Red Sox weekly recap (Week 16)

Sunday July 18, 2010 - Saturday July 24, 2010

Weekly record: 3-4
Overall record: 55-43
AL East standing: 3rd, 7.0 games behind New York
Runs scored: 23
Opponents' runs scored: 28
Home runs: 8; Adrian Beltre (2), Bill Hall (2), Mike Cameron, J.D. Drew, Marco Scutaro, David Ortiz
Team leader (HR): Ortiz (19)
Team leader (RBI): Beltre (62)
Games left: 64
Weeks left: 10.1
Week 16 in 2009

Batter-up with Bruno: Will the Red Sox actually make the playoffs?

Playoffs or bust?

Magically there's only a week left in July and more importantly exactly one week away from the trading deadline. So now it's time to talk about, dare I say it, will the Red Sox actually make the playoffs?

Let's break down this by month:

April - aaahhhhahahahahaha!!!
May - eeeeeehhhhhhhhh...
June - who's next to go to the DL!?!?!??
July - uuummmm if the club stays healthy

Funny how things change month to month, week to week, or even series by series, which seems to be the case right now.

It's crucial that Boston finishes its 10-game road trip on the winning edge. And next month is literally 'Do or DIE'. In Red Sox history, the month of August practically always sums up the outcome of the season. Let's backtrack to 2003, 2004 and 2007.

2003: 15-14 (lost in Game 7 of ALCS to New York)
2004: 21-7 (won World Series over St. Louis)
2007: 16-13 (won World Series over Colorado)

Ok so 2007 wasn't an amazing August record, but the Yankees were playing downright horrible all season and couldn't catch up to Boston, so there's the possible exception. Then of course 2003 the Sox barely stood afloat, finishing a game over .500 for the month.

Now let's backtrack to 2006, 2008 and 2009.

2006: 9-21 (finished 3rd in AL East with an 86-76 record)
2008: 18-9 (lost in Game 7 of ALCS to Tampa Bay)
2009: 16-12 (swept in ALDS to Anaheim)

I remember August of 2006 as clear as day and I remember the night of Monday, August 21 when the Yankees swept the Red Sox in five games in New York. That was the ultimate collapse and implosion of the season and I knew there wasn't a chance they'd make the playoffs.

So how am I feeling right now? Well I'm feeling good about Josh Beckett, but Clay Buchholz still needs to prove himself his next start.

The keys:

• The starting rotation all needs to come back and be healthy for the remainder of the season, which includes Beckett, Buchholz, Jon Lester, John Lackey, and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
•  Manny Delcarmen needs to get his act together
•  The 'starting nine' needs to come back and be healthy for the rest of the season.

No brainers, no kidding, but honestly, I don't think the Red Sox really need to make a big trade unless it's for a stellar bullpen arm. But then again, we don't want a repeat of Eric Gagne in 2007.

Victor Martinez will be back soon as will Dustin Pedroia and hopefully Jacoby Ellsbury. Jeremy Hermida pinch hit last night against the Mariners. If everything gels together this can be one deadly team, or the exact opposite can happen and another implosion is possible as well.

As for the season being a complete bust, I won't be devastated if the Red Sox don't make the playoffs. I've grown to accept that it's not the 'end of the world' if they don't make it. Younger fans might think the opposite because they have grown into being used to winning such as the mid-1990's New York Yankees.

How the 2010 season will be remembered?

Injury prone.
Grumpy players.
Bad management.

Let's just hope this won't be a repeat of 2006.

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 15)

Sunday July 11, 2010 - Saturday July 17, 2010

Weekly record: 2-2
Overall record: 52-39
AL East standing: 3rd, 5.5 games behind New York
Runs scored: 12
Opponents' runs scored: 19
Home runs: 3; Darnell McDonald, David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre
Team leader (HR): Ortiz (18)
Team leader (RBI): Kevin Youkilis (59)
Games left: 71
Weeks left: 11.1
Week 15 in 2009

Passings of Sheppard and Steinbrenner gives Yankees something to play for in 2nd half of 2010 season

Within a three day span, the New York Yankees organization lost two legendary icons...and we're not talking about players.

On Sunday, public address announcer Bob Sheppard passed away at home beside his wife Mary. He was 99.

Then Tuesday morning George Steinbrenner suffered from what was later reported to be a massive heart attack. He was 80.

Both Sheppard and Steinbrenner had health problems and it wasn't a secret.

Sheppard's last season was in 2007 when he had to be sidelined for a bronchial infection. However his voice can still be heard at the New Yankee Stadium for Derek Jeter's introduction to the plate as an audio recording.

Steinbrenner's health started to decline in the fall of 2007, in which ironically his team was just about to concede to second place to the Boston Red Sox in the American League East. From that point on you didn't hear much about George Steinbrenner and once his two sons, Hal and Hank, took over as part-owners of the Yankees that winter, it was apparent that George was planning for the future of him not being around much longer.

Coming from a Red Sox fan, this is a big blow to the organization and I give out my deepest sympathy. Not just to lose one icon, but two in three days is pretty rough.

Even the Sox organization is doing the same with the kind words.

But with these two passings, it in a way, makes the Yankees a scary team to contend with in the second half of the season. They got something (or in this case someones) to play for. They already have a two game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the East and that could very well be plenty.

