September 2008
Angelino: Jose Arredondo
Not too long ago, a reliever from Latin America joined an American League West team near the end of the season and propelled the club to a World Series title. The reliever was Francisco Rodriguez. The team was the Angels. The year was 2002.
Could Jose Arredondo be the second coming of K-Rod? He just might be.
“He’s pretty electric,” Angels reliever Scot Shields said. “Sometimes I just sit in the bullpen and watch him throw. I know I’m not a good hitter and I know I never would have been but I don’t see how anybody hits him. It’s coming in hot and he has that split finger and the slider. He’s an exciting young pitcher and I hope to be side by side with him for a long time.”
It doesn’t look like Arredondo is going anywhere soon. The former shortstop turned pitcher is 9-2 with a 1.54 ERA in 58 1/3 innings since being called up in May. Last season, the young man from San Pedro De Macoris, Dominican Republic, saved 10 games at Double-A. He saved 10 games at Triple-A this season to earn the big league promotion.
His nine victories lead all relievers.
“We are having a great year. I’m doing well, too,” Arredondo said. “You try to do a good job where ever you are. I like pitching in the last innings. I’m comfortable there.”
It doesn’t hurt to have Shields and Rodriguez, two of the best relievers in the game, in the bullpen with him. The pair serves as mentors for the young right-handed pitcher.
“To have them here, that’s a big advantage for somebody like me,” Arredondo said. “We want the same thing. To finish the season strong and win. I want to be a champion.”
He might get his wish. The first-place Angels have steamrolled through the American League and are heading into the postseason. And with Rodriguez heading for free agency, Arredondo could be the closer of the future. But he still has work to do. Arredondo is 0-6 in save opportunities.
“He’s taken the opportunity and run with it,” Shields said. “He has the demeanor. He has that no fear attitude you need to go along with his stuff.”
Angels notita: Ervin Santana
Their playoff rotation has not been announced but don’t be surprised to see Angels right-hander Ervin Santana take the mound for the hometown team in the second game of the American League Division Series that starts next week.
Don’t be surprised to hear him downplay the possibility, either.
“I don’t think about that,” Santana said. “I just take it day by day. I’ll be ready for the playoffs when they get here, but right now I’m just thinking about the job I have to do Monday.”
The Dominican is 15-6 with a 3.33 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 30 starts this season. For his career, he is 50-36 with a 4.39 ERA in 114 career games. Last season, he went 7-14 with a 5.76 ERA in 28 games for the Angels.
“It’s been a good year. That was a bad year, but this is a good one,” he said. “You concentrate on the good. I am doing the same thing I did last year. I am just going inning to inning and pitch to pitch.”
“This is a brand new year and you move forward,” he continued. “I learned last year, I practiced my location in the minor leagues and I’ve been able to do my job.”
Santana has also been able to give his arm a break. The Angels gave him a couple of extra days rest before his start against the Mariners on Monday.
“So far, so good,” Santana said. “I’ve enjoyed it. I didn’t need it, but it allowed me to relax a little bit.”
Freddy or not: Tigers Freddy Garcia
ARLINGTON — At this point of his career, there are more questions than answers for Tigers starter Freddy Garcia and his repaired right shoulder, but there are at least two certainties.
Garcia will start Wednesday night against the Rangers, marking his first big league appearance since last June while with the Phillies, and he will pitch for the Navigante del Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter Leagues starting in October.
The rest, including Garcia’s future, is to be determined.
“First, I thank God that I’m back here and I made it back,” Garcia said. “I just hope to do a good job and see what happens. It’s been a long time and a lot of work, but I’m feeling good. I’m hoping to get one or two starts and then see where I am.”
The Tigers are just as curious. The club signed Garcia to a Minor League contract on Aug. 12, and he responded with five scoreless innings while pitching in the organization’s Minor Leagues. He’s also pitched a simulated game. Garcia had season-ending shoulder surgery on Sept. 1, 2007.
“My shoulder doesn’t hurt. It actually feels really good,” Garcia said. “Right now I have to build up arm strength, and I want to do that in Venezuela.”
Garcia said he expects to throw 70-75 pitches against Texas and is comfortable pitching in the hitter-friendly Rangers Ballpark in Arlington dating back to his days in the American League West with the Mariners. For his career, Garcia is 117-76 with a 4.07 ERA in 263 games. The two-time All-Star is a free agent at the end of the season.
“With Freddy, you are going to look at him in competition and see what he looks like,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “I think it’s just a matter of getting him out there and trying to make some kind evaluation on when you think the arm strength will come back with a little more velocity. You try to project that.”
