Ladies, and Gentlemen I'd like to introduce to you the Toronto Blue Jays. I would like to thank them for not showing up for the majority of the three game set in Beantown. I would also like to thank JP Ricciardi for getting rid of one of the more notorious Red Sox killers in their lineup, one Alex Rios. Also a big shout out to the GM for getting rid of the gold glover Scott Rolen and replacing him with Edwin Encarnacion. The biggest thank you of course goes to Roy Halladay whom upon not being traded is doing his best Carl Pavano impression in the history of Carl Pavano impressions. Get used to it Toronto fans, unless someone trades you a dearth of talent for Halladay in the offseason (this should happen) you're going to look a lot like These Guys.
And the ESPY goes to: Paul Byrd. For being the most goofy looking pitcher who tops out at speeds The Slowsky's would be proud to call their own. For some strange, otherworldly reason Paul Byrd outdueled the previously, highly coveted Roy Halladay for 6 innings giving up no runs en route to the 7-0 shellacking of the team from North of the Border. But let's not get too excited here. Yes we slapped around one of the Top 3 pitchers in Baseball, Yes we pulled out a rain saturated Friday night affair with the help of Varitek's foot of thunder, and Yes we pulled out a Saturday night affair that showed we may potentially have a 3rd slot in our rotation solidified, but this is a team we should not only beat; but beat handily.
The Billy Wagner Era, couldn't have started much better, slicing through the Toronto order striking out the side. The only downside to this is that he will ONLY be available every third day. Providing we get into the playoffs, this could prove problematic. That means we can use him 2x in a 5 game series and MAYBE 3x in a 7 gamer. While you may think that that's ok, that leaves us STILL with one lefty in the bullpen for those other days. But boy, can this 38-year-old kid throw.
Inevitably we will be facing the Angels in the first round of the playoffs, if we are so fortunate as to make it that far. The perennial WildCard matchup just had a little fuel added to the fire with the Angels acquiring Scott Kazmir for a few minor leaguers. This could prove to be the equalizer in the post season for a pitching staff that has been mediocre at best this year. Scott Kazmir is still 26. He could regain his form of 2004-2006 and really wreak havoc on our Boston lineup. I'm going on record saying I DO NOT LIKE THIS MOVE, with regards to the Red Sox. Something in my stomach is telling me that this is not going to end well for us, but that could also be the chili that I ate this weekend so if you're waiting on which one it turns out to be, you should probably catch me on Twitter.
Have to love the voluntary correspondence report given to me to sum up He Who Shall Not Be Named's outing in the good ole Granite State. It goes as follows:
"So you should probably put this into your blog." Normally when I hear this I think that it's something will DEFINITELY not go into the blog but I was intrigued.
"He sucks! During the first inning, he got lit up for a homer the first batter of the game and 4 other runs. He couldn't find the strike zone if they handed it to him."
Well, there you have it folks. That's you're 103million dollar man. Upon further review I found that he threw 49 pitches in the 1st inning. Just a quick tidbit: Zack Greinke was at 49 pitches in the 5th inning on Sunday. The enigma lived on in the second inning where he retired the side on 9 pitches. Ugh. If he is going to be our savior, I think I'll follow Judas.
As I said on my Twitter I have finally come to the realization that this season much like 2007 will not be a Cy Young Year for Josh Beckett, Even if he throws 4, 9 inning shutout performances the rest of the way, Zack Greinke has that award on lockdown. Bob Gibson should just walk up to him and in his calm jazzy voice say, "Welcome, this is what being f*cking amazing is like."
Stay Tuned
Ryan
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