Second Half Launch
I just got off the phone with Tony Sherry. One of those deals where I call him and he starts yelling that he’s parking and about to smash his car if he doesn’t hang up. Then he calls me back 30 seconds later, obviously in the middle of a crowded bar (most likely Anthony Cheerios’ “3” Lounge on Forest Ave in Staten Island). I told him I was watching the Red Sox game. “Dude, I figured it out,” I started. “Figured what out?” “You know when you’re playing cards, and there’s some dude who has no idea what he’s doing, and yet he’s winning a ton of hands early on because he’s just getting lucky with good cards?” “I know exactly what you’re talking about. Some leper with glasses who keeps getting bailed out by the river. It makes me crustify my destruction.” Now, I don’t know where the glasses part came from, but I thought it was one of the funniest things I ever heard and almost fell off the sofa I started laughing so hard. But I continued. “That’s what it’s like for me watching the Red Sox right now. I just don’t feel like they’re that great. But stupid stuff keeps happening so they sit there in first place.” He had long since stopped paying attention to whatever it was I was saying. So that was that….
What do I know? Not much. I said the same thing about the White Sox last year. I’m just curious to see if every single starting player with the exception of Crisp and Varitek can continue to play either way over or at the very vertex of their talent level. Maybe they can. But I need to see it. And the two rookie starters. I have to believe the other shoe has to drop at some point. That’s not to say that that will make the road easier. I also feel like Toronto has more in the tank, and I think they’ve been underperforming a bit. They’re right there.
[As I’m typing this the A’s have tied the game. But unfortunately, the Red Sox own the A’s at Fenway. We’ll see how this ends up.]
Eric! Welcome back, bro. Sorry to hear you canceled your blog. I made it over there a few times, and I liked what I saw. Of course, we’re happy to have you back at the BPS. Feel free to jump in as we do a couple of series’ with the White Sox. Raoul, I haven’t heard the Little Mo nickname, but from where I’m sitting, Private Papelbon doesn’t look like Little anything…. “What’s the matter with you Private Papelbon, your mommy and daddy didn’t love you enough?!” Happymeds, you are referring to the incomparable R. Lee Ermey. He was actually hired by Stanley Kubrick to be the consultant to help train the actor who was going to play the role. They quickly got a load of him and figured they would have to be insane not to use him.
[Apparently Big HGH and Manny have decided that they are simply not going to make out for the rest of the season.]
Ras, I’m going to respectfully disagree with one thing you said. The Yanks and Sox have 9 games left. I am always a believer that the head-to-head series’ rarely decide the division winner. I mean, it could happen, sure, but it hardly ever works out that way. Inevitably the teams split. If the Yanks and Sox have nine left, somebody will be 5-4, and somebody will be 4-5.
Long live Mike.
JD, good point about Gonzalez. He snuck up on me, probably because Raoul has been too preoccupied with the donnybrook to bring him up. Happymeds, I didn’t even realize Gorilla Monsoon was dead. That’s devastating… Lucky/Nick, I just saw the news about Ponson. Certainly Mr. Cashman has one and only one thought. Lightning in a bottle. A la Chacon and Small ’05. Unfortunately Kris Wilson did not pan out to be the ’05 Small; we’ll find out quickly if Ponson turns out to be the ’05 Chacon. Me, I’d like the ’06 Chacon to be the ’05 Chacon. Ponson was always the pillar of inconsistency. He had his moments, particularly against the Yanks. He’s got talent. He’s just a total meathead. He’s the type of guy that p*sses you off because he hands it to you on his best day, and then p*sses you off more when you watch him give up 15 runs in his next three starts….
Umair, I am still waiting to see a body of work from Cashman to make a judgment. I know that sounds insane, particularly since he’s in his 9th year as GM, but I honestly believe his power has been severely limited until now. The Boss notoriously used his “committee” to make any and all baseball decisions, the two factions in Tampa in NY, and he himself demanded certain things be done anyway. I don’t think Cash has ever been free to make his own moves until this year. And even that might be an overstatement.
