Series Preview: Sox @ San Diego

San Diego (41-30)
NL WEST: t-1st (ARI)
STRK: L-2 LST 10: 5-5
AVG: .246 (16th) ERA: 3.05 (1st in MLB)
HRs: 65 (t-8th) RUNS: 319 (t-8th)

Probable Pitching Matchups:
GM1 Fri 10EST Matsuzaka (8-4, 4.18) vs. Maddux (6-3, 3.90)
Dice-K returns to the scene of his greatest triumph on American soil-the stadium where he helped Japan win the inaugural World Baseball Classic last spring, in which Matsuzaka was named the MVP

But he'll be going up against the Mr. Miyagi of the horsehide, and the technical mastery and baseball wizardry that should be present in this game could be worthy of an Ang Lee adaptation.

Maddux is on a three game winning streak, but in his last six starts he's given up 19 earned runs in 34.2 innings (4.93), while Dice has been a hard luck loser in 2 of his last 3, yet he's allowed only 4 earned runs in 20 innings (1.80) over that span. MY PICK: I Like Dice (Sox)

GM2 Sat 10EST Wakefield (7-7, 4.18) vs. Young (6-3, 2.26)
This one's a toss-up, but at least Wake's flutterball have farther to travel in spacious PetCo. Still, I'll go with the solid Young, who's coming off three NDs and a five game suspension, in his own park. MY PICK: Pads

GM3 Sun 4EST Beckett (10-1, 3.14) vs. Peavy (9-1, 1.98)
This one has all the makings of the game of the year. These two aces could be facing one another less than a month from now in the Midsummer Classic, but for now this matchup is about as good as it gets. MY PICK: Sox win 1-0 on a homer by Pedroia

Key Players:

• Adrian Gonzalez (.295/14/51)-- the third-year first baseman is coming of age this season, placing 8th in the NL in homers and sixth in RBIs; although he's only hit two homers this month, he's hit in 7 of the last 8 games (11-30, .367) including a 4-5, 4R, 3RBI outburst against the Cubs on Sunday
• Marcus Giles (.262/42R/28BI)-- the former Braves second baseman moved out West to join his wacky bro, Brian, with the Pads this offseason. He hasn't hit like they'd hoped, but he is 17th in the NL in runs and has 15 doubles. Still, the guy has to do better if he wants SD to pick up his option next year
• Khalil Greene (.237/9HR/39R/41BI)-- despite the horrendous average the slick, injury prone shortstop has been on a tear lately; in the last 10 games he's hit at a .342 clip (14-41) with 3 doubles, 2 homers and a staggering 12 ribbies-mind you he's 5'11'' and his middle name is "Thabit", which makes the numbers all the more impressive
• Mike Cameron (.260/8HR/37R/34BI)-- though he's never been quite the same since his ugly collision with Carlos Beltran a few years ago, the gifted centerfielder was well enough to win his 3rd Gold Glove last season, so I guess he's still got something left
• Entire pitching staff-- look at the team average, which is last in the NL, and the team ERA, which is first in the majors, and it doesn't take a beautiful mind to realize how this team is tops in the National League. Only one regular on the staff has an ERA over 4.00, and that person would be...none other than...

Old Sox:

• ...Boomer Wells (3-5, 4.71)-- the former Sox stopgap filled a need as a replacement for Pedro and D-Lowe after the championship season, but after a decent '05 with Boston (15-7) he went into his usual injury/diarrhea of the mouth/boozing Boomer bit, and the Sox cut him loose
• Cla Meredith (2-5, 3.60)-- the Sox were high on this kid, then they let him go in the "get Mirabelli back to Boston, stat!" fiasco of 2005. All he's done since then is become one off the best setup men in the game, and although he's had a little bit of a rough time this season, he's only 24, so this is a deal that will come back to haunt Boston for a long, long time (ugh!)
• Josh Bard (.257/2/19)-- the other part of the Meredith deal, this guy is a good young backstop who can also hit; repeat: this is a deal that coulc come back to haunt Boston for a long, long time!

PREVIEW:

"San Diego: discoverd by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means whale's vagina."

Ah Saaaan De-yaaago, the city famous for its beautiful scenic vistas, rollicking Gaslamp District, a tubby, choke-prone left handed golfer, and one of the funniest anchormen in the history of local news.

But besides Phil Mickelson and Ron Burgundy, San Diego is also home to the best team in the National Legue (at least by percentage points), as once again the Fathers have assembled a good squad that may not score a lot of runs, but will go toe-to-toe with the best of pitching staffs on any given night.

That's what makes this weekend series so intriguing for the Sox: we know what Boston can do to mediocre pitching (hello, Buddy Carlyle!), and we know Boston can get shut down by has-been hurlers (Joe Kennedy, are you listening?)

We also know that the often scorching Boston bats can go suddenly silent at the hands of superior mound men, as we've witnessed all season with the likes of Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, Johan Santana and Roy Halladay.

Not that there's anything wrong with losing to aces, but sometimes you gotta figure out a way to get past those pesky pricks and pull off a victory.

And we're gonna find out if Boston is able to do just that as they face three tough pitching matchups in this series, culminating with the showdown between Peavey and Beckett, who are a combined 19-2. Nice.

Tonight Dice will attempt to best the master, Grex Maddux, and tomorrow Tim will test his knuckler against the brawler Chris Young. Three difficult tests that will say a lot about what this team can do to a true NL pennant contender.

Should be a great series, other than the late endings. But if the pitchers hold true to form, the games should be worth staying up for.

Let's just hope the Sox stay classy.