DILBLOG: Dilly's Weblog

Starting chronoligically backward, Johnny Damon will continue to take some heat for striking out with the bases loaded and two outs. As will the ump: it was an exteremely close call. But very telling that Tito didn't even make a fuss about it. It was like he knew all the breaks were going the way of the OTHER sox, and they were not going to be denied. But it's not all on Damon - Varitek did the chisox a big favor by being so aggressive in the previous at-bat, where Contreras (who deserves much of the credit here anyway) was still pretty wild. What would not swinging have done? Possibly as much as getting Guillen ejected in the case of a few more called balls: he was clearly on the edge of losing it, and the home-plate ump was clearly getting annoyed, and looking for one or two more provokations to give him the heave. Without Ozzie's hands-on management, would it have played out the same? The series, yes. The game? Maybe not. What I question is bringing in 'Tek at all: Mirabelli was fresher, is certainly no slouch as a hitter, and is a better pure defensive catcher. And you would've wanted to save Varitek for future game(s), no?

Biggest moves in 2004:

Rotation: (obviously) bringing in Schilling and Foulke
Lineup: Francona's rewarded loyalty to the much-maligned Millar and Belhorn.
Front office: Firing Grady Little

Biggest moves in 2005:

Rotation: (equally obviously) getting rid of Martinez, Lowe
Lineup: Francona's backfiring loyalty to the much-maligned duo of Millar and Belhorn
Front office: Buying too heavily into Theo Epstein's vision

Since the 2005 judgements have not yet settled entirely into the realm of conventional wisdom, a little elaboration:

Little could've been done about Pedro (except possibly...see below), but letting Derek Lowe go without lifting a finger, well, you tell me: how much would it have meant to have a reliable (Tom-Brady like in the postseason, considering he was the winning pitcher of record in all 3 2004 post-season series deciding games _and_ the 2003 DCS deciding game.) sinker-baller to throw into the rotation or fortify the bullpen? (While we're at it, let's remember that he _started_ in the all star game just a few years ago, and has done something neither Pedro nor Roger Clemmens has ever done: pitched a no-hitter.)

Belhorn, of course, was gone by the post-season, and Millar getting less play, but between their repeated failures, might not the bosox have clearly otherwise won the division, and not have to be stressed out down to the last game of the season?? And finally, Red Sox Nation made a mistake in going along with Theo's assumption that Schilling was (healthy or not) still a #1 starter, and that the Pedro figure in the rotation could easily be replaced. Remember, they wanted Pavanno over Clement. How would _that_ have worked out???

Finally, given the additional hindsight of having seen the other DCS series and 3 games of the ALCS)I must finally agree with "the big O" on WEEI that going for Renteria over Cabrerra was a big mistake. Not only would that have saved enough money to possibly keep Pedro, certainly Lowe, but he actually played better - especially in the post-season. Remember, Rentaria hit into the final out not just in last year's world series game 4, but in game 3 of this year's DCS!

So clearly the theme for next year will be "won't get fooled again" (which, Ironically, is frequently played at the conclusion of games at Yankee stadium). But for 2005, it clearly has to be "there's always last year". Nobody should ever forget how we felt in the euphoric days following the sweep of the Cardinals (described so well by Billy Joe of Greenday in this Sports Illustrated interview), and the end of the 86 year curse: "who cares about next year? If we suck we're just another crappy team. It's not as if God hates us!"