Dice-K Not O-K

I've been accused by a couple people of being a little too hard on Dice-K. Well, Sunday night the guy allowed six runs and eight hits. That's six runs. And eight hits. Is that really what we (again with the "we") paid $103 million for? That's the kind of performance I expect from Julian Tavarez — not the guy who is supposed to rewrite the rules of how major league pitchers pitch. I stand by my opinion that the guy shouldn't need this much run support. If he's really all that, he should be lights out from the start. Strikeouts, schmikeouts. That's not the stat that really matters in the end. It's wins and losses. And even though he got the win on Sunday, as Jon Miller and Joe Morgan both said on ESPN after the game, he needed "considerable help." It's the morning after Dice-K's first start against the Yankees, where he recorded the win, and we're not even talking about how well he pitched. What does that tell you? Perhaps more discouraging is that with each start, Dice-K is getting worse and worse. Soon it'll be tough to make excuses about "the line" and how his performance was still impressive despite the loss.

I'm not saying Dice-K has to be Superman, or that he has to pitch a perfect game every time. But he should be more of a sure thing (like Jonathan Papelbon is in the bullpen), and shouldn't be the losingest pitcher on the staff. It's only April, I know, and if Dice-K gets better I'll change my tune. But right now, I'm just not impressed.

It's Not Over

Sure, I could blast Dice-K for giving up four runs and six hits over just four-plus innings (again), but I'm feeling generous tonight for some reason. After all, his six strikeouts were impressive. Maybe it's Post-Gagne Syndrome, but to me, even Dice-K didn't look so bad tonight. (I'm not going to say he was good, because he wasn't. But he didn't suck.) And I could also lament the fact that we had plenty of scoring opportunities but couldn't get anything in. But I won't.

Yes, for a change I'm going to stay positive after a Sox and Dice-K loss. I'll say it looks like we're actually going to need six games to win this thing. We can do that. I hate that we lost the game tonight, but there's still a lot more baseball to play and we're not out of it yet. Go Sox!

Just Not Worth It

I saw after the Sox–Yankees game today that a company called Big Time Bats is selling a commemorative framed photo set of Dice-K's first start at Fenway. Considering he lost that game, I'm not sure why anyone would want to spend $120 to remember it. Sure, Dice-K pitched his best Fenway start to date that night (remember, today is only April 29), and had Felix Hernandez not been so good, we might have actually won that game, but still ... I'll spend $120 when Dice-K does something worth remembering. (Alright, fine. Maybe I won't spend the $120. But I'll remember the accomplishment just the same. After all, I haven't been so kind to him so far.)

It's About Time

Hate to say I told you so, but it seems people are starting to come around to my way of thinking on this whole Dice-K thing. In the Boston Herald today, Steve Buckley describes how the Japanese "phenom" was pitching so poorly last night — he gave up seven runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings — that the crowds were "begging, pleading, with manager Terry Francona to get Matsuzaka out of the game. And Francona was anxious to accommodate them." Ouch. And then he goes on to say, "There’s no way other way to put this: Matsuzaka has been lousy in three of his past four outings. In those four starts, three of them losses, he has allowed 20 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings, which works out to a 7.60 ERA." In short: Dice-K sucks. Still. Who'da thunk 10 runs wouldn't be enough to win last night's game? And sure, Dice-K didn't give up all 10 runs (the Sox eventually won the game 13-10), but he gave up most of them, and set the stage for the other three. So I say welcome to my bandwagon, Steve. It's nice to have some company.

Welcome to Boston, Dice-K

Well, that was close. Or at least it was for a little while. The Rockies realized their season didn't actually end after the ALCS, played a couple good innings of baseball, but then went back to their winter break. Meanwhile, Dice-K ... what can I say? I haven't been his biggest fan — or any fan, really — this year, but the guy was great in Game Three. It only took six months, but he finally showed up, just in time for the World Series. Great pitching, great fielding, and some great hitting too. Jebus, it's about time. And Ellsbury (Series MVP!) and Pedroia, well, it's just exciting watching those guys play. I love when they hog the spotlight and take all the attention away from Papi and Manny. Not that I dislike Papi and Manny, but everyone's favorite rookies make these games more fun. We're now one game away from winning it all for the second time in four years, and while Sox fans know not to be too confident, things sure are looking good.