Leyland added that he’s not sure how many starts it will take for the club to evaluate Garcia’s progress, but Wednesday is a good starting point.
“He’s going to work his way back to the big leagues. There is no doubt in my mind,” Leyland said. “I believe that. Whether it is here or somewhere else, I don’t know. He’s just too proud of a guy and too much of a good competitor. He’s a good teammate and really impressive guy. I like him a lot, and I’m pulling for him.”
He’s not the only one.
“I’m really happy for Freddy, because he’s gone through a lot to get back here,” said countryman Magglio Ordonez. “I’m glad he’s with us, and we are going to do what we can to help him get a win.”
Tampa Titan: Gary Sheffield
ARLINGTON — The jet is on standby. Uncle Dwight is waiting in the wings, and somewhere Fred McGriff probably is paying attention, too.
Tigers designated hitter Gary Sheffield needs three more home runs to join the 500 home run club and add to his legacy as the best home-run hitter to ever come out of Florida. The National Baseball Hall of Fame? That would be a nice honor, but don’t expect Sheffield to be upset if he is not inducted into Cooperstown one day.
“I don’t think like that,” Sheffield said. “My thing is that whatever my numbers are, I’ll let people decide that and judge it however they want to judge it. My thing is that I know what I brought to the game and I know what kind of player I was, and that’s pretty much all that matters to me.”
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Sheffield said he accomplished a life-long goal earlier this month when he passed fellow Floridian McGriff (493) on the all-time home-run list. His 500th home run will be special — Dwight Gooden is scheduled to fly in when Sheffield reaches 498 homers — but Sheffield never dreamed of hitting 500, so it’s not like he has been looking forward to it his entire career.
“I knew [McGriff] would be the guy I would have to hit more home runs than because nobody was going to hit more home runs than Fred McGriff,” Sheffield said. “So whatever number he came up with, the day I put on my uniform to play with him is the day I made that goal. … It’s the strangest thing. It’s just one of those things of how much I admire him as a person, as a friend and as a baseball player. What he has meant to Tampa — when you talk about home runs in Tampa, you talk about Fred McGriff.”
Sheffield currently sits at No. 25 on the all-time list, seven home runs behind Eddie Murray for the 24th spot. He is 27th on the all-time RBIs list with 1,629, seven behind Ernie Banks for the 26th spot.
“Baseball is a family. Every time you pass somebody, it’s an honor,” Sheffield said. “I’m not downplaying that, disregarding that, but at the same time, these were not my goals. I only had one goal, and that was Fred McGriff, and I accomplished that. Really, anything I do now is a bonus. I’m just playing for the love of the game.”
Sheffield chuckles when he recalls the day he passed McGriff and the congratulatory conversation that followed.
“I don’t think he was happy about that,” Sheffield added with a laugh. “I know Fred, and he’s a real mild-mannered guy. He congratulated me, but it wasn’t like there was a whole lot of enthusiasm.”
Power of the Pen: Manny Delcarmen and Javier Lopez
Think Red Sox relievers and undoubtedly the first name to come to mind is closer Jonathan Papelbon.
The theatric power right-hander is equal parts drama and comedy. He exists as both the heart and soul of the Boston bullpen and the team’s biggest joker. But the clown prince might simply be another royal clown without the other members of his court.
Enter left-hander Javier Lopez and right-hander Manny Delcarmen. Then add the Latin duo to fellow relievers Hideki Okajima, Mike Timlin, and Justin Masterson and it just might be the right formula to carry the Red Sox to another World Series title.
Or send the club home for an early winter if it underperforms.
“The bullpen is heartbeat of our club when you get to the last two weeks of the season,” Papelbon said. “It all boils down to the end of the ballgames. You win or lose ball games from the sixth inning on.”
In 64 games this season, the left-handed throwing Lopez is 2-0 with a 2.56 ERA in 56 1/3 innings, used primarily against left-handed hitters. He’s walked 22 batters and struck out 34. He’s had success and failures. He sported a 2.00 ERA in May and shined with a 0.75 ERA in 11 games in June but posted a 3.60 ERA in July and 3.86 ERA in August. He’s off to a hot start so far this month. The Puerto Rican pitcher has not given up a run in six appearances in September.
“Basically the mindset is not trying to do too much because sometimes you get in these positions where you think you have to make the perfect pitch but really you are basically trying to execute the pitch in general,” Lopez said. “You try not to be too fine and you let the ball work for you. I’m not a guy that’s going to blow you away so I need to trust that my ball is moving and I’ll get those outs.”<p>
Lopez’s right-handed counterpart is Masterson. Timlin, the veteran, can be used in multiple roles. Okajima and Delcarmen set up Papelbon. The Red Sox bullpen is ranked fifth in the American League with a 3.85 ERA.
