Brad Penny had his no hitter broken up...

Seriously, if Brad Penny threw a no hitter... they should just put Dave Duncan in the Hall of Fame NOW!

THE CY YOUNG DOZEN

I know I have written about the NL Cy Young race a bit, but I truly find it to be fascinating. Yeah, it is early, but I don’t recall the last time I have seen this many legit candidates all get out of the gate so quickly. And as someone who loves dominating stud pitchers, this year in the NL seems to be a bumper crop!

Nobody in the AL is dominating like the top NL pitchers, and the usual suspects (Verlander, Sabathia, Lester, Beckett, Hernadnez, Greinke) aren’t putting up numbers the way that the NL’s top 12 are.

2006 wasn’t that long ago that the National League honored Brandon Webb with the Cy Young award for his solid but not exactly eye popping season.

This year? I doubt if Webb had the same season in 2010 that he would crack the top 5 when all is said and done.

I’ve counted 12 pitchers who are either former Cy Young winners off to solid starts, true aces who are dominating and a few guys whose careers looked over by the end of last year who are coming out blazing.

And this list of 12 doesn’t even include former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter, nor dark horse candidate Ricky NolascoBoth have shown moments of brilliance, as has reliever Matt Capps. But this top 12 is a hard party to crack.


Let’s list them…


Tim Lincecum

I truly believe if he can deliver a World Series title to San Francisco he will be the third biggest star in San Francisco sports history. He seems hellbent to make it 3 Cy Young Awards before his 27th birthday. He would have win #5 this afternoon if Brian Wilson could have held onto the 9th inning lead. Yet he still has a 1.27 ERA and leads the league in strikeouts. I guess that whole pot thing really slowed him down.


Ubaldo Jimenez

He is the first pitcher since Jack Morris in 1984 to start the season 5-0 with a no hitter. He is second in the league in innings pitched and has held opponents to a 0.79 ERA and a .186 average against. Oh yeah, he’s doing all of that in COLORADO!


Roy Halladay

Even with a loss the other day, Halladay is throwing like he wants Cy Young #2. Nobody has pitched more innings in the NL. He has 2 complete games and a shutout and his ERA is 1.80. And 5 of his 8 earned runs came in one start. I think it is safe to say it was a good pick up for Philadelphia.


Adam Wainwright

He has the second lowest WHIP in the league and been an innings eater with a pair of complete games. He also has a tiny 1.69 ERA and a .187 batting average against to go with his 3 wins.



Johan Santana

Santana had one truly lousy game against the Washington Nationals in early April where he let up 5 runs, 4 on a grand slam by Josh Willingham. He has let up a grand total of 3 other earned runs all season. He has a 3-1 record and even with the rocky start against Washington, has a more than respectable 2.08 ERA and has not let up more than 1 run in 4 of his 5 starts.

Mike Pelfrey

With all of these great performances out of the gate, do you know who LEADS the NL in ERA? That would by Pelfry, whose ERA is impressive (and snicker worthy) at 0.69. Throw in his 4-0 record and coming out of the bullpen to save the Mets 20 inning marathon and he deserves at least entry to the dance.



Dan Haren

Who is second in the league for strikeouts behind Lincecum? Surprise! It’s Haren who has 38 in 34 innings of work. His ERA is a mediocre 4.50 but he’s been winning games (3-1 record), been eating up innings (third in IP behind Jimenez and Halladay) and has only 8 walks in 5 starts.


Josh Johnson

The Marlins well paid ace got out of the gate slowly but has been showing his ace stuff lately, especially after a complete game 3 hitter with 12 strikeouts and one walk against the Padres on April 26th. He is now third in the league in strikeouts.



Barry Zito

Remember when Barry Zito was on everyone’s short list for worst free agent contracts? Well now he is off to a 3-0 start and is averaging nearly 7 innings a start while posting a 1.32 ERA. Oh, by the way… his .161 batting average against is the lowest in the National League! Not bad for a crummy contract.