Good News for Dice-K

Congrats, Dice-K, you now have some company on my "least favorite Red Sox players" list: Eric Gagne, who may just suck more than you do. He came into today's game with a 16.20 ERA in Boston — sixteen-point-two!! — and then he gave up a two-run home run to Miguel Tejada in the bottom of the 8th, which tied the game at 3-3. Your teammate has now given up seven runs with the Red Sox, just one less than he had given up when he was with Texas the entire first part of the season, and he hasn't even pitched five full innings for us yet! And then the Sox end up losing the game — thanks to a walk-off three-run homer by Kevin Millar, of all people. Now the Yankees are just four games behind in second place. Jeez ... Who'da thunk this trade would turn out so badly?

No Avoiding It

You know, I tried to avoid American Idol Tuesday night. Really I did. After last week's results show, I said I was done. So I went to Ben & Jerry's at the Pru for Free Cone Night and waited on a long, long line that stretched from the B&J's counter all the way around the perimeter of the 'court to Pizzeria Regina. Didn't mind it, either, especially when I was enjoying my free cone of Phish Food. And I loved when all the parents would show up with their smiling, happy kids and would try to convince the little ones that the line was too long to wait. But God bless the kids, who always knew better. "I don't mind," I heard one say. Kids always win, don't they? Good for them. Free ice cream is worth it.

Anyway, and then I got home and was excited to turn on the TV to watch the Sox. And not just that, but Dice-K on the mound again. But I tell you ... if Idol was an embarassment, this felt worse. Sure, the line might not be as bad as the end result, but c'mon — we (and I say we like it came out of my pocket) didn't pay $103 million for 2-1 losses and three walks in one game. Didn't pay $103 mil for wild pitches that load the bases, and runs that are walked in. What a bum this guy is. I can't believe he's 1-2. That makes him worse than a bum — he's a loser! At first I thought it was just the weather, but tonight's game was in a dome. It's not the lack of run support. This guy should be lights out. So there's really no excuse. And here come the Yankees this weekend. If Dice-K is our great hope to lead us to another World Series championship, then let me be the first to say it: we're doomed. Again.

So ... long story short, at 9:30 I decided to watch Idol after all (my DVR recorded it automatically — damn that series recording). And I have to say, Melinda Doolittle made at least part of it worth it. I just wish Blake Lewis did Ryan Adams proud. What an awful rendition of a great song. (And I won't even mention that other guy.) But I promise I won't be watching anymore. I'm so done with that show. (Until next week, I'm sure.)

They Can't All Be Josh Beckett

I knew all along that the Player of the Week crap was just a fluke, and now my suspicions have been confirmed. Daisuke Matsuzaka was back to his old ways Wednesday night, giving up 12 hits and six runs over just five-and-two-thirds innings. Sure, he's a seven-game winner thus far in the season (how, I don't know), but like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you're gonna get when Dice-K is on the mound. You can't be too comfortable. Hell, even Julian Tavarez is more predictable, for better or worse. So right about now, all my support is behind Kevin Youkilis, my second-favorite Jewish athlete. And I'm not changing my tune about Dice-K.

Catching Up

After a few days off, here are a few quick items that weren't significant enough for posts of their own:

Real estate porn: I'm starting to really enjoy this whole buying real estate thing. Every Sunday I try to hit up a few open houses to see what's out there, and it's fun to see the nice kitchens and views and cleaned up bathrooms and stuff. Equally fun (though also frustrating) is seeing the places that sound nice and are photographed well, but in actuality are dumps. Who are they kidding?? And then there are the places I walk into off the street because there's an "open house" sign out front, only to find it's way out of my price range. Ha! Either way, it's all good and worth seeing just for comparison. And one day, one of these nice kitchens will be mine. Then, I suppose, I'll have to cook. But first things first.

All junk: I'd like to spend, like, two minutes in the mind of a spammer. What good is it to send out all your messages for discounted software and "enhancement" drugs and all that other crap on a holiday weekend, when it'll just get lost amongst all the other junk emails of the sort? I got close to 100 of these messages in my work email box between Friday and Monday morning. And I moved them all into the trash.


