Back in the Day

No baseball worth reporting on. July a major step backwards. Will post on this past month’s developments in a day or two. Right now, I have a more enjoyable topic for this post.

I have a friend in town, another lawyer, SU grad in the 60s, lived in the Sammy House, who is a collector. Has old newspapers hanging in his office, pictures of JFK, New York sports memorabilia. We were talking the other day, and I came to learn that he has an extensive collection of LPs and 45s from the 50s and 60s. One thing led to another, and I got a call from him informing me to stop by his office and pick up two records which I have longed to add to my I-Tunes collection: Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket, by Otis and the All Night Workers; and Give Me One More Chance, by Wilmer and the Dukes. I raced home, and used my turntable gizmo to turn them into MP3s, so I could load them into my I-Tunes library. And now, I can report, that as I compose this post, Wilmer is in the background, asking over and over for just one more chance.

In return for his kindness, I told my friend that I would make him a playlist from his days at the Sammy House. He told me they partied to 60s R&B, Motown and the Atlantic stars, so I began to put together a playlist from that era. Only I couldn’t locate one particular song, my favorite Supremes song, Back in My Arms Again. I have thousands of songs on I-Tunes, no exaggeration, including albums from all the great Motown artists, but somehow I didn’t have this song in the library. So I went searching through the house, because I absolutely knew I had it somewhere. Sure enough, I found a Supremes Greatest Hits double album from 1967, in good condition, with Back in My Arms Again, along with a couple dozen other early Supremes songs. And I uploaded it, along with a few other songs that weren’t otherwise in I-Tunes. So the playlist was finished, and delivered to my buddy, and it’s now available for publication.

But here’s a weird detail. When I opened the old Supremes album, it had a name inside. In fact, the name was written not only on the inside of the jacket, but on the two record labels as well. Probably to preserve ownership in a dorm or other residence, because one never knew exactly where the album might end up at the end of the night. Only thing is, the name in this album wasn’t mine; it was Prissy Rambar’s. I can’t figure out what I’m doing with Prissy Rambar’s Supremes Album. My best guess is that it was in the Matlows' basement, and was offered to me, free for the taking. Maybe when Hattie was moving south. Who knows? It’s not like I could ever figure this out any more.

Anyway, when I returned the records, and delivered the play list, we reminisced about those times. Back in the Day, when we had dances at the Brookside; when we had Otis play at one of the Aronian parties - I think it was at Drumlins; when you could get everyone up and dancing at a mixer just by putting Midnight Hour on the stereo. My buddy was under the misimpression that this occurred some forty-four years ago, but I told him that was impossible. Forty-four years? You’ve got to be kidding. Oops, have to run now. All Night Workers starting to play, and I need to find someone to dance with. Later.

An Even Better June

Last night, with only four starters in the lineup, the Sox squeaked out a win against the Orioles, who may have the worst record in all of baseball, but have been playing Boston tough all year. When the Yankees and Rays both lost, the Soxfound themselves only one game out, playing .600 ball, with the second best record in all of baseball. Pretty remarkable, I’d say, considering how poorly they started this year, and also considering that they have been winning with a patchwork lineup.

By my count, Boston went 18-9 in June. That was nine games above five hundred, allowing them to reach 15 plus before this weekend, the pac they need to make it to the playoffs. Yet, in all of June, Beckett never took the mound. Ellsbury did not play a single game. Cameron played about half the month. And Mike Lowell barely played. Instead, Boston got good contributions from the journeymen who have been called upon to plug these holes in the lineup. Darnell MacDonald has already reached career highs in most offensive categories. Bill Hall has filled in admirably both in the outfield, and now at second base, with Pedroia out of the lineup. Daniel Nava had a game winning bloop single last night.

Another remarkable thing about June was that the bullpen continued to give away leads with regularity. Papelbon has been getting his saves, but many are nailbiters, and his ERA continues to hover near 4; that’s a bad number for a closer. Bard has better numbers, but he too has had a tendency to give up big hits in key situations. The rest of the pen remains way too generous.

Either Oki has slipped, or the rest of the league has figured him out. Ramon Ramirez carries an ERA just under five, more than two points higher than last year. Delcarmen is on the DL, but that’s no great loss because his numbers have climbed steadily the last two years. And none of the veterans whom Theo acquired have done much of anything. This is really the biggest problem, in my opinion; worse even than all the injuries. Because without a dependable bullpen, there is little chance of going deep into the post season.

The recipe in June was equal parts of quality starts and resurgent bats. Lester and Buckholz, occasionally Dice and Lackey, have had a number of games where they pitched well enough for long enough that the pen needed to hang in for only an inning or two. At the plate, Papi, Beltre, Youk and, before he was hurt, Pedroia, were all contributing. Not to mention the games where the journeymen made big contributions. Last night, Drew had two solo home runs, enough to keep the Sox in the game thanks to Wake’s seven innings.

G-Man is right - the next month will be telling. If Boston can keep it together without Pedroia, V-Mart, and Tek (that’s a tall order), they should be poised to make a run for the wild card. I think the AL East is unlikely, unless the injury bug bites the Yankees again.

Still, thinking back on how bad things looked in April, who in RedSox nation couldn’t help but be pleased to see them near the top of the standings a week before the all-star break? What fun it is to see Papi banging the ball out of the yard once more. And how about those home runs where Beltre ends his swing down on one knee? If the team is still contending at the end of July, Theo need to find a reliable set-up guy. That’s one ingredient that remains missing from the recipe. That and a healthy lineup.