Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Around the Diamond

Even though he’s currently on the DL, Coco Crisp signed a contract extension with Boston that will keep him in a Sox uniform through 2010. Even though we’ve only seen Crisp in 4 games so far this season, he’s been impressing fans, teammates and front office alike with his defense in the field, bat at the plate, and speed everywhere he goes. And at 26, Crisp still has many good years ahead of him.

No word yet on the dollar amounts behind the deal, but I’m betting it’s a far cry from the $12 million Damon’s getting.

If Pedro Martinez even gets within 3 feet of Guillen with a pitch in tonight’s Mets-Nationals matchup, the fireworks are gonna fly. After the beanball game in New York last week, both teams have behaved themselves, mostly for fear of suspension from the league. But tonight, Pedro is back on the hill, and he’s going to do his best to keep his Mets in first place. If Guillen is hanging over the plate just a hair, he’s getting plunked.

On a side note, keep your eye on Nationals manager Frank Robinson if anyone on his team does get beaned. His relentless badgering of the umpires in last week’s fiasco ranked very high on the Unintentional Comedy Scale (pardon the blatent ripoff of Bill Simmons). When he blows a gasket like that, I fully expect him to simply start to wander into the outfield, muttering to himself and waving his arms like a madman.

As I mentioned before, Bronson Arroyo belted his second home run of the season yesterday. On the scoreboard, that’s a run differential of +2. Also mentioned was Wily Mo’s Canseco-esque assist of a home run in right field, which plated two runs. Since those runs were for the opposite team, that’s a -2 for Wily. That gives Bronson a +4 advantage over Wily Mo so far. Think Arroyo can play right field?

Game Notes

David Wells is a load. I never did like the guy in a Sox uniform. He's a loudmouth, a sloppy fat mess on the mound, and an ex-Yankee to boot. The 15 wins he scraped out last season for the Sox could easily have been found elsewhere. I just don't like him.

He's managed to dig the Sox into a 5-0 hole after only two innings of work. Three of those runs came on homers, one of which left Fenway completely. Now the Sox might have to go to their bullpen, in the third inning, to finish out the game. I'm SO glad we brought him off the DL for this start. SO glad he could start the Sox out in the hole, and help deplete our bullpen for the rest of the homestand. Thanks Wells. You fatass.

On the bright side, Wily Mo just HAMMERED a ball to left. Unfortunately, it just hooked foul, but it was one hell of a shot. If he ever finds his stride here in Boston, cars on the Mass Pike had better stock up on windshield insurance.

Dustan Mohr, a minor-league centerfielder the Sox called up in place of the injured Nixon, is sporting number 18 in the game tonight. Its nice to see that jersey back on the field so soon, should help fans get over the loss of Damon. But then, having Crisp out there on a regular basis is all we really need to say, "Johnny who?"

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