Cursed To First - Sox and Pats forever.

Bon Voyage, Mike Cameron

I can't really say I have many standout memories of Mike Cameron on the field (nor, it appears, can the Red Sox, or they wouldn't have DFA'd him today). In fact, my warmest memory of him is from the Red Sox commercial outtakes video from this year's Spring Training, as he gamely--but repeatedly--botched his lines, smiling through it all. In general, I remember him as a smiling yet stoic presence as he battled both injury and age in a Red Sox uniform.

I did have a moment of wondering -- particularly as I watched Darnell GIDP in his first at bat against the Phillies during tonight's Sox in 2 game replay on NESN -- why the Red Sox hung on to Darnell McDonald while releasing Cameron, especially given their standard batting numbers (McDonald:.122/.173/.204, .377 OPS; Cameron: .149/.212/.266, .477 OPS).

Now, I don't normally venture into the deeper stats, and hopefully I won't hurt myself, here, but it seems worth noting that when it comes to both runs above replacement and wins above replacement, Mike Cameron appears to have been more of a detriment to the team than McDonald so far (probably due to almost exactly twice the number of plate appearances). His runs above replacement is -10 (translation: not good), and his wins above replacement is -1.0 (also not good). Darnell, on the other hand, is at -3 RAR and -0.3 WAR. Given more opportunities, he might do just as much damage as Cameron, but that has yet to be seen. Cameron, in the meantime, has been given enough rope to hang himself.

Ultimately, I think the difference comes down to age. Cameron, a veteran of a broken face, hernia and hip flexor surgeries as well as 17 seasons in the majors, is 38 years old, and by all appearances, not due for a resurgence. Darnell has been a project, but is six years younger. Darnell is also cheaper at $470,000 to Cameron's $7.75 million, but that point is moot given the Sox are still on the hook for Cameron's salary.

In the end, though, I still think the move makes sense. Cameron isn't getting any younger, and the move might clear the way for Josh Reddick, who has impressed so far with the stick, to see more playing time.

Still, it seems like Mike Cameron is a good guy who has fought hard for every moment of his Major League career. This may be the end of the road for him, and wherever he goes from here, I wish him nothing but the best.

The Week in Interleague Angst

First, there was the disappointing interleague homestand, in which the Red Sox went 3-3, dropping a series to the San Diego Padres before heading out on a 9-game interleague road trip, which so far has not been the most incredible experience ever to happen to Boston baseball fans.

The Sox failed to capitalize on the opportunity to get ahead of NL teams at home, where they still had the advantage of the DH (so much for Youkilis's appeal to get the rules changed...at least, if this year is any indication), but then they headed to Pittsburgh, where surely, the just-recently-barely-over-.500 Pirates would provide some relatively easy fodder before the Red Sox had to take on the league-leading Phils.

But two days later, there was this: the spectre of Pirates fans waving brooms as the Red Sox took the field.

(photo by Alert Reader Don, who had the misfortune of witnessing this series)

Red Sox drop series to Padres, but more importantly: DAVE ROBERTS

It's an old trope by now, but the results of this series will have some fans wishing that the Red Sox could have saved some of their fourteen-run onslaught Monday night for the next two games. Selfishly, though, I'm happy to have been in attendance for the blowout win, which also marked another return by DAVE ROBERTS to the city where he'll never have to buy a meal or a drink.

Streak snaps

So much for the perfecta. Or such was the name I was prepared to give to the quadruple-sweep, had the Red Sox actually accomplished it -- but I probably jinxed it before it had a chance to begin with my last post.

More scientifically, the Red Sox ended their winning streak at the loathsome Trop tonight for two reasons: James Shields pitched a hell of a complete-game shutout, and, on a related note, the Red Sox bats grounded into double play after double play after double play within the first six innings, all of them inning-ending, and two of them authored by Kevin Youkilis.

