Jogging Diary

My original plan was to start this diary with the Sox game at 7, but when you work in news things rarely work as planned, and needless to say I had to stay late for a live shot at a fire. It’s now 8 pm, and I’ll be writing in this periodically while cooking supper. My first two thoughts are this. Where did Dennis Eckersley hear the term “bridge” to describe a home run, and why is the NHL so terribly run. Why wouldn’t they have game 6 of the Stanley cup last night? There was very little for baseball to watch, and more importantly no NBA Finals game to watch. Now tonight they go up against a full MLB schedule and game 3 of the NBA Finals. It makes no sense at all. I’ll be back.

8:21 pm: Burnett has given up five runs through 2 and 2/3rds. Definitely worth all that money you gave him huh Yankees? It’s only a matter of time before his inevitable DL stint that lasts a month longer than it should. Also, when Brett Tomko is a member of your pitching staff and it’s not a double A team something is wrong. There is a reason he’s played for so many teams.

8:33 pm: Beckett has just about every pitch working tonight. It would be interesting to see what has both he and Lester pitching so well after such poor starts to the season.

8:49 pm: Sox game is now at 6-0, which is great because I never know any actual channel numbers, so I just find them in my guide. Now I can switch between the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup simply by hitting last, and then eventually find my way back over to the Sox during halftime of one of the games. I hate switching between more than two channels.

8:58 pm: I am writing this now before I forget; my friends and I take a trip to Fenway once a year to see a different three game series. It’s become an annual event, and this will be the third year we’ve done it. We’ve had plenty of fun, some of which is transcribed on a past blog post. We need a name for this trip though…please e-mail any ideas to actionjacksn04@gmail.com. Thanks.

9:07 pm: Changed the channel just in time to see the Penguins score the first goal of game 6. The question becomes if a goal is scored in a Stanley Cup final but there is no one watching it is it still a goal?

9:17 pm: Rafer Alston has nailed two straight jumpers. Seems like he finally has a little bit of his fragile confidence back. Time to bring in Jameer Nelson Stan Van. Also, no matter what anyone says, the Magic’s chances come down to the play of Alston and Mickael Pietrus. If they play well the Magic win, if they don’t they lose. Dwight Howard is not good enough offensively yet to be a difference maker every night.

9:28 pm: The pace of this game is good so far, but it’s only a matter of time before the refs kill it. It all started to really go down hill after the Melee at the Palace, and has affected every big game since (including handing the championship to the Heat two years ago). It’s like they feel the teams are ticking time bombs and blow the whistle on any near contact. It’s killing the flow of every game, and basketball more than any other sport is a game of flows. You could say the NBA needs Flomax, and judging by the age of most refs it would apply to more than just the gameplay.

9:38 pm: Kobe has 17 through the first and the Lakers are up. Also, most people don’t like them, but I am a big fan of the Kobe/Lebron puppets. The little kid however annoys the hell out of me. I also wonder if they couldn’t have found someone better than Kenan from Kenan and Kel as the voice for Lebron.

10:00 pm: It’s a one point game three quarters of the way through the 2^nd, yet I find myself extremely bored. Dwight’s new Vitamin Water commercial is pretty funny, and accurate. He describes his post moves, which is basically a series of different terms for dunks because that is all he can do.

10:13: The Magic are shooting 75 percent from the floor in the first half, but are only leading by four. How is that even possible? They should be up 20 points right now. And there was the first sighting of a Kobe scowl. That is the most ridiculous thing ever. This is yet another reason why Kobe is not one of the greatest ever. Jordan didn't do the tongue thing as a gimmick, it was just something that happened. You can't force these things Kobe.

10:15 pm: I’m going to stop putting the pm there, because it’s pretty useless. Also, it’s halftime so I’m going to take a break. I’ll be back for the second half.

12:10: Alright, so I fell asleep at the half. It happens. Definitely not my jogging diary shining moment. Maybe I'll make it up to you by doing a jogging diary of game 4.

~Aaron Jackson

Jogging Diary

Planning on doing a jogging diary of game 3 tomorrow night...make sure to stay tuned.

