Lee's Baseball Blog

Like any other respectable Red Sox fan, part of my COVID quarantine time has been spent reflecting on our great fortune over the past 16 years. Those of us who have been around long enough realize how different this run has been from the decades prior, when it seemed like every crucial moment was almost guaranteed to go against our beloved team. Most recently many of us have been re-living for the umpteenth time that incredible four-day stretch during the 2004 American League Championship Series (ALCS), when fate finally chose to smile upon us. This time around my focus settled on the subtle yet critical aspects of these games. The big plays are well-documented and etched in Red Sox history: Roberts’ steal, Papi’s walk-off heroics, Schilling’s sock, A-Rod’s slap, Damon’s slam, Foulke’s arm, the magical revival of Derek Lowe. But there are many other turning points that only careful examination illuminate as pivotal. These games never get old for the die-hard fan since, similar to

Note: This post first appeared on the sonsofsamhorn.com web site on April 18, 2017 and is re-posted here with permission. As of the end of Boston’s victory over Tampa Bay on Patriots’ Day,  Mookie Betts  had not struck out in 123 consecutive plate appearances, dating back to last season. According to a graphic posted during today’s NESN broadcast, the next closest active streak is fewer than 50. As remarkable as Mookie’s streak has been – as a point of comparison, last season Red Sox batters struck out on average once every 5.53 plate appearances – he has a long way to go to approach the major-league record for consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout. That mark belongs to  Joe Sewell , a player renowned for his ability to put the ball in play. In a career that lasted 14 seasons from 1920 through 1933 (11 with the Indians and the last three with the Yankees), Sewell went to the plate 8,333 times and suffered only 114 strikeouts – averaging more than 73 plate appearances

Note: This post first appeared on the sonsofsamhorn.com web site in June 2016 and is re-posted here with permission. The objective of a baseball team is to win a championship. So it stands to reason that a search for the biggest play in MLB history starts with the question “What one play had the most impact on a team winning or losing a championship?” I began to ponder this question as a result of a debate with a friend who is a Texas Rangers fan. From the moment it happened, I have contended that the most egregious play ever was  Nelson Cruz 's failure to track down  David Freese ’s fly ball in the bottom of the ninth in Game Six of the 2011 World Series. With two on and two out, the Rangers leading the series 3-2 and the game by two runs, Freese lifted a fly to deep right that, if caught, would have given the Rangers their first-ever title. But Cruz was playing unusually shallow. He drifted toward the ball rather than chasing it at full speed, and it eluded him. Two runs res

Note: This post first appeared on the sonsofsamhorn.com web site in May 2015 and is re-posted here with permission. During Thursday night’s Red Sox-Mariners game, in the top of the second with none out and no score,  Xander Bogaerts  attempted to advance from first to second on a ball in the dirt.  Mike Zunino  made a good throw to  Robinson Cano  at second and Bogaerts was out.   Given the challenges the Red Sox have been having in scoring runs recently, it wasn’t surprising to see Xander force the Mariners to make a good play here. During the NESN broadcast,  Steve Lyons  went out of his way to emphasize that he liked the “aggressiveness” displayed by Bogaerts, despite the outcome. In the interest of full disclosure, I have known Steve for many years and respect him immensely. In my opinion, he has great baseball instincts, borne of decades of experience both as a player and as a broadcaster. And as a generalization, my observation is that baserunners (and base coaches) usua

Note: This post first appeared on the sonsofsamhorn.com web site and is re-posted here with permission. In 1967 I was seven years old and it was the year of my sports awakening. Finally old enough to understand a bit of what was going on, my Dad took the opportunity to share with me his love of sports of all kinds. He was a travelling salesman which meant he was gone much of the work week. And he had a love of golf that bordered on addiction, which would stay with him for his entire life, so many Saturday mornings while I watched Augie Doggie and Huckleberry Hound he could be found at Sunningdale Golf and Country Club. But sports on TV gave us a chance to spend time together and formed an unbreakable bond that endures, even since his passing. With my Dad at my first visit to Fenway - summer 1978 That spring we watched our beloved Toronto Maple Leafs (we lived in London, Ontario at the time) win their most-recent Stanley Cup. Every Wednesday and Saturday night was devoted to