In their place: I'm so far away from being married that sometimes I can only look at my married or engaged friends and laugh at some of the things they do. Like when my engaged friends register for "silly" stuff I know they'll never use. For example, one of my friends registered for, like, 20 bjillion placemats. And not just the same kind, but, like, six of one kind, a dozen of another, and 15 of another. How many times has this couple eaten dinner together at home recently? Let's just say that everytime I call them at 5:00 (the time they say they're eating dinner) they're not home. And I know this friend will enjoy that I'm making fun of him publicly. Still, I look forward to the day when he tells me the dinner placemats actually got used.

No Dice: Halfway through the season and I'm still not impressed with Dice-K. He lost again on Sunday. Six runs and 10 hits in five innings. That's no ace. As for the whole team, I'll worry about them when the second place team (be it Toronto or the Yankees) make it within five games. Until then, much as I'd rather they be dominating everyone, I can't get upset that they lost the series this weekend. The season's on cruise control.

Wild thing: I'm really looking forward to the movie adaptation of Into the Wild, which is a book I've actually read. Granted, it was a few years ago, but I remember really liking it, and the film's trailer looks really promising. Speaking of which, I expect to have finished Cabin Pressure by week's end (only 25 pages to go). That'll be the second book I've read in three months. (That's right, two books in three months. Go me!) Next on the reading list: The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs. It's not out till October, but A.J. himself sent me an advance copy (with a personal note and everything) because I interviewed him a few years back to promote his last book. Yaaaaaay, A.J.!

No Swing Is a Real Miss

I'm really missing baseball these days. I miss coming home from work and knowing there's a game on (especially with there being not much else good on TV anymore). I miss reading about the Sox in the Globe every day. I miss making fun of Dice-K. I miss Papi and Mike Lowell and all the boys, whether it's news about them or just their smiling, happy faces in the newspaper every morning. I miss the whole thing. It's not like there's a void in the Boston sports world or anything, and football's exciting, but those games only happen on Sundays (or Saturday nights), and basketball and hockey do nothing for me. Baseball's something you can count on, for at least eight months of the year. From March to October there's a baseball game on most every night of the week. This gap between the seasons is just too long, especially with there being no significant trade or contract talks going on lately (even a possible Santana deal isn't all that buzzworthy right now). Jeez, pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers in about a month, and I'm already antsy. Bring it on!

Ouch!

I've been good all season, but I just couldn't resist reposting one of my all-time favorite photos after Monday night's humiliating loss. 16-0. That hurts, don't it?


Ha ha! And now, as the Red Sox gear up to play three in the Bronx, up a whopping eight games — !!! — in the division standings, and with the Boston Herald proclaiming that It's Over, that for all intents and purposes we've already clinched the division, it sure is good to be a Red Sox fan. Let's just hope Dice-K (or Eric Gagne) doesn't screw it all up and kill the momentum tonight.

Staying Put, For Now

I'm not yet ready to change my position on Dice-K, but I wanted to acknowledge that he did a real nice job Wednesday night. It's the kind of outing he should have been having all season. I haven't been a fan of this guy for a while (my earliest post about him dates back to April 17), and it'd be really lame if I liked him now, just because he had one good start. But I'm capable of change, or admitting I'm wrong, so I had to be fair here since he did well Wednesday. Besides, if I keep up this vote of no confidence thing, maybe I'll upset him. That'd be so cool.

Thanks, Dan

So let me get this straight: The Red Sox win game one, Dice-K impresses (all things considered), and the series is off to a good start. Then Shaughnessy writes a column about how it's already all over and we've won the whole series, and all of a sudden we can't win, nothing's going our way, and we're down two games to one? I mean, sure, Beckett and Lester (and of course, Timlin) are surely to blame for our losses in games two and three, and the series is surely far from over, but jeez Louise ... can't CHB keep his mouth shut? Just once??? Shaughnessy jinxed us in a big way, and I am not happy to see the same ALCS scenario play out again.