Some questioned the decision to leave Wakefield in, but he pitched wonderfully, delivering more than a quality start -- 7 innings and 1 earned run. Sadly, Tim Wakefield Disease, the devastating condition in which a pitcher receives absolutely no run support from his offense, struck hard with its Patient Zero and namesake tonight. Plus, though the point is ultimately moot with the shutout going on the other side, with the way Tommy Hottovy and Alfredo Aceves added fuel to the flames, seven innings of Wake was, at worst, six of one / half dozen of the other.

That said, I don't know if Wake is long for the rotation -- reports are that the Red Sox are readying Pawtucket's Andrew Miller to start in Boston soon.

In the meantime, let's hope the Commander can restore order tomorrow night. 9-0 may be a lost dream, but with Beckett slated to pitch against a kid it looks like he could easily beat in a bar fight as well as on the field, and Buch to follow, I can still believe in 8-1.

P.S. I suppose I would be remiss if I didn't mention all the Carl Crawford hoopla, but really, I'm not all that into it either way. But let's face it -- the Red Sox are indistinguishable from the Yankees to many of the fan bases in the league. Then, let's think back to Johnny Damon's return to Fenway with the Yankees. Yeah. So, I'd actually be a little sad if he hadn't been booed at least a little bit -- with a pathetic average attendance going this season, the least the Rays fans who do show up can do is act like a real fan base.

Sweeps Week

There were moments Jon Lester actually looked bored out on the mound today at the Rogers Centre, as he hummed in strike after strike, making short work of Blue Jays hitters on another dozen-run afternoon. The big lefty worked at a brisk pace, reaching back over and over to unleash zone-pounding pitches like he was bagging groceries.

And once again, it was a single, monstrous fifth inning, in fact the third six-or-more-run inning in the last four games for the Red Sox, that put the game away on the offensive side of the ball. As with yesterday's seven-run fifth, the points came on multiple multi-run homers, this time at the hands of Dustin Pedroia and the white-hot David Ortiz, as well as an RBI single by Marco "Hey, Remember Me?" Scutaro.

I know I was navel-gazing about the pitching yesterday, and I still have some concerns about the middle relief, but who doesn't? In the meantime, you can't ask for a better week or so than the Red Sox have just had, in which they've earned a sweep of sweeps, a trifecta, if you will -- a 9 game winning streak that is the league's longest this year (they tied the Indians at 8 straight yesterday, according to MLB.com).

They also won 11 in a row in April 2009, and before that, 12 in the ill-fated 2006. To find a longer streak, according to the Projo, "You have to go back to the days of Williams, Pesky, Doerr and DiMaggio. From July 18 to July 27, 1948, the Sox won 13 straight en route to a 96-59 season."

Given the less-than-glorious outcomes of the years mentioned above, there are obviously no guarantees. And maybe I'm just giddy to have seen a pitching performance that rivaled the bats. But with the heavy expectations placed on this team and the way they're starting to gel, I can't help but be reminded of a 10-game streak back in August to September 2004, which also, IIRC, included games in Toronto, and cut the Yankees' seemingly insurmountable 10.5 game lead in the division down to 2.5 games. Good times.

Though we have yet to get to the All-Star break, this streak is especially encouraging because 6 of the 9 wins have come on the road. I seem to remember a time this team couldn't buy a win on the road. So much the better, because they still have miles to go before they sleep, traveling to Tampa Bay for another three-game set before returning home for more interleague play.

So, in for a penny, in for a pound -- and since today it seems the sky's the limit -- what would you call a quadruple sweep?

Hot Red Sox offense blows out birds

Jason Varitek's third homer of the season -- a three-run job -- helped officially make it an afternoon laugher in Toronto today.
(photo originally uploaded by placidminds, on Flickr)

And to think, I was actually a little nervous before tuning in to today's game.

Another annoying yet boring combination of factors, including a Death Flu Virus from Hell, have been keeping me from the blog, as well as from catching many baseball games this week. In my absence, the Red Sox have swept New York to storm into first place -- the first time since 1913 the Red Sox have swept New York twice in the Bronx in one season. So I had a fleeting fear as I finally got to sit down and watch the ballgame today that maybe I'd be a jinx.

But for this team, right now, there seems to be no such thing.

