Payback's a bitch: Braves annihilate Sox

Atlanta 14, Sox 0
WP: Smoltz (6-2)
LP: Hansack (0-1)
HRs: ATL- C. Jones (12), Diaz (3), K. Johnson (6)

Smoltz looked like the John Smoltz of old, and having recently turned 40, he is old

RECAP:

You know what they say, what's good for the goose...

Atlanta rode the strong pitching of ace John Smoltz and 12 extra base hits to a "how do you like it?" demolition of the Sox just hours after Boston had done the same to the Braves this afternoon. Leadoff hitter Kelly Johnson led the way as he tallied five RBI and fell a single shy of a cycle, and five Braves had multi-hit games.

HERO: Smoltz 7IP, 3H, 0R, BB, 7Ks
It's amazing how a legendary big-game pitcher can save a sinking ship at just the right moment.

After his team got castrated in the opener to drop its fifth game in the last six, Smoltzie came in to stop the bleeding and earned career victory #199.

GOAT(s): Boston Pitchers 9IP, 18H, 14R, 4BB, 2WP, 3HRs, 180 pitches
Wow, did someone put a mirror up to the opener of this series or what? The five Boston hurlers put up nearly identical numbers to the putrid performances that six Braves pitchers put forth in the opener.

And while Hansack didn't pitch that poorly (3ER, 6H in 4IP), relievers Joel Pineiro, Javier Lopez and Branden Donnelly were just plain awful.

Can we get a pitcher's duel please?!

SUMMARY:
What can you say after a game like this except, "holy shit, so this is what the other teams feel like when Boston kicks the snot out of them?!"

Boston suffered its worst loss of the season in a game that was an evil doppelganger to the first game of this day/night doubleheader.

In the opener a veteran pitcher (okay, so he's a vet of the Japanese League, he was still a pro for eight years!) beat a shaky newbie while his offense clubbed 18 hits, including nine for extra bases, and stomped the shit out of the opponent's bullpen in a devastating 10-run victory.

So what happened in the nightcap? A veteran pitcher beat a shaky newbie while his offense clubbed 18 hits, including 12 for extra bases, and stomped the shit out of the opponent's bullpen in a humiliating 14-run victory.

Touche.

Let's just put both of these games behind us and move on, shall we? Because if we took these two games as a barometer of both teams, this is what we would come up with:

1. Both teams have great offenses
2. Both teams have good pitching
3. Both teams can shellack young mound men and/or unreliable relievers
4. Joel Pineiro sucks

Okay so maybe the last one was out of place, but it's too obvious to ignore now so I had to throw it in there.

The Braves onslaught of runs started innocently enough as they scratched out single scores in the first, on Chipper Jones' 12th home run, and second innings off Hansack, who was making his first start of the season in place of Josh Beckett.

Former FSU standout Matt Diaz proved to be a thorn in Hansack's sack when he doubled in a run in the second and then hit a one-out homer in the fourth to push the score to 3-0. When Hansack finished the inning he was finished for the night after throwing 77 pitches and allowing
three earned runs. Then came Pineiro.

Quicker than you can say "one-way ticket to Pawtucket, please", the man who is quickly becoming the heir apparent to Tavarez' 'Gascan' nickname gave up four runs on four hits, a walk and a wild pitch in two innings of work.

Thanks for coming, Jo-el!

By the time he left the score was 8-0 Atlanta after six innings, and it was all over but the piling on. And pile on the Braves did, torching the previously unscored-upon (I had to mention that yesterday, didn't I?) Javier Lopez for three runs in an ugly 7th inning that began with an error by Lugo and featured two walks, a double and a triple, and by the time the dust cleared the score was 11-0 Boston and it was officially "let's look ahead to tomorrow" time in the dugout.

Meanwhile Smoltz, the lone holdover from Atlanta's glory days rotation of the '90s, put aside a nagging dislocated finger injury and his recent 40th birthday and completely stifled a steaming hot Boston lineup, holding the hitters to a mere three hits after they had hit the ball all over-and out-of-the yard in the opener. Talk about the power of good pitching.

By the time the Braves tacked on another three-spot in an ugly 9th inning that was played in driving rain & wind and chock full of shoddy fielding (error by Cora) and horrible pitching (three runs on four hits and a wild pitch by Donnelly), most of the battle-weary fans had long left the building, tired of sitting in the rain and watching hundreds of men run around the bases all day with no one apparently able to stop them.

Oh, and remember when I cursed the Sox by saying they might have used up all their runs in the first game.

Ditto, Atlanta.

NOTES:

-The Sox are going to need one of their fabled sabermetricians to calculate all the stats when this series is over; in two games (in one day) the teams combined for 58 hits, 30 runs and 24 extra base hits and the pitchers have thrown a total of 620 pitches. I'm tired now.

-After tallying three hits in the opener, arch nemesis Edgar Rentanerror went 0-4, the only player in Atlanta's lineup not to register a hit

-Coming into the game Johnson had 16 extra base hits on the season, then hit three in this game
-Boston's three hits were a double by Coco and singles from Lowell & Pedroia. Lowell's hit extended his hitting streak to 11 games, and Pedroia, interestingly, hit in the 5th spot in the lineup. Hmmm...

-Tek, Youk & Drew had the nightcap off; Belli, Youk and Wily Mo went 0-9 in their steads
-Pineiro's ERA skyrocketed from 4.40 to 6.06

-J.C. Romero was the only Boston pitcher who didn't surrender a run, pitching a scoreless 8th

-Kason Gabbard will get the start tomorrow, as had been speculated, and in a cruel twist of MLB fate, Hansack will take the bus back down to Pawtucket when Gabbard arrives

QUOTES:

-"Every team's the same. You get that kind of starting pitching, you're going to win."-Braves manager Crusty Bobby Cox

-"That was probably the weirdest doubleheader I've ever been a part of."-Johnson, who is only in his second year, but still, he's right

-"I'd hate to see him with all of his fingers." -Tito on Smoltz

RECORD: 29-13

AL EAST: Up 9.5 on BAL

UP NEXT: Sun vs. ATL 2P

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Sox slam Braves as Dice wins again

Sox 13, Atlanta 3
WP: Matsuzaka (6-2)
LP: Lerew (0-2)
HRs: BOS- Youk (5), Lowell (8), Lugo (3) Wily Mo (3); ATL-Francoeur (7)

SUMMARY:
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched his second excellent game in a row and he got plenty of support from a Boston lineup that belted 18 hits including five doubles and four home runs.

