"I just can't imagine anyone [in Boston] wanting to boo Johnny Damon... all he did was hustle here for four years." -- 4.30.06, Peter Gammons
"The right thing to do is a raucous standing ovation... show some class. Show some common sense." -- 4.30.06, The Boston Globe's Bob Ryan
"First time up, standing ovation." -- 4.30.06, The RemDawg
"The ideas emanating from the lunatic fringe of Red Sox Nation � that Damon is a 'traitor,' that he has gone from 'Jesus to Judas,' that he should be called 'Demon' instead of 'Damon' � are not worthy of serious discussion." -- 4.30.06, Ken Rosenthal
(Oct. 20, 2004: Boston Globe Staff Photo / Stan Grossfeld)
For Friday Night's Homecoming, We Won't Forget
(JOct. 20, 2004: Boston Globe Staff Photo / Jim Davis)
Damon Gave His All to Boston... All the Time
(Oct. 6, 2003: Boston Globe Staff Photo / Barry Chin)
Boston 4, Anaheim 2 | Stellar Return Lackey Looking Like an Ace, Gets Into the 8th, Win No. 10 7th Heavenly: A Man Named Jed Comes Through in the Clutch Umm John Lackey Should Have Been Cheered Wildly. Sincerely, Johnny Damon Hey Hermida, We'll Throw Daniel Nava Right Back on the Bus Flying Under the Radar: Scutaro Looking Good at Leadoff Calling All GMs: Lowell Hit Three Homers for PawSox Just a Great Decision by Tim Bogar to Send Big David Take a Breather J.D., We've Got Run DMc Adrian Just Keeps on Beltin' Bard-to-Pap, No Problem
"Nobody wants to get booed like that. The scoreboard talks the loudest. ... That won't be forgotten, for sure." -- John Lackey ... needs to lighten up, and understand how the world works ...
Boston 6, Orange County 3 | Sox Regain Punch Old Buch Gets Back on Track: 7 Ks, 7 Inn., 1 Run David's Swinging Like It's a Home Run Derby Show Youk Sends the Injury Bug Haren's Way, the Hard Way Heart of the Order Does All the Damage Papelbon ERA Now Under 3.00 Welcome Back Victor
"In the third inning, I just thought it was going to be another long day for the bullpen. Fortunately, I was able to throw a couple of changeups, and sort of caught the feel for it." -- Buchholz hung tough when the early going got rough
And It's on to Anaheim, and Let's Lose More Ground There!
Sun: Seattle 4, Boston 2 | Okajima's Indecision Does Sox In Monday Morning QB: How About Leaving Dice-K in for 7 When He's Not Killing You? Taking Out Daniel Bard Is Never a Good Idea Tito The World's Most Exposed Offense Goes Down with a Whimper Again See What Happens When You Trade Casey Kotchman? Michael Saunders, Red Sox Killer Sat.: Seattle 5, Boston 1 | Sox Fall Apart Bright Spots: Lester's Early Effort, Ortiz Gets Back in HR Derby Eric Patterson's Not Perfect At Least There Was a Club Soccer Game at the Fenway Amusement Park
�We don�t match up with Bard. We brought [Bard] in in the seventh just because who�s coming up. There�s a couple of reasons. One is if he has a real quick inning, we�re going to send him right back out. Then the other one was to help Oki, rather than flip-flop then. Both were going to have to probably pitch, unless Bard has a real good inning." -- Tito trying to spin the botched move of putting Bard in early and taking him out after 18 pitches
"...
[crickets] .... " -- Hideki Okajima's comments and explanations to Red Sox stockholders during the 2010 season
Playoffs? Playoffs?!?
