Game 25, 26, 27 - Or "Frustrating Weekend"

Sorry for no game summaries or even recaps/opinions...I was too busy trying to forget the Red Sox even played baseball and having a good time watching the Kentucky Derby.

Let me say this, my newest hobby? Watching Horse races. It's just awesome to see them in action.

Okay, about the games this weekend. One word.


UGHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Oh, and Chris Davis, who went 0 for 6 with 5 strikeouts in the game, was the winning pitcher Sunday in the 17th inning.

He also Struck out Adrian Gonzalez.

The only positives out of this weekend were
A.) the Bullpen...which remarkably only gave 2 ERs in 3 relief appearances spanning more then 20 innings.

B.) William Middlebrooks. Who is my newest man crush. The dude is absolutely on fire since being called up. He hit his first home run, which was also a grand slam to tie the game in 5th, on Sunday.

So, this brings us to 11-16. And at the bottom of the AL East.

Does anyone else start to feel that we are just either sick with bad luck, or just a mediocre baseball team and no where near a contender, like one that can be bought with a 180 million dollar payroll?

Anyone else get the feeling that Lester, Bard, Pedroia, Aviles, Papi and Middlebrooks are the only ones deserving of wearing the uniform?

Is Anyone else just sick of wearing their Red Sox stuff which they paid a total of 250 dollars over the span of a year for?

Or, is that just me?


Go Re...ahh just forget it.

Game 24: Red Sox 2, A's 4: The "Hey, At least we have Will middlebrooks" Game



This guy...is here!!! via Getty Images

He's Here! He's Here! Will Middlebrooks is finally here,
Y'all!

But, Bad news, his efforts were lost in the sea of the horrible at bats by Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez in TWO big situations.

The Red Sox simply cannot afford guys missing in big situations, especially ones who are paid hundreds of millions of dollars to do so.

Also, another bright surprise lost in the crowd was one of Clayton Mortenson (who?). Yeah, you're right, Who. Clayton Mortenson was acquired via the trade with Colorado that sent Marco Scutaro in exchange for a reliver and cash. Cash that was going to go towards bringing Roy Oswalt in from Free Agency, but since that didn't happen, it went back in the back pocket for the trade deadline.

Mortenson has bounced around a bit since being a first rounder in 2007 by the St. Louis Cardinals. A few years and several mechanic changes, He was given the chance to start, but it never seemed to click.
Now that he is a Red Sox, he has been given free range to go back to his old mechanics and it's certainly paying off.

Now, on to the game. If I said it was a total disaster, I would be lying.

It was a total Offensive disaster. I understand that by watching baseball, it is not like any other sport. You ARE going to lose games, and you ARE going to have bad nights. But two in a row like this is unacceptable. A couple swings of the bat could have changed this to a W.

First, the defense. Let's just say Cody Ross has 3 runs he needs to find a way to give back to Daniel Bard, who pitched fairly decent, until the errors. I know Ross was acquired to platoon outfield at first, and his bat second, and defense 3rd, but it's not like catching a fly ball is a real challenge for this guy.

Second, Ummm, Hey, Adrian. You feeling okay? 0-17 is non Adrain-eque.

A loss, is a loss, which is a loss. And a series loss at home to the Oakland Athletics. These are the kind of things that we have to pay for come September. And from the looks of things, we will need to write a whole bunch of checks that will hopefully not bounce.

Go Red Sox!

Game 23: Red Sox 3, A's 5.

This guy....didnt give up a homer, at least? (Getty Images)

It's literally going to be a battle every day to go from under .500, to above .500.

I almost feel as if this season has the makings of a 2003 season. Like, the Sox just say hanging around .500, enough to be a contender, make some moves and then all of a sudden, something clicks and they are World (everyone but the Yankees in game 7) beaters.

I'm waiting for that click....



It just seems as though this was a night the offense decided to take off. Although, the weather didnt help, but that didnt stop the Oakland A's from scoring. I'll let my good friends at overthemonster.com summarize Felix's start last night...

The weirdness stems primarily from Felix Doubront, who put on a veritable Jekyll and Hyde performance on the mound. Facing 20 batters on the night, Doubront had six of them collect hits, two of them walk, and eight of them strike out, leaving just four outs on balls in play. One moment untouchable, using a dominant changeup to earn swings-and-misses, the next unable to find the zone until he was forced to throw a get-me-over fastball, the result was unfortunately five earned runs in just four innings of work.
- Ben Buchanan, overthemonster.com

While, on the other end of the spectrum, Jarrod Parker (who?) had a relatively easy night. Shutting down the Red Sox, with the only run coming in the 5th.

Making no names into Cy Young winners, name of the 2012 season.

In the ninth is when it get's interesting. Bases loaded single by Mike Aviles sets up young Lars Anderson who....strikes out swinging. Apparently, Bobby doesnt pay attention to stats or he would have known that Lars has been 0-6 against left handers since getting the call up. Was Jon Lester (Career 2-2 against Left Handed pitching) not available to pinch hit? Seriously?

