PN 141 - Jane Leavy, 'The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood'

Jane Leavy, author of Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy and Squeeze Play, talks about Mickey Mantle and her new biography, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood.

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Barcalounge Skipper - 2010 MLB Playoffs

You might not have been wondering where my weekend sports commentary has been, but I've been waiting for the baseball playoffs picture to clear up -- and it was a great ending to the regular season without those pesky one-game playoffs. ("You mean we played 162 games and we're still not clear about who's better?")  So, even though I'll probably be wrong on most counts, here are my best guesses as to who will advance and who won't in the 2010 MLB postseason.


National League Playoffs

Reds (91-71) versus Phillies (97-65)
     The Phillies have three aces at the top of the staff -- Halliday, Oswalt, and Hamels -- and have managed to earn the best record in baseball despite injuries and below-average years from most of their players.  Given the strong pitching and the always likely regression toward the mean, the Phils are the smart pick here.  Then again, with sure-thing NL MVP Joey Votto steady and productive, it could be that a brilliant postseason from just one pitcher (Edinson Volquez) and one hitter (Jay Bruce) knocks out the favorite.  But I don't think so. Phillies in four.

Braves (91-71) versus Giants (92-70)
     The Braves would be the sentimental favorite to go deep into the playoffs, given that Bobby Cox (2503 wins, 5 pennants, 1 championship) is in his final season.  But after Tim Hudson, I don't see any other pitcher who matches up with the Giants' big three of Lincecum, Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez.  Neither team has particularly strong offenses, so if you like pitching a defense, this is the series to watch.  Giants in five.


NLDS
     The Phillies have the pitching to meet the Giants' arms, and there's no comparison between the hitting of these teams.  Unless Lincecum and Cain suddenly turn into the second coming of Koufax and Drysdale, I have to pick the Phillies in six.

American League Playoffs

Rangers (90-71) versus Rays (95-66)
     This matchup is the hardest to figure out, as the Rays appear to have much more consistent pitching, and the Rangers have a fearsome offensive lineup, led by my choice (not that anybody's asking) for AL MVP, Josh Hamilton.  Aces David Price for the Rays and Cliff Lee for the Rangers cancel each other out, so I think the Rays slim edge in the rotation picks up that third win they need somewhere along the way.  Also, BJ Ryan has finally started to come out of his season-long snooze, and there's no way Carlos Pena doesn't do a little bit more damage in the playoffs than he has been doing all year.  Rays in four.

Yankees (95-67) versus Twins (94-68)
     Although the Yankees have been a little wobbly in the last few weeks, I am mindful that they play in the ruthless American League East, and they are, as ever, stocked with veterans who have done it before, and so forth.  I like CC Sabathia for two wins in a short series, and I don't see the Twins starters handling the Yankees hitters as well as the Yankees entire staff handling the Twins' bats.  I say it goes to the Yankees in five, with a memorably cold and rainy clincher played deep into in the Minnesota night.

ALCS
     If the Rays can make it past the Rangers, then I'm going to take them over the Yankees.  Joe Maddon will figure out a way to beat the Yankees, and Carl Crawford will, of course, be auditioning for a job with the very team he'll be playing against. Rays in six.


World Series
     So we'll have a rematch of the 2008 World Series, and this time around it will be a much better contest than the last time the Rays and Phillies met to settle the championship, when the Phillies won Game 5 over two nights, due to a suspension of the game due to inclement weather.  This time around, the Rays players will be ready to go, with better pitching -- including David Price, who will outpitch everyone -- but it won't be enough.  Winning their second World Series in three years, it'll be the Phillies in seven.

Barcaloungue Skipper - PN 2.21 - Plotting for Spring Training

I recall a glorious time in March during the mid-90s when I managed to see four baseball spring training games in two days – at the old Devil Rays’ field in downtown St. Petersburg, at the old Phillies’ park in Clearwater, then the next day at the Blue Jays’ field in Dunedin and the Yankees’ place in Tampa. There couldn’t have been more than two hour’s total driving to all those parks, my total for tickets didn’t crack 40 bucks, and there was much beer and sunshine. And the world was good.

