Powell Commission Report: "Grady Acted Alone"

Colin Powell testifying to a House Committee investigating how the Red Sox could possibly have lost Game 7 of the ALCS, reveals that Grady Little acted alone in keeping former ace Pedro Martinez in the game, shunning the advice of the pitcher himself and Boston pitching coach Dave Wallace, costing the Red Sox their first world championship in 85 years.

Fenway Francona

Have Yourself a Terry Little Christmas.
'Tis the Seasoned Manager, Sox Get Surprise Gift.

The Ghost of Grady Little

Boo!

"I'll be another ghost, fully capable of haunting."

Boo-Hoo:

"I'm not sure I want to manage that team... if they don't want me, fine, they don't want me. If they want me to come back, then we'll talk and see if I want to come back up there. That's the way I feel about it.... if Grady Little is not back with the Red Sox, he'll be somewhere... right now I'm disappointed that evidently some people are judging me on the results of one decision I made -- not the decision, but the results of the decision. Less than 24 hours before, those same people were hugging and kissing me. If that's the way they operate, I'm not sure I want to be part of it. Just add one more ghost to the list if I'm not there, because there are ghosts. That's certainly evident when you're a player in that uniform."

Grady Puts Nail in His Own Coffin - Gordon Edes

Don Cortheone Deals
with His Manager

"Grady, you're nothing to me now. You're not a manager, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want to see you at the ballpark, I don't want you near my players. When you see our games, I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there. You understand?

I know it was you, Grady. You broke my heart. You broke my heart."

- PFK 10/17

John Henry: "How's Grady?"
Lucchino: "Oh, Grady? You won't see him no more."

Theoretically Speaking:

9.22.03 on W.B. Ruth Extra Innings on HDTV:

Bulldog Bob Rodgers: Let me ask you about some of the moves that you made in the off season, to bring in the guys like Bill Mueller and David Ortiz and Kevin Millar, you couldn't imagine they would contribute like they have to this level...

Theo: Well first of all it's not an "I" thing, it's a we thing, we really do everything as an organization, and a lot of people deserve credit for bringing in these players in the off season, but as far as the offense went this winter, we really focused on building a lineup 1-9, that made sense, full of professional hitters, tough outs, guys who could work deep counts, not to give the pitcher a break. We thought if we could put together 9 hitters with some on-base skills, and some pop, we could really make things difficult on the opposing pitchers, get into bullpens, have guys constantly on base. We thought we'd lead the league in doubles. We thought we'd lead the league in walks. It's been great. We didn't envision this type of historic offensive output, but we did know we had a pretty good offense.

Bulldog Bob Rodgers: You have guys that have really taken to the philosophy it seems, guys who work the count, and get into good hitters counts, and that seems to work top to bottom in the lineup.

Theo: Well Papa Jack's done a terrific job this year with Grady, working with the hitters, but really that's a credit to the hitters. We've brought in guys who had gotten the job done in the big leagues before, some guys who had terrific seasons, some guys who would have but just didn't get the opportunity or injuries cut short some of their season, and everything is breaking our way this year, we're getting a chance to put together a good season, getting a chance to hit in a good lineup, they hit with runners on base, the pitcher's in a stretch all the time, get a chance to drive in runs, they're doing the job.

Bulldog Bob Rodgers: I gotta ask you, you build one bullpen at the beginning of spring training, realizing you needed to do something, you reconfigured the entire bullpen and made acquisitions that all throughout baseball everybody thought "OK, these are the best moves for the ballclub" really hasn't panned out the way you thought. Any thoughts on where the bullpen stands right now as you head for the post season?

Theo: I like it. And I like what I've seen certainly the last two days and I'll tell you what, it's such an unpredictable part of the ballclub, and things obviously weren't working in April and May and I'll take full blame for that, so we tore it apart a little bit, kept the parts that were working, the Timlins and Embrees, and rebuilt around them, Embree got healthy, he's been doing a great job since then. Timlin's been consistent all year, and then we brought in some new guys. And the trade for Kim in late May and then him going to the closer role on July 1st, I thought that was a big step. And these guys are all capable. I'll take a career worth of track record and talent over one or two month of maybe some mediocre performance. I have a lot of faith in these guys. Dave Wallace and Tony Cloninger are getting these guys right and through the post season, they'll get the job done.

Bulldog Bob Rodgers: It seems like BH Kim also took what happened on Friday as almost a challenge. Like you said, someone who has a track record takes it as kind of a personal challenge and translates to good results on the field.