Lowell's longball was particularly notable because his fifth-inning Grand Slam made a close game (3-0 Boston) an absolute laffer. And although Dice surrendered three runs in the 7th to ruin his shutout and (probably) second consecutive complete game, he has now won five in a row and is peaking at the right time.

HERO: Dice-K 8IP, 9H, 3ER, 0BB, 6Ks, HR, W
Only that three-run burst kept Matsuzaka from lowering his ERA to below 4.00 (currently 4.06)

GOAT: Atlanta Pitchers 8IP, 18H, 13ER, 6BB, 4HRs, 202 pitches
Um, whatever happened to that dominant Atlanta staff? Oh yeah, the lone leftover pitches tonight.

RECAP:
I guess this is why Chipper didn't want to play the Sox.

Boston administered an interleague ass-kicking this afternoon on a dreary & drab day in New England, ringing up its second 13-run game in a week while riding the strength of another quality Dice-K start.

Too bad I didn't get to see a minute of it!

Thanks to the g-d Fox Network and their asinine exclusive broadcast window on Saturday afternoons, I got stuck with the friggin' Subway Series (yuck) while the Braves were getting hammered worse than Kim Kardashian.

So I followed the game online.

Which is almost as good as the real thing, except for the three minute delay, lack of video or audio and utterly soulless presentation.

From what I could gather Boston was just popping homers off a battle-weary Braves staff: Lugo hit a solo shot off starter Anthony Lerew in the first, Youk nailed a 2-run blast off Lerew in the 2nd, Lowell smacked the game-sealing grand slam in the 5th off one-time Sox target Mark Redmond, and Wily Mo launched a mortar blast over Lansdowne in the 7th off the immortal Mackay McBride.

After Lowell's moonshot over the Monstah Boston enjoyed a 7-0 lead and could have cruised home from there. But no, the Sox still had six more runs to score, including five in the sixth on RBI hits by Lowell, Coco and Lugo and the one in the 7th on Pena's homer in his first AB after replacing Manny to start the inning.

While the bats were coming out of their Tigers series slumber, Dice-K was dealing another gem until he hit a speed bump in the seventh. Before that inning he had allowed no runs on five hits with no walks, but in the 7th he got tagged for three hits and three runs, including a 2-run shot by Braves RBI leader Jeff Francoeur (3-4, R, 2BI).

No matter. The Sox were so far ahead by that time (12-0) that Tito had pulled the regulars and was already worrying about Game 2, in which rookie Devern Hansack will be saddled with the challenge of pitching opposite future Hall of Famer John Smoltz.

Hope the Sox didn't use up all their offensive mojo in Game 1.

NOTES:

-Every Sox starter had at least one hit, except Cap'n Tek (0-4), while five batters had multi-hit games; even pinch hitter Alex Cora got into the act, singling in the 8th after after a 10-pitch AB

-Call Youk Phil Collins, 'cause he was in the air tonight. Sorry, that was lame. But he did put the ball in the air in all six at bats, with a homer and five fly-outs. His homer extended his hitting streak to 12-games, where he is batting a scorching .415 (22-53)

-Just when I mentioned Lowell's recent power outage yesterday (two ribbies in six games) he comes back with a vengeance. On top of his granny he also had an RBI single and 10th double; he now owns a 10-game hitting streak, in which he's hitting .447 (17-38)

RECORD: 29-12

AL EAST: Up *10.5 on BAL, NYY * tonight's games pending

UP NEXT: vs. ATL in 3+ hours

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Series Preview: Atlanta @ Sox

Atlanta Braves (25-16)
NL EAST: 2GB STRK: L-2
AVG: .259 (7th in NL) ERA: 3.96 (9th)
HRs: 46 (5th in ML)

*Pitching Matchups (*2 games Sat due to rainout Fri):
GM1 SAT1P: A. Larew (0-1, 6.52) vs. Matsuzaka (5-2, 4.17)
GM2 SAT 7P: Smoltz (5-2, 3.19) vs. Hansack (0-0, 13.50)
GM3 SUN 2P: Hudson (5-1, 1.77) vs. TBD (?-?, ?.??)

KEY PLAYERS:

• Chipper Jones: .300/11/25- Chipper is still Chipper, humongous ego and all; missed four games this week with bad thumbs (?!)
• Andruw Jones: .224/6/30- despite the lowly average, still tied for team led in RBIs and possesses that Gold-caliber glove
• Jeff Francoeur: .289/6/30-solid RF is in a 2-18 slump, but still tied for team lead in ribbies with Jones
• Matt Diaz: .316/2/5- the former FSU standout had a breakout year in '06 (.327 in 124 gms) and is picking up where he left off this year

OLD SOX:

• Edgar Rentanerror: .331/6/23/32R-one of the biggest gaffes of the Theo Era. The one year Sox shortstop is still being paid by Boston to play for Atlanta, and he is playing well, leading the team in batting average, hits, runs and at bats. Oh, and that fielding problem? He's only made 3 errors in 146 chances; shit that was like a week's worth for him in Boston. Can't wait to hear him introduced tomorrow
• Willie Harris: .404, 7R, 5-2Bs, 4SBs in 16 gms- the utility man extraordinaire played in 47 games last year for the Sox, mostly as a pinch hitter, pinch runner, or defensive replacement. Although he hit only .156, he scored 17 runs and is the kind of guy that every team needs in order to win

Let me first start out by saying this is total bullshit that the Sox, current owners of baseball's best record, have to play these tough teams in interleague play. I mean the Braves, the Giants, the Padres, it must be some kind of conspiracy or something, it's just total crap. The Stankees don't have to play these tough teams, it's not fair I tell you, waaa, waaa, waaa!

Okay, now that I've dispensed with my Chipper Jones imitation I can get on to previewing this series.

It's true that Jones bitched and complained that his Braves are stuck playing the Sox and the Twins and the Indians and the Tigers while other division leaders (ahem,Brewers) have a much easier inter league slate, but what's the fucking difference? If your team is good enough to be the best you've got to beat the best, so quit your bitching and play the games.

Now, the Sox come into this compacted series (thanks, Mother Nature) with a lot of questions regarding the immediate future, such as...

1. how long will Beckett be sidelined?
2. is J.D. Drew's back better or could that be a nagging issue?
3. who the hell is going to start Sunday?!

...you know, little stuff like that.

The way the rotation sets up right now, Dice K will get the start in the opener, tomorrow at 1:00. In the nightcap Devern Hansack will make his first start of 2007, but the Sox wanted to move Wakefield up to Monday so he, and not some Pawtucket call-up, can start the opener of the New York series in the Bronx.

