Based solely on my referrer logs, there are a lot of people out there who come to Center Field in search of answers... because I get some visitors who arrive here after searching for the weirdest things. So I'm going to try and answer some queries for those out there who need a little help.

Search Request: "papelbon enter music"
For now, Jonathan Papelbon exits the pen to "Wild Thing", and then warms up to "Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys out on the mound.

Search Request: "joba chamberlain throws at red sox head" / "josh beckett joba video"
I love the simple elegance of that first search request phrasing. In any event, if you're here looking for video of Joba Chamberlain throwing fastballs at the head of Kevin Youkilis (and of Josh Beckett sharing his thoughts on the situation with Joba) look no further.

Search Request: "joba the hutt" shirt buy
Amazingly, it doesn't seem like any enterprising Yanks fan has capitalized on their rookie reliever's built-in awesome nickname with a Joba The Hutt tshirt yet (that I can find)- but you can always get the standard MLB.com player number shirt, or this shirt, which I would totally find cute if I was a Yankees fan. Thank goodness I am not.

Search Request: "how old is dustin pedroia?"
24 years old, as of August 17th.

Search Request: "dustin pedroia balding"
HEY NOW! Sure, his college coach may have called him balding a bunch of times, but I prefer to think of him as having a very close buzz that fades away into awesomeness.

Search Request: "brandon moss tattoo"
Here's a picture- you can see it peeking out. According to SoxNest, "Nobody seems quite sure what it is, but it has five segmented ovals along the bottom of his jersey sleeve, showing just enough ink to prove he's a badass." Rowr.

Search Request: "manny delcarmen tattoo"
I know nothing about this- and the only thing I could find about Manny Delcarmen having a tattoo was here- indicating that he was wearing a temporary ribbon tattoo on his neck for Father's Day to promote cancer awareness. Anyone got the scoop?

Search Request: "milwaukee brewers racing mini-sausages"
I took a picture of the mini-sausages they had racing around with the normal racing sausages at the Milwaukee Brewers game, and posted it here. Are they not the CUTEST THINGS EVER?!?!

Search Request: "josh beckett's girlfriend" / "josh beckett rumors" / "what did leann tweeden say about josh beckett"
I do not know about Josh Beckett's girlfriend. I am not going to repeat any rumors about Josh Beckett's personal life. And I never read the Maxim interview with Leeann Tweeden about Josh Beckett, so I'm not sure what exactly she said. She sure is purty, though.

Search Request: "josh beckett swearing" / "josh throw a fucking pitch beckett"
Now this I can tell you something about. See: Exhibit A and Exhibit B- but the quintessential Josh Beckett cussfest is Exhibit C. And I think I will refer to him as Josh "Throw A Fucking Strike" Beckett from now on.

Search Request: "josh beckett is a dick"
HEY NOW! I don't know about that- but I do know what he said about his own assets.

Search Request: "jonathan papelbon slutter video"
I got your slutter right here. Oh, and right here.

Search Request: "clay buchholz good luck ritual"
This one actually has me intrigued- because I've never written about it, and I'm curious now. Anyone know what kind of superstitions or rituals Clay does before or during pitching?

Search Request: "paul mccartney at yankee stadium"
Paul was sitting front row behind home plate, next to Lorne Michaels (who was in turn sitting next to Alec Baldwin), when I was at Yankee Stadium on August 29th to watch Josh Beckett and Roger Clemens duel it out. They played several Beatles/Wings songs on the PA and then would put him up on the Jumbotron... and without fail, he'd smile and wave or dance around a little for the crowd. He was sitting the next section over from me, so I got a few pictures- you can see one here and one with he and Lorne here.

Search Request: "pictures of kevin youkilis with his girlfriend"
Another stumper. I know nothing about Kevin Youkilis's girlfriend (or whether or not he even has one), and I don't have any pictures of her. But if anyone has any scoop they can share, feel free!