Theo: This guy's tough, he's got tremendous make-up. And when I think of BH Kim, I don't think about the games that he hasn't gotten the job done, because that's the exception not the rule. I think of him wanting to go after Carlos Delgado on the mound in Toronto. And that's the type of guy, the type of performance that I expect to see in October out of him.

The adversity we went through as a team starting day one, on opening day, when we blew a three run lead in the ninth inning, has just brought this team together, and there were numerous times throughout the year when lesser teams and lesser ballplayers would have folded, but Grady's done a great job keeping spirits up. The players have strong character, it's just made us stronger. So I'll take where we are today, with the experiences we've been through, and the roster that we have, and the clubhouse that we have, over just about anyone else's 'cause nothing been easy for us so we're not gonna get bothered in the post-season.

Fan: Should Varitek start catching Wakefield with the post-season coming up, getting used to him? I can't see taking Jason's bat out of the lineup every third or fourth game.

Theo: Well Jason's obviously such an instrumental part of this team, but Doug is as well. Don't let it fool you that he only plays a couple of times during the week, but he does a fantastic job handling Tim Wakefield, and is a threat with the bat as well. So that's something for Grady and the coaching staff to decide but I think both players will play a very important role in the post-season.

Fan: As great a season as Todd has had, I much would have rather have had Sanchez from last year. My concern down the stretch is the defense. Tonight for example, Damian Jackson, it was a great effort to get to the ball, but when you have a 6-3 lead, you should have made sure you had one out. And Rey Sanchez, as everybody knows, was the best second baseman this team has had in past 10-15 years, and what really frightens me down the road is the defense, and number two, how is Grady going to balance winning the wild card, and setting his rotation for the playoffs?

Theo: As far as nit-picking specific plays from the game today I'll tell you the game is a lot easier back sitting at home watching it on TV, and sitting here in the booth, than it is on the field and Damian Jackson is a terrific second baseman and Todd Walker is a huge part of this ballclub and has been instrumental to our success all year, so I'll take the second baseman that we have on this year's club and I'll take this year's club over last year's as well. One step at a time, we don't even like talking about the post season until we're there. Obviously there's a lot of planning that goes in. There's a myriad of factors that contribute to our decision making in regards to the post season as far as setting up the rotation but there's a way to balance both interests and give ourselves the best chance to succeed, to clinch, and then also have it set up nicely for the post season.

Fan: If the Sox go on to make the playoffs, we're gonna face lefties like Zito, Wells, Pettitte... do you think Grady will sit the Nixons, Walkers, Ortiz in a playoff scenario like the way he has in the regular season? Or do the playoffs dictate that you stick with your thunder?

Theo: That's a good question, it's obviously we're going to spend a lot of time talking about, but Grady will make the right decision in the end. I think there's something to be said for going with the horses that got you there, but at the same time match-ups are very important, and any way you can get an edge on the opposition you have to take advantage of that. But I think, in the post-season, if they start a left-hander, he doesn't have his good stuff, he's going to out of there after two innings, and all of a sudden you're facing a right-hander, a submariner, so I think you go with your best players and match-up the best way you can from there. At this point, if we get in, we have a pretty good idea of who we're playing in the post season, you can really spend time matching up, not just left-handers and right-handers, but there's a lot of different ways you can look at match-ups head-to-head from the past, whether he's a sinkerballer, or a high ball pitcher, so you can spend a lot of time with the information, get the best possible lineup and go out there.

Fan: Have you looked at Mike Timlin for the closing role considering that he has 82 innings pitched and 33 runs, that's 49 more innings pitched than runs? And Bronson Arroyo, I'm hoping he'll make the playoff staff because he has three earned runs in 9 innings. And as far as him knowing the hitters, Varitek could help him with that. For the 10th and 11th pitcher on the roster, do you have any idea who it will be? It seems to be between Jones, Lyon, Fossum, Mendoza, Williamson, and Sauerbeck although Sauerbeck has 15 walks...

Theo: First of all, Mike Timlin has done a fantastic job all year for us, he's been probably the most consistent guy coming out of the pen, just fantastic, he's got a power sinker and now he's really able to manipulate the fastball where he's got three distinct pitches, and its not easy for the opposition to just dig in there and take a whack at his best fastball anymore. He's got outstanding command, he's only walked a handful of guys all year, you know he's not going to beat himself and put guys on base, so he's doing a great job, we like him in the role he's in right now with his important times in the game, whether it's the 7th inning, 8th inning, 9th inning, who knows? But I think we have a lot of quality options out of there and that leads into your next question about the playoff roster. We're obviously not going to divulge that but we have a lot of quality choices and we'll make the right decision.