These days, spring training is a bit more swanky here in the land of the Grapefruit League, but it’s still a wonderful way to see baseball in a more raw form. Plus there are guys playing who have three digit numbers on the backs of their jerseys. “Let’s get on base, number one-hundred-and-twenty-one!”


I’ve got the Mets and the Marlins/Cardinals a short drive to the north. I can tolerate the Marlins, and the Cards are fine, but the Mets just suck. What I really do is look for the Red Sox – who train on the West Coast in Fort Meyers -- to come through the area for that rare away game here on the East Coast. And I have my game in sight – March 9 – with Marlins tickets going on sale very very soon. In the meantime, maybe I’ll grab myself some actual Sox tickets. They go on sale this coming Saturday at 10:00 am. I’ll have my redial button ready.

I include a photo of the 1912 Red Sox, who trained that year in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The many pleasures of Arkansas aside, it does not appear to have been a particularly hot spring in Hot Springs.

I could go MLB's official website for all my spring training gumbo, but I prefer Spring Training Online, a blog which does away with much off the razzle-dazzle and garbage.

Barcalounge Skipper - PN 2.14 - 'Roid Age

I try to avoid writing about the Red Sox too often, but I’m on vacation in New England this week, and the latest scandal related to performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is centered around Boston. As the New York Times has reported, Boston sluggers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez had their names on the 2003 list of players two tested positive for some form of PED. Add to this, the now-Dodger Ramirez’s 50-game suspension for PED use, and the revelation that the Red Sox fired two staffers last year for suspicious conduct related to PEDs, and you have the Nation Haters foaming at the mouth. As if it’s not bad enough, one of the fired Sox staffers is Jared Remy, son of the wicked popular NESN broadcaster Jerry Remy, who’s off the air this year as he battles cancer. Talk about a family affair.

The broader question arises: Does the current scandal tarnish the 2004 and 2007 championships ? In my informal survey of everyone down at the general store, the answer cuts both ways. The championships are tarnished, of course, because everyone – including many die hard fans – would like them to be pure. On the other hand, the championships happened at the end of the Juiced Era, when everyone is suspects and few people tell the truth. The most important thing now is for Ortiz and the Red Sox to be as forthcoming and transparent as possible and get this behind them. And the best thing to happen would be for the Red Sox to win another championship. I got your PED right here!

What Major League Baseball should do is work out a deal with the Players’ Association and finally release the names of the 100 plus players who tested positive for some sort of PED in 2003. Everyone can have a chance to confess, deny, apologize, whatever -- and then move on, for Pete's sake.

If you’re a fan and have worked up a sense of outrage over all this steroid stuff, you should read Jose Canseco’s Juiced and the excellent Game of Shadows. It does help a fan to understand the mindset of professional athletes who see their peers getting an unfair advantage in a system that looks the other way. With PEDs in baseball, starting in the late 80s, the problem was systemic. Although we like to blame individuals, everyone is to blame and everyone got cheated in some way: Fans, players, owners, and the game itself.

But think of baseball’s color line -- not fully broken, I would argue, until the 1960s. Of all the players in the major leagues between 1868 and 1947, the year Jackie Robinson broke in with the Dodgers, they never had to complete with African American or Latin players. Are all those individual and team records and championships invalid because, in truth, those white players never competed day-in-day out against all the best players? After all, it was the more integrated National League that started winning All-Star Games and World Series as the 50s and 60s continued. How do you reach a conclusion as to who was better, Josh Gibson or Babe Ruth? As I said, in a systemic problem, we all lose.

Barcalounge Skipper - PN 2.11 - Jim Rice, Hall of Famer

In Little League, I proudly wore the number 14 -- the dorsal digits of Jim Rice, slugging Red Sox left fielder of my childhood. I was the left fielder for the Farmington Braves. I didn't know then (as I definitely do now) that the kids who played left field in Little League were, for the most part, the hopeless cases. I couldn't hit particularly well, and I couldn't throw very far but had good accuracy. Afer my first season, my coach, seeing that I was bright enough and big enough, made me a catcher.

