Far-reaching schedule awaits Red Sox
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- March
- 17
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Check out the schedule the Red Sox have coming up:
March 19: vs. Toronto at Fort Myers
March 20: Travel to Japan
March 21: In Japan
March 22: vs. Hanshin Tigers in Japan
March 23: vs. Yomiuri Giants in Japan
March 24: Workout in Japan
March 25: vs. Oakland in Japan to start regular season
March 26: vs. Oakland in Japan (regular season)
March 27: Travel to United States
March 28: vs. Dodgers at Dodger Stadium (exhibition)
March 29: vs. Dodgers at L.A. Coliseum (exhibition)
March 30: vs. Dodgers at Dodger Stadium (exhibition)
March 31: Workout in Oakland
April 1: At Oakland (regular season)
April 2: At Oakland (regular season)
April 3: Off day
April 4: At Toronto (regular season)
April 5: At Toronto (regular season)
April 6: At Toronto (regular season)
Seems more than a little crazy. The Yankees would be wise to get off to a good start as Boston could be in for a rough April.
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on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 9:51 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
No sympathy here.
Are scheudle isn’t too easy either. They have 19 games in a row, and are hardly home all of April.
How did they agree to this?
The time-zone travel is rough, but so is the idea of playing two exhibitions followed by two regular-season games in Japan, then a few more exhibitions in L.A., before starting the regular season proper. A very disjointed week or two.
Not that I’m complaining…
Boston’s delusional fans consider them a dynasty so there’s no big deal there. Gammons won’t bellyache until he sees his team looking up from a distance.
In China it’s the year of the rat.
In Boston it’s the year of the excuse.
None of the “bad apples” better complain about it.
Also agree, NO SYMPATHY from me. However, what a ridiculous schedule. Who made this up? Exhibition games and then regular season games, and then regular season games again…what the ?????? Well, the sawxx folks like to think they are a tad smarter than anyone else, so we shall see!
is Matsuzaka making the Japan trip? I thought i read something saying the birth of his kid might keep him from going.
If so, how interesting. Beckette and Matsuzaka, their two projected aces…not making the trip. how interesting. perhaps it’s because they think it will be rough on them like it was on moose and kevin brown? after theo made his little comments..
Dice’s wife already gave birth, so there is now no excuse for him not to go. However I am little skeptical about Josh’s injury. Color me a cynic but I think they are getting their ace out of a long and difficult trip. I heard he might not even make it out to the west coast.
not making the west coast trip either? wouldn’t that be convenient.
why the hell are they playing an exhibition series with the Dodgers anyway? what’s that about?
When the Red Sox come back from Japan they are going to the west coast. The Yankees had to come back to the east coast which was an extra 6 hours on the airplane and 3 more time zones. The Yankees had it worse that year.
And the Yanks have a tough April schedule this year. Only 2 off days (and one is after the season opener) and most of the month on the road.
That schedule will keep their heads spinning. I really hope the yanks capitalize on it.
Two weeks til opening day!!
For once… I would love to see the Yanks rocket off to an early season lead… and never look back!
Pete if the plane didn’t crash it’s not News!
(1) DiceK will probably make the trip …. his wife had a healthy boy last week.
(2) I get the impression that the Sox were willing to do the trip, in part, as a gesture to DiceK.
(3) It is also part of their strategy to (a) expand the Sox brand internationally, and (b) expand their player scouting/development in Japan.
(4) Also, MLB is kicking in $50,000 per player to mitigate variances with the CBA.
(5) The Sox have bundled the trip with some high profile games with the Dodgers (including a 115,000 gate at the LA Collosseum). I assume that the team gets a healthy cut of that pie.
The Sox players are putting on a good face, but there’s some concern over the disruption of normal routine. However, it’s a business …..
Re the dodgers exhibition games; I am sure it is about the money, it’s always about the money.
Having said that it is really screwy to play 2 regular season games then 3 exhibitions! I could see one game but 3?
Pete if the plane didn’t crash it’s not News!Not wishing that but you know if it happens oh well~
Aside from April and August the Yankees have a pretty decent schedule. In September they have a long home stand most of the month before finishing up on the road. that kind of makes up for the long road stretch in April.
sharp you said it once it wasn’t funny, why post it again?
