Blankety Blanks

Games 15 & 16 - Red Sox

Red Sox 8, Baltimore Orioles 0
Red Sox 1, Orioles 0
Record: 10-6

We were about 30 minutes away from going on an early-season 5-day no-posting streak, as my afternoon is shaping up as a disaster and my weekend will be spent exploring I-95 between D.C. and South of the Border, while Whitney's already 2 Hurricanes deep at Pat O'Brien's. Lucky for you, gentle reader, I'm capable of cranking out paragraphs of barely cogent thoughts in a matter of minutes.

The Sox dropped double bagels on the Sons of Peter Angelos, which has my cockles all a-warmed. As those of you that are paying attention may recall, the Orioles have been a thorn in the Sox' side over the past 2 years, while rolling over obediently to their masters from the Bronx. It's early, but we're on pace for an overdue reversal of those trends in 2005. The O's have taken 5 of 6 from the Yankees, while dropping their first 2 to Boston. Last year, the O's single-handedly kept the Sox from winning the AL East - it'd be nice to actually get something of value from Peter the Greek in 2005.

Appears that the rumors of David Wells' demise, and the cringing induced by Matt Clement's mound presence were, um, slightly overblown. You'd think that after watching baseball for 30-some years, I'd learn to stop extrapolating truths from a single game, or even a handful of games. Good to see that the Sox' championship has added a modicum of rationality to my fandom.

Peter Gammons waxed breathlessly about Jason Varitek's influence on Clement during this morning's Mike & Mike show, claiming that the Sox catcher has completely changed Clement's mental approach. 4 games doesn't necessarily make a trend, but 2-0, 2.13 is a nice starting point. If Clement keeps this up, and if Varitek is truly the reason, the contracts both batterymates signed in the off-season will be bargains.

Old friend Nomar Garciaparra suffered a gruesome injury to his man region this week. I'll always hold a place in my personal athletic pantheon for Nomar, but his injury record over the past several years really raises the ugly issue of performance enhancement. I'd prefer to believe that he's clean and always has been, but my eyebrows are certainly raised.

On behalf of Whitney, I'll add the following: Pedro Martinez is a freaking stud.

Nothing more from here until Monday. Try to find something to do with your hands.