I will be in section 24 with Ruddo tomorrow night. Me and Rud trying to start the second half right…
God I hope these Red sox do not blow it in extra inings again.
-kaylee
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I am getting really annoyed with Thesse RED SOX THEY blew this game too in extra innings.They are gunna lose this one too Jeez.
-kayleee
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Since when is Gorilla Monsoon dead?? Anyway back to the Yanks. I think the move for Ponson is a interesting one. It is relatively cheap, and like you said hopefully we catch lightning in a bottle and get some good production out of him. We don't need him to be 10-0 like Small last year, just eat some innings and give the Offense a chance to put some runs on the board. As far as Cashman is concerned, I agree with a lot of the points Umair made, I just think a lot of that was made without him being really involved. We will see how this trading deadline pans out as it is the first year I can remember he's had all the pressure on himself. Red Sox just lost so that helps out a bit, bring back another win tommorow night. I hope you guys get to see the nasty Randy tommorow. Go Yanks!!!
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Luckyeftie:
Yeah the red sox losing helps the yankees.How come the RED SOX can never gain any ground on the yankees?!.It is starting to annoy me!
-kaylee
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Doesn't annoy me a bit. Besides HGH and Hurt Knee, the Sox don't have much punch in their lineup. Defensively they play very well but their pitching is only going to get them so far.
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"...I just don’t feel like they’re that great...."
Are you kidding me?
Just look at the numbers.
They led the Division in sell outs the month of June.
They have led the League in Ticket prices this season.
For the last three years their fans have led the Majors in citing obscure statistics.
You know, I was going to be nuetral for tonights game but, after reading this post I'm forced to root for Chicago.
(it has nothing to do with Boston losing)
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OK, what's happened to this guy since '03 ????
Do I think he's another Chacon? Not really.....
Not really thrilled with this move. The Cards, who need pitching released him. And we're going to start him? Bad move, IMO. But I guess we'll see. Not exactly what I had in
mind as a good move by Cashman.
| Sidney Ponson | Current Status:
Full Name: Sidney Alton Ponson
Born: 11/02/1976
Birthplace: Noord, Aruba
Height: 6'1" Weight: 250
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
College: N/A
MLB Debut: 04/19/1998
5.24
4-4
0
33
W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR BB SO
2006 4 4 5.24 14 13 0 0 0 0 68.2 82 42 40 7 29 33
Career 80 95 4.83 247 235 28 4 1 --- 1512.0 1675 861 811 193 512 903
Career Stats | Splits | Game Log | Hit Chart | Postseason & All-Star
Last 10 Games:
DATE OPP W L ERA SV IP H ER BB SO
MAY 02 @CIN 0 0 3.10 0 6.0 6 2 2 2
MAY 07 @FLA 0 0 2.81 0 3.0 1 0 2 2
MAY 27 @SD 1 0 2.92 0 5.0 7 2 1 4
JUN 02 CHC 0 0 2.93 0 6.0 9 2 1 2
JUN 07 CIN 0 1 3.54 0 5.1 8 5 5 4
JUN 14 @PIT 0 1 4.35 0 3.1 7 6 0 1
JUN 20 @CWS 0 0 5.30 0 1.0 4 6 0 2
JUN 25 @DET 0 1 4.95 0 7.1 6 2 2 1
JUL 01 KC 0 0 5.60 0 2.2 7 6 5 2
JUL 06 @HOU 0 1 5.24 0 6.0 4 1 4 4
Totals 1 4 6.31 0 45.2 59 32 22 24
Quick Splits:
vs. Left: .298 vs. Right: .317 Home: 5.06 Road: 5.40
Day: 2.48 Night: 7.75 Grass: 5.24 Turf: ---
Current Month: 7.27 Last 30 Days: 9.12
Multimedia:
Ponson on the bases: 350K
Matthew Leach on Ponson, Looper
MLB.com's Molony on Ponson
Ponson K reel: 56K | 350K
MLB.com's Gary Washburn on Sidney Ponson
More Multimedia »
News:
July 07, 2006
Notes: Cards cut ties with Ponson
July 06, 2006
Error proves costly in loss to Astros
July 05, 2006
Ponson to open set with Astros
June 18, 2006
Notes: Ponson set to skip start
More News »
Last Three Seasons:
