What’s Going On – Again?

So during the PawSox game last night, one of the radio dudes tells the world (or, at least, anyone listening) that Justin Masterson left the park early and said he was going to California.

Today, Sean McAdam writes this in ProJo:

Masterson could join the Sox as early as today, or perhaps tomorrow, if the Sox end up placing David Aardsma on the disabled list with an unspecified leg injury. Aardsma had his thigh heavily taped yesterday and got treatment for what was probably either a hamstring or quad pull.

“It’s a little bit sore,” Aardsma said yesterday before going out to test the injury, which he said first arose Friday night when he pitched a third of an inning in relief. “We’ll just keep working it out, working it out. We’ll see how it is (today).”

Now I absolutely know Masterson LEFT yesterday, so at the very least he’ll be “with” the team if not technically “on” the team today. But my problem isn’t with McAdam, it’s with the writers at both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. You know, the two papers IN BOSTON who cover the Red Sox. I just subjected myself to scouring both their sports sections and there is no mention 1) of Aardsma feeling sore or 2) of Masterson making his way to the west coast.

Aren’t both of those things newsworthy? It seems more reporters wanted to focus on Manny laughing about mucking up that play on Friday night. Because we deserve the truth about Manny right? It’s July…the time of year when the Globe and Herald sports sections focus all their energies on trying to get the Red Sox fans to hate Manny. They have no time to update us on what’s going on with the bullpen. What do you people expect from them, LEGITIMATE sports news?

Both the Globe and the Herald, along with their daily columns, have blogs dedicated to covering the Red Sox. The Globe used their blog yesterday (well after it was known that Masterson flew the coop) to cover each one of David Ortiz’ at-bats. Not that following Papi’s rehabbing isn’t important. Sure it is. But after homering in the first two games, we all had a pretty good idea that he was feeling it, no? For crying out loud, the person blogging him either had to be at McCoy Stadium or was listening to the radio broadcast, right? So the chances are really good that Maggie Cassidy had heard he news about Masterson and didn’t bother slipping it into her blog entries. (This is where I bang my head against my laptop.)

The Herald has Rob Bradford’s blog and the “Clubhouse Insider” blog. Bradford’s blog hasn’t been updated since July 17th, and the Clubhouse blog (updated by four different writers, the Herald boasts) was updated last night at 8:30 by Tony Massarotti, where he wrote about yesterday’s game. And that’s perfectly legitimate. But it was a hodge-podge of information and by that time last night he absolutely had to know Masterson was on his way. Hell, if I knew, he knew. So WTF?

How is it that Sean McAdam is the only writer covering the Boston Red Sox who thought it was noteworthy to mention that Aardsma might be hurt and Masterson, even if Aardsma ISN’T hurt, is on his way to join the team?

Special shout-out to KellyO for making me aware of Masterson’s trip in the first place. And thanks to another resource I can’t name publicly. 🙂 Also, Brendan McGair gets major props for these two tidbits in his column today:

Missing from the clubhouse on Saturday was Justin Masterson. His locker, which was positioned next to Michael Bowden’s was devoid of a name plate and workout gear. … Kyle Snyder was in town to get examined as his groin injury continues to give him problems. The latest setback came Thursday in Single-A Lowell as Snyder was lifted after throwing 2 1/3 innings. Snyder has been on the DL since June 3.

Hell, at least SOMEONE is paying attention.

Off to a Papi-free Pawtucket today. I love Papi…I do…but this pleases me. No craziness. Not 12,000 people screaming for ONE player. Just baseball. Here’s hoping David Pauley kicks butt today!