The likely candidate to get the nod Sunday is Kason Gabbard, the 25-year old lefty who is currently 3-1 with a 2.75 ERA in eight IL starts. Gabbard proved capable of competing at the major league level when he appeared in seven games for the Sox last year, so he has the experience and confidence factor working for him. Other candidates include Kyle Snyder or Runelvys Hernandez, but the Kansas City castoff would be a reach at this point.

Old friend Edgar Renteria makes his first trip back to the place where he couldn't hit his weight and mishandled more balls than Paris Hilton. His place as the poster boy for the type of player who just doesn't fit in the Boston scene is forever secured, and his welcome back cheer should rival that of Judas Demon.

Unfortunately I will not be able to see it, because the friggin game is on during the FOX restricted time, so it will be blacked out here. Damn you FOX network!

Anyway, here's a brief breakdown of the games, as if I or anyone else really has a clue what is going to happen to this team now that it is seeing its first signs of trouble in the so-far magical 2007 season.

Game 1 is the one game that looks to be a certain Sox win. Due to the postponement Boston was able to start Dice-K in the opener and move Hansack to the nightcap, leaving Matsuzaka in his normal spot. He will be opposed by Anthony Lerew, a 24-year-old righty making his third major league start in place of the injured Mark Redmond.

In Lerew's first start on May 8th he allowed two runs on two hits and got a no decision vs, the Padres, but last time out on Sunday he got shelled by Pittsburgh, surrendering five runs and seven hits in 3.2 of a 13-2 loss to the Pirates.

Dice is coming off his best start of the season, when he recorded his first ML complete game, allowing just one run in a 7-1 win over Toronto. Matsuzakaa has now won four games in a row. ADVANTAGE: Sox. MY PICK: Sox

Game 2 looks like a total mismatch on paper- legendary, Hall of Fame righty John Smoltz, he of the 438 career starts and 198 victories, not to mention 154 saves, going against Hansack, who has appeared in exactly three career games and has one win, albeit an abbreviated no-hitter to end the 2006 season, but still.

Maybe the Sox bats will come alive vs. Smoltzie, who has been suffering from a dislocated finger lately,and maybe Hansack will have that no-no stuff again. If not, this one is all ATL. MY PICK: Braves

Game 3 does not bode well for the Sox, either, though it never does when you've got "to be determined" penciled in as your starter.

No matter who starts for Boston they will have a tough time pitching opposite Tim Hudson, who after a couple of so-so seasons away from Oakland has regained his dominant Bay Area form. He's allowed just 13 runs in 66 innings and has a terrific strikeout to walk ratio (43/13.)

So at this time, since we don't know who will start and must assume that whoever it is will be at a decided disadvantage anyway, my instincts are telling me that Atlanta should take this game, too. Thank god my instincts are usually wrong! MY PICK: Braves

There it is, a scientific breakdown of the series, and by my calculations the Braves will take 2-of-3 from the depleted Sox.

Maybe that will stop Chipper's whining.

Go Sox!

And Go Away Rain!

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Tonight's game postponed-AGAIN!

For the second time in three days the Sox have to postpone a game due to shitty weather in the Northeast.

And for the second time in three days the Sox will play a day/night doubleheader, beginning tomorrow at 1:00 to make up for the missed date. The immediate turnaround is due to the fact that this series marks the beginning of interleague play, and the Sox and Braves only play one other time this year, at Atlanta June 18-20, leaving little room for makeup dates.

So we here in Red Sox Nation are left with another night of no baseball, forced to watch the NBA, hang with the kiddies, and tend to yardwork to occupy our free time this evening from 7:00-10:00.

Oops, guess no one up there will be doing any outdoor activities tonight.

Don't worry. I'll pick up the slack.

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Series Recap: Detroit @ Sox

Sox win series, 3 games to 1

Game Results:
GM1: BOS, 7-1
GM2: DET, 7-2
GM3: BOS, 2-1
GM4: BOS, 4-2

STATS: DET/BOS
RUNS: 11/15
HITS: 31/35
AVG: .228/.259
HRs: 4/2
ERA: 3.55/ 2.75

Hitting Composite Box Score:

• Lugo: 2-12, 3B, 2R, 3RBI-had a big GM1, then regressed after that
• Youk: 7-18, 2B, HR, 3R, 4RBI- team's most consistent hitter last 2 wks
• Papi: 3-12, 2-2Bs, 2BBs, R, RBI-rough series; sat out GM4 with a virus
• Manny: 4-19, 2RBI-not sure where he's at, coming on or falling back
• Lowell: 5-14- only two ribbies in his last six games, none this series
• Tek: 3-7, 2B, 3R- actually got two games off this series due to rain out
• Drew: 1-7, RBI- as if the slump isn't bad enough, now he's banged up
• Coco:5-12, 3R, RBI-decent series but still hitting just .233
• Pedroia: 2-6, R- another guy who sat two of the four games
• Cora: 1-10, RBI- average has "plummeted" to .362
• Hinske: 2-7, 2B, HR, 2R, 2RBI- all that plus an awesome catch
• Belli: 0-7- didn't take advantage of first back-to-back starts
• WMP: 0-2, 3BBs- never thought I'd see him with a linescore like that

Pitching Composite Box:

• Dice-K: 9IP, 6H, ER, 0BB, 5Ks, HR, W-had his coming out game Monday
• Wakefield: 7IP, 9H, 5ER, BB, 4Ks, 2HRs, L- he's allowed one bad outing
• Tavarez: 7IP, 4H, ER, 4BBs, 3Ks, W- came through with a monster GM3
• Schill: 6IP, 8H, 2ER, 4BBs, 6Ks, HR- must step it up with Beckett out
• Donnelly: 2IP, 4H, 2ER, OBBs, 2Ks, W- shaky GM2, win in GM4
• Okajima: 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K, SV- 18.1 consecutive scoreless IP
• Papelbon: 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2Ks, SV- sparingly used, yet still deadly
• Snyder: 1.1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 3Ks- might get a spot start in Beckett's absence
• Lopez: 2/3IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K- has yet to allow a run in 8 apps

Although the numbers from this series don't exactly jump off the page at you, the Sox had a very positive series against Detroit, the team that was breathing down its neck for the best record in the AL when the series began.

If you look strictly at batting average, homers and runs scored, then no way was this series on par with say, the Baltimore or Toronto series. But as far as quality wins over a playoff-tested club, the end results more than make up for any sudden power outage (but seriously, two homers in four games against some of those pitchers really sucks).

