It was almost like accompanying a somnambulist

Some days the glass is just half-empty, you know …

Bill:
Ah, Christ, in the giddiness of a 13 game win streak I forgot a couple things: the stahting pitching is flaky and Curt Schilling is struggling big time …

 

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Bill:
Seeing Schilling, the guy who was so dominant last yeah and who quite possibly ruined his career forevah by pitching on the injured ankle, getting clobbahd by the lowly Detroit Tigahs just breaks my haht.

 

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Bill:
He gave us everything he had and continues to give us everything he has but it's not working.

 

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Bill:
And how can they continue to work him like a caht horse? Schilling has appeahed in 13 of our last 18 games, and in 19 of the 29 games we've played since he went to the bullpen. This is a recipe for disastah for a careah relief pitchah, never mind for a guy who hasn't relieved in 13 years and is accustomed to wahming up for 30 minutes+ before a staht.

 

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Bill:
Yeah, I know, I know, this team has previously weathead on through the most perilous of storms and even now stands in first — Still …

 

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Bill:
On every new thing there lies already the shadow of annihilation. For the history of every individual of every social order, indeed of the whole world, does not describe an ever-widening, more and more wondahful arc, but rather follows a course which, once the meridian is reached, leads without fail down into the dahk.

 

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Bill:
But, you know, it could be worse … at least I survived the coming bird flu pandemic long enough to see them win it all.

 

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Author's Notes

Bill' morose thought beginning with "On every new thing there lies already the shadow of annihilation. …" is from W.G. Sebald's most remarkable book The Rings of Saturn and the title of today's post is lifted from one of the reader comments to the book at Amazon.

Comments

[Yazbread]

Schilling better start doing some serious talking with Jesus (the 'real' one, not our CF) and figure out where his mojo has gone. Pray harder Curt.

[scott12xu]

Very appropriate new design for Bill C. I think that's how we were all feeling this morning.

Maybe Schilling will do the honorable thing and DFA himself or asked to be taken out of the bullpen or something. He can't continue the way he's been and be an effective closer (and he hasn't).

Turned off the game top of the 8th and went to sleep. "Sox have this one." Had a lousy night sleeping due to other circumstances but didn't know the end result until the morning. Just a lousy night all-around but it's a new day and we discard the bad things and feeling and start anew...

Loved RemDawg and Orsillio's all-inning laughter over the streaker and the various crowd shots - the mother covering her daughter's eyes, the elderly befuddled couple, the woman taking the photo (in slo-mo replay!). I heard there were two streakers? NESN only showed the dorky white guy...

Let's hope Papelbon rights the Sox train tonight.
HERE WE GO RED SOX HERE WE GO!!! CLAPCLAPCLAP

[Jake]

Aren't all streakers dorky white guys?

[da kine]

The worst part was not the 1 added to the "L" column. It was the fact that, going by the MSNBC box score I follow during work, I went to a Spankees fan who works down the hall from me and started talking about how the Sox won a bazillion in a row and were unstoppable, while the Chokees had to settle on beating the Royals' sister team. By the time I got to his office, the house of cards had fallen and I realized only then that the "0" next to the Tigers in the ninth was not final, but a running tally with no outs.

It's okay though. Shit happens. I don't think we can take such a small sample size and start hemming and hawing about how bad the pitching staff is. What are we, CHB juniors? It was a tough loss, but it was only one loss.

[chaglang]

BLESS YOU for the Sebald reference. I haven't read Rings of Saturn yet, but that's only because I'm on my thrid spin through Austerlitz. What an amazing, amazing writer. It's sad that he died fairly anonymously, while inane Chick Lit books multiply like drunken rabbits.

And while I'm eulogizing... oh hey there, Curt.

[Follower of Tito]

h.b., you are the man with the fingah on the pulse of Red Sox Nation. I am sure along with Bill, I was not the only citizen of the Nation striking that pose this am. Many folks NOT from these parts would misidentify this attitude/mood; we, generally, expect the worse but hope for the best. Were this the Pre- Comeback Against the MFY and Winning the WS years, I would even more morose than Bill, but I just don't have the same hardness of heart or cynicism that I used to have.