Oh, and don't think I missed Buck Martinez adding salt to the wound when he announced early in the game tonight that Lester was the best pitcher in the major leagues. No sooner did he say that — right after the five-pitch top of the first — that Lester starting giving up runs and basically stinking up the joint. Thanks to you, too, Buck.

Hmmmmm ...

Here are some questions I'm asking on this sunny, very nice Friday afternoon:

* Will anything ever take up residence where Zathmary's used to be?

* Will the weather actually be as nice as predicted this weekend, and will it stay that way until the fall? Does this mean winter is really over?

* Can Dice-K beat the Yankees on Sunday, or will he have the same lame result as his last two games, where it looks alright but he still loses? Is he really the worst starter on the team??

* If a crowded T train on the morning commute is bad, then is there much worse than having to be stuck next to a guy who reeks of cigarette smoke?

* Is there a funnier show on TV right now than 30 Rock?

* Indians didn't even like Sanjaya. So aside from the 13-year-olds, who did?

* I'm a third of the way to my WalkAmerica fundraising goal. Will you help me go all the way?

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

It's not quite the Day of All Days, but today is my two-year blogiversary. When I first started this blog on September 1, 2005, I didn't know what it would become. But now, 640 posts later, it's become a living, breathing thing that keeps growing by the post. And I thank all y'all out there — some folks I know, many I don't — who've found the site and keep coming back to see what I'll post next. Clearly you like what you're reading, so I'll keep it up.

Last year on my blogiversary, I counted down the top-5 best posts from my first year in the blogosphere. This year I thought I'd recall some memorable moments: notable life events, rants and raves, fun times, and sad times, all documented right here at Martin's Musings. So, in no particular order, do you remember when ...

... I hated Cambridge?
... I met Sam LaGrassa?
... I almost appeared in the Wall Street Journal?
... the Red Sox season ended so badly that I had to forgive the team?
... I lost both my friend Marc and my grandmother in a space of less than two months?
... Time voted me Person of the Year?
... I interviewed an Oscar-winner?
... I was a change-maker?
... my sister and my friend Andrew got married? (not to each other)
... Dice-K sucked? (actually, he still does)
... I rediscovered books and also loved Once and Amy Winehouse?
... I celebrated my 32nd birthday and my 33rd birthday in the space of one month?
... I considered moving?

Yeah, I remember all that. But according to my traffic reports, more people remember when I hated Best Buy more than any of the above things; the Best Buy post was the most read one of the past 12 months.

So, again, thanks for reading, folks. I'll try to make year three of Martin's Musings even better. Stay tuned, and keep coming back.

Yeah, Right

So I was chatting with my friend Todd on Monday about (no surprise) the Red Sox and the World Series. (Seriously, is there anything else to talk about right now?) And I told him I was predicting — for purely selfish reasons — that the Sox would win it in six games, because then they'd do it at home, on Halloween, and the parade would likely take place on Friday, November 2, a day I'm already scheduled to have off from work. And Todd countered with his own prediction, which was so specific and absurd that I asked if I could share it here. He said yes. Keep in mind, this was all off the top of his head, stream of consciousness style, as we chatted on Instant Messenger, and I've just cleaned it up for the blog. Aside from that, this is exactly as Todd wrote it, word-for-word:

- - - - - - -
Game One
Josh Beckett throws a perfect game for nine innings, but this is one of those nights that it just doesn't happen for Red Sox offense. We go to the tenth in a scoreless tie. Beckett gives up a solo shot to Matt Holliday. Papelbon comes in and shuts it down the rest of the way. In the bottom of the 10th, Ellsbury reaches on an error by Troy Tulowitzki. Lugo sacrifices him to second. Pedroia hits a long fly that bounces around the Fenway outfield, and when it's over he's standing on third. Youkilis gets him home on a sac fly. Sox win game one, 2-1.

Game Two
Schilling has nothing and fails to make it out of the first inning. His line: 2/3 of an inning, 6 hits, five runs (all earned), two walks, no Ks, one home run. The game devloves from there into an avalanche of bad pitching. Final score: Rockies 10, Red Sox 8. Series tied 1-1.

