Wily Mo Pena's play on F-Cat's home run is getting a bunch of ink today -- Welcome to Fenway, WMP! -- but Trot Nixon's worthless bellyflop on Aaron Hill's double in the second inning was a worse play. First, he misread the fly ball, then he didn't just concede a single on the play. While it didn't lead to any runs, it left Mr. Dirty Hat with a mild left groin strain that could keep him out of the lineup for a week.
It amazes me that the Boston media and many fans forget Nixon's bone-headed baserunning and misadventures in the outfield almost as soon as they happen, while certain other Red Sox outfielders (who by the way hit much better and miss fewer games than Nixon does) get raked over the coals for stuff they did (or didn't do) years ago.
Trot can fall asleep at second base, dive for balls 25 feet in front of him, and hand baseballs to kids in the stands when there are only two outs, but as long as his shirt is dirty or he has some stubble or eye black, well, then, he's a gritty, grimy, gamer who gives his all. Is it against the law in Boston to criticize Nixon?
And what's with Josh Beckett yelling at Shea Hillenbrand for starting to head to first base on what he thought was ball 4 in the first inning? The 3-1 pitch was on the outside corner and the umpire was in no hurry to actually make a call. Oh, and Beckett had walked three of the last four Jays. 99.9% of all big leaguers are going to move towards first. ... I'm thrilled with having Beckett on the staff, but this stupid outburst, coming so soon after his encounter with Ryan Howard, seems to mark Beckett as a bit of a tool. Ah, well, he'll be fine. He's white.
Both Wily Mo Pena and Dustan Mohr will start tonight against lefty Gustavo Chacin. ... Rachel Ray looks into Big Papi's fridge.
6 comments:
Surely you're not suggesting the Boston media might be anything short of colour-blind! How dare you imply such a thing! Everyone knows racism is a thing of the past.
Whatever year it is, racism ended 20 years earlier. Don't you know that?
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Don't listen to the haters. Trot Nixon is an average outfielder who CAN'T HIT LEFTIES. To have him as anything other than a platoon-mate at this point of his (oft-injured) career is sheer good 'ol boy favoritism.
It looks like Beckett is a total tool. Maybe everybody who still misses Clemens (lord knows I don't) will have a new hero to anoint. But between him, Papelbon, and Schilling, we've got more than our share of toolier-than-thou Great White Hopes in our clubhouse for the media to suck up to. Too bad. Actually, Papelbon seems like an okay kid.
Damn it Jack, I thought you saw the light on this crap last year. :>)
Without getting full bore into the race debate again, I'll say this: I was sitting about 10 rows behind Wily Mo, and he definitely did NOT "nonchalant" that ball. He came back on it well, ran into the wall in an unfamiliar RF, and the ball clanged. He gave it a solid effort, and nearly stole the HR anyway; it was definitely going in.
Andrew,
Your comment is a big reason why it's worth the time to read these blogs. I mean, I'd be reading it anyway, but it 's great to hear an opinion from someone who was there.
I think there are two main reasons that Manny gets a lot more crap than Trot. 1) Manny has a don't-worry-be-happy vibe, whereas you get the sense that Trot beats himself up over every miscue. Self-flagellating Sox fans want the players to feel bad when they mess up. 2) Manny gets paid a whole lot more than Trot does.
As far as Wily Mo goes - he's a new guy, we got him in a trade for a fairly popular player, he looked real bad at the plate in his first few appearances, and one of his first defensive plays resulted in a 2-run HR. I don't think the treatment he's been getting is fair, but I'm not surprised that the media pounced on him right quick.
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