I have a lot on my mind. Which is why I’m going to put
all those random things about baseball here, in short little bursts of anger,
disbelief, and happiness. Or some other emotion I’m failing to mention. At the
very least, I hope to bring up some things to think about.

Leading
off, I want to mention how relieved I am after today’s performance by Jon
Lester. He threw seven innings, no runs on four hits, and nine strikeouts. He
said there was nothing wrong with him after his first two outings, and today proved
that he wasn’t lying. We just need to see this continue.

The Red Sox
released yesterday that Jed Lowrie might need season ending surgery. Surgery is
never something to wish for, so I will simply hope that Jed doesn’t play
another game for the Sox this year. Don’t get me wrong, I really pulled for him
last season, and I thought he would be a promising player in the very near
future. But in the past three months of playing time for Jed, he’s batted .189,
with 45 strikeouts in 127 at bats. That’s one strikeout for every 2.8 at bats.
He was 1 for 18 this year before getting injured. His range is below average,
and his fielding is not nearly good enough to make up for his poor hitting. He
either needs to start coming through with the bat the way he did when he first
broke into the league, or the Sox need to realize that shortstop is a major
problem for them.

With Lowrie
being out and Julio Lugo being an $18 million trainwreck still on the DL, the
Sox turned to Nick Green to fill in. People noticed because all of a sudden,
the Red Sox shortstop was fielding well and hitting the ball, something unheard
of in Boston since Orlando Cabrera. Nick Green has played very well since
filling in, coming through with some clutch hits and a sure glove. If it was up
to me, I would keep him in, even if Lowrie was healthy. The thing that worries
me is the fact that he has never been an everyday player, and his career
average is .241. But he wants to prove that he can play, and he’s worked hard
to make it to the Red Sox roster this year. And so far, he’s done better than
anyone’s expected.

Keeping
along the shortstop thread, one of the biggest mistakes the Sox have made in
terms of players is letting Orlando Cabrera slip away after 2004. Since then,
he’s batted .257, .282, .301, and .281, while hitting either 8 or 9 home runs
each season. Not only that, but he’s been healthy. Further, he’s made 50 errors
in the past four years, compared to 87 errors made by Red Sox shortstops in the
past four years. Keep in mind, that one of those years, 2006, Alex Gonzalez
played short, and he is one of the best defensive players in the game. He made
only 7 errors in 110 games that season. My point is that the Red Sox have had a
void at the position since 2004, and it’s a bigger problem than people realize.

Why did the
Angels change their location? The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is just
ridiculous. Why not keep them simply in Anaheim? Nobody has been able to
explain this to me. And I refuse to call them the aforementioned name. They are
located in Anaheim, they are the Angels from Anaheim.

Speaking of
changing names, I didn’t notice that the Rays had dropped the Devil in their
name last year until halfway through the season. I had noticed that they had
changed their uniform to simply say “Rays,” but I just figured the
team was just changing their uniform. I’m still getting used to it. I do like
how they simply dropped one word, and came out with a completely different
mascot. I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t figure out another team that has
done that. It’s an interesting concept.

Many people
said that the Rays played well last year because they dropped the
“Devil” from their name. While I’m still not sold on curses in
sports, I love that fact that someone thought of this. And I love when people
attribute supernatural causes to performance. Being a Red Sox fan, I’m very
familiar with the Curse of the Bambino. Cubs fans are no doubt privy to the
Curse of the Billy Goat. I’ve noticed that whether a team plays well or a team
plays poorly, there’s always a supernatural reason for it. And it makes sense.
Fans need something to blame when things don’t go their team’s way. It’s just
one more way baseball fans are the most superstitious beings in the world. I
wanted to kick the crap out of a friend of mine the other day during
Wakefield’s no hit bid. Of course, he had to mention that fact that Wake was in
the middle of a no-hitter. And right on cue, the next batter ripped a line
drive to left, breaking it up. I still blame him. What else can you do?

I will end
with Beckett’s suspension. It’s crap. And ESPN agrees, joking about it when
there was similar play in another game. Time was called very late in Beckett’s
windup, and he had been keeping a close eye at Chone Figgins at second. He was
going through his windup, which was thrown off when he realized time was
called. There is no way that Major League Baseball can ascertain beyond a
shadow of a doubt that there was an intent to throw at Abreu’s head. The umpire
crew saw the play as non-intentional, and it’s strange to see the League simply
overrule them in this type of situation. After the threat of appealing, the
sentence was reduced to 5 games, which is confusing, as it has minimal effect
on the Red Sox rotation. Which makes me wonder why suspend Beckett at all? The
whole thing seems to have blown out of proportion, and I think the League has
realized that. Beckett had this to say in response to the altercation:

“I don’t really feel
like I’ve done anything…I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. Am I supposed
to give him a hug? I wasn’t really in a hugging mood right then. I really don’t
know what he wanted me to do.”

Abreu probably didn’t want a hug either