~Aaron Jackson

Remy Replacement Rankings

I am not the biggest Jerry Remy fan. I watch every game and the ones I don't want I almost enjoy more because I get to listen to Joe Castiglione. I grew up in a family that every weekend, from mid-May to early October, went to camp. This wasn't the kind of camp that a lot of my friends went to. We had no electricity or running water, but it never seemed that rural to me. We had gas lamps, and had 5 gallon pales of pond water ready to flush the toilet, which is in fact, indoors. What it did though was introduce me at an early age to listening to the Red Sox on radio. In almost a throwback childhood nuance, I grew up with favorite radio shows. Friday night it was the Red Sox game as we went up to camp, Saturday was the Red Sox in the afternoon and Country Gold Saturday Night. We would typically go home on Sunday and on the way back to civilization we would listen to the Red Sox again. If you're doing the math, out of at most 7 games per week, I grew up listening to at least 3 of them. Now this is nothing heroic, my buddy Sam grew up almost never watching the Red Sox and his entire relationship with the team up until college came from him listening to Joe Castiglione and Jerry Trupiano.

Why did I feel the need to share all of this? It's because your relationship with your favorite team is facilitated by the broadcasters whether you know it or not. After a while they become something mixed with a family member and an aging wrestler. The family member because they're always there, in your living room late on school nights and their voice is so familiar they could call you on the phone and give you the "It's me." The aging wrestler because no matter if you hated or loved the old wrestler, or if he was a heel or a baby face, after watching him for a long time you start to like them just because they've always been there for so long. I always liked Remy and thought he was a solid broadcaster. After watching other teams from time to time, I always thought Red Sox fans had it made with a fantastic and nationally underrated radio booth and a solid television booth. The thing that started to get to me is the only thing that gets to me with the Red Sox lately and that is the over exploitation of the team and the region in general. Put a Red Sox logo on it and it'll sell or at least that has been the thinking in the Steinberg and Dee era, which has now gone by. Caught up in the middle of all of this Jerry Remy became the Remdawg, got his own website (not bad, everybody has one) , his own hot dog stand(that's natural, I like the idea that he and Luis Tiant both have food stands on Yawkey Way), but the worst is having a President of Red Sox Nation. Remy won of course because Pink Hatted Red Sox fans don't know any better. Okay, you're named president, take the title with a grain of salt and never mention it again. I feel at times though that Remy takes it a little too seriously and that's where my hint of resentment comes in. It's not out of jealousy, I would never want to be a paying card carrying member of Red Sox Nation, in fact even that term, which I used to enjoy now seems a little played out due to over commercialization.

All of that being said, when I heard that Remy was going to take a leave of absence to recover from lung cancer surgery my heart went out to him. The interesting thing that has come about since his hiatus has been the replacement announcers filling in for Remy. Dennis Eckersley is easily the best, Dave Roberts is improving every game, Coomer was good, Mulliniks was HORRIBLE and Evans I sadly missed. Here is what I'll call the RRR, (Remy Replacement Rankings).

1. Dennis Eckersley.

What sealed Eck being number one besides most of the other replacements being so bad is that he is now traveling on the road with the team. His performance in Detroit last night made me laugh out loud a couple of times just because of his honest vernacular. On that note I also loved Bill Simmons idea to have Lenny Clarke do the games with Don. I look forward to the one inning per year he does and usually Youtube it 20 times after that. Eck gives information and he never pulls punches, he says exactly what he thinks without a filter, even saying shit and masturbate on the air. The best thing about Eckersley is that he make Don seem his age, he will turn 41 this December. Though when he's calling a game with Remy doesn't he seem more like he's 50? I always thought this was just his personality, but with Eck he seems younger because Eck has a fun personality and it brings the same out of Don. That's the true test of a guy being number one on the RRR, he makes those around him better.

2. Rex Hudler

He did only 4 innings when the Red Sox made their first trip out to Anaheim this April, but it was some of the best I have heard this year. He is a professional, he does games for the Angels regularly, but he was terrific. He just kept telling stories and keeping it loose, though he never really talked about the game which on television you're not supposed to do all the time. He was highly entertaining and very complimentary of the Red Sox (take note Mullinicks, nobody wants to hear about the glorious days of Dave Steib.)

3. Dave Roberts

Dave takes home the most improved award. We want to like him and we do. People have made an effort to make his steal the most pivotal moment of the 0-3 comeback (which it was, though Bill Mueller deserves a ton more credit than he receives) and that mixed with the fact that by all reports he is genuinely a nice guy. His broadcasting could use some work and so can his over laughing, (just a sign of nerves) but come on, this is the guy's first year away from playing. Sean Casey is the only guy I have seen make a seamless transition from the field to the studio or booth. The best thing about Roberts is that he is making strides to get better and you can tell he wants to improve all the time. In the future, I can see Roberts as a full time guy, perhaps in Boston or perhaps in San Diego. He is beloved in Boston and I'd love to see him around throughout the season. Hey, I'm okay with anything that reminds me of the 2004 season.