Fan: Bronson Arroyo is a name that we heard... actually Grady was bringing up Bronson's name in his pre-game meetings quite a bit in the last couple of days, you think he's going to have an opportunity to pitch between now and Sunday to have a chance to make that post-season roster?

Theo: Yeah, I know Grady has plans to use him in a game. And he's someone who can go long for us to if we don't get that quality start, we need to have someone who can throw some innings and keep us in a ballgame, Bronson can do that as well and he can also I think has real playable stuff for late in a game as well, he's really tough on those right-handed hitters, with the command on his breaking ball and the ability to cut the ball as well... it feels great, it's a real compliment to our scouting staff and our analysts that we can pick up a guy for $20,000 and all of a sudden he's a commodity, he's an asset for us late in the season, and in the post season, and he's a candidate to be a long guy or fifth starter for us next season, so my hats off to those guys out in the field.

Badboy Up!

Big Bad Bob Breeds Negativity at NESN

MR. RODGERS GETS UNDER GRADY'S SKIN. SHAUGHNESSY FURIOUS IT'S NOT ABOUT HIM.

WrestleMedia 8 on NESN*

The Unpredictable Bob Rodgers
vs. Grady "The Animal" Steele

Texas Chain Saw Match, No Holds Barred

*IN HIGH DEFINITION

He's Not in Little's League

Asked how he might align the pitching rotation for the postseason, Little said, "Before we make decisions like that, I think we're going to be talking to Bob Rodgers about what we'll end up doing because he seems to be an authority about everything that goes on around a major league team from all that experience he's had with the Little League teams and high school teams that he's coached." Little added, "The job we've got around here is a whole lot easier to do after the game's over." - Bob Hohler, Boston Globe - Notes, 9.23.03

"I'm not a completely impartial broadcaster, but I'm not going to insult the viewers by not bringing up points that I think are relevant." - Bob Rodgers

Bob Rodgers, with D&C on WEEI:  How could I argue something with passion if I don't come to the table and think that I'm correct in what I say. I don't think that because I coached high school baseball for 10 years, or American Legion, or Little League, or high school basketball but I do have a sense of what it means to be in competition, I do understand what it means to play the games... I do go down to the clubhouse every single day, I sit in the dugout for 15 minutes, I go in the clubhouse every day, even if it's just to check the lineup card or to talk to a couple of players. And I do that in the same way Dan Shaughnessy would when he writes a bad column because I know that I'm on the air for 90 minutes live every day and that I'm gonna say some things that might not go well with people and if a player has a problem with it, or if the manager has a problem with it, I don't mind if they question me on it. And I'll tell them why I said it, or what I was thinking... we talk about pitching all the time, we talk about what would be logical (from a pitching rotation), the big debate now is if it's John Burkett or Jeff Suppan... I didn't think Sauerbeck should be in a game that's close or on the line when the team is struggling. And when the team right now needs to make the playoffs... those are the types of things we say, it doesn't mean I'm correct on it. Grady has to decide... I would also say this, just to be fair, I come on when Grady has done a good job, on Friday night when Grady took out Kim, I applauded him for that during that game, the way he handled the Manny Ramirez situation, I applauded him for that. He's done a lot of things with this ballclub that I thought he did very well. When he apologized to Jack McKeon, I didn't like that and I came on the air and said so. That's what I'm going to, that's what I have to do.... I get a sense in talking to the players that they appreciate the difficulty in what our job is and they understand what we're there to do. I have had two players in particular, I'd rather not say who, that have told me that that was the case and I can only do the job the way I know how to do it. I've been with NESN for a long time, I think the people that have been watching me over the years know that I'm fair, I'm passionate, and I'm not afraid to admit that I want the ballclub to win. I'm not a completely impartial broadcaster, but I'm not going to insult the viewers by not bringing up points that I think are relevant.

The Critical Moment

Told you we were motivating the team all along:

"Actually, I kind of liked it when people were criticizing us," said general manager Theo Epstein... it seems like our people respond when they're criticized."

No worries, now that Shaughnessy has gone Positive, and the Fellowship-of the Miserable on 'EEI has turned their fangs onto Belichek and Brady, we've got the market cornered on "constructive" criticism.

From Howard's End

The Boston Herald's Howard Bryant Takes Questions at Royal Rooters

Dominican Discrimination Debunked

Dirt Dog:  In August, during one of Pedro's tirades he said: "They can (expletive) my (expletive expletive). I'll make my $17.5 (million) next year and I'm outta here. They're criticizing me because I'm black and Dominican."

Regarding his being criticized because he's "black and Dominican" charge, isn't this statement as hollow and belligerent as they come in 2003?

