Analyzing the early-season trends.Byline: Bill Ballou COLUMN: BILL BALLOU It is still only April, after all, and not too much should be made of the early season. Who really thinks the Royals and Mariners will win their respective division titles, for instance? Of course, at this time last April, the Rays were in the process of completing a three-game series sweep of the Red Sox in St. Petersburg, and who really thought that would last, either? It is never too early to start drawing conclusions, though, so here are some: Kevin Youkilis Kevin Edmund Youkilis (born March 15, 1979, in Cincinnati, Ohio), nicknamed "Youk" and "The Greek God of Walks," is an American Major League Baseball player. Youkilis is a first baseman and right-handed batter who plays for the Boston Red Sox. seems serious about winning himself an American League American League (AL) One of the two associations of professional baseball teams in the U.S. and Canada designated as major leagues; the other is the National League (NL). Most Valuable Player Award. Dustin Pedroia Dustin Luis Pedroia (born August 17, 1983) is a Major League Baseball player for the Boston Red Sox, and played college baseball at the Arizona State University. Pedroia made his major league debut and collected his first major league hit on August 22, 2006 against the Los Angeles won it comfortably last season with 317 points in the voting compared to Youkilis' - who finished third - 201 points, but there really was not that much difference between their two seasons, at least by the numbers. What propelled Pedroia to the top was a sense that he had better intangibles in terms of making big plays and getting big hits and providing leadership, but in the early going, Youkilis is doing those kinds of things, like hitting extra-inning home runs to beat the Yankees. Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig, Jr. (born July 30, 1934 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was previously the team owner and administrator of the Milwaukee Brewers. got it right when he suggested that everybody calm down for a while over the home run totals in the new Yankee Stadium  This article or section is about a planned or proposed stadium.It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or . One homestand is way too small of a sample size to start tinkering with the design. It could be one odd patch of weather or it could just be a string of bad pitching - Chien-Ming Wang Chien-Ming Wang (Traditional Chinese: 王建民) (born March 31, 1980 in Tainan City, Taiwan) is a starting pitcher for the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball. was creamed in extended spring training, too. When the Phillies opened Citizens Bank Park in 2004, it was a launching pad and baseball people were saying that the Phils would never be able to keep good pitching around because nobody worth anything wanted to have his ERA ruined. The Phillies seem to have survived rather nicely, seeing as they are defending world champions. For the first time in his Red Sox career, at any point in any season, David Ortiz David Ortiz (born November 18, 1975 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball designated hitter who has played for the Boston Red Sox since 2003. Previously, Ortiz played for the Minnesota Twins (1997-2002). has hit more triples than home runs, which might be OK if it were five triples, but it's one. April production has usually been a pretty good indicator of where Ortiz's season is headed. In 2006, when he set a team record with 54 home runs, Ortiz hit 10 in April. Last year, on his way to a career low 23 with the Sox, he hit 5 in April. One fairly encouraging sign with Ortiz this month, though, has been the relative success he's had going to the opposite field. When he first arrived in town, Ortiz used the left field wall a lot for doubles and from 2003 through 2005, he popped 11 home runs over it. In three-plus years since, he's has hit only four homers over the Green Monster This article is about the left-field wall at Fenway Park. For other uses, see Green Monster (disambiguation). The Green Monster (often known simply as The Monster or The Wall) is the nickname of the 37-foot, two-inch (11. . It has not been a good month for Boston's three products of the Japanese leagues. Daisuke Matsuzaka Daisuke Matsuzaka (松坂 大輔 Matsuzaka Daisuke , Hideki Okajima Hideki Okajima (岡島 秀樹 Okajima Hideki and Takashi Saito have combined to pitch 18-1/3 innings and have given up 26 hits, 11 walks and 17 earned runs. That's an ERA of 8.35. I wish I could take back my Cy Young Award from last year, but I'm glad I'm not one of the people who picked the Rays to repeat as American League East The American League East Division is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Four of its five teams are located in Eastern United States and one in Canada Current members
Cliff Lee (born Clifton Phifer Lee on August 30, 1978, in Benton, Arkansas) is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball. has already lost as many games in April as he lost in the entire 2008 season and Tampa Bay Tampa Bay, inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, 25 mi (40 km) long and 7 to 12 mi (11.3–19 km) wide, W Fla., separated from the Gulf by numerous small islands; it receives the Hillsborough River. St. is playing like the Devil Adv. 1. like the devil - with great speed or effort or intensity; "drove like crazy"; "worked like hell to get the job done"; "ran like sin for the storm cellar"; "work like thunder"; "fought like the devil" Rays used to. You only change a nickname so many times. Could Lee turn out to be the worst AL Cy Young winner ever? The competition includes Bob Turley Turley was signed as an amateur free agent by the St. Louis Browns in . , who won it for the Yankees in 1958 with a 21-7 record, then went 8-11 in '59; Pete Vuckovich
