Results tagged “jasonvaritek”

Man. It seems like it's been forever, doesn't it? At least a week and a half since we had very much local to talk about.

Tazawa's arm, Youk's bat keys to victory The day after a historically bad pitching performance overwhelmed a more-than-adequate offense, the Red Sox pitching and hitting came together for a rout of their own as they dominated the Yankees, 14-1, in an important win for the team.

While Terry Francona has managed to avoid the full brunt of Red Sox fans' fury over the years - that's what winning a couple of world championships will do for you - he is not immune from the way Red Sox fans love to backseat manage. We all know that there are times at which there are at the very least two philosophies at play in Red Sox Nation: What Would Terry Francona Do (WWTFD1) and What Would the Fans Do (WWTFD2).

It sounds like Bob Ryan wants to be able to watch baseball while keeping his head buried in the sand. Steroids may be more of a Hall of Fame/legacy issue and the reason that is the case is because the history of baseball occupies a much larger place in the present and future of the game than other sports. Bostonist keeps hearing that from people like Ryan, anyway. Sox fans can still follow steroid-scandal news and a box score, Mr. Ryan. Steroids are a fact of life in baseball now, and nothing is going to change that for quite some time.

The Sox are home, everyone's pumped for the Fourth of July, the weather is finally something not to be suicidal about...everything's great. Except that the Sox can't seem to beat Seattle.

Some days you win, some days you lose, some days you can't buy a hit off a guy suffering from the flu. Tommy Hanson, who started for the Braves and shut down the Red Sox 2-1, told his roommate/carpool friend Kris Medlen to be ready to start, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to make it. The Braves waited for Hanson between inning with wet towels and plenty of fluids. Then he went back out and humbled the Sox again. "If he was sick," said a grim Terry Francona, "I really don't want to see him when he's not sick."

Five of the six RBIs for the Red Sox came from David Ortiz and Jason Varitek? Is it 2003 already?!?

The Red Sox rotation is going through a little upheaval right now. But not Josh Beckett. This guy's job isn't going anywhere.

This was the kind of Red Sox game we've been waiting for. Well, mostly. On the strength of a no-hit bid by Josh Beckett (he got into the seventh untouched) and some powerful offense, the Sox dusted the Tigers 10-5. A two-run J.D. Drew homer in the first got things started, and it was a 4-0 lead when the wild and crazy eighth inning started. In the top half, the Sox sent ten men to the plate and scored six of them, with back-to-back RBI doubles by Ortiz(!) and Varitek putting the game out of reach.

Unless they meet the Twins in October, the Red Sox played their final game in the unlovable Metrodome, and Terry Francona couldn't be happier. "I think this place stinks. This ballpark stinks." Between the plastic roof (colored the same as a baseball), the giant A/C vents, and the listless crowds that are there 90% of the time, it's hard to disagree.

Well, Red Sox fans - it's OK to hate instant replay now. For the first time since it was hurriedly instituted late last season, the umps went to the tape last night at Fenway, reviewing what was called a double by Omir Santos, realizing that it hit the angstrom unit between the top of the wall and a ledge, and called it a home run. A game-winning, pefect-Jonathan-Papelbon-season-spoiling home run. 3-2 Mets. Papelbon on instant replay: "No. Not a fan of it."

Whew. All the crisis counselors can go back now. All the newspapers ready to print articles like "How To Talk To Your Kids About David Ortiz" can run something else instead. Rosary bead sales will be down today. Big Papi's finally put one out.

Sometimes, you just have to tip your hat. And that's what we're tipping this morning, to Carolina goalie Cam Ward, after he survived 36 furious Bruins shots to shut out our home team and tie their series 1-1. It's too early in the series to tip anything else, but local packies are on notice.

"Not being able to go so deep is stressful both for myself and the team" - Daisuke Matsuzaka

1-0. Put your panic buttons away, at least for today; the Red Sox played to their strengths, and finally got Opening Day finished with a 5-3 win over the Rays.

The debates will continue well into this season and beyond: is the 2009 Jason Varitek worth $5 million and several months of speculation?

A weight was lifted from the hearts of the New England bear community today when Red Sox captain and catcher Jason Varitek reluctantly agreed to be paid $5 million to play a game that he is no longer that good at. (Just in case you hadn't heard.) [Boston.com]

Everybody's entitled to a night off now and then. Fortunately, the NHL provides each team with a firm schedule that allows them to plan those nights off ahead. Unfortunately, the Bruins seemed to think one of those nights was last night, even though there was a game scheduled and an opponent in town.

For all the Bruins' success this year, they hadn't figured out a way to beat Washington. The Capitals were 2-0 against our hometown heroes, and nipping (well...10 points behind) at their heels for top spot in the East.

Milan Lucic, Manny Fernandez, Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel: they are Bruins we know, Bruins we love, Bruins who were part of a potentially devastating succession of injuries, illness or otherwise unanticipated twists of fate.

Admit it. There were moments in those dark dark days of a few weeks ago where we worried about the Celtics. The relentless Cavaliers and the upstart Magic were challenging our rightful spot at the top of the East.

Without any games on Friday night to distract us, Boston fans were left wondering what was going on down in Atlanta. All we knew at the time was that Jason Varitek and John Henry were going to meet and that it was Tek's idea.

Well, it was nice while it lasted. The Bruins and Celtics were on a combined 157-game winning streak (or did it just seem that way?), but it all came to an end at the hands of Washington goalie Brent Johnson, whose 33 saves stifled the B's attack and sent the locals away with only their second regulation loss since November started, 3-1.

Sure, it's 60 degrees outside. But it's beginning to look a lot like winter - well, maybe spring - in Las Vegas, where it's going to be in the 60s today, but more importantly, where baseball's winter meetings are taking place. And like this wintry scene, the Red Sox have come up empty so far.

After destroying the Magic on Monday night, 107-88, Paul Pierce described the Celtics effort to the Globe as "like a statement game for us." But what kind of statement are they trying to make? We're still trying to figure it out.

Another day has come and gone, and the Red Sox roster remains unchanged. The rumors we keep hearing are about the same as we've been hearing for a while. There are rumors about making a biggish trade, sending Mike Lowell and a pitcher to Texas for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia (and you thought spelling Mientkiewicz was hard), moving Youk to third and bringing in Mark Teixeira at 1B. There's also some buzz buzzing about Junichi Tazawa, the Nippon Oil pitcher who may or may not be ready for the majors.

"We want to be greedy," said Claude Julien. And why not? After successively blanking the Oilers and the Canucks on 1-0 scored, the Bruins were hungry and ready to go for the Western Canadian sweep in Calgary. And when Patrice Bergeron caught Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff out of position for the quick 1-0 lead, Coach Julien's green looked like it might be rewarded.

Well. This is fun, isn't it?

You want to look on the bright side? OK, we'll play along. The Red Sox have a seven game ALCS winning streak when faced with elimination. There, we said it. Now all they have to do is get a sterling effort from Dice-K tonight, credible efforts from their other shellshocked pitchers, and some semblance of a competent offense, and the Sox can maybe run that streak up to ten.