Game Three
Postponed due to snow. It finally starts three days later. Dice-K shows he was the perfect pitcher — for the thin air of Colorado: 8 innings, 1 earned run, 14 Ks. Sox win, 3-1 and lead the series, 2-1.

Game Four
After the three-day delay, both Game 1 starters are back. But this time, Beckett is mortal, giving up 3 runs in seven innings of work and again, the Sox give him just about nothing to work with. The final score is 4-2 Rockies. Series tied, 2-2.

Game Five
Schilling again makes some sort of crazy remark about how he has to do his job, blah blah blah, and again, The Best Postseason Pitcher of All Time has nothing. His line: 2 innings pitched, 12 hits, 7 runs all earned, 5 walks, 2 Ks, 2 HR. Final Score: a 13-3 pasting by the Rockies. Rockies lead 3-2, and back to Boston we go.

Game Six
Matsuzaka stares into his locker for 16 straight hours before the game, and this time fails: 5 innings, 5 runs, Sox down 5-3 going into the sixth. And then the top four in the Red Sox lineup take over. Pedroia hits a solo shot, Youk and Papi get on, and Manny hits a predictable 3-run shot over the Monster that everybody but Clint Hurdle saw coming. Sox lead 7-5, and it doesn't stop there. Sox return the favor with a pasting of their own. Final score, 22(!!)-13(!!!). The game takes five hours, 15 minutes to play, ending at 1:45 a.m. Eastern time. Series tied, 3-3.

Game Seven
On the evening of Game Seven, Boston gets its worst snowstorm in 15 years. Two feet of snow at Logan forces, for the first time ever, moving the game! It is rescheduled at ... Yankee Stadium! (Hey, it's my prediction. I can say what I like!) OK, so the Yankee faithful turn out IN FORCE to root for the Rockies, and they are treated to a terrible ball game. The first three innings feature 15 hits (total — both teams), but none makes it out of the infield, and five of those hits really should be ruled errors. Tim McCarver mumbles something incoherent about the two snow delays and moving the game being incredibly meaningful. During the mid-game interviews, Manny Ramirez is quoted as saying, "It's so fuckin' cold, I wish we'd lost to Cleveland!" At the end of nine innings, the score is tied 7-7. The temperature is 18 degrees ... and it starts to snow. Bud Selig meets with the umpires and calls the game. He says it is to resume in one week ... in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

OK, now it's Thanksgiving Day in San Juan, top of the 10th, 7-7 tie. Dominican fans have made the short trip to PR to root for Manny and Papi. Papelbon, of course, is available to pitch — since he pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th a week earlier — and now he is fresh as a daisy. Ks the side. That brings up Papi. Dominican fans in San Juan going nuts. Papi hits a long fly — off the top of the wall! Willy Taveras, in the process of fielding the ball, has a seizure. So Brad Hawpe comes over to get the ball out of Taveras' glove. Meanwhile Papi is chugging around the bases. Taveras' seizure has contracted the muscles in his hand — Hawpe can't get the ball out!! Papi is being waved around third — but oh no! Hawpe has fielded the ball and thrown a STRIKE home. There's going to be a play at the plate! Papi barrels into the catcher — and Fox loses the signal from San Juan due to Hurricane Zipporah!!! The Hurricane is miles off the coast and not interfering with the game, but still manages to fuck up the Fox signal. Everybody has to wait a day to find out what happened ......... SAFE! Sox win, 8-7. Red Sox win the World Series, four games to three, on a Big Papi inside-the-park home run. In San Juan. On Thanksgiving Day. And Red Sox Nation has much to be thankful for. The End.
- - - - - - -

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

Kerri, a mutual friend, says she'll pay Todd $500 if this comes true. I've told Todd I'll double that bet. I think our money's safe.

I Love the Sight of Red Sox in the Morning

There's something really odd about waking up early (early for me, anyway. I wasn't going to wake up at 6am) to watch baseball being played live in Japan. But at the same time, I woke up just in time to see the Sox come back in sixth inning, and that was pretty cool. It was fun seeing Pedroia and Manny get big hits. Funny to see that Dice-K must have sucked if the team was losing when I turned on the TV (jeeeez, some things don't ever change — even in his home country). And just good to see the team on the field, playing a close game (too close), that actually counts. All is right with the world again: baseball is back. And hey, it sure does beat watching V.B. and Kim Carrigan.