The rain out in the middle of the week certainly didn't help matters, and neither did the news that Josh Beckett would have to go on the DL, but yet the Sox took any perceived negatives and turned them into positives, not only distancing themselves from the Tigers, who no longer own the second-best AL mark (that distinction now belongs to Cleveland), but opening up a ginourmous 9 1/2 game lead over the second place Stankees in the East in the process.

Mission accomplished.

Oh, by the way, yours truly predicted a 3-of-4 result, thank you very much.

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Beckett goes on the DL for 10 time in career, 1st with Boston

As reported last night after the game, Red Sox ace Josh Beckett will be placed on the disabled list due to a skin tear of the right middle finger of his pitching hand.

All together now, RSN: FUCK!!@!!#$*&^%$#!!!

Of Beckett's nine previous trips to the DL, all with the Marlins, six of those visits were the results of similar injuries to the same digit, and one of those stints, in July of 2004, forced him to miss nearly a month while the injury healed.

This time the problem isn't believed to be as serious as in the past, and the Sox report that Becks should only miss a couple of starts. But with his history, who can be sure this thing won't be a recurring nightmare for the rest of the season?

Devern Hansack will be recalled from the PawSox to pitch tonight vs. the Braves in Beckett's place, and other subs for his services include Kason Gabbard, Kyle Snyder or the immortal Runelvys Hernandez.

Not exactly a group of guys who will strike fear in the heart of the opponenet.

Let's just hope this injury is a minor one, because if Beckett and his 7-0 record have to spend a month on the bench, that 9 1/2 lead over the Stanks could get slim pretty quickly.

On the bright side, there is rain forecast again tonight in the Hub.

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Sox sweep DH and take 3-of-4 from Detroit

Sox 4, Detroit 2
WP: Donnelly (2-1)
LP: Ledezma (3-1)
SV: Okajima (2)
HRs: BOS-Hinske (1); DET- Inge (7)

SUMMARY:
Curt Schilling was shaky but Eric Hinske was spectacular.

Playing in place of J.D.Drew, Hinske made a terrific diving catch with a man on second to end the 5th, then blasted the game-winning home run in the seventh to propel the Sox to a series victory over the team that had the 2nd best record in the AL coming in.

HERO: Hinske (duh!) 1-4, 2R, 2RBI, HR, 1 great catch
The stat sheet doesn't do his contribution to tonight's win justice; the seldom-used substitute came through with three big plays that basically won the game for the Sox.

GOAT: Wil Ledezma 1.2IP, 3H, 2R, 2BB, HR
After starter Chad Durbin had given the Tigers a decent chance (5.1, 3H 1ER, 5BB, 4K) to win this one, Ledezma came in in the 6th and gave it all away, turning a 2-1 Detroit lead into a 4-2 Sox win.

Thanks, Wil!

RECAP:
It was a game Boston could have lost and probably should have lost due to the large number of scoring chances wasted and the sub-par pitching of Curt Schilling, but an unlikely hero came off the bench for a day and put a perfect capper on this successful series.

Schilling started the game off on a rough note-a leadoff double to Curtis Granderson (2-3, BB) on the first pitch of the game-and didn't get much better from there. The big fella walked a season-high four batters, including two in the second inning, and Detroit loaded the bases twice in the first two innings but could not score.

Did I mention the Tigers wasted a ton of scoring opportunities, too?

In fact both teams left 11 men on base, and in a close, low-scoring game you know those blown chances are gonna come back to bite one of the teams eventually.

Luckily for Boston they bit the Tigers.

Amidst all those early Tiger baserunners, Boston actually took the first lead of the game by once again scoring in the first inning. And once again white-hot Kevin Youkilis was involved in the scoring. Coco led off with a single, stole second, went to third on a groundout by Cora, then scored on a single by Youk (1-5) for an early 1-0 lead.

So Schill had a lead and it was up to him to hold it.

Which he did. Until the third. That's when Detroit tied it up courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Maggs Ordonez and Carlos Guillen. Curiously of Detroit's nine hits, eight went for extra bases, including seven doubles. Wow.

The tie would only last an inning because in the 4th Brandon Inge hit a tracer missile off the top of the Monstah which was initially ruled a single, then rightly changed to a home run (the ball didn't clear the wall but hit above the dividing line at the top). Schill and Francona briefly protested the reversal, but the argument was half-hearted; it was almost as if Schill was thinking "if I'm pitching this poorly that deserved to be a home run." Just a thought. I'll have to check his blog tomorrow to see what he says about it.

The top of the fifth is when things really started to heat up and you sensed that this sloppy game might start to turn in the Sox favor. Guillen hit his second double of the night to start the inning, a ground-rule job that bounced out of Hinske's reach. The next thing to bounce over there was Hinske's face off the warning track dirt.

Marcus Thames' fielder's choice one out later got Guillen thrown out at third as Thames wound up on second, and that's when backup catcher Mike Rabelo, spelling Ivan Rodriguez, hit a slicing liner down the rightfield line that appeared to be too low and curving too fast to be able to reach it.

But Hinske leaped parallel to the turf and grabbed the ball just as it was about to bounce on the ground, slamming his face into the dirt as he skidded into foul territory, bobbling the ball in his glove but ultimately holding on for the miraculous, possibly game-saving grab.

The tide certainly turned on that play, because in the next inning Boston finally got Durbin out of the game and once again ripped into an opponent's bullpen. Ironically Hinske was involved again when he reached base to lead off the sixth thanks to an error by Inge. After walking Willy Mo (0-1, 3BBs), Ledezma relieved Durbin and promptly gave up a walk to Coco and a dribbler to Cora that Polanco couldn't handle as Hinske raced in with the tying run.

The next time Hinske came to bat, he would untie the game with a 2-run blast into the biting wind and over the bullpen wall, Branden Donnely and Hideki Okijima cleaned up for Schill and the Sox had another come-from-behind victory.

And as news came down after the game that Josh Beckett will indeed be placed on the DL, the team can be confident in the fact that every time someone goes down or is slumping, someone else will be there to pick up the slack.

Plus they've got a friggin' 9 1/2 game lead!

NOTES:

-Drew could have played if necessary and was originally in the starting lineup, but with the frigid temps and the big division lead the Sox decided not to risk it. With what Hinske ended up doing, I'd say that was a good decision

-Thanks to the double-dip and injury to Drew, Tito rolled out a rather odd lineup for the nightcap: Manny at DH, Cora, WMP & Hinske starting and with Lugo resting, Coco led off and Cora batted second. Hmmm.