Search Request: "josh beckett sunglasses"

Best. Beckett-in-sunglasses. Photo. Ever. courtesy of sittingstill

Search Request: "canada sucks"
Indeed.

A little lethargic after the holiday weekend? A little slow finding that get-up-and-go after a long weekend of baseball, college football, booze, and more baseball? I think I've found the ticket to sit you right up and get your blood boiling, to make you good and pissed first thing in the morning: Eric Wilbur goes pee-pee in your Red Sox Cheerios. It's a blog entry from Friday, but I just saw it, and my blood pressure went right through the roof.

But wait- don't even bother reading that drivel, because Fire Joe Morgan rips apart the shoddy journalism six ways to Sunday. Some highlights from FJM:

[It's] the little-known MLB loophole (Rule 35.17 in the rulebook): "Performance in the last series of August shall be used to determine World Series championship eligibility, pursuant to Fieriness Clause in Rule 42.9." Red Sox got swept by the Yankees, as you recall, so they are ineligible for the World Series this year. Too bad, fans.

It's not enough to have the best record in baseball. It's not enough to have the best pitching staff. They're not special enough. Not special like the turd of a team the St. Louis Cardinals were last year. Not fire-breathing passionate personality monsters like the dynastic San Antonio Spurs are in basketball. Not emotional, constantly weeping, frighteningly volatile like Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

Gagne (facial hair! curses in French!)
Crisp (diving catches! leaps into walls!)
Buchholz (hugged a lot of people last night!)
Tavarez (once murdered a drifter with a mini-screwdriver!)

Hey Eric Wilbur, indolent means "slothful, lazy, idle." You really think a large percentage of Red Sox players are slothful, lazy, and idle? Okay, dude. Have fun telling them that.

Plus, nondescript? Tell me: which team, other than the Yankees, has more descript players than the fucking Boston fucking Red Sox? We're talking descript as hell here. Ortiz, Schilling, Manny, Dice-K, Papelbon, Beckett. These guys are unique, superfamous uberstars. Even the role players are descript: Youkilis is Moneyball-famous, Pedroia is three feet tall, Coco Crisp has a funny name, Wakefield throws a knuckler, Varitek is supposedly a god of intangibles. I'll tell you who's nondescript: the Pittsburgh Pirates.

And my personal favorite:

Unless you scream and curse and cry and pump your fist and chop your groin all at the same time, you will never be good at sports.

I hope our guys get to work on that! It sounds like it's gonna take some practice- you need particularly nimble use of both hands at the same time in order to achieve the required simultaneous fist-pumping and groin-chopping. I kind of think Josh Beckett does all of this already- maybe he can give lessons.

I'm having withdrawal pangs. This is the first time Josh Beckett has pitched since the beginning of August that I haven't been there to see him in person (although, it's not like he's done particularly well during that time period- so maybe I'm bad luck). What am I going to do with myself?

I know- I'm going to have a Josh Beckett extravaganza!

OK, I may have done this before- but that was almost 2 months ago. That's entirely too long.

credit: Kerry Brett Hurley

So allow me to quote what I wrote before:

En route to the American League's 10th straight victory over the NL in last night's the 2007 All-Star Game, Red Sox ace pitcher -- and smokin' hottie-- Josh Beckett picked up the win. If you like the quiet, humble, shy, retiring types, who relax by reading poetry and watching Masterpiece Theatre and drinking a nice merlot, Josh Beckett is not for you. On the other hand, if you (like me) like your men tall (6'5") and strong and brash and fiery, with a heap of cockiness and a whole hell of a lot of redneck, then Texas boy Josh is a man you'll love.

This is the part where I tell you that Josh grew up the next neighborhood over from me in the far northwest reaches of Houston, Texas. In the boonies of hick country, y'all- I can vouch for that. And that he idolized Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. And that he wears wranglers and boots on occasion. And has a lovely Texas drawl. And owns his own deer hunting ranch (he once won the award for the largest deer shot during the TX hunting season, a 14-point, 245-pound buck). And always has a dip can in his back pocket. And that he's known to be rowdy with guys from opposing teams. And that he won the MVP of the World Series in 2003, and owns one of them shiny World Series Champ-eens rings from his days as a Marlin. And that he is leading MLB with 12 16 17 wins this year. Oh, yeah- and that he is RIDICULOUSLY GOOD LOOKING.