Swing and a Miss

It's hard to believe it's been only one month since the Red Sox won the World Series. In some ways it feels like much longer, and in others it's like only yesterday. So of course, in an effort to hold on to those good ole days, I made sure to go right out and pick up my copy of the World Series Highlights DVD on Tuesday (on sale for just $11.88 at Newbury Comics), and I watched it soon after I got home.

The film starts out with a great montage of Sox clips, showing the boys having fun — all while the Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" plays, of course. It's an opening that makes you smile and sets the scene for what should be an equally great film. If only the rest was as good. While the 2004 Highlights DVD was a fantastic recap of the year — from Spring Training on — told entirely from the Sox perspective, this one is exactly as marketed: a recap of the World Series, and it's told from both sides. It takes just 10 minutes to get through the entire Red Sox season, from Opening Day to the end of the ALCS, and in moving so quickly, there's very little flavor and very little of what was so memorable about the season. There's no mention at all of Clay Buchholz or his no-hitter, nothing about Schilling's one-hitter, no recap of the hype that greeted Dice-K, very little about the back-to-back-to-back-to-back homer game against the Yankees, nothing about the Mother's Day Miracle, no Ellsbury, no Wakefield ... nothing. And then there's an equally quick summary of the Rockies' road to the Series. And then we're at Game One, after only 24 minutes. (In the 2004 film, it took a half hour just to recap the Sox season, with almost nothing on St. Louis.)

Major League Baseball would have you believe that this was a closer series than it was, because it's presented as such. Never mind that the Sox swept the Rockies and won comfortably in two of the four games. It's all very businesslike and by-the-book. While there are talking head interviews and soundbites from Pap and Mikey Lowell and Jacoby Ellsbury and Curt Schilling and Theo and others, they're all pretty staid and without character, simply recapping the games and not sharing much emotion or personality. Sure, this season didn't have the same drama that 2004 did, but it was definitely more exciting than this. Even Matt Damon, who narrates the film, seems bored by the whole thing. Clearly, MLB Productions, in an effort to make the film appealing to Rockies fans, neutered a lot of the pro-Sox slant and tried to make this as fair a film as possible. Rockies players and personnel are as plentiful as Sox folks. And in making it all so balanced, they've produced an ultimately disappointing one-hour-and-10-minute highlights reel that, for a Sox fan, doesn't really recapture the glory of being World Series Champions. What a bummer.

Perhaps the best parts of the DVD are the extra features, including my favorite one, a recap of the night the Sox won the AL East. You get the last two outs at Fenway courtesy of NESN, then the last out in Baltimore (plus Millar's strikeout) from the actual broadcast in Baltimore, and a bit of Papelbon et al dancing on the field. I wish there was more of that kind of stuff, the dancing and all, on the actual film. After all, this DVD should be a celebration of and a tribute to the World Series Champs, right? But it's good to have at least some of the coverage in the bonus section. And I'll always have my memories of the actual games, and the actual season. Those are things this DVD could never document as well anyway.

This Is What $103 Million Looks Like?

I hate to sound like a broken record, but ... I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Dice-K sucks. In the game tonight, he gave up seven runs, five hits, and five walks in just five innings. To date, he has a 5.45 ERA and has walked 15 in 38 innings. That's no ace, ladies and gentlemen. That's not even average. I mean, he walked the first three batters of the game tonight, and then hit a batter. Five of the runs in tonight's game he gave up in the first inning. And it's not like he didn't have the run support tonight, either. Can someone — anyone — tell me what I'm supposed to be excited about here? I promise, I'll lay off the guy when he pitches well. But so far it's clear to me that the Sox were sold overpriced goods.

That's One

One win for the Sox.
One come-from-behind win for the Sox.
One lame performance by Dice-K.
One game where J.D. Drew’s absence was felt (in a good way).
One game where Manny came through twice.
One game where Ellsbury made an awesome catch.
One crucial bunt by Pedroia.
One playing of “Shipping Up to Boston” to greet Pap.

One down, many more games to go. Woo hoo!!! Baseball's back!