All kidding aside, that left the moment up to Dustin Pedroia. With 2 on and 2 outs, this is where the Laser Show could put up, or shut up. And he shut up.

After a ground ball out to end the game, you could tell Pedroia was not happy. Actually, you could tell he was infuriated with himself. When the lights come on, Player's play....the Lights just went off too soon for the Red Sox. Oh, well.

I think you allow Pedey that  one time. It's May. Had that been in September, I guarantee you, Pedey finds a way to get on base. He is a past MVP winner, he comes up in big situations more often than not, last night was just a time where he wasn't.

And that's why they play 3. Rubber match tonight at Fenway. It's supposed to be good weather, cant see a L at all coming our way.

Go Red Sox.

Dollars and Sense May 1st, 2012

Alright, I know I haven't gotten one of these out in quite some time, but like I said, I am absolutely against blogging at work, I will not use any of my companies time for a post I can easily do at home in my spare time.



One of the things I try to do is try and make sense of things happening concerning the economies, but more specifically, from my viewpoint as a banker. None of the post I write should be considered "poking" at other banks (like this one), I'm only trying to bring these issues to light.

With that said, Bank of America is cutting around 2,000 jobs. Which only increase people's fear of big banks, and being hired by a "Big Bank". The problem is, and it's not necessarily a problem as it is a goal that just hinders the res tof the banks here in the United States, that Bank of America is continually in a race with JPMC, Wells Fargo and Citi bank, for top dog...not only in the United States, but the entire world. In order to do those, profits must be raised, and the emotional attachment to fulfilling lives of employees, and sometimes even customers, has to be set aside.

I don't know about you, but I love what Bank of America IS, not what it stands for.

While over at the WSJ, (and I do want to give credi to them as much as possible, but I do not like to link to them. This is a very rare occurrence), I skipped over an article about how debit card fees are higher at smaller baks than larger banks. I believe this statement goes without saying. I work for one of these "Smaller" banks, and we do charge fees. Sorry, folks, but banking is not free, nor will it ever and should it never be free. It is not a free service. If banking should be free, than public education should be free (which it isn't, check your taxes!). We offer a service, we deserve to be paid.

Now, where this simple message gets mixed up is in the media, and also some of the "Big Banks" practices. Most of which I will not agree with, some I do. Overdraft is a privilege, not a right. So, the abuse of it will cost a pretty penny. But charging someone 5 dollars JUST to use their debit card is, quite frankly, outlandish.

I can see why people would think bank fees are ridiculous, but think of it as a restaurant, and it makes more sense. Extra fries? Gonna cost you some more. More/Better services? Gonna cost you more.

And yes, smaller banks do charge more, but it's because we HAVE to. It's strictly out of necessity, unless you want no other choice but to bank with one of the 5 big boys.

We offer as much as we can, and try as hard to compete with the big boys as we can. But at the end of the day, we have to pay our employees some how. It's all business.

Game 22: Red Sox 11, A's 6. And The Return of Josh Reddick

Who are you and what have you done with DMac?

First things first, Hello, .500! We missed you!

Seond of all, I loved seeing Josh Reddick back at Fenway. He is going to be a stud for Oakland for as long as Beane Ball wants to keep him.

Third of all, uhhh....DMac is slowly making me eat my words for disliking him on the roster for so long.

We'll get to that in a minute, but first, Clay Buchholz gives me a heart attack. Seriously, one of these days I will have my girlfriend video tape me watching a game without me knowing it and show you. The guy knows how to cut to my heart.

It started out well for the Red Sox, even when Clay Buchholz giving up a run through a run down in the 2nd, the Red Sox offense answered with 4 of their own in a inning that just wouldn't end. I honestly feel bad for Tommy Milone (Oakland A's starter) He was thrown out to the wolves, who were hungry to get back to .500...and his 88 mph 2 seam fastball didn't help him any.

David Ortiz started it off with a solo shot, which wouldn't be his last in the game (It's worth noting it was Ortiz's 38th career multi homer game, 36th as a Red Sox. This guy is going to the Hall of Fame.)

And that brings us to Darnell McDonald. It's no secret I have been DMac's biggest critic. But he is slowly winning me over. It started in Spring Training. Why was this guy even invited back? he has no use and even if we were short two outfielders, we could have so much more potential in Lars Anderson playing outfield than DMac. But man, the last few games, DMac has come up big.

Caly Buchholz started off well, holding the A's offense (a very horrendous one at that) to the one run through 5 innings. But in the 7th is where trouble started. 5 runs given up, not only by him, but Junichi Tazawa, as well. I think Tazawa got his first look at trouble (before this, he had been put in relatively easy situations) and he cracked. But hey, it's baseball and that's why we play a lot of games.

It's too early to project, but this Red Sox team is special. Of course, it's against teams they SHOULD beat, but you have to like how they are playing and rolling right now. It will only help come a 20 games in 20 days filled May.

Go Red Sox!

Game 19,20,21...or better known as "Tyler was busy Game Recaps"

Note: Sorry, guys. I have been incredibly busy. But somehow I have managed to watch most of every Red Sox game. And yes, I haven't posted an economic post in some time, but quite frankly it's been quiet on that front.

