Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Red Sox blew that game last night against the Yankees. There's no other way to put it. Hideki Okajima and Papelbon have been so good this season - it is tough to begrudge them a poor outing (although it sucks that they both chose the same night to have it)... Last season David Ortiz hit 54 HR and had an OPS of 1.049. This season Ortiz has 31 HR and an OPS of 1.035. However, his OPS+ (which takes into account league year over year averages - 100 is league average for any given year) is higher this year (168) than last (164). This is mainly due to power being down league wide this year versus last year... JD Drew is such a tease. He's hitting .353 so far in September. On the flip side - Drew has just 8 HR this season for the Red Sox. Wily Mo Pena has hit 8 home runs since being traded to the Nationals... Kevin Youkilis has yet to commit an error at 1st base this season. Even though Youk has been literally perfect at 1st this year - the Gold Glove will probably go to someone else... The Blue Jays loss last night dropped them under .500 for the season. I think people expected more out of Toronto this season. Do you think JP Riccardi is wishing he traded Troy Glaus at the trade deadline?... Miguel Tejada hs been making noise about wanting to be traded away from the Orioles. Who does he think he is? What market does he think exists for a 31-year old shortstop whose power has been decreasing every year he's been in Baltimore and who was named as a steroids user by Jose Canseco in Canseco's book? Tejada should just shut the hell up.... Since the All-Star break Tom Glavine has been 6-0 with a 3.5 ERA. I can see why he'd want to come back for another year...