After my baseball playing days ended when I turned 13, I became a fan of the game. Living in New England, this meant following the Red Sox during those transitional years between what I think of as the Yaz-Fisk period (1967-1980) to the Boggs-Clemens period (1986-1992). Jim Rice, my hero, spans both those periods, as he played from 1974-1989, pretty much alongside the great and underappreciated Dwight Evans (my brother's childhood favorite) who played for Boston from 1972 to 1990. The early eighties Red Sox were sort of fun to watch, kind of, in a Ralph Houk-ishy way. Most of the time, it seemed to me they got the crap kicked out of them by the Brewers or the Orioles.

As with great players of the 70s and 80s whose statistics are now overshadowed by the players of the Juiced Era, Rice's election this year to the Hall of Fame will remain an apparently undeserved honor to fans under the age of 30. I've been the the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and it's a wonderful tourist attraction, but the history of that institution is filled with flim-flam and fundamental unfairness. I don't have much to offer on the Hall of Fame that hasn't already been said.

Looking back now, when I condsider the years during which Jim Rice played, I understand much more clearly why he kept had a quiet, intense persona in the midst of the Boston sports world. In 1974, the year Rice, a young man from South Carolina, broke into the majors, the Supreme Court also handed down its decision on the appropriateness of busing as a means to desegregating schools. In 1976, the year after Rice helped the Red Sox reach the World Series, Boston was one of the many cities in the United States struggling with civil unrest as it tried to integrate its schools. What's a guy like Rice to think when he opens his Globe in the morning and sees this image on the front page?

The Red Sox, of course, were the very last major league team to integrate in 1959, when they added Pumpsie Green to the roster and used him mostly as a pinch runner and give-the-regulars-a-day-off fielder. A dozen years later, the Sox drafted Rice, who, with the retirement of his number at Fenway on Tuesday night, is the only African-American player so honored by the team. Rice was the only guy on the list. As of today, there is no other black (or Latin player) who could meet Boston's requirements for number-retirement. If David Ortiz plays for Boston for eight more years and reaches the Hall of Fame, he'd get his number on the Fenway facade.

One Saturday in 1982, though, I remember most clearly. The Red Sox, in the midst of not quite winning the AL East title that year, were playing Saturday home game versus the White Sox one hot August afternoon. The game was on national television. Rice, who wasn't having a great year, did hit a double in the bottom of the third to tie the score 2-2. In the bottom of the fourth, a hard line drive went foul into the first base stands. A 4-year-old boy named Jonathan Keene was struck in the head by the ball, which caused serious and severe trauma. Rice climbed into the stands, picked up the little boy, whose head was bleedling badly, and carried him into the dugout, through the clubhouse, and out to a waiting ambulance. As the legend persists now, it was Rice's action that saved the boy's life. That may or may not be so, but there's something in Rice's urgently human action on that afternoon that made so many of us love and respect him.

Later in the game, of course, the Red Sox lost, with Rice grounding into a double play as he so often did. He led the league in GIDP, and would again for three more years. And the Sox, finished not in first place that year, as they so often did. But both the man and the team in those days reminded us of what we were and what we hoped to be -- part human and part hero.

Reader's Notes - PN 2.6 - First Pitch

No Barcalounge Skipper for me on this year's All-Star Game -- I prefer a lower profile game and a more ordinary setting. But of all the coverage I've seen, I enjoyed Deadspin's presentation of the analyses of President Obama's work on the mound in throwing out the first pitch. Obama's an athletic guy (and a southpaw), and he certainly didn't embarrass himself, but his basketball roots clearly showed in his delivery.

Tommy Craggs's detailed Deadspin article is here, and don't neglect reading the comments.

Barcalounge Skipper - PN 2.3 - Yankees at Angels

Yankees (51-35) at Angels (47-37)
Fox Sports Broadcast – July 11, 2009

Here's the view from the chair. . .

The game of the week is a fairly obvious choice for Fox: two contending teams from big markets, a decent pitching matchup in Pettitte versus Washburn, young manager Girardi versus mastermind Scioscia, Abreu going from the Yankees to the Angels, Teixera moving from the Angels to the Yankees. This matchup is a likely ALDS preview, though nothing is guaranteed, of course.