Gavin Floyd = A very bad Sunday afternoon

So, this weekend was very good to the Red Sox. Coming off the heels of a sweep of the Minnesota Twins, The Red Sox went to Chicago with one thing on their mind....get to .500.

That came and went...within 3 games. But even though the winning streak is broken, there is a a mountain of positives to build off of going forward.

Let's start with Game 19. Daniel Bard looked pedestrian, but he made it through 7 solid innings. I am beginning to like the decision to keep Bard in the rotation, rather than move him to the bullpen to solidify it. Bard's slider has finally seemed to come around, and his arm slot looks a lot better from his first start. And let's not forget, the 5 different pitches we heard about in spring training, were finally seen. Follow that up with a spurt-like offense led by David Ortiz, the Sox rolled to an easy 10-3 win.

Game 20 was a bet more scary. Jon Lester, though solid, met another solid pitcher in Jake Peavy. But before we get into that....

Hello, .500. Whew, feels good to say that. Also, keep in mind, it took the 2011 Red Sox to game 40 before they saw 20-20 (aka it took this team half as long to get .500).

Now that that's out of the way, Lester looked tremendous in the shut out through 7. Behind 2 solid innings from the bull pen...the one run we scored off a Adrian Gonzalez RBI, seemed to be enough.

Game 21. Ouch. 

Gavin Floyd was simply great. Pitching a perfect game until the 5th, and a No Hitter into the 6th. If it wasn't for a Dustin Pedroia bloop single, the only thing stopping him would have been his pitch count.

Let me just say, Adrian Gonzalez looks very pedestrian right now. He went through the same thing last year, but this seems different. he just seems lost at the plate (.284 BA/2 HR/81 AB). 

It's beyond the numbers that matters, in big situations, AGon does not look like the AGon we thought we were getting...you know, the guy who hit 40 HRs in Petco Park, the biggest pitching park in the league. 

Needless to say, we lost that game. So with a record of 10-11, the Red Sox losing streak hangs in the hands of the shell of the pitcher that once was Clay Buchholz. 

Tomorrow is a new day, let's rejoice the fact that we have now tasted.500 and it wont take long for us to get back.

Also, let's remember, we have the worst record in the AL East, but still only 3.5 games back from first place. Just another perk of playing in the AL East. 

As Always....Go Red Sox!

Game 18: RED Sox 10, the other Sox 3

"On the other side of this photo, Youkilis is bored."
Direct quote from Bobby Valentine

Note: I know I did not write a economic blog post yesterday, but there is good reasoning behind it. I do not like to blog at work so most of this blog posts are written early in the morning or late at night and set on a timer. I didn't get around to an Eco post, but I should be all caught up the weekend. Thanks for patience!

First off, I would just like to thank the Texas Rangers for dumping off Salty-mocha (Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia) for entirely too cheap.  I also want to thank Phil Humber, perfect game pitcher a week ago, for totally missing his spots and relying way too much on his fastball to get him out of trouble.

The game was a widly entertaining, and way less panicky-y than last night's ball game. But it certainly had the makings of another blown multi-run game.

Let's start off with Felix Doubront. I am an absolute huge fan of Felix, but he does make it hard on me. He has impressed thoroughly through 4 starts. Let's just say he SHOULD have already picked up his first victory, after shutting down the Yankees, but his bullpen failed to help him out.

Not the story of last night. Behind strong bats from Youk (a 3rd inning Grand Slam, which is the ONLY 2nd one I've ever witnessed) and Saly-mocha with his 2 home run game. Which, if you're counting at home, is twice as many home runs per millions of dollars we pay Salty than Carl Crawford...but more on him later.

Can we all agree the White Sox are not a very good baseball team? They have pieces, but in the transition of the Robin Ventura era, it's becoming more and more evident that they just aren't a good team. That's not saying they cant be, (I.e The LA Dodgers) but given their payroll, they will likely be shippers rather than receivers come Trade Deadline time.

Another bright spot to take away from this game is the absolute shutout Junichi Tazawa dealt in the 7th, 8th AND 9th innings. Although, there was a risky appearance of Franklin Morales, on the heel of an appearance last night, warming up in the bullpen. I don't want to take this appearance too wildly, seeing how it is a very small sample size, but it reminded me a lot of Okajima in 2007 (remember him?). Maybe, just maybe, the Red Sox bullpen isn't exactly as bad as the media as made it out to be. People have to realize we played Detroit, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Texas and the Yankees the first part of the season...all of whom are expected to contend for a playoff spot. Were finally playing the middle of the road teams and were doing a lot of what we should be doing.

Exploiting weaknesses and capitalizing on having better talent. As much of a factor as numbers are, there is no number for better talent beating lesser talent.

Let's just hope this continues, were 8-10, 2 games away from .500 and the season basically starting over. And were also only 3.5 games out of the Lead in the toughest division in Baseball.


Hey, it could be worse, nation. We could be LAA Angels fans.

Go Red Sox!