http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summaryThu, 07 Sep 2006 22:23:10 +0000http://www.theballyard.com/ballyardblog.htmSteve WeissmanBlogger115http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/116134934273113690Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:02:00 +00002006-10-20T09:03:49.606-04:00If I heard it once, I heard it three dozen times as I went inside the Cape Cod Baseball League while researching my recent book about the league: something unusual, or unusually dramatic, would occur, and the players would explain it by saying, “That’s baseball!” I mention this because there may be no better way than that to sum up the just-concluded National League Championship Series, the http://www.theballyard.com/2006/10/cards-beat-mets-in-dramatic-fashion.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/116005260817481060Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:50:00 +00002006-10-05T08:57:02.533-04:00Completing the thoughts for this week are the first musings as to whom of the possible departees the Red Sox should keep, and whom the club should allow to go. In alphabetical order, I give you the following: • Alex Cora, Utility: A smart, steady player who can play multiple positions well and might teach Dustin Pedroia a thing or two while sitting in the dugout. He’d be great to have around if http://www.theballyard.com/2006/10/first-thoughts-as-to-whom-sox-should.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115988307410201993Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:44:00 +00002006-10-03T10:00:15.733-04:00It’s Day Two of the Boston Red Sox’s 2007 season, and already the speculation has begun as to who from the ’06 squad will return in ’07. While it’s too early to travel terribly far down this path, it is interesting to see which players on the current roster have contractual ‘outs’ (either via free agency or buyout clauses) that make it easy to move them down the road. Here’s a preliminary stab athttp://www.theballyard.com/2006/10/let-roster-speculation-begin.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115980219377368694Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:15:00 +00002006-10-02T11:45:39.956-04:00The 2006 Boston Red Sox season mercifully is now behind us, and thanks to injury and what GM Theo Epstein described as “some weaknesses” in the team, the Sox finished in third place (behind New York and Toronto) and missed the post-season for the first time since 2002.For all the frustrations and medical bills, though, the end was more satisfying than it could have been. So while the talkradio http://www.theballyard.com/2006/10/silver-linings-in-bosox-final-cloud.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115893308268979392Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:51:00 +00002006-09-22T10:26:11.986-04:00David Ortiz last night hit his 51st and 52nd home runs in a win against his former Minnesota Twins, and in so doing, he broke the 68-year-old Red Sox club record for home runs for a season. While certainly statistically significant – at least for members of Red Sox Nation, if not for baseball fans as a whole – Big Papi’s achievement was equally notable for the sidebars it suggested. For instance:http://www.theballyard.com/2006/09/papi-pops-two-is-sox-top-bopper.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115832612392254087Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:14:00 +00002006-09-15T09:15:23.923-04:00As Red Sox Nation turns its lonely eyes to next year, an interesting question arises: how might Gary Sheffield look in Boston’s home whites? The current Yankee slugger apparently is ready to come off the disabled list, but there’s no obvious place for him to play in the Bronx, and it says here that the Bombers won’t pick up his contract option for next year this being the case. Sheffield’s http://www.theballyard.com/2006/09/sheffield-at-fenway-in-07_15.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115826583630658816Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:26:00 +00002006-09-14T16:30:36.340-04:00– One Baseball Fan Wants to Know – Is it me, or have more players than usual actually been put on the shelf this baseball season with various sorts of muscle injuries? Maybe the reporting is better, or maybe I’m just paying more attention than I have in the past. But it seems to me that the ‘dog days’ of the 2006 season have been especially hard on players – and this, in turn, has me wondering http://www.theballyard.com/2006/09/can-we-peg-plethora-of-muscle-pulls-to.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115766682175227216Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:07:00 +00002006-09-07T18:11:11.043-04:00– Four Arms, a Catcher, and a Shortstop Who Might Have Made a Difference – Consider the accomplishments this season of the following players, who either were Red Sox farmhands at the end of last season or were with the club when it broke camp back in March: - Anibal Sanchez, now with the Florida Marlins, last night threw the major league’s first no-hitter in more than two years. - Hanley http://www.theballyard.com/2006/09/some-red-sox-ones-that-got-away.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115679585395929335Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:09:00 +00002006-08-28T16:15:41.703-04:00The Boston Red Sox lost another winnable game last night in Seattle, and after nearly two months of such nonsense, it’s clear that the team just can’t continue to contend. The recent rash of injuries has been just too costly to overcome in terms of player performance and player replacement. But what’s particularly frustrating is that the Yankees were similarly decimated earlier in the year, but http://www.theballyard.com/2006/08/survivor-al-east-outspend-outlast_28.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115616529548887444Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:01:00 +00002006-08-23T11:45:29.566-04:00As the news from Fenway continues to disappoint (“Can’t anybody here play this game?” – Casey Stengel), let’s continue to celebrate this year’s Cape League season and stay in our “happy place” for just a little while longer … Nice to Meet You! - Mike Bordick, one-time member of the Y-D Red Sox who played 14 years in the big leagues and has given back to his Cape League team to the point where a http://www.theballyard.com/2006/08/clinging-to-cape-league-memories-while.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115627374710911236Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:05:00 +00002006-08-22T15:21:09.236-04:00OK, so the Yankees just embarrassed the Red Sox by sweeping five games at Fenway Park, and now stand 6½ games in front of the Olde Towne Team. But that’s all right, you console yourself; they’re only 4 games behind the White Sox for the wild card, and once NixWakeItek gets back, they’ll make up that little ground for sure. Heck, if they get really hot, they could even still pass the Yankees http://www.theballyard.com/2006/08/red-sox-seal-deal-welcome-to-next-year.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115582675862592879Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:56:00 +00002006-08-18T09:41:46.183-04:00That the Boston Red Sox have been struggling lately has been well documented, and by my observation, their circumstances are unlikely to improve any time soon. The hand they are now playing was dealt to them some six weeks ago, when they began losing key hitters and pitchers to injury (e.g., Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek, Keith Foulke, Tim Wakefield, David Wells). The result was a series of chain http://www.theballyard.com/2006/08/chain-reactions-shaping-remainder-of.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115567729403461210Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:28:00 +00002006-08-15T17:32:49.460-04:00The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox this weekend won their second Cape Cod Baseball League championship in three years, and they did it in the spectacular fashion that is so typical of the Cape League. Consider the following: - The team lost one of its pitching stars right away when lefty Matt Meyer (Boston College) signed with Cleveland and began his pro career. - It started the season 8-11 and seemedhttp://www.theballyard.com/2006/08/y-d-red-sox-win-cape-league-crown-in.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115326065596491371Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:10:00 +00002006-07-18T18:14:06.753-04:00Couldn’t let another day go by without applauding the streaking Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League … these Sox have won nine games in a row, and they’ve now stormed their way into first place in the league’s Eastern Division. They’ve won slugfests (11-8 against Falmouth on Friday) and pitching gems (a no-hitter tossed by Boston College’s Terry Doyle against Chatham on Sunday)http://www.theballyard.com/2006/07/red-sox-on-roll-on-cape-anyway.htmlSteve Weissmanhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/17822874/posts/summary/115280009664215861Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:14:00 +00002006-07-13T10:18:15.613-04:00The 44-game Cape Cod Baseball League season is now half played, and it’s now safe to turn early indications into fully-fledged trends. At this juncture, it appears the teams to beat in the East are Orleans and Brewster, who are separated by a single point in the standings. However, a recent surge by Yarmouth-Dennis (7-3 over the last 10 games) has put the Red Sox just three points behind the http://www.theballyard.com/2006/07/cape-league-at-midseason-when.htmlSteve Weissman