The night before, the Angels won a game in which Joba Chamberlain struggled. In the seventh, when the wheels came off for the Yankees, there was some curious fielding from the Yankees when Jeter dropped a popup, but Posada caught a popup without his glove, biatch. The Angels mashed the ball pretty well, but they also used six pitchers to get through the game.
Today, as announcers Dick Stockton, Eric Karros, and Chris Rose (who?) let us know over and over, it is hot – very hot – in Anaheim. Plus, to make the 4:00 broadcast time on the East Coast, they’ll be starting the game in the midday Southern California sunshine.

On a side note, I’m not sure I like the commercials Fox is running for Tuesday’s All-Star Game. So, to distill the visual analogy: giant magnet is to St. Louis Gateway Arch as iron shavings is to baseball fans. I suppose. Very middle school science project.

Top of the First
I haven’t seen much of the Angels this year, and I’m noting the “34” patch on the jerseys in honor of Nick Adenhart, whose death in April seems so very long ago. The Angels have a bunch of guys on the disabled list – recently including Torii Hunter and Vlad Guerro– so it looks like we’ll see some newer faces from the Halos. Jeter flies out, Damon walks. A-Rod pounds a home run, Yankees 2-0. Matsui, who’s not good for much these days but standing at the plate and maybe hitting – and not consistently – strikes out looking.

Bottom of the First
Pettitte walks the leadoff hitter, Chone Figgins, who has speed. And although Pettitte is the all time leader in pickoffs, Scioscia always makes sure his baserunners are a pain in the butt for opponents. Sure enough, there’s a hit-and-run on, but Aybar’s hit stayed up, and Figgins had to hustle back to first. Figgins was also out, but the umpire missed the call. First base coach Alfreo Griffin was no help. Still pestering Pettitte, Figgins steals second, then goes to third on a productive out by Abreu. Nicely done: a runner 90 feet away from scoring. And then, shamefully, Mike Napoli swings AT THE FIRST pitch and flies out.

Top of the Second
Neat play from Posada in faking out everyone by staying put on a fair ball he bounced off the plate, getting another pitch or two, although he struck out in the end. Eric Hinske, Official Good Luck Charm of the American League East, hits a solo home run, Yankees 3-0.

Bottom of the Second
Pettitte settles in with another one pitch out and works an inning by letting his fielders do their jobs.

Top of the Third
Weaver also settles in a little bit with a hitless inning, including two strikeouts, but he’s up to 50 pitches already. It is a hot day, Dick Stockton – you said it!

Bottom of theThird
A leadoff walk by Pettitte sets up a double play. I meant to do that, he tells himself. Close call, but he finishes the inning at 47 pitches. It’s looking to be a long day.

Top of the Fourth
A-Rod leads off the inning with a walk, and then the game starts to slow down. An errant throw to first allows Rodriguez to go to second, but Posada doesn’t advance the runner, which is not like him. The Angels pitching coach comes out for a conference with Weaver, presumably about how to pitch to Cano, a good contact hitter. And Cano hits the second pitch of the at bat, bringing home A-Rod, Yankees 4-0. Weaver gets out of the inning, but his pitch count is 73.

Bottom of the Fourth
Scioscia appears to be concerned about the game getting out of hand, and so you see an aggressive hitter, Aybar, lead off and square to bunt on the first pitch. Then he hits the next one for a solid double. Next up, Abreu, takes a pitch the opposite way and scores Aybar. Pettitte, who appears to have been pitching to contact, is giving up better contact to the hitters. Mike Napoli strikes out on a high high pitch, and he has not looked good in two at bats. Pettitte finishes the inning with no more damage, and he may have a little gas in the tank. Next inning may tell.

Top of the Fifth
Aside from the double from Jeter, Weaver moves through the lineup. Get those Angels hitters back up there.

Bottom of the Fifth
Pettitte looks to be running out of gas. Single, homer , fielder’s choice, single. Yankees, 4-3. Pettitte comes out after four and a third innings and, surprisingly, just 61 pitches. David Robertson comes in for the Yankees, a fairly generic right-handed reliever, and gives up a big double to Mike Napoli. Where did that come from? Napoli, who didn’t look good at all in his first two at-bats, might have delivered the key hit of the game, giving the Angels the lead. And there’s the second out of the inning. Oh, and a walk to Matthews, who then steals second. Kendrick singles to score two more runs, so the lead goes to the Angels, 8-4. Going for the throat, the Angels send Kendrick to second, but he’s thrown own. A brutal inning in which the Yankees give up seven runs.