Wow! Talk about a gift. It is critical that yhe Yankees take advantage of this. It is never to early to accumulate wins. Quick start makes a bad stretch a lot easier.
http://www.recreateyourlifenow.com
SUFFER
For or 84 yrs they played the poor we are victims card,and had all of baseball buying the slop, Now man up and act like you got a pair. Play your schedule and shut up,beanie babies!
Why is the Lupica ad back on the blog?
YanksRule57,
I think the three games offsets the rotations so when they get back to regular season games in the states they can start with their normal rotation… otherwise, since beckett is missing the trip, it would throw everything off and hed be tossed in the middle of the fray.
The nice thing is that when they come back to the states, they get extra time to sleep off that jet lag, assuming they take a redeye, when they leave japan itll be march 27th… but since they cross the zone where the day begins on one side and ends on the other, theyll be home on march27th for the whole day to sleep.
LOL, I couldn’t have said it any better, Brandon.
jennifer I don’t post to be funny. I post to contribute.If it rubs you wrong it’s not intended.I personally don’t agree with the tone some take on this blog,but accept the right they have to post anyway. also they first post had my name wrong hence the second post.
Derek,
Thanks, that makes sense.
Conversely, that also makes the trip in worse… Especially from the opposite end of the world over in Boston.. Theyll travel all day on the 20th and when they land itll actually be the 21st. So you lose a day on the way in… that must be very strange.
I’m just hoping for food viruses and Beckett spraining his back at home while Bucholz suffers in AAA and Colon throws 89 mph BP, add Papelmouse getting fatigued and Lowell turning into a scrub while Manny be Manny like last season and Ortiz’s knee start barking
I’m just hoping for food viruses and Beckett spraining his back at home while Bucholz suffers in AAA and Colon throws 89 mph BP, add Papelmouse getting fatigued and Lowell turning into a scrub while Manny be Manny like last season and Ortiz’s knee start barking
Ok here’s my conspiracy theory, MLB was annoyed that the Red Sox always got off to fast starts and the Yankees keep making the miracle comebacks. This time Boston falls behind and the national media can talk about the amazing comeback of the road warrior Red Sox. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
Check that… not coming from Boston… from Florida, but still the same time zone and grueling travel…
So on the way in they lose a day, travel halfway around the world, and have little time to recoup.
But on the way back they get a whole day back and only have to go across the pacific to LA…
…not TOO bad. But you never know who the stomach bug is gonna hit and how fast it will spread
Did I mistakenly stumble onto a Red Sox blog?
If the Red Sox get off to a poor start, let’s hope they don’t alibi the Japan trip like Joe Torre and the Yankees did in 2004. That was embarrassing.
who cares about the Red Sox schedule? let their fans worry about it.
i have no doubt that beckett exaggerated his back problem so he wouldn’t have to go to japan with the full cooperation of the club.
Embarrassing it was… but it didnt really throw any cogs in the regular season… we still took the division easily that year, so i dont know how that couldve been any argument to begin with.
They’ll be exhausted after that world wind tour. The jet lag and the time changes will have an effect for a minimum of 2 weeks. That would be a good time to get 5 games up on them.
Red Sox (n-a-t-i-o-n) World?
PLEASE………………….
Who cares about the Red Sox? We have to focus on ourselves – We play today, we win today. That’s it! If we focus on that, everything else will take care itself!
The Yankees would be wise to get off to a good start in April regardless of whether or not the Red Sox supposedly have a “rough” schedule. Give me a break.
What idiocy.
I’m just hoping when I go see them play the Yankees on the 11th or 12th they’re still tired enough to let the Yanks do some serious damage
Any way we could get MLB to move the Toronto series back and put it between Japan and CA?
..yeah painttheblack23, people are idiots because we hope the yankees take advantage of a potential rough start for the
Red Sox. what the hell are we thinking?
I just think it would be nice for the Yankees to get off to a fast start regardless of what boston does. That would take some pressure off Joe G and the kids.
“The Yankees would be WISE to get off to a good start” ????…That is too funny. Hey Pete, would they be GENIUSES to win all of their first 20 games ? LOL
The point is you don’t worry about what the f the red sox are doing or what their schedule is. You take care of your own business. Yanks don’t have an easy schedule is April by the way.
My God.
sorry to upset you so much panttheblack. i thought it was okay for baseball fans to discuss other baseball teams.
It’ll be interesting to see how Colon throws today.
The Sox were evidently very happy with how he looked in his first appearance in spring training. The boston papers were reporting that he was reaching 92-93 with his fastball and that his slider had a sharp break.
