Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- RIP attorney Ted Olson. Perhaps the greatest Supreme Court attorney of his generation.

- Rays to play 2025 season at Tampa's Steinbrenner Field. I had wondered about this very thing yesterday.

-  I want this. (HT Some Its Just as Well)

- Jon Gruden joins Barstool Sports. Get the popcorn ready.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh

- This is indeed poor advertising for Russian made missile defense systems

- The Tampa Bay Water Pancakes? I like it!

- You might think you're cool but you'll never be Rogie Vachon in the 70's cool.

- They better be including the red hat with the outfit

- I for one welcome our robot overlords

- Excellent simple straight-forward advice

Royals / Rays Trade

Jeff Passan (a favorite) has a very good breakdown of the big trade that just sent James Shields to the Royals and uber prospect Wil Myers to the Rays.

This trade very much reminds me of the trade that send Josh Beckett to the Red Sox and uber prospect Hanley Ramirez to the Marlins. That trade ended up being a win for both teams. The Red Sox got a final piece that allowed them to meet their goal of winning the World Series while the Marlins got a young superstar under team control. The extra piece that ended up giving value way beyond what was expected in that trade was Mike Lowell who would go on to become the World Series MVP for Boston. Wade Davis is giving off that vibe for me in this trade for Kansas City. Please note that I'm not saying Shields is the final piece for a Royals World Series - their goal is simply to be competitive in the AL Central and I think this trade helps them with that goal.

It should also be noted that if sabermetric GM Theo Epstein was in place at the time for Boston then that trade may never have happened and the Red Sox could still be searching for their second Series win. Point is sometimes sabermetrics doesn't tell the whole story. I consider myself a stats guy but I also realize that games aren't won on the spreadsheet.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Rock Star Scientist posters. I love these but I wouldn't think of paying $1,200 for a set of posters

- Presidential quotes quiz. I got 6 of 8.

- Hubble Snaps Sharpest-Ever Photo of Dead Green Quasar

- A man-made earthquake from Seattle's 12th man during Marshawn Lynch's memorable TD run

- Very moving story of the decency of Southwest Airlines and one of their pilots.

- Bruce Springsteen and the Right. Interesting essay by the Baseball Crank.

- Earth's magnetic pole is moving 40 miles per year. I think this is a major factor in climate change.

- Nice analysis of the Matt Garza trade.

- Heh heh - Funny church signs

Garza the Out-taker

Last night Matt Garza the Out-taker threw a no-hitter. A Large Regular was lucky enough to catch up with him to ask a few questions.

ALR: Were you nervous at all when the game was going on?

Garza the Out-taker: Well I started getting nervous in the seventh inning but then I started picturing scenes from Sarah Plain and Tall and I was at peace.

ARL: Were you aware that Tampa Bay had never had a pitcher who threw a no-hitter?

Garza the Out-taker: Yes I was and I willed it so.

ALR: I understand that that you do some charitable work battling teenage pregnancy with the The Candie's Foundation in New York City.

Garza the Out-taker: Yes I've worked combating teen pregnancy with Hayden Panettiere and Bristol Palin for the Candie's Foundation in New York City. I'm a very religious man who believes that if a person's not married by the time he's 35, he's got a better chance of being robbed at gunpoint by a desperate and somewhat bloated Christian Slater. I'm a big believer of teenage marriage coming from teenage pregnancy. It worked for me.

Morning Links

Some interesting links to go with your morning coffee break.

- Investing in Superstars - very interesting concept about investing in people and getting a return off their lifetime earnings. Personal Investment Contracts could be the new new thing.

- Sports betting destroys poker bankrolls. I've been guilty of this.

- Tampa Bay sends Iwamura to the Pirates for Chavez. Salary dump by the Rays but still a good pickup for Pittsburgh. No truth to the rumor that Iwamura means "Freddy Sanchez" in Japanese.

- Alan Sepinwall on 30 for 30's Without Bias.

Pick of the Day

So the Mariners were up 3-0 going into the 9th inning and just then David Aardsma's fairy dust, deal with the devil or whatever faded away or maybe suddenly he just remembered "Hey, I'm David Aardsma and I'm really not that good" but the result was the Orioles scoring 5 runs in the top of the 9th to snatch my POTD victory out of my greedy little hands. It was like a kick in the gut. I couldn't even bring myself to make a POTD yesterday.