Top of the Sixth
Weaver, who’s been working deep counts and striking out batters, seems to have gotten his wind and strikes out the first two Yankees, although one of them is Matsui. Posada flies out. Weaver’s thrown 110 pitches, but with the All-Star break coming up, we still might see him in the 7th inning. In the Angels bullpen, only Matt Palmer and Rich Thompson haven't pitched the night before.

Bottom of the Sixth
It appears to me that something’s gone out of this game. They’re in the third hour of this game. Strikeout, then another strikeout but the runner advances on a wild pitch. Then a strikeout and a stolen base. Interesting: Will Robertson get one of those rare four strikeout innings. Ah, no. Aybar triples and scores and Willits scores, Angels 9-4. Here comes the Yankees’ Brett Tomko.

By the way, here’s a great statistical page from DailyBaseballData.com that presents a very clear record of each club’s bullpen usage from the previous four days.

Top of the Seventh
Weaver can earn a win, but he’s out of the game. Lefty Darrin Oliver, who pitched for just one out last night, comes in to face Cano, hitting from the left side. Cano singles, and here’s Hinske, also hitting lefty. Wha-BAM. I know the numbers say you should do it when you can, but do these matchup moves really work when you’re throwing Darrin Oliver out there? I guess Oliver’s been okay this year, but still. Oliver gets out the two guys batting from the right hand side, and then left-sider Johnny Damon. Not a great inning, but the lead still is with the Angels, 9-6.

Bottom of the Seventh
Tomko versus Napoli. Mike Napoli – he’s awful, he’s great, he’s awfully great! Damn, he hit one out. Angels, 10-6. I’m going to shut up now. I’m curious: is Brett Tomko just happy to be out there on the mound? One hit, two hits. There’s a double play. Thanks, Derek!

Top of the Eighth
It appears that Just for Men hair coloring is taking advantage of the recession to encourage all those out-of-work middle aged guys to spruce up their look with an awkwardly dark dye job. Anyway, Jason Bulger, who pitched a full inning last night, gives up a home run to A-Rod. Hideki Matsui manages to avoid a strikeout and hits one over the fence, back-to-back dingers. That’s five homers for the Yankees today, and the Angels lead has been cut to two runs. The game is now going into its fourth hour, and it’s 91 degrees in Anaheim. With the walk to Cano, Scioscia goes to the bullpen for George Jetson – I mean Kevin Jepson, who also worked last night. Man, those last two guys in the Angels bullpen must be scratching their heads. Jepson’s arm appears to have been made by Spacely Sprockets. Here’s Hinske, the tying run at the plate, to hit again. It would be very cool to see Hinske hit a third homer, but I’m getting tired of this game. Howie Kendrick’s brilliant snag of a line drive ends the inning, Angels 10-8.

Bottom of the Eighth
It’s refreshing to see Phil Coke come in to pitch for the Yankees; he’s a strong lefty, and should make quick work of the inning. In fact, Coke is so strong, he threw it away on a pickoff move. There’s the pressure of the running game even when you don’t steal a base outright. The announcers have beaten me this point. Wild pitch, runners now at first and third. Coke is insanely powerful – too strong for his own good. Abreu manages a sacrifice fly to score Willits, and then Figgins steals second. Scioscia is just relentless. I like the intentional walk here, which sets up the force out, provided Coke can keep his composure. But Morales pulls a pitch to left field and plates Figgins. And, brother, would you believe Gary Matthews Jr. singles to left to score two more runs. Coke is overthrowing at this point, but he manages to get a ground out for the final out. The inning ends with a commanding lead for the Angels, 14-8.

Top of the Ninth
Does Scioscia go with All-Star Brian Fuentes to shut the door on the game, or does he save his closer to work tomorrow or Tuesday in Philadelphia? Me, I’ve got things to do tonight, so I’m a little disappointed to see Matt Palmer in there, especially when he gives up a leadoff single. Hey there, double play. Thanks, Derek! All that stands between me and getting away from the keyboard is Johnny Damon, and he conveniently strikes out. Matt Palmer is very happy, and gives a little hop on the mound. I give a little hop, too.

