Sunday, May 14, 2006

RAINY MESS, ROTATION CHANGE, RETRACTABLE ROOF?


The Red Sox got 6 innings of baseball in as part of their ultra-short homestand. They weren't very good innings. Texas got 1 in the 2nd inning with a leadoff homer, then got 3 more in a 3rd inning rally. The Rangers got 2 more in the 6th off Mike Holtz. Then the game was stopped.

Youkilis was the only Sox hitter with multiple hits. Five Sox hitters went hitless. The Sox had 7 total baserunners in 21 plate appearances.

The most impressive part of the game was that over 36,000 people showed up despite the cold and rainy weather.

The Man of the Game is Kameron Loe who pitched a complete game shutout, albeit of the 5 inning variety. He allowed 5 hits and walked only one batter.

Here is the B*tch-Goat:
Clement: 0.5 - 5 IP, 4 ER
Loretta: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, 3 LOB
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 2, K
Lowell: 0.1 - 0 for 2
Pena: 0.1 - 0 for 2

The Red Sox will head down to Baltimore for a 3 game series. The forecast there, according to weather.com is for thunder showers. It appears that it will be raining at the outset of the game.

Makeup games for the two missed games against Texas will probably be made up when the Rangers return to Fenway in June, or mutual off-days in July.

ROTATION READJUSTMENT
With the rainouts, and an off-day on Thursday, the Sox have realigned their rotation. If baseball is played tomorrow, here is how it will look:

Monday, @ BAL: Beckett
Tuesday, @ BAL: Schilling
Wednesday, @ BAL: Wakefield
Thursday, off
Friday, @ PHI: Clement
Saturday, @ PHI: Beckett/DiNardo
Sunday, @ PHI: Beckett/DiNardo

DiNardo will go to the bullpen for the time being and will start on either Saturday or Sunday, probably dependant on when and if Francona uses him in the pen.

WHY A RETRACTABLE ROOF WOULD BE A DUMB IDEA
A few seasons ago, the Red Sox suffered 4 rainouts in a row. A WEEI talk show host, Ted Sarandas, suggested that the Red Sox, if they were to build a new stadium, should construct a retractable roof to prevent rainouts. It has become clear that a new ballpark shall not be built (which disappoints me) but supposing it were to be built, a retractable roof should not be a part of it.

There is not a single retractable roof in the majors that looks good. Arizona, Seattle, and Houston have the best retractable roofs, but they're still eye sores. Even if they weren't ugly and space consuming, they aren't cheap. A proposed retractable roof for the Twins new ballpark is said to cost an estimated $125 million. That's far too much money to be spending on a roof in order to avoid a few rainouts in April and May?

The Red Sox have not and will not lose a significant amount of money from rainouts. 36,000 fans will still show up. Fans will still buy hot dogs and beer, if not more, when there are rain delays. The Red Sox are not seriously affected financially by rainouts.