The Ballyard

A coffin, a nail, and the Red Sox

That sound you heard last night in Tampa wasn't the crowd cheering the Rays' second consecutive dramatic win over the visiting Red Sox- it was the last nail being driven into the coffin that now houses the team's 2010 postseason hopes.

The math of the standings, of course, say the Sox are still very much alive, and maybe they would be if only they would string a bunch of wins together. But the practical fact is that the season effectively ended yesterday, with the only question remaining being whether the club will finish ahead of or behind the Blue Jays in the division and the White Sox in the wild-card race.

Why the stark assessment? Because the team on the field has become one that is just good enough to lose. Forget the rash of injuries that cost the team its talent right from the beginning - if the bullpen had been even a little bit better a little bit sooner (like three days ago), or if the starting rotation had better lived up to its preseason billing (see Beckett, Josh and Lackey, John), the Red Sox right now might be the third team in the logjam at the top.

In the immortal words of former manager Jimy Williams, "if a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his booty."

Frogs don't, and so they do.

The Red Sox don't either, and they are similarly grounded.

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Cape League championship proves good pitching beats good hitting

Just as scientists recently demonstrated the egg came before the chicken, players in the Cape Cod Baseball League recently proved that good pitching does indeed beat good hitting.

The Cotuit Kettleers last week defeated the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the circuit’s championship round, tossing two shut-outs in three games against a club that had just outscored the Orleans Firebirds 36-14 in the two games prior.

Cotuit’s Nick Tropeano (Stony Brook) pitched 6.2 hitless innings in relief of injured starter Brady Rogers (Arizona State) in the clinching game, which Cotuit won 6-0 two days after taking the opener 3-0 behind the complete-game performance of Matt Andriese (Cal Riverside).

The middle game was won by Y-D by the stirring score of 2-1, a contest that featured the South Shore’s John Leonard, who on short rest tossed six innings of zeroes at the Kettleers while buying the Sox another day of life.

The pride of Hanover High School and Boston College, Leonard spent a few minutes with us to share his take on that pivotal game, his route to the Cape League, and his decision to return to BC rather than sign with the San Francsico Giants, who drafted him in the 36th round.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Red Sox lint in the cranial vent: Daisuke, Lowell, and Cape League scoring explosion

- Daisuke Matsuzaka's 4.09 ERA, fluffed a bit after last night's outing against Toronto, is third-best among Red Sox starters. What does that say about the rest of the guys? That they're just not performing at a championship level. John Lackey is at 4.60, Tim Wakefield (a starter most of the year) is at 5.40, and Josh Beckett is at 6.21. Compare this to staff stalwarts Clay Buchholz (2.66) and Jon Lester (2.94) and tell me it's not going to be hard to make the Wild Card - hard to do when you have a great shot at winning only two of every five games.

- Let's hear it for the kids! Daniel Nava, Ryan Kalish, and Felix Doubront already have made notable contributions to the cause, and more may be to come in the person of Michael Bowden. Add to the mix one Jed Lowrie, and one may begin to think GM Theo Epstein had something back there in the spring when he spoke of building a bridge to these up-and-comers.

- Speaking of foresight, didn't it turn out to be a good thing that Epstein held Mike Lowell back all season so he'd be fresh for the stretch run! And no, losing Kevin Youkilis for the year is not what I had in mind when I called for the team to make more productive use of its 25th roster spot.

- And speaking of kids, take note of what's been happening in the Cape Cod Baseball League's playoffs this week. The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox outscored the Orleans Firebirds 36-14 in their just-completed two-game semifinal series sweep, outhitting them 41-25 in the process. Such an offensive explosion is unusual on the Cape, and the championship round that begins today (YD vs. Cotuit) may just as easily consist of a set of 2-1 pitchers' duels as double-digit routs. YD's Jordan Ribera has three HRs, 13 RBIs, and a cool .500 batting average in his four playoff games so far; not to be outdone, teammate Caleb Ramsey is hitting .529 and has stolen four bases. Amazing.

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New York?s Panik in a New England state of mind after winning Cape League Sportsmanship award

Joe Panik is the pride of St. John's University and Hopewell Junction, New York. A highly-touted shortstop, he is like many who play his position in the area in that his favorite player is Derek Jeter.

Unlike the rest, though, he is the recipient of the Cape Cod Baseball League's 2010 Sportsmanship Award, an honor earned while helping to lead the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox to the best record in the circuit and an Eastern Division title.

Click here for a link to an exclusive audio interview with the budding young star.

Standing still at trading deadline the Red Sox best move

Complain as you will - as so many sportsradio callers are - but the best thing the Boston Red Sox did at the trading deadline is exactly what they did: next to nothing. And the reasons have nothing to do with their recent late-inning heroics.

Yes, they could have acquired players to replace their more ineffective injury replacements, but imagine the roster logjam than would ensue when their wounded warriors (imminently) return. Plus, it's not like there were lots of ‘studs' on the market to be chosen from, merely other spare parts that likely would not have been improvements over the ones they already have. (Does Ramon Ramirez to the Giants for minor-leaguer Daniel Turpen even qualify as a parts exchange? At least it clears the way for Daniel Bard and/or Felix Doubront to man the bullpen later in the season.)

The best news is that the Sox have held onto their top minor league talent and can still use them as chips in trades yet to come or as building blocks for the future. (Even Jarrod Saltalamacchia was acquired from the Rangers for a collection of names best known only in their own households.) One of these prospects, Ryan Kalish, has already been pressed into duty to good effect and, unlike an established trade-ee, will remain with the organization when Jacoby Ellsbury returns in a week/two weeks/one month/who knows. In other fields, that's known as resource conservation, and there's much to recommend it in the baseball context as well.

Now, if only the Red Sox would release or trade Mike Lowell already and start making productive use of all 25 of their roster spots ...

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