More than One Nation: The 2007 Red Sox

[bwburke94]

Yes, I know, they won the Series in real life, but this is different. They finished third in 2006 and are hoping to rebound. Well, here's the story.

After a disappointing 2006 season, the Boston Red Sox turned in a new direction in the offseason. They paid $102.1 million dollars for Japanese P Daisuke Matsuzaka and hoped he would be the answer to Boston's pitching woes. Many fans thought they overpaid for "Dice-K" and the rest of the division looked stronger than ever. Can Boston win the World Series for the second time in four years, or will they have to wait until 2090?

Other acquisitions included new right fielder J.D. Drew and reliever Joel Piniero, the latter being a major contender for the 24th spot on the major league roster. Julio Lugo, average at best, expects to see action at shortstop while rookies Dustin Pedroia, David Murphy, and Jacoby Ellsbury are expected to have shots at starting jobs.

My house rules: Only 5 trading block deals per season; 4 in the first. If the computer offers me a trade, I can balance cash but not edit players.

[bwburke94]

I'm away from home right now. As soon as I get on my home PC I'll post the team's rosters. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to get the Auto Sort to start David Ortiz at DH.

Well, here goes:

March 19: MLB owners have voted to abolish interleague play for the 2007 and 2008 seasons and realign the divisions geographically. Pittsburgh will be moved to the NL East, and Houston is considering switching divisions as well. Critics call Commissioner Bud Selig "stupid" and "crazy" all while threatening to sue. Selig prevents Houston from switching divisions, but his reputation will definitely take a huge hit.

[bwburke94]

Off topic: OK, another vote for "I don't know." Please wait until I post the starting lineups and such.

[CatKnight]

Doesn't really signify.

How can anyone 'know' until you are several posts in? Your roster and such don't really matter. If you're asking us if you like your dynasty you're asking a few questions:

1) What do you think of my playing the '07 Red Sox? 3 people have weighed in on that.

2) What do you think of my house rules (if any)? Don't know.

3) What do you think of how I report games / how often I post / how much time passes per post (month, two weeks, one game)? Won't be able to answer that for awhile yet.

If you didn't want all sorts of "I don't knows" your best bet would have been to wait a month, THEN ask for feedback. I'm one of those IDK votes above- there's no way of telling until I see you in action.

[bwburke94]

Yeah, you're right: Well, here are the 2007 Boston Red Sox!

vs. RHP

CF Coco Crisp (73/93)
SS Julio Lugo (90)
LF Manny Ramirez (93)
DH David Ortiz (92)
RF J.D. Drew (86)
3B Mike Lowell (85)
1B Kevin Youkilis (85)
C Jason Varitek (80)
2B Dustin Pedroia (74/87)

vs. LHP

SS Julio Lugo (90)
1B Kevin Youkilis (85)
LF Manny Ramirez (93)
DH David Ortiz (92)
RF J.D. Drew (86)
CF Wily Mo Pena (87)
3B Mike Lowell (85)
C Doug Mirabelli (74)
2B Dustin Pedroia (74/87)

Bench:

OF Pena/Crisp
C Mirabelli/Varitek
1B/RF Eric Hinske (80)
IF Alex Cora (78)
C George Kottaras (76/87)

Pitching Rotation:

SP1: Curt Schilling (85)
SP2: Josh Beckett (73/93)
SP3: Jonathan Papelbon (87/92)
SP4: Daisuke Matsuzaka (87/89)
Alt: Tim Wakefield (74)
Long: Kyle Snyder (72)
Middle: Julian Tavarez (81)
Short: Joel Piniero (79/80)
Short: Mike Timlin (79)
Setup: J.C. Romero (75/80)
Closer: Javier Lopez (85)

And there you have it, your 2007 Red Sox.

[bwburke94]

Sox Lose Six Straight To Rays

The Boston Red Sox started out on a poor note as the worst team in baseball beat them six straight.

Whoever scheduled Boston and Tampa Bay eight straight games is going to be glad they did as the Rays won six of the eight.

April 4: Red Sox win 13-5
The Red Sox hammered Ruddy Lugo (Julio's brother) for 9 runs in 1.2 innings.

April 5: Rays win 5-4 (10)
Rocco Baldelli scored 3 runs, drove in 3, and bunted to set up the winning run in the 10th inning.

April 6: Rays win 5-0
Casey Fossum pitches 8 innings of five-hit ball and Julio and Ruddy Lugo combine to finish the shutout. :D

April 7: Rays win 10-8 (11)
Dice-K's pitches a complete game in his debut and the Red Sox score 7 runs in the fifth. And they still lose.

April 8: Off day

April 9: Rays win 10-1
The Red Sox score on Kazmir's third pitch and never again.