He only threw like 30 or so pitches but Colon was no where near that velocity over the winter. He reportedly looked awful even a month ago. Supposedly he was topping out at around 87-88 and his breaking ball was non-existent – that’s the reason why no team even thought about giving him a 1 year major league deal. The mets thought about him for a while and passed.
It’ll be interesting to see how he rebounds off that last outing today. How will his shoulder react?
If Colon can give the sox anything it’ll be a big plus for them. Bucchholz is on an innings cap and may start the season in AAA. If Colon can even act as a bridge it would be an important pick up for them.
The sox don’t have much pitching depth. If Colon can even give them slightly above average innings they’d be fortunate.
The tandem of Colon and Tavares may be not only the scrubbiest… but UGLIEST tag team in baseball. haha.
Unless you got Tom Gorzelanny and Igawa on the same bill… then that trumps everything.
Ah yes, Colon…the old AROD launching pad.
Not for nothing, but I think Beckett’s “back spasms” are more serious than they are letting on. Nobody misses this much time with back spasms.
Fernando: That or they don’t want him going to Boston.
I mean, Japan.
what Fernando just said….the man is right
I agree Fernando. Austin Jackson had back spasms during camp and was out for one day. The Red Sox are taking a page from Bellicheat with the injury reporting. They swore that Schilling’s injury wasn’t as serious as reported ad they recently switched him to the 60 day DL.
one key to the yankees getting off to a good start is getting wang and his sinker in optimal shape for the season opener, and i’m not so sure he’s where he should be. it’s all well and good to learn new pitches and create options,but there’s a point where you have to establish the sinker as the bread and butter pitch that everything else is based on.
i think the yankees are messing around too much with wang. he has yet to show the devastating sinker that he used to have.i think he needs to get that first and then work on other pitches.
as an aside, i wonder if cashman thinks of wang as one of his boys( like he does with hughes, joba, and kennedy) because wang was a byproduct of the tampa faction led by billy connors. is cashman and eiland trying to make wang into a different kind of pitcher to put their stamp on him instead of the original tampa influence which pushed the sinker?
when you see pitchers like jamie shields of the rays signing a four year contract, it makes you wonder what cashman’s commitment to wang is. with what the yankees are doing with wang, i’ll be concerned about wang until i see the new way works.
In my experience, with my own back issues, even a minor back issue and you don’t want to be on a plane that long, it can really make things much worse.
Their schedule is insane.
Randy,
Wang throws more sliders and change-ups in one game and you think it’s because Cash and Eiland are trying to put “their stamp” on him? It’s still spring training, Wang was obviously working on his offspeed pitches.
As is, Wang is a very good pitcher with only a sinker as a plus pitch. Add in a plus change and/or slider and he becomes a dominant pitcher. It’s never a bad thing to try to improve a pitcher during spring training.
The Yankees haven’t signed Wang to a long term deal because he has a pretty extensive history of injuries and in general pitchers are more injury prone. The Yankees can afford to go year to year with Wang. The Rays took a risk by signing SHields long term but they have to take that risk to save money.
Pete,
Can you confirm this:
Brian Bruney may not be out of options.
This is what Chad Jennings wrote:
“I found out Brian Bruney has an option left. I don’t know how or why, but he’s told at least two reporters that he has an option remaining. His money is guaranteed, but the Yankees can send him to Triple-A.”
http://emedia.thetimes-tribune.....notes.aspx
Most sources were reporting that he was out of options so if he didn’t make the team out of spring training he’d have to be waved.
Some people were projecting that being out of options would give him some leverage in making the team.
If he does have an option left it’ll be interesting to see how they handle it.
They could send Bruney to AAA see how the bull pen shakes out while also monitoring Bruney’s control. Or the could bring him north, see how he does, and if he’s pitching poorly send him to AAA.
My preference would be to send him to AAA and see how his control is. Bruney’s track record for poor control is extensive at this point.
If it is a new Brian Bruney I think he should prove it at AAA.
I’ve had back spasms. It doesn’t take 3 weeks to recover.
pettitte had back spasms last spring. i hope becket’s are far worse
and i just read that dice-k will be starting the sox’s opener in japan…
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns
Beckett never really had two straight seasons healthy so seeing how he came to camp w/ the Santa belly and his “back spasms” which I agree it has to be disc pain because no one misses that much time for back spasms, Action is 21 he could go through it for one day, Kevin Brown was old it knocked him out, it KO’d Farnsy for 2 -3 weeks it KO’d most memorably Randy Johnson and he never was the same again.