Livan Hernandez

Yes. It’s the same Livan Hernandez. An after thought starting pitcher on a potentially god awful Nationals team, the beneficiary of the Late Eric Gregg’s strike zone has won 3 of his first 4 decisions including a complete game shutout. His 0.87 ERA and .176 Batting Average Against are both third best in the league and his WHIP is 4th best. Will he keep that up? Who am I to say?


Brad Penny

The same Brad Penny who was run out of Boston on a rail is 3-0 in St. Louis this year. His 0.94 ERA is 4th best in the league. He has gone at least 7 innings in all 4 of his starts and has yet to let up more than 2 runs in any of them.

Another headcase solved by Dave Duncan!


Carlos Silva

One team’s garbage is another team’s treasure. Dumped into Chicago from Seattle in exchange for lunatic Milton Bradley, the Cubs may have stolen a winner…or least rejuvenated a talented pitcher with a fresh start. In 4 starts and 26 innings, Silva has the lowest WHIP in the league, plus a tiny 1.73 ERA and the fourth lowest Batting Average Against in the NL. Throw in a 2-0 record and a 5-1 strikeout to walk ratio and the Cubs may have more than coffee grounds from Seattle. Meanwhile Bradley is flopping as a .204 hitter flipping off fans with the Mariners.


So it will be interesting to see how many of these dozen remain Cy Young contenders month to month... I am guessing pitchers like Santana and Johnson will see their numbers improve and the Pennys and the Silvas would come back to Earth.

But who knows? I guess YOU picked Zack Greinke to win the Cy Young last year!

Seriously... what does Dave Duncan know that we don't?

Under Dave Duncan's guidance, Dave Stewart, a career spot starter and long reliever, became a Cy Young contender and World Series MVP.

Dennis Eckersley became a Hall of Famer.

Chris Carpenter went from a broken down and forgotten piece from Toronto to a Cy Young winner in St. Louis.

Jeff Weaver went from being the Billy Bibbit of baseball to having ice water in his veins, winning the clinching game of the World Series.

Each year a new pitcher goes to St. Louis to see if Dave Duncan can do for them what the Cocoons did for Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley and Hume Cronyn.

Joel Pinero, Ryan Franklin, Kyle Loshe, Woody Williams, Garrett Stephenson and many more all saw their careers almost instantly improve when they put on the Cardinals uniform.


And now...

Brad Penny.

Yes the same Brad Penny who did his best to torpedo the Red Sox playoff chances last year before Theo waved the white flag.

Yeah, he pitched well for the Giants down the stretch, but today he shut them down, raising his record to 3-0 with a 0.94 ERA. He pitched into the 8th today and threw at least 7 innings in each of his 4 starts.

I refuse to put him in my NL Cy Young Award conversation just now.

Seriously... how does Dave Duncan do it?
Is he just smarter?
Or does he have a magic potion?

I would accept either answer.

Brad Penny looked like an ace... against the Astros

Seriously... Penny threw 7 innings with no earned runs, 3 hits and no walks against Houston.

That tells you one of two things:

Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan is an absolute genius

or

The Astros are a truly dreadful team.

I guess both can be true.

Another day, another great Brad Penny start

OK this is absurd!

Brad Penny is 3-0?
Brad Penny has a 1.64 ERA with the Giants?

Did Brad Penny just save the Giants season?

It sure looks like he did.

Well, now there is no wiggle room.

There is no room for error.

The Giants need to win tomorrow with Lincecum on the mound against the Rockies.

Then they have to win on Tuesday against the Rockies.

Then they have to win on Wednesday against the Rockies.

A sweep of the Rockies would put the Giants 1 back in the loss column with 16 games to play.

Taking 2 out of 3 would put the Giants 3 back in the loss column with 16 games to play with no remaining head to head games with the Rockies.

One loss will more than likely sink the team in this series.

No pressure.

And then I am sure Brad Penny will have another chance to save the day.

Is the NL REALLY that much worse than the AL????

Seriously... are the National League hitters just incompetent?

Brad Penny was so awful in a Red Sox uniform that AL hitters were smacking him around for nearly a .300 average.

His ERA, 5.61, was a disgrace.

He went 7-8 and the only thing I can say to that is "He won 7 games????"

The Red Sox, a team in a tight pennant race, CUT HIM!

