The Butler did it!

"The Butler did it!" It was Elimination Day – the day a loss would officially eliminate the last-place Red Sox from postseason possibilities. And the first-place Orioles jumped out to an 8-0 lead though five. In fact, Bruce Chen has a no-hitter going. The redeeming Red Sox moment in the game came when catcher Dan Butler (0-for-11 prior to the game) connected for his first big-league base hit –a double – in the bottom of the sixth. Butler doubled again in the eighth, and singled in the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, Carlos Rivero hit his first major-league home run, a three-run homer. Final score? after a five-run bottom of the ninth: 10-6. 

the fourth #7 of the season - Jemile Weeks

Now that Jemile Weeks' Red Sox debut is official, we note that he's the fourth player to wear #7 just this year:

Stephen Drew              2013-14

Ryan Roberts               2014

Kelly Johnson               2014

Jemile Weeks               2014

And the 33rd in Red Sox history.

What a debut: picked off first base in the top of the 10th.

Which former Red Sox player was once called "the most conceited chap in the world"?

You can read about Bill Piercy here:


http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/d177daed

Red Sox players with unique first and last names

Which Sox players have both a first name and a last name, neither of which are shared by anyone else in baseball history? Nope, not Rusney Castillo. Not Hipolito Pichardo. Not Josias Manzanillo. Not George Stone. Not even Covelli Crisp. These are the ones we came up (with three of them from just 2006). If you find another one, be sure to let us know.

Elden Auker

Truman Clevenger

Gar Finnvold

Kason Gabbard

Creighton Gubanich

Devern Hansack

Smead Jolley

Daisuke Matsuzaka

Dustan Mohr

Hideo Nomo

Tomokazu Ohka

Arquimedez Pozo

Osee Schrecengost

Heathcliff Slocumb

LaSchelle Tarver

Ugueth Urbina

One might think Nomar Garciaparra would belong on the list, but Kiko Calero’s full name was Enrique Nomar Calero. Admittedly, that’s pretty obscure.

Signing the one and only Rusney...

There's never been another Rusney in the majors.

Signing Rusney, and what comes next? With all the other signings the Red Sox have had recently, they - seriously - have about 20 players more than they can fit on the 40-man roster. That means LOTS of players to package in trades. Not just players they have available to trade - players they actually HAVE to trade. Who they MUST trade.

"Stanton? We want 10 prospects." "Sure, here you go - take your pick."

Or whatever. And the thing is, they really do HAVE to trade all those guys, or just plain lose them. It's going to be a busy time.

Why David Ortiz no longer spits on his hands before he bats

When I wrote the article "Ritualistic Behavior" for Red Sox Magazine (it ran in June 2011), I asked David Ortiz about spitting on his batting gloves before gripping the bat.

His answer?

 “I just do it to make sure I get a good grip - make sure my glove is sticky. The pine tar will dry up, so once you put something wet on it, then you get a better grip. I didn’t even know that I did that until people told me!” 

Now he doesn't do it anymore?  Why not?  A new product on the market - Lizard Skins.  Peter Abraham tells the full story in today's (March 11, 2014) Boston Globe.  Here's a link (hope it works for you):


https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/08/11/with-red-sox-bat-preparation-gripping-tale/eMfe7iy0X4GztsuWX5GVDN/story.html

Has David Ortiz really been so far this year as some people seem to suggest?

Has David Ortiz really been so bad this year as some people seem to say?

His batting average is off significantly - .245 compared to .284 lifetime.  That's a real decline. It's the lowest it's ever been in any of his years with the Red Sox.

His on-base percentage is .338, more than 40 points below his career average .379.  And his slugging is down, too, to .490 compared to a career .545.

With the team as a whole hitting so poorly, it's not surprising that the number of runs he has scored is down significantly as well.

But there are two areas where he doesn't come off too poorly. Not at all.  As far as driving runs in, he's driven in 84 already.  It would be surprising if he didn't surpass 100.  Math genius that I am, I have to ask: doesn't 84 RBIs at this point in the season, project to about 116 RBIs?   

That would be the most since the 117 RBIs he had in 2007.  That's pretty good, isn't it?

Second on the Red Sox this year is Pedroia, with 43 RBIs.  Ortiz had almost double the second-closest contender.

Home runs are a big part of RBIs, of course, for a slugger like the Large Father. He's got 26 so far this season.  Does that project to 36?  Even in 2007, he didn't hit many (he hit 35). The last year he hit more was in 2006 when he set the franchise record with 54 homers.

Maybe it's fashionable to pooh-pooh RBIs, but runs can make the difference between wins and losses. I don't know how well-timed his run production has been this year - did many of them come in games where the Red Sox were losing?  Still, to have more than twice the RBIs of almost anyone else on the team has to count for something, and to be driving in runs at a faster pace than any year since 2007 also has to count for something, too.