Starting Aces

What the Heck Is Wrong With Papi?

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:28:00 +0000

The injury David Ortiz suffered is a tear of the Extensor Carpi Ulnaris Sheath.

Put Very Simply:

See the little tendon on the left that says EXT CARPI ULNARIS? That's it. Some digging around on the web produces phrases like "career threatening injury" associated with this; or at the very least a loud and painful pop when the tendon is movied.

Remember the power outage Nomar had after his wrist injury? That was the same injury Ortiz is now facing. This is a rather grim prognosis, but thankfully the Sox are somewhat in the clear in the short run. 9 of the next 24 Sox games are in NL parks, which usually means sitting David Ortiz anyway. The longer term solution is to have an Ellbury/Crisp/Drew outfield and use Manny Ramirez as a DH.

Mr. 499

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:26:00 +0000

On September 2nd, 1993, Manny Ramirez made his major league debut. The next day, against the New York Yankees, Ramirez hit the first (and second) home run of his career. 15 seasons later Ramirez is poised to hit the 500th homer of his career.

Courtesy of Baseball-Reference is a complete list of every Manny Ramirez home run, including the pitcher that gave it up, the score of the game, and if anyone else scored. The sheer number of pitchers and games involved in this is mindblowing.

Your 2008 AL East Champs, The Tampa Bay Rays

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:36:00 +0000

If there's anything worse than that sting you feel seeing Tampa Bay in first place, it's that video.

After my initial heart attacks, reason came back to me and I remember the track record of young, previous cellar-dweller teams in recent years. Best recent example being the Brewers - an early tear followed by big drop off. While the Rays '08 squad is very impressive, they do not seem to have the veteran presence that held the Marlins together in their 2 Series runs.

For Sox fans, this means that if Boston can get its act together and if Tampa falls off, Boston might have not any other AL East teams nipping at its heels.

Return of the Ridiculous Sox Player Commercials

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:49:00 +0000

First up is Dustin Pedroia. This commercial keeps up the grand tradition of awkwardness and whimsy that we expect from Sullivan Tire Sox-player ads. "I can't believe it, it's Jim Rice" may be the "It's like a baby New York" of '08 (close second - "My job is NUTTY").

Jonathan Papelbon with another slam dunk commercial. This one also gets many bonus points for awkwardness, and keeps up the grand tradition of people drinking out of the corner of their mouths in Dunkin' Donuts commercials.

We are truly blessed by the strange athlete tie-in commercials that grace the breaks between the innings... but I really miss this guy:

Master-Ful

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:17:00 +0000

The Red Sox have been hit pretty hard with the flu. Both Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka missed starts due to the illness. Captain Jason Varitek also missed playing time. Filling in Beckett's start was David Pauley, best known for his stellar start at Yankee Stadium in 2006. Pauley gave up 5 runs through 4.1 innings, but that was enough to keep the Sox in the game.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was scheduled to pitch the next day, but was also scratched with the flu. Jon Lester pitched on 3 days rest for the first time in his career, and gave up 4 through 5 innings. The bullpen and the bats couldn't get it going, and the Sox win streak was snapped.

Filling in Lester's spot today was Justin Masterson, making his major league debut. Masterson went 6 innings, giving up one run, two hits, and four walks while fanning 4. This bodes well for the Sox, as it never hurts to have too many effective young relievers. Unfortunately for Masterson, the bullpen could not hold the lead. He'll have to wait until his next start to get a chance at a win.

4/11 Clay Buchholz vs Chien-Ming Wang

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:32:00 +0000

In what looks to be a very soggy series, the olde towne team plays their first game against the Yankees of '08 at Fenway tonight. Buchholz had a rough first start, getting touched for 4 runs in 5 innings of work. Wang, the Yanks' ace, won both of his starts this year. Wang has held opponents to only two runs through 13 innings, looking very strong so far.

Mike Lowell is headed to the DL after spraining his thumb in Wednesday night's game against the Tigers. Youkilis is moving across the diamond to cover him at third, and "The Mayor" Sean Casey will be filling in at first base. Infield prospect Jed Lowrie has been called up to fill Lowell's roster spot.

Derek Jeter is out of the Yanks lineup, with the possibility of A-Rod moving to short if the problem proves to be a long-term one. Dealing with an ailing Jeter and Posada has made the Yankees jumble around the lineup-Hideki Matsui got his first start in right field since 2005 last night, and Jorge Posada got the start at DH.

Tonight's Attendance... C. 39,988

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:52:00 +0000

Fenway park got a mini facelift in the offseason. Previous years saw the creation of the Right Field Roof Deck, the Green Monster Seats, the highly underrated Pavilion box/club areas... and this year is no different. The Coca-Cola corner section adds more seating where the boxy left field luxury suites used to reside. In addition, the old bleacher seats have been torn out and replaced with new, more comfortable ones. An added bonus is that these new bleachers will allow for more seats in general in the section.

Again, the Sox have done a terrific job adding new things to the park and making them look like they were always there.

First pitch at the Rogers Centre is at 7:05pm tonight.

4/4 Tim Wakefield vs Shaun Marcum

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:12:00 +0000

by Dan C.

The Red Sox are coming off an impressive 5-0 victory and 3-1 series win over the Oakland Athletics that took a week and two countries to complete but they now look to take an early lead in the AL East by taking another series against their interdivision opponents north of the border. In Friday’s match up the Sox will send veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to the mound for his first start of the 2008 season. This is Wakefield’s 14th season with the club and he’s coming off a career high 17 win year.

The Blue Jays are coming off a series vs. the New York Yankees and will hand the ball to RHP Shaun Marcum. Marcum, in his third year as a starting pitcher, logged a career high 159 innings last season and was able to win 12 games which was also a career high. One of his biggest problems is he throws too many strikes. With a low walk total, hitters know the ball is going to be around the plate and go up there hacking. He allowed 27 HR’s last year and needs to improve that stat if he hopes to stay in the Jays starting rotation for a full season.

