It's Like Victor Always Says - No One Is Perfect

God, why is no one perfect?

Victor has had a lot of opportunities lately to remind us that no one is perfect. He only took two of those opportunities to actually say it out loud (when DiceK pitched last and after that terrible performance from Clay the other night) but he easily could have mentioned it at least a dozen times more. I honestly don't remember off the top of my head the outcomes of all the games in the last couple of series but I know there was plenty of not perfect playing going on.

John Lackey looked sharp on Saturday night (much sharper than I was since the game started so late) but as is his MO he had one bad inning and blew it. And then Daniel Bard came in and made things worse. I didn't like Bard's explanation that he didn't have enough adrenalin going. You keep that up buddy and I'll get your adrenaline going. Josh Beckett yesterday was both good and bad. Walking 4 batters in a row is never a good thing but he ended up with the win. I can just imagine Lackey thinking to himself that he had pitched better the day before and it was everyone else's fault that he didn't win.

As for me, I'm enjoying fall baseball and watching these exhibition games without looking over my shoulder at the Yankees and the Rays.  Soon enough we will be without.

Cuts Like a Knife

Perhaps I am dating myself here but Bryan Adams' "Cuts Like a Knife" video was the first video I ever saw on MTV (at my grandmother's house, we didn't have cable at the time). Yesterday's Red Sox game reminded me of that video, minus the "but it feels so right" line and Bryan Adams hanging out in an empty swimming pool.

Watching Oki blow that game was like a knife to the gut. I was standing there pounding my forehead with my fist and screaming at Tito to get him out of there. The offense could have made a comeback. It was not beyond possibility but with the way they've been hitting lately it would have been surprising. 

Tonight (hopefully) we get the return of V-Mart which can only be good. I must admit to having some trepidation that his long absence will has cooled his bat off, especially since he got off to such a slow start this season. Also, I don't want to heap too much hope on one guy. V-Mart's a good hitter but he's not going to single-handedly turn things around. We do have John Lackey on the mound tonight and he has been pitching pretty well lately but if even Jon Lester couldn't get a win I'm not counting on starting pitching to win this for us. Three more nights of these west coast games and then the boys come home (and we can all go to bed at a reasonable hour again).

The Week There Was No Baseball

This past week I was on vacation without a TV and went an entire week without seeing a baseball game and let me tell you, it was no fun. I tried to convince my husband to bring our old satellite dish and a receiver but he just looked at me like I was crazy. Of course, Josh Beckett chose the week I was on vacation to make his return and I did listen to 3 innings of that game on Friday because it was Josh Beckett and I had to be present in some way for his return. Despite my having missed everything this week I still have some random thoughts about the Red Sox to share.

- How odd to come back to find Nava gone, Hermida back, and Lowrie raised from the dead.

- Patterson went from hero to the goat pretty quickly after his error broke up Lester's perfect game last night.

- I called my sister yesterday and told her that for now she can wear the Wacky for Lackey shirt I bought her with pride but not to get too comfortable in it.

- Victor Martinez could be back as soon as Monday! Woot! I have been pretty down on Kevin Cash but as @shelley1005 pointed out to me last night on Twitter imagine what the past few weeks would have been like without him. So a big hat tip to Cash.

- Could a couple of weeks on the DL really cause Clay to have that much rust to shake off?

- I know Big Papi hit a home run last night and it was great to see him prove the naysayers wrong by winning the Home Run Derby but I still think there is a correlation between his decreased home runs since All-Star break and his participation.

- Who would have thought Scott Atchison would be so durable and useful?

- Jon Lester angry is a scary sight. I wouldn't want to meet angry Jon Lester anywhere. I would bet Hanley Ramirez agrees with me.

- I think Youk's new beard is a good look for him.

- Found out this morning that Daniel Bard is the Red Sox union player's representative. Daniel Bard? If I were a player on the Red Sox I would want someone aggressive to be my rep. Maybe Youk or Beltre.

- Josh Beckett is back. Need I say more?

Do you have any random Red Sox thoughts? Share below.

Photo from http://letsgosox.blogspot.com/

It Doesn't Matter Who the Sox Put Out There to Play - They Just Keep Winning

The Internet was alive with speculation during Monday's off day that despite all the injuries the team had that it wouldn't slow them down because the Red Sox have the right attitude, they have moxie, and they are going to grind it out without some of their best players.

I have been working on a big project at work this week and haven't had too much time to think about the Red Sox but when I have, I've worried that all this hyperbole about how gritty they are were would turn on them against the Rays last night. Lucky for us, the Rays have their own stories which are all over the Internet. Not to say the Rays didn't put up a fight last night but we won handily with our motley crew of players out there.

Homeruns by Ortiz and Bill Hall helped things, along with some fine pitching out of Lackey. It was nice to see Lackey digging in and getting strikes and outs and not struggling so much. The bullpen of course, remains a big issue. When Oki came in in the 7th the Sox were up by 7 points. By the 9th inning Tito had to have Pap come out because it turned into a save situation. This from the same bullpen who saved the day on Saturday when Clay got hurt. Why oh why can they not be more consistent?