He goes to San Francisco and BAM! He's 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA and is so cocky that can get upset at individual homers hit off of him. There was no time to glower at all the people rounding the bases against him in a Red Sox uniform.

If I were an agent of ANY pitcher in the AL, I'd be banging the door of any NL team to sign my client.

Yesterday, the Giants jumped out to a 6-0 lead. They were up 9-2 when my dad, the giant Giants fan, drove my family to San Jose airport. When we were parking the car, the Padres were rallying in the 9th, cutting the lead to 9-4.

When my dad stopped the car he just looked at me and said "They're going to lose it. I can feel it."

They didn't... but it's good to see my dad's pessimism towards the Giants can't be tempered even with a 9 run outburst.

Dad! What do you have to worry about? The Giants have the great BRAD PENNY!

It's a good time to be a former Red Sox pitcher!

Pedro dominates the Giants and out duels Tim Lincecum a day after Brad Penny somehow became an ace again and Smoltz looks good in St. Louis.

Hey Schilling!

How about stop blathering about taking Teddy Kennedy's Senate Seat and start getting your arm loose!

They way these former Sox are pitching, you might want to get on the mound and pick up a few W's.

(That would be wins and not Presidents you campaigned for!)

NOW he's worth a nickel!

Of course Brad Penny pitched 8 shutout innings against the World Champs in their band box ballpark!

OF COURSE HE DID!

Worthless in Boston, he pitches like an ace for San Francisco. 

Where were those 8 inning shut out performances in Boston?

Oh well... the Sox always have Paul Byrd, who was even less likely than Penny to throw a solid game.

But still... first Smoltz then Penny?

Penny finally shows his worth

Brad Penny wasn't worth his last name as a pitcher for the Red Sox... and he did the honorable thing. He took one for the team and asked for his release.

Basically committed baseball hari kari (not Harry Carey.)

Maybe Theo should have listened to Larry Bowa!

Once Teixeria skedaddled to the Yankees, the Red Sox did the smart thing and not simply throw money at someone else to respond to the Yankees.

They kept their money and their draft picks and went bargain hunting.

And in came Takashi Saito, John Smoltz, Rocco Baldelli and Brad Penny who combined are paid $9 million less than Teixeria is this season.

Saito is a mop up man, Baldelli is a seldom used injury riddled 4th outfielder and Smoltz and Penny got released.

Sometimes you can find something great in the bargain bin, but most of the times there is nothing but cheap crap.

At least Penny knew he was cheap crap. 

Watch him go to the Cardinals and throw a no hitter. 

Vincentives

The Texas Rangers have a one game lead for the American League wild card... so you would think they would need all the help they could get.

Vincente Padilla led the team in wins in 2008. He has the third highest win total on the team this year. He has a winning record (8-6) and while his ERA is ugly, it IS under 5.00 which in an achievement in Texas.

So naturally they cut him.

And the Rangers clubhouse is acting the same as the orphanage in Problem Child when John Ritter took the kid home.

He must have been a MISERABLE teammate.

Awful.

Disgraceful.

He's a free agent.

I want the Red Sox to sign him!

What? You ask! Sully, if he was such a bad teammate in Texas, how will he be better in Boston?

I have no clue what kind of teammate he was in Texas.
I wasn't there.

Do you know what makes a BAD teammate in my eyes?

Brad Penny getting bombed every 5 days.
Junichi Tazawa letting up homer after homer every 5 days.

Call me crazy and you've called me worse... but there's only 7 weeks left in the season.

Couldn't Padilla sign on and want to show the Rangers they were wrong?
Couldn't he be motivated for a month and a half to play well and be nice... and put himself in position to become a millionaire again?

How can he be worse than Penny?

Which goes to show you how bad things are with Penny.

I'd rather have a guy who had swine flu pitching than Penny!

The Bats Are Back To Work! But it's the Pitching staff that needs a Halladay!

Maybe the Red Sox should have traded Brad Penny when they had the chance. 

Either way, the Sox were down 5-0 before they even came to bat. THANKS BRAD PENNY!!!

And I thought "Oh well... this will be a blow out."

