You are so smart: In our polls, Braun nosed out Tulowitzki, 180-172, and Pedroia took 75% of the votes. Hooray for us, hooray for Braun and Pedroia, hooray for everything.

Other Voices

• Vegas Watch
• Empyreal Environs

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Bottom line, it’s done. Let the hot stove league begin…

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From a recent post by Helton:

I’m told that my teammates appreciate what I’ve contributed, and I hope so. I try not to be overbearing. I try to play as hard as I can, do my job. If it wasn’t for my teammates, I wouldn’t be here.

And an excerpt from Youkilis:

We have to play for each other. It’s a business, both in the media side or other sides, where people might write bad things about you. You know what? Just take it and go with it, and take out all that aggression on the baseball field.

One more perspective to consider as we prepare for the World Series…

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A nation yawns. Or it would, if it could summon the enthusiasm.

Thursday’s contest at Jacobs Field (first pitch, 5 p.m. PT) features a rematch of Game 1 starters and leading Cy Young candidates C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett. For Boston, the equation is simple: win or go home for the winter.

For the Indians, it’s more like win or go to Boston’s home for two more games. I’m thinking they’d prefer Door #1.

The Red Sox pounded Sabathia in the series opener. Could that happen again? Sure, but they’d best not count on it. Time for Beckett to pitch the game of his life…

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Whatever the case, congrats to Buchholz…

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Wait, he sings?

Well, not quite. The CD, called Music from the Mound, “features a compilation of Matsuzaka’s favorite and inspirational songs from various American, English and Japanese recording artists.” One original song — “Gyro Ball” — includes guest performances by former members of the J. Geils Band and Extreme.

Yeah, if anything will give a CD credibility in the 21st century, it’s the folks who brought us “Freeze Frame” and “More Than Words.” Rock on…

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• April 29, 1986: At age 23, Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners in a game at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox win the game, 3-1, and Clemens enters the history books. [More at Baseball Almanac]
• October 10, 1990: Clemens is ejected in the second inning of ALCS Game 4 against the Oakland A’s, who complete the sweep of Boston en route to their third straight World Series. [More at ESPN.]
• September 18, 1996: Ten years after he did it the first time, Clemens ties his own record by striking out 20 Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium. [More at MLB.com]
• July 8, 2000: Now pitching for the New York Yankees, Clemens drills the Mets’ Mike Piazza in the head with a fastball. Piazza suffers a concussion. [More at Find Articles]
• October 22, 2000: In a bizarre on-field confrontation, Clemens throws a piece of shattered bat at Piazza. [More at SI.com]

Love him or hate him, the man known as “The Rocket” is one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game.

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Boston Red Sox right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled again on Thursday night against the Mariners. The problem? According to manager Terry Francona, it’s a matter of command:

They didn’t knock him all over the ballpark. It goes down for me to command. When he commands, he will go very deep into a game. And right now it’s a little bit of a battle for him.

It could be a simple tweak, or it could be something that requires a little more work. Who knows? The important thing to remember is that this guy has a tremendous track record over in Japan. I have no idea what the prevailing thought in Boston is right now, but I hope that nobody is pushing the panic button.

Matsuzaka is off to a shaky start, that’s all. He’ll get over it. How soon? Hard to say, but probably faster than you can say “Hideki Irabu.” Assuming you say it real slow…

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Beckett was using his curve much more often than he did last year. Some were very good, but he was having difficulty locating it. It almost seemed he was being stubborn with it in the same way he would be stubborn with his fastball last year. It’s like Francona and Farrell told him to throw more curves so he did even though he couldn’t locate it that well.

I don’t know enough about Beckett’s stuff to comment meaningfully on the specifics, but I will offer this: It’s possible that if Beckett is trying to feature the curve ball more prominently, he’ll take some short-term losses. The return on investment of having a more diverse repertoire, however, probably will make it worth his and the Red Sox’s while in the long-run.

Perhaps those of you who have seen more of Beckett’s starts might have additional thoughts?

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Schilling talks about interacting with baseball fans:

Fans in Boston want to know why I threw a slider 2-0, or they want to know the difference between my fastball and my change-up. They are smart as hell, and for me that’s fun.

Schilling also points out what I think is going to be huge down the line — the way his blogging allows him to remove any filters between himself and the public:

I did a blog a couple of days ago and basically explained my contract situation. Yesterday, there was an article written by John Tomase in The Boston Herald. The article is, John introduces my blog, quotes my blog and then finishes the article. I just did an interview without having to deal with the media. I wasn’t edited, I wasn’t clipped. It was what I said, how I said it.

In other words, we’re now getting Schilling’s words as opposed to some individual’s interpretation of his words. That is both very exciting and a little scary. Mostly exciting, though.

Kudos again to Schilling for doing the blog thing and to Belth (a very respected blogger in his own right) for talking to him about it.

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