Wakefield has historically pitched very well inside of a dome but with the knuckleball you never really know what you’re going to get. The key for both pitchers will be to try and limit the long ball while hoping their offense can put up some early runs that they can protect.

It's a Bad Time to Be a Closer

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Well, there are a couple exceptions (Papelbon and Rivera seem to be in good shape).

There were a total of 8 opening day blown saves (1 of which fell on Cards reliever Ryan Franklin before the 9th inning, and two other choke-jobs that do not statistically figure as BS's), and even more since then. Some of the victims:

Huston Street - The first to go. Street blew a one-run lead in the 9th inning while most Red Sox fans were rolling into work. Street looked similarly terrible being thrown into the following game in a non-save situation.

Eric Gagne - Eric sure looked like 2007 Gagne, serving up a game-tying homer to Kosuke Fukudome in his first MLB game. The Brew Crew managed to mop up the mess and get him his BS win.

Kerry Wood - On the other end of the Eric Gagne debacle. Wood did not technically blow a save while giving up three runs to the Brewers, but he sure blew the game.

Trevor Hoffman - One of the latest victims. Lance Berkman laced a 3-run homer to put the Astros ahead of the Padres.

Matt Capps - Damaso Marte and Matt Capps blew a 5 run lead to the Braves.

J.J. Putz - Putz sustained a ribcage injury and gave up a home run to new Ranger Josh Hamilton all at the same time. DL time!

Tom Gordon - Gordon surrendered 5 runs while getting just one out. Gordon was pitching in place of the still-rehabbing Brad Lidge.

Brandon Lyon - Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run walkoff home run off of Lyon on Wednesday.

Peter Moylan - Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk off against Braves' sidearm-righty Peter Moylan.

Bad times for many fantasy owners.

4/2/08 - Jon Lester vs Rich Harden

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:15:00 +0000

by Dan C

Jon Lester will take the hill for the Red Sox following up an impressive pitching performance by fellow staffer Dice-K Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka allowed only 2 hits through 6 and 2/3 innings of work, walked none and stuck out 9 Athletics. He looked much sharper then his opening day start in Japan where he had control problems and had to pitch out of two bases loaded jam situations early on. Lester did not look bad in his start last week but served up a 3-run homer to Emil Brown that was be enough damage to hand him the loss.

For the Athletics, Rich Harden looks to repeat his strong opening performance in which he allowed 1 run on 3 hits over 6 innings of work. Harden, who missed the majority of the 2007 season due to injury, will be trying to surpass his win total of last year with tonight’s outing.

The key for both pitchers will be to throw strikes early on to establish the strike zone, not allowing hitters to sit back and wait for lower 90’s fastballs. Harden needs to mix in his curve, while Lester will showcase a strong changeup.

OT: Vince Young Ruins The Bell Curve

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:24:00 +0000

When Vince Young left the University of Texas early, he made a decision to come back and finish his schooling when he had a chance between seasons. This year, Young changed his major to Education and Child Development, and resumed his schooling. An acquaintance of mine is a TA for his intro to psych class, and witnessed class clown Vince Young in action.

So I am a TA for a huge 275 member intro psych class. Today we were talking about motivation, and the professor presented a slide showing the results of an experiment in which men and women's responses (yes or no) were tallied after a person of the opposite gender approached them on the street randomly and asked for either a date, to come back to their apartment, or for sex. The results showed that in this study 50% of men and 50% of women said yes to the date, 75% of men said yes to the apartment but only like 5% of women, ad 100% of men said yes to sex but 0% of women did. We were all pondering the results when...

Vince Young is in my class. He raised his hand and said very seriously, "that study's a lie" and at first everyone was like huh? Then we realized who it was talking (he is like a super multi-millionaire quarterback for an NFL team, like 6'5", totally built, etc).

Everyone DIED.

This is serious Urban Legend material.

4/01/08 Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Joe Blanton

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:57:00 +0000

In a repeat of the true season opener in Japan on Wednesday, the Sox and A's kick off the "domestic" version tonight at the McAffee Coliseum. Daisuke started off the previous game looking lost, but gained confidence (and more importantly, control) as the game went on. Blanton seemed just the opposite, throwing 5 dominant innings only to give up 3 in the sixth. Huston Street started an opening day closer implosion trend, followed by Tom Gordon, Eric Gagne, and Kerry Wood. While he did not outright lost his role as closer, he's likely on thin ice after blowing an opportunity on Wednesday.

JD Drew should be back in the lineup, no word yet on Coco vs Ellsbury in center. Bobby Kielty is likely to start 2008 in the minors, expected to be a bench option if any injuries occur.

Sox Split International Season Openers

noreply@blogger.com (Starting Aces) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:28:00 +0000

Morning baseball is surreal enough as it is. Usually we only get Patriot's day and the odd super-early Sunday game. Those games gave us plenty of time to roll out of bed, run some errands, make some pancakes, and sit down to enjoy an oddly-timed Sox game.

6am baseball seemed like a different monster. It's a perfectly acceptable time to wake up for work, but far too early to be able to comprehend an MLB game. To add further confusion, these games were in the Tokyo Dome - a nice stadium, but the semi-dim lighting made it seem straight out of Blade Runner. Great for outfielders trying to lock on to a fly ball, not so great for the nearly sleeping fans back stateside.

The early morning season opener was a fun experiment, but I'm sure most of us are ready to come home from work and flop onto the couch just in time for the pre-game show.

By the way, Starting Aces is back for 2008. We are adding a few more writers, and will be trying to give you the pitching matchup for every game that isn't on at 6am.