Game Preview

Oakland @ Boston 7P
Gaudin (1-1, 2.54) vs. Beckett (5-0, 2.58)

I don't have a lot of time to preview this one as I am headed out to my son's LL game, but I have enough time to say that I know the Sox want to erase the painful memories of last night's heartbreaking loss and get back on the winning track tonight.

And who better to get the train headed in the right direction again that Boston's best starter of 2007, Josh Beckett. Much like last season, when Becks catapulted to a 9-3 start and an All Star berth, this year the hard-throwing righty has been even better. That's because new pitching coach John Farrell has worked with him on varying his speeds and pitch assortment, and the result has been fewer strikeouts but a much better all-around performance so far.

The A's will counter will D-ray castoff Chad Gaudin, a former reliever thrust into the starting rotation due to injuries who is a mediocre major league pitcher at best. On paper this would appear to be a no-contest win for Boston, but on paper Jonathan Papelbon strikes out Travis Buck 99 times out of 100, too, and look how that actually turned out.

If J.D.Drew is still ailing, look for Tito to keep Hinske in right and keep Coco in the 2-hole. Hopefully Alex Cora will be in the starting lineup, because Pedroia's just not getting it done, even if they don't want to judge him after "40-50" at bats, as Tito said in the notes section of today's Globe.

Speaking of the Globe and Tito, there's a good piece by Carfado in there today about the way Tito has kept this team together, and I had been thinking the same thing just a week or so ago. Say what you will about Francona (and most of us have), but despite the fact that he acts goofy, mismanages the pitching staff & game situations at times, and comes off like a mouthpiece for the players, the bottom line is he gets this collection of egomaniacs, eccentrics and add-ons to play the game the right way.

Sometimes player's managers are a bad thing, because the players take advantage of the breaks they get (see:MannyBeingManny), but when guys have respect for their skipper and play hard for that person, well all that matters are the end results.

In other words let's wait until the end of the season before we start calling for Tito's head again.

Go Sox!