-Schilling threw 118 pitches, a season high, and matched his Red Sox high with the four walks

-Youk now has a 10-game hitting streak in which he is batting a supercharged .442 (19-43) with 10 ribbies, plus he's batting all over the lineup (tonight he hit third)

-Boston only managed six hits, but also had six walks and reached on an error; Manny went 0-4 in his 2007 debut at DH

- Detroit hit seven doubles on the night, two each by Granderson & Polanco and one apiece from Guillen, Ordonez and Rabelo

-Donnelly pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn his second victory of the year, and with Paps on the bench for the nightcap, Okajima picked up his second career save. Javier Lopez also pitched 2/3 of an inning and induced a crucial double play to end the eighth.

QUOTES:

-"When you have a team this deep, you can do some pretty special thing. Today, with Julian in the first game and the bullpen, and tonight with Hinske taking the team by the horns."- Schill, reiterating what I said about confidence in their teammates

-"The most amazing catch I've ever seen."-Rabelo on Hinske's grab

-"In my mind, unless you've got to carry me off on a stretcher [I'll play]. I don't get the chance to play that often."-Tough-as-nails Hinske on his faceplant

RECORD: 28-12

AL EAST: Up 9.5 on NYY

UP NEXT: Fri vs. ATL 7P

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Game Preview: Detroit @ Sox GM 4

Chad Durbin (3-1, 5.08) vs. Curt Schilling (4-1, 3.63)
7P Fenway

The second game of today's doubleheader will have Curt Schilling going for his 5th victory of the season pitching against Detroit starter Chad Durbin.

Durbin has filled in admirably for the injured Kenny Rogers, but like Mike Maroth his high ERA reveals the fact that despite his winning record he gives up a lot of runs. And in turn, like with Maroth, the Tigers score a lot of runs for him (8 runs/start).

Schill is coming off a no decision in his last outing, when he allowed four runs and nine hits in a 13-4 Sox win over Baltimore, but his ERA rose from 3.28 to 3.63.

If he can pull this one out tonight the Sox will take the series and get a huge confidence boost going into its first series of the year without ace Josh Beckett anchoring the rotation.

Go Sox!

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Sox take 1st game of DH thanks to Julie's gem

Sox 2, Detroit 1
WP: Tavarez (2-4)
LP: Miner (0-1)
SV: Papelbon (11)
HRs: none

RECAP:
Boston's 5th starter, Julian Tavarez, outpitched Detroit's 9th starter, emergency fill-in Zach Miner, and Manny Ramirez & Kevin Youkilis had RBI singles to help Boston take the first game of today's series-ending doubleheader.

HERO: Tavarez 7IP, 4H, 1ER, 4BB, 3K
In what was by far Julie's best start of 2007 he bested his season highs in innings and pitches (107), but allowed a season low in runs and hits.

So who cares if he doesn't know who Ernie Banks is!?

GOAT: Tiger's lineup 4H, 1R, 4BBs, 6Ks
Did these guys spend too much time down in Fanueil Hall last night or something? How the hell can a group of quality hitters like Detroit's manage just four measly singles and one stinking run off a guy who had been allowing more than six hits and nearly six runs per start coming in?

I'm sure Smokey Jim Leyland's asking (barking) that same, expletive-embellished question in the Detroit clubhouse right now.

SUMMARY:
I'm going to have to stop calling Tavarez the Human Gascan and start calling him something more appropriate, like say, Forrest Gump...

...because this year with Julie on the mound as a starter, you never know what you're gonna get.

His outings have run the gamut from the outrageous (6 runs in 4.2IP, 10 hits in 5IP) to the spectacular (see above). And like that faggy faux-hero Spiderman or another Britney Spears meltdown, just when we needed him most, Tavarez came through big time.

Perhaps he felt a surge of confidence when he learned that Detroit's scheduled starter, Mike Maroth, was a late scratch due to a "stomach virus" (checking the rumor that he was seen sipping Mai Tais at Hong Kong last night), or maybe he just wants to make his final starts count knowing that Jon Lester's return to the rotation is a looming certainty.

Zach Miner, a 25-year-old righty just recalled from Toledo after the Tigers were forced to put starter Jeremy Bonderman on the DL with a blister on his middle pitching finger, got the call and pitched a damn decent game considering the circumstances.

Regardless, Tavarez gave the Sox rotation a much-needed shot in the arm coming on the heels of Wakefield's loss on Tuesday, the rainout last night, and the news that Josh Beckett will not make his start tomorrow night and might have to go on the DL.

In other words it was a perfect time to pull a caramel-filled surprise out of Julie's box of candies.

It certainly helped his cause that the Sox got out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first thanks to the heads-up base running of Coco Crisp. Coco (1-4, R) singled with one out and looked to be a goner when Papi grounded to second as he was running by. But Crisp dove to the ground to avoid being tagged out by Placido Polanco, then he scooted to third when he noticed no one was manning the bag there.

Manny (2-4, RBI) immediately singled him in for a 1-0 Boston lead, and the Sox would tack on another run thanks to a gaffe by Detroit and another clutch hit from Kevin Youkilis in the third.

Julio Lugo led off the inning with a routine grounder to short, but the ball went right through the wickets of shortstop Carlos Guillen for what would turn out to be a costly error. Coco moved him to second on a groundout, and after Manny K'd, Youk (2-4, RBI) hit a sharp single to right to score Lugo with the unearned run to make it a 2-0 Boston lead.

Tavarez had run into a bit of trouble in the third (2-on & 2-out) but escaped any damage, but in the 5th the Tigers would finally scratch a run off of him. With one out Craig Monroe walked and Brandon Inge singled, and after Julie got Curtis Granderson (0-4) to strike out, Polanco ripped a single to center to score Monroe for Detroit's first-and turns out only-run.

Although Miner pitched admirably-5.1, 6H, 2R, 1ER, BB, 3Ks- and his replacement, Tim Byrdak more than held the fort with an awesome appearance, it just wasn't enough to compete with the force that was Julian Tavarez on this day.

Julie's day was done after a season-high seven innings, and after he sprinted off the field to a standing "O", the Dynamic Duo of Hideki Okajima (1IP, 1K) and Jonathan Papelbon (1IP, 2K) slammed the door on any potential Tigers comeback and the Sox secured at least a split of the doubleheader and this series.

So it's on to Game 2o f the day, the last of the series, which is set to tip off about 3 1/2 hours from now.

I hope Julie enjoys a couple of cervezas in the clubhouse in between games as a reward for his herculean effort.