(BDD Photo Illustration)
It Appears That Shipped Has Sailed
"...can't believe the front office just fiddled this summer while Rome burned and we flushed an entire season and $150M down the toilet by thinking we could tread water with Bill Hall playing second and Kevin Cash catching and David Ortiz batting third against lefties and J.D. Drew playing every day against lefties and Eric Patterson and Daniel Nava and Dusty Brown, et al. It was so [expletive] obvious when the Laser Show and V-Mart got hurt that we had to go get a real bat, Jason Werth level, who would still start when we got healthy, but instead we did [expletive] nothing and buried ourselves. It was like we had no front office, the Jack Hannahan blockbuster notwithstanding." -- An understandably apoplectic Kevin H. on the lost season
5 2/3, 5 Hits, 1 Run, 3 BB, 5 K's... We'll Take It
"The first inning I was a little methodical with things... I sped things up a little bit and it turned around pretty good." -- Josh Beckett on his not-bad return
Road Sox Survive a Horrow Show in 9th Patterson's Bat Puts Mariners Out of Their Misery in 13th
Boston 8, Seattle 6 | Extra Special | Photos: Sox Win a Wild One Lackey Near No-Hit Gem Gets Ruined By J-Bard, Forgotten in a Hurry Theo's Hall-mark: So-Called Run Prevention Defense Rears Its Ugly Head Trusting Delcarmen with a 5 Run Lead? What Was Tito Thinking?!? Papelbon Brings Out the Bard Birds with Another Blown Save Raise Your Hand If You Stayed Up Until 2 a.m.? Oh and Thanks for the 'No Comment,' Wake
"Kind of have a short career, a young career, so I don�t have too many hits, period. It was definitely a big hit. The way the game unfolded, lose the lead there in the ninth, come back and win in the 13th, it�s definitely huge." -- Eric Patterson, Big Props
Unless Tony Pena Sr. Is Pitching, Sox Can't Hit in the Clutch The Wheels are Coming Off Out West, 7 Behind the Yankees
Boston 4, Oakland 6 | Grade-A Chances Go By the Board Just Sayin'... Ortiz Post HR Derby Digits: 3 for 25, 10 K's, No Extra Base Hits The Stopper: What Can Brown Do for You? Raise a Lot of Dust Behind the Plate Remember-Jed-Lowrie Returns with RBI, But Lets the Ball Fly Life Was Grand for Daniel Nava... Now Hello Pawtucket Buchholz Comes Back, But He's Not Back to Normal AL MVP Adrian Beltre Belts No. 16
"Just coming up short. These last few days, kind of rough. But you just keep fighting, see what happens. You�ve got to keep pushing. As bad as it�s been, it�s not that bad.��-- Mike Cameron, couldn't catch a break, but he made a helluva throw to Brown
Wake Coughs Up the Lead; It's a Bowden-Tied Win for A's in 10
Oakland 5, Boston 4 | Sox Get Tossed for a Loss 'Throw From Drew to the Plate... Not in Time' and a Mile up the Line It's a Balk in the Coliseum: Ramon Was Roamin' Around Out There And It's Zero Extra Base Hits, 9 K's, Since Ortiz Played Home Run Derby Some Good News: Lowrie Set to Come Back... You Remember Jed, No? More Good News: Theo's Not Paying Coco's Salary Anymore Where's Waldo? How About Where's Jonathan Papelbon? Sox Killer Kevin Kouzmanoff Does It Again... Who? Run Prevention Offense Leaves 12 Men Stranded Bad News: Fenway Sellout Streak Ends Tonight
"When Wake pitches, you�re going to see stolen bases, passed balls, that�s the way that knuckleball works, and it ended up adding up to four runs." -- Tito knows Wake's downside by now
"Bogar sends Papi with one out with Beltre coming up then holds Cameron with one out with Cash coming up... the guy has no clue." -- Kevin H. on Tim Bogarrrgh!
This Just In: Lucchino Denies Reports Sox Are Doing It on the Cheap
"That [reports that the luxury tax will limit Sox ability to add at trading deadline] is inaccurate, for one very obvious reason is that we're over the threshold... we are at the bottom end of the tax threshold, we're not at the highest tax rate... I know what our financial plans are and that is not true, we have money set aside to acquire talent if we can find it... This is not a promise or prediction that a trade will happen, we're not going to do something just to keep our record alive of making deals at July 31, there's got to be a deal that makes sense. Theo's parts with prospects less willingly than he might part with his first born." -- 7.21.10, Larry Lucchino on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan
"There are countless small improvements that I would want to make throughout my outing. But this is the type of pitching I really want to continue to do as the season goes on." -- Matsuzaka said through the interpreter
Friday: Texas 8, Boston 4 | Backpedaling in Boston Sox Lose 7 of 9 and Dropping Like a Lead Balloon Cyclerama: Slow-Footed Bengie Molina Changed the Game Real Fast Felix the Cat's Out of the Bag: Sox Can't Plug All Leaks Too Bad Theo Can't Shore Up the Catcher Hole with Plugs Like Bengie Molina More Days in Third Place and Obsessed with Roger Clemens. Sincerely, Dan Duquette All-Star Showcaser Adrian Beltre Back in the Swing of Things CAAAbrera Makes It Look Easy to Lose Games Like This Thursday: Texas 7, Pawtucket 2 | Quick Wake, Slow Funeral for Sox Visiting Hours are 7 to 10 Nightly
"When I saw the ball going away from him, I just put my head down and kept going. For a guy who has been criticized for his speed for 11 1/2 years and may be the slowest guy in the world, it was an unbelievable feeling." -- Bengie on The Most Unlikely Cycle Ever
"George Steinbrenner forever changed baseball and hopefully some day we will see him honored in baseball's Hall of Fame as one of the great figures in the history of sports." -- Red Sox owner John Henry
We'll Miss the Good Old Days ... Boss Called Henry 'Stupid' and Lucchino 'Sick'
Dec. 29, 2002: New York Daily News:
NYDN to George Steinbrenner: John Henry, your former partner and owner of the Red Sox, was quoted as saying after you signed Contreras that he "was and is a big risk." What's your response?