“This bullpen has been throwing the ball well for the most part and anytime you get the ball to Papelbon, it’s a good recipe for us to win a game,” Lopez said. “It’s something we have to focus on. As long as the starters give us a chance to get into that setup, we will keep pitching pretty well like we have done the last month.”
Delcarmen has done his part — partly.
For the season, Delcarmen is 0-2 with a 3.65 ERA in 66 2/3 innings during 67 games. He has a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings during his last 10 appearances but has been prone to hot and cold streaks all season. He had a 6.75 ERA in April and 2.25 ERA for June. The Dominican’s ERA almost reached 5.00 for July and finished around 3.00 in August.
He has a 1.17 ERA in 7 2/3 innings pitched in September.
“It’s weird because this year I’m throwing more strikes than I did last year and I feel like I’m throwing the ball well but sometimes it gets hit,” Delcarmen said. “It’s not anything mechanical. These are big league hitters and you make a mistake and you rarely get away with it. Sometimes you make a good pitch and they hit it and you just tip your cap to them.”
Red Sox manager Terry Francona has acknowledged Delcarmen’s inconsistent performances but don’t expect the skipper to stop giving him the ball anytime soon. Delcarmen’s weapons – a fastball in the mid-to-high 90s, a changeup and a breaking ball – always make him a viable option. Now, it’s just a matter of Delcarmen repeating delivery, the manager said.
“Because of the way he has thrown, we give him the ball in a lot of close games,” Francona said. “When he gives up a run, it’s a little more glaring.”
What’s also evident is that Papelbon can’t do it alone. He needs relievers like Lopez and Delcarmen to do their jobs before he can do his.
“We’ve been up and down but we are starting to get in a groove,” Papelbon said. “We all feed off of each. I know that’s what’s going good for us.”
Back in Beantown: Boston's Mike Lowell
Red Sox manager Terry Francona said it could take a while for Mike Lowell to return to his normal production considering the third baseman had been out of the lineup since Aug. 12 with an oblique injury.
He was being nice. Or coy. Or both.
Lowell went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, a single, two runs scored and four RBIs in his first game back less than a week ago. Since his return on Sept. 5, Lowell is 7-for-16 (.438) with five RBIs, two doubles and two home runs.
“I think (it) definitely gives you a boost,” Lowell said. “If I had gotten jammed five times, I think I would have been feeling a little different. I feel a lot better.”
He looks fine. For the season, Lowell, 34, is hitting .277 with 16 home runs and 77 RBIs and he shows no signs of slowing down. Don’t be mad at Francona. He was simply protecting his player from critics and the high expectations that come with playing in Boston.
“That was impressive,” Francona said. “You’d have to ask him how he did it, because I don’t know.”
Lowell says the big secret to success is really no big secret at all. He watched video and took extra hitting practice. He admits that it was hard to simulate the intensity of playing in a game, but he never lost his focus and maintained a positive attitude.
Besides, what else was he going to do?
“I felt really bored,” Lowell said. “You want to feel like you’re a part of it and be on the field, but not at the expense of the team, of course.”
And no, Lowell not trying to make up for lost time. He knows his statistics at the end of the year are not going to be the same as if he played a complete season, and that’s fine with him.
He refuses to put extra pressure on himself. He never has. His calm and steady demeanor comes from his parents, he says. They are from Cuba. Lowell was born in Puerto Rico.
“I don’t want to do that because I feel like I’d only be chasing numbers I can’t attain anyway,” Lowell said. “You have to be realistic. If I try to hit 10 home runs in 20 games, I’ll end up hitting zero.”
The Red Sox need Lowell. The defending World Series champions wrap up a three-game series against the American League East leading Rays tonight at Fenway Park and remain 1 ½ games behind Tampa in the standings. Boston’s Josh Beckett (12-9) is matched up against Tampa’s Andy Sonnanstine (13-7) tonight in the finale.
The Red Sox won the first game of the series 3-0 and Tampa rallied with two runs in the ninth inning off closer Jonathan Papelbon to earn a 5-4 on Tuesday night. The usually-steady Papelbon had converted 15 consecutive saves and had not blown a game since June 14. As usual, Lowell had two hits, including a home run, but this time in the loss.
