Tomase again

I took John Tomase to task last week for his dreadful performance in an opinion piece in the paper, and attempting to defend it on the radio. He has a new column today (or maybe yesterday - it was clearly written before yesterday's game, or at least without reference to it) with which I largely agree. In Red Sox suddenly playing role of beasts in AL East, he puts forth the (obvious) theory that "right now the smart money's on Boston" in the AL East race (as some of us have been saying since the off-season.)

I think he's mostly right, but I'm still ticked off about last week, so the problems that are in there are going to get pointed out.

The Sox haven't held first later than July 2 since their last pennant-winning season of 1995.

Their last pennant-winning season was 2004. You don't get to go to the World Series if you don't win the pennant. 1995 was the last time that they won their division. Not the same thing, and a baseball writer should know that. (So should the sports editor, for that matter.)

Manny Ramirez is hitting like Manny Ramirez for the first time all season.

No, he's not. He's done it earlier, in short streaks. In fact, as I pointed out earlier, he was fine through the middle of May, just missing a few singles. He did have a dreadful 3 week stretch, but otherwise, he's been just fine all year. From 5/18 through 6/12 he was awful. The rest of the year, he's been very, very good.

Manny Ramirez

	GS	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	69	262	0.275	0.36	0.553	0.913
5/18-6/11	20	81	0.259	0.286	0.358	0.644
Rest	49	181	0.282	0.388	0.641	1.029

Do those look like the numbers of someone "hitting like Manny Ramirez for the first time all season?" I don't think so. It's just more evidence that John's not interested in (or, alternately, capable of understanding) the facts.

He's batting .313 with five home runs, 16 RBIs and a .984 OPS in June. He's been hammering the ball to all fields, at least temporarily cured of the lackadaisical results that marred his April and May.

But a week ago "he didn't care." He "was robbing the Red Sox." He was "giving a metaphorical middle finger to the fans." Did his approach change this week, or just his results? And a week ago, at least in the paper, it wasn't the "results" that were "lackadaisical" - it was the approach, the effort. It was wrong then, it remains wrong.

There are still questions about a bullpen that counts Mike Timlin as its only reliable member.

There are still questions about the bullpen, but look at it a little more closely, John.

Since May 12

Player	Games	W	L	Sv	IP	H	R	BB	K	ERA
Mike Timlin	18	1	0	0	20.67	21	3	4	16	1.31
Keith Foulke	18	3	0	6	18.67	16	5	5	16	2.41
Mike Myers	18	3	1	0	11.33	8	4	4	6	3.18

Foulke has been fine, very good and reliable, since early May. Mike Myers has been fine, good and reliable since early May. The fact that Foulke struggled early doesn't mean that he's not reliable now. The fact that his ERA is still high doesn't mean that he's not pitching well. Look beyond the surface...