That was 22 runs, 9 pitchers, and 3 hours and 28 minutes. Everybody find a place to cool off and get some liquids in you. We'll see you next week and do this again. Hopefully, we can get a nice brisk pitchers' duel next time around.

Barcalounge Skipper - The Alou Urine

BOS at LAD - 3/9/2008 - Vero Beach

Spring training in Florida is a glorious thing. The Grapefruit League plays during the best weather of the year in this part of the country, and if you live south Interstate 4, there are training facilities for 18 major league teams. Although competition for tickets is tougher than in years past for some teams (Yankees, Red Sox), in most cases you can snag tickets at the last minute and for a reasonable price. While not luxurious, the ballparks are small and friendly, and many of the best baseball experiences happened at spring training games. In fact, at the first game I ever attended (Red Sox at Phillies, 1997), I caught a foul ball. The ball was hit by a guy that never made it out of the minors, but there you go. I was hooked.

This year, my wife and I have an eight-month-old at home, so I won’t hit the half dozen or so games I usually manage each spring, but I’ve already got the MLB.TV package for all my full-season online viewing needs. This afternoon I’m taking in the Red Sox at Dodgers from Vero Beach, and I’m writing this as I watch.

The broadcast is from KCAL, Channel 9 in Los Angeles, so I’ll have the pleasure of listening to the timeless Vin Scully, who’s been the voice of the Dodgers since – wait for it – 1950. Amazing.

On the downside, the pregame ceremony honoring Vin Scully and Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin was hosted by Larry King, who to my mind is as awful a broadcaster as Scully is great. King’s introductions of both announcers were typical models of King-ly sycophancy, sloppiness, and simple-mindedness.

So here we are in the bottom on the first and the Red Sox, having blown a scoring opportunity in the top of the inning, and Matt Kemp takes Dice-K deep for a three run homer. Kemp is a good young player, to be sure. Let’s hope Daisuke was just working on his control today and nothing more.

At this point, it’s appropriate for me to come clean. Disclosure time: Yes, I am a Red Sox fan, but I am not one of these bandwagon fans of the ’04 and ’07 championships. These days, I usually describe myself as a fourth-generation Sox fan – the original fanatic in the family being my great-grandfather Harry Lawrence Hayes, born in 1880, a lifelong resident of Portland, Maine, and a young man at the time of the Boston Americans won the first World Series in 1903. That team, which played its games at the Huntington Avenue Grounds and beat the Pirates. Cy Young, Jimmy Collins, and Chick Stah played for the ’03 champs. Imagine that. The guy who could win the Cy Young on your team is actually Cy Young.

Both great-grandad Harry and my grandfather Phil could remember the 1918 title, and yes, they went to their graves waiting for the next one. The sad litany of lost championships from 1946, 1967, 1975, and 1986 rings a little hollow now for many new fans, but the decades of hope and frustration were something that bound us all together.

With history in mind, watching the Sox and the Dodgers at Holman Stadium in Dodgertown, it seems appropriate to point out that this is the Dodgers last spring in their facility in Vero Beach. When Dodgertown opened in 1948 – a converted military base no longer in use with the end of World War II – it was home to a over 20 teams worth of players, the total of the Dodgers professional system, and the material demonstration of Branch Rickey’s vision about what a baseball organization should be. Broad and deep in talent, and always with the idea that they were developing not just baseball players – but Dodgers.

More importantly, however, Dodgertown and Vero Beach were the leading edge of Branch Rickey’s efforts to desegregate baseball, first in the person of Jackie Robinson, then Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella, and then scores of other players. Although it took far too long for most of the black players – all the way through the 50s – eventually the stadium and, following that, the community of Vero Beach gave up its Jim Crow ways.

Bottom of the third now. Matsuzaka looks fit and strong – maybe more than last year – but he seems to still have that problem of getting a little mental in certain mundane situations. I won’t say that he’s a choker, exactly – but he has a tendency to over-think, over-pitch, and just have the wheels come off the cart in the middle of obviously everyday baseball situations. Too many pitches, not enough efficiency.