Baseball Jeopardy Answers. 1. He has hit the most home runs, in a Red Sox uniform, by any native of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. . 2. He has surrendered the most lifetime home runs to Boston batters by any Tampa Bay pitcher. 3. The last left-handed batter to hit three home runs in a game for the Red Sox. Questions below. Expensive DL The Red Sox are a nickel and dime shy of having $32 million worth of salary on the disabled list, about $5 million less than the entire payroll of the NL East leading Florida Marlins. About $9 million of the Sox DL payroll will be back on the active roster with the return of Julio Lugo. Who would have imagined Red Sox fans yearning for the return of Lugo? Nick Green may have more home runs this month than Ortiz, but also has five errors in 12 games at shortstop. Jed Lowrie still hasn't committed an error in 54 regular-season games at short. ... With Kason Gabbard returning to the Red Sox, the book is getting close to be closed on what seemed like a momentous trade at the time between Boston and the Rangers - Gabbard, David Murphy and minor leaguer Engel Beltre for Eric Gagne on July 31, 2007. Gagne was a disaster, Gabbard got hurt and while Murphy had an excellent year in 2008 until he was injured, he is 0 for 20 to begin the 2009 season in Texas. Beltre is only 19 and remains in the Rangers farm system after a pretty good season in A ball last year. ... Hunter Jones is the eighth Jones in Red Sox history, and that last name isn't even second on the list. Smith is first with 19 Sox players, but Johnson, Wilson and Williams have all had nine Red Sox alums. Three of the last four Joneses have been southpaw pitchers - Hunter in '09, Bobby in '04 and Rick in 1976. Mixed in among them was Todd, another pitcher, in 2003. The best of the Jones? That's a judgment call, but the most popular one is Dalton Jones, a part-time infielder during the 1960s who had some key hits during the Impossible Dream season of 1967. Lowell adds to near-cycle totals It is a good sign when Mike Lowell almost hits for the cycle. No Sox batter has had a cycle since John Valentin in 1996, but when Lowell is on his game, nobody is better at coming close. When he missed by a triple in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader, it was the ninth time in his Sox career Lowell has come within one hit of the cycle, and all nine times it has been the triple. ... Jason Bay's game-tying homer on Friday was one of those rare home runs that was even more memorable than the one that actually won the game, hit by Kevin Youkilis on this occasion. Being in a Yankees game, Bay's was even more dramatic. It was sort of like the Bernie Carbo-Carlton Fisk Fisk , James 1834-1872. American railroad financier and speculator who attempted in 1869 to corner the gold market with Jay Gould, leading to Black Friday, a day of nationwide financial panic. homer combination in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, although not in terms of historic significance. There have not been too many homers like Bay's at Fenway in recent years. Lowell hit a solo homer off Al Reyes of Tampa Bay with one out in the bottom of the ninth on Aug. 14, 2007, to make it a 1-1 game, Boston eventually winning by 2-1. And Mark Bellhorn hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth on May 7, 2004, off Mike MacDougal of the Royals to forge a 6-6 tie, the Sox winning that one, 7-6. ... The source for today's baseball jeopardy answers and questions is "The Ultimate Red Sox Home Run Guide" by Bill Nowlin and David Vincent, published by Rounder Books. It is an entertaining and comprehensive look at the Sox and the long ball, two terms that really only started to come together with their acquisition of Jimmie Foxx in the 1930s. Jeopardy Questions 1. Who is Mike Lowell? Lowell has hit 61 home runs for the Sox. While he grew up playing high school baseball in Florida, Lowell was born in Puerto Rico. 2. Who is Tanyon Sturtze? The Worcester native, who was a workhorse for some of Tampa Bay's worst teams, gave up 13 homers to Red Sox batters while with the then-Devil Rays. 3. Who is Jason Varitek? Although Varitek is a switch hitter, all three of his home runs in Kansas City on May 20, 2001, came from the left side. Bill Ballou can be reached by email at wballou@telegram.com. Coming up shortstop Since Nomar Garciaparra claimed the shortstop job at the start of the 1997 season, the Red Sox have had 28 different starting shortstops, including Garciaparra. The various starters and Boston's record in their games: Shortstop Years G W L Pct. Nomar Garciaparra 1997-2004 932 518 414 .556 Julio Lugo 2007-08 228 132 96 .579 Edgar Renteria 2005 150 90 60 .600 Alex Cora 2005-08 112 58 54 .518 Alex Gonzalez 2006 110 61 49 .555 Mike Lansing 2001 71 36 35 .507 Orlando Cabrera 2004 58 41 17 .707 Pokey Reese 2004 56 33 23 .589 Lou Merloni 1999-2002 54 32 22 .593 Jed Lowrie 2008-09 50 27 23 .540 Mike Benjamin 1997-98 28 13 15 .464 Donnie Sadler 1998-2000 25 16 9 .640 John Valentin 2001 15 5 10 .333 Craig Grebeck 2001 12 6 6 .500 Nick Green 2009 10 7 3 .700 Manny Alexander 2000 9 4 5 .444 Cesar Crespo 2004 7 3 4 .428 Rey Sanchez 2002 7 3 4 .428 Damian Jackson 2003 6 1 5 .167 James Lofton 2001 6 2 4 .333 Ramon Vazquez 2005 6 3 3 .500 Dustin Pedroia 2006 5 2 3 .400 Ricky Gutierrez 2004 3 2 1 .667 Andy Sheets 2000 3 2 1 .667 Jeff Frye 1999 2 0 2 .000 Freddie Sanchez 2002-03 2 1 1 .500 Mark Bellhorn 2005 1 0 1 .000 Royce Clayton 2007 1 1 0 1.000 NAME: BOSTON RED SOX The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox are a member and currently champions of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball’s American League. From to the present, the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park. ART: PHOTO CUTLINE: The Red Sox' Jason Bay follows through on his two-run home run off Mariano Rivera, which tied Friday's game, 4-4, in the ninth inning. PHOTOG pho·tog n. Informal A person who takes photographs, especially as a profession; a photographer. : ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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