Tonight we are getting back on the horse and taking Tampa Bay at home (-$160) against the A's and the rookie Vin Mazzaro who has a 6.35 ERA in his last 3 starts.

POTD record 10-4 and plus a mythical $533

It's All Over

The Rays beat the Red Sox 3-1 last night to advance to the World Series while the Red Sox get to take the rest of the fall and winter off.

Some Red Sox fans will blame the loss of the ALCS on Mike Timlin who lost game 2 in the 11th inning. The thinking goes that if Mike Timlin was not in that game - then the Red Sox would have eventually won and would have been up 2 games to zero. Those fans who think this way can at least find solace in the fact that Mike Timlin probably won't be around to give up late inning leads next season. Timlin is a free agent and unless the Red Sox feel very strong pangs of loyalty - then Mike Timlin and his 5.66 ERA and his $3 million contract will be coming off the books.

I'm of the mindset that the Red Sox lost because Tampa Bay was simply the better team. The Rays had better hitting and better starting pitching. Sure things may have been different if the Red Sox had a healthy Mike Lowell and a Josh Beckett at 100% but they did not. This year the Rays were best when it counted most. Red Sox fans have next year to look forward to but a word of warning - these Rays will be another year more mature next season and they will have David Price coming into a rotation that is already formidable. This Tampa Bay team is not a fluke or a one-year wonder.

Besides Mike Timlin - the Red Sox will also Manny Ramirez's $20 million coming off the books (minus Jason Bay's $7.5 million) plus Curt Schilling's $8 million. That's $23.5 million right there. That should be enough to go after a CC Sabathia or a AJ Burnett. Here's the rub though - if you bring in a top flight free agent then you get a double whammy - you lose your first round draft pick and then what do you do with Tim Wakefield? There's only so many slots in the rotation. Beckett, Dice-K, and Lester have their slots. Do you make Wakefield the 5th starter? At just $4 million he's a low cost insurance plan and if anyone deserves the team's loyalty - its Tim Wakefield.

The big question of course is Jason Varitek. My guess is that the team offers Varitek arbitration and he accepts or they work out a one year deal (maybe with an option). I just don't see Varitek playing anywhere else other than Boston.

Slip Slidin' Away

Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away

The Red Sox chances of advancing to the World Series are slip slidin' away. The Red Sox were trounced last night 13-4 and now trail the Tampa Bay Rays 3 games to one. This is a hole I don't think the Red Sox will be able to dig out of.

There I said it.

Does that make me a bad fan? No it just makes me a realist. I'll still follow each of the team's offseason moves with baited breath but I'm now convinced the offseason is much closer than Red Sox fans wish it was.

I only watched the first inning of last night's game. Does that make me a bad fan? No it just makes me squeamish. After seeing the Rays race out to a 3-0 lead off two HR in the first inning I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach. The same feeling you got watching an old Lucy Show or Laverne and Shirley show where you knew the girl(s) were going to get into trouble of their own making. That feeling makes me uncomfortable.

Instead of watching - I tuned into the movie Hitman on HBO.

I enjoyed the mindless violence and especially the fact that it starred Deadwood star Timothy Olyphant. The movie was a blatant rip off of the Bourne Identity movies even with the same ominous techno background music. But it was enjoyable nonetheless.

During the movie - I kept track of the game on Yahoo! That was much less enjoyable.

I couldn't even bear to watch the lowlights on SportsCenter - so I watched a re-run of Rome instead.

It will probably end up being a Tampa Bay vs. Philly match-up in the World Series. I'll be rooting for Philly. It's not that I'm vindictive against the Rays - it's just that I have friends in Philly and I'll be pulling for them.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Red Sox are 3.5 games behind the Rays but keep in mind that the Red Sox have 7 more home games left than the Rays. The Rays play their next 9 games on the road and they play their last 8 games on the road. I still think the Red Sox will catch the Rays but that Tampa Bay will make the playoffs as the Wild Card... Too little too late. The Indians are 20-10 in their last 30 games. That’s the same as the Red Sox and 1 game less than the Rays. Where was this Indians teams earlier in the season? Keep in mind that they went 20-10 without CC Sabathia. The Indians should have been the team to beat in the AL Central this year... Today would have been Nap Lajoie's 132nd birthday. Lajoie is one of the most under-rated players in baseball history and easily the best player to ever come from the State of Rhode Island...