But nooooooooooooooo.

The Red Sox HAD to make it a ballgame!

The Red Sox HAD to put the tying run to the plate in the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 8th and then brought the winning run to the plate in the 9th.

Now the chatter seems to be all about Victor Martinez coming to the Sox. And I would welcome him with open arms.

He can play first and catcher and DH... possibly giving Lowell, Varitek and Papi some rest down the stretch.

He's a good player and evidently a good club house guy... and it is nice to see ONE minority in the lineup other than Papi and Ellsbury. My God, the team is so white that it looks like the Yawkeys are back!

But the nanosecond the Phillies said no to Roy Halladay, I had a vision in my head.

Short series...

Best of 5.

Game 1 starter... Josh Beckett

Game 2 starter... Roy Halladay

Game 3 starter... Jon Lester

What's keeping us from that?

Clay Buchholz?

Yeah he could be great. Or he could be the latest addition to Jeff Passan's column of prospects held onto too long.

He's 24 now and you can still say "He's a budding ace."

What if he doesn't bud in the next few years? What if he's a Paul Wilson?

Think we can make him the key in a trade for the best pitcher in all of baseball then?

Beckett/Halladay/Lester would be the best 1-2-3 punch since Zito/Hudson/Mulder. And those A's teams didn't have a bullpen like the Red Sox do now!

The Braves had their bullpen woes when they had Smoltz/Glavine/Avery and then Maddux.

We'd have the aces and the pen.

A deal for Halladay would make the Red Sox prohibitive favorites to win the World Series this year and possibly in 2010.

Clay Buchholz is really worth avoiding that? 

Yeah the Sox can use another stick, but it was pitching that lost the last two games.

And pitching wins in October. And winning 2 out of every 3 games gets you into October.

Make the deal.

Meanwhile I will update the tally.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 12

April 17 - 10-8 win against Orioles. (Overcame 7-0 deficit.)

April 24 - 5-4 win against Yankees. (Bay homers off of Rivera in 9th to tie it.)

April 25 - 16-11 win against Yankees. (Overcame 6-0 deficit.)

April 29 - 6-5 win at Cleveland. (Overcame 5-0 deficit.)

May 12 - 4-3 win at Anaheim. (Down 3-1 in the 8th.)
June 11 - 4-3 win against Yankees. (Down 3-1 in the 8th. Rallied against Sabathia.)

June 12 - 5-2 win at Philadelphia. (Overcame Ryan Howard's 9th inning shot to win in 13)

June 21 - 6-5 win against Atlanta. (The wind turns Nick Green's fly ball into a walk off shot)

June 27 - 1-0 win at Atlanta. (Masterson and Papelbon wiggle out of late jams.)
July 1 - 6-5 win at Baltimore. (Sox score 4 in the 9th and Lugo wins in in the 11th)

July 8 - 5-4 win against Oakland. (Wind keeps Hairston's 9th inning go ahead homer in the ballpark)

July 10 - 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Pedroia drives in the only run with 2 outs in the 8th.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 16

April 14 - 6-5 loss at Oakland. (Sox blow early 3-0 lead. Lose in 12)

April 28 - 9-8 loss at Cleveland. (Sox blow early 5-1 lead. Lopez drops 3rd out.)
May 14 - 5-4 loss at Anaheim. (Ortiz goes 0-7 stranding 12 runners.)
May 15 - 5-4 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox blow their second 4-0 lead in three days.)

May 17 - 3-2 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox strand two in the 9th. Lose in the bottom of the 9th.)

May 23 - 3-2 loss to the Mets. (Papelbon lets up a 2 out 2 run homer in the 9th to Omir Santos)

June 18 - 2-1 loss to the Marlins. (Rain washes out a tight game after 5+ innings.)

June 28 - 2-1 loss to the Braves. (Tying run on base in the 9th. Solid Penny outing wasted)
June 30 - 11-10 loss at Baltimore. (The Red Sox blow a late 10-1 to the lowly Orioles.)
July 3 - 7-6 loss to Seattle. (Red Sox comeback in the 8th only to lose in the 11th.)