I can't say my fears that the many injuries this team has sustained isn't going to effect their playing have been assuaged but last night was a good step in that direction.

Lackey - Performing Up to My Low Expectations

I hate to write a negative post about a pitcher before a game he starts but the more I think about John Lackey's start this evening, the more I just don't want to watch him pitch. I have already blogged a once or twice about how I feel about Lackey and I've always maintained that if he started pitching better I would be willing to throw my support his way. Alas, as the season goes on he hasn't pitched much better and my initial reaction to him is starting to solidify.

Random Red Sox Thoughts

- Two wins against the Angels! Who would have thought that after being swept by the Orioles last weekend.

- Jon Lester is a pitching god. There is just no other way to describe it.

- Booing your own players at Fenway Park is unacceptable no matter how they are playing. Talk trash about them in your living room, on your Twitter feed, or anywhere else but do not boo them at Fenway.

- Dustin Pedoria is a gritty ballplayer. That out he made last night was jaw dropping. I'm so glad he is on our team. Imagine if he wasn't?

- You know I love me a good Josh Beckett quote and so I often read Rob Bradford's articles because he seems to be the only reporter that Josh talks to. I got this gem from an article Bradford wrote about the team's chemistry. "I was actually noticing this the other day, that we've got an abnormal amount of beer-drinking buddies. Not that we drink too much beer, but that we get along." Right Josh. I know you and Lackey are putting away a case of Lone Star beer every night and Clay is trying to keep up with the two of you.

- Darnell McDonald is a good offensive player but mediocre in the outfield. Yes, I said it.

- I often feel bad for the losing team when they show them looking discouraged in the dugout. Not so with the Angels. I felt they deserved it by putting that really terrible relief guy in and because I just really don't like the Angels and Mike Scioscia.

- Lackey takes on his old team tonight. Looking forward to this match up!

Lackey Laughs at all of Clay's Jokes

You'd never know that the season had started by reading this blog since I haven't written anything since before Opening Night. Rest assured readers that I have been keeping up with the goings on of the Red Sox and just have been too busy and overwhelmed by all of it to write about it.

I'm sure you are all up to speed on the Sox' Opening Night victory and last night's defeat due to our shortstop's error and Okie's bad inning so I won't bother going into that. If you aren't up to speed on those things I recommend you go to boston.com and read about it. And I know you are all thinking I'm going to write about Josh Beckett's contract extension but really I've got nothing to say about that beyond breathing a huge sigh of relief.

In fact, there was a Clay Buchholz quote about Lackey this morning in an article at redsox.com that caught my eye. "He makes you feel good, because he laughs at all your jokes. He's always smiling. He's just a good guy to have on the clubhouse and on the field." My first thought was that Clay often has sweetly goofy things like that to say about people but then I thought, I wonder how bad Clay's jokes are? Does he often tell jokes and people don't laugh at them? Is that why he likes that trait so much in Lackey? Does he try to tell jokes to serious Jon Lester and snarky Josh Beckett and not get the reaction he's hoping for?

Despite my vocal pre-season dislike of John Lackey, the fact that he laughs at Clay's jokes bumps him way up in my estimation. Now if he can pitch well tonight he might clinch his place among my favorites (which number close to 25).

Lackey is Starting to Win Me Over

(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

I have never been a Lackey fan. I couldn't stand him when he was with the Angels and played against the Red Sox and I railed against him when Theo signed him this winter. But I just may have to admit that he is starting to win me over. His nine scoreless innings are a huge part of it. The fact that he kind of talks like a surfer dude despite being from Texas is part of it (too much time in California perhaps). This quote was another point in his favor "But honestly, I’d probably like to give up a couple runs here. I don’t want to bring them all north with me.”"

But the fact that Josh Beckett likes him is the real reason I am inclined to look upon him more favorably these days.

So now that we've seen all 3 aces pitch...

With John Lackey taking the mound against the Twins today we finalized seeing our 3 aces in action. Josh Beckett pitched on Thursday going two innings with one run, Jon Lester pitched on Friday with 4 runs in one inning as the result, and John Lackey pitched today with two scoreless innings. And what can we take away from these results? I think absolutely nothing. If we want to be optimistic we can say that Josh and John did well and that bodes well for the season or we could be pessimistic and say that since Jon did poorly that doesn't bode well for the season. I don't think either of those opinions would necessarily be accurate though. Spring Training is a time for the pitchers to loosen up, get a feel for their pitching, try out something new or refine what they already excel at. If Jon Lester gives up 4 runs in one inning on April 6th I'll be worried, but not now.

No, Spring Training is more of a time to just enjoy the fact that baseball has made a reappearance. Time to reacquaint ourselves with the team and get to know the prospects. So I'm just going to sit back and enjoy and save the worrying for April. Or maybe even postpone it until August.