Bronson Arroyo: One of 25
How to exactly summarize my feelings on this trade? I dunno, because the irrational fangirl side of me is coming out and being all whiny and emo and shit. I don't want that to happen folks. So basically I'm gonna do up two separate entries on this shit. This is my eulogy of the Bronson Arroyo Era and how I came to be a fan of his.
Regardless of how I feel for Bronson, just so you know, I am in favor of this trade. I think Wily Mo is an excellent player and has great potential to be something special. It just doesn't make sense right now...next year, I can see. But not now. Anyways, onto the eulogy.
It was August of 2003 when I first noticed the 6'5 stringbean blonde. His hair hadn't been grown out yet, and he was yet to embark on his MLB revival. He was just a 26 year old in Pawtucket trying to make a name for himself and find a way to make it to the majors. Being from RI, I got a lot of PawSox news and the like, and I kept track of the boxscores here and there. I had noticed that this Arroyo fellow was having a pretty damn good year. Then came the perfect game. It was a beautiful summer day on August 10, 2003 when it happened. The Red Sox were in Oakland and not doing very well, and hearing about this Arroyo kid kinda brought my hopes up. 27 up--27 down. He's in the distinction of being only one of four people in International League History to pitch a perfect game. One of the other ones being Tomo Ohka back in 1999. This kid intrigued me and I wondered how he would do in Boston. Then in about late August, when the Red Sox had a homestand featuring Oakland and Seattle, they finally called him up.
Here was Bronson's chance to prove himself and to be the best he could be. His Red Sox debut came on a Monday in August of 2003. The Seattle Mariners, a team that Bronson seemed ton consistently give fits, were the team at hand. Pedro Martinez pitched himself a fantastic 6 innings, and now Bronson was up to make his debut. I remember driving around the winding roads in my town listening to teh sounds of summer, Joe Castiglione and Jerry Trupiano spin a tale of the debut of this 26 year old, given another chance at his career. I listened in as he fired three scoreless innings, a rarity with the bullpen that the Red Sox had been put up with that season. He had a save in his first Red Sox outing. I watched Bronson pitch and I liked what I saw.
As the 2003 regular season came to it's end, I watched Bronson be the breath of fresh air that the Red Sox needed in their bullpen. Well at least when he was used, but we won't discuss the annoyances of Grady. He was doing fantastic, and I started to adopt him as "my boy" around then. Then came, one of the most ironic twists ever, the playoff roster. You see, the reason that Bronson was picked up on waivers was because the Pirates put him on there, to make room for their newest free agent acquisition. That acquisition? Jeff Suppan. At the trading deadline in 03, Suppan got traded to Boston adn didn't exactly do himself any favors for helping the team. So when teh ALDS roster came into play, Bronson ended up getting a spot in place of Suppan. Gotta love irony...as we all know, 2003 ended the way it did, but I knew that we were going to be well off.
I remember in 2004, listening in on the talk radio and how they kept thinking that it was just a fluke thing for Bronson. I remembered the Arroyo vs Kim wars, and how people perferred Kim over Arroyo, which yours truly felt the same way solely because I thought Kim was good, but while I loved Arroyo, I thought his versatility would be what this team needs. I believed in him, trust me, I did. I just thought Kim would be the better pitcher but who knew really. It only took a month but Arroyo found his way into the starting rotation and stayed there for the rest of the season. He put up some great numbers too, which made me probably one of the happiest people out there. Bronson was my boy, through and through. I probably was more happy at his great outings than he was.
Now as for the Arroyo crush? That kinda just happened eventually. It happened somewhere around the end of 2004, to be honest. I just kinda realized that the guy was damn cute and had, as Curt Schilling put it 'nuts the size of Saturn'. Also, it sure as hell didnt' hurt that he seemed to somehow make Alex Rodriguez freak the frig out.
