Apparently, it could have been worse

One Habs fan comments on his day:

'I totally blame my sons mother today. I was all set to enjoy the game, gave her plenty of notice, then at 3:10 she comes up to me and says "We need potatoes" Really? Really? we need potatoes? the damn game is starting and you want me to goto the store and get potatoes? WTF!!! can't make rice? it has to be potatoes? I have had a headache ever since.'

In other news, Dice-K allowed one hit in 8 innings today. That's right. Dice-K. One hit. Eight innings. Or was that actually Dice-K? It's worth noting that V-Tek caught instead of V-Mart, whom Dice-K had thrown somewhat under the bus after his last (bad) start. Also, JD Drew got an RBI with no batteries thrown at him whatsoever (at least, none that I heard about). Heh, I say. Stick it to those Phillies fans.

He's earning his place on the roster

Guess which catcher came into today's game with a .500 batting average and has maintained that average with another home run?

Jason Varitek.

(Okay, so if you've been paying attention this season, you might have guessed that, but I'm pretty sure you would not have predicted that a month ago).

So far, V-Mart has not exactly been fab as a catcher. Maybe keeping Varitek was the right move? Could there be a fight for the starting position?

Need I point out that Varitek's first name starts with 'J'? Huh?

And while we're asking questions, why didn't we get someone up from Pawtucket to replace Bill Hall in outfield? Not only is his fielding a disaster zone, his batting average is .000. And he's already played in 3 games. Seriously.

PR People should maybe liase with Front Office People more often

The Cleveland Indians traded Victor Martinez to the Red Sox yesterday in a last-minute deal. While this fact in and of itself is noteworthy (particularly because now we have another Youk-type player who can play virtually anywhere at any time), there is now a headache in Cleveland since they had planned for not one but two Martinez give-aways this week.

Oops.

As for how this affects the Red Sox: Martinez can play either 1st base or catcher. I see an eventual replacement for Varitek here, although probably not immediately (at least the club says that is not the plan). Supposedly, he will take over sometimes at first when Lowell needs a break so that Youkilis can move over. Also, he can serve as a DH in case our DH is not producing. However, Papi seems to be doing just fine in that department these days.

We traded three pitchers including Justin Masterson, who was one of those up-and-coming talents. I guess that the management figured there were sufficient up-and-comers, although with the pitching I have seen of late from Penny and Smoltz, I am not so sure about that. I do see the logic, though, since Masterson was primarily coming out of the bullpen and for once we seem to actually have a decent bullpen.

Bearing in mind that it is still August, of course. Naturally the bullpen can still fall completely apart. Ah, the mid-summer skepticism of a Red Sox fan, can't be beat.

Anyone know where Papelbon is?

It's the top of the ninth, Yankees are leading 4-2, and Javier Lopez just loaded the bases with walks and hitting people with pitches.

And he's still in there pitching.

Here I was, thinking we had a middle bullpen. Wrong.

Update: so we made it through the inning thanks to a double play at home plate and Cabrera popping out via foul ball. In other words: thank you, Jason Varitek.

Varitek back with Sox, Torre's book looks awesome

Yesterday Jason Varitek signed a 1-year deal to catch for the Red Sox again. I think that this is great. Varitek haters be gone with you. He's been an important part of the team for too long to let go.

Also, I simply must read Joe Torre's book about how insane the Yankees are. Apparently, A-Rod basically stalked Jeter. It's just too easy to make the Yankee jokes on that one.