NOTES:

-J.D.Drew (back), as expected, was not in the lineup. In fact with the twinbill Tito started most of his "B" team- Hinske, Cora and Mirabelli; the trio combined to go 0-8

-Okajima's scoreless 8th extended his streak to 18.2 innings without giving up a run; he struck out Gary Sheffield on his filty favorite pitch, the Oki-Doke, which made Sheffield look like a joke (sorry, got carried away)

-Papelbon hadn't pitched in five days and has only pitched five innings this month, yet he was as sharp as ever; he needed on 13 pitches-11 strikes- to get through the 9th, he struck out two on 94-mph heaters and had his slider and split-finger working to perfection

-The Sox only tallied six hits one game after registering just seven, and Manny & Youk had four of the six (Coco & Lowell had the others)

-That's B-Y-R-D-A-K with a K: the Tiger relivever struck out five of the six batters he faced today, and when you throw in the one he fanned two nights ago, he has struck out six of the 12 Boston batters he has faced since his callup from Toledo on Sunday

-Some dickbag with a glove in the 3rd base box seats interfered with Lowell's shot down the line in the 6th inning; the umps ruled it a single which kept Manny at second, and Tito argued briefly but vehemently, but to no avail

-Magglio Ordonez, noted Red Sox killer, was 0-4, as were Ivan Rodruguez and thorn-in-the-side Granderson

QUOTES:

-"For goodness sake, don't interfere with the balls in play."- Remy to the aforementioned dickbag

RECORD: 27-12

AL EAST: *Up 8 1/2 (*NY game not final)

UP NEXT: vs. DET in 3 1/2 hours!

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Thank You, ESPN!

If you recall last night after I learned about the cancellation of the game, I was pretty pissed at the fact that I was looking forward to being able to watch the game in HD. I was so upset, in fact, that I went out and not only washed the car but trimmed the palms as well.

For those of us outside the greater New England area who have to catch the Sox games on Extra Innings, we can't enjoy the game in crystal-clear NESN HD because for some reason EI doesn't broadcast in HD (talk about behind the times.)

So I was greatly relieved whe I saw that the money-grubbing megalomaniacal media machine that is the World Wide Leader will broadcast today's first game of the twi-nighter on ESPN HD, presumably to make up for having to broadcast three hours of highlights and chit-chat when last night's game was postponed.

All I can say is thank you, thank you ESPN. This unforeseen act of kindness almost makes up for "50 States in 50 Days" and "Stump the Schwab".

***UPDATE: THE FRIGGIN' GAME IS NOT ON ESPN- THE WEBSITE INFO WAS BOGUS! FORGET EVERYTHING I SAID ABOVE-THE WORLDWIDE LEADER STILL SUCKS!!***

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Game Preview: Let's play 2!

**Sox & Tigers will play a doubleheader today to make up for last night's rainout**

GM112:25 Maroth (3-0, 4.69) vs Tavarez (1-4, 6.60)
GM27:05 Durbin (3-1, 5.08) vs Schilling (4-1, 3.63)

Thanks to thew monsoon that swept through the Northeast in the early evening hours last night, the Sox/Tigers game was washed out and was rescheduled for today at the ungodly (for baseball players) hour of 12:25.

The second game will be played at its regularly scheduled time, and both games will have the same pitching matchups as previously scheduled.

The Sox got some more bad news along with the postponement last night- Josh Beckett will indeed miss his start tomorrow night against the Braves, and who knows how many more. Today's Globe is reporting that Beckett will definitely be scratched tomorrow, and the possibility still exists that he could be placed on the DL.

It's believed that 2006 surprise Kason Gabbard will be called up for his first start with the big club in 2007 to take Becks' turn against the Braves for the short-term, while any long-term solution will have to wait until the severity of Beckett's skin tear is determined.

In other injury news, J.D. Drew is still sore from his outfield wall collision and would have sat out last night, probably will sit out this afternoon, but should be well enough to start tonight. With the way he's been struggling, maybe this is what he needed to get his swing back into joint.

Let's hope for a Sox sweep today, because without their horse anchoring the lineup, this season could go sideways in a hurry.

Go Sox!

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Sox game postponed due to shitty New England weather

**Tonight's game vs. the Tigers at Fenway has been postponed due to the infamous "inclement weather"**

Or, to put it in Boston terms, it's so friggin' shitty outside it looks like it could rain for 40 days and 40 nights!

And wouldn't you know this was the first time the Sox have been on national TV since the Stankees series nearly three weeks ago. I was all pumped to be able to see the Sox in HD again, and now this.

The game is scheduled to be made up tomorrow as part of a day-night doubleheader, provided it's not still raining then.

Ah well, it' still sunny & 84 degrees here in Tampa Bay, I guess I'll go out and wash the car or do some yard work or something.

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Game Preview: Detroit @ Sox GM 3

Maroth (3-0, 4.69) vs. Tavarez (1-4, 6.60)
7P ESPN HD Fenway

According to my pre-series calculations, this game could be decided long after the starters leave the game.

Maroth may be 3-0, but his ERA tells the true story- he has pitched much worse than his record indicates. As in, he's allowed at least two runs or more in six of his seven starts. What, that's not so bad you say? Well in one of those starts he gave up three runs, two others he allowed four, and in another he surrendered five runs in seven innings.

In his favor the Tigers score 6 1/2 runs for every game he starts, so he's got that going for him.

Tavarez goes Maroth one better, though: he's allowed at least two earned runs in all six of his starts, two games with three, two games allowing four runs, and one stinker when he gave up six runs in 4.2 innings. Although he has pitched decent at times, he hasn't benefited from near the run support that Maroth has (Boston avgs. 3.5 runs/start), therefore the lousier record.

Bottom line is this should be a slugfest that will be decided in the late innings, unless one of the two starters is exceptionally bad before that.

Go Sox!

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Sox Drawer: Beware the injury bug!

Drew fought the wall and the wall won

First it was all-everything starter Josh Beckett suffering a tear of the skin on his middle pitching finger, a pesky problem that could eventually land him on the DL and at the very least should cause him to miss his next start on Friday.

Now J.D. Drew could be out of action for a few games after his nasty run-in with the low green wall separating rightfield from the bullpens. Drew smashed, back-first, into the padded partition, and the force of the injury and the location-directly across the middle of his spine-made it look like a chiropractor's special.

No one is going into full-blown panic mode, yet, but the way the 2006 season was derailed by a rash of devastating injuries (Papi, Tek, Manny-well, maybe Manny) the feelings of jubilation for the Sox 8-game division bulge have to be tempered a bit.

