Thank God That's Over

Is this me after a week of no baseball? Or me after another Eric Gagne performance? You decide!

The one thing I realized from willingly depriving myself of baseball for a full week is that it's actually very hard to do. Despite my vow to not even check scores, I managed to know the score of every single game last week -- thanks to the Associated Press and Google News alerts that pop into my work email every day.

Still, some distance can be good for the soul. Knowing the scores and refusing to follow up helps one gain a better sense of perspective. At least, that's what it did for me. It is just a game, after all. A damn fine game, but it's not an earthquake in Peru, lost miners, massive hurricanes or my wife being forced to evacuate her car during tropical flooding. These are all obviously more important.

I would have broken my self-imposed exile when Google News informed me that Clay Buchholz would be starting Friday, but I already had other commitments that made following the game impossible anyway. So here I am, a full week after my admittedly petulant rant, bringing the SF contingent back to full strength (I'm always willing to contribute my 1 percent).

One thing I realized from a week without baseball is that I actually missed these guys. They aggravate the crap out of me when they're playing poorly, but I'd rather that than have them not playing at all.

With that said, and because I need to catch up more than anything, here's the statistical breakdown for the week (not including tonight's game):

• Dustin Pedroia: .227/.261/.455, 1 HR, 1 RBI
• Kevin Youkilis: .154/.241/.154, 0 HR, 0 RBI
• David Ortiz: .269/.406/.615, 2 HR, 9 RBI
• Manny Ramirez: .276/.344/.414, 0 HR, 6 RBI
• J.D. Drew: .346/.393/.462, 0 HR,1 RBI
• Mike Lowell: .360/.407/.520, 1 HR, 4 RBI
• Jason Varitek: .318/.375/.545, 1 HR, 3 RBI
• Coco Crisp: .267/.353/.333, 0 HR, 1 RBI
• Julio Lugo: .391/.417/.652, 0 HR, 6 RBI

Yay, bottom of the lineup! And yay, starters:

• Josh Beckett: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
• Daisuke Matsuzaka: 6 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
• Curt Schilling: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• Tim Wakefield: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (best Wakefield start since June 2005)
• Jon Lester: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
• Clay Buchholz: 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
• Julian Tavarez: 6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 B, 2 K

Sterling performances from three starters, and winnable efforts from two more. Daisuke struggled, and Schilling got lucky. If, in a seven-game stretch, you're starting a pitcher making his big-league debut and Julian Tavarez, and two of your top three pitchers get shellacked, you expect something less than a 4-3 record. Without Gagne, that record is 5-2. Ah well.

It's good to be back. Go Sox!

Comments

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Yeah, it's not like the Red Sox are doing quite so terrible- it's that the Yankees are doing ridiculously well. We're 10-8 in August, convert 3 Gagne gag-jobs and we're 13-5. Wishful thinking but respective of the team's efforts at least.

I'm hopeful that this week with Tampa and Chicago will be sweepy. (for us!)

[Lar]

And if Mo didn't.. ;P

[MrBlackthorne]

I'm not feeling very great about the rest of this season. I just don't think the Sox have the makeup to play as well as the Yankees from here on out. I keep saying that the Yankees are going to cool down and lose some games, but after this weekend, I'm thinking that is probably not going to be the case. This Angels series will be the barometer for me. If the Yankees take 2 out of 3 or better, I'll be convinced they'll take the division again... And I'll pay a lot less attention to baseball, because I just can't watch another implosion. I need to keep my sanity.

[YF]

Welcome back, Paul.

But wait. You voluntarily attended a concert by Korn? Evanescence? I think the Texas heat is getting to you.

[Paul SF]

Ha. Korn's something of a guilty pleasure. While their bassist is obviously talented, their lyrics and guitar work leaves a lot to be desired. But they're heavy, and their later stuff is actually pretty good.

Evanescence, I make no apologies for. I like them a lot. They also outperformed Korn by quite a bit at the show. Better stage presence, better sound. Was also very impressed by Atreyu, especially the stuff they played off their upcoming album. I might have to pick that one up.

[Paul SF]

Oh, I got in for free. Does that help?