“You know, it’s part of the game,” said Papelbon. “It’s not going to be my first blown save and it won’t be my last. What can I say? There’s a human factor involved in this thing. We are human. We are going to make mistakes. Yeah, I’m human and I didn’t throw the pitch where I wanted to (Tuesday).”
It’s hard for Papelbon not to be optimistic. His club is poised for a potential playoff run and his third baseman is playing great baseball.
Hey, even Francona can be wrong every now and then.
Big Papi's Big Wrist: David Ortiz
For all of the talk about contributions from different players and the steady stream of team-oriented clichés used to describe the Boston Red Sox these days, the reality is the club will only go as far into the playoffs as David Ortiz takes them. Ortiz will only go as far as his injured wrist allows him to go.
So far, it’s been a tricky proposition. Ortiz hit a home run Sunday in Texas, his first home run in 19 games and his first road home run since May 31. Afterward, he complained about the “clicking” of the sheath on his injured left wrist. Before, he described the season as being a “roller coaster” in large part because of the tendon sheath in his wrist he partially tore May 31.
He missed 45 games because of the injury this season.
“I don’t feel as much pain as when I got hurt but I still have some discomfort in it,” he said. “Sometimes when it’s like that you don’t swing like you normally do because it doesn’t feel the way it normally feels. You just hang in there.”
“It’s been a roller coaster with this,” he continued. “Sometimes I feel good and sometimes I feel pain, but that’s how it is. You have to have a good face for it. We are trying to win.”
The Red Sox aren’t just trying to win. They are succeeding. The club has won 10 of their last 13 games and is 5-1 in September. Ortiz has been a big part of the success, as usual, hitting .326 and 24 walks in his last 24 games. For the season, he is hitting .270 with 18 home runs and 72 RBIs in 92 games.
His solid play could not come at a better time. The Red Sox start a three game series against first-place Tampa starting tonight in Boston. The Rays lead the Red Sox by 1 ½ games in the American League East.
That could be part of the reason Ortiz does not want to make a big fuss about his big wrist. His team is on a roll and as baseball etiquette goes, leaders don’t whine about nagging injuries and remain leaders. Ask him and he’ll say he doesn’t want to think about any added pressure or the thoughts that he has to carry the team in October. The reality is that his wrist might not let him anyway. Instead, the slugger chooses not to dwell on the past, his statistics, his ailing wrist or the fact that he still misses his buddy Manny Ramirez.
He is moving forward. The Red Sox can’t afford anything else.
“Injuries are things you cannot control and I’m the kind of guy that if I don’t miss two months, my numbers would be there,” he said. “That’s the only difference in my numbers now and in the past. Two months is a lot to miss and when you come back and you are not 100-percent, it’s tough but everybody knows that. I still get my big hits but it doesn’t feel the same yet.”
“And they pitch you more carefully than normal,” he continued. “I’ve been walking like crazy but I walk anyway. There were situations where they didn’t want to pitch to Manny so they would take a chance with me, now they won’t so they pitch to the next guy.”
Ramirez and Ortiz still stay in contact but the pair has not spoken in a couple of days. If Ortiz wants to see the impact his friend is having in Los Angeles, all he has to do is look in the National League West standings or watch the sports highlights. The Dodgers swept the Diamondbacks in three games during the weekend to move into first place in the division.
“It is different. I’m not going to lie. He’s not here and that’s one guy I am missing,” Ortiz said. “But we are hanging in there and trying to do our thing. We have been winning so that’s a good thing. I can’t complain. Manny got traded because he definitely wanted to go somewhere else, not because they wanted to get rid of him. I can’t be mad at the Red Sox for trading him. They didn’t want to let Manny go but Manny mentally wanted to get traded so the team had to make a move.”
Ortiz’s next move is ignoring the “clicking” noise in his wrist and continuing to not letting it affect his game. But should the wrist go bad, so too will Ortiz’s output and it’s going to be a challenge for the Red Sox to repeat as World Series champions with Big Papi’s little pain keeping him out of the lineup.
Who knew the wrist bone was connected to the back bone?
Zaunny Bench
Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun became a favorite in the Red Sox clubhouse after this home run. The homer won the game in extra innings and sent the large group of Red Sox players watching the game on TV into a frenzy because it cut the Rays lead in the division to 2 1/2 games. Judging by the celebration, you would have thought the Red Sox had just won with a walkoff home run.
Then everybody kept calling the guy Zaunny Bench.
Amid the mini-celebration, one Red Sox player spotted baseball artist Vernon Wells, the father of Blue Jays Vernon Wells Jr., in the clubhouse and politely said “Vernon Wells is a good player, too.”
Jesse Sanchez
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