Boston is in the midst of one of its toughest stretches of the year, with series against some of the best, or most explosive, teams in the game- Detroit, Atlanta, Texas, Cleveland and two series with the Stanks at the end of the month. In other words, now is not the time to go through a wave of ailments that could affect the chemistry, and rhythm of this team.

Or is it.

I mean what's worse, getting injuries when it's still early in the season and your squad possesses the largest lead of any division leader in baseball, or going through it in a later month like AUG/SEP of '06, when a terrific season was spoiled by those injuries to key players combined with the hammer effect of the Boston Massacre II?

I say if these guys are gonna miss time, do it now. And if the Stanks are breathing down our necks by the time guys like Drew & Beckett return, well they damn well better not hit .248 or allow a slew of gopherballs when they do.

Get healthy soon, boys!

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Verlander shuts down Sox as Wake allows 5 runs

Detroit 7, Sox 2

WP:Verlander (4-1)
LP: Wakefield (4-4)
HRs: BOS-Youk (4); DET- Inge (6), Ordonez (8)

Hot-hitting Magglio Ordonez owns Tim Wakefield and the Sox

SUMMARY:
This game simply came down to pitching:

Tiger's starter Justin Verlander went 7.2 innings and scattered six hits while allowing just a couple of runs and striking out seven Sox, while Tim Wakefield gave up two homers and four runs in the third inning to put his team in a 4-1 hole it could never climb out of.

HERO: Magglio Ordonez 2-5, R, HR, 3RBI
Verlander was certainly deserving of this prestigious award, but Maggs' 3-run bomb in the 3rd turned a tie game into a 4-1 Detroit lead, enabling Verlander to earn the victory.

GOAT: Wakefield 7IP, 9H, 5ER, BB, 4Ks, 2HRs
Wake allowed the most runs he's given up in a start all year; that 2-homer third really killed him.

RECAP:
Unfortunately, for once I was right. Something told me that Wake was going to have a hard time winning this game, and my Spidey instincts proved correct.

Wakefield saw his ERA rise from 1.79 to 2.41 by allowing five runs in seven innings of work, and he was crushed by the effects of the horrible third inning, in which he allowed four hits, three runs and two home runs and broke open a tight pitcher's duel.

The Sox staked Wake to a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to singles by Youk and Manny (sandwiched around outs by Lugo and Papi) and an RBI single from J.D. Drew. But little did they know that would be the last run Verlander would allow until Youk's solo shot in the 8th.

The Detroit comeback started as suddenly as the late-inning rain that pelted Fenway. Brandon Inge took the third pitch he saw from Wakefield and deposited it into the Tiger bullpen, and to add injury to insult, Drew was slightly injured on the play when he crashed into the top of the wall in his effort to haul in the ball. Pesky Curtis Granderson (2-5, R) followed with a single and stole second, and then after Placido Polanco lined out for the second out, Ordonez stepped up to face on of his favorite opponenets in either league.

Maggs brought a gaudy .433 (13-30) mark with a homer and five ribbies vs. Wake into the game, and he only added to those totals on this night. The AL's 5th-leading hitter ripped Wake's second offering into the Boston night and onto Lansdowne, and just like that the wheels had fallen off Wakefield's magic bus.

The Sox had a couple of chances to crack into the lead- hey, this is a team that just scored an improbable win after trailing 5-0 in the 9th, so a 3-run deficit in the fourth is nothing- but each time Verlander stymied any threat.

The best opportunity came in the sixth, when Papi doubled and took third on a wild pitch, but Verlander got Drew to fly out, and by the time Youk broke a Boston 49-inning homerless drought in the bottom of the 8th, Detroit had already tacked on three huge insurance runs against Branden Donnelly in the top of the inning to dampen any hopes of a comeback.

So it wasn't meant to be for Wakefield and the Sox on a humid, wet & sticky night at Fenway; we all knew the ride had to end sometime, but that still doesn't make the landing any easier.

NOTES:

-After averaging 12 hits/game over the past seven games Sox batters were held to just seven hits. A trio of batters went 0-4 (Lugo, Coco, 'Belli) while Cora was 0-3

-Youk had his seventh multi-hit game in the last nine and thus his average keeps on climbing- he's up to .333 now

-Drew was replaced by Eric Hinske to start the 8th and he is listed as day-to-day with a back strain (okay, time for the "I told you he'd get injured" faction to come back out of the woodwork)

-The Stanks and Chisox were rained out, so Boston only lost 1/2 game off its large division lead

-Maggs is batting an impressive .369 (94-255) with 13 homers and 54 RBIs in 64 games against Boston

QUOTES:

-"His lower back is a little sore. We will evaluate him again tomorrow."- Tito on Drew

- "My history against Ordonez is not very good." -Captain Understaement, Tim Wakefield

-"Ordonez had one good swing, and all of a sudden they had four runs on the board." -Tito on the blur of scoring in the fateful third inning

RECORD: 26-12

AL EAST: Up 8 gms on NYY

UP NEXT: Wed vs. DET 7P ESPN (finally!)

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Game Preview: Detroit @ Sox Gm 2

Verlander (3-1, 2.83) vs. Wakefield (4-3, 1.79)
7P Fenway

A study in contrasts. Senor Smoke meets Pick & Poke. High heat vs. slow & sweet.

The pitching matchup tonight can be called many things, but one thing's for sure, these two pitchers are about as opposite as Felix and Oscar.

Verlander is the strapping young hotshot with the 99-mph heater who led the Tigers to the pennant last season, posting a 17-9 record, winning a postseason game and earning the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Wakefield is a 14-year vet who is the longest tenured Red Sox and his best pitch travels at 68-72 mph. Yet at 40 years of age he owns the best ERA in the American League and has been the most consistent starter for Boston all season.

So the question is, which will conquer the other, the hard-throwing newbie, or the soft-tossing grizzled vet?

In my pre-series prediction I picked Verlander to help halt Wake's modest 2-game winning streak, so I guess I'm sticking to that.

But I hope I'm wrong (as usual)

Go Sox!

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Sox encounter first bump in the road

Beckett's blister could spell a trip to the DL for the dominating hurler

Call it an avulsion. Call it a blister. Call it a torn flap of skin.

However you choose to classify the injury to Sox 7-game winner Josh Beckett's middle pitching finger, one thing you can certainly label it as is bad news.

According to a piece in today's Globe by Gordon Edes, Beckett will more than likely miss his next scheduled start, Friday against the Braves at Fenway, and the probability is very high that Beckett will be forced to the DL with yet another nagging blister-type injury.