I guarantee Beckett has a back disc related problem and if that happens it’s under the knife or suffer.
I hadn’t heard that Bruney was out of options. I heard that about Henn though.
Poor Henn. Never did meet his expectations. Maybe he’d do better with a National League team.
Bruney is in a tough situation because to be honest he hasn’t beaten Patterson and Patterson is flatout nasty, Bruney needs to believe in his stuf and throw strikes.
I bet Atlanta or Washibgton picks Henn up
“I hadn’t heard that Bruney was out of options.”
I had. But, every now and again there’s some circumstance that allows a team to apply for a fourth option year on a player. It happened with Henn last season — 07 was his fourth year of option eligibility. Maybe the Yanks managed the same trick with Bruney.
don’t forget this “fast start” business has to be done in April when the team plays 19 of 21 on the road. not easy.
Washington would be a good place for Henn. With their bullpen being what it is, he could actually have an impact there.
good news on bruney. i asked here a week or so ago if we risked having to wave anyone if they didn’t make the 25-man and i’m pretty sure it was henn and bruney listed…
“I bet Atlanta or Washibgton picks Henn up”
Or the Pirates. They’re rocking like…four recent ex-yanks right now. Minky, TJ Beam, Thompson, and Jaret Wright.
“With their bullpen being what it is, he could actually have an impact there.”
Well…he could get a shot. I dunno if he’d make a positive impact.
LOL whozat the Bucs are like the AAAA Yankees affiliates
“Well…he could get a shot. I dunno if he’d make a positive impact.”
I don’t know, former Yank Tim Redding had a great season there last year, and Henn is at least as good as that guy.
haha then to keep in tradition maybe the Bucs can take igawa for marte… that way we CAN see the Gorzelanny/Igawa ugliest tandem in all of sports dream match!
what’s funny is if Henn goes to the NL and becomes a decent starter he could be compared to the LH Mike Pelfrey both were overrated
No sympathy from me. At all.
Screw the sympathy vote…the Yankees don’t have the extensive travel, but hardly any off days and most of the games on the road doesn’t make for a good April schedule.
patrick-
so you are sure that teaching wang other pitches won’t bleed into affecting his sinker? the yankees started having wang work on other pitches in the middle of last summer. i think it was part of the problem that he had at the end of last year.
there is one school of thought that he needs new pitches to compliment his sinker. another school of thought is that he needs to always keep the sinker tuned up by throwing it a lot. i’m of that school. the yankees are two weeks away from starting the season and his sinker doesn’t seem to be as good as it used to be. i think that’s reason for concern. two weeks from the start of the season is not the time to learn new pitches. get ready for the opening start.
i’m rooting for wang to be good however he pitches. if the new way works ,fine. i’m just saying don’t mess around too much with what works.
ESPN reports that:
Yokohama High School alumnus Daisuke Matsuzaka starts Regular Season Game One in Japan. (The Sox will be 0-1.)
Tim Lester starts Regular Season Game Two in Japan. (0-2)
I’ve a question for you guys. Seriously. Would you put either of those two clowns in the Yankees’ rotation at the start of the season? I can see the argument for keeping Dice-K in the pen for long relief, but not if Patterson can throw for several consecutive innings. Lester, you send him to SWB in case Bruney fails after you call Brian up.
Repost from last night:
*I saw an article on Sabathia and free agency and the possibility of him wearing pinstripes.
So I looked at his career stats and he’s a good pitcher no doubt. But a close look at Wang’s stats really makes you appreciate what you have.
Sabathia is 100-63 with a 3.83 ERA over 7 full seasons.
CMW is 46-18 with a 3.74 ERA over 2.5 seasons.
I realize the Indians haven’t always been as good as they were in 2007, and CMW has had the #1 offense to back him up, but we need to appreciate Wang. He’s done great in his very short career so far. Two full seasons. Two 19-win seasons.*
Last year, Wang had 100+ strikeouts. Wow! lol. Over/under on K’s for Wang this year?
Who’s Tim Lester? Does he not like “Jon” or was that a mistake by espn?
The international travel is only part of the deal on these trips. There are also additional team functions and appearances required. Do you think the Dice-K won’t be just a little busy during that trip?
It will be near impossible for a team to maintain routine.
The Yanks found out how hard it was and some got food poisoning on top of it.