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Red Sox have played 5 more road games than Tampa Bay and 7 more than the Yankees. That's perhaps the most important thing to understand about the dynamics of the race for the AL East going forward. Boston will feast at home while neither the Rays or Yankees should expect to do anything but hover around .500 on the road... If the reports are true - that the Marlins nixed the deal that would have netted them Manny because they wanted an extra $2 million from Boston - then that's disgusting. Here's a team that is right in the thick of a playoff race and they could have added a bat like Manny? The payoff of playoff games is bound to be more than $2 million. The Marlins made a big mistake in not making that deal. I'm officially rooting against the Marlins now... The problem for the Tigers is that they just can't beat the teams in their own division. Detroit is just 20-28 against other AL Central teams. If the Tigers can put together a moderately sized winning streak - then I expect they can get right into the middle of the race. In fact even though they are 6.5 games back and have lost their last 3 games - I still expect the Tigers to win the AL Central. The Twins have a lot of road games yet to play so I expect them to turn back into a pumpkin. And honestly - I just don't see the White Sox as anything but a .500 team... If the NL Cy Young was awarded today - I would hope that Tim Lincecum would be the winner. What he's doing with a lousy Giants team is incredible... Remember how people were talking about Lance Berkman and how he had a legitimate shot at winning the triple crown? Then Berkman went out and hit ZERO home runs in July. Needless to say but you don't hear that triple crown talk anymore... Today should have been Rod Beck's 40th birthday. RIP Shooter...

Tampa Bay Rays Starting Pitching

The Boston Red Sox are very careful about overworking young pitchers. You can see this in how they are handling Clay Buchholz. The Yankees are treating Joba Chamberlain in a similar manner. I was curious about how the Tampa Bay Rays pitching will look at the end of the season and if possibly - overwork could be a factor down the stretch. Here's what I found.

James Shields is on pace to pitch 215 innings - the same as he did last season.
Andy Sonnanstine is on pace to pitch 201 innings this season - also the exact same number as he pitched in 2007 (MLB and minors combined)
Edwin Jackson, however, is on pace to pitch 192 innings. Jackson has never pitched more than 161 in a season.
Matt Garza is on pace to pitch 168 innings when the most he's pitched in the past is 135.
Scott Kazmir is on pace for only 133 inning because he spent so much time on the DL to start the season. His arm should be relatively rested and I'd guess he'll end up with much more than 133 innings but well shy of the 206 he pitched last year.

Fatigue probably is a concern for the Tampa front office in regards to both Jackson and Garza. David Price will probably be called up to give Jackson or Garza some rest but injury to one of the Rays starting pitching could be a huge issue. That's why I expect them to be active in the trade market for a starter like a Randy Wolf or possibly Rich Harden.

It should also be noted that going into today - Tampa Bay has played 11 more home games than road games so far this season. The Red Sox have played 9 more road games than home games. I've said it before - but when that even out - the Red Sox will be back in first place.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Tampa Bay Rays are for real and what is scary is that down the stretch they will probably also add highly touted prospect David Price.... Of course the same could be said about the Red Sox and Clay Buchholz... For those Red Sox fans who are pressing the panic button - I say relax. It's not even the All-Star break yet and keep in mind that so far the Rays have played 5 more home games than road games while the Red Sox have played 4 more road games than home games. When that flips in the second half of the season - it will also flip the Rays out of first and the Red Sox back where they belong... Happy birthday to super nice guy Sean Casey who is currently the Red Sox back-up 1st baseman and pinch hitter extrodinaire. For some reason I thought Casey was older than 34... I wonder if the Red Sox would make a run at free agent Pat Burrell instead of picking up Manny's option? Burrell has 20 HR already this season and sports an OPS+ of 156. Before you think that he's putting up numbers because he plays his home games in a bandbox - consider that Burrell has only 6 HR at home and 14 on the road.