Yee-haw, baby. Because when Todd Helton, the self-described redneck of the Rockies, says Josh is a bigger redneck than he is, that's a mighty big neck o' red.

And now I think I'll post some of my favorite Josh pictures after the jump...

Continue reading »

Josh Beckett? Pitches 8 full innings, notching up only 3 earned runs and getting 7 K's en route to becoming the first pitcher in all of major league baseball to get 17 wins. Best part, though, was Joshie whizzing a 96mph fastball right past Alex Rios with his last pitch to end the 8th. He was still throwing hard heat well past 115 pitches on the night.

Jacoby Ellsbury? Went 3-for-3, including a triple and his 2nd MLB homerun, and knocked in two runs. And did anyone else catch that giant gleeful grin on Jacoby after popping the triple? Or the teeny-tiny little "YES!" air fistbump as he watched his tater clear the fence? I think he's settled in just fine, thank you very much.

Jonathan Papelbon? After "begging, begging, begging" (his words) Tito to let him pitch for the third night in a row, Papyboo goes 3 up, 3 down in the 9th and notches his 33rd save of the season. We also got a classic gigantic Papyboo celebration off the mound after that 3rd out in the 9th- always love to see that. His splitter was a thing of majesty tonight.

My three favorites (sorry, Brandon, Dusty P, Tek & Mikey!) rocked it out tonight- and for that, I'm giving away a three-way Baseball Boyfriend of the Day to all three J-Boys.

Post-game press conference with Josh was GENIUS. We get the rare treat of Beckett talking about Papelbon (rather than the other way around)- and Josh states the obvious with a tiny grin "He's pretty good, idn't he?". And then, a bigger shit-eating grin when he says "Who'da thought a little dumb redneck from Mississippi would be that good?"

I find it charming that when talking about Papelbon, Josh's southern accent gets thicker and thicker- I do the same thing when I'm talking to or about other Southerners as well (or when I've had a beer or three).

They also asked Josh about his particular fondness for fellow East Texan Clay Buchholz, and asked what is it about Texas pitchers (ANSWER: TEXAS RULES, Y'ALL)- and Josh actually kind of downplayed the Texas thing, and mentioned that he's the same with Lester as with Clay, a kind of mentor.

And how about that postgame Papelbon interview with Tina Cervasio?

From Boston Herald:

"He's a competitor with a capital 'C.' That's what I love about Josh. He'll get his butt handed to him, but four days later he's back out there."
-- Brad Arnsberg, current Toronto pitching coach and former Marlins pitching coach

and:

"[Josh] was such a perfectionist and didn't realize that sometimes you were going to have a bad day, because he came out of high school and had so much success in the minor leagues he didn't know what failure was all about. He didn't deal with it really well. He would show up umpires at the time, staring in. There were things he could control at the time that he wasn't controlling. Now I watch him across the field and you see where he backs off a little bit. He'll stick a pitch on the edge of the plate, not get the call, and it's no big deal. He's come a long way."
-- Brad Arnsberg

From Waltham Daily News Tribune:

"Josh Beckett sat alone on the clubhouse couch intently watching TV yesterday, two hours before punching in at work. His job was to handle the Toronto Blue Jays.

Beckett was watching "Field of Dreams." Maybe he was looking for inspiration. Maybe he just liked the movie. But his eyes were riveted on the screen. Nobody said a word to him. And he had nothing to say."

I love the image of Joshie sitting by himself in the clubhouse, cramming by studying up on Field of Dreams. It looks like it worked like a charm.