Nine times in Beckett's 6+ year career he has landed on the disabled list, and six of those trips have been the result of skin injuries to his right middle finger. Of those six trips, three happened in a 3-month span in 2002 and two occurred within a 2-month stretch in 2004. Also, out of the six visits, two were extensive: 18 days in '02 on the third trip, and a whopping 24 days out of action in July of '04.

What I'm trying to say is this does not look good for the team's, and league's, best pitcher. The long, storied history of this problem with this digit would seem to suggest that the Sox will be without the anchor of the 2007 staff for a while in order to have him healthy for the second half.

There's no way the Sox management & ownership can afford to have him make three trips to the DL with this thing this season like he did with the Marlins did in '02, so you can bet your last Fenway Frank that they will be extra cautious with their prized pitcher this time around.

Good think Dice-K is stepping up at the right time, 'cause he's gonna need to pick up the slack in Beckett's absence.

What, you thought Tavarez was going to do it?

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Sox win behind Dice-K's 1st complete game

Sox 7, Detroit 1
WP: Matsuzaka (5-2)
LP: Robertson (3-3)
HRs: DET- Granderson (7)

SUMMARY:
Dice-K made one mistake all night- a pitch that Curtis Granderson hit over the bullpen in the 3rd- but other than that the Diceman was lights-out in recording his first major league complete game.

Boston's offense hammered Detroit pitching for 15 hits and turned a close game (3-1 Boston) into a laugher by hanging a 4-spot on former D-Rays castoff Bobby Seay (there's that magic phrase again) in the 8th, which allowed Matsuzaka to come out and complete his gem.

HERO: Dice-K 9IP, 6H, 1R, 0BB, 5K, HR
This was the dominating pitcher RSN had been waiting to see all season long. Sure we had little tastes here & there, but this was a flat-out money performance against a superior team that should silence all doubts about his ability as a major league pitcher.

GOAT: Seay 1IP, 4H, 4ER, BB, K
Starter Nate Robertson was no prize (11 hits and three runs in five innings), but Seay turned a competitive contest into a rout with his 8th-inning meltdown.

RECAP:
It was the night every Red Sox fan had been waiting for ever since the team plunked down $51 million bucks just to talk to the guy last winter.

"The Diceman Cometh" will read every sports page headline from Back Bay to Taipei, because tonight marked Daisuke Matsuzaka's official entry into elite pitcher status. Although the way the evening started, it didn't appear as if we'd be celebrating any Sox milestones.

Curtis Granderson started the game off by singling to right field; he easily scooted into 2nd when rightfielder J.D. Drew bobbled the ball and was charged with an error. But Dice struck out two of the next three batters to escape the jam, a little sign of what was to come.

After setting the Tigers down in order in the 2nd, Granderson proved to be a thorn in Matsuzaka's side when he homered deep into the bleachers in right for a 1-0 Detroit lead in the 3rd. But after that small rough patch, things settled down and started looking up when the Sox tied the game in the bottom of the 3rd.

Youk, who had yet another multi-hit game, his 6th in the last eight games, started a two-out rally with a double. Papi's single to left center tied the game at one, and even though the rally ended there, the game was all square again, and after Matsuzaka escaped a 2-on, 2-out jam in the 4th it was as if Dice found new life.

Boston took the lead in the 4th when Cap'n Tek smacked a 2-out double, Coco dropped a single in front of Granderson and Tek hustled home for a 2-1 Sox lead. In the 5th another double, this time by Papi, followed by an RBI single from Manny, pushed the lead to 3-1, and it was time for Dice-K to buckle down and bring this thing home.

I'd say mission accomplished, as Matsuzaka retired 12 of the next 13 batters before allowing a leadoff single to Gary Sheffield in the 9th. Meanwhile the Sox hitters were reminding Bobby Seay was he was a big time bust in Tampa Bay. Seay relived Tim Byrdak, who held the fort by pitching two scoreless innings in relief of Robertson, in the 8th, and as soon as he entered the Sox commenced with Operation:Game Over.

Lowell lined out sharply to first to start the inning, but then Tek followed with a walk. Coco and Pedroia singled to load the bases, and then the emerging Julio Lugo unloaded them with a triple to the left center gap that scored all the runners and put an end to any hopes of a comeback Detroit might have been harboring. For good measure, Youk knocked in Lugo to make it 7-1, and Papelbon could sit down and enjoy another night off, 'cause Tito made the decision that this was Dice's game to close.

After the single to Sheff, Matsuzaka retired Magglio Ordonez, one of the league's hottest hitters, on a strikeout, Carlos Guillen on a fly ball, and when Ivan Rodriguez grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game, the Faithful went wild, Dice-K smiled, and another step in the quest for the championship had been completed.

Matsuzaka's now got a 3-game win streak, is three games over .500, hasn't allowed a run in the last 16 innings, and has lowered his ERA from 5.45 to 4.17 in his last two starts.

Welcome to the big leagues, Daisuke. Now you've earned it.

NOTES:

- The sizzling Sox bats cranked out another 15 hits and incredibly seven players had two hits apiece: Lugo, Youk, Papi, Lowell, Tek, Coco & Pedroia. The only starter without a hit-AGAIN? J.D. Drew (0-4, 3Ks), who is now batting .248.

-Ironically the only other player not to have multiple hits was Manny (1-5, RBI, 2K), and he is also batting .248. Hmmm. Ramirez' ribbie was #1,540 of his career, moving him into 38th place all-time

-Youk is batting a white-hot .471 (16-34) over the last eight games, raising his average from .286 to .328

-Boston now owns an 8 1/2 game lead in the East, it's largest margin since September 1995, and also took over the best record in the majors (26-11)

-This was Boston's first complete game of the season

-Robertson only allowed three runs and gave up no walks, but he "scattered" 11 hits and threw an astonishing 115 pitches in just five innings

-Lugo has a 7-game hitting streak in which he is batting .412 (14-34) with 4 runs scored and 10 batted in, raising his average from .221 to .265- Finally!

QUOTES:

-"I was very impressed. He's the real deal."-Tigers manager Smokin' Jim Leyland on Matsuzaka

-"I wouldn't say that my stuff was the best that I've ever had, but as for the results, I'm definitely the most happy about what happened today."- Dice expressing his thoughts on the outing

-"I didn't see any reason to take him out." -Tito on his decision to leave him in for the CG

RECORD: 26-11

AL EAST: Up 8 1/2 gms on the Stanks

UP NEXT: Tue vs. DET 7P

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