Wah Wah Wah Anaheim Angels

Tom Hanks said it best when he said " There's no crying in baseball!" . The California Angels of Anaheim need to take a lesson from that. For the past 18 hours, they have been crying that the Boston Red Sox stole Carl Crawford away from them. I don't remember Carl saying that he wanted to go to Boston over Anaheim ( a no brainer, though ) or that he wanted to go anywhere. Carl was on the "open" market, up for the highest bidder. The Angels chose to give him a less lucrative offer and for fewer years, so he's now headed to Boston.

Torii Hunter even came out today and said that he wanted to play with Carl. Well, you should have ponied up some of your own cash there, Torii, and maybe he would have signed with your team. Of course, you could always ask to be traded to Boston and then you and Carl can be best buds on the Red Sox juggernaut for the next 6-7 years.

No one has the right to complain when they get outbid for the services of a player. The Red Sox are clearly going for it now this year and are not concerned about whether or not they make a profit for the 2011 season. Ego does that to people and it drives them to perhaps overpay for a player, so that they can keep interest high.

The Angels problem is the fan base. They show up for a game in the 3rd inning after having a few margaritas and a wheel of brie downtown, then they sit on their hands for most of the game, and leave after the 7th inning stretch, so that they can still make the buffet at Red Lobster.

Anaheim is not a baseball town. They don't deserve Carl Crawford or even Broderick Crawford ( remember him on highway Patrol? ). Joan Crawford lived nearby - so they should be happy with that.

The Angels had plenty of money to spend. After all, now they want Beltre and Soriano, neither of whom will come cheaply. But be careful, LA, you could easily lose them too if someone else throws in a few extra bats and gloves to the deal and you balk at making a move.

You are the stiff of the week - your ownership, your fan base and yes, even the city (ha-ha) of Anaheim. You have worries this year about Oakland and Seattle as well. Best of luck with that -see you on the way to the AL West basement.

Handy Randy ain't quite so dandy, Andy

So let's see, who is Randy moss "playing: for this week?

I believe that he was claimed off the scrap heap by Tennessee a few weeks ago and he actually made one catch in last week's game. That brings his season's total to somewhere south of 20 catches. Now he wants a long term mega-deal with some team. Randy must have flunked basic math class in school.

The equation is quite easy.

The more you produce, the more you earn. The less you produce, the less you earn. I think I have that correct.

Randy USED TO BE productive. Randy USED TO BE a deep threat. Randy USED to work on every down - well maybe not that one. After all, it's a long way to run down the field, come back and do it again a few times per game. Let's not be overcritical of the man now.

He will probably want to get paid now by CBS, Fox, etc. because he is now conducting his own press conferences. There's no need to send correspondents out there or news people to speak to him. He will ask the questions and answer them, without even doing voice changes. This must be worth something to the networks.

Randy also can make some money giving food tips to hotels and restaurants about what to serve, how to serve it and when to serve it. There's no need for any of those food service managers anymore. Just ask Randy.

He is certainly a jack of all trades- at least in his own mind. That's OK though, because that's where Randy Moss lives.

Randy, you are the stiff of the week.

As Randy would say... " I'm Out!"

Theo Theo Theo - what were you thinking????

Theo Epstein, boy genius, must have failed his college statistics classes. Stats don't lie buddy and you just cost the Red Sox 12.5 million dollars that you will never get production for. Here are the numbers you missed:

David Ortiz

2004-2006 240+ extra base hits
2008-2010 178 extra base hits

2004-2006 OPS around .400 each year
2008-2010 OPS around .325 each year

2004-2006 Consistent average at or above .300
2008-2010 Average plummets to BELOW .200 only comes back to .266

He is making more money than any full time DH on any roster for the 2011 season next year.

He hit .211 vs. left-handed pitchers this year with 2/3 of his strikeouts.

Moving the right field fence in 9 feet next year won't help him with his loss of bat speed through the hitting zone ( 15-17 mph slower than in his prime ), but it will help younger opposing lefties.... nice idea.

In April and May, he had the opportunity to drive in the tying or lead run after the 7th inning in 36 games. He did it exactly twice.

This is a horrible move since D.O. wanted long -term big contract, so besides being horrible, he will be disgruntled and the team does not have $12.5 mil to spend on " talent."

Revis the Stiff

Dear Mr. Darelle Revis,

You are a stiff.

Stop faking injuries when you get burned.

Sincerely,

S.O.T.W. Staff

Picture Link Source

Revis Island: Beware of Stiffs

WEEI reported the following earlier today:

"Revis, who played his first game back Monday night after missing all of training camp in a contract dispute, was limited on Thursday in practice by hamstring tightness and his availability for Sunday is unknown."

I am just going to say it now:

If Darrelle Revis does not play this Sunday, he is automatically the stiff of the YEAR.

As long as he is alive and his thigh bone isn't sticking through his skin, he better being playing.