Further, everytime I hear a MFY fan beat their chest and "protest too much" it just serves to reaffirm that they are seriously "whistling in the dark" over there in the Bronx.

Last year helped banish all the ghosts, now its just baseball, and this team KNOWS it can win under difficults circumstances when it needs to.

[SawxSince67]

Tito is using Curt like he went to a Joe Torre Bullpen Usage seminar. I didn't want to see him for a few days after the Friday and Saturday tomfoolery. but, he was rolled out again last night.

Believe it or not, two days off is insufficient for a guy like Curt.

I'd park him for a bit.

The bullpen needs some guys with "stuff". When you look at the staff, it's all specialists and poor contact/groundball inducing guys. And Curt currently does not have "stuff"

Let's hope Craig Hansen is on the fast track. He's already @ AA and doing well.

All of this said, let's all get a grip. the Red Sox have lost ONE series in the last five or so--it's not kool-aid time.

[scott12xu]

**Aren't all streakers dorky white guys?**

Most are, sometimes a nice honey comes running in her birthday suit but 3 times out of 4 it's a dorky white guy... and why WHITE? Let's see some streakers of color, c'mon people!!

[illegitimate son of dwight evans]

Yeah, that was definitely a sucker punch to the gut last night, even with the umpteen game win streak, I had to remind myself that they literally can't win 'em all. Though it could be worse, the collapse could've happened against the spanks or the Baltimore Syringes or someone else. But that's absolutely true about working Schilling like a caht hoahse - I know he's trying to get his groove back, but for pete's sake give him a rest sometimes. Let Timlin close out a game or three.

Was it just me, or did Damon NOT run out that Dmitri Young triple? It seems like he gave up on that one way too early. If he was running full-bore he probably could've got to that on the bounce and at least held Young to a double or maybe even thrown his barrel-ass out at third. We all know Damon's got the wheels but it seems to this observer that he really isn't going all-out on defense. I saw a ball fall in front of him earlier in the gave that looked like he could've got to and pulled a web gem. But then maybe I'm still recovering from the loss.

[AJM]

The unfortunate fact is that the market for relief pitching has become extremely efficient, so Theo wasn't able to do anything at the deadline, and he's probably not going to be able to do anything significant now...instead he's reduced to picking up toasted retreads like Remlinger and Bottalico. The best addition we can make would be a healthy Foulke, but beyind that I would just go with a youth movement...Papelbon stays beyond this start, work Delcarmen into more meaningful situations, and yes, bring up Hansen and use him. If we fail that way, at least we've gotten the future staff some pennant race experience. It would be better than failing with Jeremi Gonzalez, Bradford and Remlinger.

[Kaz]

I agree with the Hench quote on dirtdogs today. What is wrong with Schilling that he keeps trying to pipeline the splitter on 0-2?? Is that his choice or Varitek's? That's a dozen 0-2 counts spoiled by a lofted splitter in late inning relief. What happened to working the corners? You're Curt Schilling! Make the batter think he's going to have to swing at something brutal and nearly out of the K Zone. Right now, they're just waiting for the third pitch to rocket into the outfield (or beyond ala Pale Hose).

Just for comedy's sake, let's see a 0-2 fastball that 'Tek has to dive to his right for. I don't care if it's so bad it's almost a wild pitch, I just do NOT want to see another 0-2 fat-pitched splitter slammed for another hit.

[SawxSince67]

Ill Son of Dewey--could it be that JD is still hurting from the other day? That's a wicked big outfield.

I think Delcarmen was sent down for Papelbon.

Yes, there has been alot of bitching about what the FO has not done for the relief corps--but who was available and viable?

[NV in SD]

"Last year helped banish all the ghosts, now its just baseball, and this team KNOWS it can win under difficults circumstances when it needs to. "
Fuckin Right FoT.