4. Ron Coomer

Only had him for one game, but he was another like Hudler that was very good. He does studio work for the Fox North affiliate that does the Twins games, so he has experience on a mic. He meshed well with Don in just the one game he did. Think of how tough that is, you are an analyst for one team, and suddenly the opposing team is asking you to be the color man for their broadcast. That has to be incredible difficult and the one game he did might be the best single game performance we have seen by a replacement. (Though the game where Eck said shit and masturbate might be the most memorable performance.)

5. Kevin Kennedy

Maybe the most disappointing performance by someone who has broadcasting experience. He has done games for Fox and he is the regular pregame analyst for their Saturday broadcasts and when he did a game with Don, he just didn't bring an A game with him. It was like he wanted to make sure everybody knew that he loved his time with the Red Sox and that he cherished being the Red Sox manager. It just came across as odd, because since 1996 I always thought there had to be bad blood between the team and him because he was only there for 2 years and he won the division in his first season. The best part of Kennedy doing the game was that he dropped names like Wayne Hosey and Archimedes Pozo. Which is always good television.

6. Rance Mulliniks

He was horrible. Pure and simple, I only heard him do one game of the 3 that he did. The first game I watched at the Gin Mill in Augusta and I listened to game 2. My dad watched all three with Rance and the question he kept asking me was "Why the hell is this guy on television?" Not only that but he's in broadcasting! He does Jays game for Rogers Sportsnet games and some CBC games with Jesse Barfield. I don't know about anybody else but I might rather have Jesse Barfield (or as I called him when I was 5, Reggie Jackson) do a game with Don than 3 "encounters with Rance Mulliniks."

Honorable mention, Dwight Evans and any writer that they have had in the booth.

I apologize to Dwight Evans for not ranking him, but I listened to that game up to my camp so I didn't catch it. When I heard that Dewey had done that game I was very disappointed that I missed it. Dewey has always been one of my favorite Sox players and I always imagine him like Keith Hernandez in the two part episode of Seinfeld. I met him once at an autograph signing in Auburn when I was 15, and he was really nice. Though even at the time I thought he was hitting on my mom.

The writers aren't great for the simple reason that they are just there for Don to have someone to talk to. They do have a lot of information about other teams and things going on around the league, but they can't really analyze what's going on or explain a decision or wax philosophical about strategy.

Eck is doing the rest of this series and I would imagine he will do the Rangers series this weekend. Though you can never tell, it has brought a new aspect to watching the games, kind of a surprise to see who's in the booth that night and who knows how long it will last. But in the end, it will be good to have Remy back, if nothing else because it is a return to familiarity and we can get back down to the business of watching the game for the game.

Sterling Pingree

Lebron, if you're listening, it's me, Aaron.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will not win their series against the Orlando Magic, and here's why...

Lebron James.

I get that Lebron is putting up terrific numbers, there is no denying that. But basketball is a game of flows, and right now Lebron is killing the Cavs flow. He gets the ball, stands at the top of the key, dribbles around then with around 5 seconds on the clock either drives recklessly to the hoop hoping for a foul or shoots a long jumper. Because he is such a talented player he converts a large percentage of those plays, but he in turn takes his teammates out of the game. They never see the ball, so they don't know what to do. You can only set so many screens, make so many cuts before you get sick of not being able to at least touch the ball. And that not only kills your offensive flow, it kills your defensive flow. These players were all at one time the top player on their team, the alpha dog, and even the worst offensive players need to feel like they are part of the offense or their defense suffers. Just ask Ben Wallace. Players just don't play defense with the same intensity if the offense isn't flowing.

Don't believe me? Take a look...

Cavs playoff record when Lebron takes 25 shots or less: 10-0

Cavs playoff record when Lebron takes over 25 shots: 0-3

It's a lesson that took awhile for Michael Jordan to learn...dominate the game, but do it while keeping your teammates involved in the flow. If you allow them to feel like they are making contributions, they will succeed. Just look at guys like Steve Kerr, Luc Longley, Dennis Rodman and Brian Williams (or practically anyone on those Bulls teams other than Horace Grant and Scottie). Jordan rewarded them for playing hard, he gave them the ball in situations where they could succeed. All the players in the NBA are capable of playing roles and doing them well, they are the best of the best at what they do.

It's a lesson Kobe still has yet to learn. In fact, many dominant players never learn it. But Lebron is a different type of player, and I fully expect him to figure it out sooner rather than later.

