Looking Back on April

Despite Tuesday night’s debacle – three errors leading to four unearned runs – which brought the Sox winning streak to an end, April will conclude with Boston at or near its goal of five games above five hundred. That’s amazing, considering the terrible start, and the fact that they still aren’t getting many quality starts from their pitching staff. Beckett and Lester have been uneven; Penny much worse than uneven; Dice-K AWOL after leading his countrymen to the WBC title; leaving Wake to step in as the ace of the staff. Barring injury, Wake looks like he should be able to pitch into his early sixties, allowing him to challenge Cy Young for many RedSox career pitching records.

Fortunately, as inconsistent as the starters have been, the bullpen has been pretty reliable. The big change for 2009 seems to be the addition of Ramon Ramirez, who has stepped into the role of Pap’s setup man. That’s especially important, because Oki no longer mystifies the opposition. It’s difficult to know why the change, but Okajima never had overpowering stuff. It was more that opposing hitters could not figure him out. Now that he’s been in the league for three years, maybe batters know him better. Or maybe he just isn’t hitting his spots. Still, he continues to perform well more often than not, and is a good contrast to all the fireballers on the pitching staff. Delcarmen has been solid so far; Masterson great in middle relief when called upon (although he looks more and more like a starter before too long); and didn’t Michael Bowden look awesome on Sunday? Two hitless innings, against the Yankees no less; including a strikeout of Derek Jeter. Not bad for 22 years old. A number of good young arms in the organization, and I haven’t even mentioned Buckholz, who last time I looked was shutting down the IL.

The one big question mark in my mind is whether Pap is OK. I know he’s five for five in save opportunities, but he doesn’t seem like the same guy this April. Too many walks; not enough Ks; and far too many pitches in most of his outings. What happened to those 1-2-3 innings where Pap would throw only six pitches, all of them strikes? One reason the pen was so good the past few years (and in 2004 as well), was that the other guys only had to get us to the ninth inning. Once it was the ninth inning, I could start calling the boys and recapping the game. Time will tell, but if the past decade demonstrates anything about baseball today, it’s that the team with the invincible closer had a big advantage come October. (Just picture Pap and Lidge in the past two Series.)

Enough about the pitching. During the early going, when Sox were coming up short in many games, the bats were silent, aside from Youk. The home stand seemed to have changed that. Jason Bay has continued to fill in adequately in Manny’s absence. (To read that is startling on two levels. First, Bay has been more remarkable than adequate of late, with two ninth inning home runs, and consistently productive at bats. Second, to suggest that anyone could fill in for Manny, who’s only the best right handed hitter of the modern era, is equally remarkable. But true. Plus Bay can actually catch fly balls; how about that running grab and tumble into the stands last night?) Lowell looks more like the Mike Lowell of 2007, who anchored the offense, and cleaned up all the base runners that the three and four hitters didn’t knock in. Even Tek has looked far better than he did in 2008. And here’s the other thing: this recent run production has mostly come from the right side of the plate. Papi is hitting better, but still not displaying much power; and Drew has been mostly MIA. If either of those guys comes to life, the lineup will be close to devastating.

I like the combination of young and old; I like the fact that there’s much room for improvement; I like the fact that there doesn’t seem to be much drama; I like the speed (I had to make some mention of Jacoby stealing home on Pettite. Not just that it’s perhaps the most exciting play in baseball, but he does it against the Yankees on ESPN.) I’ve got to go see when the Sox are coming to Toronto this year. Barring injuries, this is beginning to look like an entertaining season.

A-Fraud Back in the News

I read that the Yankees sent Wang to A-Fraud's specialist for treatment. They don't say what his specialty is, other than to note that he is a 'soft-tissue' expert. So seeing that the guy is A-Fraud's doc, I figure he must be either a brain doctor, or a urologist.