Year Team W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR BB SO
2003 BAL 14 6 3.77 21 21 4 0 0 0 148.0 147 65 62 10 43 100
2003 SF 3 6 3.71 10 10 0 0 0 0 68.0 64 29 28 6 18 34
2004 BAL 11 15 5.30 33 33 5 2 0 0 215.2 265 136 127 23 69 115
2005 BAL 7 11 6.21 23 23 1 0 0 0 130.
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Looked a bit deeper at the bio on Ponson. Booze was (still is ???) the culprit. LaRussa said he has a great arm. Might be worth a shot, after all. We'll see next week. Maybe he can be the "lightning in the bottle" that Cashman hopes to get ....
Only 2.5 out. Let's step it up, in particular Randall & A-Rod. BTW, anybody know how the 12 year old NJ LL pitcher that got struck in the chest and was in a coma is doing? Big A-Rod fan, and I read that
he almost came out of the coma when his aunt told him that A-Rod had called. We may rag on Alex, but you gotta admit that he's a class act.
Note to Red Sawk fans: he saved a kid's life up in Beantown last year - kid would have been run over by a truck. That kid turned out to be a big A-Rod, fan, too...so that's the guy that almost played for you and you hate so much. Go figure.
Ras #45
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Yeah guys, Gorilla died in 99. Was there anything better than wrestling in the 80's? Well, besides Yankee championships is there anything else better?
Ponson huh? Look at it this way. The last fat guy who liked to drink and fight that pitched here didn't do so bad. Also, Ponson doesn't have to think about pitching to Jeter who I think is/was hitting around .900 off of him. There really isn't anything out there to pick up this year, or so it seems. I know this has been discussed before but nearly everyone has a shot so teams aren't going to just unload high priced guy or potential free agent in some teams lap. So when that happens you take a chance on something that no one wants. The only thing that worries me is the Cardinals dumped his guy so they could have a roster spot for JEFF "bleeping" WEAVER
I like having Cashman in the GM position, BUT I would rather have Gene Michael if truth be told. That man was really the one who put the 90's together. I like to call him the "fifth Beatle" to the Yankee dominance of the 90's. In Cashman's defense (as Mr. BPS already stated) the Mafia like Tampa end of the Yankees made alot of those deals (Kevin Brown, Womack, etc) But the BOSS wanted Ortiz when the Twins cut him lose and Cashman didn't. Cashman famously stated "what do we need with another DH? We have Ruben Sierra"
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I wouldn't have taken Ortiz back then as well. He wasn't on the juice...
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yeah, no kidding lucky....just hindsight wears rose colored glasses
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Happy, I agree with you about Ponson. Chacon wasnt doing well last year when we picked him up. I think I would still rather have Chacon in the rotation over Ponson. But hey they are not paying me the big bucks, and they are the ones that will have to deal with the results good or bad.
It's a sellers market because over half of MLB is a buyer. So we take what we get, and just pray that they help us. And lets hope we dont lose any prospects in this thing.
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The Ponson matter is very interesting. His problem has been highlighted quite often on espn, but Joe Torre has had experience with this type of personality before, and has been able to extract good performances while they play for him. On Ponson's side he knows this is it for him. So while I don't think Joe can "cure" self destruction, I know that he's got the chops to get players like this to focus. Even for just a few innings.
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Also keep in mind I remember reading that Ponson quit drinking when St. Louis signed him at the begining of the year
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That wasn't you taking away Jeter's triple down the rightfield line was it?
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Very well put guavapaste. Torre I think will set Ponson straight if need be. Maybe the change of scenery will help him get his focus back. A very heart-thumping 9th inning with Mo getting the bases loaded with nobody out. He fought hard and we got another Yankee victory!!
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Well you guys are gunna gain a game on the red sox unless they come back with 8 runs in 2 inings dont think that is happenin
-kaylee
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