April 10: Rays win 7-6
Carl Crawford returns the favor, and that homer makes the difference.

April 11: Rays win 13-1
Crawford does it on the first pitch this time. Blowout.

April 12: Red Sox win 4-0
No leadoff homer for the first time since Dice-K last pitched. Oh, speaking of Dice-K, he pitches a CG shutout, becoming the first pitcher since at latest 1950 to pitch consecutive complete games in his first two starts.

AL Standings:



East
1. Tampa Bay(!) 6-2
2. New York 7-3
3. Toronto 6-4
4. Baltimore 7-5
5. Boston 2-6

Central
1. Chicago 9-2
2. Cleveland 7-4
3. Detroit 3-6
4. Minnesota 2-6
5. Kansas City 3-9

West
1. Los Angeles 7-5
2. Texas 5-6
3. Seattle 4-6
4. Oakland 3-7


Major Injuries

Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia (2 weeks)
Rays C Dioner Navarro (2 months)

Milestones

Mets LF Moises Alou hit his 300th home run April 5.
Yankees 1B Jason Giambi hit 4 home runs in one game April 8.

Trades

Los Angeles Dodgers trade 3B Oscar Robles to Tampa Bay for RF Shawn Cumberland and C Kevin Cash.
Boston trades P Randy Beam and cash to St. Louis for P Adam Ottavino.

___________________________
The Red Sox called up SS Ed Rogers to replace Pedroia on the roster and placed Pedroia on the 15-day disabled list. C George Kottaras was optioned to AA Portland and 3B Trent Durrington was called up to the bigs.

[bwburke94]

Red Sox Still Under .500

The Boston Red Sox are now 6-11 as they continued to upset the Fenway faithful. David Ortiz has finally started hitting, but the Sox keep losing.

INDIANS @ RED SOX

April 13: Red Sox win 3-2
3-run ninth inning rally to win as Manny Ramirez launched a 2-run homer over the Green Monster and Eric Hinske singled to win it.

April 14: Red Sox win 7-0
Big Papi, dropped to fifth in the lineup, hit the game winning homer.

April 15: Indians win 5-4
[EXPLETIVE]


RANGERS @ RED SOX

April 16: Red Sox win 15-3
Dice-K fails to go the distance this time, but the Red Sox kill Eric Gagne and the Rangers with a 9-run 8th.

April 17: Rangers win 7-2
Michael Young was the star of this one with 4 RBI.

April 18: Red Sox win 6-4
Stupid Mogul. Tim Wakefield gets subbed back into the game with Varitek as the catcher. Sox still win.


ANGELS @ RED SOX

April 19: Angels win 6-4
Sox lose the Patriots' Day game early as the Angels explode for 5 in the first.

April 20: Angels win 6-4
Deja vu.

April 21: Angels win 12-5
Angels take out the brooms with ten runs in the first four innings.



Pirates sign Roger Clemens
I mean, I was like, what? The Pirates?
Oh, and I signed David McCarty for 1 year @ $600K.

Retirements
Lou Merloni retired at age 34. He spent 6 seasons with Boston, compiling a .272 career average.

Injuries
Mets P Oliver Perez (two months)
Rangers CF Freddy Guzman (five weeks)

Milestones
Athletics DH Mike Piazza hit his 400th home run April 13.
Cardinals OF Jim Edmonds got his 1000th RBI April 15.
Mets P Pedro Martinez returned to action and got his 200th win April 20.


AL East Standings
GB
Baltimore 14-6
Toronto 12-6 (1)
New York 9-8 (3.5)
Tampa Bay 8-8 (4)
Boston 6-11 (6.5)

[CatKnight]

So far so good.

Your style's pretty straight forward and easy to read. The quick summaries of the games are excellent. I'd say you're off to a good start!

I am shocked you're having such a rough go at it this early. Granted, 17 games into a 162 game season means absolutely nothing, but I expected this to be a cakewalk for you.

[bwburke94]

SOX TRADE CRISP

The Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox have worked out a trade sending CF Coco Crisp, pitchers Matt Clement and Jose Vaquedano, and cash to the White Sox in exchange for OF Brian Anderson, P John Danks, and P Adam Russell. The Boston front office felt Crisp was expendable with Jacoby Ellsbury in the minor leagues. Eric Hinske will step into Crisp's vacated outfield spot and Danks will step into the Boston rotation in a few seasons.

(This was my second trading block trade of the season; I only have 2 left)

[bwburke94]

Sox woes continue
Record stands at 10-20 after one month

The Boston Red Sox are off to one of the worst starts in team history at 10-20. After being swept by the Angels, the Red Sox are desperate for wins.

