World Weary and Sox Bleary

Games 22 through 25 - Red Sox

Texas Rangers 7, Red Sox 2
Red Sox 8, Rangers 2
Red Sox 6, Rangers 5
Detroit Tigers 8, Red Sox 3
Record: 13-12

My wife and kids are gone for the week, and I'm taking full advantage by...blogging? Fear not, all who hold MLC up as a paragon of hipness in a bleak numberscape of sabermetric ramblings - it's not as bad as it seems. I've been traveling for work (does it make me a sellout it I admit that work's been really, um, exciting, lately?), after watching a ton of baseball this weekend, and finally have a moment to catch up. And I am drinking as I type. Under-thought, scattershot ramblings from an over-tired author to follow.

• Pretty glad that I didn't get a chance to blog after Friday's game, because I might have pulled a carpal tunnel excoriating the Sox. Time (and a couple of wins) heals all wounds. Tim Wakefield definitely deserved better.
• The Sox took a series in Texas for the first time since 2000(!) this weekend. Even John Kerry's fared better than the Sox in the Lone Star State over the past 5 years.
• Mark my words - Matt Clement will cause me to destroy a cheap, yet versatile, piece of pre-fab Scandinavian furniture at some point in this season. As noted previously, he's Tim Wakefield, except with real stuff. At least Wake's got an excuse - "hey, I'm held hostage by the laws of physics - not my fault." Clement's stuff is downright silly, but he routinely loses command for innings at a time. He needs to start breathing out of his eyelids.
• Sox picked up John Olerud this weekend, signing him to a minor league deal. I've always liked Olerud - soft spot for dorky-looking white guys, I guess - and yes, Dave McCarty, that bell tolls for thee.
• Keith Foulke has officially joined Braden Looper in the Fear of God Players, that loosely defined repertory of closers marked most prominently by their unique ability to terrify all those who root, root, root for their respective squads. He had a few of these stretches last year, but they'd been largely forgotten in the wake of his otherworldliness in the last 8 games of the 2004 post-season.
• The defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox, owners of a $125 million payroll (give or take a few million), started Jeremi Gonzalez (2004 record: 0-5, 6.97) tonight against the Tigers, and are - at the moment - trailing the Detroit 9 by a 5-3 count. Setting aside for the moment my confusion over his name (aren't 98% of all Americans with first names ending in "i" either gyrating on a pole somewhere or waiting tables at Hooters?), this can't be a good development.
• You could have made real cash by betting that the Orioles would lead the Yankees by 7.5 games at any point in the season. Thing is, I'm not so sure that it's a fluke, and I wouldn't be surprised if it stays this way for at least a good portion of the season. As much as it pains me to type it, the O's are solid. And as much as I'm tempting fate, the Yankees (and to a lesser extent, the Sox) are showing their age - especially in their rotation.
• Oh, and if Terry Francona really does plan to get Alan Embree 90+ appearances this year, we're in for a few more outings like this evening's. Sweet.

25-game checkup likely to come tomorrow, time permitting. As usual, I'm stumped.