There's been a whole lot of hoopla recently about your favorite Yankee reliever and mine, Joba Chamberlain. And one of the biography points that gets discussed the most in articles about Joba's hard luck story is his Native American heritage- his dad is full-blood Winnebago Indian. What's more, the New York Daily News, CBS Sportsline, Baseball Reference, HuskerExtra and MiLB.com have all stated that Joba is the highest-drafted Native American in history.

Problem is: that's not true. Jacoby Ellsbury is.

Jacoby Ellsbury is Navajo- he was actually born on a reservation and lived there for six years, and is the first Navajo to play in the major leagues. Here's a great story on his Native American heritage from the Boston Globe and another from the New York Times. (side note: someone - I'm looking at you, NESN- needs to ask Jacoby to sing a Navajo song on camera, because I would love to see that.)

Jacoby Ellsbury was drafted #23 overall in the 2005 draft.
Joba Chamberlain was drafted #41 overall in the 2006 draft.

Jacoby, not Joba, is the highest-drafted Native American baseball player ever.

As best I can tell, Baseball America noted in a pre-draft piece in 2006 that Joba would be the highest-drafted Native American when he was taken with one of the first ten picks... but he wasn't taken in the Top 10 -- he wasn't drafted until the Yankees selected him at #41 with a sandwich pick in compensation for Tom Gordon. Somehow, the prospective statement based on a future event that never happened turned into a statement of fact- and then the rest of those writers linked above just ran with the statement without bothering to check their facts.

The Sports Column has an interesting piece on Native American players in the majors (along with Jacoby and Joba, there are only two more around- Kyle Lohse, Phillies pitcher, and Bobby Madritsch, who isn't currently active).

The throwaway moments in NESN's game broadcasts often contain some of the best gems-- the candid moments when their lenses capture the big, bad Red Sox players and coaches in candid moments and we see them as regular guys (rather than multi-millionaire superstars).

The NESN cameras at tonight's game kept catching Julian Tavarez goofing off, horsing around like a little kid who ate too many Pixi Sticks and can't find a friend to join him in playing pranks and pulling faces and generally being hyper. Normally, Manny would fill that role perfectly- but he wasn't around to participate in Julian's ADDfest... so Julian just had to create fun where he could find it.

So, Julian first finds a buddy in... Daisuke Matsuzaka? The cameras cut to Dice-K playfully releasing Julian from a headlock, and then the two of them exchange a few words and then a very cute fistbump. Two questions about that: (1) there was no interpreter, so were they speaking in English, Spanish or Japanese? and (2) what in the world were they talking about?

Later, out in the bullpen, Julian mugs around for the camera, waving and grinning. It's like he just realized that the giant black box with the glass circle on it that's been in the bullpen since, oh, forever is a video camera. Look at the pretty shiny object! HI MOM!

After picking up his 17th W on Tuesday, Josh Beckett said to reporters about his closer Jonathan Papelbon that, "Who'da thought a little dumb redneck from Mississippi would be that good?".

Now Papelbon has fired back.

On Wednesday's Friendly's Scoop segment, Papelbon was asked about Beckett calling him a dumb Mississippi redneck- and Papelbon responded, "Well, I didn't think a dumb Texas redneck could be that good. He's always surprising me." Point to Team Papyboo. (see the full video here) Also note: he takes no issue with being labeled as a Mississippi boy (rather than Louisiana).

Other items of note from the segment:

* Cinco Ocho is back and ready for the playoff run.

* He likes getting to pitch multiple days in a row so he can get ready to do that in the postseason. And if three days in a row wasn't enough, he offhandedly refers to pitching FOUR days in a row.

* He thinks Clay Buchholz's stuff should translate well to the bullpen and be fine. And he agrees with the careful handling of Clay, since it worked great for him.

* Jacoby Ellsbury is electric- he hits a single, it's an automatic double; he hits a double, it's a possible triple.