You can't count out Boston though. Not with key players hoping to make returns from the disabled list such as Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek, and Jeremy Hermida, and perhaps Jacoby Ellsbury.

This'll be one interesting ride.

2010 Red Sox first half review

Sunday April 4, 2010 - Sunday July 11, 2010

Monthly record breakdowns

• April: 11-12
• May:  18-11
• June:  18-9
• July:   4-5

Total team record: 51-37

AL East standing: 3rd, 5.0 games behind New York
Wild Card standing: 2nd, 3.0 games behind Tampa Bay

Hitting stats
Runs scored: 481; 1st in AL
Home runs: 118; 2nd in AL
RBIs: 462; 1st in AL
Batting average: .276; 3rd in AL
Team leader (HR): David Ortiz (18), Kevin Youkilis (18)
Team leader (RBI): Ortiz (57), Youkilis (57)

Pitching stats
ERA: 4.34; 10th in AL
Earned runs: 382; 5th in AL
Home runs allowed: 81; tied for 10th in AL (least being the best)
Walks: 314; 4th in AL (least being the best)
Strikeouts: 611; 7th in AL
Shutouts: 6; tied for 4th in AL
Team leader (wins): Jon Lester (11)
Team leader (strikeouts): Lester (124)

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 14)

Sunday July 4, 2010 - Saturday July 10, 2010

Weekly record: 1-5
Overall record: 50-37
AL East standing: 3rd, 5.0 games behind New York
Runs scored: 31
Opponents' runs scored: 33
Home runs: 8; Kevin Youkilis (2), Eric Patterson (2), Mike Cameron (2), Bill Hall, Adrian Beltre
Team leader (HR): Youkilis (18)
Team leader (RBI): Youkilis (57)
Games left: 75
Weeks left: 12.1
Week 14 in 2009

Vote Kevin Youkilis as Final Man on the 2010 AL All-Star Roster

Let's go Red Sox Nation, now it's serious business.

Kevin Youkilis got screwed and he needs the help from fans everywhere to make it on the 2010 AL All-Star Roster.

Vote here and do it as much as you want.

As for the NL side, eh, we don't really care about that. Just pick the coolest sounding name or something.

I picked Ryan Zimmerman.

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 13)

Sunday June 27, 2010 - Saturday July 3, 2010

Weekly record: 4-1
Overall record: 49-32
AL East standing: 2nd, 1/2 game behind New York
Runs scored: 29
Opponents' runs scored: 20
Home runs: 7; David Ortiz (2), J.D. Drew (2), Adrian Beltre, Bill Hall, Kevin Youkilis
Team leader (HR): Ortiz (17)
Team leader (RBI): Ortiz (54)
Games left: 81
Weeks left: 13.1
Week 13 in 2009

Batter-up with Bruno: NESN's annoying promos; umpire laziness

Promo-psycho

I have to say this season, I really haven't been able to actually sit down and watch a complete Red Sox game from start to finish with the volume up. But tonight, I started to notice something very strange and rather annoying.

What is up with all of the promotions that NESN announcers Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy have to say throughout the game?

I mean, I'm used to hearing about the Dunkin' Dugout and CVS Pharmacy donating $500 for every save or game that goes into extra innings, but what the hell is all of this?

• Acura Key matchup
• Ford's Call to the bullpen
• New York Life
• Home Depot: Doing More on Defense
• Coors Light Freeze Cam
• Jordan's Furniture, blah, blah, blah
• Cumberland Farms Chill Zone
• Amica Pitch Zone
• Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea: Twisted but true
• NESN.com Question of the Day powered by kgb
• I know I'm missing at least 5 more...
• Wait does Scotts have a promo?
• Holy, Taco Bell...???

What the frick. Taco Bell? Since when is Taco Bell connected with the Sox? The closest one in the Fenway Park radius is on Commonwealth Avenue.

And I know this is three months late, but what happened to the Aflac Trivia Question? Now all of a sudden it's AT&T with a blackberry texting graphic.

It seems like every other play Orsillo or Remy have to say one of these. How annoying that must be for them. There was none of this 10 years ago, except for maybe the trivia question alone, but why so much in 2010?

Is this pure greed? These companies obviously have to pay for the spots and are shelling out a lot money. So who's exactly profiting from this? NESN? The Red Sox? I can understand if they are raising money for charity or just a worthy cause like the Dunkin' Dugout, but that's not the case with Jordan's Furniture.

Replay making umpires less confident?

A home run or not a home run? That was the six + minute question during tonight's Red Sox/Orioles game. In the top of the ninth inning with two outs, Jake Fox took Robert Manuel (what an awful mugshot) deep off the Green Monster, but the umpires weren't sure if the baseball hit over the yellow line before falling back on the field.

First it appeared they were only going to give Fox the double, but with the new replay rule for home runs, they went to review it.

Remy knew right off the bat it was a homer. The first angle they showed wasn't a great look, but the ricochet couldn't have said it better.

So after trying to kill on air time, the umpires walked back out, delayed for a second, then signaled the home run. And what if there wasn't replay? Well, Orioles manager Juan Samuel already got ejected. So maybe the entire coaching staff would have initiated a massive argument and perhaps a bench clearing brawl?

Yeah that's a little bit too far, but it seems that umpires might be relying more on replay for home run calls. Even for calls that it's clear it's out, it hit above the yellow line, but we just want to triple check it's the right call. And people want to have more instant replay?

Nope. Not happening.