July 4 - 3-2 loss to Seattle. (Saito walks three in the 9th as the Mariners rally to win)

July 9 - 8-6 loss to the Royals. (Bullpen blows early 4-0 lead.)

July 21 - 4-2 loss at Texas. (Beckett loses a complete game and the Yankees take over first.)

July 22 - 3-1 loss at Texas. (Sox are swept for the first time all season.)

July 28 - 9-8 loss to Oakland. (Sox blow 3 run lead in 9th. A's rally with 2 outs in 9th and 11th.)

July 29 - 8-6 loss to Oakland. (Down 5-0 in the first, Sox comeback falls short)

Down to -4.

It's been 19 games since we dodged a bullet!

And we've had 4 teeth grinders since then and went from a game up to 3 1/2 back.

Let's hope these are the bad times!

I am grinding my teeth and I shouldn't

To be fair, Sunday's game should not have been a teeth grinder. The Red Sox had won another series... and they got a solid performance from Brad Penny (showing once again some of Theo's best trades are the ones he DOESN'T make.)

But here I sit Monday afternoon grinding my teeth.

Why?

Shouldn't I be encouraged that the Red Sox went in, took 2 of 3 and the one game they lost they got a good pitching performance from Penny but faced a young hot pitcher in Tommy Hanson?

(Are Braves fans still mad that it is Hanson instead of Glavine in the rotation?)

But I'm mad.

They couldn't score 2 more runs? They left the bases loaded in one inning and had the tying run on in the 9th.

Oh who am I kidding? I'm not grinding my teeth because of the Red Sox! They did a good job in Atlanta. If you take 2 of 3 every series, you'd win 108 games!

I'm grinding my teeth at the Mets!

Seriously Mets... you couldn't win ONE GAME at home?

Really? Thanks to the Castillo drop the other week you lose 5 of 6 to the Yankees?

With two games left in June you are at even .500?

YOU FACED CHIEN MING WANG!!!!! He went into last night's game with as many wins in 2009 as Harry Morgan!

(By the way, with all of the recent celebrity deaths, isn't it odd that Harry Morgan is still alive? Did you know he was? I just assumed he died. But I digress.)

How bad is the Mets offense?

Let me put it this way... the Mets drove in 3 runs all weekend.

Mariano Rivera drove in 1.

Rivera matched 1/3 of the Mets offense.

That is grotesque.

Some of the Mets are begging Minaya to make a deal.

What for?

They are a .500 team. They should be dealing VETERANS!

Oh well... it's not entirely the Red Sox fault that they have to sweep a team in order to hold serve... but this isn't about fairness. This is about whether or not my teeth are grinding.

 With sadness I update the board.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 9

April 17 - 10-8 win against Orioles. (Overcame 7-0 deficit.)

April 24 - 5-4 win against Yankees. (Bay homers off of Rivera in 9th to tie it.)

April 25 - 16-11 win against Yankees. (Overcame 6-0 deficit.)

April 29 - 6-5 win at Cleveland. (Overcame 5-0 deficit.)

May 12 - 4-3 win at Anaheim. (Down 3-1 in the 8th.)
June 11 - 4-3 win against Yankees. (Down 3-1 in the 8th. Rallied against Sabathia.)

June 12 - 5-2 win at Philadelphia. (Overcame Ryan Howard's 9th inning shot to win in 13)

June 21 - 6-5 win against Atlanta. (The wind turns Nick Green's fly ball into a walk off shot)

June 27 - 1-0 win at Atlanta. (Masterson and Papelbon wiggle out of late jams.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 8

April 14 - 6-5 loss at Oakland. (Sox blow early 3-0 lead. Lose in 12)

April 28 - 9-8 loss at Cleveland. (Sox blow early 5-1 lead. Lopez drops 3rd out.)
May 14 - 5-4 loss at Anaheim. (Ortiz goes 0-7 stranding 12 runners.)
May 15 - 5-4 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox blow their second 4-0 lead in three days.)

May 17 - 3-2 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox strand two in the 9th. Lose in the bottom of the 9th.)