Clayton Kershaw, top of the fourth, eats up the Boston hitters. A big stud lefty, Kershaw throws a fastball in the mid- to high-90s and has a wicked hook. He struck out 29 batters in 24 2/3 innings in AA ball last season. Brutal stuff. Ah, here in the bottom of the fourth, Dice-K is out after 72 pitches and Bryan Corey is now on the mound for the Sox. Corey, who arrived in a low-level trade with the Texas Rangers, is a right-hander who has very good splits against left-handers – and in that sense he’s an “oddball” pitcher for the Sox staff, along with Tim Wakefield. Corey’s uniform number – 30 – suggests a spot on the team is his to lose.

All right, top of the fifth and the guys with the high numbers are starting to appear on the field. Mirabelli thrown out for the first out of the inning. Mirabelli’s career stolen base stats: 12 seasons, three steals in three attempts, all of which we can assume happened because of the “surprise factor.” When we speak of high numbers and Mirabelli, we’re talking about his weight. And now Non-Roster Invitee Joe Thurston is picked off first.

Bottom of the fifth. Manny catches a fly ball to end the inning, which makes six in a row for Bryan Corey. I'd say he makes the team -- and that's just the sort of question that a spring training game like this can answer: Who's going to take that 5th spot in the Red Sox bullpen?

We’re getting into those dead innings of spring training, the 5th, 6th and 7th – but the ends of games can be quite spectacular with the entrance of players who are talented and eager to impress or, conversely, marginally talented and desperate to hold onto a roster spot.

Here at the end of the sixth, I’m thinking about the annoyance of injuries this time of year – to fans and teams with an eye on the strong season, but, more significantly, to all the fantasy players out there. The Red Sox are little nervous about Josh Beckett’s back, but the Dodgers really have their worries. Joe Torre has to contend with Andy LaRoche’s thumb, Jeff Kent’s hamstring, Nomar Garciaparra’s wrist, and, er, Tony Abreu’s, er, ass. His ass hurts – that’s what the official word is: pain in the buttocks and upper groin area. Good luck with all that.

Top of the seventh and the Dodgers are on their fifth pitcher. If then Men in Blue have anything, they have pitching. Mirabelli hits a two-out double and, whaddaya know – there’s a pinch runner whose number is 78, Jonathan Van Every, who’s been kicking around the Indians organization for a half-dozen years. And Non-Roster Invitee Joe Thurston strikes out. Pack your bags, Number 64.

At any rate, all this talk of injury brings to mind Moises Alou – often injured himself – but who I recently read has one of the most disgusting practices I’ve ever heard of in baseball. Alou, who’s a freakishly good hitter at times, is one of those rare players who doesn’t wear batting gloves. He gets a better feel for the bat without them. To keep his hands tough, however, he makes sure each day to treat his hands with a very special substance: his own urine.

Speaking of “oddball” pitchers, the Dodgers open the top of the eighth with their sixth pitcher of the day, 38-year-old Mike Meyers – who was with the Red Sox in 2004. In fact, Mike Meyers was the specialist versus lefthanders -- the very job it appears Bryan Corey may have nailed down today. The circle is complete.

Of course, Alou, who now plays for the Mets, will be out with a hernia problem. Now, my question is that, if The Alou Urine does such a good job of protecting his hands, why doesn’t Moises just pee on those other parts of his body that are constantly breaking down? Including the hernia, as contorted as that might be. Why didn’t Nomar Garciaparra just have Moises pee on his knee (or whatever) when they were with the Cubs in 2004?

As for all of Alou’s injuries, did it ever occur to him that part of the reason he keeps getting hurt is because he is slathered in his own urine? Does urine slather? You bet it does.

All right, bottom of the eighth. Sunstroke and dehydration are setting in for the fans – especially the elderly. Most of the players on the field now have numbers better suited for football linesman. Manny is already on the bus talking with the fellas about what strip club they'll be going to tonight. And the Dodgers score on a passed ball by backup-backup catcher Dusty Brown. No, not that Dusty Brown.

Top of the ninth. Great play at third by Number 94. He doesn’t have a name on the back of his jersey, but that was a hell of a nice play. And the sixth pitcher for the Dodgers ends the game with a strikeout, sending the Red Sox to their sixth consecutive loss in spring training – which, anyone will tell you, means absolutely nothing.

Still, maybe Moises Alou is available for a little freelance work.