Two nice comeback wins to open the season's first series with the Yankees. Last night we saw Jason being Manny, which is always a great thing, and then the Sox were visited by the Greek God of Walk-offs, as Youk is now known. Then in today's pitching duel between Burnett and Beckett, the Sox came from six down, to score 17 runs over five innings. Youk ended the day leading the majors in hitting at .444, a great number under any circumstances. Lowell has 22 RBIs, and looks like he's back to 2007 form. Jason Bay is batting a solid .309 with just about one RBI for every game played. So even though Beckett remains inconsistent, and Dice is still rehabbing somewhere, and Papi still slumping, the rest of the lineup has been hot of late, allowing the Sox to move five games above .500. Remember that's the formula for success. If they gain five games on .500 every month, they end up with 96 wins and another trip to the post-season.

So right now, let's just stay healthy. We need that in the AL East, where there's never a moment's rest. The Jays are hot this year, replacing last year's Rays, and the Sox-Yankees rivalry looks like it will be as competitive as ever. So we need Dice back in the rotation; and even though Nick Green has been hitting well, we need Lugo or Lowrie back for defense; and we need to stay away from the nagging injuries that plagued us last year. Plus it wouldn't hurt to see the old Papi and Beckett again. But right now, all I'll ask for is no more injuries.

A Turn for the Better

After losing each of the three series that started this season, the Sox swept four from the Orioles, and are now above .500 for the first time in 2009. Lester pitched a gem; Masterson did a fine job filling in as the sixth starter; and the bats seem to have come alive at long last. Papi is still not himself, even though he had a couple good at-bats today. But Mike Lowell looks more like 2007 than last year; Tek has been hitting better than last year; and Pedroia is finally getting his licks in. Youk is close to unstoppable.

Mike says we are not to take pleasure in the defeat of our enemies; rather, we should just be thankful for our own blessings. Still, I have to admit that my favorite day of the past weekend was Saturday, when Cleveland scored two touchdowns in the second inning. Wang’s ERA has now soared above 30, which even Girardi recognizes as a bit of a problem. Indians ended up scoring twenty-two, to go with the ten they plated on Yankee Stadium’s opening day. Too bad Cleveland’s bullpen spoiled Pavano’s strong start yesterday. That would have been the ultimate indignity – Carl Pavano getting a win against the Yankees in the new park – even better than the fourteen run inning.

I’m getting closer to a posting about Joseph. We just celebrated the Passover seder, and the Haggadah makes only passing reference to Joseph. That’s an oversight. Joseph is the unsung hero of the exodus, for reasons I will explicate in the future posting. In fact, Joseph is perhaps the most underrated figure in the entire chronicle of Genesis. He’s the link between Abraham and Moses, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So it’s springtime, the Sox have begun winning a few games, our people have been liberated from bondage, and I’m enjoying an occasional glass of malt whisky. Things are looking up.

Inauspicious Start

I keep hoping that I’ll wake up, open the Sports Page, and learn that the month of April won’t count this year. MLB decided to let everyone start over. Which would be a good idea, since much of the month, for the RedSox at least, has resembled spring training. Out of nine games, we’ve had two good starts – Beckett’s opener, and Wakefield’s gem out in Oakland. The rest of the starters are still warming up. Except of course for Dice-K, who is now cooling down, or resting his fatigued shoulder, or who knows what. Wonder how happy the Sox will be with the WBC next time it rolls around? Nice for Dice to pitch his country to victory once again, but not so nice if that keeps him from being effective this year. And what’s going on with Lester, last year’s emerging ace? Now Beckett’s facing suspension, and will miss a start, so are we talking Buckholz? And can he rebound from his sophomore slump?

Maybe we could have gotten by in April, despite the absence of starting pitching, had we had any hitting to speak of. But last I looked, our one, two and three hitters were all batting under two hundred. That includes Papi, the lineup’s anchor for the past several years (#3), Pedroia, last year’s sparkplug, and MVP (#2), and Ellsbury, who has been slumping since the middle of last season (#1). Still, three of those losses were only one-run games, so there’s hope, assuming our starters can get past the first couple innings, and our hitters can get above .200.