May 23 - 3-2 loss to the Mets. (Papelbon lets up a 2 out 2 run homer in the 9th to Omir Santos)

June 18 - 2-1 loss to the Marlins. (Rain washes out a tight game after 5+ innings.)

June 28 - 2-1 loss to the Braves. (Tying run on base in the 9th. Solid Penny outing wasted)

Down to +1.

These days nothing cheers me up like a trip to Baltimore. And maybe the Mariners will put up a fight in the Bronx. At least the M's are above .500!

Hmm... the Red Sox didn't seem to have a problem with the Nationals

The Yankees had so much trouble with these guys.

Didn't seem that hard.

It's funny. Even when the Nationals tied the game a few times, I never thought to myself "Oh man, I can't believe we're not going to beat these guys."

Maybe I am cocky. Rooting for the best team in the American League will do that. But at no point did I think the game was in question... even when it was tied going into the 7th. Even when Brad Penny blew the lead...

I never once thought about this being a Teeth Grinder game.

Instead Ellsbury went nuts, they rolled off 8 unanswered runs and will go into the next game hoping to win the series.

Who knows... maybe the Yankees caught one of the historically worst baseball teams ever during a hot streak.

Dice K Oed

Why shouldn't the Red Sox be so quick to deal Brad Penny?

Exhibit A: The massive sea of suck that is known as Daisuke Matsusaka's 2009 season.

Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to deplete our pitching staff.

Can't we put Daisuke on the "F---ed Up By The WBC List" and keep Penny?

Penny for my thoughts

The Red Sox picked up a big burly guy who gives his team a chance to win, seems like a good guy to have in the clubhouse, has a winning record and has October experience.

And he is rumored to be dealt before you finish reading this sentence.

Yes I know John Smoltz looks strong and Clay Buchholz is waiting in the wings... 

But why is it such a tragedy to have a lot of pitching?

When was the last time you heard a contender grumbling about having TOO much pitching?

What are we trading for at this point?

A shortstop? Nick Green has been playing well, Jed Lowrie is about to come back and even Julio Lugo has had a few good games recently.

An outfielder? I'm fine with Bay/Ellsbury/Drew with Baldelli and Kotsay in reserve. (And Jonathan Van Every in Pawtucket.)

A hitter? Well it looks like Papi might be finding his groove. And one of the reserve outfielders can start and Drew can DH if necessary.

A catcher? Varitek and Kottaras are doing the trick fine right now.

So where is the glaring need for a trade right now?

Why not hold off, have the horrible problem of a lot of pitching and see if there are any major injuries down the stretch?

Then again, at this point I just trust Theo.

If I woke up tomorrow and saw Theo dealt Pedroia for a Class A reliever I never heard of, I'd have to say "Well, he knows what he is doing."

Keep doing that Papi... you might pull something

People think I am kidding when I say we need to fake an injury with David Ortiz.

I couldn't be more serious. At this point, if he knicks himself shaving, I want Papi on the 60 Day DL!

Papi on the disabled list I think will start a great domino effect for the Red Sox that could put the Sox in great shape for the long haul.

STEP ONE: 

David Ortiz, one of the great sports heroes in Boston history, is on the 60 Day Disabled List. 

Official reason: 

He had a bad dream last night.

STEP TWO: 

Clay Buchholz (Remember him? Our next ace?) is summoned from Pawtucket where he is 3-0 with a 1.30 ERA.

He is inserted into the rotation.

(I always have to check if it is two C's or two H's!)

STEP THREE: 

Brad Penny is dealt. Yes his 5-1 record looks sexy but his 5.96 ERA and Larry Bowa's rant about his work ethic paint an uglier picture.

However the Sox are in a unique position. His last few starts haven't been bad and it seems like every single team is drooling for pitching.

Peavy is out there (but he's evidently a smidge picky.)

And there is Cliff Lee as well.

Other than those two, who else is really up for grabs? How many people have a pitcher that in 2007 finished third in the Cy Young vote available?

Plus with Peavy not going to an East Coast team, maybe the Red Sox can get the Phillies and Mets scared of each other and pry away a quality minor leaguer.