What did I like about Arroyo so much? For one thing, I loved his fearlessness on the mound. He wasn't afraid to come inside on a pitch. It wasn't that he was a headhunter, he just needed to establish the strike zone. I also loved that devastating curveball he threw. When he had that bitch working, he was unhittable. That strikeout I saw him make of Bengie Molina in Game 3 of the ALDS was hands down one of the nastiest pitches I've ever seen. I seriously squealed in excitement over that pitch. I loved that he was so even keeled on all his outings and he was honest. If he sucked, he said straight out that he sucked, he never blamed anybody else or anything else. Even the one outing in which you wouldn't have blamed him at all for calling out his teammates(that 12K game vs Seattle), he didn't. I also loved his loyalty. He loved being a Red Sox and enjoyed every minute. He knew he had it good here and he knew that there was no place else in the world he'd wanna play. The dude signed a 3-year contract lesser than market value. Another reason why it was quite upsetting when I got the news...how is he going to trust anybody else these days?
The kid, despite all his good sides, had his flaws. For one thing, he liked teh college ladies and as a married man(though for how much longer? According to the rumor mill at least) that's not exactly a good thing. He may have been a whore, but he was my whore dammit. Another thing was that he was pretty inconsistent, especially his 2005 season. He was like the little girl w/ the little curl, except he was a 28 year old dude with curls. When he was good, he was very very good...but when he was bad, he was horrid. One final thing that pissed me off the most about him was that he sucked out loud vs lefties. Lefties were his kryptonite, while his changeup could help get them out, sometiems it just wasn't enough. His fangirls were very annoying. They made me look bad as a fan sometimes, because it seemed that just because I like Bronson, I don't know a damn thing about baeball. Which is honestly not true.
It just kinda sucks right now....I'll follow him in Cincy but how much of the same will it be? Damned if I know. He was 1 of 25 and nothing will ever take away that distinction. Nothing at all. Throughout all of his good side, bad side, fangirls, pessimists, Bronson Arroyo is my boy and will continue to be...like I'm gonna let a trade come between that?
Thanks for the love and concern, guys. :) I appresh it. I'm gonna write another entry today about some of the outings I remember and I loved of his. *sighs*
Fucking trades....
Regardless of how I feel for Bronson, just so you know, I am in favor of this trade. I think Wily Mo is an excellent player and has great potential to be something special. It just doesn't make sense right now...next year, I can see. But not now. Anyways, onto the eulogy.
It was August of 2003 when I first noticed the 6'5 stringbean blonde. His hair hadn't been grown out yet, and he was yet to embark on his MLB revival. He was just a 26 year old in Pawtucket trying to make a name for himself and find a way to make it to the majors. Being from RI, I got a lot of PawSox news and the like, and I kept track of the boxscores here and there. I had noticed that this Arroyo fellow was having a pretty damn good year. Then came the perfect game. It was a beautiful summer day on August 10, 2003 when it happened. The Red Sox were in Oakland and not doing very well, and hearing about this Arroyo kid kinda brought my hopes up. 27 up--27 down. He's in the distinction of being only one of four people in International League History to pitch a perfect game. One of the other ones being Tomo Ohka back in 1999. This kid intrigued me and I wondered how he would do in Boston. Then in about late August, when the Red Sox had a homestand featuring Oakland and Seattle, they finally called him up.
Here was Bronson's chance to prove himself and to be the best he could be. His Red Sox debut came on a Monday in August of 2003. The Seattle Mariners, a team that Bronson seemed ton consistently give fits, were the team at hand. Pedro Martinez pitched himself a fantastic 6 innings, and now Bronson was up to make his debut. I remember driving around the winding roads in my town listening to teh sounds of summer, Joe Castiglione and Jerry Trupiano spin a tale of the debut of this 26 year old, given another chance at his career. I listened in as he fired three scoreless innings, a rarity with the bullpen that the Red Sox had been put up with that season. He had a save in his first Red Sox outing. I watched Bronson pitch and I liked what I saw.
