Article:What Oddities Did You See Today?

One of my favorite things about baseball is the everyday occurrence of something that you 'never' see. No, I don't mean umpires reversing a safe or out call after an argument, or owners in the counting house, I mean real baseball oddities. And if you watch even casually, every game has something that you never see.

Sure, there are the easy "passed balls as a bunter distracted the catcher", and the Jeffrey Maier "armed robbery", not to mention the Sausage races. But I'm more interested in the 'subtle' not the profane.

For example, in the Sox game today, the "there you go again" play was Kevin Youkilis being forced out at third base on a line drive 'single' to left. With Youk on second and J.D. Drew at first, Jason Bay ripped a liner that Carl Crawford trapped, surrounded, and quickly nailed the  at third. All of which is why Crawford is one of the best left fielders around.

As to the game today, a few quick observations:


 * Josh Beckett was masterful, with no-hit kind of stuff
 * But Jason Varitek was 'man of the match' behind the plate and at the plate, with a pair of liners and a home run
 * It looks like Justin Masterson comes out of the box as the premier setup guy
 * The Rays' double steal on the first pitch from "Bull" Masterson was a thing of beauty
 * The defense on both sides was excellent
 * Kevin Youkilis ran well despite his foot problems
 * Evan Longoria is a beast
 * We won't see Carlos Pena putting on the Golden Sombrero (four Ks) too often

And as previously discussed, the Quality Start is a useful statistic with about a 70 percent win rate!