The Sox lineup continued to dominate, particularly in the seven-run top of the fifth that officially made today's game a laugher. As a team, the Sox have scored at least five runs per game, and usually more, since June 2, and it's mostly been this onslaught that has them riding a season-topping 8-game winning streak since that date.

During this week of sickness and a general lack of baseball, I got an email from a colleague that posited the notion that if the Sox left the Bronx in first place, as they did, they wouldn't relinquish that position the rest of the season. This team has so much upside, especially when they're hitting, that it's perhaps easier to make such a bold statement this year than in others.

But a hot offense can hide a multitude of sins -- we may have the lineup we've been dreaming of, but pitching has been a less consistent story. Lester and Beckett have been solid, and Buchholz last night spun a gem, but the rotation and especially the bullpen have been afflicted with injury and other uncertainties, including back issues for Buch, and Tommy John surgery for two members of the staff, and have given up their share of runs over this recent winning streak.

It was a similar story today -- John Lackey allowed 4 runs, and was lucky it was only that few -- he got slapped around the park like a red-headed stepchild in the early innings, but the ball kept finding gloves in the outfield. He's also lucky the Red Sox threw a cool, season-high 16 runs up on the other side of the board for the day, so it was never really an issue, anyway.

Team hitting hotness is fickle, as is life in general in the AL East. So until the pitching goes on as hot a streak as the hitting has lately, and preferably for a good, long time, it's still too soon to declare the division lead truly safe. But here's hoping the tear they're on as a team isn't temporary.

Bullpen resilience seals the sweep

Is June too early to say we've got a real pennant race going? After completing the sweep on Oakland this weekend, the Sox are .500 on their homestand and a half-game out of first place. The Rays, three games out, and even the Jays, at 3.5 games back, aren't necessarily out of it either. Ain't we got fun?

I will say, however, that I was pleasantly surprised at how resilient the Red Sox were today. I fully expected a loss after yesterday's phyrric 14-inning victory, but John Lackey came in and pitched a 3-run, 5.2 inning effort, an out short of a quality start, but good enough for the W and a standing ovation from the Fenway crowd. In a brief beanball war in the third inning, Lackey also seemed to get away with hitting catcher Kurt Suzuki despite both benches having been warned -- sometimes being effectively wild is the most effective thing, I guess.

The bullpen, too, showed resilience, even sharpness, in the latter innings of this game, during which Matt Albers, Tommy Hottovy, Dan Wheeler and Daniel Bard combined to blank the A's. Dan Wheeler had a 7-pitch 8th, and beginning his ninth with a three-run lead and Mark Ellis at the plate -- like a do-over of yesterday's ninth -- Daniel Bard didn't just do his job. He did it with such quick, ruthless efficiency he almost looked bored, as one after another, 100-mph pitches pumped their way out of his arm.

I used to worry that Daniel Bard was too sweet and calm (or at least he seemed that way) to be a closer. But between his nasty stuff and that blank demeanor, he's actually cultivating his own kind of icy intimidation factor. It's the opposite of the bombast and fire we're used to seeing with Jonathan Papelbon, but over the last two days, the contrast has clearly worked in Bard's favor.

Meanwhile, as tough as they proved they can be today, I'm still grateful for an off-day tomorrow before the Sox head into a challenging road trip, beginning with a series in the Bronx. Hopefully it'll allow everyone to recover before another contentious series with the Bombers.

Game of Attrition

Several hours before it would ultimately end, today's game seemed well in hand. Jonathan Papelbon was on to pitch the top of the ninth in what seemed like an otherwise routine 7-3 Sox win. And that's when all hell broke loose.

Red Sox vs. White Sox: scenes from the comeback that wasn't

Peter Gammons pregame.

I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, to quote Onion scribe Jim Anchower, but I did attend one of the sweep games at the hands of the White Sox this week, the one that was probably in the most contention overall, on Tuesday night. I also had some great field box seats thanks to my Dad, right near the visitor's dugout, so I was able to get up close and personal with the inimitable Ozzie Guillen. It was a nice distraction from the debacle on the field.

A selection of photos from the complete set below the jump.