So the three games w/ LA not only allow them to re-synch the rotation as Derek pointed out, it allows them to get back to a normal baseball routine.
Randy…
You heard it from Wang himself, he loves the sinkers… cause he can throw less pitches that way, if he feels uncomfortable or hes throwing too many pitches hes gonna always revert to that sinker to get outs… the only reason his sinker might not look great at the moment is not because hes devoted any time away from it, hes just not ramming it home at the moment cause its still mid march.
No matter what school youre from, two weeks before the season is ample time to learn, perfect, and toy with new pitches, especially if you have a dynamite sinker.
I find it funny he didnt know he had 7 K’s at the end of that start, for a guy who fools maybe 1 or 2 a game itd be real nice to see a few fall over from that change hes workin on.
Derek,
I guess those Taiwanese fans that hangs signs for each K don’t travel to Tampa!
I believe Wang before I believe Tito didn’t even remember that a Yankee game was coming up until someone reminded him.
So, Tito said he didn’t remember about the Yankee game and Papelmouse said he didn’t know who was on the Yankee roster a few weeks ago. Mmhmm, sure.
What, no NIT brackets?!?!!?
Motown,
I’m still shaking my head at Pap’s comments to Steinbrenner, “Go back to being a pencil-pusher”.
Well, let’s just say that Hank will never be inking his John Hancock on any $15M checks for Papelbon. lol.
That schedule they have is nuts.
Papelbon’s a dork.
John O’Flaherty and Michael O’Kay. What would they have done if O’Neill were in there?
I couldn’t be happier reading about their tortured schedule. When the Yanks started in Japan, I took so much crap for saying that I thought it was going to be really detrimental to the season, and Red Sox fans ripped me up one side and down when I said it had an effect on the Yankees game. Well now the shoe is on the other foot and I just cannot wait for the first whine from one of those losers. (And of course the P.S. is we ended up in first place anyway.)
randy,
He wasn’t learning new pitches yesterday, Wang has always known a slider and changeup and he used both last year. Spring training is the time to fine tune your pitches. Two starts ago Wang got bombed because his sinker was bad and his mechanics were off. Last week’s start he concentrated on the sinker and he had a good outing. Yesterday he concentrated on the change-up and slider and he was pretty successful there as well.
There isn’t a new way and an old way, Wang’s sinker is amazing and nothing short of a major injury will change that. He is simply mastering new pitches which can only help. Practicing new pitches isn’t going to make his sinker worse, thats just absurd.
Not sure if people know this but Wang used to never throw a sinker, he was a fastball/splitter/slider type of pitcher. This stuff isn’t new to him.
Terry must have heard me. Just tuned in to see Michael Kay interviewing Francona. He said that one thing we won’t hear about the trip to Japan is that being used as an excuse for losing any games.
“Papelbon’s a dork.”
understatement of the century!
Should be an interesting April. One that will either be the same ol, same ol, lukewarm start or start with a bang. My guess is Girardi will have the guys ready to play (and if not I don’t think he will hesitate to fix what’s broken early). That said, with 29 games in 31 days and the only soft spots being the O’s, white sox, and (supposededly) Rays April will set the tone for what is to come in the first half if not the year.
My guess is it will be close (2-3 games between first and second place)) when the month is done between Sox schedule and Yanks. Can’t sleep on they Jays who will make some noise in this thing too (as long as they stay healthy). Long way to go though…man I can’t wait.
Also, I think the Yanks should take advantage of Sox not having Beckett and Schilling for a while when they face them next month NOT a “brutal” schedule. That’s my 2 cents.
patrick,
there most certainly is a new way and an old way. the old way was wang pounding the strike zone with sinkers. wang’s sinker isn’t always amazing now( for whatever reason) ,and he has to go outside the organization to keep it tuned up. i’m not saying he shouldn’t learn new pitches. i’m saying there is a risk in doing it.
the yankees just need to proceed with caution here. if wang is going to throw more breaking pitches and changes he needs to make sure to stay really close to his sinker mechanics. he needs to throw them off the same arm slot, same stride, same everything except the grip.
hopefully it’ll all come together for wang, but to say there is no risk in change just isn’t accurate. there is always risk in changing mechanics and strategies.
H’mm. The Sox will be playing a bad Oakland team their first 4 games. Probably go 3-1. Call it 1-2 against Toronto. Then they go home, where they always have one of the best records in the league. Exacly how many games should the Yankees pick up?