* On the report that he and Big Papi were driving yellow Lamborghinis on Newbury Street, he said that he gets a fancy sports car to drive around when he's in Boston for home games from a car club (and apparently other players do as well, since Papi had one, too). Right now he's driving a Ferrari 430 in candy apple red, Cinco Ocho's favorite color (of course).

* "What can I say? I'm big pimpin' now."

In which I highlight noteworthy blogs for you to gather reconnaissance on the Red Sox upcoming opponent. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Orioles Insider: beautiful design, concise and informative commentary with a sense of humor Roar From 34: irreverent and timely thoughts on the team and the latest O's developments Camden Chat: SBN site with daily open game threads and up-to-date news The Wayward Oriole: another humorous gem, where no Orioles cow is sacred

Everyone's used to the two Red Sox unis we see every week- the home whites, with "RED SOX" across the chest in red letters, and the road greys, with "BOSTON" across the chest in red letters. But on very rare occasions, the Sox have broken out a third home alternate uni, a red jersey with "RED SOX" across the chest in navy letters. Those red jerseys are rarer than the fabled Notre Dame green jerseys- and I've been curious why we never see them dress out in red.

Larry Lucchino, President & CEO of the Sox, says it's the decision of the starting pitcher (not the front office or the manager) whether or not the team will don the alternate red jerseys for a game. Lucchino says that if the starting pitcher feels like wearing the red, he just informs the manager and the team dresses out in the red. Lucchino indicated there may be some superstition about wearing the red jerseys coming from the Sox players, which could explain why we hardly ever see them on the field.

So when have the jerseys been worn this year? As far as I can tell, just twice: once on May 20th, when Kason Gabbard was the SP (and he got the W), and then again on August 19th, when Julian Tavarez was the SP (and he got the loss). So, it's a .500 record for the year when the Sox are in red.

Verdict on the reds? I like them- I think they look sharp. But I do like that they're used on rare occasions- makes 'em more special. And the fact that it's the SP's decision is cool... but with Beckett, Dice-K, Wake and Schilling, I doubt we'll ever see one of those four pick to wear them.

It's no surprise that the latest subject of fascination in Red Sox Nation is Clay Buchholz, a/k/a "Stickbug" (nickname coined, I believe, by Beth- and which I have adopted, because I cannot conceive of a more accurate moniker). He's just so darned earnest and shy and hard-working and slight and precious and Texan. No one can get enough of hearing about him, watching him, reading about him or seeing him pitch-- and I'm just as guilty.

Stickbug didn't disappoint last night in his first outing working from the bullpen. After getting himself into an early jam out of the gate in the 6th inning, he methodically worked his way out, and then retired the side 3 up, 3 down in the 7th and again in the 8th. He downplayed the weirdness of his new bullpen role in his postgame comments from the lockerroom, but it can't have been easy to switch hats when he's been a starter all year.

Here's his post-game interview:

But the best Clay-related part of the broadcast wasn't his pitching (beautiful) or his post-game interview (awww!) but a throwaway moment when the cameras caught him fooling around with a baseball in the dugout. I don't know why, but I just found this so charming- lil' Stickbug!

A big question on the minds of Sox fans is: will the Sox resign Mike Lowell? We've heard the price tag may be too high and that Mike has been thinking about life playing in other stadiums. But could he end up in... Philadelphia?!?

From Jayson Stark:

If the Red Sox don't bring back Mike Lowell, the Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Astros and Yankees (if they lose A-Rod) would all be major bidders. But Lowell has sent signals to his friends on the Phillies that, in the words of one of them: "He would love to play in Philadelphia." And why not? Lowell is a .353 lifetime hitter in 70 career plate appearances in Citizens Bank Park, with seven homers, six doubles and a .750 slugging percentage. The Phillies could have about $27 million coming off the books this winter, depending on whether Aaron Rowand departs. And a year from now, Pat Burrell's $14 million will also disappear. So the Phillies should have money to spend to address their third-base and bullpen issues.