RED SOX @ RANGERS

April 22: Red Sox win 5-1
Lowell hits a two-run homer in the first.

April 23: Red Sox win 7-2
Thomas Diamond walks 10 and balks twice in 4 innings of work.

April 24: Rangers win 8-7
Rangers commit three errors leading to four unearned runs and still win.


RED SOX @ ANGELS

April 25: Angels win 7-6
A Molina steals a base and scores the winning run. Not Bengie or Yadier, but Jose.

April 26: Angels win 11-2
Angels pound Beckett. That's all I have to say.

April 27: Red Sox win 6-2
Too... many...wild... pitches...


ROYALS @ RED SOX

April 28: Royals win 6-4 and it's Papelbon's turn to balk.

April 29: Royals win 11-4
Dice-K gets pounded again.

April 30: Red Sox win 8-6
Manny sets the career grand slam record with the eighth-inning winner.


ANGELS @ RED SOX

May 1: Angels win 2-1
Youkilis strikes out too much.

May 2: Angels win 9-5
5 in the seventh and... didn't we just play these guys?


RED SOX @ ANGELS

May 3: Angels win 5-4
At least Ortiz homered again.

May 4: Angels win 10-9 (11)
Angels win on manufactured runs.


Trades

Tampa Bay trades P Jae Seo to St. Louis for 2B Aaron Miles, RP Randy Beam (who I just traded,) and SP Tyler Herron. If anyone can tell me what the Cardinals are thinking, tell me!

Washington trades pitchers Pedro Astacio and Micah Bowie, right fielder Kenny Kelly, and catcher Danny Ardoin to Cleveland, and P Jermaine Van Buren and CF George Lombard to Los Angeles Dodgers, for pitchers Aaron Fultz and Jason Davis from Cleveland, and left fielders Jason Dubois from Cleveland and Marlon Anderson from Los Angeles. Cleveland receives P Brett Tomko from Los Angeles in exchange for P Keith Foulke.


Injuries
Reds OF Ken Griffey (ten days)



AL East standings


Baltimore 18-14 ---
New York 16-13 0.5
Toronto 16-14 1.0
Tampa Bay 13-16 3.5
Boston 10-20 7.0

Tigers OF Curtis Granderson hit for the cycle April 29.

[bwburke94]

I just realized stupid Baseball Mogul left out the 2006 stats for some reason, so don't get angry if career totals are incorrect.

[CatKnight]

It's odd that it left out 2006 figures. Well, I'm sure it'll be okay if a few career stats look off.

4 trading block trades are a lot...but I guess we'll see. What difficulty level are you playing on? Fan? Coach? Manager?

[bwburke94]

This is my first dynasty on Coach. I just started playing BBM recently so I'm not that good.

[bwburke94]

Sox Keep Losing

The Boston Red Sox are 15-26, the third-worst team in baseball.

ATHLETICS @ RED SOX

May 5: A's win 7-2
Same old, same old. Lugo's error in the fourth leads to a three-run inning.

May 6: A's win 7-5
5 runs in the top of the 9th as the Red Sox drop to 10-22.

May 7: Sox win 6-5
7 combined runs in the last three half innings. Drew bats in Ortiz for the winner.


RED SOX @ INDIANS

May 8: Sox win 6-4
2-run double for Hinske.

May 9: Indians win 6-5
Casey Blake hits a two-run homer. ####.

May 10: Indians win 4-2; all the runs for both teams are scored in the 8th
Hafner and Blake back-to-back ties it, Peralta and Barfield wins it.


OFF DAY

RED SOX @ TWINS

May 12: Twins win 2-1
Bullpen almost blows it for Minnesota, but never gets a chance for Boston as Dice-K posts another complete-game loss.

May 13: Sox win 6-3
Over early.

May 14: Sox win 6-1
Lugo... homers? And what's Phil Nevin doing at catcher?

OFF DAY

May 16: Twins win 4-3
Red Sox strand the winning run on second AGAIN!

May 17: Sox win 8-2
BLOWOUT! J.D. Drew hits a first-inning grand slam.


Trades:

Reds get P Kip Wells
Cards get 2B William Bergolla


Injuries:

Giants lose pitchers Matt Kinney (jaw, five weeks) and Patrick Misch (ankle, three months) to broken bones.


AL EAST STANDINGS
GB
Toronto 24-18 ---
New York 23-18 0.5
Baltimore 24-21 1.5
Tampa Bay 18-23 5.5
Boston 15-26 8.5



I will stop posting milestones as I am somehow missing 2006 stats. I am using AcidLake116's BBM2k7 rosters if that's any help.

[bwburke94]

That's right, Baseball Mogul 2007. You heard what I said.