GS: That's just ridiculous. It makes him look stupid because they did everything they could to get him, including offering more money than we did. They offered $10 million to get him away from us. I give credit to Mr. Contreras. He wanted to play for the Yankees.
John Henry put down $1 million to buy into the Yankees. He gets back $4.7 million. I hope he does as well for his partners.
Daily News: Larry Lucchino, president of the Red Sox, called the Yankees "the evil empire" after the signing.
GS: That's B.S. That's how a sick person thinks. I've learned this about Lucchino: he's baseball's foremost chameleon of all time. He changes colors depending on where's he's standing. He's been at Baltimore and he deserted them there, and then went out to San Diego, and look at what trouble they're in out there. When he was in San Diego, he was a big man for the small markets. Now he's in Boston and he's for the big markets. He's not the kind of guy you want to have in your foxhole. He's running the team behind John Henry's back. I warned John it would happen, told him, 'Just be careful.' He talks out of both sides of his mouth. He has trouble talking out of the front of it."
Boss to Henry: Sour Grapes Over A-Rod
Feb. 18, 2004: Steinbrenner responds to Henry after A-Rod acquisition: "We understand John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction. Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston. It is understandable but wrong that he would try to deflect the accountability for his mistakes onto others and to a system for which he voted in favor. It is time to get on with life and forget the sour grapes."
"I don't want one year. Why should I return for one year and go through the same [stuff] I'm going through now, just because it's my last year? No. I like to be left alone when I'm playing baseball. I know how to clean my [stuff] up." -- David Ortiz to Gordon Edes
"When he first got here I think he was really trying to show he belonged in the big leagues. Now he knows he belongs, he knows he's valuable on our team. He's kind of taken it and run with it. He's been tremendous." -- Tito on superstar Darnell McDonald
Dome Spells Doom for Boston; Can the Season Be Saved?
St. Pete 6, Boston 4 | Sox Flop in the Trop The Price of Gas Was Right On the Money At Least Youk Isn't in a Boot or on Crutches... Yet Positive Thinking: If You Just Count Hits, the Sox Won, 11-5 Could Have Used One of Those Cameron Hits The Other Night... That's Just Wakefield Being Dice-K... and It's Not 1995 Anymore Darnell McDonald Can't Do It All, But He Tries
"This is actually kind of a fun group right now. It's a good group to work with. We'll figure it out." -- Terry Francona ... good times...
Just Like the Mail ... The Injuries Never Stop Youk Goes Down, Rays Win Again, Sox Slip Sliding Away
Tampa Rays 3, Boston 2 | No Gain, Just Pain for Sox Evil Rash of Injuries Has Nation Turning Its Lonely Eyes to ... Niuman Romero Things That Make You Go Hmmmm.... Ortiz in the Home Run Derby Lefty Groove: Felix The Kid Did Alright in a Big Start Everyday Rafael Soriano Should Break the Bank for Closers Eh Paps? No Worries: Backett and DLsbury Expected to Return Someday Any Openings on the DL for Okajima?
"[Youkilis's injury] was very unfortunate for them. But once that occurred, I said: 'Ortiz is done.'" -- Joe Ruthless, Rays Manager
The World's Worst Investment Comes Undone Again, Sox Drop to Third After Flop in the Trop
Tampa Bay 6, Boston 5 | Sox Stung By This Loss Same Old Story: Matsuzaka Is a Five Inning Pitcher Dice Dazed and Confused: Rays Bunt, Matsuzaka Punts Smoke and Mirror Offense Cracks: Bats Go Bust with the Game on the Line The Pedroia Problem: Bill Hall Can't Get to Balls Eric the Great Night: 2 Homers by Patterson Wasted That's a Theo Bullpen: 29 Runs in Last 30.1 for Relievers Ramon Ramirez Reminder: Trading Deadline July 31 J.D. K
"He�s got to go to first, he�s got to take the out. We were set up to get the out at first. He knew that." -- Slow Hook Tito on another bad decision
Tampa Ray 9, Boston 4 | Tamped down in Boston The Replacements Rear Their Ugly Heads on Offense And the Old Bullpen Collapse Checks In on Defense Delcarmen, RamRam Ensure the Game Gets Completely Out of Reach Good to See Dice-K Back in His First Inning Groove About 60 People Remained to See the 8th Inning Rally Let the Eric Patterson Era Begin Et Tu, J.D. Drew?
The "Curt�s Pitch
for ALS" program is a joint effort by Curt and Shonda Schilling and The
ALS Association Mass Chapter to strike out Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig�s Disease.