Speaking of inauspicious starts, another thing about this lousy April is that it has really denied all of us the opportunity to take any enjoyment out of the Yankees’ troubles. Home opener for the new stadium yesterday; Sabathia on the mound; Sizemore grand slam; and the Indians, whose record is worse than the Sox, ruin Opening Day. But there’s not much pleasure in knowing that, unless the Sox can win a couple games in a row, and suggest that they’ll be competitive in 2009. The other night, I saw the box scores, and the Rays were running up double digits on the Yanks. Wang’s ERA is flirting with 30. See, that’s not really a good ERA, because pitchers try to keep that number down. Still, I don’t think the Sox managed a win that night, and it was cold comfort knowing the Yankees had been beaten by ten runs.

It could be worse. This morning I read that Doc Rivers had watched KG work out, and had then explained that he did not expect KG to play at all in the post-season. We’ve all been waiting, as the Celtics stumbled through the last third of the season, but still managed to hang onto second place in the east, for KG’s return. The holes in the defense would get plugged; the offense would get back in sync; and the Cs could renew their drive to repeat, albeit without home court advantage. They need to win in Cleveland, and then in LA, but with a healthy KG, an improved Rondo, and especially with Big Baby having stepped up with the chance to play more minutes, that didn’t seem impossible. Powe looks healthy again; Tony Allen and Stephon Marbury have the potential for instant offense off the bench; and Ray Allen might not miss a free throw in all the playoffs. But without KG – forget about it. Now way they beat either the Cavs or the Lakers.

And as long as we’re looking back on a bad April, let’s not overlook the wholesale defection of Flynn, Devo and PH2. I figure we could have survived Flynn’s departure, what with Jardine and Triche playing next year. But we’ll definitely miss Harris’ rebounds, especially with KO gone; and even more than that, we’ll miss Devo’s outside shooting. At season’s end, when Cuse played so well in the Big East and the first couple tournament rounds, Devo was shooting three balls at a fifty percent clip. The Oklahoma game was an indication of how badly the team needed outside shooting. Now Rautins will be back, but the outside threat was much more credible when we had two good shooters on the floor. So Jardine will play the point; Rautins will play the 2 guard (actually a better spot for him than small forward); AO will be in the middle; and Jackson and Wes Johnson will play forward. That’s not a bad lineup, but we won’t be deep. We’ll need Kris Joseph to play with more confidence; we’ll need Mookie Jones to play less selfishly; and we’ll need some help from one or two freshmen. If that happens, they’ll be good, even though they’ll miss the leadership and experience of the trio that departed. Dickie V won’t be picking this team to go to the Final Four.

So there you have it. April is supposed to be the time of renewal, a season of optimism. This year, however, it’s been a chilly spring.

An Open Letter to Dr. Gross

Dr. Daryl Gross
Director of Athletics
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244


Dear Dr. Gross:

With the hiring of a new football coach, and the basketball team back in the Sweet Sixteen, you probably did not expect to receive a lot of letters like this. However, I’m writing to explain why I am not renewing my season tickets.

I’ve been an SU sports fan all my life—since the fall of 1956 when I saw Jim Brown score 43 points against Colgate. That was a Division I single game scoring record that stood for decades. I saw every one of Ernie Davis’ home football games, except the Kansas game in ’59, because my mother grounded me that Saturday for reasons I no longer remember. I was at Manley Field House for opening night—a UConn game, as I recall. I saw Floyd Little’s coming out party when he ran for five touchdowns against the Kansas team that featured a halfback named Gale Sayers. I used to watch Jim Nance wrestle in the men’s gym on Saturdays.

I haven’t lived in Syracuse since 1967, but have maintained my dad’s football and basketball season tickets since he moved to Florida in the early 90s. I think my dad bought these tickets the year the Dome opened. I’ve even kept the football tickets through the declining fortunes of the past four years. Every winter, I’ve driven through the snow to see at least a dozen basketball games, and in all those years, I’ve been turned back by the weather only once.

But now I’m done. My Orange Club donation, which had risen consistently year after year during your tenure, increased over 57 % in one year. That price increase, quite frankly, astonished me for many reasons.