(Brad Penny is better than Victor Zambrano. I wonder if they have another Scott Kazmir down there!)

STEP FOUR:

Trade for a young position player.

Imagine swiping a good young position player from, say, the Mets. 

Let's say a young third baseman... or a swift outfielder...

Then imagine that player joining the young nucleus with Ellsbury and Pedroia et al.

And then imagine shifting Mike Lowell or J. D. Drew to the DH slot where they can just concentrate on hitting rather than risking injury in the field.

STEP FIVE:

Activate John Smoltz and have him scare the Bejesus out of the young pitchers.

It's always a good thing to have a future Hall of Famer hanging around who was a Cy Young caliber starter AND reliever.

Boom!

You've shored up the rotation, the line up and keep either Drew or Lowell healthy all year.

And all you need is Big Papi to pretend he's hurt!

Come on! The checks will still clear!

That's ONE!

The drought is over for Big Papi.

He now has more home runs this season than Stephen Hawking.

Hopefully that will mean he will be relaxed and quit thinking the weight of all New England is on his shoulders.

I stand by my previous Papi statements.

Not to take away from the euphoria of Papi's blast to centerfield, but I was convinced that Cito Gaston was going to leave poor Brett Cecil in that 5th inning until he gave up a homer to all 9 Red Sox hitters!

But I won't take away from the significance of these two games against the Blue Jays. 

The Jays came in to Fenway on a 4 game winning streak and holding onto first place. They were shut down by two terrific starting pitching performances by Wakefield and Penny and the Sox bats got the hits they needed.

Now the Sox have a 7-0 record against the Yankees and Blue Jays and are doing it with pitching!

Show no mercy. Go for the sweep.

And maybe have Papi double his home run total.

Just have "Dodge More Bullets" games than "I'm Pissed Off" games

Well that was horrible.

Brad Penny was worth less than his name, the Red Sox blew an early 5-1 and 7-3 lead and "SURPRISE!" Javier Lopez found a way to lose the game!

I suppose it is appropriate that Lopez lost the game just before the 11 game streak and then lost the game that ended the streak.

But I suppose I can't get too upset, even though my feelings for Lopez and his worth remain the same as before.

(I give bonus points for Lopez in finding a new and unique way for losing the game. Dropping a 3rd out in the 9th inning? BEAUTIFUL!)

Yes it was another "I'm Pissed Off Game."

But the Red Sox have also had a few "Dodged a Bullet" games in the 11 game stretch.

The game on April 17th against Baltimore... the Red Sox were down 7-0 in the second. The Red Sox had no business winning that game.

The first game against the Yankees, on April 24th... the Red Sox had no business winning a game with two outs, down by two and Rivera on the mound.

And the next day, April 25... the Red Sox were down 6-0 and lifeless and won the game.

So this year, the staff at Sully Baseball is going to keep a running tally of "I'm Pissed Off" games and "Dodged a Bullet" games.

We feel that if the Red Sox dodge more bullets than p*ssing me off, they will have a solid shot at the Division.

Plus it will help temper any anger if the dodging out weighs the p*ssing.

This is getting strange in terms of the wording.

So, here's the tally thus far:

"DODGED A BULLET" GAMES - 3

"I'M PISSED OFF" GAMES - 2

Not bad. 

This tally will be kept up all season long.

And if you think I won't keep it going all season long, then you don't know Sully Baseball!

Worst... Red Sox... Uniform... EVER

They wore these to honor Earth Day?

I think throwing sytrofoam into the mouth of a whale would be a less cringeworthy display than these duds. (Both meanings.)

They were so ugly I didn't want to watch the many highlights.

Yeah Jeff Bailey hit a homer his first time up.
Yeah Big Papi got yet another extra base RBI hit.
Yeah Brad Penny got his second win.
Yeah the Red Sox winning streak is up to 7 and they go into the Yankee series with an identical record as New York and with a world of confidence.

So what?

The uniforms were awful.

They were basically polo shirts with the collars removed.

Plant a bunch of trees and give everyone a reusable bag. But let the Red Sox wear Red Sox uniforms... PLEASE! Weren't those green uniforms for Red Auerbach horrible enough?