Invaded And Conquered

Wow, and the season hasn't even started yet!
(news.xinhuanet.com)

Their stature almost compare to the real players. Amazing!
(CEB II)

Well, at least Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup this weekend. The Catalonian club won their 8th national Super Cup against Athletic Bilbao 3-0 this past Sunday afternoon/evening (depending on where you were at) with help from another dominant Messi performance. To potentially sweeten the deal, Barça has the chance to tally a second championship (the UEFA Super Cup) against Ukrainian squad Shakhtar Donetsk on Friday, all before the La Liga season commences on the last day of the month. But tainting all of this joy is another lackluster performance from a local team I somewhat follow. Granted it's not as bad as the recent Michael Beasley situation, or the juicy Rick Pitino scandal (It's actually kinda funny. For what he did to the Celtics, it's probably not shocking that I have no sympathy for his recent plight.), but it's enough to have me looking like Private Pyle in that infamous bathroom scene in Full Metal Jacket (It's more legit to call it the head, but "head scene" sounds just a tad risque don't ya' think?). As predicted by many, the Yankees came into town and took two out of three at America's Most Beloved Ballpark. And unfortunately, I was there for the bookends. Not only did I get to see the Giants and the Patriots (a.k.a, "The Penny/Bowden Blowout Show") play at Fenway on Friday, I got to see Home Run Derby Part II on Sunday as Beckett got lit up for his second start in a row. I look at the schedule and realize that there is 39 games left in the regular season and the Sox are behind by a fairly distant 7.5 games back in the division. One part of my weary brain tells me that there is tons of time left to make up some kind of ground to make things at least remotely interesting. After all, we have scored 5.9 runs per game since acquiring Victor Martinez at the trade deadline. Speaking of V-Mart, he has been a beast in the Sox lineup with 5 homers, 16 batted in and a .971 OPS since putting on Red Sox. And I know I have been a huge supporter of trading this kid (and still am), but Clay Buchholz may be shaping up as that solid middle of the rotation guy the Red Sox so desperately need down the final stretch as he has displayed impressive performances against Sabathia, Verlander and Halladay. Even Junichi Tazawa came through with a solid 6 inning outing outing against the Yanks this weekend. But the other part of my cerebral motor guides me to some other disturbing facts. Since the All-Star Break, the Red Sox have only won 5 out of 19 games against teams above .500, not exactly playoff caliber. I'm just sick of the one cliche that many have been saying about the team; that we're built for the postseason. I'd like to remind these same people that we have to make it there first. And with Beckett allowing 8 HR and 15 ER in his last 13 1/3 innings pitched, making it is no guarantee right now. The once invincible Bard now has a 10.80 ERA with 4 bombs allowed this month, after allowing 0 homers and having a 2.08 ERA going into August. All of this recent Billy Wagner-talk has me question, "Do we need any more old, surgically repaired guys on this club to begin with?" As Fransisco Liriano has taught us recently, Tommy John surgery isn't exactly easy to come back from, and as what Eric Gagne taught us in '07, this could easily be a dud move that almost destroys a unit that overall doesn't need any fixing. Even with the recent outings from Buchholz and Tazawa, I'm not exactly banking all of our postseason hopes and dreams on these kids. Our over-hyped "young stud" Bowden and the painfully inconsistent Penny did their best to try to make me jump off the State Street Pavilion on Friday night. All these starting rotation ailments make the Wakefield outing on Wednesday a possible indicator of how the rest of our season could go. And can you believe that I'm actually looking forward to Dice-K's return? It's like that in Red Sox Nation lately. The white-hot Yanks have an upcoming series against the Rangers, which makes this series against Chicago arguably more important than this past one against our pinstriped rivals. No matter what the results are at the Bronx, losing is definitely not an option in any scenario. And hey, it's the return of Mark Kotsay!

Our starting pitching depth in a nutshell.
(CEB II)


Bonus: Sox-Yankees Weekend Montage

"Low Rider" - War - Why Can't We Be Friends?, 1975
"Hard Rock Hallelujah" - Lordi - The Arockalypse, 2006

Mochaman's Fantasy Baseball Report

- Bubba Gump Shrimpz - 158-101-21 (1st, Steroid Freaks' Anonymous, 1.5 UP)
Now the jumbo Shrimpz once again with two weeks left in the fantasy regular season. I have clinched a playoff spot and have virtually clinched a bye-week for the 1st round. No easy tasks ahead as I have to avenge a loss from 10 weeks back this week, followed by the "Series of the Century" against my buddy P-Mac's team for possibly the division crown. Doesn't get any better than this.

- Mocha Sox - 89-104-7 (10th, Yahoo Public 38095, 27 GB)
Won the series, but still need to make up 11 to get to the playoffs, which is a virtual miracle at this point. My once-clutch pitching staff has gone through a bit of a hiccup lately, stunting my progression up the league leader board. Crunch time is officially here for Mocha Magic. Can't afford any mediocrity at this point if I want to avoid the consolation bracket.

- Firehawks - 87-101-12 (9th, Yahoo Public 162279, 29.5 GB)
Ouch! Another series loss puts my playoff chances in jeopardy. The non-present offense is only one of my many worries as Josh Beckett had two pitiful starts this week. Like the Mocha Sox, I have a chance only because I am playing the last place team in the division this week, but time is quickly fading fast.