First of all, I wondered about the decision to raise prices so dramatically during these economic times. I am not claiming hardship, and I don’t write this letter with the intention of asking for a price break. But still, I wonder, who raises prices 57 % when the economy is imploding?

Second, who raises prices when their product has consistently declined in value year after year? Just in case you were not keeping track, the football program has not done particularly well over the last four years. Not only has the team managed a total of ten wins during those four seasons (I recall many years they had ten wins in a single season, including the 1992 season, when I took my family to the Fiesta Bowl.) Worse, the team has consistently ranked in the bottom five or ten percent in almost every statistical category. Even defense.

Third, who raises prices like this when the venue is empty? Did you attend football games last fall? It was often so lonely and quiet in my section that I could converse throughout the games with other fans near my seats. These were familiar faces who had been sitting in the same location for decades—folks who remembered my dad and my Uncle Joe fondly, and would want to be remembered to my mom. By way of contrast, I recall games in the Dome when it was so loud I could not even tell my dad what I wanted to eat when he would get up to go to the concession stand. It was bedlam.

Fourth, I’m not sure you have figured this out yet, but Upstate New York is not Los Angeles. Sure, we’ve had big crowds in the Dome for basketball year after year. On many nights, SU attendance is the largest in the nation, not just Division I, but the NBA as well. But Syracuse is not a town of movie stars and millionaires. I wonder how many other fans from Rochester, Binghamton, Canajoharie, and Watertown will factor in the cost of gas, the cost of parking, the recent price increases, the hassle of traveling on winter nights, and then reconsider their commitment.

By the way, even though the basketball team has continued to perform at a high level, crowds are down. Whether it’s a result of TV exposure, or the economy, who knows? Except for a couple games this year, we really did not have monster crowds.

Still, all of that is a business judgment, and you must know some things that I don’t. Otherwise, I doubt you would have made the decision to raise the prices so much. And while one can quarrel with business judgment, I was still considering renewing my tickets until I called the Orange Club. You see, I could not figure out from the mailing and all the various schedules of ticket prices, why my seats now cost $535 just for the privilege of purchasing season tickets. When I called, I learned that my seats, which had been “B” level seats for 30 years had been changed to “A” level. “The same seats?” I asked. The same seats, I was told; now you just have to pay “A” level prices. I hate to think what the seats will cost if the football program ever turns around.

So I’m giving them up after 30 years in the family—not just football, but basketball too. It’s not just a matter of expense, but more that I feel betrayed. I’ve been a loyal fan for ages. I’ve come to football games the past four years knowing that the team would probably be beaten, and beaten badly. I’ve supported the concession stands, buying meatball sandwiches, BK Broilers, Dome Dogs, drinks and peanuts. I’ve bought little Otto stuffed toys for friends with newborns. And my reward for that loyalty is to have my pocket picked. If anything, I should have had my annual contribution reduced, for having loyally supported the team these past four years. Instead, I had my seats, which had always been the best “B” level seats, downgraded to the worst “A” level seats. That’s my reward. And if that’s how you treat your fan base, I’m done.

I’ll still root for the team, but instead of driving through the snow, and sometimes getting home in the early morning hours, I’ll go to a neighborhood tavern, sit at the bar, eat and drink, and drive five minutes when the game is over. I won’t pay for parking or fight the traffic. A couple times each year, I’ll get free tickets from a friend, or maybe even buy them on the street. But I’m sorry; I won’t allow myself to be taken advantage of.

Perhaps I’m the only one who feels this way. Perhaps you’ll sell the same number of season tickets to others, who don’t mind the constant increases. But on the other hand, perhaps you’ll erode your loyal fan base with these ever increasing money-grabbing policies.

Next year, when the Orange are back in the tournament (and they’ll get there, even if Flynn and Devendorf leave) I’ll be in front of the TV, or maybe, I’ll join one of my sons at the Garden or one of the first round venues. One of my boys lives in Miami and attended the first two games in person. And I’ll take the money I didn’t spend on season tickets and use it for airfare and hotel rooms. I don’t think that’s the best thing for the University or the Athletic Department, but last I checked, no one asked me.

Very truly yours,

David Rothenberg