As the 2003 regular season came to it's end, I watched Bronson be the breath of fresh air that the Red Sox needed in their bullpen. Well at least when he was used, but we won't discuss the annoyances of Grady. He was doing fantastic, and I started to adopt him as "my boy" around then. Then came, one of the most ironic twists ever, the playoff roster. You see, the reason that Bronson was picked up on waivers was because the Pirates put him on there, to make room for their newest free agent acquisition. That acquisition? Jeff Suppan. At the trading deadline in 03, Suppan got traded to Boston adn didn't exactly do himself any favors for helping the team. So when teh ALDS roster came into play, Bronson ended up getting a spot in place of Suppan. Gotta love irony...as we all know, 2003 ended the way it did, but I knew that we were going to be well off.
I remember in 2004, listening in on the talk radio and how they kept thinking that it was just a fluke thing for Bronson. I remembered the Arroyo vs Kim wars, and how people perferred Kim over Arroyo, which yours truly felt the same way solely because I thought Kim was good, but while I loved Arroyo, I thought his versatility would be what this team needs. I believed in him, trust me, I did. I just thought Kim would be the better pitcher but who knew really. It only took a month but Arroyo found his way into the starting rotation and stayed there for the rest of the season. He put up some great numbers too, which made me probably one of the happiest people out there. Bronson was my boy, through and through. I probably was more happy at his great outings than he was.
Now as for the Arroyo crush? That kinda just happened eventually. It happened somewhere around the end of 2004, to be honest. I just kinda realized that the guy was damn cute and had, as Curt Schilling put it 'nuts the size of Saturn'. Also, it sure as hell didnt' hurt that he seemed to somehow make Alex Rodriguez freak the frig out.
What did I like about Arroyo so much? For one thing, I loved his fearlessness on the mound. He wasn't afraid to come inside on a pitch. It wasn't that he was a headhunter, he just needed to establish the strike zone. I also loved that devastating curveball he threw. When he had that bitch working, he was unhittable. That strikeout I saw him make of Bengie Molina in Game 3 of the ALDS was hands down one of the nastiest pitches I've ever seen. I seriously squealed in excitement over that pitch. I loved that he was so even keeled on all his outings and he was honest. If he sucked, he said straight out that he sucked, he never blamed anybody else or anything else. Even the one outing in which you wouldn't have blamed him at all for calling out his teammates(that 12K game vs Seattle), he didn't. I also loved his loyalty. He loved being a Red Sox and enjoyed every minute. He knew he had it good here and he knew that there was no place else in the world he'd wanna play. The dude signed a 3-year contract lesser than market value. Another reason why it was quite upsetting when I got the news...how is he going to trust anybody else these days?
The kid, despite all his good sides, had his flaws. For one thing, he liked teh college ladies and as a married man(though for how much longer? According to the rumor mill at least) that's not exactly a good thing. He may have been a whore, but he was my whore dammit. Another thing was that he was pretty inconsistent, especially his 2005 season. He was like the little girl w/ the little curl, except he was a 28 year old dude with curls. When he was good, he was very very good...but when he was bad, he was horrid. One final thing that pissed me off the most about him was that he sucked out loud vs lefties. Lefties were his kryptonite, while his changeup could help get them out, sometiems it just wasn't enough. His fangirls were very annoying. They made me look bad as a fan sometimes, because it seemed that just because I like Bronson, I don't know a damn thing about baeball. Which is honestly not true.
It just kinda sucks right now....I'll follow him in Cincy but how much of the same will it be? Damned if I know. He was 1 of 25 and nothing will ever take away that distinction. Nothing at all. Throughout all of his good side, bad side, fangirls, pessimists, Bronson Arroyo is my boy and will continue to be...like I'm gonna let a trade come between that?
Thanks for the love and concern, guys. :) I appresh it. I'm gonna write another entry today about some of the outings I remember and I loved of his. *sighs*
Fucking trades....