This year's pen authors a splendid rewrite
It was a year ago yesterday that Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, desperate to stabilize the bullpen, traded third baseman Shea Hillenbrand to the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Byung Hyun Kim. Here are 11 reasons Epstein made that deal: Ramiro Mendoza, Brandon Lyon, Chad Fox, Jason Shiell, Steve Woodard, Kevin Tolar, Bruce Chen, Rudy Seanez, Robert Person, Matt White, and Bobby Howry.
All of these pitchers were in Grady Little's bullpen in the first two months of 2003. Incredibly -- or given their performance, perhaps not that surprisingly -- none of them are in the majors today. Lyon, Fox, Shiell, Mendoza, and Person are all hurt. Howry, Tolar, Chen, Seanez, Woodard, and White are all in the minors.
The unexpected outcome of the Hillenbrand-Kim deal was that it made a star out of David Ortiz, who with Hillenbrand out of the way became an everyday player. In the year since the trade, Ortiz hit .292 (157 for 538) with 48 doubles, 40 home runs, 125 RBIs, and a .612 slugging percentage.
Kim served his purpose for the short term, and though he has been a nonfactor this season, the most striking difference between the Sox of 2003 and '04 has been the performance of the pen. In some ways, that's stating the obvious, but it is instructive to recall just how bad the pen was last season at this time.
Through the first two months, the bullpen had an ERA of 5.53, having yielded 111 earned runs in 180 1/3 innings. That's a staggering 70 earned runs more than the '04 pen has yielded. Alan Embree and Mike Timlin, who by the end of the year would become rock-solid, were struggling almost as much as everybody else. Embree had an ERA of 5.65, while Timlin already had two losses and two blown saves.
The '03 pen had six blown saves through Memorial Day; the Sox pen this season has two so far. Last season began with Fox giving up a walkoff home run in Tampa Bay to Devil Rays rookie Carl Crawford; the Sox have yet to be beaten by a walkoff home run this season. Obviously, there was no automatic closer like Keith Foulke, who is unscored upon in his last 15 appearances and holding opposition hitters to a .141 average.
A more stable starting rotation, with the addition of Curt Schilling, has reduced the workload of the bullpen, which also has made a difference. This year's pen had thrown 138 2/3 innings through two months, almost 42 fewer than last season's pen was called upon to pitch.
The Red Sox gave up their first-round draft choice to Oakland in next Monday's amateur draft as compensation for the free agent signing of Foulke. It is an exchange, Epstein has said, that he would gladly make any time. The Sox pen is ranked first in the league as we head into summer. It is the most obvious reason the Sox have been able to withstand the absence of Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon.
Off the deep end
While Pedro Martinez already has given up more home runs this season (9 in 70 2/3 innings) than all of last season (7 in 186 2/3 innings), he's not the only pitcher enduring an unexpected bout of longballitis. Seattle lefthander Jamie Moyer, a 21-game winner last season, has given up a league-leading 14 home runs in just 63 1/3 innings after giving up 19 in 215 innings a year ago . . . Cardinals ace Matt Morris leads the NL in homers allowed, having been taken deep 15 times in just 70 1/3 innings, after giving up 20 in 172 1/3 innings a year ago . . . Just when it looked as if even Rickey Henderson would have to concede that at 45, it was time to hang 'em up -- he was batting .194 in his first dozen games with the independent Newark Bears -- he had 6 hits in his next 19 at-bats, raising his average to .260 . . . One major league area scout said that Maine prep star Mark Rogers hit 98 miles an hour with one pitch last week and was consistently in the 94-m.p.h. range. "It was the best I've ever seen him," the scout said. "He's a little crude, but he's a very good athlete with three good pitches: fastball, curve, changeup." Baseball America, in its initial projection of the June 7 draft, has Rogers being taken by Anaheim with the 12th pick, which would make him the first Maine native (Orr's Island) ever selected on the first round. Rogers was captain of his baseball, soccer, and hockey teams at Mt. Ararat High School. The trade publication also is projecting Rhode Island prepster Jay Rainville, from the same high school (Bishop Hendricken) as Rocco Baldelli of the Devil Rays, to go 23d to the Twins. Boston College ace Chris Lambert is seen as either a first-round sandwich pick or second-rounder. Not bad for a kid who pitched just three innings in high school. Andrew Gale, the son of former Sox pitcher Rich Gale, has drawn a flock of scouts to Phillips Exeter Academy, and the 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound New Hampshire native figures to go in the first five rounds. There is also keen interest in St. Anselm's lefty Parrish Castor, who this spring whiffed 20 batters in a game against American International to become one of just six NCAA Division 2 pitchers with 20 or more in a game. The Sox don't pick until 65th overall . . . Since dropping six of seven games to the Sox over two weekends, the Yankees went 21-7 (entering yesterday). They averaged just under seven runs a game (6.7) and scored seven or more 15 times in that stretch, including 41 in three games last week against the Orioles. They hit .295 as a club in that time with 45 home runs, and the pitching staff had an ERA of 4.45. The Sox in that time went 18-12, averaging slightly fewer than six runs a game (5.8), with 11 games in which they scored seven runs or more. The team batted .283 with 36 home runs, and the pitching staff had a 3.85 ERA. The superstars? Alex Rodriguez batted .315 with 9 home runs and 24 RBIs; Manny Ramirez was .324, 8, 18.
Sixth sense?
