error at Third?

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I’m old enough to remember the last time the Yankees made a mid-season deal to pick up a third baseman and, spoiler alert, it did not end well for the Red Sox.

Looks like this tweet didn’t age well:

Regardless, I can’t get too worked up over this deal. I don’t know what the answer is at third base for the Red Sox, but I never thought it was Todd Frazier. Everyone said the Red Sox could get him for nothing, so I would’ve been okay if they brought him in as a flyer but Bobby Abreu he is not. Despite his pop™, Frazier is still just hitting .207 this season. Pablo Sandoval was hitting .212 when the Red Sox DFA’d him.

On a related note, here was Brock Holt after hearing that Frazier went to the Yankees:

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The Red Sox – Yankees rivalry cooled off a few years ago, but hopefully this trade puts it back on the front burner. Every Red Sox – Yankees game was an event in Boston from 2003 through about 2010.

Maybe the rivalry cooling off had to do with George Steinbrenner passing away and Brian Cashman running the Yankees like a normal franchise. But the urge to dump high-ranked prospects for washed up veterans is hard to shake. I’ll take this as a sign that the rivalry is back on. I’m in.

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Yankees Trade for Todd Frazier and I Can’t Help But Think of the 2006 Bobby Abreu Trade the Red Sox Didn’t Make

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Yahoo – The New York Yankees are going for it. They boosted their lineup and the backend of their bullpen in a trade Tuesday with the Chicago White Sox that’s sending slugger Todd Frazier and relief pitchers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to the Bronx..The White Sox (38-52) were already in full rebuilding mode and this adds to their minor-league riches, as the Yankees send Chicago a package that includes outfield prospect Blake Rutherford (New York’s No. 3 prospect) and left-handed pitcher Ian Clarkin (No. 19). Big-league reliever Tyler Clippard is also reportedly in the deal, as is outfielder Tito Polo.

The Yankees traded for Todd Frazier last night, swept in under the cloak of night and traded for the guy while I was enjoying a few Bud heavys at Fenway.

This trade did not come lightly though as the Yankees (with a suddenly flourishing minor league system) dealt their No. 3 prospect as part of the deal. Pretty steep for a guy who’s hitting .207 and will be a free agent at the end of the year if you ask me. He does provide some pop though with 16 Home Runs and 44 RBIs on the year. Not convinced? The last 3 years Frazier finished with 40, 35, and 29 Home Runs respectively. (On a side note, as that story points out the White Sox are rebuilding the smart way as they now have 5 of the top 30 prospects and 10 of the top 100 in all of baseball thanks to their recent fire sales.)

Now I wasn’t one of the people clamoring for the Sox to deal more prospects just to put a band-aid on third base. Especially with $50M in dead money from the euthanized Panda we just DFA’d. I’m definitely in the camp that the Red Sox should bolster the bullpen before brining in your 12th third baseman of the year.

HOWEVER, seeing this trade instantly reminded me of 2006 when the Yankees traded for Bobby Abreu because its a similar situation. Abreu, like Frazier, was a solid if not spectacular hitter who was on the market and the Red Sox were rumored to be in on. Then the Yankees swooped in and made the deal for Abreu. Wouldn’t have been as big of a kick in the dick if it wasn’t for the so called Boston Massacre that summer when the Yankees came to Fenway and swept the Red Sox in a rare 5-game series. Complete beatdown. And how’d Abreu do in that series you ask? Oh he merely hit fucking .500 in the series going 10-20 over the 5 games.

Over the course of the 2006 season Abreu hit .297 with 15 Home Runs, 107 RBIs and also had 30 stolen bases. In the second half of the 2006 season alone, playing for the Yankees Abreu hit .330 7 Home Runs, 42 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.

So, yea not a bad guy to have.

Ended up biting the Red Sox in the ass as they never really got right after that 5-game sweep and famously missed the playoffs. Lets just hope Todd Frazier doesn’t repeat history and go on a goddamn tear for the Yankees.

PS – Complex ranked that 5-game regular season sweep as one of the greatest moments in Yankees HISTORY. What a sad and sorry existence in the Bronx.