David Ortiz is "black and Dominican" and is beloved in Boston and throughout Red Sox Nation. Sox fans judge a player by how hard they play, how good of a teammate they appear to be, and what they say to the fans via direct contact or through the media. David Ortiz could be league MVP if he had enough at bats. He's been instrumental in setting the tone in the clubhouse. He plays hard. He's straight up with the fans, seems like a great guy to have a beer with, and doesn't insult our intelligence. No one cares about the color of his skin, or his country of origin. People care about David Ortiz the man.

Do you agree with this assessment? And if so, doesn't that confirm that Pedro's full of it when he says he's criticized only because he's "black and Dominican?" Would you agree that Pedro is only criticized when his words or behavior warrant it?

Howard Bryant:  I don't know what to make of Pedro these days. The thing you have to remember about Pedro is that he was close to Tommy Harper and he is very aware of the racial dynamic in the press. He is affable about it, but is disappointed that more reporters don't speak Spanish, and thus cannot communicate on a real, unencumbered level with, say, 25 percent of the players in the game.

I think Pedro feels very honestly that a double standard exists for white players and one for blacks, which has traditionally been the case here, and in other cities. David Ortiz is a good example, because the prevailing attitude among many blacks (and Latins) in the game is that whites will only accept you if you are an Ortiz-like personality, one who is easygoing, who takes pains to disarm everyone. A black player who is intense as a Trot Nixon, for example, will automatically be tagged as a malcontent, or an attitude problem because he's NOT smiling all the time.

This is the double standard Pedro believes is taking place in the clubhouse. He can be charming, but certainly over the past year, he has made a conscious decision not to play along any more, which is his right.

The problem, though, is that Pedro makes lightning-rod comments that blur the discussion at the wrong moments. He used SosaGate as a way to discuss the grievances of the Latin player in baseball, but the timing was off because *Sosa was wrong.* I think Pedro's general unhappiness is manifesting in many ways, and this is an example.  More Q&A here

Baseball and Football

Baseball is better than Football. Really, it is. A lot has been written on this subject, on their differences, on which is superior, and most of it, to be honest, went the other way. Football is more exciting they say, football is more intense, and football is a more interesting game. Someone brings up how fast football is growing, especially amongst kids. You are much more likely to find a Mike Vick or Warren Sapp jersey running around the streets of your neighborhood than any size XX-small Pedro garb. And then they cite the ratings, how the Super Bowl is the most watched anything on TV, and the World Series is just another four to seven games on the tail end of season much too long.

Well, not to be argumentative, but they are wrong. Completely wrong. Baseball is where it is at. Just tonight the epic battle between the two goliaths of sports continued. As I settled in for Roy Halladay and John Burkett, another tense confrontation with those pesky Jays from north of the border, I realized that in a mere hour channel five would be live from Foxborough with the final game of the Patriots 2003 preseason. Sure, this match up is a bit skewed: a late August game between a playoff contender and a team said playoff contender seems to lose to with too much frequency against a game where the starters would not play more than a few possessions. Nevertheless, in the name of science, I feel it is my duty to use whatever means available to me to prove the grand game of baseball and the Red Sox superior. So, here are enough reasons to convince any Pigskin or Patriot fanatic that, until October, Baseball is the only sport they need to care about.

Firstly, Pepsi is the official drink of the New England Patriots. We all know about the massive Coke bottles hanging on the light tower above the Green Monster. I don’t really drink soda and couldn’t pick one over the other... but I will ask you this, what is the official dairy drink of the Patriots? It’s all about the Hood milk for the Sox.

Jerry Remy versus Randy Cross. Remy might not have had the good fortune of playing on the great 49er teams of Montana or the baseball equivalent, but color commentary is a completely new ballgame. I’ll take Rem-dog over the ex-lineman any day.

Speaking of Cross, for absolutely no reason I could figure out, he and Don Criqui broke out a Mark Bavaro versus Jeremy Shockey debate sometime in the second quarter. I’m sorry, but I was watching the Bears and Pats, correct? When was the last time we caught Don Orsillo discussing Edgar Renteria following in the great shortstop footsteps of Ozzie Smith in St. Louis? Yeah, that’s right, never. We baseball fans like to focus on the game at hand.

And there in lies another common complaint about America’s pastime: Each game is insignificant. If you do the math, a baseball game is worth about a tenth, a little less in fact, of what a football game is worth in regards to the entire season. There seems to be this common belief about sports that less is more. But what can be better than the fact that on any given summer night, you can sit down in front of your TV at 7:05, flip NESN on, and there are the Sox, nearly without fail. I love being a fan everyday, not just on Sundays. I especially like that when the Sox lose and it only ruins a day rather than a week.