Ask Carlos Pena if baseball is always a paint-by-numbers game. The former Northeastern star had no business being in the Tigers' starting lineup last Thursday against the Royals. For weeks, he'd been in a hellacious slump, batting .153 over a 34-game span, and against that day's starter, lefthander Brian Anderson, Pena was 0 for 6. But Tigers manager Alan Trammell had Pena's name on his lineup card, and Pena responded with the best game of his career, a 6-for-6 performance with two home runs. The last player with such strong local roots to have six hits in a game was the little second baseman from Fall River, Jerry Remy, and it took him two days, 20 innings, and 10 at-bats to do so. Remy went 6 for 10 in a 20-inning, 8-7 loss to the Mariners in September 1981 that was suspended in the 19th inning and completed the next day. All six of Remy's hits were singles, including one in the first inning and another in the 20th . . . Anderson, a 14-game winner last season, has had a disastrous spring: a 1-7 record and 7.82 ERA, while opposing hitters are crushing him for a .413 average with runners on base. His collapse is a big reason the Royals, expected to contend in the AL Central, are in last place. "I'm telling you, it's bizarre," Anderson said after his last outing, the game in which the Tigers tied a club record with 27 hits. "I've tried everything. I look at video, and I feel like I'm throwing pretty much like I did last year, when every time I pitched for this team I won. I don't know. I just don't know. I can't believe everyone just figured me out all at the same time. I feel like garbage." . . . Bad blood between the Reds and Marlins? Last Tuesday night in Cincinnati, Ken Griffey hit a three-run home run off ace Josh Beckett right after Marlins manager Jack McKeon ordered Sean Casey to be walked intentionally. As Griffey circled the bases, he glared into the Florida dugout, presumably at McKeon, who formerly managed the Reds and whose ouster in Cincinnati was rumored to be orchestrated by Griffey, a charge Junior vehemently has denied. Regardless, the Marlins took offense, especially pitcher Brad Penny. "You don't want a guy like Griffey to beat you," he said, "because you know he's going to show you up." Griffey was 0 for 7 in the last two games of the series, and Penny, who held the Reds to two runs in eight innings, is scheduled to face Griffey and the Reds again Tuesday night in Florida . . . When is it good news for baseball fans to hear that there's a chance of showers? Try tomorrow night, when the independent league Brockton Rox have scheduled "Guaranteed Rainout Night." If a half-inch or more of rain falls between 7 and 11 p.m. -- no word on who's providing the coffee can to collect the raindrops -- all fans remaining in the park will split $30,000, whether or not the game is played.
Injury report
In case you're keeping track, Juan Gonzalez, who went on the Kansas City disabled list last week with a strained back, played in just 82 games for the Rangers in 2003 and 70 in 2002. Gonzalez started only 57 games in right field and played in another 24 as the DH for Texas last year, missing much of the season with a calf injury that sparked controversy because he was out so long. The previous year, he missed time with a bad thumb . . . Rusty Bumgardner, a former football player at Wake Forest, was the first American player signed by the Marlins. The 6-foot-6-inch Bumgardner also was the first player released by the Marlins, after he struck out in 12 of his first 25 at-bats in rookie ball. But last night, Bumgardner made a boffo appearance in a big-league venue, reports Chuck Pool, the Marlins' first publicist who is now handling PR for the new Roger Clemens Award, given to the best college pitcher. Bumgardner is now a barnstorming softball player who Friday night took part in a home run contest in Houston's Minute Maid Park . . . Best wishes to longtime Red Sox scout Ray Boone, father of Bob Boone and grandfather to Bret and Aaron. Ray is hospitalized after complications from surgery, and heavily sedated, according to Bret, but doing as well as can be expected.
Catch this act
Circle June 18 on your calendar, especially if you can swing a road trip to New York. That's the day the Mets have invited a who's who of catchers -- Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Yogi Berra, and Gary Carter, along with All-Star Lance Parrish -- to honor Mike Piazza, who this month broke Fisk's record for home runs by a catcher. Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda, who urged the Dodgers to make Piazza a 62d-round draft pick in 1988, also will be there . . . When Joe Torre's Yankees swept the Orioles last week, it gave him a 3-0 record against Baltimore manager Lee Mazzilli, who was Torre's first base coach with the Yankees and also played for Torre when he managed the Mets (1977-81). Seven of Torre's former players have become managers, and Torre has managed against four of them: Ron Gardenhire, Bud Harrelson, Bobby Valentine, and Mazzilli. His record against his former pupils: 49-23 . . . Baseball people love to say the season is a marathon, not a sprint. That never has been more true than it is for Charlie Hamilton, a 40-year-old Bolton man who left his job in March and is cycling more than 11,000 miles to every big-league park to raise money for cancer research. Hamilton, who began his trek at Turner Field in Atlanta, plans to hook up with the Sox Tuesday in Anaheim, then end his trip Sept. 26 in Fenway Park. He's hoping to raise more than $125,000 for the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, the cycling organization that supports the Jimmy Fund. Hamilton is riding in honor of his pedal partner, 15-year-old Eric Donovan of Scituate, who last August was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma and is undergoing treatment at the Jimmy Fund clinic. Want to make a donation? Log on to www.hitforthecycle.org . . . Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam, whose best-selling book, "The Teammates," should be a staple in the library of any Sox fan, will be the guest speaker June 9 at the JFK Library for the Centennial Gala of the Milton Public Library. He will be discussing the 60-year friendship among Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Dom DiMaggio. For tickets, call 617-698-8003 . . . Eric Wedge will be busy managing the Cleveland Indians, but his Motivated Sports golf tournament to benefit Children's Hospital in Boston will be June 28 at the Atkinson Country Club in Atkinson, N.H. Ed O'Brien awaits your calls at 978-739-4700 (ext. 206) or log on to www.motivatedsports.org . . . And our condolences to the family and friends of Doug Pappas, the New York attorney whose prodigious writings on the business of baseball, which appeared in Baseball Prospectus, SABR journals, and on his website, enlightened us all. Pappas died last week at 43 of heat prostration while hiking.
Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report. 