It seems way too much like an excuse for when he gets burned by Randy Moss because he isn't in football condition or is hurt.

After all his trash talk, contract hold out and hype about "Revis Island" how lame is it to lean on the excuse of hamstring tightness.

Either sit out until you are ready to play at NFL speed, admit you are scared of Moss or don't hold out in the first place.

Revis should have been running parachute assisted wind sprints 24-7 or at least sit ups in his driveway (the T.O. workout) while waiting for his contract. What was he doing all day, eating Twinkies and playing Madden '11?

But in all fairness... injury, out of shape or whatever, as long as Moss burns him for at least a couple touchdowns and the Patriots beat the Jets, I will be very happy.

Ochocinco is a Liar.

Last week Chad Ochocinco of the Cincinnati Bengals said that if he scored a touchdown vs. the New England Patriots that he would grab a musket from one of the Minuteman Mascots.

Well Chad, you just scored a TD and immediately walked away to your sideline...

What a stiff!

As much as I love the Patriots, I was hoping you would score.... and then get gun punched by one of those revolutionary rebels.

Chad you talked the talk but didn't walk the walk - so you are the stiff of the week.

Oh, and ochenta y cinco is how you say 85 in spanish, not ocho cinco.

Boston Red Sox Fair Weather Fans

Front Running Red Sox "Fans," you are all the stiffs of the week.

Everywhere I go in Boston I hear the following, "The Red Sox suck this year."

Since when is Boston full of a bunch of front running, show up in the fourth inning, pink hat wearing fans?

Sometimes I think reversing the curse did more harm than good for the Fenway faithful.

Before 2004 and 2007 - Fenway Park was real. The fans were for the most part knowledgeable about baseball or their hometown team at the very least. People brought their kids because their kids wanted to go see their favorite players play.

Now when I head to Fenway it is a crap shoot.

Sure, in the bleachers and less expensive seating areas you have mostly true fans. They show up on time, drink way too much and talk baseball with the other drunkards around them.

However, the closer you get to the Loge seating (and don't even getting me started on the skyboxes) you still find die hard fans, but more commonly you find these fair weather folk that I speak of. Half of them are doing business on their cell phone while their kid is playing on his/her Game Boy. They are at Fenway to be seen; to be the envy of those fans in the obstructed grandstand seats.

They pay ridiculous prices for the tickets, and if the sox are playing a team like the Orioles, they don't bother going at all.

They don't remember what Fenway looked like before the Green Monster seats and they never saw the Marlborough man billboard above the center field bleachers.

They might remember Fisk, Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Nomar, Pedro, Manny and Papi...

But they sure as hell don't remember Jodi Reed, Tom Brunansky, Brian Daubach, Mike Greenwell, Troy O'Leary and Oil Can Boyd.

They never stayed up on a school night and watched the ball go through Buckner's legs.

They think Aaron Boone is some sort of famous hunter or Civil War general.

They became fans in 2004 and not until the Sox evened up the series. They only saw Dave Roberts steal 2nd base on replays and highlight reels.

The problem now is that even some of the true Fenway Faithful are being influenced by these fake fans and becoming front runners themselves.

HERE IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL.

The sox will not make the playoffs this year. Their pitching has been less than outstanding.

But...

(say it with me) THE RED SOX DO NOT SUCK THIS YEAR.

They are either 1st or 2nd in the American League in the following categories: runs, doubles, home runs, RBIs, slugging and total bases. They are 4th in on-base percentage and 5th in hits.

And for such a "dismal" year of pitching, they are still 2nd in the AL in strikeouts.

AS OF TODAY, 9/6, THE RED SOX HAVE 76 WINS. THIS WOULD MAKE THEM...

-1st in AL West (Texas = 75 wins)
-1st in NL West (Tied with San Deigo = 76 wins)
-3 games back in NL East & NL Central

They would be pretty much guaranteed AT LEAST the wild card in the National League.

The 4th place team in the AL East - The Toronto Blue Jays - even has 71 wins!!!

(say it with me again) THE RED SOX DO NOT SUCK THIS YEAR.

Did I forget to mention injuries? Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that such a productive offensive year has been done without the likes of (for short and long periods of time) Pedroia, Youk, VMart, Varitek, Lowrie, Lowell, Ellsbury, Cameron etc.

So lets see... thats an MVP, consistent .300+ hitter, 40+ stolen base guy & 2007 World Series MVP that the Sox had on the DL this year - not to mention two members of their starting rotation...

On the pitching side of things, Beckett and Dice-K haven't been 100% this year. That is obvious.

Things could have been so much worse.

Any true Red Sox fan will look back on this year and say, "Wow a lot of guys really stepped up and played well. I can't believe we came as close as we did to making the playoffs. Hopefully we get healthy next year. And at the very least we now have a ton of options and proven prospects to use in trades or fill gaps in the future."

WILL THE REAL RED SOX FANS PLEASE STAND UP?