It just might not be this year.

~Aaron Jackson

(Aaron is the co-producer of White Hat Sports. He is also currently a sports reporter/anchor for an ABC/Fox affiliate in Maine.)

Home Boys vs. The Away Boys

Oh yeah, I'm breaking out the Rock N' Jock Softball names. You like it.

So what's the deal, the Red Sox (27-20)? They are 7 games over .500 as I write this, yet they trail a kid named Anthony Swarzak in his first start. Beckett is truly dealing, aside from that bomb that Joe Creded touched off in the second, that if this game wasn't being played in a dome, would have reached Duluth. The Sox have dropped two straight on the road to the Twins and I will give some of that credit to Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey, but it seems to be a disturbing trend that the Sox just can't seem to hit on the road (10-14) and can out slug the '27 Yankees at home (17-6). My theory is that unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, the Red Sox have built a lineup much the way that they did back in the Yawkey era. Get right handed pull hitters to drop balls over the big green wall. The heart of the Red Sox order right now is largely unbalanced. Of the hot hitters right now, the only non-righty is Ellsbury and he, Ortiz and Drew are the only regulars that are strictly left handed hitters. Look at the bench: Baldelli, Lugo, Green and Kottaras. Georgie is the only lefty on the bench, so forget a late game pinch hitter for a match up sake in the late innings. As we know, the numbers don't lie, here's how the Red Sox line up home and road splits (righty's in red):

Player Home Road

Jacoby Ellsbury .308 .306

Dustin Pedroia .364 .315

JD Drew .250 .263

Kevin Youkilis .433 .310

Jason Bay .284 .279

David Ortiz .212 .171

Mike Lowell .349 .274

Jason Varitek .347 .280 (Also is batting 100 points higher against lefties)

Julio Lugo .267 .275

So the only right handed hitter in the Red Sox line up that has a higher batting average on the road than at home is Julio "The Anomaly" Lugo. The shocking numbers to me were those of Jason Bay. I knew he had been hitting very well on the road and I figured that it would be that close, but I was actually surprised that he didn't come out into the Lugo group of right handed hitters who hit better on the road. Which leads to a quick tangent.

Jason Varitek is batting a solid 100 points better against lefties this season than he is against right handed pitchers. Isn't that enough to ditch batting from the left side all together? Wait, okay, Tek just went deep left handed. Screw it, I still say that he should just be a right handed hitter and the ditch the switch. (That could look good on a t-shirt. "Hey Captain! Ditch the Switch!"I see it in bright pink, blink blink, blinkety blink.)

So here's the contrast, 5 of 6 righties have better averages at home, and 1 of 3 lefties have a better average on the road and one hitter is only 2 points different on the road than he is at home (Ellsbury). So not only are righties better at home, you can make a case that the lefties in the line up are the same or even better on the road this year, hence why the team is 4 games under .500 when they travel this season.

But offense isn't everything, the pitching staff has been suspect as well. The starters have been spotty, and who would have predicted in Spring Training that the two pitchers with the most wins in the rotation would be Penny and Wakefield? Nobody, that's like betting on Mine That Bird to win the Kentucky Derby. Actually my buddy Zach and I were close to doing that. Every year we pick a horse to win it and then we pick a long shot to win it. We looked at the list and we saw Summer Bird as a 50-1 shot to win and we thought that it had to be a good omen because we're both huge Larry Bird fans. Then a few seconds later we saw Mine That Bird, but for karma's sake we went with the one we saw first. So we actually considered going with the biggest underdog winner in derby history to win it. Damn you Billy Koch! (He turned me onto Pioneer of the Nile during an appearance on The Jim Rome Show.)

Pitcher Home Road

Josh Beckett 4.22 6.08

Jon Lester 5.02 7.04

Daisuke Matsuzaka 6.97 12.00

Brad Penny 6.14 5.81

Tim Wakefield 3.00 4.83

Once again, 4 of 5 starting pitchers have better ERA's at home than they do on the road, which is impressive because Fenway is always known as a hitter haven, though besides Wakefield nobodies home ERA is what anybody would consider good.

So what does any of this mean, it means that the team is based around right handed hitters that in the first two months of the season have mashed the ball at Fenway and haven't done it on the road and that coupled with the sub par starting pitching has cost this team a few games on the road. In other news, Jason Varitek has hit another home run from the left side and you will probably never see the "Ditch the Switch" t-shirt.

Sterling Pingree