So JD let thirty or forty triples fly over his head last night (just 2 actually, but you gotta play deep there, right?).
So Bronson was Arroyo-yo.
So Schill threw a few more hanging splits.

How about the fact that Cora (ALEX CORA!) hit a frozen rope over the right-center wall? Cripes- even Mark Teixeria couldn't do that in the HR derby.
How about Papi hitting his 29th and going over 100rbi for the third time in a Boston uni?
How about Tek's sweet over-the-rail catch?

Granted that was definitely not how you want to start your season- long road trip, but c'mon. It's the fuckin Tiggers. Those guys are entitled to at least one come-from-behinder this year, right? New day, new ballgame.

Like Tito says "You play the game you have today" (or something like that)

[NV in SD]

From the Globe:
"Unless he is dealt this week, Mark Bellhorn could very well be designated for assignment when his 20-day rehab stint concludes Saturday. If that is the route the team chooses, it's expected that Bellhorn would clear waivers. However, even if he did, he would then have the right to elect free agency."

I guess we do have 7 infielders on the active roster right now, plus Olerud's almost ready to send someone down. Hate to see Youk continue his super-ball impersonation, but Petagine has been doing a pretty sweet job with the bat.

Like I said before- Thanks for everything Mark. We'll always have the sweet sound of that Game 1 Pesky Pole shot.

[Aaron]

Not giving Manny away at deadline: Good choice
Not trading someone for a closer: Bad choice

Unless, of course, Foulke is a lot longer along than anybody has been told. Or unless they're expecting Craig Hansen in the majors before the end of the season. There is some precedent for highly regarded closers being brought up quickly; since their job is basically to throw as hard as they can for six outs, they need a lot less prep time in the minors than other pitchers.

Some hard throwing starters make the transition to closer seemlessy (Smoltz, Eckersley etc.) Schilling's need to throw large numbers of warmup pitches indicates that he is not one of those starters. I was supportive of this idea when it was first put into action, but it's obviously not working. Time to give Timlin a shot.

[Philly Patri0t]

Guys, let's not fret too much over the Schill thing. He's 9 for 11 in save opportunities since he started this bullpen stint. So, statistically, even though he's allowing a few runs, the team is still getting it done. He's throwing more than well enough to get us by. I'll take 9 of 11 saves in the postseason any day. If he doesn't start blowing every save like Foulke was, and the offense keeps swinging those bats like they are, then I think we're in business for another serious title run. But that's just my take on the subject.

[Devine]

My problem with Schilling isn't the number of saves he's blown. It's that over the last three games I've seen him pitch, he misses with the splitter on 0-2 and gives up massive hits (home runs and triples alike). My problem with Foulke was not his four blown saves; it was the fact that his fastball and changeup were essentially interchangeable and even when he was getting outs, they were often massive line drives that were barely caught. Even considering that he didn't "work" much of the year, Schilling has been over-taxed recently. For a man who doesn't relieve for a living, all these outings in such a short span might be tiring. It isn't just last night that makes me wary of Schilling the reliever, though that was the kicker. It's the three home runs in the two innings he pitched before that.

[Moncho Arzuaga]

Hey guys. Greetings from Puerto Rico. I decided to take a lil' break from writing here but enough is enough. Francona has to decide now, early August, who is going to be the closer for the post-season. And I am sorry for Curt, be he ain't cuttin' it. I would like to hear the truth about the ankle and get over with it. I am waiting for you Francona.

[SawxSince67]

I'd park him for a bit.

[Peter*]

Last night was just plain ugly. As for Schill--location location location. It's the sign of a tired pitcher to see him like this. It's like training for a marathon (getting back into the rotation) ten yards at a time. It don't work!@!

[Pierrot le Fou]

Keep Petragine in there.

He's a competitor. He married his buddy's mother after all. Plus from what I've seen watching him over here in Japan, he's doing just dandy over the ocean (unlike Kapler face who went to the Tokyo Giants from the Sox and couldn't break the Mendoza line).