AL East Round Up: Mother’s Day Edition

Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Boston Red Sox

Man, the Red Sox can’t seem to get it together. And, I’m OK with that. For some reason, I’ve really developed a “hate-on” for the Sox. After the Jays, they used to be my “back up” team. Then they went all “Evil Empire” and…..ugh. Anyway, it was interesting to see that Yu Darvish had a no-no going against the Red Sox on Friday night. He took his bid into the ninth. And then David Ortiz (who else?) broke it up with one out to go. Why is it that players like Ortiz seem to come through in times like that? It just adds to their hype.

Ortiz’s clutch hitting is the epitome of why you cannot count the Red Sox out. Ever. That and their starting pitchers. David Sessions of MLB.com gave us an interesting look at the rotation for the Red Sox. They are the only team to get 7 starts from all 5 of their starters! That is huge! To add to that, their rotation is only one of two (Angels being the other) that has had their rotation stay in tact. Their starters have totaled 205 2/3 innings.

Ian Browne of MLB.com passes on that Ben Cherington, Red Sox GM, will be part of the Sabermetrics, Scouting and Science of Baseball panel when they meet August 16-17 in Boston. I thought this was a cool thing to add and then I read that John Ferrell spoke at the event in the past, thus taking away any shiny veneer the event held in my mind. Do you think the old school scouts and managers have an “Eye Test, Scouting and Gut Feelings of Baseball” panel? Just wondering.

Finally, you have to check out this video that shows Fenway Park being transformed into a soccer pitch for Liverpool FC and AS Roma’s exhibition match:

Aside from being a really cool transformation, it is also neat to see that other sports and leagues are doing the cross oceanic tour of exhibition games.