Listen, I'm a Phillies fan and even I can see that Mike in red pinstripes is just WRONG. Not saying the Phils couldn't use his help in the hot corner, but he needs to stay in Boston. Maybe he's just hedging his bets, or maybe this is a plant from an agent trying to secure a nice pricetag for his client... but I don't like it one bit.

Join the Normally Discerning, Rational and Pragmatic Red Sox Fans for the Emotionally Motivated Re-Signing of Mike Lowell TODAY!

A quick admin announcement: I've replaced the atom and rss feeds by consolidating them into a feedburner feed- which should work and look beautiful in any newsreader. Any problems with it, just holler- otherwise, if you're viewing this in a newsreader, you should update to the new feed url.

Thank you. And now back to your regularly scheduled programming already in progress...

So I was watching a brawl, and a baseball game broke out.

The post's title is courtesy of Dave McCarty, who was describing the enigma that is Daniel Cabrera. I watched the fracas on both the MASN and NESN feeds, and as best as I can tell, here's a breakdown...

Daniel "Danny Boy" Cabrera didn't seem to enjoy Coco Crisp's bunt attempt in the fourth, as I deduced from the glare he shot at Coco. He definitely didn't enjoy Coco dancing and darting around behind him on third, as I deduced from his balky movements on the mound. And he most definitely did not enjoy the balk the home plate ump issued him, or having to watch Coco cross home plate for a score. So, angered at his own pitching performance and his own drawing a balk, he naturally... buzzed Dustin Pedroia's head. Of course he did!

But why do opposing pitchers always need to take their anger out on lil' Dusty P?

Oh, right, it's because Pedro is about waist-high. But we've all seen Mighty Mouse get scrappy. We also know he is fighting way above his weight class. And he's demonstrated that he's not afraid to risk his life. I'm not sure that anyone should be buzzing Scrappy Doo. I think it's only a matter of time before that ticking time bomb explodes on some random Devil Ray or Mariner... and it ain't gonna be pretty. I have full confidence Dusty P can handle himself in a fight.

But back to the events of this evening. In quick summary: Coco tries to bunt. Danny Boy glares. Coco gets on. Coco gets to third. Danny Boy balks. Coco trots home. Danny Boy pitches BEHIND DUSTY P'S HEAD. Tito leads the charge of the Sox bench clearing. O's bench follows. Ump issues a warning (!) to Danny Boy and benches. Danny Boy is held back. Some wiseacre on Sox bench* compliments Danny Boy on his pitch selection**. O's catcher Hernandez goes ballistic and starts pinwheeling directionless haymaker arms. Danny Boy shoves his way out of the ump's grasp, untucks his jersey and politely requests that someone spar with him.*** Benches empty in full force. Bullpen guys jump the outfield wall (!) when they can't find the exit door. Julian Tavarez plays peacemaker (?). Danny Boy gets the boot. Kevin Cash (??) gets the boot****. Orioles get shut out and go home losers all around.*****

* My money was on Beckett, but inside sources tell me it was Papelbon.
** And by that I mean, cusses him out Beckett-Joba style.
*** And by that I mean, tells the Sox players to bring it on MF.
**** Does this mean Kevin Cash has a filthy mouth? Color me intrigued.
***** Except Kevin Millar, of course.

The NESN postgame video of the fracas:

Let's not forget:

* Jacoby Ellsbury has a gorgeous face-smashing catch up against the outfield wall in left. It's awesome stuff... just please don't break your pretty face, darlin'.

* Kevin Youkilis broke the AL record with 179 consecutive appearances playing first base without an error (thank goodness the official scorer didn't rule that Lester-Youk mixup as an E against Youk).

* Former Sock Kevin Millar made his 475th plate appearance on the year, thus guaranteeing a contract with the Orioles for next season.

* Roger Clemens next start could come as soon as September 16th... in Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Things could get interesting.

I'm off for Baltimore to catch the Sox-O's games today and tomorrow- I missed one Beckett start, I can't miss another. It should be rowdy after last night's fracas... I'll be sure to bring back pictures.