Everyone loves a team sport, depending just as much on the man next to you as on yourself. Well, that’s all well and good, but forget building character, every now and then, you need the tension and drama of a one on one confrontation, perhaps between a pitcher and a batter. Each snap on the gridiron is 11 versus 11, but is there anything more nerve racking than a 3-2 pitch late in a close game? There the batter is, toeing in the batters box like a bull ready to charge, with the pitcher staring in with his icy ice trained the on the catcher’s mitt. I’m sweating already. I don’t need bone crunching tackles to define intensity; the diamond is filled with it.

I just watched the end of a preseason football game on a major channel. What’s worse, those poor fans in attendance, who saw more of Rex Grossman and Rohan Davey than Tom Brady, paid just as much to enter shiny Gillette Stadium as they would for a real game in November. Many people complain about steep prices at Fenway, about the cramped and lousy conditions. Keep in mind, however, that John Henry never made you pay $100 to see a spring training game.

Baseball is more intense, they play pretty much everyday and a night at the park can be had for about twenty bucks for a bleacher seat. Shouldn’t it be clear which the better game is? Not to mention the Pats actually won a Super Bowl; doesn’t actually winning the title take the fun out of it?  - JJ Feigenbaum

Edesdropping

This question came in today's boston.com @bat Insider Gordon Edes mailbag:

Hi Gordon, This is a bit of a rant, but I'm wondering why certain Red Sox players with low sensitivity threshholds (sic) listen to sports talk radio or read the Dirt Dogs site. Those two places in particular (plus the usually sarcastic and nasty Shaughnessy) are consistently negative, insulting and apparently filled with player wannabees who clearly, if given the chance, could pitch, hit, and catch better than anyone on the Sox. It is almost guaranteed that a Sox player will find something to get hacked off at if he pays attention to these guys. Most celebrities usually learn very quickly not to read the Enquirer and the like. Pedro, Nomar, Kevin, et. al. should learn to do the same with the black holes of Boston sports if what they hear or read disturbs them so much, that they start dissing Boston and all Red Sox fans who live and die with them every season.
-- Kathryn

A: Kathryn, it's a mystery to me, too. I've often asked Don Zimmer why he listened to talk radio when he managed here, and that was 25 years ago! Guys still haven't learned.

Thanks for not burying us in public with your answer Gordo, you know how thin skinned and sensitive we are when we're labeled "negative":-). I'll take it from here.

Kathryn (Nixon?!?), thanks for reading the site, over 5,000 Red Sox diehards, players, front office types, media members, and accidental tourists come here every day as well. Why do you think that is? Because we're "negative, insulting and apparently filled with player wannabees?" (Is there anything worse than the 'you never played the game' argument?) Nah. It's because our audience truly appreciates brutal honesty, honest analysis, irreverent humor, original content, over-the-top headlines, Hench's Hardball, 20/20, B&B, Nation Speaks, spot-on accuracy, sarcasm, cynicism, criticism as well as the clearing house of information, praise, admiration, and appreciation we bring to the table. Were we ranting and raving hysterically when the Red Sox Kevin Shea incorrectly reported the Pedro illness story? Sure we were. But as John Henry said "I think that's natural. When you really care about something, you're prone to overreact."

Yes, we bust chops constantly too. Yeah we're smart asses (my father always did tell me 'nobody likes a smart ass'). But it's only because we care so damn much about this team. Manny, Pedro, and Nomar especially included. When we start talking about Marsha Brady and the Pathetic Patriots, that's when you'll know that we don't give a damn. We're a little bit like The Onion, a little bit Breaking News, a little bit New York Post, and a little bit Baseball Prospectus (OK, not so much them, except for Hench), but we're a lot of things to a lot of people. Like D-Lowe says "they cheer when you win, they boo when you lose." It really is as simple as that if you've really been paying attention. We've been told many times that we provide the most interesting coverage of any team on the planet and people can't live without us. We take that as an enormous compliment. And we're humbled by it.

We try to make people laugh out loud at least once a day. Doctor's orders (even for Pedro). Even Gordo got a kick out of the "Manny's Mother Recovering" series. I'm sure Manny did too if he took a break from the SpongeBob SquarePants marathons running simultaneously on his five plasma TVs. Everybody lighten up.

And as Bob Lobel likes to say, we're not negative Kathryn. We're not. So take it back and take your whiney email and get the hell off our page. Can't you see we're busy motivating Manny, Pedro, Walker (look at the results tonight) and the rest of the guys as they prepare for the big showdown with you-know-who this weekend? We're not going to change Kathryn, no worries. We'll be right here doing our thing 24/7/365, supporting the team in our own unique way right through October. We hope you will be too. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.